HiHiHi

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

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!

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.

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

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!

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.

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!

I'm confused on multiple levels, here

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!

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.

I'm back...Miss me?

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!

It's bigger, so it must be more powerful, right?

"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!

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

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.

mmmm, swag

As the event has grown, quite a swell of support has grown from different corporate sponsors and as such, special products have been made available supporting the marathon that are only available during it. There are special t-shirts available, wall art, and game bundles, of which some or ALL of the proceeds of the sales go directly to the charity as well. When you add in all of the viewer donations along with these proceeds, most of the marathons usually raise above a million dollars during the week of the event. Donating also enters you into random drawings for certain gamer swag, some of which is quite expensive or rare. So, overall, it's just a great thing all around.

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!

Imminent! August arrivals

Hey, hey! New games are a comin'. Are you ready? Each month I will be bringing you an article detailing some of the exciting and popular new gaming releases for the next month. I won't be covering EVERY great new release, it simply wouldn't be feasible. Instead, I'm just going to focus on a small handful. August's list of new releases almost feels like the calm before the storm. Aside from a few releases, most publishers seem to be gearing up for the holiday season. So, shall we see what's on the horizon?

Why do they always seem to put rain in these?

For fans of the Shadowrun series, Shadowrun: Hong Kong will be available for the PC platform on the 20th. In this offering from Harebrained Schemes, players will find themselves in a Hong Kong dominated by megacorporations. There will be a single player campaign as well as a level editor for the more hardcore Shadowrun fan. This level editor will allow anyone to create their own content for Shadowrun and share it with other players through the usual outlets. (Steam, etc) If you like your games a bit grittier, darker, and more futuristic, Shadowrun: Hong Kong might be worth your investment. I'm eager to see the graphical rendering of a future Hong Kong dominated by corporations. Neon everywhere? Probably.

Lisa the Joyful is tentatively set to drop onto Steam on the 25th. This is the third game set in the post apocalyptic Lisa universe. In this game, we will be further introduced to the characters of Buddy and Buzzo (Let's play a game!), and we will learn more about the apocalyptic event that caused most of the world's women to suddenly vanish. While the first game was a bit of a mixed bag overall, if this game is anything like the second game, it should be a great play and well worth the pittance it would cost. If you enjoyed Earthbound as a kid, you'll definitely feel the tugs on your heartstrings when you see the animation style. The writing and subject matter is definitely mature, so take that under advisement.

What would an August be without a Madden release? Yep, it's that time again. Madden NFL 16 is going to attempt to intercept your money on August 25th for PS4, PS3, XboxOne, and Xbox360. As of this post, there are two editions of the game available for purchase; the core version and Madden NFL 16 Deluxe Edition. The deluxe edition will set you back ten extra dollars but yields fifty dollars worth of ultimate team packs. Definitely a great investment for people who enjoy that aspect of the game, but this version is only available as a preorder. When the game launches, that deal will be gone. (Likely replaced by another deal, but who's counting) Along with the usual graphical improvements, EA has promised to deliver a "completely transformed passing game" along with a new game mode known as Draft Champions. As someone who has always enjoyed the off the field aspects of the EA sports titles, I'm looking forward to seeing what this mode is all about.

Geralt, is that you?

The last game in our short list of August releases is Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Acting as a sequel to Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, this story follows Punished "Venom" Snake into Africa and Asia as he seeks vengeance for what happened in the previous installment. As is usual with this series, the game leans more towards stealth rather than shooting. Interestingly, Konami is claiming that the game has improved enemy AI that will adapt to the tactics that Snake uses. For example, if you off a bunch of people with a certain weapon, the enemies will start to take care to protect that part of their body with body armor. Hmm.... There will also be base building in the game. From your home base, you can do things such as develop weapons and items for use and recruit units. In the continuing trend of technological integration, you'll be able to access this base from your smartphone. Neat! Anyways, that's only a few of the slew of things the game is claiming to bring to the table, so both new players and fans of the series will probably enjoy this installment. It will be available for consoles (minus the Wii U) on September 1st and then release for PC on the 15th.

Being that this is a new column, I'm still unsure as to how I want to present this information. Should I keep it brief, or go more in depth on the features of the game? I tend to think the former, because the latter could be very, very long for a single post. Regardless, let me know what you think! Hit me up in the comment section below, on my facebook, or on twitter. Until next time, #GameOn!

On your marks, get set, go! Race season 12 (Emberwake) in Path of Exile

Hey everyone! It's Friday, so I know that you are all in a fantastic mood, assuming that you have a weekend to look forward to. I know that weekends are rapidly becoming irrelevant, especially to those who are cursed with working in a service industry. Regardless, Friday has always had that special feeling about it to me. Perhaps it's a holdover from being a student and longing for the freedom that the weekend brought. Maybe? Whatever! I'm not here to wax philosophical on the psychological implication of comfort days. Let's talk about games!

So, although I am loathe to pen another article about Path of Exile, it seems that it will just have to do. I'm a pretty big believer in writing about things that you care about or are in  your area of expertise, and well, lately I've been eating, breathing, and sleeping this game. I was brainstorming ideas for new Youtube vids and came up with the idea of basically vlogging my efforts during the current race season. So today I'm going to explain a little bit about what racing actually is in Path of Exile. Spoiler; It's fun!

Well played, GGG, well played...

Every few months, Path of Exile releases new "challenge leagues." These leagues are fresh economies where players must start from scratch and build up new empires. Sounds like a terrible idea, right? Well, the catch is that these new leagues have features and changes that are not implemented into the core game yet. So it's basically a very clever way for Grinding Gears Games to fool us into pseudo beta testing an unfinished product. Sometimes, after the challenge leagues the new content makes it into the game as a core feature. Other times, only pieces of the new content make it in. It really depends on the community reaction during the leagues. Also during these challenge leagues, they will have what is called a "race season." Thursday marked the start of the Emberwake racing season. Prior to this season, they've always been called by numerical names, i.e. Season one, Season two. However, this season marks a departure from that naming convention. I suppose this is to highlight the signature feature of this league, fire.

Speaking back towards what racing actually is, the races are (usually) timed events in which fresh characters compete against each other within certain guidelines. For example, a race might be something like 30 minute Endless Ledge. What this means is that the player will have thirty minutes of time to get a character class of their choosing to the highest level they can running the zone Ledge repeatedly. When you finish clearing one ledge and get to the zone exit, you immediately start at the beginning of a new one. You receive points when you finish based on the things that you achieved during the thirty minute timer. Unless you are a very seasoned racer, the majority of the points you get will often come from attaining a certain level. If you hit level 10, you might get 3 race season points. Hit level 15 and maybe the number goes up to 5. You get the point. You can also get points for being the first accomplish certain objectives. If you are the first person to kill a boss in a race, you will almost certainly be given an extra couple of points. If you happen to be in the top 20 in levels for your class at the end, you will be awarded extra points. The race season is kept fresh by having a wide variety of different race events that go on at different times.

In this race season, Emberwake, there are a total of 120 race events scheduled. Yes, 120 events
spread out over the course of a one month period. Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "Why would anyone want to devote such a large amount of time to always making fresh characters?" The simple answer is this: rewards! Each race season comes with it's own set of rewards that you can get for accruing a certain amount of points over the course of that season. Some of the rewards are very easy to get to and even a very casual racer could get them racing only a few times, however, other rewards will be challenging for even the best. The rewards are even more desirable because they are alternate art versions of items that are in the game. So not only can you get some of the nicer items in the game, but they will also come with artwork that may never be available in game again. This can seriously affect the price of these items on the market.

I've ran a few races this league so far, and I'm planning on running a good deal more and documenting my efforts with videos on Youtube. So far, I haven't done very well, but for being new to racing, I think I'm doing fine. Have you ever thought about racing before? If you've raced before, what were your experiences with it? Let me know in the comments section below! Have a great weekend!

Po-ta-toes. Holy Potatoes!

Hiyooooooo, I hope all of you had a fabulous weekend. Aside from it being intolerably hot here, mine went swimmingly. Time spent with friends and working on a little somethin', somethin' for you guys to devour. Mmmm...starch! I love me some simulation games and the weirder the better. That's why Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop!? caught my eye on Steam. You mean, I can pretend to be a potato while I create weapons for adventurers? Sign me up!

Bulk Bogan, hard at work

Holy Potatoes is a new game published by developer Daylight Studios. They are mainly in the business of making mobile games, so it's not much of a surprise that their game seems like it would be at home if played on a mobile device. For some games, that would definitely be a condemnation of the contents. However, cutesy simulation games seem to hold their own pretty well on any platform, and this game is no exception.

Upon diving into the game, you are quickly introduced to the main plot. Surely fans of the Harvest Moon series will have a smile on their face upon learning that the blacksmith shop was once owned by your grandfather and has been passed down to you upon his demise. We are greeted by a shady character known as Agent 46, who seems driven to help you reopen the weapon shop so he can collect on his 99.9% ownership of the shop. What does this leave you in the shop? To us, it's apparent that it's nothing, but our main character seems to not care as he eagerly gets started following in his grandfather's hallowed footsteps.

The game is centered around your workshop where you forge weapons and then sell them to adventurers from different locations. Not all adventurers are the same, however, and some will pay more $tarch (the game currency) for weapons that suit their interests better. A ranger, for example, might want a bow with a high accuracy stat, but the thief across the room needs a dagger with high speed. As you sell weapons to these adventurers, they use them for, uh, adventures, and gain experience points depending on how well suited it was for them and the craftsmanship. In turn, your weapon shop gains fame which allows you to progress into later areas of the game. It's a fairly simple cycle with just enough bells and whistles to let you get your money's worth out of the game.

Your shop is capable of accommodating a number of blacksmiths, each with their own strengths and
weaknesses. You match their strengths up with the corresponding workstation, and when you are crafting an item, it improves that statistic at a higher rate. The quality of the blacksmith's work is also affected by their mood. Too much work and they get stressed. To combat this, you have to send them on vacations. A few days away, and they come back ready to work! While they are away, you can have your other potato smiths make trips to the store for supplies, explore areas for enchantments and relics, and research using the relics to unlock new things to make. The only stipulation being that at least one spud has to stay at the home base at a time. We wouldn't want our potato dog to be left alone, would we? (Yes, you get a potato dog. Yes, it looks like a potato.)

As you progress through the game, there are many events that can happen and affect your shop and the surrounding area. Some events are minor and will only influence the weapon  you are currently crafting, while some events can affect how much money you will get from selling weapons in a certain place or how much experience you will get. I also saw a neat little event where they give out awards for the best weapons crafted that year. Goals! I'm not sure what you get for winning an event like that, but it will be mine, oh yes!

Would you eat the whole thing?

The game is a fun time waster and for fans of simulation games, I could see putting five to ten hours into the game easily. I haven't played into it too far, but there seems to be a good deal of content to unlock for completionists and, of course, the steam achievements. Aside from a few quality of life improvements I wish the game had, such as a buy max button at the store or an option to auto position your potato smiths when they return from an errand, I've really enjoyed spending time with this game. If you like quirky, silly simulation games with a bit of strategy thrown into the mix, you'll probably enjoy Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop!?, too. It's available on Steam for 14.99. If you pick it up, let me know how you like it! #GameOn!

Sorted: A Beginner's Guide to Path of Exile Loot

Greetings, my little nerdists! Today, I will be introducing a new format of column called "Sorted." The focus of these writings labeled as "Sorted" will be to explain parts of a game that are complex or unintuitive  in such a manner that a new player wouldn't feel so overwhelmed by their very nature. I'm not sure if it will be an every Friday type thing or if it will be delivered on an as needed basis. Likely, I will let the needs of my followers dictate this, and thus, ask and ye masses shall receive. For those of you who can't really be bothered to read large walls of text, fear not! I will also be producing accompanying videos for each Sorted blog post. These videos, while visually stimulating, may not quite have the breadth and depth of information in writing, so I recommend using them both in combination for best results.

He looks fairly confident, actually.

As all of you well know by now, I've been playing a great deal of Path of Exile: Awakening since it's release a week ago. I've written a bit about it and some of the responses I've gotten have noted that the game looks fun, but the learning curve is a bit steep. Indeed it is. PoE has a wealth of features in it that can quickly cause a new player with no guidance to become frustrated. Today, I'm going to tackle what I think is one of the most important things for a newer player to get a firm grip on: Loot.
In Path of Exile, loot is everything. Literally. Anything that hits the ground could be useful or valuable. The problem is, there are tons of different kinds of loot in PoE. While some conventions of the ARPG genre are very present here, like rarity tiers on items, others seem alien to a new player. Hopefully today's article will help to get you on the right path if, like many others, you are a bit daunted by all the shinies on the ground. If you are a veteran player, stick around! People may have questions in the comments section or you may catch mistakes I make. (Let me know!)

Time to go swimming..

So, to start off with let's talk about currency. In most games, currency usually is interchangeable with some form of money, be it gold, gil, platinum, et. al. However, Path of Exile is unique in that there is no "gold" in the game. Perhaps the best way to describe interacting with npc merchants and other people in this game would be to call it a barter system. Anyways, enough about semantics, back to currency. There are twenty four, yes 24, different kinds of currency currently in PoE. They all have a different graphic associated with them and make a specific kind of sound when they hit the ground. They range from extremely common (wisdom scrolls and portal scrolls) to painstakingly rare. (Mirror of Kalandra) Currency is also further complicated by the fact that each currency item has a distinct use within the game. For example, a scroll of wisdom does exactly what you would think. It identifies magical items. However, some currencies can do amazing and powerful things. A Mirror of Kalandra creates an exact duplicate of any one item in the game. When used in this manner, the currency is expended after use. So, you are always having to weigh the option of accumulating your currency to buy items from other players or using that currency on existing items you have to improve them in some way. For new players I highly recommend going with the former and not the latter. I'm not going to go into item crafting in this post, perhaps in another Sorted column later, but crafting can be very costly. New players will want to loot all currency. All! No discussion.

Moving on, let's get some basic things about the items you will see out of the way before digging a bit deeper. As I mentioned earlier, Path of Exile adheres to the idea of having different loot tiers. Most items in the game will fall under this color coding. (potion flasks being a notable exception) An item with a white colored name is considered to be of normal rarity, a blue colored name signifies magic, and yellow is a rare, and orange/brown hued names signify uniques. As you would expect, the vast majority of items you will see hit the ground, or drop, will be of the lower rarity tiers.

Another kind of item you can expect to see are skill gems. In PoE, any character can use any skill the game as long as they satisfy the stat requirements of the gem and have an open socket that matches the color of the gem. You insert the gem into that socket and voila! You can now use that skill. Skill gems come in three different colors; green, red, and blue. Each color corresponds to a different primary stat. Green for dexterity, red for strength, and blue for intellect. Some gems do use a combination of two stats, with the higher proportioned stat being dominant and granted the gem it's color. For example, the skill flame totem requires both strength and intellect, but because it requires more strength than intellect, it is a red gem. Skill gems do not drop with rarity, but can have quality. Quality is a percentage roll that can appear on items that will increase their usefulness. On weapons it will increase the damage, on armor it will increase the mitigation statistic of that armor type, but on gems it is wholly dependent on the gem. I feel that as new players it's advisable to collect all the skill gems you see. Even if you don't want to use that skill, you can sell those gems to other players who do. Quality gems are generally worth more than regular gems because they are harder to find. (The exception being extremely low quality gems, like 5%-ish, these rarely sell for more than the normal gem)

Still on the topic of gems, a new feature that was added to PoE with the expansion was new kinds of gems that could be directly socketed into your talent tree. These gems do have different rarities, but do not seem to be able to have quality or drop as white. Meaning, these are always blue or better. Being that it's so early in the expansion, the jury is still out about these guys and their usefulness. Most seem fairly blah, with a few seeing good use. Needless to say, if any of these drop for you, pick 'em up! The metagame in PoE is constantly shifting and items can see insane valuation swings in a very short period of time. Just set aside a spot for these gems and remember that you have them for selling or use.

Now, before we actually get started on what items you should be snagging, let's talk about something that has a great deal of relevance to this topic: sockets. Sockets are of crucial importance because they are where you put the skill gems to enable you to actually use skills. Sockets can only be found on wearable items. Different items can have a different maximum number of sockets. Chests and two handed weapons can have up to six sockets, boots, helms, and gloves can have four, one handed weapons and shields can have three, and rings can have one. Amulets and belts do not currently allow for socketing. Sockets can also have little bridges between them which causes them to be linked. This is very important in the game because it is a prime way with which to increase the power level of your primary abilities. Most end game builds will be running at least one, perhaps two, five or six link skill setups. Sockets can come in the three primary stat colors of green, blue, and red, but can also come in white. White sockets are referred to as prismatic and, you guessed it, can house any color gem. This makes them particularly desirable, but they are generally rare. I won't go into it, but let's just say that most items that drop can't have a prismatic socket on it unless you do some tinkerin'.

Ok, have you got all that so far? Woof. It's a bit of a read, but I'm trying to be as comprehensive as I can while still not belaboring points. Hang in there, we're to the good part now! Let's talk about looting! We will talk about each color in turn, and I think you'll be surprised how quickly it goes.

When you see a piece of white gear keep these things in mind. First, white gear can be sold/bartered to npc merchants for a scroll fragment. Five scroll fragments makes a wisdom scroll. This can be helpful if you are really desperate for wisdom scrolls. (In which case I recommend looting white jewelry, since it only takes up one bag slot) It is also worth looting if you don't have an item in that gear slot. This is usually only applicable at the very start of the game. In fact, the default option within the game's user interface is to auto equip items you pick up to any empty slot. The most likely use you are going to find for white items will be when you see them with three sockets, linked, Red-Green-Blue. We call this "tri color" and these are worth looting because you can sell them to a vendor for a chromatic orb. Chromatic orbs aren't the most valuable currency in the game, but they certainly aren't useless. Chances are that if you stick with the game, you will end up burning through boatloads of these by the end of the day. Regardless, if it's "tri color", GRAB IT! You might consider also looting white items you see with four sockets that are linked, regardless of color. Four linked skills can be a great launching point in the mid to late game until you get better gear. If you happen to see something that has five or six linked sockets, snatch it up! A five linked piece of gear can really shine in most builds and six linked stuff is the pinnacle of power for your skill gems. Six links also fetch a tidy sum from other players looking to do some crafting and improve their own gear. When an item drops that has six sockets, regardless of whether they are connected, loot it. Six socketed items will vendor for seven jeweler's orbs. (Just be sure to not vendor something that's six linked!) Lastly, for white gear, if you see an item with 20% quality on it, loot it. You can sell these to vendors for currency that you can, in turn, use to improve the quality of items you want to keep.

Disregard the rarity, look at the socket colors. Tri color. I will cry if you vendor this.

Hooray, one down, just a bit more to go! It gets much, much more easy from here if you've been paying attention. Take heart! In regards to blue drops, these can be sold to vendors either identified or unidentified. If sold identified, the vendor will offer you alteration shards, twenty of which will make an orb of alteration. These are very useful for both trading and crafting from mid to late game. If vendored unidentified, you will instead receive transmutation shards, and again, twenty of these will make an orb of transmutation. These are not quite as useful as alteration orbs, but still have their place. For what it's worth, once you actually get into the swing of the game, you will very, very rarely be looting blue wearables. It's always possible to have a turn of bad luck in trying to get a rare item to fill a slot, but believe me when I say, it's not worth the time to pick up and loot every blue item you see. Blue items can also have sockets, which means that they also adhere to the looting rules you saw above for whites. Tri color? Loot it. Five or Six links? Into the bag. Six sockets? Done. 20% Quality? Yessir. A notable exception is with four linked blue items. As a new player, you won't want to loot these unless they are tri colored. Why? Well, it has to do with crafting. It's much more expensive to craft on a blue item than a white item. There are more in depth things we could discuss, but it's simply not within the scope of this post.

See, that wasn't so awful was it? Yellows are where it's at. Chances are, these are going to be what you will spend a majority of your time sifting through. Personally, I loot and identify all yellow items, unless I'm running through a low level zone for a specific purpose. They vendor for more of the transmutation and alteration shards, and if you're lucky, you might actually get some alchemy shards. Twenty alch shards combine to make an alchemy orb and these are very useful. If you just can't be arsed to pick up ALL the yellows you see, adhere to the rules I laid out above and you'll still do fine, you just won't build up as much currency. Or maybe you will! Maybe in the time I would spend identifying all of those extra yellows, you'll have a super rare unique drop worth a dump truck of exalted orbs. Oh! Yeah, we didn't talk about uniques.....

What a glorious thing

LOOT THEM ALL! Granted, most will be junk or only good for leveling, but you might be surprised at how much some of them will sell for or how useful they can be. I remember on one of my first characters I had a unique amulet drop. Being that it was very low level and didn't look very impressive to my untrained eye, I tossed it in my stash and thought nothing of it. Later, I showed it to a friend of mine with an exponentially larger amount of experience than myself and he said, "Mate, that's the neck you want to wear for end game, congrats!" So when in doubt, don't throw it out. We have stash tabs for a reason.

*panting, hands on hips, bent over just past the finish line*

Excuse me, sir? Sir. You need to do a cool down lap.

*grumbles and starts running again*

Just kidding! Although I do want to share a few more tips or words of wisdom with you that aren't necessarily related strictly to looting.

Be patient! Compared to other action role playing games that are currently on the market, Path of Exile is designed to be much more of a slow drip of uniques. Consequently, the ascent up the power curve is often slow as well, but rewarding.

As a new player, I would generally avoid the general chat channels. All of them. It might sound like a good idea to pop into trade chat and ask for a price check on an item, but often these are met with ridicule and scam attempts. It can be frustrating when you want to know how much something is, but it's much better if you save your questions for a reputable source. I'm always available to answer price check questions in game, and if I don't know the answer, I can probably point you in the right direction. SN: Nerdstalgic, in the comments, etc.

A useful website for getting a general idea of the price of an item is PoE.trade. Beware though, it can be a bit of a bear to try and compare yellows for pricing. It's much easier with things that are more standardized, such as uniques.

When you interact with other people, don't take the bait! Because Path of Exile is a completely free game, it attracts the usual crowd of lamers and trolls looking for cheap (free, I guess) thrills. Some people you talk to won't be nice to you and that's OK! Be polite and when an interaction turns sour, excuse yourself from the situation. In the long run, you'll feel much better about acting this way. If you trade often, your reputation can and will follow you around!

Most of all, HAVE FUN and #GameOn!

Hindsight; Path of Exile: Awakening

I've decided to add another type of "column" to my regular ramblings. I will periodically writing under the heading "hindsight" to reflect on what I've experienced after playing some form of new game content, be it a new game, DLC, or a major content patch. Being that I've spent quite a large amount of time over the past few days with Path of Exile's new offering, I thought it would be appropriate to share some of my insights. Warning, if you are wanting to experience the new content through fresh eyes, there will definitely be spoilers.

My love for Path of Exile hasn't been particularly well hidden to readers of this blog. I've mentioned it a few times in other blog posts and written a whole blog about it prior to release. Here I am now, writing again about it post release. I'm sorry! The currency/crafting system, the story, and the character building have always had my number. Moving on, I was so pumped for this game's release that I immediately logged in when it became available and jumped into the 6000 person queue for entrance into the game. When I finally got logged in, I quickly jumped to the options menu and scanned the various tabs for changes. The first that I noticed was the option for "Lockstep" for networking mode. One of the biggest challenges for Path of Exile has been desync. Imagine this; You're in the middle of a particularly tense mob fight and decide to retreat through a doorway for a quick breather. You make it through the door, take a deep breath, and are instantly pulled back through the doorway into the middle of the mobs you just went through. Frustrating! This is an example of the desync that has been the bugaboo of players since the game originally launched. However, Grinding Gear Games has touted their new system as a resolution to this longstanding problem. I'm about twenty hours deep now and have had virtually zero desync issues, so I'd say they've delivered on this promise. At times, my characters do  seem to be suffering from some mild stutter stepping, but I'm not willing to cast a stone at the new system in regard to that issue just yet.

I'll take that...and that...and that

Another new feature that has been particularly well received by many, including myself, is the addition of a loot filter system. Path of Exile is a gambling game. You kill a monster and somewhere in the inner workings of their game server a virtual slot machine sets into motion. Although mine often seems to be broken, sometimes it pays out and you get an item. In fact, as you progress in the game, it's rarer to not get an item from an enemy. If you are very lucky you might get something nice and then you get the accompanying rush of chemicals in your brain. Ahhhhh, dopamine.  Back to the point, most of the stuff you will find laying on the ground is garbage. It can be very tricky for newer players to sift through the dirt to find the gold hidden within, but this new option can greatly aid them. Using a .filter file that you (or someone who knows more than you) writes with specifications about the different items that drop, the game will then further increase the visibility of important items. I'm currently using the loot filter "NeverSink" and it works pretty well. Valuable currency item's names pop up highlighted in gold, for example. It makes looting much faster and easier for all players. A+ on this one GGG.

psst..I got a deal for ya..gems!

Satisfied, I closed the options menu and went to work on my new character. As I was working my way through act 1 in the first difficulty I observed that most things were fairly static. I could tell a difference in a few graphical touches. They added a few new mobs types in some of the zones. (parasite controlled sideways walking crabs, yuck) However, something that was quick to jump out to me as a veteran player was the relocation and addition of certain waypoints. In PoE, you have three ways of moving around. You can use waypoints to access any other waypoint that you have found, you can use a scroll of town portal to go back to the town in the act you are currently in, or you can exit the game to character selection and log back in. Before Awakening, some of the waypoints were in seemingly random places, often out of the way or hard to find. Post Awakening, these waypoints have been relocated into better locations that are much more convenient for the player. Another good quality of life improvement. Another QoL improvement was the addition of skill gems for sale in the town hubs. In the old days, skill gems could be hard to find for certain classes because they weren't a quest reward. People would make alt characters, lovingly referred to as mules, to collect quest rewards for gems that they didn't have access to on their other characters. Of course, you could buy the gems from other players, but that also takes money that some players haven't aquired yet. Voila! Now you can purchase quest reward gems from the potion/jewelry vendor in each town. (i.e. Nessa in act one) Worth noting, not all gems from quest rewards may be purchasable by your current class. There still are some restrictions in place, but for the most part they are. This was particularly helpful on quest rewards where I wanted multiple gems, but could only choose one.





I worked my way through the three old acts in the first difficulty, as I've done numerous times before. Often appreciating the small, thoughtful changes that were put into the game. After a few hours, I finally triumphed over Dominus and received my reward; act iv. My immediate impressions of act iv were that GGG has definitely honed their craft at creating content. The different zones all have a distinct feel to them and look gorgeous. The monsters are both simultaneously horrific and awesome. As my leveling partner and I beavered through the content, I couldn't help but notice that the difficulty had been ratcheted up quite a bit. Normal mobs seemed to have quite a bit of health and could become very dangerous in large packs. However, the real danger lies in the bosses of this part of the game. These boss fights are hectic! They feel less like the old boss fights and more like raid bosses from an MMO. Gone are the days of running into the bosses lair, moving to sidestep a few attacks, and grinding the boss into a pulp. Each boss has distinct mechanics that require some form of strategy to overcome. Unless you vastly out gear the content to trivialize it, engaging in a face to face conflict will often result in a very quick death. Often the strategy involves being patient and choosing your openings carefully. Knowing when to disengage is key. At first, I was a bit frustrated with the new bosses. I've been around in PoE for quite a while, and I'm not used to being so sorely tested. However, when I became accustomed to the fights and learned the mechanics, I felt much more rewarded for defeating those bosses. Being able to walk away from a fight and think, hey, I didn't die, actually means something now.

There has been a bit of an uproar through various channels about the difficulty of the act iv content. In response to this, GGG issued a minor patch to address some of the overtuned damage of the last boss fight, but largely left everything else untouched. Message received. It's supposed to be brutal. However, if you are thinking about playing, don't let the difficulty scare you off. Unless you play in a hardcore league, death is never permanent. When you die in a fight, you don't restart fresh and the boss doesn't regenerate health. It's possible to just revive and rush the boss down, if you are struggling with certain fights. You can always ask friends for help! Well, I suppose it's time for me to get back to leveling and looting. If  you do decide to pick up the game, add me to your friends list (Nerdstalgicsigh) and I'll toss you some stuff to help you get started. Until next, #GameOn!

Welcome to Britannia, noobs!

Confession time, friends. I'm penning this post a day early and publishing it later. Why? Reasons, of course. Just kidding, Path of Exile: Awakening goes live tomorrow at 3PM and I don't want to have a blog hanging over my head as I play. I do enjoy writing these, but I've got shinies to find! In Monday's blog, I promised that today I would bring something retro to you. And so I shall. Step into the time machine, folks, and I'll tell you a tale of a 15 year old boy and a love affair. *cue the music*

In the fall of 1997, Ultima Online was released unto the masses. It was (and still is) an open world, sandbox MMORPG.  The brainchild of Richard "Lord British" Garriot, it's aim was to create a world full of mythical creatures, mystical locations, and mighty warriors. Oh, and also blacksmiths, beggars, and bowyers. The appeal of Ultima Online was that you could be anything you wanted. If you wanted to create a character to roam Britannia with nothing but a handcrafted bow and a bundle of arrows, you could. Perhaps your deep down desire was to make a living as an alchemist, grinding reagents with a mortar and pestle to create potions of varying effects. Or, maybe, you wanted to seek out other people with the intent to strike them down with sword and sorcery. This, too, was permitted. You could own a house and thereby claim a parcel of land on a server. Congratulations, you owned a piece of cyberspace and no one else could take it from you! Well, except for the thief hidden outside the bank. He stole your house key and is looting it dry. (He gets to keep the house, by the way)

The stuff of legends, but necessarily in the traditional sense. I adored this game. I thought about it at school, at home, and probably dreamed about it a bit, too. Looking back, I'm almost positive that what drew me to the game was the thrill of the unknown. When the game first launched, it was "open player versus player." This means that any player can attack any other player at their discretion. Sure, there were places that were guard protected.  However, most of the game world was definitely outside of that protection. You always had to be on your guard.

The correct answer is run

Shhhhhh....I think I heard footsteps...

*waits ten seconds and then goes back to mining*

Corp Por

*dies*

Corp Por are the words of power that would appear over the head of a would be player killer during the casting of the spell "e-bolt."  Usually, one of these spells, or perhaps two would be all that's needed to finish off a haggard miner.  I know because I was there. I was that miner. A few times even.  But what a rush!  Never knowing what fresh hell lurked around the next bend in the dungeon or through the next copse of trees.

Minoc 4 lyfe

In the early days of the game, it was a fairly buggy affair. Lag was common, made even more so by the dial up connections we were all using at the time. Most of the snags were tolerable and could even add to the allure of the game. However, some could render the game unplayable at times and very frustrating.  I once had a character get "lost" within the game. I don't mean lost on the map and I couldn't find my way back to town. I mean the screen turned completely black. For all of the characters on that account. Quite unfortunate for my friends, as there were about four of us (all teenage boys with an addiction) sharing that account. This was back before (gasp) computers started becoming more commonplace in all homes and internet was even more rare. Only one of us actually had a computer and dial up, so we would all try to make a pilgrimage over to his house on the weekends. Then we would drink deeply of the game in eight to ten hour marathon shifts. If you were lucky enough to get there first. You would know when your shift was over because you'd feel the twitchy eyes of another junkie boring holes into the side of your head. At which time you would inevitably collapse on the bed in the sweltering bedroom born of bodies and frenzied computation.

The game was quite a success upon release. If you look at the subscription numbers compared to now, it seems very small, but for the time it was astronomical. Within six months of release, warts and all, subscription numbers reached 100,00 people. More importantly, the foundation was being laid for other games to follow in its wake. People often forget, or cite incorrectly, that Everquest came first. However, EQ came out almost a year and a half after UO released. Asheron's Call would come out six months after Everquest. I think it would be fair to say that while World of Warcraft may have made MMOs "cool", and Everquest made them "more accessible", Ultima Online was definitely what started the domino rally of the MMO craze we currently live in. I mean, really, who hasn't played an MMO?

Well, I wasn't asking you, anyways!

If you have a wont, you can still play Ultima Online. There have been numerous changes over the past eighteen (wow) years, but the core concept remains the same. Owing to the fact that the game was made with an isometric overhead view and 2-d graphics, it honestly doesn't look that bad, if you don't mind it not being 2-d. I've always found the look charming and it's certainly easy to discern what you are looking at. It's one of the few remaining MMOs that hasn't went free to play, however. You have to pay for the game itself and also pay a monthly fee. If you're bored and looking for a fun time, you could always slide on over and take advantage of the fourteen day free trial. When I'm feeling nerdstalgic, but don't want to shell out the money to reactivate my account, I usually go this route.. Usually by the end of the free trial I've sated my nerdstalgia and move on.

Have you ever played UO? Thinking of giving it a shot? Leave me a comment with your thoughts on Ultima Online below! #GameOn

So, like, what's the plan, man?

Whao, what the hell, you say? A Wednesday blog? That's not what you said you'd be doing! Mwahahahaha...(cough, choke, cough)

No caption really needed, right?

Wellllllll, you're right! However, I thought I might write a little somethin', somethin' today just letting you guys know where we are and where we are going in the immediate future with the content. So, grab a beverage and relax with me while I lay it all out.

So, this whole purveyor of entertainment content has been something rumbling around in the back of my mind for quite some time. I flirted with it a bit during my time in Korea, only to find that it wasn't really an option. Unbelievably, the location we were living at didn't possess upload high enough to stream content to the level I wanted to produce at. I wasn't quite at ease with the notion of making Youtube vids just yet, and blogging, while an option, didn't seem as effective as a stand alone product. In my mind, all three work together in harmony to provide something (hopefully) to entertain you regardless of the medium you prefer. Want to hang out with me live? Check me out on Twitch.tv. Can't be around when I'm twitchcasting? Youtube. Crave something a bit more intimate and on a personal level? Well, you're here already, aren't you? (or, Facebook, I suppose)  So, now, having found myself in a better situation technologically and logistically, I'm ready to put forth a product that I feel I can be proud of.

I spent most of today working on and researching computer specs, thinking about needed upgrades, and recording software. In my dabbling before, I had opted to use OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) because it was cost efficient. Free is hard to turn down when you aren't sure exactly how far you want to stick your toe in. However, today I took the plunge and bought a three month license for Xsplit in the hopes that it will aid me in content creation. It will work for both broadcasting and local recording (Twitch and Youtube, respectively) and was not terribly expensive. To be sure, there are much, much more expensive products available out there. I just don't think they are necessary at this point. I'm thinking that the stars will be aligning for video content to begin rolling out by mid next week. I could begin sooner, but I like to make sure all the boxes are ticked and that my vest has enough flair on it before I go in for my shift. I'm having to make the switch from wireless connectivity (convenient) to wired prior to starting for stability reasons. So there will be getting the necessary components for that and set up involved.

Give me a minute..ah, damn, it's gone.

As far as what kind of content I will be starting with, well....I plan on streaming Path of Exile to start. I will be putting up a broadcasting schedule sometime prior to starting, so that you will know in advance when you can tune in and hang out with me.  Youtube recordings will be more strategy-y (really), so I will probably be firing up some sort of Crusader Kings 2 series, Europa Universalis 4 series, or perhaps Dwarf Fortress. These will ALSO release on a schedule. At the start, the Youtube stuff might be more of a trickle. I'm unfamiliar with video editing, but familiar enough with the process to know that there is work involved. I plan on adhering to the blog schedule that I currently have set up for the near future. The absolute last thing I want to do is offer something that I can't deliver on. I think the key is to start slowly, see what works, and build on that, rather than rush in with a slew of sub par scheisse. Let's do it right the first time. Okay? Okay.

You guys are in on the ground floor of something that I hope will grow and become something phenomenal. Let's build it together! I'll see you for Friday's blog post, where I'm going to be writing something a little retro. Until then, #GameOn