Redwolf's Journal (continued)

While my WoW sub is a few days lapsed, I'm still keeping tabs on the game. I'm not sure if 8.1 will bring enough to draw me back in, I may sit out 'til 8.2. That remains to be seen. Overall, the Battle for Azeroth story hasn't been hugely compelling to me. There are some characters I like, but other than getting Jaina back (which was awful complicated, really), I don't feel like I've done much save housecleaning for the Kul Tiras isles. That, however, may just be due to the Alliance perspective. One of the talking points to come out of the recent news is enabling and involving players by giving choices to make with repercussions. First off, I'm skeptical of that in an MMO. Next, the only example given seems to be whether to support Sylvanas or Saurfang - and that is a Horde-only decision. And other than some lines of dialog, I don't know what the different outcome could actually be. Things are plotted out expansions in advance, so there's virtual...

So, what's it been like working through levels and zones in BfA? Not that unlike other expansions, really. Story-wise, it seems my totally-uninformed choices made the faction conflict drop almost completely off the map for my leveling play. The Alliance has three zones to quest through. The Horde only really makes an appearance in about a quarter of one of those zones. It just so happens I didn't hit that area until after reaching level 120 (even without any XP boosting tricks beyond some rested XP here and there). Along the way, you open up three excursions to establish beachheads on the Horde island. Only one of those really deals with confronting Horde soldiers (the others deal with native snake-folk and some serious cannibal trolls that I don't think are specifically Horde-aligned), and guess which one I happened to do last? So, while other players may well see things differently, I hit Kul Tiras and promptly didn't worry much about the big, central conflict for a...

It's odd to have a WoW expansion release on a Monday afternoon. I'd have to say it was relatively smooth for me. I did get disconnected two or three times over the course of the evening - each time, the game remained for maybe a minute or so, but mobs stopped spawning or responding, leading to an empty area before I got dropped back to the launcher, watched the download process appear to download a small update, then I was able to get back in. That's not remotely as bad as queue times in Burning Crusade or total server failures some expansions have seen. The experience was also strangely uncrowded. Whether it's phasing or sharding tech or just luck, the mobs of advancing players felt less mobby than previous expansions. I wasn't alone by any means, but it wasn't overwhelming either. And many major NPCs/questgivers seemed to have a small area around them that disabled the ability to mount - probably to prevent people from blocking them with mammoths and the l...

I am weary. I have endured the alien world of Draenor, broken and not. I have walked the frozen land of Northrend to the peak of IceCrown Citadel itself. I have battled Deathwing, aspects of Old Ones, and even Sargeras himself. And it is now that I am tired. Sargeras' defeat and the shattering of the Legion was a great victory. I thought, perhaps, we could hang up our weapons for a time and relish an Azeroth free of imminent doom. Even with the damage done by his blade, the world could have, should have, been given a chance to rest. Instead, the wheel turns, the cycle continues, and the Horde lashes out. So, instead, I find myself taking up Oathseeker once more, even lacking the power it once had, and setting out to shield the Alliance.  This is not the first time, of course. When returning from the defeat of the Lich King, many territorial lines had shifted and Gilneas fell. With Garrosh's leadership, the Horde turned Theramore into a crater - much like the destructi...

Well, Battle for Azeroth is only... what? A couple weeks away? I decided to catch up a little on the recent couple of outside-the-game stories Blizzard has put online to set the stage. Jaina's was a very moody piece. It feels out of place to me in a literal sense - I don't recall any real Charon-like lore in the setting, so we have a powerful ice mage getting an undead to take her out to a sea graveyard to raise her father's ships from beneath the waves? And he is her father maybe? Honestly, the whole thing feels much more metaphorical than literal as she basks in guilt and resolves to fight the Horde. Given that ambiance, I'm not entirely sure it should be taken literally. Sylvanas' story seems a good bit more literal. And... it seems to have evoked a community reaction that sort of confuses me. "This isn't morally gray!" "This is a war crime!" Well... yeah, this is Sylvanas, the same one who has been complicit to or directly behind oth...

I feel like the few things I can vent out of my mind recently are all spoilerish. How much should one protect people from spoilers, though, when they probably won't even see the source material? Hmm... Well, here there be potential spoilers, anyway. With some newish access to Netflix, I was easily able to get caught up on the latest (6th?)season of Voltron: Legendary Defender. I like the show and the development of the setting and characters for the most part. This season has some major ups and downs. On the one hand, it's getting to explaining and elaborating on a good number of things that were hinted at before. Lotor and Haggar's histories and perspectives lose some mystery. Keith and Krolia get to explore details of their past via (very convenient) time disruptions. We get a little bit of a love triangle going on. We find out what's up with Shiro. We get some Altean reveals. And even if it took up basically a whole episode, I enjoyed seeing the group playing Mon...

Ah, a nice, restful weekend. I felt like I needed that after "cramming" for Halloween and all the other little stuff that came up last week. It was nice to sleep in and get an extra hour (for as much as I dislike Daylight Saving Time in general). This morning, I even had some dreams of being in a strange Aliens follow-up where a few more people survived the movie. The group was diverted to a world inhabited by friendly non-humans with a human science base, and we marines (plus Ripley) were sent to look for a possible insurgency, but ended up getting drawn into this science base that seems like they might be experimenting with xenomorphs. Alas, I woke up before any real payoff. BlizzCon over the weekend, and the new WoW expansion was revealed: Battle for Azeroth (BfA? hmm... not a good acronym this time, ah well). I am... not excited. It took me a little consideration to figure out why, but I think it largely boils down to: 1) We've come back to the faction war befo...

A couple more thoughts... 7.3 in WoW is a goddamn playground for my paladin main. The story feels almost as much like an extension of the paladin campaign as it does the main Legion storyline. And while I'm a little annoyed at the density of enemies, I have had zero issues taking them on. Level 112 rare? Oh, that'll take a while to burn down, but I'm not going to die. Pull 8-10 normal enemies? Inconvenient to wrangle together, but again not a lethal threat. I'm sure other class/specs work just fine as well, but protection paladin feels almost ideal. I managed to squeeze in about half an hour with the Destiny 2 beta this morning. That was just enough time for me to finish the initial mission, skipping some of the cut scenes. Overall, it looks and plays pretty good. Of course, a beta doesn't necessarily accurately reflect the final product, but I do some some criticisms. For a new player, there was very little explanation of how to play. "Super charged....

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 ...

In GW2 , I keep telling myself I'm done replaying the Battle for Claw Island, yet it keeps happening. Ah well. Playing a little bit following others through story, otherwise just doing Sunday guild missions and keeping up with the basic living story releases. In WoW the Broken Shore content has gotten me a bit more interested of late, at least. And I did put the effort in to level up my druid to be my 4th max-level character over a weekend - so much easier with flying unlocked. I've some dungeons I want to do at some point, but it's all okay right now. Cryostasis I've been watching playthroughs of some "horror" games of late - stuff I wouldn't generally both to play myself, but listening to the experience is interesting. Cryostasis was the latest, and I was quite impressed by it, actually. It apparently has loads of technical issues, but looks decent when it runs, and has some interesting themes with health based on warmth and the ability to sort of ...

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,...

I have no plans for it whatsoever! That's not abnormal or anything, so that's fine. I got to watch the local production of Rocky Horror Friday night. They regularly do "themes" for the yearly (?) local show, with actors dressing up one way or another. This year was a cowboy/Western theme. Overall, it was sort of a mixed experience, but a positive one. On the down side... well, I find the theming sort of unnecessary. The original rings in my mind, so seeing a layer of something else over it is a little jarring. As a show experience, the rowdy audience was a milk annoyance. And the bar lacked simple syrup, of all things, so I had to settle for a basic gin and tonic. The horror! ;) On the up side, there's quite a bit of energy to a live show that watching the movie just doesn't have - and it was my first time experiencing that. It was performed well, and generally pretty cool all around. Things have slowed down in WoW . I made a push to make sure my death ...

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...

Leaves are falling and the weather is cool, but not cold. It definitely feels like autumn. I look forward to the end of the election season, though there's no telling how that'll all shake out in the end. For a time, I considered third-party presidential candidates, but I reached a conclusion much akin to John Oliver's assessment . WoW goes on. I still am enjoying Legion overall. I've spent some time playing alts over the last week or two as well. My main is sitting pretty comfortably awaiting company to delve into heroics and/or mythics at some point, though relatively few guild regulars are there yet. 7.1 is set to be released next week - I'm pretty surprised by how fast that feels. They did announce is pretty early on, and I don't want to turn away content, but that's still pretty early in Legion's life cycle. I'm curious to see what's there, but with the Karazhan dungeon being mythic+ difficulty, it may be a while before I get to see an...

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...