Hi everybody! It's been a bit since I last wrote anything and I'm writing this to explain a bit why...
When I first started this blog, I had envisioned it being something that would interweave with the content that I create on Youtube, maybe sort of as a primer or in depth guide as to the things I was doing/playing. However, it quickly became apparent to me that as I recorded videos my strategy simply wasn't feasible. For one, most of my series tend to run fairly long. My first Dwarf Fortress series ended up running 40 episodes for example. I can't expect you guys to enjoy reading about DF twice a week for multiple weeks. Also, it just wasn't exciting for me! Don't take me wrong, I enjoy writing, at times. Something that I've stood by in my Youtube content has been this; If I'm not having fun, then I certainly can't expect my audience to enjoy it either. I'd rather not set arbitrary publishing dates and then grudgingly spew out filler posts. I do intend on putting out posts occasionally, but I think that I've become content to talk through my content on YT.
So just how is the YT going? Well, to be honest, I think it's going about as good as I could have expected. Going into this "adventure" I knew that it was a marathon and not a sprint. The content I make isn't going to suddenly "go viral" and net me tons of subs and views. Instead, I have to focus on being consistent with my videos. Making sure they are on time and that the quality is as good as I can get it. Since starting in the middle-ish of July, I've worked up to 75 subs currently. It doesn't sound like much, and to be fair, it isn't. However, due to the nature of how the tubes of you work, I'm very, very happy with my current subs. We are growing organically at this point. The viewers that I have are loyal and seem to enjoy watching, liking, and commenting on my work. This, in turn, increases the visibility of my content to other potential subscribers. I've described it to several people as like building a snowman, and I think that description is fairly apt. You start with just a tiny, hard, hand packed ball of snow. It takes effort! You have to bend ALL the way down to the ground and bat the hell out of that ball to get it to roll around and pick up more snow. The more snow your original ball picks up, the bigger it becomes and it is easier to pick up more snow. Right now the ball is still pretty small, but it's rolling!
My current goal right now is to hit 100 subscribers by the end of October. Going by my current numbers, it should be fairly doable. I've picked up about 40 subs in the past 28 days. One day I even picked up 8! From there, we aim for 200. We keep raising the bar just a little bit higher every time we hit a goal, we keep rolling that snowball, and hopefully before long we are only having to run along beside this massive monster ball of snowy nastiness that rolls itself. It'll take time. From what I've read, people often say that the first thousand subs are the hardest to get, but once you get those "seed" subs forming the base of your viewers, your growth begins to become exponential.
Currently, I'd consider the content I make to be of decent quality. I've invested into a studio quality microphone, pop filter, and microphone arm. The difference between using a boom mic from a very good headset and the mic I'm currently using is vast. The next step will be to integrate facecam into my videos. Before I can do that, I need to get a green screen setup for my recording space. I'd also like to invest in a better camera as well, to be honest. The webcam I have now will certainly do the job for recordings at my computer, however for some of the ideas I have for future content I will need something a bit more "mobile." I will also need to set up the actual green screen part as well, which could be something pre-manufactured and bought retail, or I could make it myself with lumber and a green blanket/sheet. For those of you who know me, the mental image of me holding a hammer probably draws a few chuckles out of you. As well it should! However, I don't have an infinite supply of money at this point to invest in my production, so I'm willing to do what it takes to make it happen.
Now, normally, this is the point where most people would probably start shilling about how you can help this way or that, and I'm no exception to that. However, just by reading this you are already helping! I draw a great deal of inspiration and encouragement just from knowing that there are those of you out there who enjoy my content and want to see me succeed. If you feel further moved to help in some form or fashion, you can help get the word out about my content. Share this blog. Share my facebook page. Share my website. Share stories. It all helps. Every little last bit.
Thanks, everybody, for believing in me.
~Nerd
#GameOn
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Friday, August 21, 2015
Where have I been??
Hey everyone! First off, apologies for the lack of activity on Monday. I took an impromptu trip out of the state and wasn't really in the proper frame of mind to do any blog writing. Anyways, some changes are coming and I thought I'd dash off a quick little post for today to let you know what's up!
As some of you are aware of, waifu and I have been sharing a house with another couple for the past few months. While this situation has certainly been a great thing for us, it has also limited what sort of content I can push out in regards to Youtube and Twitch. My friend has finally received his marching orders for his fall gig and they will be leaving the house to us for the next two to three months. Sad to see friends go, but it is only temporary AND it will allow me to bring more content to you guys. I will actually have somewhat of a recording studio where I can keep fairly regular work hours and *gasp* actually stream games. For the past month or so, I've only been able to make content while Bekah was at work, and being that I'm not really a morning person, well...you get the picture.
Anyways, I've yet to sit down and actually make a hard and fast schedule of what I'll be doing starting next week. Perhaps I'll give a bit more information regarding that in Monday's writing. I'm just excited to get the chance to put out more content and at a higher quality. I'll even get to use this new microphone that I got! Unfortunately, the wind screen I ordered had...problems. I sent it to the wrong address. So, I probably won't be hooking up the microphone until I have a windscreen so that I don't annoy you with my plosives. You might even see ME! I'm thinking about hooking up my webcam so that I can add some facecam to my Youtube videos. We'll see, we'll see.
Look for more info next week! Until then, #GAMEON!
As some of you are aware of, waifu and I have been sharing a house with another couple for the past few months. While this situation has certainly been a great thing for us, it has also limited what sort of content I can push out in regards to Youtube and Twitch. My friend has finally received his marching orders for his fall gig and they will be leaving the house to us for the next two to three months. Sad to see friends go, but it is only temporary AND it will allow me to bring more content to you guys. I will actually have somewhat of a recording studio where I can keep fairly regular work hours and *gasp* actually stream games. For the past month or so, I've only been able to make content while Bekah was at work, and being that I'm not really a morning person, well...you get the picture.
Anyways, I've yet to sit down and actually make a hard and fast schedule of what I'll be doing starting next week. Perhaps I'll give a bit more information regarding that in Monday's writing. I'm just excited to get the chance to put out more content and at a higher quality. I'll even get to use this new microphone that I got! Unfortunately, the wind screen I ordered had...problems. I sent it to the wrong address. So, I probably won't be hooking up the microphone until I have a windscreen so that I don't annoy you with my plosives. You might even see ME! I'm thinking about hooking up my webcam so that I can add some facecam to my Youtube videos. We'll see, we'll see.
Look for more info next week! Until then, #GAMEON!
Friday, August 14, 2015
Sorted: How to "roll" maps in Path of Exile
I'm writing this as a companion piece to a video that I just put in the can about something that has become very much of a hot button topic since the release of the new Path of Exile expansion, Awakening. Completing maps, or mapping as most PoE players refer to it, is a process somewhat akin to the Nephalem Rift system in Diablo 3. In fact, Diablo 3 lifted a great deal of the features present in that system from Path's system, but alas, that's a topic for another time. Towards the end of the last difficulty of the game, a player can also find maps mixed in with the other loot drops that occur from killing monsters. When these maps are placed within a map device, six portals are opened up to a randomly generated instance full of more monsters and loot. Just like item crafting in Path of Exile, maps can be crafted as well. Crafting maps is a process by which you use currency items to add "affixes" to the map to increase the difficulty, but also increase the potential reward as well. Because Path of Exile's level cap extends all the way to level 100, but story line content is exhausted at level 70, a large portion of a high level character's time will actually be spent crafting these maps and then completing them to reach higher levels faster. However, with the release of the expansion, Grinding Gear Games instituted some changes to the map system to a great deal of chagrin.
Without glazing your eyes over with the details, they basically added some higher level maps, rearranged some existing maps, and added a few new map affixes. Somewhat unexpectedly, they also divided the map into a three tiered system with the intent of having a lower level tier that provided a bit safer environment for new players to map in. Along with this, the middle and upper tier maps were made a bit more difficult to find and certain deadly affixes were relegated to being only found on these maps. While their intentions were certainly the best, it has created a good deal of negative sentiment from your average player who maps casually and doesn't want to be bothered with creating a stable base of maps to run on each level before advancing to the higher tiers. They run out of maps and are forced to run lower level maps again, and the frustration sets in. I definitely get that, so I've decided to write up this little guide post to perhaps help some folks along who might be stuck at certain map levels.
Probably the most important thing, to start, is something I've already mentioned: a strong base of maps. What that means is that you don't start running a map level until you've accumulated enough maps to ride out streaks of bad luck. RNG will be RNG and there will certainly be maps that you will run where you won't even sniff at a map drop. At times they might fall from the sky, or if you are very lucky, you might even nab one of the elusive cartographers strongboxes! (the dream) I typically don't advance to a map level until I have at least twelve to fifteen of that level of map. Slow and steady wins the race here folks, and if you want to make it up past the mid tier, you gotta sloooowwwwwwwwwww downnnn.
Secondly, if you can't afford to roll it, don't run it. Sure, that level 76 map looks mighty tempting sitting in your map stash tab. You can almost hear the thud of an exalt dropping in it. Unfortunately, many people rationalize running higher level maps without using currency on them for the express purpose of getting currency. It just doesn't make sense. This sort of thinking is somewhat like taking out a payday loan so you can go buy a lottery ticket. Instead of doing this, leave that map alone! Run some lower tier maps that you don't need to sink expensive currency into to maintain map levels. Starting with the mid map tiers, if you aren't at least using orbs of alchemy on your maps, you just simply won't sustain. Likely not even then! To effectively ensure getting map drops, you absolutely must run maps with as high quantity as you can get. 100% plus, ideally. This normally means an alch, four chisels, and vaal orbing.
Take a good long, hard look at your build. Think about what affixes it can and can't do. If you are rolling yellow maps and constantly find yourself road blocked by scary affixes and are struggling with deaths you might want to consider leveling a new character for the purpose of mapping. Everyone loves high damage builds that can pancake mobs in a hurry, but in my experience those builds are usually costly or dangerous. Hit up the forums, there are quite a number of great beginner builds that will perform admirably in maps regardless of what mods are rolled. (I recommend a blood magic dual flame totem build, btw!) If a large part of the reason we are running maps is to advance in levels so that we can do more difficult maps, but we are always dying and losing experience, what's really the point? It's frustrating to be forced into playing safe and conservative builds, I know, but the payoff is the long game. Once you've accumulated some currency and maps with your first build, you can build something much more aggressive next time! Oh, and that was the last tip! ;)
Have a question about mapping that I didn't really cover? Want to know more about some good beginner builds? Feel free to leave a comment here with your question or hit me up in game. SN:Nerdstalgicsigh
 |
| Yes, this is an old screenshot, but you get the idea. |
Without glazing your eyes over with the details, they basically added some higher level maps, rearranged some existing maps, and added a few new map affixes. Somewhat unexpectedly, they also divided the map into a three tiered system with the intent of having a lower level tier that provided a bit safer environment for new players to map in. Along with this, the middle and upper tier maps were made a bit more difficult to find and certain deadly affixes were relegated to being only found on these maps. While their intentions were certainly the best, it has created a good deal of negative sentiment from your average player who maps casually and doesn't want to be bothered with creating a stable base of maps to run on each level before advancing to the higher tiers. They run out of maps and are forced to run lower level maps again, and the frustration sets in. I definitely get that, so I've decided to write up this little guide post to perhaps help some folks along who might be stuck at certain map levels.
Probably the most important thing, to start, is something I've already mentioned: a strong base of maps. What that means is that you don't start running a map level until you've accumulated enough maps to ride out streaks of bad luck. RNG will be RNG and there will certainly be maps that you will run where you won't even sniff at a map drop. At times they might fall from the sky, or if you are very lucky, you might even nab one of the elusive cartographers strongboxes! (the dream) I typically don't advance to a map level until I have at least twelve to fifteen of that level of map. Slow and steady wins the race here folks, and if you want to make it up past the mid tier, you gotta sloooowwwwwwwwwww downnnn.
Secondly, if you can't afford to roll it, don't run it. Sure, that level 76 map looks mighty tempting sitting in your map stash tab. You can almost hear the thud of an exalt dropping in it. Unfortunately, many people rationalize running higher level maps without using currency on them for the express purpose of getting currency. It just doesn't make sense. This sort of thinking is somewhat like taking out a payday loan so you can go buy a lottery ticket. Instead of doing this, leave that map alone! Run some lower tier maps that you don't need to sink expensive currency into to maintain map levels. Starting with the mid map tiers, if you aren't at least using orbs of alchemy on your maps, you just simply won't sustain. Likely not even then! To effectively ensure getting map drops, you absolutely must run maps with as high quantity as you can get. 100% plus, ideally. This normally means an alch, four chisels, and vaal orbing.Take a good long, hard look at your build. Think about what affixes it can and can't do. If you are rolling yellow maps and constantly find yourself road blocked by scary affixes and are struggling with deaths you might want to consider leveling a new character for the purpose of mapping. Everyone loves high damage builds that can pancake mobs in a hurry, but in my experience those builds are usually costly or dangerous. Hit up the forums, there are quite a number of great beginner builds that will perform admirably in maps regardless of what mods are rolled. (I recommend a blood magic dual flame totem build, btw!) If a large part of the reason we are running maps is to advance in levels so that we can do more difficult maps, but we are always dying and losing experience, what's really the point? It's frustrating to be forced into playing safe and conservative builds, I know, but the payoff is the long game. Once you've accumulated some currency and maps with your first build, you can build something much more aggressive next time! Oh, and that was the last tip! ;)
Have a question about mapping that I didn't really cover? Want to know more about some good beginner builds? Feel free to leave a comment here with your question or hit me up in game. SN:Nerdstalgicsigh
Monday, August 10, 2015
WTS one crystal ball; Doesn't see the future, but makes a cracking paper weight!
Hullo, Hullo, assorted readers! The inspiration for today's article comes largely from a discussion I had the other night with a friend. We were waxing philosophical, ahem, about a certain popular MMO (let your imagination run wild) and talking about the future. It got me thinking about the state of the whole genre now and what might be coming to us SOON (TM). First, a riddle!
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down...
Now, of course most of you know that this is a riddle that Gollum gives to Bilbo in The Hobbit. If you remember, the answer to this riddle in particular is quite hard for poor Bilbo to suss out. In fact, he yells out the answer in an inadvertent attempt to get Gollum to not eat him. Time. The reason I bring up this riddle isn't to get poetic or philosophical with you, but instead because I want to first talk about the concept of a "WoW killer." You see, for as long as World of Warcraft has been popular, people have been touting every new game with a small glimmer of promise as a "WoW killer." If you are a follower of MMO games, then you will be quite familiar with the fact that, in truth, none of these games could quite live up to that feat. However, I've met the actual murderer of WoW. Time. Now before we get bogged down into a semantic debate about what constitutes the actual demise of WoW, let me elaborate. Do I think that it will ever really, truly go offline in the near future? Of course not! There will always be people who will play it, just as there are STILL people who play Ultima Online, EverQuest, and even Asheron's Call. Instead, I am just referring to an eventual decline (that I firmly believe we are sailing into currently) that will result in World of Warcraft no longer being the "face" of the massively multiplayer online role playing game genre anymore. Want proof? Look at the subscriber numbers. Plot them on a chart, it's easy to see that with each successive year (and expansion), WoW is going through a cycle of departing and returning players. Only, each year less and less actually make the trip back to Azeroth.
This naturally leads me to wonder; Well, what's in the oven? To be honest, if you do a search for future MMO games it can really make your head spin. It seems that over the past five years it has become hip to slap this tag on your game, even if players are only vaguely connected to each other. So for the sake of keeping myself and all of you sane, I'm only going to be focusing on games in the more traditional vein of massively multiplayer games. You know the drill, many players, together, on some form of a "world" that have the option of interacting with each other. Yeah, it's a fairly murky definition, but I think you know what I mean. Let's take a peek, shall we?
What would an MMO market be without an EverQuest offering? Hmm? Of course there will be another EverQuest attempting to break into the market again soon. EverQuest Next is our first contender, ladies and gentleman, for next biggest thing! What really stands out about this iteration of the series is the raw ambition of the game. Everything will be destructible. I'm not sure how that will work out with towns, but the idea of being able destroy/shape anything I damn-well-please definitely has my chops slavering. It also instill a certain amount of trepidation, as well. Being that their current plans are to have this game back free to play, you can bet that a large contingent of trolls (not the fantasy type) will be around, just to make your life hell. Details about the game are still somewhat sparse, owing to the stage of development that it's in, but it also seems like they are loosing the bonds a bit on class restrictions. The tricky part about this is that they will definitely not want to give players so much freedom that it gives birth to a super complex system of character development. Sure, for an advanced players, that sounds absolutely swell. We have to face the facts though, my friends, for any new game coming out to truly succeed it will have to be accessible. Just look at a game like Darkfall. An amazing concept that seems to truly hearken back to games like Ultima Online, but doomed to fail because the game isn't very new player friendly. (and, apparently, neither are the players, heh)
Moving on with our cavalcade of contenders, next up is a game that player versus player enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting. Camelot Unchained is an upcoming release from City State Entertainment (never heard of them? me neither.) and designer Mark Jacobs. If the name didn't sound vaguely familiar to you, allow me to enlighten you further. This game is being brought to you by the exact same guy who made Dark Age of Camelot, which many people feel was the most balanced PVP game ever. Just like DAoC, Camelot Unchained is promising realm vs realm vs realm combat, or as Mr. Jacobs is calling it, "Tri-Realm" combat. Being that this game is fairly fair along in development (2016 release, first beta phase imminent), there are quite a number of features of the game listed on the website. In a move that reminds me strongly of the word of power from Ultima Online, spell creation will focus on combining runes and reagents to powerful effect. Instead of being presented with the normal progression of "fireball 1, fireball 2, et al.", players will be able to customize their spells for use in specific situations. It sounds extremely interesting to me, but I just wonder how new player friendly it will be. This is only one of the interesting things that I read about when researching for this article, so if you are looking for a game that might skew a little bit more on the deep or challenging side, this might be worth reading up on!
And in the "most likely to be cosplayed" category, we have an offering from Korean company NCSOFT, Blade & Soul. For those of you familiar with NCSOFT's offerings, you'll certainly see the common threads that B&S shares with other games. Visually, it seems to be quite stunning. Screenshots and videos that I saw showed a great variety of environments, all rendered beautifully. The character animations seem very well done as well, and for people who really enjoy, uh, "customizing" their avatars, this game will really appeal to them. Stylistically, the game certainly resembles another NCSOFT offering that most of us will be familiar with, Guild Wars 2, The combat Blade & Soul isn't trying to revolutionize the genre, for sure, but are instead focused on improving the existing concept. I'm quite surprised at how amazing the graphics of this game look, being that it saw it's first release in South Korea a few years ago, but GW2 has also held up fairly well, so perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised. Anyways, if you are looking for more of the same, but fresher, Blade & Soul is set to release later this year in North America.
seems fast paced and action driven, with a great deal of movement and flair accompanying skill usage.
Now, are there a few other games that I could've written about in this article? Certainly. However, I chose these three games as a representative of some of the various options we will have presented to us over the next year-ish. (EverQuest Next, who knows?) In my own opinion, we will continue to see an increasing number of games enter the market with "massively multiplayer" features and at some point we may even see that moniker get completely dropped because it will become the norm. It will be more rare to see a game without some sort of online functionality that connects players to each other. We like to play games with each other, because at best it can lead to a completely different in game experience, and at worst, well, you just turn the game off! I'll be back at you on Friday with another article, folks. Take care!
 |
| Rankin Bass Hobbit, best Hobbit |
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down...
Now, of course most of you know that this is a riddle that Gollum gives to Bilbo in The Hobbit. If you remember, the answer to this riddle in particular is quite hard for poor Bilbo to suss out. In fact, he yells out the answer in an inadvertent attempt to get Gollum to not eat him. Time. The reason I bring up this riddle isn't to get poetic or philosophical with you, but instead because I want to first talk about the concept of a "WoW killer." You see, for as long as World of Warcraft has been popular, people have been touting every new game with a small glimmer of promise as a "WoW killer." If you are a follower of MMO games, then you will be quite familiar with the fact that, in truth, none of these games could quite live up to that feat. However, I've met the actual murderer of WoW. Time. Now before we get bogged down into a semantic debate about what constitutes the actual demise of WoW, let me elaborate. Do I think that it will ever really, truly go offline in the near future? Of course not! There will always be people who will play it, just as there are STILL people who play Ultima Online, EverQuest, and even Asheron's Call. Instead, I am just referring to an eventual decline (that I firmly believe we are sailing into currently) that will result in World of Warcraft no longer being the "face" of the massively multiplayer online role playing game genre anymore. Want proof? Look at the subscriber numbers. Plot them on a chart, it's easy to see that with each successive year (and expansion), WoW is going through a cycle of departing and returning players. Only, each year less and less actually make the trip back to Azeroth.
 |
| Bowling ball or crystal ball? You decide. |
What would an MMO market be without an EverQuest offering? Hmm? Of course there will be another EverQuest attempting to break into the market again soon. EverQuest Next is our first contender, ladies and gentleman, for next biggest thing! What really stands out about this iteration of the series is the raw ambition of the game. Everything will be destructible. I'm not sure how that will work out with towns, but the idea of being able destroy/shape anything I damn-well-please definitely has my chops slavering. It also instill a certain amount of trepidation, as well. Being that their current plans are to have this game back free to play, you can bet that a large contingent of trolls (not the fantasy type) will be around, just to make your life hell. Details about the game are still somewhat sparse, owing to the stage of development that it's in, but it also seems like they are loosing the bonds a bit on class restrictions. The tricky part about this is that they will definitely not want to give players so much freedom that it gives birth to a super complex system of character development. Sure, for an advanced players, that sounds absolutely swell. We have to face the facts though, my friends, for any new game coming out to truly succeed it will have to be accessible. Just look at a game like Darkfall. An amazing concept that seems to truly hearken back to games like Ultima Online, but doomed to fail because the game isn't very new player friendly. (and, apparently, neither are the players, heh)
Moving on with our cavalcade of contenders, next up is a game that player versus player enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting. Camelot Unchained is an upcoming release from City State Entertainment (never heard of them? me neither.) and designer Mark Jacobs. If the name didn't sound vaguely familiar to you, allow me to enlighten you further. This game is being brought to you by the exact same guy who made Dark Age of Camelot, which many people feel was the most balanced PVP game ever. Just like DAoC, Camelot Unchained is promising realm vs realm vs realm combat, or as Mr. Jacobs is calling it, "Tri-Realm" combat. Being that this game is fairly fair along in development (2016 release, first beta phase imminent), there are quite a number of features of the game listed on the website. In a move that reminds me strongly of the word of power from Ultima Online, spell creation will focus on combining runes and reagents to powerful effect. Instead of being presented with the normal progression of "fireball 1, fireball 2, et al.", players will be able to customize their spells for use in specific situations. It sounds extremely interesting to me, but I just wonder how new player friendly it will be. This is only one of the interesting things that I read about when researching for this article, so if you are looking for a game that might skew a little bit more on the deep or challenging side, this might be worth reading up on! |
| I'm confused on multiple levels, here |
seems fast paced and action driven, with a great deal of movement and flair accompanying skill usage.
Now, are there a few other games that I could've written about in this article? Certainly. However, I chose these three games as a representative of some of the various options we will have presented to us over the next year-ish. (EverQuest Next, who knows?) In my own opinion, we will continue to see an increasing number of games enter the market with "massively multiplayer" features and at some point we may even see that moniker get completely dropped because it will become the norm. It will be more rare to see a game without some sort of online functionality that connects players to each other. We like to play games with each other, because at best it can lead to a completely different in game experience, and at worst, well, you just turn the game off! I'll be back at you on Friday with another article, folks. Take care!
Friday, August 7, 2015
You are NOT PREPARED! New World of Warcraft expansion details released!
Woo, you know that feeling you get when you knew something was coming, but you're still surprised it actually happened? Yeah, that's it. I'm getting it now as I think about the forthcoming World of Warcraft expansion that was announced at Gamescom 2015 today. Now, before you go thinking I'm all super giddy about the expansion, wait a minute. I didn't say that I was excited! In fact, I'd say that I'm fairly blase' about the WoW expansions these days. Business as usual. The fever pitch usually grows the closer it actually gets to hitting release and they unveil more of the new features. It was definitely this way for me with the last expansion, Warlords of Draenor.
Anyways, the new expansion, Legion, brings back some familiar faces from WoW's celebrated lore. Yep, The Burning Legion are back in a blaze of glory. The writing was certainly on the wall with this one, and many people (yours truly included) had strong suspicions this would be the next expansion due to the direction the game took in Warlords. As my title alluded to, Illidan looks to shake things up in some form or fashion. I'm hoping that Blizzard sticks to their guns with his character and keeps him as somewhat of a rogue agent with a strong grey moral compass. Anti-heroes are the new black, right? Fittingly, his return also accompanies the introduction of a new "hero class" (starting at level 55? My guess is probably 95), the demon hunter. So you can bet a few WoW tokens that the servers will be crowded with people "rolling" that class on launch day. As of this writing, Demon Hunters are known to have only two character specializations; havoc (dps) and vengeance (tank). We also know that this class will be able to double jump, which is neat, but you have to think there's more in the chute on this one.
The setting for Legion will be "The Broken Isles", located in the center of Azeroth. It used to be the a stronghold full of night elves, but now it's been turned into a "graveyard" staging ground for an EVEN BIGGER (I had to laugh at this plot device) invasion of the Burning Legion. I suspect that here is where some of my cynicism and disdain kicks in. I understand that we need some closure in regards to Sargeras and his army of hellions, but make it fresh! Perhaps it will be, maybe I'm jumping the gun. We'll see. Anyways, in another content rehash, the mages of the Kirin Tor will again be *poofing* Dalaran (I assume) into the picture, as it is the main hub of this storyline. Sigh.
Something that did perk my ears, however, was the introduction of a "class order" system. There aren't many details kicking about for this feature yet, but it looks like an interesting iteration of the garrison feature introduced in the last expansion. You know, the things you loved to hate or hated to love? Anyways, now you are the head honcho of the class order and you will be surrounding yourself with powerful "champions" to take on Legion. The champions sound a great deal like followers, but apparently there will be less of them and they will be more important. You will also have access to a garri- I mean, "Order Hall" where you can do...stuff. Well, they have revealed that you will be able to customize and upgrade "artifacts." Whoa!? Sounds cool, right? Maybe!
"Artifacts" are powerful weapons that will be available for each specialization. Basically think of this as a spec specific legendary quest line that grants you a customizable weapon, both visually and effect wise. Now, this does sound neat! It really reminds me of some of the weapon stuff you could do in Lord of the Rings Online, which had a system where you could craft and improve powerful items. My biggest fear is that it will end up being a grind/fetch fest, where you are required to mindlessly complete some raid tier for three months in a row at the whim of maddening RNG. (Random Number Generation) Hopefully they nail this, I really want to like this!
Of course, there will also be graphical upgrades, new dungeons, new raids, and a whole whack of other changes to the mechanics of the game. So far, Blizzard is boasting of nine new dungeons (Nice to see you again, Violet Hold!) and two new raids; The Emerald Nightmare and Suramar Palace. I'm looking forward to seeing how they close out the lore on this one, seems like they are trying to tie up a lot of loose ends here. There will also be a new "PVP Honor System" that will function as a talent tree of sorts, with perks that you can unlock to spice up your encounters with the other faction. I'm sure many people are thinking, just balance the PVP already! It'll never happen!
Anyways, despite my misgivings, you can count me in as one of the people who will play it at launch. What about you? Yea, nea, or hell no? Let me know in the comments below!
Anyways, the new expansion, Legion, brings back some familiar faces from WoW's celebrated lore. Yep, The Burning Legion are back in a blaze of glory. The writing was certainly on the wall with this one, and many people (yours truly included) had strong suspicions this would be the next expansion due to the direction the game took in Warlords. As my title alluded to, Illidan looks to shake things up in some form or fashion. I'm hoping that Blizzard sticks to their guns with his character and keeps him as somewhat of a rogue agent with a strong grey moral compass. Anti-heroes are the new black, right? Fittingly, his return also accompanies the introduction of a new "hero class" (starting at level 55? My guess is probably 95), the demon hunter. So you can bet a few WoW tokens that the servers will be crowded with people "rolling" that class on launch day. As of this writing, Demon Hunters are known to have only two character specializations; havoc (dps) and vengeance (tank). We also know that this class will be able to double jump, which is neat, but you have to think there's more in the chute on this one.
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| I'm back...Miss me? |
Something that did perk my ears, however, was the introduction of a "class order" system. There aren't many details kicking about for this feature yet, but it looks like an interesting iteration of the garrison feature introduced in the last expansion. You know, the things you loved to hate or hated to love? Anyways, now you are the head honcho of the class order and you will be surrounding yourself with powerful "champions" to take on Legion. The champions sound a great deal like followers, but apparently there will be less of them and they will be more important. You will also have access to a garri- I mean, "Order Hall" where you can do...stuff. Well, they have revealed that you will be able to customize and upgrade "artifacts." Whoa!? Sounds cool, right? Maybe!
 |
| It's bigger, so it must be more powerful, right? |
Of course, there will also be graphical upgrades, new dungeons, new raids, and a whole whack of other changes to the mechanics of the game. So far, Blizzard is boasting of nine new dungeons (Nice to see you again, Violet Hold!) and two new raids; The Emerald Nightmare and Suramar Palace. I'm looking forward to seeing how they close out the lore on this one, seems like they are trying to tie up a lot of loose ends here. There will also be a new "PVP Honor System" that will function as a talent tree of sorts, with perks that you can unlock to spice up your encounters with the other faction. I'm sure many people are thinking, just balance the PVP already! It'll never happen!
Anyways, despite my misgivings, you can count me in as one of the people who will play it at launch. What about you? Yea, nea, or hell no? Let me know in the comments below!
Monday, August 3, 2015
Awww, isn't that kitten cu-*KABOOOOOM*
Hey, hey, everybody! It's my sincere hope that today finds you happy and healthy! I'm writing this post in the middle of a bit of a work hiatus, due to celebrating my five year wedding anniversary with my wife this weekend. Huzzah! Go us, and all that stuff. Well, technically our anniversary is next weekend, but this is the weekend she was given time off, sooooo, yeah, here we are. Anyways, I decided not to do any game recording during these five days to relax and enjoy some time away, but I still thought I'd bring you a real quick hitter about a new card game Mrs. Nerdstalgic and I are excited about; Exploding Kittens.
Exploding Kittens is at it's core a card drawing game for between two to five players. More players can be brought into the fun by adding together another Exploding Kittens deck. (either the core deck or the NSFW edition) This allows for up to nine players to take part in the shenanigans, which is good, because the game seems to be really set up for group play. Fear not though, if you only have two people to play it's still entertaining. I just think that quite a bit of the fun of this game will be had in much the same way that Munchkin creates fun, through chaos. My wife and I played a two person game that was decently fun, but lacked the back biting and under the table deals that often accompany games like this.
The main objective of Exploding Kittens is to not meet your demise at the hands of a cute and cuddly kitten. Each game you will add a number of "exploding kitten" cards equal to the number of players minus one, thus insuring that at the end of the game only one player will be left standing. Your efforts at dodging the feline fireworks are aided by some of the other card types in the game such as "defuse" cards that allow you to shuffle the exploding kitten card you drew back into the deck anywhere, "nope" cards that allow you to effectively cancel the plays of the other players (though, notably, NOT exploding kitten or defuse cards), or just by matching two of the "normal" cards so that you can steal a card at random from someone else's hand. Unlike many other card games, which encourage you to maintain a lean hand to play from, Exploding Kittens seems to skew more towards the card hoarding end of the spectrum. You have no maximum hand limit and having more cards available to you gives you more power and also provides an effective smokescreen from people trying to steal your good cards. Ultimately, the mechanics of the game function well and it's fun, but don't expect it to bring
anything revolutionary to your gaming nights.
However, what the mechanics lack in innovation is more than made up for in the chuckles that will surely occur from both the art on the cards themselves and the flavor text. Particularly, the NSFW deck is full of cards that are in turns gross and hilarious. For fans of Exploding Kittens' creator, The Oatmeal, the art will feel comfortable. It's not masterpiece artwork by any means, but it's certainly effective for this medium and the crude art style befits the humor. So, how do you come by a copy? Well, that's the tricky part. You see, everyone who is getting the game now is someone who backed the kickstarter earlier this year. If you go to the Exploding Kittens website, you will be greeted with a button to "pre-order" a copy, which redirects to a page where you can enter your email to be alerted when it becomes available. So, when will it hit actual distribution? *shrugs*
If you missed backing it, just ask some of your, uh, "weirder" friends. Yeah, those friends... I'm sure they probably have a copy. (like me!) Anyways, that's all for today folks! I'll scribble something else for you on Friday! #GameOn
Exploding Kittens is at it's core a card drawing game for between two to five players. More players can be brought into the fun by adding together another Exploding Kittens deck. (either the core deck or the NSFW edition) This allows for up to nine players to take part in the shenanigans, which is good, because the game seems to be really set up for group play. Fear not though, if you only have two people to play it's still entertaining. I just think that quite a bit of the fun of this game will be had in much the same way that Munchkin creates fun, through chaos. My wife and I played a two person game that was decently fun, but lacked the back biting and under the table deals that often accompany games like this.
The main objective of Exploding Kittens is to not meet your demise at the hands of a cute and cuddly kitten. Each game you will add a number of "exploding kitten" cards equal to the number of players minus one, thus insuring that at the end of the game only one player will be left standing. Your efforts at dodging the feline fireworks are aided by some of the other card types in the game such as "defuse" cards that allow you to shuffle the exploding kitten card you drew back into the deck anywhere, "nope" cards that allow you to effectively cancel the plays of the other players (though, notably, NOT exploding kitten or defuse cards), or just by matching two of the "normal" cards so that you can steal a card at random from someone else's hand. Unlike many other card games, which encourage you to maintain a lean hand to play from, Exploding Kittens seems to skew more towards the card hoarding end of the spectrum. You have no maximum hand limit and having more cards available to you gives you more power and also provides an effective smokescreen from people trying to steal your good cards. Ultimately, the mechanics of the game function well and it's fun, but don't expect it to bring
anything revolutionary to your gaming nights.However, what the mechanics lack in innovation is more than made up for in the chuckles that will surely occur from both the art on the cards themselves and the flavor text. Particularly, the NSFW deck is full of cards that are in turns gross and hilarious. For fans of Exploding Kittens' creator, The Oatmeal, the art will feel comfortable. It's not masterpiece artwork by any means, but it's certainly effective for this medium and the crude art style befits the humor. So, how do you come by a copy? Well, that's the tricky part. You see, everyone who is getting the game now is someone who backed the kickstarter earlier this year. If you go to the Exploding Kittens website, you will be greeted with a button to "pre-order" a copy, which redirects to a page where you can enter your email to be alerted when it becomes available. So, when will it hit actual distribution? *shrugs*
If you missed backing it, just ask some of your, uh, "weirder" friends. Yeah, those friends... I'm sure they probably have a copy. (like me!) Anyways, that's all for today folks! I'll scribble something else for you on Friday! #GameOn
Friday, July 31, 2015
Gaming with a purpose: Summer Games Done Quick 2015
Hey everyone! Time for another majestic Friday post flown in on the wings of eagles, or something. This week has been a fantastic one for me, filled with lots of content creation and fun. However, something that has really put my week over the top has been being able to watch Summer Games Done Quick 2015. What's that you say? Well, I'm glad you asked!You see, a few years ago, a group of gamers got together and decided it would be fun to have a marathon gaming session where they completed games as fast as they could and took donations for a charity from the people who watched. Like most great things, it started small but has mushroomed into a huge bi-annual event attracting game players from around the world, but professional and novice. 100% of the money donated goes straight to the charity being supported (currently it's Doctors Without Borders) and it's just generally a great time if you enjoy seeing exactly how broken some games can be.
It's a week long event that happens twice a year in which games of every ilk will be on display. Some of my personal favorites are always seeing some of my favorite role playing games being destroyed in an expedient fashion. Remember Earthbound? Well, it got blasted in about an hour and a half. That's not a typo folks. Now of course, it was what we call a glitched any % run. Meaning, it doesn't matter how you complete the game, you can skip areas of the game, don't have to pick up all the items, and can abuse in game bugs. Other speed running categories can include 100%, where you must pick up all the in game items and hit all areas, Glitchless, where you can't abuse any in game glitches to advance, and other incentive based prerequisites. These can be some of the most fun types of runs, because they can put ridiculous restrictions on the player, such as a Swordless Legend of Zelda run. You can complete the whole game, minus Ganon, without the starting sword. Amazing! (and super difficult) Want to see someone beat Mike Tyson blindfolded? We've got you covered.
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| mmmm, swag |
This iteration of SGDQ began last weekend and will culminate on Saturday, August 1st with runs of Super Metroid (save the animals!) and Chrono Trigger. (100%, please!) So, if you haven't already checked it out, you still have time! Even if you don't really care much about games, it's still amazing to see people who have near godlike reaction times flying through these beautiful games at an insane pace. So, where can you watch it? Well, you can navigate over to www.gamesdonequick.com and watch from there or you can also catch it on www.twitch.tv. A warning though, turn the twitch chat OFF! It's generally a fairly toxic environment full of negativity and trolls! Anyways, it's great to see something good coming of gaming and I hope you agree and check it out! #GameOn!
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