The Trese Brothers should be considered a ‘house name’ in mobiles games – for years they’ve been quietly toiling away at their own series of inter-connected RPG and strategy games, from Star Traders Elite, to Turn-based strategy favourite Templar Battleforce. Other than some updates and regular sales they’ve been rather absent from our handheld screens of late, but for one astonishingly good reason: Star Traders: Frontiers.

For those not in the know, Star Traders: Frontiers is an open-world/sandbox style sci-fi RPG where you, as a ‘Star Trader’ and captain of your very own ship, must try to make a living in a hostile and unforgiving universe. It can be considered the spiritual (if not direct) sequel to the original Star Traders RPG released in 2011. You can customise your captain however you want in terms of looks and starting traits/stats which will effect what kind of playstyle to try and follow. There’s also a range of basic ship types to get you going, and more can be unlocked through playing.

Frontiers started life as a PC game (which enjoyed a successful Kickstarter), so this is a port of a title that’s been available on Steam since its Early Access launch in November 2017. The game launched into 1.0 in August last year, and since then has received countless free content updates big and small. It’s a state of affairs that will expand to include the mobile version, which is excellent for the game’s longevity on all platforms.

The sheer diversity within the game is its strongest asset. A key gameplay pillar is naturally trading – there are plenty of basic and lucrative trade goods to found all over the game’s world. Buy low, sell high and there are ratings available to give you an indication on how good the price is (although, don’t take it as bible – some of the lower rated goods can yield better profits if you find the right buyer). Beyond this, there’s variations on the trading game such as smuggling and black market trading and of course you could turn into a pirate and just steal everyone else’s goods. You can also ignore commerce completely and go down a more military-focused route, or even make a living chasing down rumours, exploring dangerous wildlands and fighting alien monstrosities.

Trading alone can quickly become a bit of a sterile experience, however, and doesn’t really achieve anything other than making money. You will start with an initial pool of contacts across a few factions (mainly your ‘home’ faction), which you can approach to ‘quests’ – missions that you vary by the type of contact and the type of mission you go for. Factions are always allying and fighting each other, even engaging in trade bans (which makes honest trading difficult), so the missions you will get asked to do will slot into these contexts. The more influence you gain with a contact the more bonuses they’ll net you, and some will even introduce you to further contacts, expanding your network and allowing you to earn reputation with more factions.

There are some light elements of strategy to this game, although it’s not really a full-blown ‘strategy’ RPG like Fire Emblem. You can engage in both space combat and ground combat – both are static affairs that involve you selecting abilities and actions in turn order, and simply pounding away at each other until one side folds or dies. In ship combat you can mount a wide array of weapons that work better at different distances, and you can even close in to board. You can equip your crew with various guns and melee weapons, with some jobs roles specialising in ground combat. It works well enough, although it reminds me of the Pokémon games at times – you’re walking (flying) around minding your own business and suddenly a trash-tier Pidgey (pirate) jumps you.

Coming to STF on mobile, especially having come from playing the PC version, has been a remarkably seamless transition. I’m impressed with how robust the experience is even playing it on a phone – the UI has been reduced in a way that still leaves the information accessible (more or less) but leaves plenty of real-estate free so you can see your ship and what’s around it as you travel through space.

But it’s easy to look at things through rose-tinted classes because Frontiers is such a good PC port, and a welcome breath of fresh air in the current app marketplaces. As a game it’s not without some faults. Like the original game, Frontiers’ openness can be almost intimidating – you’re not always sure what to do. Trying to learn everything on the fly, naturally, comes with some trial and error.

Another element of the game that’s both a boon and a curse, especially for new players, is how Frontiers’ game world is persistent. The factions are always interacting with each other around you, and major plot elements and the game ‘eras’ will progress whether you’re directly influencing the story or not. You’re quite quickly introduced to two ‘main’ plot threads you can follow from the off, which you can choose to ignore, but eventually they will expire.

This idea of being left behind can actually be quite stressful for someone learning the rope. Getting a quest done in time is one thing but failing a major quest because you’re trying to do everything in time AS WELL as explore and learn how the game works can be frustrating. It sometimes leads you into situations you’re not equipped to handle as well: Unlike other RPGs of this nature, the game doesn’t quite lead you along a progression curve that lets you meet each new ‘escalation’ on equal footing. Whiz through things too quickly and you may end up fighting an opponent you can’t win against. Whether you’re playing with permadeath or not, it can be a jarring set-back.

It’s great to exist in a persistent universe – one that has such a wealth of content to pull the player through, but it can get a bit overwhelming for a newcomer, and the game doesn’t inherently possess many systems to help deal with that. You either adapt, or you end up dying a lot – we recommend if you’re struggling to take a break and go read some gameplay guides and tips videos. Even just a little bit of ‘behind-the-scenes’ knowledge will help smooth over any gameplay wrinkles you’re encountering.

The Trese Brothers have come a long way since their earlier releases, but it’s great to see how their games keep getting better and better. Star Traders: Frontiers is a new pinnacle of not only their own personal work, but also of PC-to-mobile ports in general and an excellent edition to the roster of premium mobile games. If any of Frontiers’ traits appeals to you, then this is absolutely a must buy.

Treat your brain to these puzzle games for Puzzle Day!

Today is National Puzzle Day! That means folks are dedicating today to keeping their brain active and practicing its skills. Just like your body, the brain needs a good workout. Consider exercising your mind with some of these stimulating puzzle games.

Sushi Striker™: The Way of Sushido: Help Musashi end the Empire’s tyrannical monopoly of the world’s sushi supply by becoming a Sushi Striker! Devour conveyor-belt sushi, matching plates and sushi types to defeat any enemy or boss who stands between you and victory.

Captain Toad™: Treasure Tracker: Grab your pickaxe; Toad is ready for an adventure! Each world is a maze full of tricks and traps to solve on the way to treasure. You can go it alone or invite a friend to take the journey with you.

Donut County: Raccoons have taken over Donut County with remote-controlled trash-stealing holes. In this story-based physics puzzle game you play as BK, hole-driving raccoon who swallows up his friends and their homes. Meet cute characters, steal their trash, and throw them in a hole.

Pikuniku: Help peculiar characters overcome struggles, uncover a deep state conspiracy, and start a fun little revolution in this delightful dystopian adventure!

The Office Quest: Not all heroes wear capes… some prefer fluffy onesies. Trick your grumpy boss and annoying co-workers into letting you slip away! Look for the red light and use everything you’ve got to make your way out of the grey abyss called the office.

Grab Lab: Time travelling is a hoot… when your machine works. Solve increasingly problematic puzzles to rescue the professor’s friends. Spikes, saws, levers — it won’t be easy, but you’ve got this!

Pipe Push Paradise: Tap into your inner plumber with Pipe Push Paradise! In this challenging, plumbing puzzle paradise, you arrive on a lonely island faced with a hero’s calling. Rise to the occasion! Push pipes around to restore the island to its former glory.

Funghi Explosion: Take a lichen to these fun-guys! Clear the Funghi blocks by gather up three or more of the same kind to make them disappear. Whether you’re a beginner or a puzzle pro, there are a variety of modes for everyone!

Starman: Sometimes you need a game that’s short, sweet, and full of puzzles. Guide Starman through architectural sceneries and elaborate puzzles. Recover the light and bring life back!

For more puzzle games, be sure to visit https://www.nintendo.com/games/nintendo-switch-puzzle-games.

Games Shown:

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Beta Ring will begin receiving a new 1902 Xbox One system update (rs5_release_xbox_dev_1902.190121-1920). Read on for more about the fixes and known issues in the latest 1902 system update.

Fixes:

System

• System performance fixes to improve performance.
• Audio system fixes when switching from Home to a game or app.
• Localization fixes.

 

Known Issues:

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

7.21:
===

GENERAL

* Melee creeps average gold bounty reduced by 3
* Range creeps upgrade cycle gold bounty increased from +3 to +6

* Replaced the primary jungles’ ancient camps with big camps

* Heroes no longer gain 25% more benefit from their primary attributes (affects attributes from both items and the hero)
* All heroes’ primary attribute growth values increased by 15%
* Health per strength increased from 18 to 20

* XP required to reach level 7->12 changed from 640/660/680/800/820/840 to 720/750/780/810/840/870 (the difference is +80/90/100/10/20/30 XP)

* The following melee heroes now have +5 movement speed: Naga Siren, Underlord, Monkey King, Nyx Assassin, Bloodseeker, Riki
* The following melee heroes now have +10 movement speed: Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Meepo
* The following melee heroes now have +15 movement speed: Legion Commander, Lifestealer, Lycan, Sven, Ursa, Wraith King
* Ranged heroes with 295 movement speed and above now have 5 less movement speed

* Tier 2 tower armor increased from 14 to 15
* Tier 3 tower armor increased from 14 to 16
* Melee Barracks armor increased from 13 to 15

* Tower Protection armor bonus for Tier 2/3/4 increased from 3 to 4

ITEMS

* Animal Courier: Flying movement speed increased from 460 to 470

* Aeon Disk: Active status resistance increased from 50% to 75%
* Aeon Disk: Recipe cost reduced from 1350 to 1250

* Battle Fury: Percentage damage bonus against non-hero units changed to be a fixed amount matching Quelling Blade

* Bloodstone: Bloodpact changed from 60% of current mana to 30% of max mana

* Bloodthorn: Cooldown reduced from 18 to 15

* Boots of Travel: Level 2 movement speed increased from +32% to +35%

* Buckler: Activated armor bonus duration on heroes reduced from 25 to 15 (carries through to Mek)

* Crimson Guard: Recipe cost increased from 600 to 750

* Drum of Endurance: Passive changed from a 6% movement speed aura to +20 movement speed to yourself only

* Ethereal Blade: Enemy debuff duration increased from 3 to 4 (matching duration when cast on allies)

* Eul’s Scepter of Divinity: Movement speed bonus changed from +6% percentage to +20 flat

* Holy Locket: Now uses Energy Booster instead of a Void Stone (provides +325 Mana)

* Iron Branch: Cast range increased from 200 to 400

* Manta Style: Movement speed bonus reduced from +25 to +20

* Mask of Madness: Lifesteal increased from 15% to 20%

* Mekansm: Stack limit is now tied to cooldown on cast (like Greaves and Crimson stack mechanics)

* Meteor Hammer: Radius increased from 300 to 315

* Necronomicon: Last Will damage increased from 550/675/800 to 600/700/800

* Nullifier: Duration increased from 5 to 6

* Phase Boots: Recipe changed from Gloves of Haste to Blades of Attack
* Phase Boots: Armor bonus increased from 5 to 6
* Phase Boots: Now gives +18 damage on melee (and +12 on range) instead of +20 attack speed
* Phase Boots: Melee active speed increased from 20% to 22%

* Power Treads: Recipe changed from Blades of Attack to Gloves of Haste
* Power Treads: Attribute bonus reduced from 14 to 10
* Power Treads: Now gives +20 attack speed instead of +12 damage

* Sange and Yasha: Movement speed bonus reduced from +35 to +30

* Solar Crest: Movement speed bonus changed from +6% percentage to +20 flat

* Spirit Vessel: Damage as a percentage of current health increased from 4.5% to 5%
* Spirit Vessel: Movement speed bonus changed from +6% percentage to +20 flat

* Tranquil Boots: Active form movement speed increased from 24% to 26%
* Tranquil Boots: Disabled form movement speed reduced from 20% to 18%

* Vladmir’s Offering: No longer uses Headdress nor provides its hp regen/stats
* Vladmir’s Offering: Now requires a 525 gold recipe

* Wind Lace: Movement speed bonus changed from +6% percentage to +20 flat

* Yasha: Movement speed bonus reduced from +25 to +20
* Yasha and Kaya: Movement speed bonus reduced from +35 to +30

HEROES

* Abaddon: Curse of Avernus curse duration increased from 4 to 4.5
* Abaddon: Aphotic Shield manacost reduced from 115 to 100/105/110/115

* Alchemist: Base movement speed increased by 10
* Alchemist: Base agility increased from 16 to 22
* Alchemist: Chemical Rage base attack time improved from 1.3/1.15/1.0 to 1.2/1.1/1.0
* Alchemist: Level 10 Talent reduced from -8s Unstable Concoction to -7s
* Alchemist: Level 20 Talent Concoction talent now adds the damage to the max instead of the base

* Ancient Apparition: Chilling Touch damage increased from 50/85/120/155 to 50/90/130/170
* Ancient Apparition: Ice Vortex manacost reduced from 65/80/95/110 to 50/70/90/110
* Ancient Apparition: Level 25 Talent reduced from 900 AoE Cold Feet to 700
* Ancient Apparition: Level 25 Talent increased from +4% Ice Blast Kill Threshold to +5%

* Anti-Mage: Fixed Counterspell providing double magic resistance when the shield is active

* Arc Warden: Spark Wraith damage increased from 100/160/220/280 to 100/170/240/310
* Arc Warden: Tempest Double duration increased from 14/16/18 to 16/18/20
* Arc Warden: Level 10 Talent increased from +25 Attack Speed to +30

* Bane: Enfeeble attack speed slow increased from 40/60/80/100 to 50/75/100/125
* Bane: Enfeeble manacost reduced from 70/90/110/130 to 50/75/100/125
* Bane: Level 10 Talent increased from +6 Armor to +7
* Bane: Fiend’s Grip duration increased from 5 to 6

* Batrider: Firefly now grants a 4/7/10/13% movement speed bonus
* Batrider: Firefly duration reduced from 18 to 15
* Batrider: Firefly cooldown reduced from 40 to 34

* Beastmaster: Inner Beast attack speed reduced from 15/25/35/45 to 10/20/30/40
* Beastmaster: Hawk health reduced from 300/450/600/750 to 150/200/250/300
* Beastmaster: Level 15 Talent changed from +40 Boar Damage to +65 Wild Axes Damage
* Beastmaster: Level 20 Talent changed from +80 Wild Axes Damage to +50 Boar Damage
* Beastmaster: Level 25 Talent increased from -15s Hawks Cooldown to -20s
* Beastmaster: Level 25 Talent reduced from +30 Inner Beast Attack Speed to +25

* Bloodseeker: Base movement speed increased by 5

* Bounty Hunter: Shuriken Toss cooldown reduced from 10 to 9
* Bounty Hunter: Jinada gold steal increased from 12/18/24/30 to 12/20/28/36
* Bounty Hunter: Track critical strike damage increased from 140/160/180% to 140/170/200%

* Brewmaster: Drunken Brawler critical strike reduced from 170/200/230/260% to 140/180/220/260%
* Brewmaster: Cinder Brew duration reduced from 7 to 5
* Brewmaster: Cinder Brew duration is refreshed on ignition
* Brewmaster: Cinder Brew ignite DPS increased from 20/25/30/35 to 20/30/40/50
* Brewmaster: Level 10 Talent reduced from +20 Damage to +15

* Bristleback: Viscous Nasal Goo manacost reduced from 25 to 12/16/20/24

* Broodmother: Level 10 Talent increased from +75 Spawn Spiderlings Damage to +125
* Broodmother: Level 15 Talent changed from +35% XP Gain to +15 Agility
* Broodmother: Level 20 Talent increased from +20 Spiders Attack Damage to +30
* Broodmother: Level 25 Talent increased from +350 Spiders Health to +450

* Centaur Warrunner: Retaliate no longer gains charges while it is active

* Chaos Knight: Chaos Strike cooldown reduced from 7/6/5/4 to 4
* Chaos Knight: Chaos Strike lifesteal reduced from 50/55/60/65% to 40/50/60/70%
* Chaos Knight: Chaos Strike max damage increased from 160/190/220/250% to 160/195/230/265%
* Chaos Knight: Reality Rift slow duration increased from 2 to 3
* Chaos Knight: Reality Rift slow reduced from 15/25/35/45% to 10/20/30/40%

* Chen: Divine Favor bonus damage reduced from 10/20/40/80 to 12/24/36/48
* Chen: Divine Favor now provides double bonus damage on non-hero units
* Chen: Divine Favor duration increased from 12 to 14
* Chen: Divine Favor manacost reduced from 110 to 70/80/90/100
* Chen: Hand of God heal increased from 250/400/550 to 300/450/600
* Chen: Level 15 Talent reduced from -10s Divine Favor Cooldown to -7s
* Chen: Level 25 Talent reduced from +400 Hand of God Heal to +350
* Chen: Level 25 Talent increased from +4 Holy Persuasion Max Units to +5

* Clinkz: Level 15 Talent changed from +20% Evasion to +15 Strength

* Clockwerk: Battery Assault cast point removed
* Clockwerk: Rocket Flare manacost reduced from 50 to 35/40/45/50
* Clockwerk: Level 20 Talent changed from +20% Magic Resistance to Rocket Flare True Sight
* Clockwerk: Level 25 Talent changed from Rocket Flare True Sight to +50% Magic Resistance

* Crystal Maiden: Freezing Field now grants you 10 bonus armor while channeling
* Crystal Maiden: Arcane Aura allied mana regen reduced from 1.2/1.7/2.2/2.7 to 1/1.5/2/2.5
* Crystal Maiden: Arcane Aura self mana regen increased from 2.4/4.4/6.4/8.4 to 2.5/4.5/6.5/8.5

* Dark Willow: Bramble Maze manacost reduced from 140/150/160/170 to 100/120/140/160
* Dark Willow: Bramble Maze cooldown reduced from 34/31/28/25 to 25

* Dazzle: Poison Touch mancost increased from 95/110/125/140 to 110/120/130/140
* Dazzle: Shadow Wave cast range reduced from 900 to 800

* Death Prophet: Base damage increased by 3

* Disruptor: Base armor increased by 1

* Doom: Scorched Earth cooldown reduced from 55/50/45/40 to 50/45/40/35
* Doom: Devour health regen from 4/8/13/18 to 3/8/13/18

* Dragon Knight: Base movement speed increased by 10
* Dragon Knight: Dragon Blood health regen increased from 4/7/10/13 to 4/8/12/16
* Dragon Knight: Elder Dragon Form frost attack slow increased from -20 to -30
* Dragon Knight: Level 20 Talent changed from 2x Dragon Blood to +25 Strength
* Dragon Knight: Level 25 Talent changed from +40 Strength to 2x Dragon Blood

* Drow Ranger: Level 15 Talent changed from +25 Attack Speed to +10 Agility

* Earthshaker: Fissure manacost reduced from 125/140/155/170 to 110/130/150/170

* Earth Spirit: Rolling Boulder damage reduced from 100 to 70/80/90/100
* Earth Spirit: Boulder Smash slow reduced from 80% to 60%
* Earth Spirit: Level 15 Talent reduced from +200 Rolling Boulder Damage to +150

* Elder Titan: Level 10 Talent reduced from +25 Movement Speed to +20

* Ember Spirit: Sleight of Fist cooldown reduced from 30/22/14/6 to 18/14/10/6
* Ember Spirit: Base damage increased by 3

* Enchantress: Enchant cooldown reduced from 55/40/25/10 to 22/18/14/10
* Enchantress: Enchant creep duration reduced from 50/60/70/80 to 26/44/62/80
* Enchantress: Enchant manacost reduced from 65 to 40/50/60/70

* Enigma: Midnight Pulse manacost rescaled from 75/95/115/135 to 50/80/110/140

* Faceless Void: Time Dilation AoE increased from 725 to 775
* Faceless Void: Level 10 Talent increased from +8 Strength to +10
* Faceless Void: Level 15 Talent changed from +300 Health to -1s Time Walk Cooldown

* Grimstroke: Phantom’s Embrace rend damage reduced from 120/200/280/360 to 75/150/225/300
* Grimstroke: Ink Swell manacost increased from 90/100/110/120 to 120/130/140/150
* Grimstroke: Ink Swell movement speed reduced from 18% to 12/14/16/18%

* Gyrocopter: Base strength increased from 19 to 22

* Huskar: Attack point reduced from 0.4 to 0.3
* Huskar: Berserker’s Blood max attack speed reduced from 220/260/300/340 to 160/220/280/340
* Huskar: Life Break damage and cost reduced from 34/39/44% to 32/38/44%
* Huskar: Level 15 Talent reduced from +15 Burning Spears DPS to +10

* Invoker: Base damage increased by 3
* Invoker: Exort bonus damage reduced from 4->28 to 3->27 per instance
* Invoker: Level 10 Talent changed from +1.25s Tornado Lift Time to -30s Ghost Walk Cooldown

* Io: Temporarily removed from Captains Mode
* Io: Tether now transfers health and mana even when Io is at max hp/mp
* Io: Overcharge now has an 18 second cooldown and an 8 second duration. No longer has a 2 second toggle.
* Io: Overcharge now costs 40/60/80/100 mana to cast. No longer cost 6% of health and mana per second.
* Io: Overcharge attack speed bonus increased from 40/50/60/70 to 50/80/110/140
* Io: Overcharge damage reduction increased from 5/10/15/20% to 15/20/25/30%
* Io: Relocate delay increased from 2.7/2.35/2 to 3.5/3.25/3
* Io: Relocate cooldown reduced from 130/110/90 to 90/75/60
* Io: Relocate is now cast delay again instead of channeling (being interrupted, silenced, rooted, etc will cancel the ability)
* Io: Level 25 Talent changed from -60s Relocate Cooldown to -30s

* Jakiro: Level 10 Talent changed from +30% XP Gain to +300 Attack Range
* Jakiro: Level 15 Talent changed from +300 Attack Range to +40% XP Gain

* Juggernaut: Base armor reduced by 1
* Juggernaut: Omnislash no longer allows you to teleport while using it
* Juggernaut: Healing Ward movement speed reduced from 420 to 400
* Juggernaut: Omnislash cooldown increased from 130/120/110 to 130
* Juggernaut: Level 15 Talent changed from +1s Blade Fury to +50 Blade Fury Movement Speed

* Keeper of the Light: Level 10 Talent changed from 8% Spell Lifesteal to +30% XP Gain
* Keeper of the Light: Level 15 Talent changed from +30% XP Gain to +1 Will-O-Wisp Health Count

* Kunkka: Level 25 Talent changed from -1.5s Tidebringer Cooldown to +60% Tidebringer Cleave

* Legion Commander: Base movement speed increased by 15
* Legion Commander: Level 20 Talent reduced from +40 Movement Speed to +35
* Legion Commander: Level 25 Talent changed from -10s Press The Attack Cooldown to 350 AoE Press The Attack

* Leshrac: Diabolic Edict increased from 9/18/27/36 to 11/22/33/44
* Leshrac: Level 25 Talent reduced from +50 Diabolic Edict Explosions to +40

* Lich: Frost Shield slow reduced from 35% to 20/25/30/35%
* Lich: Chain Frost damage reduced from 300/400/500 to 250/375/500
* Lich: Level 25 Talent increased from +40% slow to +50%

* Lifestealer: Base movement speed increased by 15
* Lifestealer: Base armor increased by 2
* Lifestealer: Level 15 Talent reduced from +30 Movement Speed to +25

* Lina: Base damage increased by 3

* Lion: Level 10 Talent increased from +75 Cast Range to +100
* Lion: Level 15 Talent increased from +120 Gold/Min to +150

* Lone Druid: Spirit Bear movement speed increased from 340/355/370/385 to 340/360/380/400
* Lone Druid: Spirit Bear attack damage increased from 35/50/65/80 to 35/55/75/95
* Lone Druid: Level 20 Talent changed from -0.3 Spirit Bear Attack Time to 0 Entangle Cooldown
* Lone Druid: Level 25 Talent changed from 0 Entangle Cooldown to -0.5s Spirit Bear Attack Time

* Luna: Level 10 Talent increased from +200 Cast Range to +300

* Lycan: Base movement speed increased by 15
* Lycan: Wolves armor reduced from 1 to 0
* Lycan: Wolves magic resistance reduced from 80% to 70%
* Lycan: Wolves health increased from 230/260/290/320 to 300/350/400/450
* Lycan: Howl health regen increased from 4/6/8/10 to 4/8/12/16

* Medusa: Fixed Mystic Snake bouncing to Spell Immune enemies
* Medusa: Level 10 Talent reduced from +20 Damage to +15
* Medusa: Level 15 Talent reduced from +35% Mystic Snake Mana Steal to +30%
* Medusa: Level 20 Talent changed from +700 Mana to -4s Mystic Snake Cooldown
* Medusa: Level 25 Talent changed from +7 Split Shot Targets to +1000 Mana

* Meepo: Base movement speed increased by 10

* Mirana: Sacred Arrow movement speed increased from 857 to 950

* Monkey King: Base movement speed increased by 5
* Monkey King: Wukong’s Command attack rate improved from 1.3 to 1.2

* Morphling: Strength gain increased from 2.3 to 2.6
* Morphling: Level 15 Talent increased from +15s Morph Duration to +20s

* Naga Siren: Base movement speed increased by 5
* Naga Siren: Mirror Image duration from 24 to 26
* Naga Siren: Mirror Image damage taken reduced from 475/450/425/400% to 400%
* Naga Siren: Level 20 Talent increased from -5s Ensnare Cooldown to -7s

* Nature’s Prophet: Using tango on a sprout tree will 2x regen (like eating a branch tree)
* Nature’s Prophet: Level 20 Talent changed from -4s Sprout Cooldown to +25% Cooldown Reduction

* Necrophos: Death Pulse damage increased from 100/140/180/220 to 100/150/200/250
* Necrophos: Level 15 Talent increased from +20% Ghost Shroud Slow to +30%

* Night Stalker: Hunter in the Night movement speed bonus increased from 20/25/30/35 to 22/28/34/40%
* Night Stalker: Removed Scepter
* Night Stalker: Dark Ascension now provides full unobstructed vision, instead of only 900 range
* Night Stalker: Level 15 Talent changed from +150 Cast Range to +15% Lifesteal

* Nyx Assassin: Base movement speed increased by 5
* Nyx Assassin: Strength gain increased from 2.3 to 2.5
* Nyx Assassin: Level 10 Talent increased from +60 GPM to +90
* Nyx Assassin: Level 10 Talent increased from +6% Spell Amp to +8%

* Ogre Magi: Fireblast cooldown reduced from 12/11/10/9 to 11/10/9/8
* Ogre Magi: Multicast 2x chance increased from 60% to 70%

* Omniknight: Heavenly Grace status resistance reduced from 50/60/70/80% to 50%
* Omniknight: Heavenly Grace duration increased from 8 to 10
* Omniknight: Heavenly Grace now provides 7/14/21/28 bonus strength
* Omniknight: Heavenly Grace manacost increased from 75 to 80/90/100/110

* Outworld Devourer: Sanity’s Eclipse multiplier from 9/10/11 to 8/9/10
* Outworld Devourer: Level 15 Talent reduced from +30 Movement Speed to +25

* Pangolier: Base damage increased by 4
* Pangolier: Level 10 Talent changed from +20 Movement Speed to +300 Swashbuckle Slash Range

* Phantom Assassin: Rearranged Level 15 Talents – +25% Cleave vs +15% Lifesteal
* Phantom Assassin: Rearranged Level 20 Talents – +20% Blur Evasion vs -4 Armor Corruption
* Phantom Assassin: Rearranged Level 25 Talents – +5% Coup de Grace vs Triple Strike Stifling Dagger

* Phantom Lancer: Level 10 Talent increased from +10% Evasion to +15%
* Phantom Lancer: Level 20 Talent increased from +4 Max Juxtapose Illusions to +5

* Phoenix: Sunray can no longer move forward while rooted

* Pudge: Base damage increased by 6

* Queen of Pain: Scream of Pain manacost reduced from 95/110/125/140 to 80/100/120/140
* Queen of Pain: Shadow Strike damage per tick increased from 30/45/60/75 to 30/50/70/90

* Razor: Attack backswing reduced from 0.7 to 0.4
* Razor: Level 10 Talent increased from +200 Health to +225

* Riki: Base damage increased by 4
* Riki: Base movement speed increased by 5
* Riki: Level 20 Talent increased from +0.2 Backstab Multiplier to +0.3

* Rubick: Telekinesis lift duration reduced from 1/1.4/1.8/2.2 to 0.8/1.2/1.6/2.0
* Rubick: Level 15 Talent increased from -45 Fade Bolt Hero Attack to -60

* Sand King: Burrowstrike damage increased from 85/150/215/280 to 100/160/220/280
* Sand King: Sand Storm AoE increased from 350/450/550/650 to 425/500/575/650

* Shadow Demon: Soul Catcher manacost reduced from 110 to 50/70/90/110
* Shadow Demon: Shadow Poison manacost reduced from 50 to 35/40/45/50

* Shadow Fiend: Presence of the Dark Lord armor reduction increased from 3/4/5/6 to 4/5/6/7

* Shadow Shaman: Level 20 Talent reduced from +3s Shackles Duration to +2.5s

* Silencer: Last Word cooldown reduced from 28/22/16/10 to 22/18/14/10
* Silencer: Level 10 Talent increased from +5 Armor to +6

* Skywrath Mage: Mystic Flare deals damage to creeps if no heroes are around

* Slardar: Level 25 Talent reduced from +1.5s Slithereen Crush Stun to 1.25s

* Slark: Pounce no longer does 30/60/90/120 damage

* Sniper: Headshot now has a back knockback of 10
* Sniper: Level 15 Talent changed from +35 Shrapnel DPS to +15% Shrapnel Slow

* Spectre: Strength gain increased from 2.3 to 2.5
* Spectre: Spectral Dagger movement speed increased from 8/12/16/20% to 10/14/18/22%
* Spectre: Level 20 Talent reduced from +20% Spectral Dagger to +18%

* Storm Spirit: Electric Vortex manacost reduced from 85 to 60/70/80/90
* Storm Spirit: Level 10 Talent changed from +20 Damage to +30 Overload Damage

* Sven: Base movement speed increased by 15
* Sven: Warcry shield health changed from 110/220/330/440 to 80/110/140/170 + 1/1.5/2/2.5x your strength
* Sven: Storm Hammer cooldown increased from 13 to 16/15/14/13
* Sven: Storm Hammer damage reduced from 100/175/250/325 to 80/160/240/320

* Techies: Remote Mines manacost reduced from 200/240/300 to 120/180/240

* Templar Assassin: Meld debuff is now applied before the attack damage is reduced by armor
* Templar Assassin: Fixed meld bonus damage being increased by Spell Amplification
* Templar Assassin: Level 10 Talent changed from +3 Psionic Traps to +15% Evasion
* Templar Assassin: Level 15 Talent changed from +7 Armor to +25 Movement Speed

* Terrorblade: Strength reduced from 16 + 1.7 to 15 + 1.5

* Tidehunter: Anchor Smash damage reduction from -45/50/55/60 to -30/40/50/60%

* Timbersaw: Reactive Armor bonus armor reduced from 1.3/1.4/1.5/1.6 to 1/1.1/1.2/1.3
* Timbersaw: Reactive Armor bonus health regen reduced from 1/1.2/1.4/1.6 to 1/1.1/1.2/1.3
* Timbersaw: Reactive Armor max stacks increased from 5/10/15/20 to 6/12/18/24
* Timbersaw: Whirling Death tree bonus damage increased from 10/15/20/25 to 12/18/24/30
* Timbersaw: Level 20 Talent increased from +10% Cooldown Reduction to +15%

* Tiny: Avalanche AoE reduced from 400 to 325/350/375/400
* Tiny: Avalanche cooldown increased from 23/20/17/14 to 26/22/18/14
* Tiny: Level 15 Talent reduced from +125 Avalanche Damage to +100
* Tiny: Level 15 Talent increased from +350 Health to +400

* Treant Protector: Living Armor damage block increased from 20/40/60/80 to 25/50/75/100
* Treant Protector: Scepter now causes Treant’s Overgrowth to deal damage instead of only Enchanted Trees
* Treant Protector: Overgrowth duration increased from 3/3.75/4.5 to 3.25/4/4.75
* Treant Protector: Level 20 Talent increased from +40 Leech Seed Damage/Heal to +50

* Troll Warlord: Level 15 Talent increased from +75 Whirling Axes Damage to +90
* Troll Warlord: Level 20 Talent increased from +20% Evasion to +25%

* Tusk: Tag Team slow duration reduced from 0.5 to 0.4
* Tusk: Tag Team manacost increased from 40/50/60/70 to 70
* Tusk: Tag Team cooldown increased from 15 to 24/21/18/15

* Underlord: Base movement speed increased by 5

* Undying: Level 15 Talent changed from Tombstone On Death to +30 Tombstone Zombie Damage
* Undying: Level 20 Talent changed from +30 Tombstone Zombie Damage to Tombstone On Death

* Ursa: Base movement speed increased by 15
* Ursa: Fury Swipes damage reduced from 10/16/22/28 to 7/14/21/28

* Vengeful Spirit: Level 20 Talent increased from -5s Magic Missle Cooldown to -6s

* Venomancer: Strength gain increased from 1.9 to 2.1

* Viper: Nethertoxin AoE increased from 350 to 380
* Viper: Nethertoxin damage increased from 20/35/50/65 to 30/45/60/75

* Visage: Level 10 Talent reduced from +125 Cast Range to +100
* Visage: Level 20 Talent reduced from +60 Familiars Movement Speed to +50
* Visage: Level 20 Talent increased from +15 Soul Assumption Damage Per Charge to +20

* Warlock: Base strength increased by 2
* Warlock: Chaotic Offering attack damage increased from 75/125/175 to 100/150/200
* Warlock: Golem attack backswing reduced from 0.74 to 0.57

* Weaver: Level 10 Talent changed from +7 Strength to +75 Shukuchi Damage
* Weaver: Level 15 Talent changed from +75 Shukuchi Damage to +14 Strength

* Windranger: Level 15 Talent increased from +100 Attack Range to +125
* Windranger: Level 15 Talent increased from +100 Powershot Damage to +125

* Winter Wyvern: Cold Embrace base health regen increased from 15 to 14/18/22/26
* Winter Wyvern: Cold Embrace manacost changed from 75 to 50/60/70/80

* Witch Doctor: Maledict cooldown reduced from 50/40/30/20 to 30/26/22/18
* Witch Doctor: Level 10 Talent increased from +5 Armor to +6

* Wraith King: Base movement speed increased by 15

* Zeus: Reworked Static Field. Now affects enemies directly affected by your abilities. No longer has a range.

.NET Core 3.0 Preview 2 is now available and it includes a bunch of new updates to ASP.NET Core.

Here’s the list of what’s new in this preview:

• Razor Components
• SignalR client-to-server streaming
• Pipes on HttpContext
• Generic host in templates
• Endpoint routing updates

Get started

To get started with ASP.NET Core in .NET Core 3.0 Preview 2 install the .NET Core 3.0 Preview 2 SDK

If you’re on Windows using Visual Studio, you’ll also want to install the latest preview of Visual Studio 2019.

Upgrade an existing project

To upgrade an existing an ASP.NET Core app to .NET Core 3.0 Preview 2, follow the migrations steps in the ASP.NET Core docs.

Add package for Json.NET

As part of the work to tidy up the ASP.NET Core shared framework, Json.NET is being removed from the shared framework and now needs to be added as a package.

To add back Json.NET support to an ASP.NET Core 3.0 project:

Runtime compilation removed

As a consequence of cleaning up the ASP.NET Core shared framework to not depend on Roslyn, support for runtime compilation of pages and views has also been removed in this preview release. Instead compilation of pages and views is performed at build time. In a future preview update we will provide a NuGet packages for optionally enabling runtime compilation support in an app.

Other breaking changes and announcements

For a full list of other breaking changes and announcements for this release please see the ASP.NET Core Announcements repo.

Build modern web UI with Razor Components

Razor Components are a new way to build interactive client-side web UI with ASP.NET Core. This release of .NET Core 3.0 Preview 2 adds support for Razor Components to ASP.NET Core and for hosting Razor Components on the server. For those of you who have been following along with the experimental Blazor project, Razor Components represent the integration of the Blazor component model into ASP.NET Core along with the server-side Blazor hosting model. ASP.NET Core Razor Components is a new capability in ASP.NET Core to host Razor Components on the server over a real-time connection.

Working with Razor Components

Razor Components are self-contained chunks of user interface (UI), such as a page, dialog, or form. Razor Components are normal .NET classes that define UI rendering logic and client-side event handlers, so you can write rich interactive web apps without having to write any JavaScript. Razor components are typically authored using Razor syntax, a natural blend of HTML and C#. Razor Components are similar to Razor Pages and MVC Views in that they both use Razor. But unlike pages and views, which are built around a request/reply model, components are used specifically for handling UI composition.

To create, build, and run your first ASP.NET Core app with Razor Components run the following from the command line:

dotnet new razorcomponents -o WebApplication1


cd WebApplication1


dotnet run

Or create an ASP.NET Core Razor Components in Visual Studio 2019:

The generated solution has two projects: a server project (WebApplication1.Server), and a project with client-side web UI logic written using Razor Components (WebApplication1.App). The server project is an ASP.NET Core project setup to host the Razor Components.

Why two projects? In part it’s to separate the UI logic from the rest of the application. There is also a technical limitation in this preview that we are using the same Razor file extension (.cshtml) for Razor Components that we also use for Razor Pages and Views, but they have different compilation models, so they need to kept separate. In a future preview we plan to introduce a new file extension for Razor Components (.razor) so that you can easily host your components, pages, and views all in the same project.

When you run the app you should see multiple pages (Home, Counter, and Fetch data) on different tabs. On the Counter page you can click a button to increment a counter without any page refresh. Normally this would require writing JavaScript, but here everything is written using Razor Components in C#!

Here’s what the Counter component code looks like:

@page "/counter"





<h1>Counter</h1>





<p>Current count: @currentCount</p>





<button class="btn btn-primary" on‌click="@IncrementCount">Click me</button>





@functions {
 int currentCount = 0;



 void IncrementCount()
 {
 currentCount+=1;
 }


}

Making a request to /counter, as specified by the @page directive at the top, causes the component to render its content. Components render into an in-memory representation of the render tree that can then be used to update the UI in a very flexible and efficient way. Each time the “Click me” button is clicked the onclick event is fired and the IncrementCount method is called. The currentCount gets incremented and the component is rendered again. The runtime compares the newly rendered content with what was rendered previously and only the changes are then applied to the DOM (i.e. the updated count).

You can use components from other components using an HTML-like syntax where component parameters are specified using attributes or child content. For example, you can add a Counter component to the app’s home page like this:

@page "/"





<h1>Hello, world!</h1>





Welcome to your new app.





<Counter />

To add a parameter to the Counter component update the @functions block to add a property decorated with the [Parameter] attribute:

@functions {
 int currentCount = 0;



 [Parameter] int IncrementAmount { get; set; } = 1;



 void IncrementCount()
 {
 currentCount+=IncrementAmount;
 }


}

Now you can specify IncrementAmount parameter value using an attribute like this:

<Counter IncrementAmount="10" />

The Home page then has it’s own counter that increments by tens:

This is just an intro to what Razor Components are capable of. Razor Components are based on the Blazor component model and they support all of the same features (parameters, child content, templates, lifecycle events, component references, etc.). To learn more about Razor Components check out the component model docs and try out building your first Razor Components app yourself.

Hosting Razor Components

Because Razor Components decouple a component’s rendering logic from how the UI updates get applied, there is a lot of flexibility in how Razor Components can be hosted. ASP.NET Core Razor Components in .NET Core 3.0 adds support for hosting Razor Components on the server in an ASP.NET Core app where all UI updates are handled over a SignalR connection. The runtime handles sending UI events from the browser to the server and then applies UI updates sent by the server back to the browser after running the components. The same connection is also used to handle JavaScript interop calls.

Alternatively, Blazor is an experimental single page app framework that runs Razor Components directly in the browser using a WebAssembly based .NET runtime. In Blazor apps the UI updates from the Razor Components are all applied in process directly to the DOM.

Support for the client-side Blazor hosting model using WebAssembly won’t ship with ASP.NET Core 3.0, but we are working towards shipping it with a later release.

Regardless of which hosting model you use for your Razor Components, the component model is the same. The same Razor Components can be used with either hosting model. You can even switch your app back and forth from being a client-side Blazor app or Razor Components running in ASP.NET Core using the same components as long as your components haven’t taken any server specific dependencies.

JavaScript interop

Razor Components can also use client-side JavaScript if needed. From a Razor Component you can call into any browser API or into an existing JavaScript library running in the browser. .NET library authors can use JavaScript interop to provide .NET wrappers for JavaScript APIs, so that they can be conveniently called from Razor Components.

public class ExampleJsInterop


{
 public static Task<string> Prompt(this IJSRuntime js, string text)
 {
 // showPrompt is implemented in wwwroot/exampleJsInterop.js
 return js.InvokeAsync<string>("exampleJsFunctions.showPrompt", text);
 }


}

@inject IJSRuntime JS





<button onclick="@OnClick">Show prompt</button>





@functions {
 string name;



 async Task OnClick() {
 name = await JS.Prompt("Hi! What's you're name?");
 }


}

Both Razor Components and Blazor share the same JavaScript interop abstraction, so .NET libraries relying on JavaScript interop are usable by both types of apps. Check out the JavaScript interop docs for more details on using JavaScript interop and the Blazor community page for existing JavaScript interop libraries.

Sharing component libraries

Components can be easily shared and reused just like you would normal .NET classes. Razor Components can be built into component libraries and then shared as NuGet packages. You can find existing component libraries on the Blazor community page.

The .NET Core 3.0 Preview 2 SDK doesn’t include a project template for Razor Component Class Libraries yet, but we expect to add one in a future preview. In meantime, you can use Blazor Component Class Library template.

dotnet new -i Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor.Templates


dotnet new blazorlib

In this preview release ASP.NET Core Razor Components don’t yet support using static assets in component libraries, so the support for component class libraries is pretty limited. However, in a future preview we expect to add this support for using static assets from a library just like you can in Blazor today.

Integration with MVC Views and Razor Pages

Razor Components can be used with your existing Razor Pages and MVC apps. There is no need to rewrite existing views or pages to use Razor Components. Components can be used from within a view or page. When the page or view is rendered, any components used will be prerendered at the same time.

To render a component from a Razor Page or MVC View in this release, use the RenderComponentAsync<TComponent> HTML helper method:

<div id="Counter">
 @(await Html.RenderComponentAsync<Counter>(new { IncrementAmount = 10 }))


</div>

Components rendered from pages and views will be prerendered, but are not yet interactive (i.e. clicking the Counter button doesn’t do anything in this release). This will get addressed in a future preview, along with adding support for rendering components from pages and views using the normal element and attribute syntax.

While views and pages can use components the converse is not true: components can’t use views and pages specific features, like partial views and sections. If you want to use a logic from partial view in a component you’ll need to factor that logic out first as a component.

Cross platform tooling

Visual Studio 2019 comes with built-in editor support for Razor Components including completions and diagnostics in the editor. You don’t need to install any additional extensions.

Razor Component tooling isn’t available yet in Visual Studio for Mac or Visual Studio Code, but it’s something we are actively working on.

A bright future for Blazor

In parallel with the ASP.NET Core 3.0 work, we will continue ship updated experimental releases of Blazor to support hosting Razor Components client-side in the browser (we’ll have more to share on the latest Blazor update shortly!). While in ASP.NET Core 3.0 we will only support hosting Razor Components in ASP.NET Core, we are also working towards shipping Blazor and support for running Razor Components in the browser on WebAssembly in a future release.

SignalR client-to-server streaming

With ASP.NET Core SignalR we added Streaming support, which enables streaming return values from server-side methods. This is useful for when fragments of data will come in over a period of time.

With .NET Core 3.0 Preview 2 we’ve added client-to-server streaming. With client-to-server streaming, your server-side methods can take instances of a ChannelReader<T>. In the C# code sample below, the StartStream method on the Hub will receive a stream of strings from the client.

public async Task StartStream(string streamName, ChannelReader<string> streamContent)


{
 // read from and process stream items
 while (await streamContent.WaitToReadAsync(Context.ConnectionAborted))
 {
 while (streamContent.TryRead(out var content))
 {
 // process content
 }
 }


}

Clients would use the SignalR Subject (or an RxJS Subject) as an argument to the streamContent parameter of the Hub method above.

let subject = new signalR.Subject();


await connection.send("StartStream", "MyAsciiArtStream", subject);

The JavaScript code would then use the subject.next method to handle strings as they are captured and ready to be sent to the server.

subject.next("example");


subject.complete();

Using code like the two snippets above, you can create real-time streaming experiences. For a preview of what you can do with client-side streaming with SignalR, take a look at the demo site, streamr.azurewebsites.net. If you create your own stream, you can stream ASCII art representations of image data being captured by your local web cam to the server, where it will be bounced out to other clients who are watching your stream.

System.IO.Pipelines on HttpContext

In ASP.NET Core 3.0, we’re working on consuming the System.IO.Pipelines API and exposing it in ASP.NET Core to allow you to write more performant applications.

In Preview 2, we’re exposing the request body pipe and response body pipe on the HttpContext that you can directly read from and write to respectively in addition to maintaining the existing Stream-based APIs.
While these pipes are currently just wrappers over the existing streams, we will directly expose the underlying pipes in a future preview.

Here’s an example that demonstrates using both the request body and response body pipes directly.

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)


{
 if (env.IsDevelopment())
 {
 app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
 }



 app.UseRouting(routes =>
 {
 routes.MapGet("/", async context =>
 {
 await context.Response.WriteAsync("Hello World");
 });



 routes.MapPost("/", async context =>
 {
 while (true)
 {
 var result = await context.Request.BodyPipe.ReadAsync();
 var buffer = result.Buffer;



 if (result.IsCompleted)
 {
 break;
 }



 context.Request.BodyPipe.AdvanceTo(buffer.End);
 }
 });
 });


}

Generic host in templates

The templates have been updated to use the Generic Host instead of WebHostBuilder as they have in the past:

public static void Main(string[] args)


{
 CreateHostBuilder(args).Build().Run();


}





public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
 Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
 .ConfigureWebHostDefaults(webBuilder =>
 {
 webBuilder.UseStartup<Startup>();
 });

This is part of the ongoing plan started in 2.0 to better integrate ASP.NET Core with other server scenarios that are not web specific.

What about IWebHostBuilder?

The IWebHostBuilder interface that is used with WebHostBuilder today will be kept, and is the type of the webBuilder used in the sample code above. We intend to deprecate and eventually remove WebHostBuilder itself as its functionality will be replaced by HostBuilder, though the interface will remain.

The biggest difference between WebHostBuilder and HostBuilder is that you can no longer inject arbitrary services into your Startup.cs. Instead you will be limited to the IHostingEnvironment and IConfiguration interfaces. This removes a behavior quirk related to injecting services into Startup.cs before the ConfigureServices method is called. We will publish more details on the differences between WebHostBuilder and HostBuilder in a future deep-dive post.

Endpoint routing updates

We’re excited to start introducing more of the Endpoint Routing story that began in 2.2. Endpoint routing allows frameworks like MVC as well as other routable things to mix with middleware in a way that hasn’t been possible before. This is now present in the project templates in 3.0.0-preview-2, we’ll continue to add more richness as we move closer to a final release.

Here’s an example:

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)


{
 if (env.IsDevelopment())
 {
 app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
 }



 app.UseStaticFiles();



 app.UseRouting(routes =>
 {
 routes.MapApplication();



 routes.MapGet("/hello", context =>
 {
 return context.Response.WriteAsync("Hi there!"); 
 });



 routes.MapHealthChecks("/healthz");
 });



 app.UseAuthentication();
 app.UseAuthorization();


}

There’s a few things to unpack here.

First, the UseRouting(...) call adds a new Endpoint Routing middleware. UseRouting is at the core of many of the templates in 3.0 and replaces many of the features that were implemented inside UseMvc(...) in the past.

Also notice that inside UseRouting(...) we’re setting up a few things. MapApplication() brings in MVC controllers and pages for routing. MapGet(...) shows how to wire up a request delegate to routing. MapHealthChecks(...) hooks up the health check middleware, but by plugging it into routing.

What might be surprising to see is that some middleware now come after UseRouting. Let’s tweak this example to demonstrate why that is valuable.

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)


{
 if (env.IsDevelopment())
 {
 app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
 }



 app.UseStaticFiles();



 app.UseRouting(routes =>
 {
 routes.MapApplication();



 routes.MapGet("/hello", context =>
 {
 return context.Response.WriteAsync("Hi there! Here's your secret message"); 
 })
 .RequireAuthorization(new AuthorizeAttribute(){ Roles = "secret-messages", });



 routes.MapHealthChecks("/healthz").RequireAuthorization("admin");
 });



 app.UseAuthentication();
 app.UseAuthorization();


}

Now I’ve added an AuthorizeAttribute to my request delegate. This is just like placing [Authorize(Roles = "secret-messages")] on an action method in a controller. We’ve also given the health checks middleware an authorization policy as well (by policy name).

This works because the following steps happen in order (ignoring what happens before routing):

1. UseRouting(...) makes a routing decision – selecting an Endpoint
2. UseAuthorization() looks at the Endpoint that was selected and runs the corresponding authorization policy
3. hidden… At the end of the middleware pipeline the Endpoint is executed (if no endpoint was matched then a 404 response is returned)

So think of UseRouting(...) as making a deferred routing decision – where middleware that appear after it run in the middle. Any middleware that run after routing can see the results and read or modify the route data and chosen endpoint. When processing reaches the end of the pipeline, then the endpoint is invoked.

What is an Endpoint and why did we add this?

An Endpoint is a new primitive to help frameworks (like MVC) be friends with middleware. Fundamentally an Endpoint is a request delegate (something that can execute) plus a bag of metadata (policies).

Here’s an example middleware – you can use this to examine endpoints in the debugger or by printing to the console:

app.Use(next => (context) =>


{
 var endpoint = context.GetEndpoint();
 if (endpoint != null)
 {
 Console.WriteLine("Name: " + endpoint.DisplayName);
 Console.WriteLine("Route: " + (endpoint as RouteEndpoint)?.RoutePattern);
 Console.WriteLine("Metadata: " + string.Join(", ", endpoint.Metadata));
 }



 return next(context);


});

In the past we haven’t had a good solution when we’ve wanted to implement a policy like CORS or Authorization in both middleware and MVC. Putting a middleware in the pipeline feels very good because you get to configure the order. Putting filters and attributes on methods in controllers feels really good when you need to apply policies to different parts of the application. Endpoints bring togther all of these advantages.

As an addition problem – what do you do if you’re writing the health checks middleware? You might want to secure your middleware in a way that developers can customize. Being able to leverage the ASP.NET Core features for this directly avoids the need to build in support for cross-cutting concerns in every component that serves HTTP.

In addition to removing code duplication from MVC, the Endpoint + Middleware solution can be used by any other ASP.NET Core-based technologies. You don’t even need to use UseRouting(...) – all that is required to leverage the enhancements to middleware is to set an Endpoint on the HttpContext.

What’s integrated with this?

We added the new authorize middleware so that you can start doing more powerful security things with just middleware. The authorize middleware can accept a default policy that applies when there’s no endpoint, or the endpoint doesn’t specify a policy.

CORS is also now endpoint routing aware and will use the CORS policy specified on an endpoint.

MVC also plugs in to endpoint routing and will create endpoints for all of your controllers and pages. MVC can now be used with the CORS and authorize features and will largely work the same. We’ve long had confusion about whether to use the CORS middleware or CORS filters in MVC, the updated guidance is to use both. This allows you to provide CORS support to other middleware or static files, while still applying more granular CORS policies with the existing attributes.

Health checks also provide methods to register the health checks middleware as a router-ware (as shown above). This allows you to specify other kinds of policies for health checks.

Finally, new in ASP.NET Core 3.0 preview 2 is host matching for routes. Placing the HostAttribute on an MVC controller or action will prompt the routing system to require the specified domain or port. Or you can use RequireHost in your Startup.cs:

app.UseRouting(routes =>


{
 routes.MapGet("/", context => context.Response.WriteAsync("Hi Contoso!"))
 .RequireHost("contoso.com");



 routes.MapGet("/", context => context.Response.WriteAsync("Hi AdventureWorks!"))
 .RequireHost("adventure-works.com");



 routes.MapHealthChecks("/healthz").RequireHost("*:8080");


});

Do you think that there are things that are missing from the endpoint story? Are there more things we should make smarter or more integrated? Please let us know what you’d like to see.

Give feedback

We hope you enjoy the new features in this preview release of ASP.NET Core! Please let us know what you think by filing issues on Github.

In the previous article, we introduced the subject of angle brackets (< >) and demonstrated some of their uses. Here, we’ll look at the topic from a few more angles. Let’s dive right in.

You can use < to trick a tool into believing the output of a command is data from a file.

Let’s say you are not sure your backup is complete, and you want to check that a certain directory contains all the files copied over from the original. You can try this:

diff <(ls /original/dir/) <(ls /backup/dir/)

diff is a tool that typically compares two text files line by line, looking for differences. Here it gets the output from two ls commands and treats them as if coming from a file and compares them as such.

Note that there is no space between the < and the (...).

Running that on the original and backup of a directory where I save pretty pictures, I get:

diff <(ls /My/Pictures/) <(ls /My/backup/Pictures/) 5d4 < Dv7bIIeUUAAD1Fc.jpg:large.jpg

The < in the output is telling me that there is file (Dv7bIIeUUAAD1Fc.jpg:large.jpg) on the left side of the comparison (in /My/Pictures) that is not on the right side of the comparison (in /My/backup/Pictures), which means copying over has failed for some reason. If diff didn’t cough up any output, it would mean that the list of files were the same.

So, you may be wondering, if you can take the output of a command or command line, make it look like the contents of a file, and feed it to an instruction that is expecting a file, that means that in the sorting by favorite actor example from above, you could’ve done away with the intermediate file and just piped the output from the loop into sort.

In short, yep! The line:

sort -r <(while read -r name surname films;do echo $films $name $surname ; done < CBactors)

does the trick nicely.

Here string! Good string!

There is one more case for redirecting data using angle brackets (or arrows, or whatever you want to call them).

You may be familiar with the practice of passing variables to commands using echo and a pipe (|). Say you want to convert a variable containing a string to uppercase characters because… I don’t know… YOU LIKE SHOUTING A LOT. You could do this:

myvar="Hello World" echo $myvar | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' HELLO WORLD

The tr command translates strings to different formats. In the example above, you are telling tr to change all the lowercase characters that come along in the string to uppercase characters.

It is important to know that you are not passing on the variable, but only its contents, that is, the string “Hello World“. This is called the here string, as in “it is here, in this context, that we know what string we are dealing with“. But there is shorter, clearer, and all round better way of delivering here strings to commands. Using

tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' <<< $myvar

does the same thing with no need to use echo or a pipe. It also uses angle brackets, which is the whole obsessive point of this article.

Conclusion

Again, Bash proves to give you lots of options with very little. I mean, who would’ve thunk that you could do so much with two simple characters like < and >?

The thing is we aren’t done. There are plenty of more characters that bring meaning to chains of Bash instructions. Without some background, they can make shell commands look like gibberish. Hopefully, post by post, we can help you decipher them. Until next time!

More organizations are embracing a modern workplace, and new features for Microsoft 365 help you meet compliance obligations, empower Firstline Workers, and enrich your Office app experience.

Here’s a look at what’s new in January.

New capabilities to help organizations address compliance-related challenges

Today, we announced new information protection and compliance solutions to help organizations meet their privacy and compliance commitments in a simple, integrated, and intelligent way.

Access your compliance and privacy tools in a specialized workspace—The Microsoft 365 compliance center is now available, providing your privacy and compliance teams a specialized workspace with easy access to features including Compliance Manager, sensitivity and retention labels, and tools to help respond to regulatory requirements like GDPR, to deliver a unified experience with actionable insights.

Simplify the eDiscovery process with new integrated capabilities—New capabilities in Advanced eDiscovery help you efficiently manage discovery workflows with new features to notify custodians or employees related to a case or investigation, isolate case-related contents for processing, and use the new built-in review and redact capability to modify sensitive portions of documents before exporting them as part of a legal matter.

Meet communications monitoring compliance obligations for regulated industries—The Office 365 Supervision feature for communications monitoring requirements now includes Microsoft Teams content as well as expanded policy configuration, data classifications, and integrated review to simplify the employee communications review process.

These new capabilities will be available to all Microsoft 365 E5 or Information Protection and Compliance SKU subscribers.

Empowering Firstline Workers to achieve more

This month, we announced new capabilities in Teams to empower Firstline Workers, including the ability to securely communicate while on the go, provide peer recognition, and have visibility into shift scheduling.

Enable Firstline Workers to communicate securely—A new, customizable Teams mobile experience lets Firstline Workers securely communicate and effectively collaborate from anywhere. This new mobile experience is a simple and secure, with several new mobile-only features that specifically benefit Firstline Workers, including location sharing and smart camera. Additionally, IT admins can now apply a prepackaged policy or create a custom policy to give employees role-based access to the Teams modules they need. The customizable mobile experience is now available for all Office 365 subscribers.

Manage schedules directly in Teams with Shifts—Managers can create shift schedules and team members can update their availability, review schedules, and request time off directly in Teams. You can now integrate Shifts with your existing workforce management system through the Graph API for Shifts, available in public preview later this quarter.

Boost motivation and team morale with new Praise tool—The new Praise tool, rolling out this quarter, gives managers and employees a simple way to recognize coworkers, right in the Teams app where the whole team can see it.

Updates to help you easily access Office 365 and your files on Mac and deliver better content

New, integrated features bring more ways on Mac to improve productivity, deliver engaging content, and enhance learning.

Download the Office 365 suite with just one click on the Mac App Store—This month, we announced that that Office 365 is now available on the newly redesigned Mac App Store. With one click, Mac users can download the cloud-connected, always-up-to-date version of the Office suite—including full installs of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive.

Free up space and easily access your files with OneDrive Files On-Demand for Mac—Files On-Demand is now also available for Mac, making it easier to access all of your files in Office 365 directly in Finder without taking up valuable storage space on your device. You can take files offline for when you’re without an internet connection and free up storage space when you no longer need a local copy of the file. Files On-Demand is now available to all customers running MacOS Mojave.

Engage employees with new interactive visuals and features—Microsoft Photos now makes it easy to create videos with music and narration, text and filters, and even add 3D effects. In February, customers will be able to enhance PowerPoint content by adding Microsoft Stream videos into presentations. And coming soon, teams will have a new way to seamlessly add Microsoft Forms quizzes and polling directly into Microsoft Stream videos.

Other updates

• The Office Cloud Policy Service is now in public preview to help administrators manage policies for all Office 365 ProPlus users in their organization.
• New improvements to the no-cost SharePoint Migration Tool will help you accelerate your migration to SharePoint Online, OneDrive, and Teams.
• Office 365 now saves new documents to OneDrive or SharePoint Online by default, helping provide users access to their files from anywhere and start collaborating with ease.
• Integrate conversations from any Yammer group, topic, user, or home feed into any SharePoint page, news article, or site with the new Yammer conversations web part.
• Microsoft Forms is now available to Office 365 U.S. Government GCC and GCC High environments.