Redwolf's Journal (continued)

I feel... a little less frantically hurried to reach level cap that I think I have previously. I'll still admit to skipping some quest text, but I don't feel quite as driven. Maybe I don't feel pressured to get ready for guild dungeons/raiding ASAP? Maybe I'm just getting old. ;) So far, the little things are bringing pleasure. I don't have to fight over mining nodes with other people, because we can finally share them. There seems to be more shared tagging/credit for kills as well - I think XP may be limited in some fashion, but anything I hit (first or otherwise) seems to have given credit quest-wise. There are still some interact-with objects that require individual attention, but kills are much better. The zones where level scaling is implemented seem to function transparently. Even finding the shortcut portal to/from my class hall (rather than dropping into a huge crater every time) felt like a victory. Quality of life in the game feels pretty much as good as

So far, so smooth? I got in about an hour of play before work today. There were no login queues, and only a moderate amount of PC-bunching at quest givers. A fair bit of that latter parts is because the first real quest chain urges players toward picking up their artifact weapons and establishing their order hall, which divides players out by spec/class for the first 30-60 minutes of the expansion, including a solo scenario for part of that time. That feels bizarrely ingenius. And with a choice of four zones to start in on the main continental questing, players should remain not-totally-concentrated. Previous expansions usually funneled players into one of two zones to start. With level-scaling technology, a lot more doors are opened. I'm not exactly thrilled that my artifact weapon as a protection paladin is a Titan Watcher's sword-and-shield combo, but there weren't any real legendary shields in the lore, so... what can ya do? It's not bad or anything. The scenario

Arguably, I made a very critical error when designing my character in our Sunday-evening airship-based D&D game. I had a fighter type in mind, but I was faced with either leaning on Strength or Dexterity. Both seemed pretty equally viable. Strength might have an edge in melee, Dex in ranged. I opted to make a half-orc Strength fighter - pretty archtypal. The problem with that is there's basically no synergy with anything. On an airship, Strength is not directly useful in much of anything. Weapons are ranged, therefor Dex-based. Navigation and engineering can lean on mental stats. Negotiations fall on Charisma. So, stat-wise, Harrick excels at nothing aboard the ship. Last night, however, I was so proud of him. With the party in an ice-swamp searching for a missing clergyman, the group came under attack. Four PCs and 3 NPCs in a trio of canoes were traversing murky waterways to be assaulted by a swarm of javelins from the reeds. I took a look at the ambush and came to the

While it's technically true that you can't really effectively review something without having experienced it, there's a point at which that sort of doesn't matter . We have a finite amount of time and money for entertainment. It may not be fair to say "that's bad" from afar, but I think it's perfectly fair to say "that doesn't look worth my time/money/concern" even if the opinion might be appended with "yet" . No Man's Sky has been drawing attention for quite some time. The color palette turned me off a bit, but the thought of a massive universe of exploration is pretty cool. Coming up on, and passing, the release date, though... reviews have failed to convey any sense of purpose to it. One review I listened to described the game as a survival game without the best parts . So based on what I've heard, it's a game of functionally-infinite breadth, with procedurally-generated worlds farther than the eye can see i

This little rant/reporting of John Oliver's on the current state/progress of journalism stripes particularly close to home. I've never claimed to be a journalist, but being involved in a newspaper for many years, I've seen this. Journalism

I keep getting asked what I think of demon hunter gameplay. Ultimately, I feel like it's premature to render a verdict as I'm pretty sure they're designed more around level 110 (end of Legion) than 100 (current cap). That said... I've been playing a DPS variant a little and I like the mobility - it just feels out of place. Jump-doublejump-glide is cool in a way that makes me jealous of the class (like I was back when death knights were introduced with a waterwalking ability), but coming off GW2 play, it's a whole extra button press to get to the glide and it's way less maneuverable. For WoW, though, it's an increase in freedom that's welcome. Just wish others had it. The only other aspect to really generate an opinion at this time has been the lack of a self-heal (at least, I haven't some any such), which is somewhat frustrating. I realize that isn't as out of place for DPS specs in WoW, but it's painful when you start taking damage in an inv

Y'know, most of the things I've heard lately that have elicited a "Did that just happen?" response have come from a presidential candidate. That's depressing. I'd rather hear it from a game, to be honest. Demon Hunters in WoW are initially tasked with a raid on a Legion world. While doing so, they open up portals to call in reinforcements, but doing so requires a sacrificed. I believe the first one lets you gather energy from fallen demons. Okay. The second presents one of your allies who's mortally wounded and offering of himself. Well, okay. The third puts you face-to-face with another demon hunter who explains, "Well, we need a powerful soul for this one, which means... you or me." I have to admit, I sort of "meta-reasoned" that one. I mean, they can't force-delete your character at that stage, it would be insane. I figured the worst that would happen is having to replay that bit and choose the other alternative to kill the

So... yeah. I reactivated my account last night, then spent probably more than thirty minutes just sorting through abilities and gear just in my main character's inventory. I haven't even really hit the bank slots yet. With the new wardrobe functionality, there's apparently no need to keep gear around for just appearance purposes anymore - though they might need to be equipped before you can toss/sell them, I need to read up more on that. My action bars ended up with more space, which is probably good, though the difference in ability rotation/priorities is playing havoc with muscle memory. It'll take some training to get to where I can smoothly tankadin again. I'm also reflexively trying to use GW2 keys to do things, which doesn't work - pretty normal for me, really, when hopping between games. Demon hunters are out for people who have purchased Legion. Demonic invasion events are happening, though I have yet to hit one. And there's a pre-expansion story

So, I've managed the time to sink my teeth into the new Guild Wars 2 living story content over the weekend and such. Not sure how long that will be the case with WoW ramping up pre-Legion stuff and things like DX: Mankind Divided coming up on the horizon rapidly. I suppose I'm just glad you don't have to finish the Heart of Thorns story missions to actually participate, since that last one still stymies me (a lot like requiring the Arah dungeon did in the main game). Story-wise... well... hmm. On the up side, we see many of the core characters in the wake of the main expansion events, and that all feels pretty solid. Fallout from those events is what would be expected with minor exception. I don't want to spoil anything for certain folks, so there's only so much I can say. Then there's the gearing up of a new threat, which... feels a little out of the blue to me. Maybe it's because I didn't experience the raid, so I don't really know what transpire

It's been a long time since I was truly excited about the Olympics. Now, in a general sense, I look upon them as a fiasco of money (which leads to corruption). For a host city, it means a lot of attention and building projects that range from rushed to ruinous. It's just so wasteful. But I do have to respect the dedication and excellence represented by the athletes themselves. For that reason alone, I tune in from time to time during the games. These are people whose entire lives may revolve around one or two competitions. There are elements of that which are very impressive. And last night, I saw something that was a little heartbreaking when US cyclist Mara Abbott took a solid lead on the last leg of a a road race only to be overtaken by not one person, but three people in the last 100 meters or so. From looking like a very possible gold medal to none at all... Oof. It feels to me like that would be devastating once it sank in.

With the release of some new living story content, I figured I'd go back to the final fight of the main Heart of Thorns story. And... yeah, I have confirmed my general belief that whoever designed it is a dick who consciously or subconsciously hates solo players. The fights leading up to Modremoth can be annoying enough themselves. That one, though... my hate is so very strong. Even playing pretty well for not having been at it for a while, I clear about 75% of the fight, but one slip in the air phase sets up an unrecoverable death spiral, and means having to start the whole fight over. Maybe I'm getting too old for this, because I just don't have the tolerance for that kind of frustration myself. Haaaaate.