Redwolf's Journal (continued)

A ton of balance changes went live this last week, affecting frames and weapons. When you get down to it, though, I don't think any of that particularly changes things for me. No, the changes for me are not so mechanical. I've managed to get a few hours of play in as a group, and that is a radical change. Easy missions become laughably trivial. While I haven't done any real higher-difficulty ones with others, having a group of four removes a great deal of challenge - to the point where it might be hard to get 30 kills (an occasional bonus affinity requirement) because things are dying too quickly. On the one hand, it's nice to be able to gain quick affinity with things. On the other hand, it removes some sense of accomplishment as well. And that bring me right to a big question. I now have the opportunity to join a reasonably-active clan. Doing so, however, would mean leaving behind the clan I made myself in order to research/unlock items. The clan in question is ...

So, having completed the story of the expansion, I have to say my previous feelings stand. This was longer, and definitely includes more map space, than a Living Story release, but it doesn't feel big/new/different enough to me to really be an "expansion." Expectations are a bitch sometimes. I'm sure I'll go back and finish more of the maps and learn more of the mount abilities in time, but I don't feel any particular rush to do so. I don't even really feel I hurried that much through the campaign (especially with work preventing play for a few nights last week outright). My biggest complaint, however, is (also) not new to the expansion. I feel the story instances are tuned too hard, with combat biased toward more than one player whereas the plot aspects are more suited to soloing. I ran these quests in full ascended-level gear that is perhaps not perfectly itemized, but you can't get much in the way of more stats. And at that, the fights ranged fr...

So, I got in some hours of play time with GW2's new expansion over the weekend. I've not finished it, but... I think I cleared Act 2 of 3? So far, I'm a bit conflicted about it - or at least indecisive. First, there are the technical issues. There are always technical issues. Somehow, it's more annoying when I can't play on a weekend than a weeknight, and I don't know why Arenanet pushed this out on a Friday rather than the industry-standard Tuesday. Whatever the case, issues of being unable to log in or change zones plagued the game on and off. I played for a couple hours Sunday, then there was an update and I couldn't even stay connected to do guild missions that afternoon. Go figure. None of that is surprising, just kind of disappointing. I've unlocked the thief deadeye specialty, but haven't actually tried it yet. I don't really feel like learning a new gameplay style while trying to make story progress. The mounts are a mixed blessing....

The Long Dark remains my go-to background game. The first couple chapters of the story mode were enjoyable enough, though there's a bit of a disconnect when having to gather a bunch of supplies for one of the few NPCs you enounter. Comparatively, the survival mode is all about you. I'm still learning some things about it, and I find it enjoyable, if quiet. I'm easing back on Secret World Legends play. Transitioning from blue to purple gear feels like a pretty steep climb, and some of the later content in Transylvania and Tokyo is a bit rough to solo at that gear level, it seems. So the game's feeling a little more grindy at the moment. I've considered paying a month to be a "patron," but the rewards are surprisingly unmotivating to me. Lockbox keys and a few extra skill points seem unlikely to make much difference in the experience. GW2: Path of Fire is out at the end of September, which otherwise looks like a fairly bleak month for new releases from ...

Pepsi Fire is one of the oddest drinks I have sampled in quite some time. As a "cinnamon flavored cola," I suppose it's not really surprising - it has a taste far closer to liquid Red Hots than any a simpler cinnamon-sugar flavor. There's a little burn to the aftertaste. I can also see, in the initial flavor, how someone described it as being "vodka flavored." Not what I would call particularly desirable, but I told myself I'd try it and I did. I finished the "original" story quests to Secret World Legends and have pressed past some things that were old post-release content in TSW and into the recently released (for SWL, at least) return to Tokyo. There have been a few quests in that bunch that ramped things up a notch, in a good way. Driving an armed snow mobile was a little clunky, but fun. The additional cut scenes help with the storytelling. Of course, the story being told is still kind of hazy, but the experience there shows improvement...

Ah, what to say? I seem to be suffering a seasonally-enhanced melancholy. Less daylight has an effect. So do the holidays. As much as I am an introvert and find gatherings of people to be wearying, I have to acknowledge there's a sort of validation to it. Without interaction with others, life rapidly starts to feel pointless - or at least not rewarding. It's difficult to feel connected and involved in anything when you have trouble finding someone to even share thoughts and experiences with. And while holiday visits are often burdensome in my experience, they are enjoyable at the time and make such days feel special. And I do seem to have some psychological expectation for certain days being "special" in some way. When they aren't, even if they aren't bad , it makes them incredibly disappointing. That sucks. My WoW play has tapered off some, though I still like Legion and I'm occasionally surprised by the new Suramar content being released every week,...

Living Story update! Yay! Total redirect from Primodus to Jormag! Okay... Braham being a bull-headed dick! Uhh... Taimi being Taimi! Yay! New Shiverpeaks zone! Okay, though not nearly as interesting as Bloodstone Fen was. Orca quaggan! I'm down with that, sure. So, the play experience is okay in general. I'm not a huge fan of the zone's torch-carrying mechanics. It's nowhere near as interesting as Bloodstone's gliding, and is a little annoying as a hotbar-replacing skill set that has limited uses. The story doubles down on elements of the dragon mythos that I'm not fond of, but that's to be expected at this point. It's painful to see Braham in a headlong rush, still mourning Eir. Aurene is cute, and provides some levity during the training missions at the beginning (though that slime maze gets a little annoying). For all that, what stands out most is the last instance. I get breaking up a walk through the caves with combat, but a couple waves of...

So, with 7.1 about to release, I've finished up the current Suramar content on my main. I put in time with alts, finishing out my death knight's class story and getting to the final few steps of my priest's. And... the class/order stories have made a range of impacts... The paladin story is still my favorite so far. After watching Tirion go down during the assault on the Broken Shore, the fight against the Legion feels personal. The presence of Arator makes Light's Heart a little more impactful (bearing a message from Turalyon to his son). The alliance with priests, and inducting one of their number as a paladin makes lots of lore sense. And while I wish there was more information about Lothraxion, his appearance as a general of the Army of Light is cool. Balnazzar, an established dread lord is presented as early as the Ashbringer acquisition quest and thus makes a very good opponent to take down in the final confrontation in Netherlight Temple (and that's presum...

I was recently asked to make the comparison between Legion and Heart of Thorns. Straight-up, I have to say that's something of an apples vs. oranges comparison. The two base games have some fundamental differences that result in very different MMO experiences from where I sit. So... it's pretty hard to compare that. HoT has been around significantly longer. Mechanics: It improved the basic game with, more than any of the other masteries, gliding as a way to get around. That's not as liberating as actual flight, but introducing movement in that third dimension is a pretty big deal for the feel of a game. The news skills, class, and specializations didn't really make a big impact on me personally. Story Content: The HoT story and Living Story add-ons are... narratively okay, I guess. I've had issues with some of the goings on. Overall, it feels "fine" without striking me as good or bad. The primary NPC characters are a highlight, with a good range of p...

So let's see... WoW: Legion continues. It's nice to see many familiar guild faces out and about. I've now run all the normal-mode dungeons. Over the weekend, my main just hit revered with Legion factions and exalted with Nightfallen - a notable step that finishes out the class hall armor set. And I'm sitting at an item level of around 844 - enough that it takes a really good random upgrade roll for a new item to even merit a second glance. The normal dungeons seem pretty forgiving to me at this point, and I'll probably have to try heroics or LFR before too long. The Nightfallen storyline has been enjoyable, though continuance is now gated behind a raid quest that I can't imagine I'll be able to do for a few weeks when that wing is open in LFR mode. I've started on alts a little bit, largely dipping into things to learn professions, though the way those are tied to quests now, I can't just do that entirely from the safety of town. Amusingly for as ...

A couple weeks in and still entertaining. I still love a lot of the little things - level scaling in Legion zones, better (though not total) sharing of mob and resource node tags, and such. Shortly after level 110, you get a whistle that'll get you picked up and carried to the nearest flight master - convenience that works as a good compromise for the current lack of mounted flight. World quests fill the usefulness-slot of dailies, but by reusing leveling assault objectives and some quests. I could see some of them getting old, but the system works fairly well. Rewards even seem to scale to some degree, at least. I have some mixed feelings about professions. The quests they've put into those make things decidedly more interesting than buying a pattern and grinding it repeatedly to level up skill points. On the down side, they effectively gate some things past the point of really being useful. I think I've run four dungeons at level cap and I just picked up the patterns ...

The fight against the Legion continues! With an extended weekend, I didn't have too much trouble getting my paladin to the new level cap of 110 and get into Suramar (though I haven't finished out Stormheim yet). Suramar quests start dropping artifact power like candy. Just like candy, however, it's not very fulfilling to get 100-300 power when your next artifact trait is 7000 points away. Pretty much all my quest chains at this point (class hall, professions, etc.) involve delving into dungeons for various things. That's a little bit of a roadblock to me until guildmates are ready, though I might try to dust off my Retribution skills and PUG as DPS. We'll see there. Technically, this has been a pretty darn smooth expansion launch. I had some disconnection issues one evening, but no queue times logging in. There have been crowds in a few places, but I never felt overwhelmed and rarely have had to wait for target spawns. That's all good. Also, though Blizzard ...

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...

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...

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.

Let's see... Guild Wars 2 remains mostly a couple-hours-a-week thing to do guild missions on Sundays. At some point, maybe I should take on Mordremoth again, but there won't be much drive for me to do anything until there's more story-related content. I've played even less WoW in recent months, though will probably still try out Legion when it releases. The Warcraft movie, though has... done virtually nothing to garner interest from me. Go figure. The Division has become a better experience in general after the last couple patches and some more serious anti-hacking measures. I'm still not a fan of the dark zone, but can stand it in small doses and now there's a good bit more to do (and gear to be found) outside in the rest of the map, which is good. I played through Wolfenstein: The New Order , which was surprisingly good. It lays on the feels a bit thick over the course of the game, but it plays well and the story (though melodramatic) is still a cut ...