Incendio en un depósito de pinturas en Francisco Álvarez. La columna de humo se ve desde varios kilómetros. Foto: Guillermo Rodríguez Adami

Incendio en un depósito de pinturas en Francisco Álvarez. La columna de humo se ve desde varios kilómetros. Foto: Guillermo Rodríguez Adami

El humo y la probabilidad de trastornos respiratorios

Incendio en Merlo

The WNBA players had many issues to negotiate with their new collective bargaining agreement, some more complicated than others. But salary is a currency every worker understands, and the league will offer historical gains in players’ salaries for 2026 and beyond.

The WNBA board of governors unanimously ratified the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement on Tuesday, one day after the players also unanimously approved the seven-year CBA. But the league’s general managers are already hard at work with the compressed timeline for building their teams this season. The expansion drafts for new franchises Toronto and Portland will be April 6, followed by a massive free agency period expected to start April 7 and the collegiate/overseas draft April 13.

Now that we have more of the specifics of salary structure, here are some examples of what it will look like for players of all levels for the 2026 season, when the salary cap will be $7 million per team, compared to $1.5 million in 2025.

Jump to salaries: Elite veteran | Average veteran | Minimum veteran | Elite rookie | Top draft picks

Elite veteran

Example: A’ja Wilson, 6-foot-4 center

Age to start this season: 29
Years of WNBA experience: 8
2025 salary: $200,000
Projected 2026 salary: $1.4 million, supermax

Wilson won her third WNBA title and unprecedented fourth MVP award in 2025. The 2018 No. 1 draft pick by the Las Vegas Aces, Wilson has averaged 21.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in her career. The Las Vegas Journal-Review has reported that the Aces are eager to sign the free agent Wilson to a supermax deal.

Last season, Wilson took a pay cut from the supermax, which was then $249,244, to help the Aces afford the championship roster around her. She wasn’t her team’s highest-paid player in 2025; that was guard Jewell Loyd, who made $249,032.

Wilson has been so valuable and durable for the Aces that it seems likely she will get paid as much as is allowed this season. Plus, the cash value for various league awards also is increasing. Should Wilson win a fifth MVP this season, it would be worth $60,000, compared to $15,450 last year.

As for other elite players, the max salary for 2026 will be $1.19 million.

Average salary veteran

Example: Alanna Smith, 6-4 forward

Age to start this season: 29
Years of WNBA experience: 7
2025 salary: $150,000
Projected 2026 salary: $600,000

The WNBA is listing the “average” salary as being $583,800 in 2026, which is an estimate. We will get a better sense of the actual range for elite and midtier veteran salaries by observing how general managers build teams under the new CBA.

Smith, drafted No. 8 in 2019, spent four seasons establishing herself before she really clicked with the Chicago Sky as a starter in 2023. The past two seasons, she has been a big part of the Minnesota Lynx, helping them make the WNBA Finals in 2024 and earning co-Defensive Player of the Year with Wilson in 2025.

Smith is the kind of reliable veteran essential for a team seeking a championship. She just won the Unrivaled title with Mist.

Minimum salary veteran

Erica Wheeler, 5-7 guard

Age to start this season: 35
Years of WNBA experience: 10
2025 salary: $78,831
Projected 2026 salary: $300,000

Wheeler made the veteran minimum last season with the Seattle Storm, averaging 10.3 points and 3.3 assists. The season before that, with the Indiana Fever, she made $202,154 and averaged 3.6 points and 1.8 assists. She gave as much effort and dedication in both situations, which partly explains her value even in her mid-30s.

Wheeler’s experience and team-first mindset can help a franchise. Plus, she still has on-court skills, as we saw during the Unrivaled season. The minimum for players with zero years of experience is $270,000; one to three years is $277,500; four to six years is $285,000; seven to nine years is $292,500; and 10 or more is $300,000. Wheeler will at least be in that last category.

Undrafted out of Rutgers in 2013, she had to work to earn a spot in the league. She has carried an underdog mentality gracefully, including as All-Star Game MVP in 2019. The way Wheeler welcomed and treated Fever rookie sensation Caitlin Clark in 2024 was the type of leadership general managers notice.

Elite rookie contract

Example: Caitlin Clark, 6-0 guard

Age to start this season: 24

Years of WNBA experience: 2
2025 salary: $78,066
Projected 2026 salary: $530,000

The standard WNBA rookie contracts have been for three years with a club option for a fourth, with players earning more for being drafted higher. The union made it a priority to get better pay for the 2026 incoming rookies and players such as Clark, whose existing rookie deals will be adjusted — reduced by 4% for each year elapsed since signing — to the new CBA parameters. For Clark, the No. 1 pick in 2024 entering the third year of her rookie deal, that should be nearly $530,000.

And thanks to a new CBA feature called “EPIC” — Exceptional Performance on Initial Contract — players can renegotiate the fourth year of their rookie deal and agree to a three-year contract extension. Honors such as being named to the All-WNBA first or second team could get them a max deal, or winning MVP a supermax deal. Clark was limited to 13 games last year due to injuries. But she was All-WNBA as a rookie in 2024 and thus will be eligible for a max deal in 2027.

This CBA dramatically improves all players’ salaries. For those still on rookie deals, the difference between what they would have gotten under the old CBA and what they could get now is particularly striking because of how much it accelerates their earning potential.

Projected 2026 No. 1 draft pick

Example: Azzi Fudd, 5-11 guard

Age to start this season: 23

Projected 2026 salary: $500,000

Fudd was eligible age-wise for the WNBA draft last season since she had redshirted at UConn in 2023-24. But she opted to use her final year of college eligibility and is chasing a perfect season and a second consecutive NCAA championship with the Huskies. She will benefit by starting her WNBA career under the new CBA.

The rookie salary scale for 2026 starts at $500,000 for the No. 1 pick. The second pick gets $466,913, the third $436,016, etc., and finishes at $289,133 for the last seven picks in the first round. Second- and third-round picks and any other rookies get $270,000.

The WNBA draft is scheduled for April 13, with the Dallas Wings having the No. 1 pick. Fudd, Spain’s Awa Fam and TCU‘s Olivia Miles are projected as the top-three picks in ESPN’s most recent mock draft.

YouTube has certainly proven itself to be a bit of a pain for viewers lately, especially those members of its audience attempting to bypass ads. Today’s issue takes it to a whole new level, though, as some users are struggling to use the site without seeing repeated CAPTCHAs blocking access to videos.

According to multiple reports across Reddit and DownDetector, some YouTube viewers are running into frequent CAPTCHA tests when attempting to access the site. These tests are relatively basic — utilizing first-gen word-based CAPTCHA puzzles rather than newer tests that typically rely on image recognition — but because they’re appearing repeatedly, actually browsing the site seems to be borderline impossible. The warning itself seems to be in error as well, with shared screenshots simply showing a generic “unusual traffic” warning as the cause behind these interruptions.

Affected users don’t seem to have a specific factor in common that would be causing these puzzles to appear. One user based in Germany specifically said they don’t use a VPN, something that often causes these sorts of traffic warnings to appear in places like Google’s search engine results. Another user attempted to switch their DNS to Google’s Public DNS, and though it initially worked, the problem eventually reappeared. And perhaps the most obvious potential culprit of all — ad blockers — also seem innocent in this case, with one poster specifically saying they’d disabled their extension while still experiencing incessant CAPTCHAs.

For now, the problem seems fairly limited to the web version of YouTube, with multiple comments pointing towards mobile apps as working fine. It’s also worth noting that this issue, though certainly somewhat widespread, isn’t affecting all users; I’ve been unable to replicate the issue, both when logged into YouTube and in an Incognito session. If you’re experiencing this bug, your best bet might be to turn to mobile for now. Otherwise, you’ll have to keep waiting for Google to roll out a fix.

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I’m 40 hours deep into Crimson Desert ($69.99 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S), and I’m eager to play more. The action-RPG deftly blends Dragon’s Dogma’s combat, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s scope, and a sprinkling of gameplay ideas borrowed from other recent open-world releases. The result is a title that successfully borrows from the past, while shaking things up with enough mechanical uniqueness to shine as its own engaging genre entry.

First Impressions: A Steep Learning Curve

In Crimson Desert, you play as Kliff, the leader of a mercenary squad called the Greymanes. As the band regroups to pay their respects to recently lost members, it’s attacked with no time to mourn, thrusting the protagonist into action. After a series of fights, the Greymanes are scattered, and Kliff is killed. It’s only thanks to divine intervention that he’s plucked from death to serve a greater purpose.

To say Crimson Desert is ambitious is a massive understatement. However, that ambition comes with a steep learning curve. It’s a systems-heavy title that uses every gamepad button (and even button combinations) to unleash Kliff’s abilities. On the one hand, this leads to unique ways to interact with the world that haven’t been seen in some time, namely its Ocarina of Time-style targeting system. You even use it to focus on NPCs to engage in conversation.

On the other hand, developer Pearl Abyss adds unnecessary complexity to simple controls, which leads to confusion. For example, I spent the game’s early hours stumbling around in the dark because I couldn’t figure out how to pull out my lantern. The lantern can’t be used while armed, so I needed to sheathe Kliff’s weapon first. Unfortunately, I forgot which button did that, so I explored the dark caves, forested woodlands, and even a snowy mountain near the starting area without a light source for an embarrassingly long time. This could have easily been remedied by making Kliff automatically sheathe his weapon when selecting the lantern, but that’s just not how Crimson Desert works.

You see, Crimson Desert is a very hands on, “manual” title, at times to an obtuse degree. Crimson Desert’s controls have other quirks, too, like requiring you to tap a button to sprint, rather than simply holding it. In fact, it took me several hours to build muscle memory and become comfortable with the controls, since I essentially needed to relearn mechanics that are genre-specific staples. It’s like spending your life driving an automatic car, only to be handed a new one with a manual transmission. But the controls are worth learning, as Crimson Desert is incredibly fun.

(Credit: Pearl Abyss/PCMag)

A GTA-Like World With Consequences

The game world is a dynamic, lived-in backdrop that feels heavily inspired by Red Dead Redemption 2’s realism, but filtered through a fantasy lens. Like that Rockstar Games classic, Crimson Desert features impeccable attention to detail, including dynamic NPCs who go about their daily schedules and react to many of your actions. Even mundane actions like petting animals, sitting on benches, or just leaning against walls help bring the world to life.

One element that surprised me is the Grand Theft Auto-style wanted system. You can bully and assault NPCs, but you’ll be flagged as a criminal who must flee the crime scene before being caught by guards. I learned this the hard way when I tested my suplexing ability on a hapless peasant wife strolling down the road. Until then, I assumed NPC reactions to me drawing my weapon were just visual fluff. I was wrong and deemed a criminal for my actions. The game warns that failing to escape or further escalating matters puts your freedom at risk. I still haven’t been arrested, but it’s on my bucket list. Stealing and pickpocketing are other aspects I haven’t experimented with nearly as much. There’s an entire criminal element to the gameplay that I fully intend to explore in due time.

I experienced somewhat generic quests and story beats, but the excellent voice acting breathed life into what would otherwise be banal busywork. Sure, rescuing a cow from bandits may not seem all that interesting, but the way the farmer described his plight made the task all the more intriguing. This adds to Crimson Desert’s realism and atmosphere, further cementing that lived-in feeling.

Familiar Movement, Weapon Creativity, and Puzzles

Like Tears of the Kingdom, Crimson Desert lets you climb almost any surface or use a glider to extend jumps and dives. This also applies to larger enemies, so I scaled those big boys to do battle as I did in Dragon’s Dogma or Shadow of the Colossus.

(Credit: Pearl Abyss/PCMag)

The game engine’s physics and properties also foster creativity, recalling the modern Zelda titles. For example, I lit my arrow on fire by holding my bow over a sconce. Then, I shot it to burn vines that choked a doorway. I liked that my curiosity was rewarded.

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Many puzzles involve using the magical grapple ability, Axiom Force, which I tapped to snag and levitate objects. In my playthrough, I leveraged Axiom Force to move blocks and shift massive, ancient gears on an island in the sky.

Because there’s very little hand-holding, properly applying those mechanics was entirely on me, giving Crimson Desert an old-school “figure it out” vibe that I haven’t enjoyed in quite a while. On top of that, there are many oddities that only add to the experience. For example, I climbed a small rock formation to mine for ore, only to be attacked by crab-monsters mimicking said ore. In my mad dash to escape, I climbed to the top of the rock formation, where I noticed pretty flowers—and promptly dropped dead as I approached. Curious, I returned from the nearest checkpoint to investigate further, and dropped dead again. Was that a bug? Were the flowers cursed? I don’t know! That said, it made for an awesome little story among my many other misadventures in the world of Pywel.

Combat: Wrestling Mooks and Wrangling Bosses

Crimson Desert is by far the biggest departure from any recently released open-world RPG. While there are basic light and heavy attacks to employ, the real fun comes from unlocking new abilities in the beefy skills tree. For example, you can upgrade Axiom Force to pull enemies toward you for easier crowd control, as Nero does to foes in Devil May Cry. Similarly, I opted to learn wrestling moves, including the lariat and suplex, to utterly style on hapless bandits. Some of these fancier moves don’t work against larger enemies and bosses, but I grappled and scaled those foes to dispatch them effectively.

Thanks to all of these abilities, Crimson Desert’s action is open and free-form: it rewards the effort you put into it. You can play methodically, like a Souls game, and use your core attack and block skills to chew through enemies. That said, you can invest in several other skills to broaden the action. Every new ability felt like a new toy for me to experiment with, and the more I played, the more I enjoyed using them in battle. It’s everything I enjoy about Dragon’s Dogma, without the restrictive class system that stymies the action.

(Credit: Pearl Abyss/PCMag)

PC Performance: A Gorgeous Romp Through a Fantasy Wonderland

I played Crimson Desert on my test PC, a rig outfitted with an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 GPU, and 16GB of RAM at medium settings and 1440p resolution. This let me play at roughly 60fps. The frame rate dipped to 40fps in hectic, action-heavy areas; even 30fps, at times. I didn’t want to lower the resolution to 1080p, so I was willing to make that performance compromise.

Crimson Desert is beautifully dense. Reactive foliage, moody and dynamic lighting, and visual flourishes across the board make it a showstopper of a game. I also loved how the sun and moonlight reflected on surfaces, illuminating objects differently depending on you location. A forest at night is inky black, while a moonlight stroll across a mountain is filled with gentle, cool blue rays that reflect off the glittering snow. This is true for towns and villages, too. The lighting and visual design make even a humble stone on a wall pop with detail. That’s to say nothing of the wonderfully weathered cobbled streets or the plastered walls in the old post-and-beam buildings that fill the world.

Why You Should Game on a PC

Crimson Desert Is The Ultimate Genre Mashup

Crimson Desert has the potential to be the next landmark action-RPG, alongside Breath of the Wild, Elden Ring, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It’s an impressive buffet of gameplay ideas that manages to charm, impress, and inspire. Although the early game moments present a steep learning curve due to the unusual controls, the experience becomes vastly more intuitive once muscle memory takes over. Likewise, the combat freedom is almost overwhelming, but finding new ways to clobber enemies is an absolute blast. The atmospheric detail and hyper-realistic interactions add to the game’s appeal. Crimson Desert has delivered more than I ever expected, and I can’t wait to sink more hours into it.

About Our Expert

Gabriel Zamora

Senior Writer, Software

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Experience

In 2014, I began my career at PCMag as a freelancer. That blossomed into a full-time position in 2021, and I now review email marketing apps, mobile operating systems, web hosting services, streaming music platforms, and video games as a senior writer. I’m a graduate of Hunter College, a hard-core gamer, and an Apple enthusiast.

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