Diablo III: Season 5

The new season rolled around in Diablo III about two weeks ago and I've been blissfully grinding toward season five goals.  I have been surprised with how engrossed this new season has kept me--I've been doing nothing but leveling, bounty-ing, and rifting and haven't really thought twice about playing something else.  There are some new features that have kept me entertained (and frustrated) but last night I think the season five honeymoon finally ended.

There aren't a lot of completely unique new features in season five but it started off on a positive note.  Rather than creating a new seasonal hero and using up a character slot players were given the option of "re-birthing" a previously made character and turning them into a seasonal hero.  I had a wizard that I had never gotten all the way to 70 that I decided I would "re-birth."  The addition of timers showing how much time was left on massacre and destruction bonuses made it much clearer how long you had to kill another critter or slay a harmless vase.  Leveling to 70 was relatively painless and then the real fun began.

I have genuinely enjoyed the addition of the "season journey" goals.  These tiered goals give players attainable targets to go after.  This season also granted players a complete set of armor for completing specific goals in the last chapter of the journey.  Before this I didn't have the drive to complete an entire set and had grabbed a few individual set pieces.  It was cool to finally have a completed set and to be able to take advantage of the six piece set buffs.  The wizard set leans heavily toward fire talents and grants a powerful buff against elites and bosses that makes killing them a joke.

The Firebird set for season 5 wizards.

Since Blizzard was already giving players an entire set of armor they decided to give players content to accompany their snazzy new outfits.  Set dungeons are designed to showcase the powerful abilities granted by the new armor sets.  They are also designed to annoy the living heck out of anyone who attempts them.  Each set dungeon has a set of primary objectives (of which you only have to complete one) and a "master" objective that grants a special achievement.  The wizard set dungeon involves setting 20 enemies on fire within 3 seconds of each other...six times or, if you feel like dying a lot, you can use the set granted "on death" ability in which a flaming meteor resurrects you while simultaneously killing 50 enemies.  It took me many, many tries to finally figure out exactly what I needed to do and many others reported difficulties with objectives (setting enough enemies on fire before killing them was a challenge).  These new dungeons are decidedly un-fun which is a bit of a disappointment.  It probably doesn't help that the Firebird set bonus for wizards appears to be very buggy or to have strange triggers.  At times when I feel like many enemies are on fire I get no buff but at other times I have the buff for an extended time and mow through enemies until it randomly goes away.

I was really excited when I finally completed the set dungeon and completed my first tier of the season journey objectives.  My sparkly new portrait frame and weird pet were fitting rewards.  But wait...there are still other "slayer" objectives to be completed!  I didn't realize that the seasonal goals were set up to build upon each other and eagerly started my quest to check off more boxes.....I just don't have it in me to keep grinding.  Thanks Diablo III, it was fun while it lasted.

Rise of the Tomb Raider released it's PC port this week and I've been debating another adventure with the lovely Lara Croft.  I'm not a traditional Tomb Raider fan from the PlayStation days or yore but I had a great time with the 2013 re-boot Tomb Raider.  I just can't make up my mind about buying it (it's one that I think I would prefer to get on sale--I had a hard time re-playing Tomb Raider and don't see a ton of replayability factor to warrant paying $59.99 for it).  Oh and XCOM2 releases next week!  These games are trying to break my bank account.

Happy Holidays!

The holiday season is here and it's time to throw the ol' Yule Log on the fire and enjoy some relaxing game time.  As for me, I'm doing a lot of reflecting about some of the games I'm currently playing and some that I've played in the recent past.  Yup, I couldn't even cobble together thoughts about one game since I've been jumping back and forth between several games.


The Winter Steam Sale
That magical time of year where oodles of great games go on sale has finally arrived...but on a much less flashy scale.  Steam sales of times past have been huge events filled with strange mini-games, flash sales, and pressure to buy games that we know we'll never play (just admit it!).  Why the changes?  There was always something exciting about Steam sales.  The addition of all the goofy little competitions and mini-games made them feel like a real event.  I'm not sure exactly how I feel about the change.  Part of me wants to celebrate the move away from using gimmicky psychological tricks (like the countdown timers) to pressure people to buy games.  On the other hand, there's this whole other part of me that liked the excitement of getting what felt like a great deal.  So far I haven't bought anything and haven't really felt pressured to buy anything.  I still explore my discovery queue every day to get my three free trading cards but this sale just feels a lot different...much more low-key.

Diablo III--Season 4
I'm not a hardcore Diablo player but I really appreciate the fact that when I do decide to play that there is always something new or interesting.  About a week ago I looked into the new (but almost over) season of Diablo III.  After months of not playing I found a reason to renew my adventures and level a new seasonal hero.  I enjoyed the fact that there were goals associated with your advancement through the season that ended with the reward of a portrait frame and pet (I'm such a nerd for pets--seriously, if there's a pet involved I will accomplish those goals).  The goals were highly obtainable, even for someone like me who started very late in the season.  I also noticed some minor changes to how some things worked--there's a whole new zone available in Adventure Mode that features a unique crafting item, Kanai's Cube.  The cube allows players to do several very useful things like extracting special powers from legendary items and allowing them to be placed on your current gear or using accumulated crafting materials to turn rare items into legendary items.  The cube is a creative way to address many of the items that become useless as players advance through adventure mode.

Kanai's Cube features several unique recipes.

It really feels like nephalem rifts have become a lot less important and bounties are more of the focus.  Kanai's Cube requires special legendary crafting materials that are found in the horadric caches that are rewarded upon completion of a string of bounties.  These crafting items are also required to craft the many legendary items available to the blacksmith.  I also noticed that the horadric caches seem to drop a lot of blacksmithing and jewelcrafting plans.  This is a nice change and allows set pieces and individual legendaries to become much more accessible.

Even though Diablo III threatens to give me a raging case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome I still find myself clicking away.  I've always been a fan of Blizzard games and I am impressed with the way that they have kept a 2-3 year old game fresh.  Season 4 ends on December 30th and Season 5, which starts on January 15th, promises a new zone and other enjoyable features.

Santa has had enough.

Viscera Cleanup Detail:  Santa's Rampage
Seasonal twists on games always make me laugh.  The space janitorial sim Viscera Cleanup Detail features a not-so-jolly holiday map that requires players to cleanup after Santa has had some sort of mental breakdown.  The resultant gore includes a number of slain elves and some unfortunate reindeer.  The level is strewn with presents, toy guns, TNT, molotov cocktails, and clear evidence that Santa had been drinking off the stresses of delivering presents to all the children on Earth.  Although the map is relatively small it's an entertaining seasonal distraction.

The Witcher 3:  Making you feel bad for horrible characters.
My personal game of the year pick would be The Witcher 3:  Wild Hunt.  I was captivated almost every minute I played and found the story options refreshing from your rote good/bad choices.  The world of The Witcher 3 is very rarely black or white and is more frequently a really dark shade of grey.  I found this most noticeable in the many characters who populate the game.  The Bloody Baron is the best example of this dynamic.  The guy is a lousy drunkard who beats his pregnant wife until she miscarries.  He leads a band of soldiers with questionable ethics who are looting the war-torn countryside bare...but he also has a giving heart and takes care of Ciri when she shows up wounded at his castle.  You really want to hate the guy but he's just so....human.  He's not perfect and that's what makes him a great character.

The most recent DLC features another character, Olgierd von Everec, who is very similar to the Baron.  Olgierd seems like an alright guy--the leader of a pack of bandits, but with some morals--very Robin Hood-esque.  It's only as you progress through the story that you realize there's much more to his story.  Eventually you learn that he's made a deal with the veritable devil (Gaunter O' Dimm, the man of glass) in an effort to restore his family's wealth and name.  The story leads you through the tragic tale of his beautiful wife who died from a broken heart.  But, like the Baron, he's just a man who made a lot of bad choices.

Here's wishing everyone out there a happy holiday season.  I hope it finds you spending time with loved ones...and maybe some light gaming :)

The Witcher 3--Just One More Day!

I've already done my pre-loading and am anxiously awaiting the release of The Witcher 3 tomorrow.  I know that it was released early in Europe and have been avoiding any information related to the game.  No review or videos of quests or gameplay.  I'm holding out and hoping that this is the best Witcher game yet.  A few hours ago another trailer was released--this one notably featuring Ciri--that also shows a large number of familiar and new characters and creatures.  I especially enjoyed the short clip that shows Ciri training with Geralt at Kaer Mohren.  Check it out:

In the meantime I am still vacillating between Diablo III and Dragon Age:  Origins.  I haven't managed to find anymore mooing mayhem in Diablo despite my best efforts.  My barbarian has had some fairly good luck with blood shards and has managed to piece together a decent ensemble.  I'm contemplating giving it a few more goes in the hope of finding a cow portal--which I'm not even sure really exists.

Oddly, I've been really enjoying my current playthrough of Dragon Age:  Origins.  The only thing I'm not enjoying is my class choice--I've decided I don't like playing an archer.  Mage is alright, but archers seem to have pretty pointless abilities.  I do like that I made my archer a ranger and can summon random animals to fight at my side.  I've always liked the characters, the story, and the locations in Origins.  All the races (with the exception of the Qunari, who get quite a bit of attention in Dragon Age II) are featured and you get a chance to experience the culture and issues of each race.

I'm going to enjoy my current fascination with Origins while I can because once The Witcher 3 comes out it'll be awhile until I return to Ferelden to finish my adventures as an elven archer.

Diablo III Celebrates Third Anniversary with Bovine Wonders

Yup, it's a cow.

It's hard to believe but Diablo III has been around for three years now.  Blizzard has always found a special way to celebrate hallmarks in it's games and Diablo is no exception.  If you're looking for something different in your Diablo experience you might want to check it out between now and May 21st.  Players have a chance to find special treasure goblins that just might open a portal to a world filled with murderous cows.  I have yet to find one but I'm hopeful that I will.  There are also special items with magical bovine powers.  My barbarian picked up a legendary polearm with the power to summon a pack of axe wielding cows to my side.  Now I roam nephalem rifts with my cow posse.

I Picked a Boring Class.

After finishing Grand Theft Auto V I've been bouncing back and forth between a sense of nostalgia that has me wanting to re-play some games that I haven't played in a long time and wanting to make progress in a current game.  My sense of forward progress finally won out and I returned to the seasonal hero I had rolled, played to about level 50, and then wantonly neglected so I could play GTA V.  I had lofty goals for my first seasonal hero--I envisioned racing to level 70 and then raking in the legendaries.

Barbarian.  Looks cool....but I'm bored.

My class choice has turned into somewhat of an obstacle.  I settled on a barbarian because I hadn't played one in a long time.  My barbarian is turning out to be somewhat of a bore.  I don't know if I've just picked crappy abilities or have crappy gear, but he feels kind of gimpy.  He's currently sitting around level 63 and I'm finding a real lack of motivation to keep going with him.  I will persevere and get him to level 70....and then hopefully get enough gear that he stops feeling so pitiful.

If I make another seasonal hero I'm definitely picking a more exciting class.  A wizard?  Maybe a witch doctor.

On a happier note...8 more days until The Witcher 3!  I've read that some retailers in Europe are selling it earlier than in the U.S.  I hope all the people there are enjoying it.  I'm jealous.

The Woes of the Weak Willed. And Pre-Loading.

Awhile back I read this whole article about how pre-ordering a game is generally a bad idea.  Too often games are buggy and can have serious issues right at release.  Waiting for these issues to be resolved can save gamers a lot of time and nerdrage energy.  Unfortunately for me, I am one of the weak willed.  I tell myself that I'm going to wait until I hear that a game is stable and that the initial kinks have been worked out.  I never do!  The upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto V on PC is the latest culprit in this chain of impatience.  I keep reading amazing things and watching 60 FPS trailers and then getting really excited!  Yesterday I caved and hit the pre-order button.

A 4K rendered screenshot from GTA V.  Wow!

Now that I've pre-ordered GTA V, I can start the process of pre-loading.  If you are planning on playing it on release day, I would highly recommend that you get cracking.  You might need to clear up some space on your hard drive.  GTA V came in at a whopping 59 GB.  I have been sporadically pre-loading (between pausing so I can watch Netflix and do online things) and have only made it to 44%.

While I wait for this momentous occasion, I have decided to check out season 3 in Diablo III.  I haven't made a seasonal hero before this and wanted to see what all the fuss is about.  My barbarian, Ragnaar, is currently crushing his way into his level 30's.  Ragnaar has landed some nice legendaries for levelling and is looking pretty good.  I don't see myself topping any leaderboards, but I'm having fun.

I can't wait to re-enter the optimized world of Grand Theft Auto!  It's only a day away (I am singing that song from the musical "Annie" which is in no way related to a video game).

Multiple Characters or One?

I have run into a bit of a conundrum in my recent return to Diablo III.  Should I focus on one level 70 character or should I just mess around on several?  I have no intention of trying to earn any special place on a leaderboard and I just mostly play for fun.  My crusader has come along nicely and seems decently geared.  I also have a level 70 monk who is really fun, but could use some shiny new legendaries.  So how do you roll?  Do you focus on one set class or do you choose from a set?

I really like my monk.

If I roll one toon:

1.) Better chance of gearing up a character and increasing the difficulty level resulting in better loot.

2.) More practice with one specific class.  Gain a more thorough understanding about class abilities and how to most effectively use them.

If I roll with multiple toons:

1.) Grinding becomes less stale.  Simply switching classes makes things feel different.

2.) More experience with different classes.  I'm not expecting to play multi-player anytime soon, but understanding other classes is good.  I've always enjoyed learning every class in games.

3.) Spread the wealth--gear up multiple toons with drops.  Choose the best for each situation.

Or, the random thrid option is to look into the whole seasonal play.  I haven't tried to make a seasonal hero yet, but as a fan of levelling I could see this as a valid option.  As a casual player I wouldn't expect to get much out of it--I won't be on any leaderboards.

These are my Diablo dilemmas.  /sigh.

The Joy of Grinding

I'm generally not a huge fan of games that involve seemingly endless hours of grinding.  It takes a certain degree of patience to want to complete the same actions over and over with the hope of some "phat lewtz" at the end.  Strangely I've been enjoying the Diablo III grind.  My little crusader who started out as a fun side project has turned into a hulking mass of holy destruction.  I'm not going to be topping any leaderboards, but I'm having fun.

The dominion of the greed demon.

I made the decision to turn up the difficulty a few days ago and am finding that this has really paid off.  I have seen significantly better loot drops and have managed to amass a decent amount of gold.  One really fun event happened the other day purely by accident.  A treasure goblin popped up and I desperately chased it all over the map.  I finally managed to corner it and proceed to pound on it like the loot pinata that it is.  In my frenzy of clicking I somehow managed to enter the mysterious portal to the realm of the greed demon.  If you haven't managed to get into the portal you're missing out on a fun experience!  Inside the portal you find yourself in a vault that is filled with riches--tons of gold (plus, it's 100% bonus gold and XP right now) and more treasure goblins to kill.  At the end of a maze of riches you enter the inner sanctum and face-off against the greed demon.  The demon wasn't a very difficult fight for my crusader, I just has to make sure that I avoided the charge attacks and falling loot chests.  Once you've downed the demon you are rewarded with a huge chest of loot.

Besides downing the elusive greed demon I also found my first greater rift keystone.  I don't really know much about these keystones other than they unlock rifts that function as a sort of challenge mode.  The goal seems to be to unlock more powerful rifts by completing them quickly--there is a timer that runs continually and the rift guardian must be defeated before the timer runs out in order to advance to a more difficult rift.  If you beat the timer you earn a loot reward which also includes the option to earn a legendary gem.

It's nice to have some fallback games that I can enjoy while I'm waiting for new releases.  Grand Theft Auto V is next on my playlist and it has already been delayed a few times.  In the meantime I'm going to keep grinding out some loot in Diablo III.

The Always Online Requirement.

I've recently started replaying Diablo III and have mostly been enjoying my experience.  D3 is my go-to game when I just feel like endlessly killing and looting.  It happens sometimes.  My new crusader is progressing nicely and I've ratcheted up the difficulty a couple of notches because things just felt too easy.  I also have a crushing desire to give myself carpal tunnel syndrome from all the repeated clicking.  I played so much this summer that I seriously thought I had done permanent damage to my wrist.

The dreaded latency spike...

I have run into a roadblock that seems to sporadically affect many D3 players--high latency.  It's the worst.  I feel helpless as I watch my crusader swing and wait for the actions to take place.  My in-game latency seems to bounce back and forth between yellow and green.  It hasn't been unplayable, just frustrating.  Last night it was more stable and generally I don't have these kinds of issues as my internet service is very consistent.  This minor set of issues has made me realize how frustrating the "always online" requirement is for gaming.  It's especially frustrating when I primarily play in single-player mode.  Why does it need to be online?  The console version offers an offline option for single player games so why not on the PC version?

This isn't breaking news and I didn't get the displeasure of experiencing the botched release and server issues from 2012 (I didn't buy it till after those issues had been fixed).  I tried to look up explanations for why Blizzard put the always online requirement on the PC version and didn't really come up with a definitive answer.  Some people thought it was primarily due to the now defunct "real money" auction house and the desire to avoid issues related to hacking or illegally duplicating items.  Others seem to feel like it was Blizzard exerting their own form of DRM to avoid piracy issues.  Blizzard seemed to state that D3 was meant to be an online game (and multiplayer) and they hoped to build an online community of D3 players.  I get the whole social aspect of gaming and that seems to be something Blizzard really pitches but not everyone wants to play multiplayer games.  That sounds really anti-social, I know.  It's not that I don't like playing with friends, I do.  I have no desire to play with strangers.  None.  I found that it's really hard to stay together unless you're going to plan to roll characters who you'll only play together.

I'm not going to quit playing D3 I like it too much.  I just don't understand "always online" requirements--they seem like such a roadblock and your internet connection can definitely have a big impact on your experience.  My hope for the future is that developers will try their hardest to avoid the "always online" requirement for single player games.  I don't really see that happening, but I can always hope.

Smack you in the face!

Stealth games are my nemesis due to my total lack of patience.  After finishing up BioShock:  Infinite's DLC "Burial at Sea" which involved some stealthiness I somehow decided that the next game I wanted to re-tackle would be Dishonored.  I'm not sure what part of my brain influenced me to make this decision since I know that I get irritated with games that have a sneaky/stealthy aspect.  I'm going to blame it on being sick.

Dishonored is a game that is completely about sneaking.  I suppose you could just run headlong into foes and get creative in your evasion, but I don't see that as being very successful.  It also seems to me that the game is very actively encouraging you to use stealthy tactics--the "hints" on the loading screen state that sneaking and killing fewer people will result in a happier ending.  To me this seems to be nudging players to opt for the more "peaceful" option.  You do get rewarded for avoiding conflict in Dishonored by bonuses at the end of the mission for not killing anyone or for not setting off any alarms.  I've played through it once but decided that it was time for a replay but am having difficulty being patient.  Crouching in a corner, waiting for some guard to walk by, then waiting to make sure he isn't going to turn around mid-stride.  There's an element of tension as you wait and plan out your moves, but it is decidedly slower than a more traditional shooting type of game.  Maybe that's what's wrong--I don't want a game that forces me to plan and be patient.  I want a game that lets you smack stuff in the face.  Preferably with giant weapons.

The male and female crusader models.  Very cool.

And that's how I ended up playing Diablo III (with Reaper of Souls) rather than continuing hiding in corners in Dishonored.  There's no stealthing or hiding.  There's nothing but good old fashioned slaying.  I bought the Reaper of Souls expansion this summer (meaning the summer of 2014 in teacher years) and had played through much of the new campaign content with some of my favorite classes--namely the monk, wizard, and witch doctor.  I hadn't really touched the shiny, new crusader class so I decided to give it a whirl and it's pretty freakin' awesome.  The crusader seems to be geared toward a more tank-like role with talent options that help reduce the amount of damage taken through blocking with a shield.  If you're playing solo you can talent more for sheer damage capabilities.  Crusaders can wield a two-handed weapon as a one-hander.  This totally satisfies my requirement for giant weapons.  This combined with a shield makes you less squishy than other classes which is good for players like me who enjoy charging into a big group of demons with wild abandon.

My crusader is still in it's early stages, but I am really enjoying this added class.  For some reason I felt like I had better luck than normal with legendary drops (which don't really matter at low-levels but are still exciting--that orange just makes you want to giggle) and have managed to deck out my crusader pretty nicely for some low-level smashing.

I'm going to try my hardest to soldier through Dishonored, but I have found a nice tension release in the form of Diablo III:  Reaper of Souls and the crusader.