Well Diablo 3 Season 8 just ended and I wanted to give an update to what I did this season. My original goal for the season was to reach paragon 800 and finish the conqueror seasonal journey. I ended up completing both of my goals for this season. I decided to play a witch doctor again to start the season. I was doing very well, I had no deaths this season and the drop quality was pretty good compared to last season. Overall, I am very pleased to what I accomplished this season. I ended up reaching paragon 874 for the season, which puts me in the top 350 of hardcore players in NA. My witch doctor did a greater rift 79, which put me in rank 73 for all NA hardcore witch doctors. This is pretty amazing that I reached the top 100, since in season 6, I did the same greater rift 79 but that only put me in rank 104. I guess there were fewer people playing this season overall. I wanted to do a greater rift 80 but I kind of ran out of time. Most of my gear had the Cadelsann's despair of +325 int but I needed to do some more.
I also made a demon hunter this season just to play something different. My demon hunter did a greater rift 65, which put me just outside of the top 1000. I mostly used the demon hunter to do some speed grinding and levelling. My demon hunter did the Unhallowed Essence build, which is very nice for speed farming but it is tricky to use when doing higher greater rifts. Compared to last season, this season was much more successful for me. I ended up playing about 20 more hours than last season but I seemed to accomplish a lot more than last season.
My overall non-season paragon level now sits at 1188, which is a lot of extra main stat. After the season ended, I tried to clean up my stash space (it took me a long time to clean it, but it is almost done). I have very little stash space room so I will probably have to disenchant a lot of gear. I made my season 8 witch doctor a bit more stronger and I finally did a greater rift 80 for the first time. Season 9 is going to start on January 6th and I kind of excited about playing this next season. I am probably going to be playing a different class in the next season because there isn't much motivation to reach conqueror in the seasonal journey since I have all the available stash space already. I am probably going to try build a Hammerdin build or maybe even try to do a LoN bomb build.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Video Games vs Real Life
More and more, video games are becoming like real life. A lot of video games have enhanced graphics which make the game real life-like. The video games that I used to play as a kid were games for Atari and Nintendo, which had 8 bit graphics and no 3d modelling at all. Now, a lot of games have 3d modelling, especially with 1st person shooters. There are lot of games that also mimic the way we live our lives. There might be characters that move like we do, maybe even think the way we do with enhanced artificial intelligence. The more people get used to playing video games and the more development that gets put into video games, the more likely that video games will mimic our daily lives.
There is a very pragmatic way of thinking that video games are not very healthy and that it does not help in our daily lives at all. Although playing video games for long stretches of time is not healthy, there is more evidence that video games do in fact help with our daily lives. Sometimes the problem solving and the teamwork needed in playing these video games will also help solve problems in the real world. I like the fact that the quests in my video games also are like the problems that I have in real life. For example, in order to find my sword in my video game, I have to perform certain tasks to achieve that sword. Much like in real life, that "sword" could be instead clothes or shoes. Another example could be that I want to become stronger and quicker so for in real life, I would train to become more stronger. In a video game, in order to become stronger, I have to level up by killing monsters. There are so many examples of how just like in a video game, in real life there are many steps to complete a task to get stronger and better.
I think one way of video games can help people become more active is to have more games that make people move. Right now the biggest problem of video games is that people are sitting down for long stretches of time and that is not very healthy at all. I think things like the Xbox Kinetic and Nintendo Wii controller are two things that help mimic our movement. An even better development will be the new virtual reality glasses (Oculus Rift) that will even further the real world-like experience. I don't think it will be too long before the new virtual reality glasses will become popular. Other games such as Pokémon Go can help us gamers to play not just by sitting down but moving around. I do hope that video games will continue to evolve and help us to become more active.
There is a very pragmatic way of thinking that video games are not very healthy and that it does not help in our daily lives at all. Although playing video games for long stretches of time is not healthy, there is more evidence that video games do in fact help with our daily lives. Sometimes the problem solving and the teamwork needed in playing these video games will also help solve problems in the real world. I like the fact that the quests in my video games also are like the problems that I have in real life. For example, in order to find my sword in my video game, I have to perform certain tasks to achieve that sword. Much like in real life, that "sword" could be instead clothes or shoes. Another example could be that I want to become stronger and quicker so for in real life, I would train to become more stronger. In a video game, in order to become stronger, I have to level up by killing monsters. There are so many examples of how just like in a video game, in real life there are many steps to complete a task to get stronger and better.
I think one way of video games can help people become more active is to have more games that make people move. Right now the biggest problem of video games is that people are sitting down for long stretches of time and that is not very healthy at all. I think things like the Xbox Kinetic and Nintendo Wii controller are two things that help mimic our movement. An even better development will be the new virtual reality glasses (Oculus Rift) that will even further the real world-like experience. I don't think it will be too long before the new virtual reality glasses will become popular. Other games such as Pokémon Go can help us gamers to play not just by sitting down but moving around. I do hope that video games will continue to evolve and help us to become more active.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Post-BlizzCon Diablo 3 Thoughts
In this blog post, I want to cover the upcoming Diablo 3 changes. There were a lot of news that are coming to Diablo and some that were not in the panels. I want to give my thoughts as to what these changes will become once in the game.
Diablo 1 in Diablo 3
Diablo 1 in Diablo 3
At the opening ceremony, it was revealed that the original Diablo game will now be playable (just for January) in Diablo 3. This Diablo version will have pixelated graphics and your character will only be able to move in 8 directions (just like the original version). At first, the Diablo team was thinking of just putting in the soundtrack only but decided to put all 16 levels of the dungeon. This has been in the PTR for a about a week and the players have mixed reviews about it. There aren't any cool new items from this event (except for a new legendary gem for the helm) and the 16 levels doesn't seem like the original levels from Diablo 1. Since this is a seasonal event, I don't think it is worth playing this event for more than a couple hours (much like the "cow" event for the 2 year anniversary for Reaper of Souls). I think it will be cool just to feel nostalgic for a bit and get some cool rewards along the way. I am excited to play this event in January since I haven't played it on PTR yet.
Necromancer
I was real excited when the new Necromancer character was shown at the opening ceremony of BlizzCon 2016. I got a chance to play the Necromancer at the Diablo test station and it feels really good to play it. One of the skills that the Necromancer has is called corpse explosion, which triggers a big explosion once you target a dead corpse on the ground. Another cool skill is called blood rush, which makes you teleport to an area 50 yards away (it has a very short cooldown). The primary skill is called siphon soul, which drains the enemies' health and restores your resource. The secondary skill is bone spirit, which is just a projectile skill that does a certain amount of damage. The Necromancer also has the ability to summon skeletons for you (some which are melee and some that are ranged). The Necromancer was really fun to play at BlizzCon and I especially like the design and artwork for this character. I usually play a Witch Doctor so I am bit hesitant about playing another pet based class. The Necromancer will be playable sometime in the second half of 2017 and will be able to be purchased, along with 2 character slots and 2 more stash space. Some people feel like that the Necromancer should be free but since Diablo 3 doesn't have any payment model (except for the expansions), I think this is a good idea for Blizzard to monetize their game. Who knows but if enough people pay for the Necromancer, this could lead to more classes in the future (maybe the Druid comes next?).
Challenge Rifts
Another cool feature coming to Diablo 3 in the future is Challenge Rifts. Challenge Rifts is a system that takes an existing player and copies his or her rift run for all players. The purpose of this is to "challenge" the original players rift time using the exact same gear and stats. So for example, I run a greater rift 60 in 8 minutes using the Helltooth set, the challenge is for all other players to run the exact the same rift as I did (including the same layout and monsters) with the exact same gear that I had on and try to beat the time of 8 minutes. I think this will be a cool feature to the game since it will determine who will be the best player of Diablo 3. The best player currently in Diablo 3 is mostly based on the amount of time a player has put into the game. This feature will more focus on the "skill" aspect of Diablo 3. I don't think this feature that is something that I will focus on a lot since it doesn't affect the current characters that you are playing. I think it will be more focused on the higher skilled players of Diablo 3 (it may even lead to some kind of e-sport mechanism). I think this feature will become like the "brawl" events in Hearthstone and Overwatch (it will be cool to try).
Other changes (quality of life changes)
There were other changes coming to Diablo 3. The first was that seasons were coming to the consoles (PS4 and XBox1). I don't play on the console so this doesn't affect me. Another change was that there is going to be a new crafting mats UI. I think this is a real good change since you won't have all the crafting taking up space in your inventory. It should make things like Kanai's Cube more manageable and easier to use. Another change is the new armory system. The armory system will let you save different builds for your character. I really like this system because it is very difficult and time consuming to change your build in Diablo 3 right now. Once you save your different builds, it will be easy to switch from (for example) a greater rift running build to a speed farming build.
That was all the changes coming to Diablo 3 announced at BlizzCon. I am sure there are many other changes that the devs at Diablo are thinking of putting into Diablo 3. While none of these changes will affect the end-game of Diablo 3, I think these changes will bring about more ideas and future changes that can be made to the game. The more events, classes, features and small quality of life changes there are, the better off the game will be. One small story from BlizzCon that I wanted to share with you is that there is an easter egg hidden in one of the Diablo shirts.
The hint that I was given was to use the letters in Caldeum, Stoney Field and Wortham. I think it really surprised me when I found the easter egg (moo!!).
Necromancer
I was real excited when the new Necromancer character was shown at the opening ceremony of BlizzCon 2016. I got a chance to play the Necromancer at the Diablo test station and it feels really good to play it. One of the skills that the Necromancer has is called corpse explosion, which triggers a big explosion once you target a dead corpse on the ground. Another cool skill is called blood rush, which makes you teleport to an area 50 yards away (it has a very short cooldown). The primary skill is called siphon soul, which drains the enemies' health and restores your resource. The secondary skill is bone spirit, which is just a projectile skill that does a certain amount of damage. The Necromancer also has the ability to summon skeletons for you (some which are melee and some that are ranged). The Necromancer was really fun to play at BlizzCon and I especially like the design and artwork for this character. I usually play a Witch Doctor so I am bit hesitant about playing another pet based class. The Necromancer will be playable sometime in the second half of 2017 and will be able to be purchased, along with 2 character slots and 2 more stash space. Some people feel like that the Necromancer should be free but since Diablo 3 doesn't have any payment model (except for the expansions), I think this is a good idea for Blizzard to monetize their game. Who knows but if enough people pay for the Necromancer, this could lead to more classes in the future (maybe the Druid comes next?).
Challenge Rifts
Another cool feature coming to Diablo 3 in the future is Challenge Rifts. Challenge Rifts is a system that takes an existing player and copies his or her rift run for all players. The purpose of this is to "challenge" the original players rift time using the exact same gear and stats. So for example, I run a greater rift 60 in 8 minutes using the Helltooth set, the challenge is for all other players to run the exact the same rift as I did (including the same layout and monsters) with the exact same gear that I had on and try to beat the time of 8 minutes. I think this will be a cool feature to the game since it will determine who will be the best player of Diablo 3. The best player currently in Diablo 3 is mostly based on the amount of time a player has put into the game. This feature will more focus on the "skill" aspect of Diablo 3. I don't think this feature that is something that I will focus on a lot since it doesn't affect the current characters that you are playing. I think it will be more focused on the higher skilled players of Diablo 3 (it may even lead to some kind of e-sport mechanism). I think this feature will become like the "brawl" events in Hearthstone and Overwatch (it will be cool to try).
Other changes (quality of life changes)
There were other changes coming to Diablo 3. The first was that seasons were coming to the consoles (PS4 and XBox1). I don't play on the console so this doesn't affect me. Another change was that there is going to be a new crafting mats UI. I think this is a real good change since you won't have all the crafting taking up space in your inventory. It should make things like Kanai's Cube more manageable and easier to use. Another change is the new armory system. The armory system will let you save different builds for your character. I really like this system because it is very difficult and time consuming to change your build in Diablo 3 right now. Once you save your different builds, it will be easy to switch from (for example) a greater rift running build to a speed farming build.
That was all the changes coming to Diablo 3 announced at BlizzCon. I am sure there are many other changes that the devs at Diablo are thinking of putting into Diablo 3. While none of these changes will affect the end-game of Diablo 3, I think these changes will bring about more ideas and future changes that can be made to the game. The more events, classes, features and small quality of life changes there are, the better off the game will be. One small story from BlizzCon that I wanted to share with you is that there is an easter egg hidden in one of the Diablo shirts.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
My BlizzCon 2016 Review
Just got back from Anaheim, California attending BlizzCon 2016. It was my fourth time attending BlizzCon and I had a ton of fun there. I didn't think I would have this much fun since I already went to 3 BlizzCons before but there was a lot of stuff that you could do there. My original plan was to leave on Wednesday November 2nd but my flight got cancelled on Wednesday so I had to leave on the Tuesday beforehand. This meant that I had one extra day in Anaheim. So on Wednesday, I decided to spend the majority of the day at Disneyland. I went to Disneyland before (I think when I went to my first BlizzCon, which was 4 years ago). I ended up going on most of the rides since I had a lot of time there. Unfortunately, some of the rides were closed (like It's a Small World and Splash Mountain). The coolest rides were the Indiana Jones Adventure, the Matterhorn Bobsleds and the Star Wars Tours. I bought a Star Wars 3" vinyl figure plus a Funko Pop Stormtrooper. After Disneyland, I went to dinner at Red Robin and then watched the World Series final game 7 back at my hotel.
On Thursday, it was time to pick up my BlizzCon badge. I knew this might take a bit of time so I went to lineup pretty early on Thursday. I think I lined up at around 8:00 am, the lineup wasn't too long at that time. I managed to pick up my badge fairly quickly and lined up for the BlizzCon store. They were selling lots of cool stuff (most of which I bought beforehand like the Murloc slippers, and the Diablo desk mat). I bought two t-shirts (one of Diablo and one of Overwatch), a BlizzCon magnet and a Funko Pop golden Soldier 76. By the time I was finished with the badge pickup and the BlizzCon store, it was around 10:30 am so it wasn't as bad as last year when I ended up finishing around noon time. Once I dropped off my stuff at my hotel, I had lots of free time so I went to Outlets at Orange, which was big outlet mall with many different outlet shops. There lots of cheap stuff that the stores were selling. I went to the Asics sporting goods store and picked up a t-shirt for $12 (wow!). I also bought some soap for my mom at Bath & Body Works for $3. One of the stores that I was really interested in was the Nike store. They were selling lots of cheap shoes there. I really wanted to buy a pair of running shoes but I knew if I did, it wouldn't fit in my luggage. I came back to my hotel at like 4pm and ate dinner at Clancy's.
Friday was the start of BlizzCon and I wanted to arrive there early to get a good seat for the opening ceremonies. I lined up for BlizzCon at around 7:30 am and the lineup seemed pretty long already. Usually when I lineup of the start of BlizzCon, I can get to the base of the fountain that is located outside the convention center. This time when I arrived, I was already several feet further away from the fountain. At the time, it seemed as though the lineup was super long already but what I didn't know was that the event center was doing something different this year. Normally, the bag checks would be just inside the convention center leading up to the second set of doors to the convention. This time around, the bag checks were outside the convention center, meaning that the lineup was being pushed farther than it had been previously. I think this was a better change but at the time, I was worried that I wouldn't get a good seat for the opening ceremony. I managed to get a good seat, it was about 2 sections back from the main stage, real close to the center of the stage. It was hard to see the main stage but fortunately I had a real good view of the video monitors. The opening ceremony was really cool this year. There weren't lots of news concerning WoW or StarCraft. Overwatch announced Sombra with a cool animation, some new maps and the Overwatch e-sports league. Hearthstone announced it's next card expansion and Heroes of the Storm announced 2 new heroes (Varian Wrynn and Ragnoros). The best announcement by far was for Diablo 3. They announced their 20 year anniversary event, which features going back to original Diablo game, the armory, which will help you switch to different builds more easily and the new character, the Necromancer!
After the opening ceremony, I wanted to play Diablo with new Necromancer but there was already a big lineup there. So instead I went around the convention getting signatures and some cool posters. Diablo 3 had lightning talks at 1:30pm so I went to that. It was really cool hearing about various tools and development strategies the Diablo dev team were using to make their game. After that I played Diablo 3 Necromancer, played Hearthstone (beat a little kid - sorry!) and also played Overwatch. At 5:00pm, Diablo 3 had their main presentation in Hall D. There were showing lots of cool new features coming to the game. One of the most exciting things were the new crafting materials page. They also showed a bit more of the Necromancer and how it might be played. After the Diablo panel, BlizzPro was meeting up so I went to that. I got to meet Neinball and Leviathan from the Westmarch Workshop again (I also met with Dreadsythe, Miss Cheetah and Lala). After that, I ate dinner at one of the food trucks outside. I didn't want to spend my time outside for Blizzard's anniversary event so I went to get my picture taken at the Gif booth and bought some toy capsules at the toy capsule depot.
On Saturday, one of the first things that I did was visit the Jinx booth. The Jinx booth was really cool this year. They had set up two games you could do (2 versus 2). One was where you had to push a button that had the same name that was on the screen. Another game was you had to throw bean bags into a hole. I ended up winning twice, got some Jinx logo pins and some lanyards. After that I got some signatures for my Book of Cain (people like Nevalistas and Christie Golden). At 12:30pm, there were some more Diablo lightning talks. After that, I ate lunch at the Porko Rico food truck (they had a very good pulled pork burger). Once I ate lunch, I played Hearthstone again where I ended up winning again. At 4:00pm, the Diablo 3 dev talk and Q&A was in Hall A. They went through challenge rifts and took questions from the fans. After the Diablo 3 panel, I went to eat dinner and came back to the convention center. I played another round of Overwatch and then went to play some Diablo 2. After that, I met with Neinball and Leviathan again. They were talking to some of Diablo 3 developers and I just listened in. I ended up following the Westmarch Workshops guys and listened in on Wyatt's story time (I also ended up meeting Rhykker there as well). That was pretty much it for BlizzCon 2016.
BlizzCon 2016 was really fun. I ended up doing most of things that I wanted to do there. I was real worried that there weren't going to be any news for Diablo 3 but I was really pleasantly surprised. I will cover more of my thoughts about the Diablo news in a different blog post. One of the things that I kind of missed at BlizzCon this year was all the e-sport events. I normally like to watch the e-sport events but I really didn't have the time to watch any of it. I only managed to watch the final game of the StarCraft 2 tournament. I was more concerned about Diablo and any news concerning that game. Maybe next time, there will be a better chance I can catch some e-sport action. I also missed watching the costume contest and the closing ceremony but hopefully with the virtual ticket, I can watch those events later. That is it for now, see you later.
On Thursday, it was time to pick up my BlizzCon badge. I knew this might take a bit of time so I went to lineup pretty early on Thursday. I think I lined up at around 8:00 am, the lineup wasn't too long at that time. I managed to pick up my badge fairly quickly and lined up for the BlizzCon store. They were selling lots of cool stuff (most of which I bought beforehand like the Murloc slippers, and the Diablo desk mat). I bought two t-shirts (one of Diablo and one of Overwatch), a BlizzCon magnet and a Funko Pop golden Soldier 76. By the time I was finished with the badge pickup and the BlizzCon store, it was around 10:30 am so it wasn't as bad as last year when I ended up finishing around noon time. Once I dropped off my stuff at my hotel, I had lots of free time so I went to Outlets at Orange, which was big outlet mall with many different outlet shops. There lots of cheap stuff that the stores were selling. I went to the Asics sporting goods store and picked up a t-shirt for $12 (wow!). I also bought some soap for my mom at Bath & Body Works for $3. One of the stores that I was really interested in was the Nike store. They were selling lots of cheap shoes there. I really wanted to buy a pair of running shoes but I knew if I did, it wouldn't fit in my luggage. I came back to my hotel at like 4pm and ate dinner at Clancy's.
Friday was the start of BlizzCon and I wanted to arrive there early to get a good seat for the opening ceremonies. I lined up for BlizzCon at around 7:30 am and the lineup seemed pretty long already. Usually when I lineup of the start of BlizzCon, I can get to the base of the fountain that is located outside the convention center. This time when I arrived, I was already several feet further away from the fountain. At the time, it seemed as though the lineup was super long already but what I didn't know was that the event center was doing something different this year. Normally, the bag checks would be just inside the convention center leading up to the second set of doors to the convention. This time around, the bag checks were outside the convention center, meaning that the lineup was being pushed farther than it had been previously. I think this was a better change but at the time, I was worried that I wouldn't get a good seat for the opening ceremony. I managed to get a good seat, it was about 2 sections back from the main stage, real close to the center of the stage. It was hard to see the main stage but fortunately I had a real good view of the video monitors. The opening ceremony was really cool this year. There weren't lots of news concerning WoW or StarCraft. Overwatch announced Sombra with a cool animation, some new maps and the Overwatch e-sports league. Hearthstone announced it's next card expansion and Heroes of the Storm announced 2 new heroes (Varian Wrynn and Ragnoros). The best announcement by far was for Diablo 3. They announced their 20 year anniversary event, which features going back to original Diablo game, the armory, which will help you switch to different builds more easily and the new character, the Necromancer!
After the opening ceremony, I wanted to play Diablo with new Necromancer but there was already a big lineup there. So instead I went around the convention getting signatures and some cool posters. Diablo 3 had lightning talks at 1:30pm so I went to that. It was really cool hearing about various tools and development strategies the Diablo dev team were using to make their game. After that I played Diablo 3 Necromancer, played Hearthstone (beat a little kid - sorry!) and also played Overwatch. At 5:00pm, Diablo 3 had their main presentation in Hall D. There were showing lots of cool new features coming to the game. One of the most exciting things were the new crafting materials page. They also showed a bit more of the Necromancer and how it might be played. After the Diablo panel, BlizzPro was meeting up so I went to that. I got to meet Neinball and Leviathan from the Westmarch Workshop again (I also met with Dreadsythe, Miss Cheetah and Lala). After that, I ate dinner at one of the food trucks outside. I didn't want to spend my time outside for Blizzard's anniversary event so I went to get my picture taken at the Gif booth and bought some toy capsules at the toy capsule depot.
On Saturday, one of the first things that I did was visit the Jinx booth. The Jinx booth was really cool this year. They had set up two games you could do (2 versus 2). One was where you had to push a button that had the same name that was on the screen. Another game was you had to throw bean bags into a hole. I ended up winning twice, got some Jinx logo pins and some lanyards. After that I got some signatures for my Book of Cain (people like Nevalistas and Christie Golden). At 12:30pm, there were some more Diablo lightning talks. After that, I ate lunch at the Porko Rico food truck (they had a very good pulled pork burger). Once I ate lunch, I played Hearthstone again where I ended up winning again. At 4:00pm, the Diablo 3 dev talk and Q&A was in Hall A. They went through challenge rifts and took questions from the fans. After the Diablo 3 panel, I went to eat dinner and came back to the convention center. I played another round of Overwatch and then went to play some Diablo 2. After that, I met with Neinball and Leviathan again. They were talking to some of Diablo 3 developers and I just listened in. I ended up following the Westmarch Workshops guys and listened in on Wyatt's story time (I also ended up meeting Rhykker there as well). That was pretty much it for BlizzCon 2016.
BlizzCon 2016 was really fun. I ended up doing most of things that I wanted to do there. I was real worried that there weren't going to be any news for Diablo 3 but I was really pleasantly surprised. I will cover more of my thoughts about the Diablo news in a different blog post. One of the things that I kind of missed at BlizzCon this year was all the e-sport events. I normally like to watch the e-sport events but I really didn't have the time to watch any of it. I only managed to watch the final game of the StarCraft 2 tournament. I was more concerned about Diablo and any news concerning that game. Maybe next time, there will be a better chance I can catch some e-sport action. I also missed watching the costume contest and the closing ceremony but hopefully with the virtual ticket, I can watch those events later. That is it for now, see you later.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Diablo 3 Season 7 Review
Well Diablo 3 Season 7 just finished and I wanted to update as to what I accomplished this season. My original goal for the season was to hit Conqueror in the seasonal journey and hit paragon 800. I managed to do both of those goals but not without some hiccups. I lost a level 70 witch doctor pretty early on in the season but after that, I managed to get into a very good rhythm. I was really pushing hard at the end of the season, trying to hit greater rift 75. But that is when I lost my final character. I tried to do a greater rift 75 and I had plenty of time to finish the rift but then I had Perdition as the rift guardian boss. I almost killed Perdition but not before he leap attacked me and I died.
Nevertheless, I ended up the season at paragon 812 (which put me at rank 850 in the America server) and my greater rift level 74 put me in rank 448 of all US witch doctors. I think I could have done better this season but this season felt way shorter than past seasons. I only managed to play 120 hours of this season, which is the fewest amount of hours played in a season since season 1 (where I barely played that season at all). Also, this season there was so much unstable connection between my computer and Blizzard's sever that it limited my overall play time. Another reason why I didn't do as well was because of the loot drops. I was having lots of difficult time just trying to find ancient items for my build. The second character that I lost didn't even have any ancient pants. Hopefully next season will have better drops for me.
Overall, my non-season paragon level is at 1105 now, which I am very happy about. For the upcoming season 8 (which starts this Friday October 21st), I want to set the same goals that I had for season 7. I will probably play a Helltooth witch doctor again because I am so familiar with it. Blizzard just announced its schedule for BlizzCon and there is a bit of news to report there. First of all, I don't think Blizzard is ready to announce a new Diablo game just yet. There were no panels scheduled for any talk about a new Diablo game. There is however some information that Diablo 3 might still have new patches coming out in the future. Most people speculated that Diablo 3 is now in maintenance mode since for season 8, there was no patch associated with it. I am hopeful that Diablo 3 will continue to receive some updates to its game since this is the reason why people will continue to play this game. I look forward to see what kind of changes are coming when I visit BlizzCon in November. On to season 8 for Diablo ...
Nevertheless, I ended up the season at paragon 812 (which put me at rank 850 in the America server) and my greater rift level 74 put me in rank 448 of all US witch doctors. I think I could have done better this season but this season felt way shorter than past seasons. I only managed to play 120 hours of this season, which is the fewest amount of hours played in a season since season 1 (where I barely played that season at all). Also, this season there was so much unstable connection between my computer and Blizzard's sever that it limited my overall play time. Another reason why I didn't do as well was because of the loot drops. I was having lots of difficult time just trying to find ancient items for my build. The second character that I lost didn't even have any ancient pants. Hopefully next season will have better drops for me.
Overall, my non-season paragon level is at 1105 now, which I am very happy about. For the upcoming season 8 (which starts this Friday October 21st), I want to set the same goals that I had for season 7. I will probably play a Helltooth witch doctor again because I am so familiar with it. Blizzard just announced its schedule for BlizzCon and there is a bit of news to report there. First of all, I don't think Blizzard is ready to announce a new Diablo game just yet. There were no panels scheduled for any talk about a new Diablo game. There is however some information that Diablo 3 might still have new patches coming out in the future. Most people speculated that Diablo 3 is now in maintenance mode since for season 8, there was no patch associated with it. I am hopeful that Diablo 3 will continue to receive some updates to its game since this is the reason why people will continue to play this game. I look forward to see what kind of changes are coming when I visit BlizzCon in November. On to season 8 for Diablo ...
Saturday, October 8, 2016
New Computer
I recently got a new computer. My old computer was having lots of problems. Sometimes the computer would freeze at random times and it would run very slow at other times. The worst was when I tried to restart my computer, Windows 7 wouldn't load for me. I tried to run a disk scan to try to repair the Windows but that didn't work. I even tried to start the Windows from an earlier check point but that didn't work either. I had to dig out my very, very old computer, which I am very surprised that it even works still. I ended up buying a computer from Cyberpower PC (details on the spec later). My last ditch effort to repairing my old computer was to install Windows 7 all over again. This time it managed to fix itself. I didn't lose any of my previous files but I ended up losing all my programs. Right now I am just running the barest amount of programs to run my games and my internet. I don't know how long this computer will last but right now it seems to be working just fine. I am having no hiccups, no freezing so everything seems to be good.
As for my new computer, I haven't really used it yet. I ended up paying lots for my computer but I think it was time to buy a new one anyways. The following is the specs of my new computer:
Diablo 3 Season 7 is ending next week so hopefully there will a blog post next week as to what I accomplished during Season 7. BlizzCon is less than a month away and I am really excited about what Blizzard will be doing for BlizzCon. There hasn't been much news about BlizzCon yet but the early BlizzCon online sale has lots of nice items up for sale.
As for my new computer, I haven't really used it yet. I ended up paying lots for my computer but I think it was time to buy a new one anyways. The following is the specs of my new computer:
- CPU - Intel Core I5-6600K 3.5Ghz 6MB Intel Smart Cache
- Hard Drive - 1TB HDD 3.5 SATAIII
- Video Card - AMD Radeon RX 460 2GB
- Power Supply - 600 Watt Power Supply
- Motherboard - Gigabyte G1 Sniper Z170 SLI
- Memory - 4GB DDR4-3000 memory
Diablo 3 Season 7 is ending next week so hopefully there will a blog post next week as to what I accomplished during Season 7. BlizzCon is less than a month away and I am really excited about what Blizzard will be doing for BlizzCon. There hasn't been much news about BlizzCon yet but the early BlizzCon online sale has lots of nice items up for sale.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
BlizzCon 2016 Predictions
BlizzCon 2016 is less than 2 months away and I am very excited about going to BlizzCon this year. I am sure there are going to be lots of announcements and e-sport events going on this year. In this blog post, I want to try and predict what may happen at BlizzCon this year. World of Warcraft just released their newest expansion "Legion" so I don't think WoW will announce the next expansion at BlizzCon this year. They will probably focus more on whats coming in the next series of patches for the Legion expansion. Hearthstone just released their newest adventure expansion so they will probably announce another card expansion at BlizzCon this year. Heroes of the Storm will probably continue push out new characters and maps plus they might finally get around to making an "arena" mode possible in the game. The arena mode made its debut last BlizzCon but isn't in the game yet. Starcraft 2 will probably have new heroes for their co-op mode (much like they announced Alarak at GamesCon this year).
Overwatch might announce the arrival of its 23rd character in Sombra (which has been hinted at for a very long time). Overwatch will probably come out with a new animated short at BlizzCon (don't know which character story they will focus on - maybe Sombra?). At GamesCon, Overwatch did come out with the new animated short called "The Last Bastion" (it is very, very well done) and stated that there will be new sets of animated shorts in the future. Diablo 3 will be at an interesting point at BlizzCon this year. I don't think they will do much with Diablo 3 anymore because they might introduce the new Diablo game at BlizzCon this year. Even if they do announce something for Diablo 3, all of the new things for that game won't come out until season 8 is done (which would be around February 2017). I expect the PTR for season 8 will start sometime in October with season 7 ending sometime near the BlizzCon date (November 4 or so).
I am going to expect something big for the new Diablo game. The reason why I think Blizzard will announce something for Diablo is that the time is right to announce something big. Like I said, if they just announce a little bit of news for Diablo 3 and nothing else, a lot of people will be very disappointed. This will be 2 years in a row that Diablo won't have anything to announce at the opening ceremonies if Blizzard doesn't announce a new Diablo game. A lot of fans of Diablo will feel left out if they don't announce something big for Diablo, especially since there were no major news for Diablo in the past BlizzCon and even GamesCon. It might be that Blizzard isn't ready to announce the new Diablo game (since it is still in development) yet, much like how they dealt with new MMO game "Titan". Which I think is fair, but if they don't announce the new Diablo game at BlizzCon, when will they announce it?
Also, I am expecting lots of cosplaying at BlizzCon this year. I expect to see lots of cosplays of Overwatch characters and even WoW demon hunters. I don't know who might host the costume contest this year (maybe Wil Wheaton again?, Chris Hardwick? Jay Mohr? - there are lots of good candidates). The closing ceremony band will also be interesting to see, although Blizzard usually picks a heavy metal band. I am hoping that Blizzard does something different this year. Since the movie "Warcraft" came out this year, why can't they show this movie at the closing ceremony this year? (in fact there is little fanfare surrounding this movie for some odd reason - poor ticket sales maybe?). It would be neat if Blizzard fans could watch a "Director's cut" version of "Warcraft" (or even have Duncan Jones come in and do a "live" director's commentary for the movie). E-sport tournaments for Starcraft, Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone are going to be epic this year again. I know Overwatch will have an all-star format, which I don't think will do well (people want to see the best teams play against one another). That's it for now, hopefully all my predictions come true when I attend BlizzCon for the 4th time.
Overwatch might announce the arrival of its 23rd character in Sombra (which has been hinted at for a very long time). Overwatch will probably come out with a new animated short at BlizzCon (don't know which character story they will focus on - maybe Sombra?). At GamesCon, Overwatch did come out with the new animated short called "The Last Bastion" (it is very, very well done) and stated that there will be new sets of animated shorts in the future. Diablo 3 will be at an interesting point at BlizzCon this year. I don't think they will do much with Diablo 3 anymore because they might introduce the new Diablo game at BlizzCon this year. Even if they do announce something for Diablo 3, all of the new things for that game won't come out until season 8 is done (which would be around February 2017). I expect the PTR for season 8 will start sometime in October with season 7 ending sometime near the BlizzCon date (November 4 or so).
I am going to expect something big for the new Diablo game. The reason why I think Blizzard will announce something for Diablo is that the time is right to announce something big. Like I said, if they just announce a little bit of news for Diablo 3 and nothing else, a lot of people will be very disappointed. This will be 2 years in a row that Diablo won't have anything to announce at the opening ceremonies if Blizzard doesn't announce a new Diablo game. A lot of fans of Diablo will feel left out if they don't announce something big for Diablo, especially since there were no major news for Diablo in the past BlizzCon and even GamesCon. It might be that Blizzard isn't ready to announce the new Diablo game (since it is still in development) yet, much like how they dealt with new MMO game "Titan". Which I think is fair, but if they don't announce the new Diablo game at BlizzCon, when will they announce it?
Also, I am expecting lots of cosplaying at BlizzCon this year. I expect to see lots of cosplays of Overwatch characters and even WoW demon hunters. I don't know who might host the costume contest this year (maybe Wil Wheaton again?, Chris Hardwick? Jay Mohr? - there are lots of good candidates). The closing ceremony band will also be interesting to see, although Blizzard usually picks a heavy metal band. I am hoping that Blizzard does something different this year. Since the movie "Warcraft" came out this year, why can't they show this movie at the closing ceremony this year? (in fact there is little fanfare surrounding this movie for some odd reason - poor ticket sales maybe?). It would be neat if Blizzard fans could watch a "Director's cut" version of "Warcraft" (or even have Duncan Jones come in and do a "live" director's commentary for the movie). E-sport tournaments for Starcraft, Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone are going to be epic this year again. I know Overwatch will have an all-star format, which I don't think will do well (people want to see the best teams play against one another). That's it for now, hopefully all my predictions come true when I attend BlizzCon for the 4th time.
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Diablo 3 Season 7 Update
Well I have been playing a lot of Diablo 3 season 7 lately. I didn't get off to a good start this season but for now I feel as though I pretty much caught up to where I want to be. I managed to hit level 70 pretty quickly but after that I was having some computer/connection issues. It seems as though at some areas in Diablo, it would make my screen freeze off and on (I noticed especially in the Keeps lvl 1 in Act 3). This is very problematic because I play hardcore and at any given time, I could lose control of my character and die. It wasn't a big problem at first but after a while, there is a sinking feeling that you could lose your character in a heartbeat. I managed to get up to paragon 300 when I was hit with my first death. Like I was saying, it didn't bother me that I died but it did suck since I had no control whatsoever in terms of saving my character. I quickly leveled back up to 70 again and started grinding again.
I managed to save an extra Helltooth set so when I hit 70 again, my character was pretty much back to where I died. Unfortunately, this season has been very horrible in terms of the quality in the drops of loot. I was having lots of trouble finding any type of ancient gear this season. Ironically, my first legendary that I gambled for was an ancient Uhkapian serpent, which unfortunately I lost when my first character died. It has been a real grind to get my ancient gear so far. I did finally manage to get another ancient Uhkapian serpent (but it took such a long time) and now finally I am starting to find some ancient Helltooth set items. I tried to re-roll a Sacred Harvester into an ancient one but so far (after 7 attempts) none of them are ancient. One item that I did find that really surprised me was an ancient Furnace. It has some pretty sick stats on it:
I re-rolled to get 10% weapon damage (it came with 6%), it rolled with 1463 int (the max is 1465), it has the max attack speed 7%, and it has the max damage against elites 50%. I have never seen another ancient furnace like this one. I think I will send this item to the Westmarch Workshop.
Overall, I am pretty happy where I am at right now for the season. I am almost at pargaon 600 for the season and I am almost done with the Destroyer season journey. I managed to reach a greater rift 66 and I know I can go higher than that. I am hoping to reach paragon 800 and finish the Slayer seasonal journey by the end of the season. I have another week off in September so I am hoping that I will manage to achieve these goals soon.
I managed to save an extra Helltooth set so when I hit 70 again, my character was pretty much back to where I died. Unfortunately, this season has been very horrible in terms of the quality in the drops of loot. I was having lots of trouble finding any type of ancient gear this season. Ironically, my first legendary that I gambled for was an ancient Uhkapian serpent, which unfortunately I lost when my first character died. It has been a real grind to get my ancient gear so far. I did finally manage to get another ancient Uhkapian serpent (but it took such a long time) and now finally I am starting to find some ancient Helltooth set items. I tried to re-roll a Sacred Harvester into an ancient one but so far (after 7 attempts) none of them are ancient. One item that I did find that really surprised me was an ancient Furnace. It has some pretty sick stats on it:
Overall, I am pretty happy where I am at right now for the season. I am almost at pargaon 600 for the season and I am almost done with the Destroyer season journey. I managed to reach a greater rift 66 and I know I can go higher than that. I am hoping to reach paragon 800 and finish the Slayer seasonal journey by the end of the season. I have another week off in September so I am hoping that I will manage to achieve these goals soon.
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Diablo 3 Season 6 Review
Well Diablo 3 Season 6 is officially done. I managed to do very good this season. First of all, I ended up at paragon 904, which is more than what I expected from this season. In my previous blog post, I was hoping to reach paragon 888, which was my non-seasonal paragon level. With little time left, I ended up doing so many greater rifts that I pushed past paragon level 900. I think this paragon level puts me in the top 450 of all NA players for the season. This is pretty remarkable since I only play solo and don't play in any groups at all. I guess it shows that there was very little interest from the player base playing in this season at all. I would guess that there will even fewer players playing next season. My overall paragon level sits at 1035 now, which is amazing that it is above paragon 1000 now.
Secondly, when I was pushing higher greater rifts at the end, I managed to get up to greater rift 79 in the season. This puts me at rank 104 for hardcore witch doctors in North America. This is really good as well since last season I only managed to reach rank 373. I could have done maybe a greater rift 80 but I was pretty pleased with reaching greater rift 79. Thirdly, I managed to complete the guardian seasonal journey, which was the final seasonal journey goal. I didn't finish the guardian seasonal journey last season so I was pleased to complete it this season. I was worried mainly about completing a rift in 3 minutes, since it was pretty hard to do but once I did it, all I had to do was another conquest. The conquest that I chose to do was the one where you had to kill all the bosses in 20 minutes. It was pretty easy to do since the witch doctor has the Manajuma set, which makes you run very, very fast.
Overall, I am very pleased at what I accomplished this season. This was the first season that I felt that everything went smoothly. I did not end up dying at all this season and I only played one character throughout the season. I did get lucky with my drops early on in the season but after that I was just in a good rhythm the entire season. My season 6 witch doctor has the about the same number of hours played as my season 5 witch doctor but I feel more powerful with my season 6 witch doctor than my season 5. For season 7, I am kind of debating of whether or not to play a different class. With the Haedrig's gift being the Helltooth set for the witch doctor, there will be many people playing a witch doctor next season. I might end up playing a demon hunter since I liked playing with the Unhallowed set.
Secondly, when I was pushing higher greater rifts at the end, I managed to get up to greater rift 79 in the season. This puts me at rank 104 for hardcore witch doctors in North America. This is really good as well since last season I only managed to reach rank 373. I could have done maybe a greater rift 80 but I was pretty pleased with reaching greater rift 79. Thirdly, I managed to complete the guardian seasonal journey, which was the final seasonal journey goal. I didn't finish the guardian seasonal journey last season so I was pleased to complete it this season. I was worried mainly about completing a rift in 3 minutes, since it was pretty hard to do but once I did it, all I had to do was another conquest. The conquest that I chose to do was the one where you had to kill all the bosses in 20 minutes. It was pretty easy to do since the witch doctor has the Manajuma set, which makes you run very, very fast.
Overall, I am very pleased at what I accomplished this season. This was the first season that I felt that everything went smoothly. I did not end up dying at all this season and I only played one character throughout the season. I did get lucky with my drops early on in the season but after that I was just in a good rhythm the entire season. My season 6 witch doctor has the about the same number of hours played as my season 5 witch doctor but I feel more powerful with my season 6 witch doctor than my season 5. For season 7, I am kind of debating of whether or not to play a different class. With the Haedrig's gift being the Helltooth set for the witch doctor, there will be many people playing a witch doctor next season. I might end up playing a demon hunter since I liked playing with the Unhallowed set.
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Death of Diablo 3
Just finishing up season 6 of Diablo 3. The season will end up closing on July 22nd. So far I have done fairly well for the season. I managed to get the Conqueror seasonal journey complete, which ended giving me the extra stash space. I have done up to greater rift 76, which puts me in the top 200 of all hardcore witch doctors. I think I am able to do a higher greater rift than that since it has been a while that I have pushed doing a higher greater rift level. I am currently sitting at paragon level 855 but I would like to get my paragon level to at least my non-seasonal paragon level, which is at 888. I only have 2 weeks left, so I am busy trying to push myself to get those paragon levels.
There has been lots of news lately involving Diablo 3. First of all, Josh Mosqueira recently left Diablo 3. This isn't good news since he was the game director for Diablo 3. There is no word on who might be replacing him (or if he will be replaced at all). Many people are speculating that Diablo 3 is now in "maintenance" mode, where no new features will be added to the game. I think this is really bad for Diablo 3 since there are no new features coming in the future, many people will stop playing the game. This is somewhat evident in season 6. This season it seems that I am doing really good but in all honesty, there are less players playing the game right now. I can't imagine many more people will continue to play Diablo 3 if the next few seasons don't bring some new changes. With less and less people playing, it might seem that you could reach a higher rank but then you are competing with less people.
With Diablo 3 entering the "maintenance" mode, there is further evidence that Blizzard might release a new Diablo game. Whether this Diablo game will be Diablo 4 or an MMO version we do not know yet. Currently, this new Diablo game is looking for a game director. There might be something that will be announced at GamesCon in August or at the next BlizzCon in November. I am kind of excited about this since Diablo 3 seems to be ending pretty soon. I personally think that this new Diablo game will be an MMO (as I wrote earlier in my blog). I hope that the big announcement will happen at BlizzCon because I will be attending that event again in November.
Anyways, I am currently rushing to finish season 6 on a high note. This weekend has double blood shards dropping so I am doing plenty of rifts and greater rifts. I am probably going to play witch doctor again for season 7, which starts on August 5th. It is going to be pretty easy to gear up a witch doctor again since Haedrig's gift for the witch doctor is the Helltooth set.
There has been lots of news lately involving Diablo 3. First of all, Josh Mosqueira recently left Diablo 3. This isn't good news since he was the game director for Diablo 3. There is no word on who might be replacing him (or if he will be replaced at all). Many people are speculating that Diablo 3 is now in "maintenance" mode, where no new features will be added to the game. I think this is really bad for Diablo 3 since there are no new features coming in the future, many people will stop playing the game. This is somewhat evident in season 6. This season it seems that I am doing really good but in all honesty, there are less players playing the game right now. I can't imagine many more people will continue to play Diablo 3 if the next few seasons don't bring some new changes. With less and less people playing, it might seem that you could reach a higher rank but then you are competing with less people.
With Diablo 3 entering the "maintenance" mode, there is further evidence that Blizzard might release a new Diablo game. Whether this Diablo game will be Diablo 4 or an MMO version we do not know yet. Currently, this new Diablo game is looking for a game director. There might be something that will be announced at GamesCon in August or at the next BlizzCon in November. I am kind of excited about this since Diablo 3 seems to be ending pretty soon. I personally think that this new Diablo game will be an MMO (as I wrote earlier in my blog). I hope that the big announcement will happen at BlizzCon because I will be attending that event again in November.
Anyways, I am currently rushing to finish season 6 on a high note. This weekend has double blood shards dropping so I am doing plenty of rifts and greater rifts. I am probably going to play witch doctor again for season 7, which starts on August 5th. It is going to be pretty easy to gear up a witch doctor again since Haedrig's gift for the witch doctor is the Helltooth set.
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Juno Reactor Live Show in Vancouver Part 2
Last week I did a basic review of the Juno Reactor Live show in Vancouver. In this blog, I want to go into a bit more detail of the event. Like I wrote in the previous blog, it was kinda weird hearing something other than Conquistador opening the live show. But it was nice hearing a new song at the beginning. After Voyager 303, Feel the Universe was next. This was a bit unexpected but it set the tone for the show. You could tell that Ben was going to play the old music first and then play the newer music later. This really reminded me of the Planet Perfecto set Ben did for Paul Oakenfold. So I was secretly wanting Samurai to be played next (which it did - woooo!!). Samurai was definitely my favorite song played at the live show. I was dancing super hard to this song and I was really sweating after the song was over. Samurai is such a good song to be played live and a great song to dance to. Next up was Magnetic and this really surprised me. As I wrote in another blog post, this song is one of my favorites but it is often overlooked. It was nice hearing it at a live show since I haven't heard it at a live show before. After Magnetic it was Rotorblade. Although Rotorblade is a good song it quite isn't a great song to be played live. I kind of like songs that are more "danceable" at a live show and Rotorblade sort of doesn't do that. I used this song to cool down after hearing Samurai and Magnetic, since I was dancing really hard to both of those songs. Swamp Thing was next and this was also a nice surprise. I haven't heard this one played live either and it was really nice to dance and listen to. Conga Fury was next and I had sort of mixed feelings about this. On one hand, this is an awesome song to be played live. But on the other hand, this song is so much better when Amampondo are playing with Ben on this. This song really makes me miss Amampondo very much, they are such a great spectacle in a live show environment.
The second half of the live show starts with Navras (Jayant Remix), which was pretty much expected. I love Navras very much and Ben usually plays the Jayant Remix with it. The new song after Navras was pretty good. Next was Mona Lisa Overdrive (Thomas P. Heckmann remix) which was pretty interesting. Not my favorite remix but it was nice hearing Mona Lisa Overdrive. God Is God was next and Ben played a very cool new remix for it. I would love to get the new remix of it someday. Zombie (GMS remix) and Guillotine (Bliss remix) were the next 2 songs and this was pretty much expected. Both are real nice remixes and good songs to dance to. Conquistador (Astrix remix) was next and I was expecting this song to be played first. Still it was nice to be able to listen to this one again (it first debuted at the previous live show in Vancouver 2 years ago). Pistolero was up next, Ben played two remixes of it. The first one I didn't like too much but the second, the Astrix remix, I liked more. Definitely a crowd pleaser like always, a nice danceable song. Next was Hotaka (Uber Tmar remix) and really don't like this remix at all. I know Ben said that it was one of his favorite remixes from the Inside the Reactor remix album so he keeps playing this song. The new songs at the end of the show, I don't know the names of the song so I'll try to describe them to you. One new song featured the lovely vocals of Hamsika Iyer and it sounded so badass. Another new song Ben played (which I am pretty sure is) had sort of a Japanese vibe to it. It is tough to describe it but it almost sounds like Kaguya Hime but a bit more up-tempo. Ben did play another song after an encore but it was another new song and I can't really remember what it sounded like since it was so late in the live show.
Overall I was definitely pleased with the live show event. Since Ben has a vast array of songs from which to choose from, I am pretty sure it was hard for him to pick the songs to put into this live event. Some songs that I wanted to hear but weren't in this show were Tanta Pena (Micky Noise remix), Zwara, and Invincible (Ritmo Remix). I really like that Ben came to Vancouver again but next time I wish to see Juno Reactor the group play again. I really miss watching Amampondo, Taz, Greg Ellis and Sugizo. The lineup of Juno Reactor has changed over the years but hopefully the new group members will add as much entertainment as the previous members did. Whenever there is a chance that Juno Reactor will play live near where I live, I am sure that I am ready to go to another event because every time that I go to a Juno Reactor show, I am never, ever disappointed.
The second half of the live show starts with Navras (Jayant Remix), which was pretty much expected. I love Navras very much and Ben usually plays the Jayant Remix with it. The new song after Navras was pretty good. Next was Mona Lisa Overdrive (Thomas P. Heckmann remix) which was pretty interesting. Not my favorite remix but it was nice hearing Mona Lisa Overdrive. God Is God was next and Ben played a very cool new remix for it. I would love to get the new remix of it someday. Zombie (GMS remix) and Guillotine (Bliss remix) were the next 2 songs and this was pretty much expected. Both are real nice remixes and good songs to dance to. Conquistador (Astrix remix) was next and I was expecting this song to be played first. Still it was nice to be able to listen to this one again (it first debuted at the previous live show in Vancouver 2 years ago). Pistolero was up next, Ben played two remixes of it. The first one I didn't like too much but the second, the Astrix remix, I liked more. Definitely a crowd pleaser like always, a nice danceable song. Next was Hotaka (Uber Tmar remix) and really don't like this remix at all. I know Ben said that it was one of his favorite remixes from the Inside the Reactor remix album so he keeps playing this song. The new songs at the end of the show, I don't know the names of the song so I'll try to describe them to you. One new song featured the lovely vocals of Hamsika Iyer and it sounded so badass. Another new song Ben played (which I am pretty sure is) had sort of a Japanese vibe to it. It is tough to describe it but it almost sounds like Kaguya Hime but a bit more up-tempo. Ben did play another song after an encore but it was another new song and I can't really remember what it sounded like since it was so late in the live show.
Overall I was definitely pleased with the live show event. Since Ben has a vast array of songs from which to choose from, I am pretty sure it was hard for him to pick the songs to put into this live event. Some songs that I wanted to hear but weren't in this show were Tanta Pena (Micky Noise remix), Zwara, and Invincible (Ritmo Remix). I really like that Ben came to Vancouver again but next time I wish to see Juno Reactor the group play again. I really miss watching Amampondo, Taz, Greg Ellis and Sugizo. The lineup of Juno Reactor has changed over the years but hopefully the new group members will add as much entertainment as the previous members did. Whenever there is a chance that Juno Reactor will play live near where I live, I am sure that I am ready to go to another event because every time that I go to a Juno Reactor show, I am never, ever disappointed.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Juno Reactor Live Show Vancouver Jun 04 2016
Just got back from the Juno Reactor Live Show at the Hindenburg. Man what an awesome show it was. I was dancing like Muhammed Ali (dancing like a fly, stinging like a bee). Set list is as follows (sort of, can't remember exactly):
- I think it was Shark mixed in with Voyager 303
- Feel the Universe
- Samurai (omg!!!!!)
- Magnetic
- Rotorblade
- Swamp Thing
- Conga Fury
- Navras (Jayant Remix)
- New Song
- Mona Lisa Overdrive (Thomas P. Heckmann Remix)
- God Is God (new remix)
- Zombie (GMS remix
- Guillotine (Bliss remix)
- Conquistador (Astrix remix)
- Pistolero (2 remixes, one was Astrix remix)
- Hotaka (Uber Tmar remix)
- A couple of new songs
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Overwatch: Dragons
Blizzard's new game, Overwatch is coming out next week and I am very excited about playing it. Although I am not good at playing first-person shooter games, I think Overwatch will be a good game. I have played on the open beta for Overwatch and I did enjoy playing it. I don't think I will play Overwatch more than Diablo 3 but I will probably play it just as much as Hearthstone. Overwatch recently put out an animated short called "Dragons" which features two of the heroes in Overwatch. Please watch this animated short because I think it is very well done.
"Dragons" features two brothers, Hanzo and Genji. This animated short reminds me of myself and my little brother. My brother and I often fought with each other so I know how both Hanzo and Genji feel about each other. I, like Hanzo, am the older brother so I am going to defend Hanzo a bit more than Genji in this blog. The story of Hanzo and Genji is that they were part of the Shimada ninja clan, which was a crime-oriented syndicate run by Hanzo's and Genji's father. Once the father passed away, the elder council asked both Hanzo and Genji to run the family business. Genji refused to do this because he didn't want the responsibility. The elder council asked Hanzo to do something about Genji and Hanzo ended up killing Genji. However, Genji was revived by Dr. Angela Ziegler, who is Mercy at Overwatch. In exchange for the new cybernetic body, Genji joins Overwatch. With the help of Zenyatta, Genji learns to accept his new body. That is the story before the animated short from above.
I can totally understand Hanzo's logic to force Genji into helping him run the family business. Being the little brother, Genji doesn't realize his responsibilities the way Hanzo does. With their father being dead, it is now up to Hanzo to teach this to Genji. The only thing that I don't agree with Hanzo doing is that the fact that he killed his little brother. As the older brother, the first rule of being the older brother is to "Protect younger brother" (or sometimes younger sister even). Trust me when I say this but this is the most important thing that the older sibling must learn from their parents, without fail. Doesn't matter if you are out with your friends or your parents are away, you must always look out for your younger brother. So I have a hard time understanding why Hanzo would choose to kill his brother. Sure beat him up or something but don't kill him.
Having said all that, Genji probably had this coming to him. If he had grown up to become more responsible maybe this wouldn't have happened. Genji, like my younger brother, probably spent most of his time being a nuisance to his older brother. I often think that younger brothers are born to be just a pest to the older brother. Being the older brother, I know that I can't go and tease my little brother for no reason. If I do, the little brother will always go crying to mom or dad (and the older brother gets in trouble). But on the other hand, if the little brother starts teasing the older brother, the only way to shut up the younger brother is to beat him up (older brother is still the one that gets into trouble even though he didn't start the fight). You can clearly see this in the animated short especially when Genji tells Hanzo that burning incense isn't the right way to honor his brother's death. Either Genji must be very brave or stupid to confront Hanzo again because if Genji keeps insulting Hanzo, it will probably get Genji killed again.
Another part of the animated short that reminds me of my brother and I is the scroll in the room where Hanzo killed Genji. The scroll translate to "Dragon", "Head", "Snake", "Tail". This is very ironic that it is written this way because I was born in the year of the dragon (Chinese astrology) and my brother born one year later was born in the year of the snake. Some other ironies are that if you noticed, Genji is taller than Hanzo (which the same for myself and my brother - my brother is taller than me). Genji is probably the better swordsman, just like my brother (we both did Kendo growing up so I know that my brother is better than me). I think what Hanzo should do is what I did. I know I used to feel sad and depressed but what made me into such a positive force was listen to Juno Reactor's Samurai. And hopefully I get to do that soon again because the Juno Reactor live show is very closely approaching - yes!
"Dragons" features two brothers, Hanzo and Genji. This animated short reminds me of myself and my little brother. My brother and I often fought with each other so I know how both Hanzo and Genji feel about each other. I, like Hanzo, am the older brother so I am going to defend Hanzo a bit more than Genji in this blog. The story of Hanzo and Genji is that they were part of the Shimada ninja clan, which was a crime-oriented syndicate run by Hanzo's and Genji's father. Once the father passed away, the elder council asked both Hanzo and Genji to run the family business. Genji refused to do this because he didn't want the responsibility. The elder council asked Hanzo to do something about Genji and Hanzo ended up killing Genji. However, Genji was revived by Dr. Angela Ziegler, who is Mercy at Overwatch. In exchange for the new cybernetic body, Genji joins Overwatch. With the help of Zenyatta, Genji learns to accept his new body. That is the story before the animated short from above.
I can totally understand Hanzo's logic to force Genji into helping him run the family business. Being the little brother, Genji doesn't realize his responsibilities the way Hanzo does. With their father being dead, it is now up to Hanzo to teach this to Genji. The only thing that I don't agree with Hanzo doing is that the fact that he killed his little brother. As the older brother, the first rule of being the older brother is to "Protect younger brother" (or sometimes younger sister even). Trust me when I say this but this is the most important thing that the older sibling must learn from their parents, without fail. Doesn't matter if you are out with your friends or your parents are away, you must always look out for your younger brother. So I have a hard time understanding why Hanzo would choose to kill his brother. Sure beat him up or something but don't kill him.
Having said all that, Genji probably had this coming to him. If he had grown up to become more responsible maybe this wouldn't have happened. Genji, like my younger brother, probably spent most of his time being a nuisance to his older brother. I often think that younger brothers are born to be just a pest to the older brother. Being the older brother, I know that I can't go and tease my little brother for no reason. If I do, the little brother will always go crying to mom or dad (and the older brother gets in trouble). But on the other hand, if the little brother starts teasing the older brother, the only way to shut up the younger brother is to beat him up (older brother is still the one that gets into trouble even though he didn't start the fight). You can clearly see this in the animated short especially when Genji tells Hanzo that burning incense isn't the right way to honor his brother's death. Either Genji must be very brave or stupid to confront Hanzo again because if Genji keeps insulting Hanzo, it will probably get Genji killed again.
Another part of the animated short that reminds me of my brother and I is the scroll in the room where Hanzo killed Genji. The scroll translate to "Dragon", "Head", "Snake", "Tail". This is very ironic that it is written this way because I was born in the year of the dragon (Chinese astrology) and my brother born one year later was born in the year of the snake. Some other ironies are that if you noticed, Genji is taller than Hanzo (which the same for myself and my brother - my brother is taller than me). Genji is probably the better swordsman, just like my brother (we both did Kendo growing up so I know that my brother is better than me). I think what Hanzo should do is what I did. I know I used to feel sad and depressed but what made me into such a positive force was listen to Juno Reactor's Samurai. And hopefully I get to do that soon again because the Juno Reactor live show is very closely approaching - yes!
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Diablo 3 Season 6 Update
Well Diablo 3 season 6 has started and I am doing very good this season. I didn't get to play much during the opening weekend but I managed to level up my character really fast. I started on a new witch doctor again for the start of the season. I played a couple of hours on the Friday and managed to hit 70 on Saturday. By hitting level 70, I got the 2 pieced set of Zunimassa's so I was able to jump to Torment II very quickly. The first 2 pieces of Zunimassa's is very good since none of your fetishes will ever die. The second bonus of Zunimassa's is that you take less damage by the number of fetishes you have. This bonus is just okay in my opinion, it could be more useful. The last bonus once you get the 6 pieces is the increased damage an enemy takes from your pets when you deal damage with a mana spender. I totally overlooked this bonus initially because it doesn't seem to do much damage. But after playing with the Zunimassa set, I think this is a pretty good set overall. I managed to hit greater rift 40 while playing with the Zunimassa set and even managed to master the set dungeon for it.
I am now playing with the Helltooth set again. Although I haven't got all the gear that I want for the set, I quickly hit greater rift 60 with the Helltooth set. So far, I have been real lucky with my drops. I got a Mask of Jeram fairly easily and I also managed to get a pretty good Hellfire amulet.
I also got a pretty good Short Man's Finger ring and a Convention of Elements ring. My Lakumba's Ornament bracers are good too. All I want now is an Ancient Sacred Harvester, a Witching Hour belt, and some ancient set pieces. I have completed the Champion seasonal journey and I am now working on the Destroyer and Conqueror seasonal journey. I just managed to a greater rift 63 and I am now at paragon level 500 (which is pretty incredible to me since I only hit about paragon 250 on the same time last season). I feel like I am more on top of things this season (not like last season which I started off very slow). I am fairly certain that I will hit paragon 700 again this season. Even doing an average of greater rift 60, it is very similar to when I started averaging greater rift 65's last season. When you start averaging in the greater rift 60's, you level up so quickly. Right now, doing a greater rift 62 would boost me 3 paragon levels. I know that even at paragon 700, a greater rift 65 would boost me one paragon level.
It is good to get a good start for the season since there are other games that I would like to play. I have started to play Overwatch, which is in open beta right now. Although I am not very good at the game, I find Overwatch to be pretty entertaining. I don't think I will play that much of Overwatch but it is still good to try a different game time to time. I was playing Hearthstone for bit too but ever since season 6 started, I haven't really played Hearthstone at all. Hearthstone recently released their expansion, Whispers of the Old Gods and their new format. I bought some Hearthstone cards but I can't seem to find any time to play it right now. Hopefully, when the Diablo season starts becoming a bit boring, I might play a bit more of Hearthstone. Right now, I am really enjoying season 6 and hopefully I will tell you how my season ended in a couple of months.
I am now playing with the Helltooth set again. Although I haven't got all the gear that I want for the set, I quickly hit greater rift 60 with the Helltooth set. So far, I have been real lucky with my drops. I got a Mask of Jeram fairly easily and I also managed to get a pretty good Hellfire amulet.
I also got a pretty good Short Man's Finger ring and a Convention of Elements ring. My Lakumba's Ornament bracers are good too. All I want now is an Ancient Sacred Harvester, a Witching Hour belt, and some ancient set pieces. I have completed the Champion seasonal journey and I am now working on the Destroyer and Conqueror seasonal journey. I just managed to a greater rift 63 and I am now at paragon level 500 (which is pretty incredible to me since I only hit about paragon 250 on the same time last season). I feel like I am more on top of things this season (not like last season which I started off very slow). I am fairly certain that I will hit paragon 700 again this season. Even doing an average of greater rift 60, it is very similar to when I started averaging greater rift 65's last season. When you start averaging in the greater rift 60's, you level up so quickly. Right now, doing a greater rift 62 would boost me 3 paragon levels. I know that even at paragon 700, a greater rift 65 would boost me one paragon level.
It is good to get a good start for the season since there are other games that I would like to play. I have started to play Overwatch, which is in open beta right now. Although I am not very good at the game, I find Overwatch to be pretty entertaining. I don't think I will play that much of Overwatch but it is still good to try a different game time to time. I was playing Hearthstone for bit too but ever since season 6 started, I haven't really played Hearthstone at all. Hearthstone recently released their expansion, Whispers of the Old Gods and their new format. I bought some Hearthstone cards but I can't seem to find any time to play it right now. Hopefully, when the Diablo season starts becoming a bit boring, I might play a bit more of Hearthstone. Right now, I am really enjoying season 6 and hopefully I will tell you how my season ended in a couple of months.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Juno Reactor - My next 10 favourite songs
I did my top 10 favourite Juno Reactor songs earlier in my blog. Now, I want to share my next 10 Juno Reactor songs that I like but are songs that haven't been recognized as being great. I think the majority of the songs on this list should be more recognized and hopefully over time, they will be. There will probably another 10 Juno Reactor songs list that I could do in the future. But for now lets start with the list:
1. 10, 000 Miles from the Transmission album.
- Now on the whole, the Transmission album is generally not recognized as being one of Juno Reactor's better albums (or the most listened to either). However there are a few gems in the Transmission album one of them being 10, 000 Miles (another one is High Energy Protons but that song is more recognized).
2. Magnetic from the Beyond the Infinite album
- Again Beyond the Infinite is one of Juno Reactor's earlier albums and like Transmission, it is often forgotten about. There are many songs from this album that I like but there is one song in particular that doesn't get mentioned as it should. That song is Magnetic. I think this song is one Juno Reactor's finest, it has a nice Spanish guitar section, which often gets over looked (plus another song which has the Spanish guitar, Pistolero, is more widely recognized).
3. Kaguya Hime from the Bible of Dreams album
- I have made a blog post about what Kaguya Hime is all about. Most people don't know the whole back story behind this song is so it is understandable that many people won't know what the lyrics mean or what they are. Overall, this is a very nice song to listen once you understand the meaning of the song is.
4. Song for Ancestors from the Shango album
- Many people feel that this song is too slow, but actually I think this is why this song is so good. It's very moody and very pleasant to listen to the vocals of this song. Add in the nice percussion from Amampondo and this track is pure golden.
5. Angels and Men from the Labyrinth album
- This song is absolutely amazing. Taz Alexander's singing in this song is spectacular. This song is even better when played live. I saw the live version of it when I went to San Francisco and it was absolutely amazing.
6. Las Vegas Future Past from the Gods and Monsters album
- What if you combined elements of Jazz and Electronic? Well you would probably come up with this song. How Ben Watkins managed to come up with song is just pure genius.
7. Playing With Fire from the Golden Sun of the Great East album
- I think this song was originally supposed to be in the Gods and Monster album but then it was scrapped. I'm glad Ben brought this back for his latest album because it is very good. My only wish is that this song could have been longer.
8. Bond Between Mother and Child from the Brave Story soundtrack
- The Brave Story soundtrack is one of the least recognized music in the world. The Brave Story soundtrack has many songs that just great. One of them is Bond Between Mother and Child. The piano in this is just incredible. This song reminds me of my own mother.
9. Song to the Siren
- This song is a cover of Tim Buckley's Song to Siren. It often gets over looked since other artists have done the same cover (Mortal Coil). Taz Alexander provides the epic vocals once again. Also, this is not in any of Juno Reactor's album as well.
10. Hotaka from the Odyssey EP
- Since this song doesn't appear in any of Juno Reactor's albums, it is often over looked. This song features the Taiko playing group from Japan called Gocoo. Gocoo was featured prominently in the Matrix movies but this song was the start of it all. There is a cool music video of this song.
Well that is it for now. Like I said, I could make another Top Ten list in the future just on Juno Reactor songs because there is so much to choose from. Season 6 for Diablo 3 is coming soon so stay tuned for some updates about it. Also, I managed to get a BlizzCon ticket again so I will be traveling to Anaheim again in November.
1. 10, 000 Miles from the Transmission album.
- Now on the whole, the Transmission album is generally not recognized as being one of Juno Reactor's better albums (or the most listened to either). However there are a few gems in the Transmission album one of them being 10, 000 Miles (another one is High Energy Protons but that song is more recognized).
2. Magnetic from the Beyond the Infinite album
- Again Beyond the Infinite is one of Juno Reactor's earlier albums and like Transmission, it is often forgotten about. There are many songs from this album that I like but there is one song in particular that doesn't get mentioned as it should. That song is Magnetic. I think this song is one Juno Reactor's finest, it has a nice Spanish guitar section, which often gets over looked (plus another song which has the Spanish guitar, Pistolero, is more widely recognized).
3. Kaguya Hime from the Bible of Dreams album
- I have made a blog post about what Kaguya Hime is all about. Most people don't know the whole back story behind this song is so it is understandable that many people won't know what the lyrics mean or what they are. Overall, this is a very nice song to listen once you understand the meaning of the song is.
4. Song for Ancestors from the Shango album
- Many people feel that this song is too slow, but actually I think this is why this song is so good. It's very moody and very pleasant to listen to the vocals of this song. Add in the nice percussion from Amampondo and this track is pure golden.
5. Angels and Men from the Labyrinth album
- This song is absolutely amazing. Taz Alexander's singing in this song is spectacular. This song is even better when played live. I saw the live version of it when I went to San Francisco and it was absolutely amazing.
6. Las Vegas Future Past from the Gods and Monsters album
- What if you combined elements of Jazz and Electronic? Well you would probably come up with this song. How Ben Watkins managed to come up with song is just pure genius.
7. Playing With Fire from the Golden Sun of the Great East album
- I think this song was originally supposed to be in the Gods and Monster album but then it was scrapped. I'm glad Ben brought this back for his latest album because it is very good. My only wish is that this song could have been longer.
8. Bond Between Mother and Child from the Brave Story soundtrack
- The Brave Story soundtrack is one of the least recognized music in the world. The Brave Story soundtrack has many songs that just great. One of them is Bond Between Mother and Child. The piano in this is just incredible. This song reminds me of my own mother.
9. Song to the Siren
- This song is a cover of Tim Buckley's Song to Siren. It often gets over looked since other artists have done the same cover (Mortal Coil). Taz Alexander provides the epic vocals once again. Also, this is not in any of Juno Reactor's album as well.
10. Hotaka from the Odyssey EP
- Since this song doesn't appear in any of Juno Reactor's albums, it is often over looked. This song features the Taiko playing group from Japan called Gocoo. Gocoo was featured prominently in the Matrix movies but this song was the start of it all. There is a cool music video of this song.
Well that is it for now. Like I said, I could make another Top Ten list in the future just on Juno Reactor songs because there is so much to choose from. Season 6 for Diablo 3 is coming soon so stay tuned for some updates about it. Also, I managed to get a BlizzCon ticket again so I will be traveling to Anaheim again in November.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Diablo 3 Season 5 Review
Well Diablo 3 Season 5 just ended yesterday (April 15th). I ended up doing pretty good for the season. My original goal was to play a crusader but that didn't end up like I wanted to. I also wanted to get the extra stash space from getting the Conqueror seasonal journey. Like I mentioned before, my original goal of playing the crusader was brief. When I ended up dying the second time on the crusader, I switched over to the witch doctor. I was pretty amazed at how fast I could level up on my witch doctor so I just stuck to it. Overall, I ended getting up to paragon 763 and my final greater rift level that I reached was to greater rift 70 (which ranked me at 373 for all seasonal hardcore witch doctors). I ended up getting the Conqueror seasonal journey at the end of February and just missed the Destroyer seasonal journey (I needed to get another conquest done and also a 3min rift done). Although I didn't get the Destroyer seasonal journey, I was pretty happy to achieve what I did.
So for the most of the season, I was playing on my witch doctor. The witch doctor set I was using was the Helltooth set. It is a very good set and pretty easy to gear for. I was using a Scrimshaw for most of the time because I couldn't find a good ancient Sacred Harvester. When I finally did find a good ancient Sacred Harvester, I managed to break greater rift 60 and pretty much completed the Conqueror seasonal journey. It took many tries re-rolling a Sacred Harvester (I think it took over 10 tries to get an ancient one) so I ended up doing lots of bounties. Now most of my gear have the Caldesann's Despair leveled up to 300 int. I am also using an Unity ring instead of a Convention of Element ring. This makes my character super tanky and I feel as though I can't die ever even in a high greater rift. I wanted to build a Legacy of Nightmare set but I couldn't find a decent ancient Litany of the Undaunted or an ancient Wailing Host ring. I will probably try building a Legacy of Nightmare in the off-season. Another goal that I want to finish during the off-season is to cube all the items again. So far, I have managed to cube items for all the classes except the demon hunter. I think I am missing 10 items for it so it shouldn't be too long to finish it. I ended up using lots of death breaths to complete the other cube items for the other classes.
Well that is all for season 5. For season 6, I will probably stick with the witch doctor. I will probably end up playing with the Helltooth set again and maybe a Legacy of Nightmare set. The buffs for the witch doctor next season will be really good (I think witch doctor pets are getting a big time buff). I hope to accomplish what I did in season 5, that is to get the Conqueror seasonal journey done and get as high paragon level as I did before.
So for the most of the season, I was playing on my witch doctor. The witch doctor set I was using was the Helltooth set. It is a very good set and pretty easy to gear for. I was using a Scrimshaw for most of the time because I couldn't find a good ancient Sacred Harvester. When I finally did find a good ancient Sacred Harvester, I managed to break greater rift 60 and pretty much completed the Conqueror seasonal journey. It took many tries re-rolling a Sacred Harvester (I think it took over 10 tries to get an ancient one) so I ended up doing lots of bounties. Now most of my gear have the Caldesann's Despair leveled up to 300 int. I am also using an Unity ring instead of a Convention of Element ring. This makes my character super tanky and I feel as though I can't die ever even in a high greater rift. I wanted to build a Legacy of Nightmare set but I couldn't find a decent ancient Litany of the Undaunted or an ancient Wailing Host ring. I will probably try building a Legacy of Nightmare in the off-season. Another goal that I want to finish during the off-season is to cube all the items again. So far, I have managed to cube items for all the classes except the demon hunter. I think I am missing 10 items for it so it shouldn't be too long to finish it. I ended up using lots of death breaths to complete the other cube items for the other classes.
Well that is all for season 5. For season 6, I will probably stick with the witch doctor. I will probably end up playing with the Helltooth set again and maybe a Legacy of Nightmare set. The buffs for the witch doctor next season will be really good (I think witch doctor pets are getting a big time buff). I hope to accomplish what I did in season 5, that is to get the Conqueror seasonal journey done and get as high paragon level as I did before.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Diablo Updates
There has been a lot of talk lately that the Diablo series might be getting a new game or expansion. Recently, Blizzard is looking to hire a bunch of artists for an unannounced Diablo project. Whether this project refers to an expansion or a new game is uncertain. In my opinion, I think the Diablo series is working towards a brand new game. My theory is that part of the Titan project (Blizzard's cancelled MMO project game) will be introduced in the new Diablo game. We all know that the characters and gameplay that was created under the Titan project became to be Overwatch, which is about to be released soon. Since Overwatch is not an MMO, I think that the MMO portion of the Titan project will be used in the new Diablo game. If you think about it, it kind of makes sense because after spending 50 million dollars developing Titan (reportedly), Blizzard wouldn't just waste money like that (they would want to show people what they have done with that development money). Sure, part of that development is now used in Overwatch, but the other part (the MMO portion) is still unused. This is quote for what the Titan project could have been - "The main concept was this: you, the player, would maintain a
mundane job—butchering, engineering, entrepreneurship—during the day,
while waging clandestine warfare against opposing factions at night (or
between work hours)." (source titanfocus.info). Another quote that falls into the MMO portion is this - "Not only would players have been able to run their own businesses
and shops, according to one source, they could maintain relationships
with non-player customers and retail staff, even starting families
thanks to a complicated AI system that Blizzard hoped to implement. (One
source told me that Blizzard had hired a number of former Maxis staff
who worked on The Sims in order to help put all this together). The goal, according to one person who worked on the game, was to
construct cities that felt like living worlds, full of businesses,
shops, and NPCs with schedules and behaviors based on what was happening
at any given time." All of this is just pure speculation on my part but it is really interesting to note that Blizzard is only hiring artists for this Diablo project right now (perhaps that is all that is needed since the MMO system is sort of in place already). This is very exciting news for us Diablo fans but I wonder if Blizzard was thinking of using the Starcraft universe instead of using the Diablo series since the Starcraft saga ended with the recent last expansion.
Another topic in Diablo 3 that has come up lately is why so many people have stopped playing the game. I know that this happens every season, where there is a bunch of people at the start of the season but after a month into the new season, most of the players have stopped playing the game. Why is this? It is probably due to fact after a certain point, players come to a wall. While finding upgrades and getting those paragon points is really exciting at the beginning of the season, after a while, there's a point where you aren't finding any upgrades and grinding for the paragon levels is all that is left to do. So to combat this problem, I suggest having a Weekly Challenge Mode. Just like the Tavern Brawl system in Hearthstone and the new Challenge Mode in Overwatch, the Weekly Challenge Mode can be changed weekly so that players can expect to play differently every week. Although the Weekly Challenge Mode wouldn't be the main way of playing the game, it would be a nice change up to the game. The Weekly Challenge Mode in my vision would be something that is quick and fairly easy to accomplish. Here are some examples of the goals in a Weekly Challenge Mode (you could probably come up with much more of these):
Anyways that is it for now. Diablo season 5 should be wrapping up in a couple of more weeks so I should have an update as to what my season 5 ended up with.
Another topic in Diablo 3 that has come up lately is why so many people have stopped playing the game. I know that this happens every season, where there is a bunch of people at the start of the season but after a month into the new season, most of the players have stopped playing the game. Why is this? It is probably due to fact after a certain point, players come to a wall. While finding upgrades and getting those paragon points is really exciting at the beginning of the season, after a while, there's a point where you aren't finding any upgrades and grinding for the paragon levels is all that is left to do. So to combat this problem, I suggest having a Weekly Challenge Mode. Just like the Tavern Brawl system in Hearthstone and the new Challenge Mode in Overwatch, the Weekly Challenge Mode can be changed weekly so that players can expect to play differently every week. Although the Weekly Challenge Mode wouldn't be the main way of playing the game, it would be a nice change up to the game. The Weekly Challenge Mode in my vision would be something that is quick and fairly easy to accomplish. Here are some examples of the goals in a Weekly Challenge Mode (you could probably come up with much more of these):
- Find "x" amount of legendaries in "x" amount of time.
- Find "x" amount of death breaths in "x" amount of time.
- Complete "x" amount of bounties in "x" amount of time.
- Open "x" amount of chests in "x" amount of time.
- Find and click "x" amount of shrines/pylons in "x" amount of time.
- Destroy "x" amount of barrels in "x" amount of time.
- Kill "x" amount of Bosses in "x" amount of time.
- Kill "x" amount of enemies with the Fallen Lunatic (Nagelring) at your side.
- Kill "x" amount of enemies just by using pets only.
- Kill "x" amount of enemies using the Death Watch Mantle.
- No paragon points allowed.
- Only weapon slots equipped.
- No set items allowed.
- A pre-set character already made by Blizzard.
- Only weapons and jewelry allowed.
- Randomized skill set.
- Randomized passive skill set.
Anyways that is it for now. Diablo season 5 should be wrapping up in a couple of more weeks so I should have an update as to what my season 5 ended up with.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato
On this blog, I want to cover one of my favourite tv cartoon shows of all time. It is called Star Blazers (or Space Battleship Yamato in Japan). I first saw this show when I was very little (maybe at age 5 or 6). It would come on in the early morning and I would wake up real early to watch this show. The reason why this show was so good was because it had a linear story line meaning that the more of the show you watched, the further you progressed in the story. Most cartoons of its time didn't have any story from show to show so Star Blazers was one of the first to do so. Also, this cartoon was one of the first to entertain the idea that cartoons weren't just to be funny, in Star Blazers there were many themes that were more serious in nature.
The story of Star Blazers is that the current Earth was being bombarded by the planet Gamilon, which forced to the citizens of the Earth to live underground. The Earth then receives unexpected help from Queen Starsha of the planet Iscandar, who offers a device called "Cosmo DNA" which will remove the radiation. However, since Iscandar is 148,000 light years away, Starsha also sends plans for the experimental Wave Motion Engine that, when constructed, will aid whoever can travel to Iscandar. On Earth, a crew is recruited, headed by Captain Avatar, and an old sunken battleship (the Yamato) is transformed into a spaceship (the Argo), outfitted with the Wave Motion Engine, and sent to Iscandar. It is important to note that the Yamato was an actual battleship used in World War II and was one of the heaviest and most powerful armed battleship of all time. The wave motion physic was also used for the wave motion gun, which was a huge gun at the front of the ship. Another aspect of the Yamato was the use of smaller airships called the Black Tigers. There were 3 seasons of the Star Blazers story and they are available on DVD (which I have). One of the reasons why I love Star Blazers so much is the music. If you ever get the chance to listen to the music, it is one of the greatest music ever for a television show. The music is full orchestral and has nice vocals as well. I would recommend everyone to listen to the music.
Star Blazers is often compared to Star Wars because the story takes place in the future and has a lot of science fiction in it. I had first watched Star Blazers before I watched Star Wars, so when I first watched Star Wars, I didn't feel too impressed by it. I thought Star Blazers was a way better version of the science fiction genre. There many things that I liked in Star Blazers over than Star Wars. The main spaceship, the Yamato, was way better than the Millennium Falcon. I also thought that the Black Tigers were better than the X-wing. I liked the character Derek Wildstar over Luke Skywalker (although Derek Wildstar is more like Han Solo). Also, Nova was more attractive than Princess Leia.
The "live" version of Star Blazers is now out on DVD and I had a chance to view it recently. There are a few subtle differences from the cartoon series. First, Nova is a much better in the "live" version. She is more opinionated and a much stronger character (she even knocks out a couple of guys). The doctor is a female in the "live" version but still carries a bottle of sake and has a pet cat. The weirdest change between the cartoon and the "live" version is the Gamilons. In the cartoon version, the Gamilons are humanoid form but in the "live" version they seem to be more of a non-physical form. This is a bit confusing since it could have been easier just casting more people to play the role of the villain. Overall, I thought the "live" version had pretty good acting in it, although at times, the story seemed a little too drawn out. There were times that it was pretty obvious as to what was going to happen next.
The story of Star Blazers is that the current Earth was being bombarded by the planet Gamilon, which forced to the citizens of the Earth to live underground. The Earth then receives unexpected help from Queen Starsha of the planet Iscandar, who offers a device called "Cosmo DNA" which will remove the radiation. However, since Iscandar is 148,000 light years away, Starsha also sends plans for the experimental Wave Motion Engine that, when constructed, will aid whoever can travel to Iscandar. On Earth, a crew is recruited, headed by Captain Avatar, and an old sunken battleship (the Yamato) is transformed into a spaceship (the Argo), outfitted with the Wave Motion Engine, and sent to Iscandar. It is important to note that the Yamato was an actual battleship used in World War II and was one of the heaviest and most powerful armed battleship of all time. The wave motion physic was also used for the wave motion gun, which was a huge gun at the front of the ship. Another aspect of the Yamato was the use of smaller airships called the Black Tigers. There were 3 seasons of the Star Blazers story and they are available on DVD (which I have). One of the reasons why I love Star Blazers so much is the music. If you ever get the chance to listen to the music, it is one of the greatest music ever for a television show. The music is full orchestral and has nice vocals as well. I would recommend everyone to listen to the music.
Star Blazers is often compared to Star Wars because the story takes place in the future and has a lot of science fiction in it. I had first watched Star Blazers before I watched Star Wars, so when I first watched Star Wars, I didn't feel too impressed by it. I thought Star Blazers was a way better version of the science fiction genre. There many things that I liked in Star Blazers over than Star Wars. The main spaceship, the Yamato, was way better than the Millennium Falcon. I also thought that the Black Tigers were better than the X-wing. I liked the character Derek Wildstar over Luke Skywalker (although Derek Wildstar is more like Han Solo). Also, Nova was more attractive than Princess Leia.
The "live" version of Star Blazers is now out on DVD and I had a chance to view it recently. There are a few subtle differences from the cartoon series. First, Nova is a much better in the "live" version. She is more opinionated and a much stronger character (she even knocks out a couple of guys). The doctor is a female in the "live" version but still carries a bottle of sake and has a pet cat. The weirdest change between the cartoon and the "live" version is the Gamilons. In the cartoon version, the Gamilons are humanoid form but in the "live" version they seem to be more of a non-physical form. This is a bit confusing since it could have been easier just casting more people to play the role of the villain. Overall, I thought the "live" version had pretty good acting in it, although at times, the story seemed a little too drawn out. There were times that it was pretty obvious as to what was going to happen next.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
My Top 10 Favourite TV Cartoon Series
I just watched Space Battleship Yamato (the movie version) on DVD and it got me thinking about the first time I saw the cartoon version of it. Of course, I was watching in Canada so the cartoon was called "Star Blazers" (over in Japan it was called Space Battleship Yamato). This got me thinking what my favourite tv cartoons/anime was/were. I will do a whole review of Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers in another blog post but for this post, I wanted to share my most favourite tv cartoon shows. Keep in mind this list is very subjective, I usually prefer cartoons that have lots of story and action in it (cartoons like Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry didn't make the list because of this fact). Let's start the list:
10. The Powerpuff Girls
- I like this cartoon a lot because it is very funny and the characters in it are very weird/awesome. You wouldn't think a bunch of little girls would make for a good story but each girl has her own power/personality. The bad guys are pretty awesome as well (who doesn't like Mojo Jojo?).
9. X-Men
- I don't read comic books so this was a good surprise when I first watched it. There are lots of different characters with each having a good story behind them. You can tell that the movies that came after the cartoon, followed the exact story line in the cartoon.
8. Batman: The Animated Series
- This cartoon has a very distinct cartoon style, with a lot of straight lines that makes it stand out from the rest (although several following cartoons have copied this cartoon style). Batman also has a very dark emotional style that is very hard to replicate.
7. Pokemon
- I would probably have put Pokemon higher on the list if I was younger when I first watched this cartoon. It is a very easy cartoon to follow. There are lots of characters and pokemon for each person to fall in love with.
6. The Jetsons
- I really like this cartoon because you can just imagine what life would be like in the future when watching this cartoon. The Jetsons is just like the Flintstones but I really prefer a cartoon that is set in the future more than in the past.
5. Dragon Ball Z
- Dragon Ball Z is the ultimate action cartoon with lots of great fighting/action scenes. Although it moves through the story at a snail's space at times, the fighting scenes more than make up for it. Goku is probably my most favourite cartoon character because of his unselfishness.
4. Futurama
- Although Futurama is considered a clone of the The Simpsons, I would probably watch Futurama over the Simpsons if given the choice. It may not be as funny as The Simpsons but again, I prefer the futuristic setting of Futurama. If Goku is my most favourite character, I think Bender is a close second.
3. Transformers
- The ultimate battle between good vs evil. I spent lots of time watching this cartoon in my youth. The battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons was just epic to watch (especially the fights between Optimus Prime and Megatron). Most of the Transformers had cool abilities, which really made them stand out. Just the creativity of this cartoon is really well done.
2. Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato
- Kinda of like Star Wars in a cartoon form, Star Blazers is one of my most favourite cartoons of all time. This cartoon came out when I was very little (like maybe when I was 5 or 6 years old). But I still remember the epic story and how you just wanted to watch the next episode just so you could continue following the story line. Like I said, I will do a whole review of this cartoon later on but for now, I urge everyone to watch this cartoon when you get a chance to.
1. The Simpsons
- It's pretty obvious but it is one of the greatest tv shows of all time even though it is a cartoon. I can't believe it but it is still running to this day (the original airdate of the first episode was on Dec 17th, 1989!). Even though I have stopped watching this cartoon, there are still new episodes being shown. So many quotable quotes, so many characters, so many special guests, so many crazy moments, (ahh you get the picture).
10. The Powerpuff Girls
- I like this cartoon a lot because it is very funny and the characters in it are very weird/awesome. You wouldn't think a bunch of little girls would make for a good story but each girl has her own power/personality. The bad guys are pretty awesome as well (who doesn't like Mojo Jojo?).
9. X-Men
- I don't read comic books so this was a good surprise when I first watched it. There are lots of different characters with each having a good story behind them. You can tell that the movies that came after the cartoon, followed the exact story line in the cartoon.
8. Batman: The Animated Series
- This cartoon has a very distinct cartoon style, with a lot of straight lines that makes it stand out from the rest (although several following cartoons have copied this cartoon style). Batman also has a very dark emotional style that is very hard to replicate.
7. Pokemon
- I would probably have put Pokemon higher on the list if I was younger when I first watched this cartoon. It is a very easy cartoon to follow. There are lots of characters and pokemon for each person to fall in love with.
6. The Jetsons
- I really like this cartoon because you can just imagine what life would be like in the future when watching this cartoon. The Jetsons is just like the Flintstones but I really prefer a cartoon that is set in the future more than in the past.
5. Dragon Ball Z
- Dragon Ball Z is the ultimate action cartoon with lots of great fighting/action scenes. Although it moves through the story at a snail's space at times, the fighting scenes more than make up for it. Goku is probably my most favourite cartoon character because of his unselfishness.
4. Futurama
- Although Futurama is considered a clone of the The Simpsons, I would probably watch Futurama over the Simpsons if given the choice. It may not be as funny as The Simpsons but again, I prefer the futuristic setting of Futurama. If Goku is my most favourite character, I think Bender is a close second.
3. Transformers
- The ultimate battle between good vs evil. I spent lots of time watching this cartoon in my youth. The battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons was just epic to watch (especially the fights between Optimus Prime and Megatron). Most of the Transformers had cool abilities, which really made them stand out. Just the creativity of this cartoon is really well done.
2. Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato
- Kinda of like Star Wars in a cartoon form, Star Blazers is one of my most favourite cartoons of all time. This cartoon came out when I was very little (like maybe when I was 5 or 6 years old). But I still remember the epic story and how you just wanted to watch the next episode just so you could continue following the story line. Like I said, I will do a whole review of this cartoon later on but for now, I urge everyone to watch this cartoon when you get a chance to.
1. The Simpsons
- It's pretty obvious but it is one of the greatest tv shows of all time even though it is a cartoon. I can't believe it but it is still running to this day (the original airdate of the first episode was on Dec 17th, 1989!). Even though I have stopped watching this cartoon, there are still new episodes being shown. So many quotable quotes, so many characters, so many special guests, so many crazy moments, (ahh you get the picture).
Saturday, February 13, 2016
To TV or Not To TV
I have recently cancelled my TV cable. I did this because I don't watch TV that much anymore and I wanted to save some money. I don't think I will miss having TV because the only thing I really watch on TV is sports. I think more and more people will be cancelling their TV cable since there are other means of watching what the people want to see. There are many phones now that can stream video and also computers and hand-held devices will also stream media. I think the TV universe will change over time, the current generation of kids seem to prefer more mobile devices while the older generation (the baby boomers) have grown up with the TV as their main source of entertainment.
This is also true for newspapers, magazines, etc. There is more emphasis towards electronic media, especially through the internet. People nowadays want the information fast and more to the interests of the individual. For example, as a gamer myself, if I need information about a particular video game, I can't rely on the old forms of media (such as newscasts on tv or the newspaper). Most of the time, the old forms of media won't cover what I need to read or see. Therefore, I need my information through the internet, where the search function is very fast and reliable. The older generation, such as my mom, have a tough time understanding this concept. They rely on the older forms of media, which is often much slower and often geared towards the general public (and not towards the particular individual).
I think the television in general will change over time. Right now it is used as media display device but eventually I think the television will become more like a computer. Who knows, maybe one day there won't be any *television* shows but just video shows. It will be interesting to see what will happen to the television in the 10 to 20 years.
This is also true for newspapers, magazines, etc. There is more emphasis towards electronic media, especially through the internet. People nowadays want the information fast and more to the interests of the individual. For example, as a gamer myself, if I need information about a particular video game, I can't rely on the old forms of media (such as newscasts on tv or the newspaper). Most of the time, the old forms of media won't cover what I need to read or see. Therefore, I need my information through the internet, where the search function is very fast and reliable. The older generation, such as my mom, have a tough time understanding this concept. They rely on the older forms of media, which is often much slower and often geared towards the general public (and not towards the particular individual).
I think the television in general will change over time. Right now it is used as media display device but eventually I think the television will become more like a computer. Who knows, maybe one day there won't be any *television* shows but just video shows. It will be interesting to see what will happen to the television in the 10 to 20 years.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Diablo 3 Season 5 Update
Well season 5 for Diablo 3 has started and I'm doing pretty good. I had a bit of a rough start to the season but I managed to do pretty well lately. I wanted to play a crusader at the start of the season but after a couple of deaths, I switched over to the witch doctor. My first death for the crusader happened at level 17 so it wasn't a big deal since I hadn't played long on it. So after creating a second crusader, I managed to reach level 70 and was on master difficulty. I wanted to push getting my second invoker set item so I tried to do Zolten Kuelle at torment 2. Unfortunately, that's where I lost my character. I didn't feel like the crusader was fun to play at all, especially on the levelling process, so I decided to switch over to the witch doctor. I feel more comfortable playing on the witch doctor since I have played with this class for a long time. It seemed to me that the witch doctor is really super powerful when grinding to level 70. I think in future seasons, I will start playing a witch doctor first and then switching over to a different class later.
The second crusader death made me question why I was pushing so hard to play in the new season. It could have been easier to say "I won't play this season anymore, I will just go back to non-season." But in the end, the reason why I am playing this season is to try to get all the rewards for playing the season, such as the cosmetics, the pet and the extra stash space. It is very difficult to keep playing even though everyone else seems to be progressing further than you are. I know a lot people are playing in groups and gaining bonus experience to grind their paragon levels. Since I am playing solo, it's difficult for me to compare with others who aren't playing solo at all. I know that eventually many people will stop playing the game and that is when I will end up catching to the other players.
So far, my witch doctor has managed to reach paragon 250. Although it doesn't seem to be all that much, reaching 250 a week after the season started feels pretty good to me. I am currently running torment 7 rifts and my highest completed greater rift is at 37. I know I can do a higher torment level, I am just waiting to get 2 Unity rings so that I will take less damage. I am also looking for a Mara's Kaleidoscope so I can try doing a set dungeon with my Helltooth set. Completing the set dungeon will complete my chapter 4 seasonal journey, which will give me a pet. I think the goal for the rest of the season will be to reach paragon 600 and maybe try playing a crusader again.
The second crusader death made me question why I was pushing so hard to play in the new season. It could have been easier to say "I won't play this season anymore, I will just go back to non-season." But in the end, the reason why I am playing this season is to try to get all the rewards for playing the season, such as the cosmetics, the pet and the extra stash space. It is very difficult to keep playing even though everyone else seems to be progressing further than you are. I know a lot people are playing in groups and gaining bonus experience to grind their paragon levels. Since I am playing solo, it's difficult for me to compare with others who aren't playing solo at all. I know that eventually many people will stop playing the game and that is when I will end up catching to the other players.
So far, my witch doctor has managed to reach paragon 250. Although it doesn't seem to be all that much, reaching 250 a week after the season started feels pretty good to me. I am currently running torment 7 rifts and my highest completed greater rift is at 37. I know I can do a higher torment level, I am just waiting to get 2 Unity rings so that I will take less damage. I am also looking for a Mara's Kaleidoscope so I can try doing a set dungeon with my Helltooth set. Completing the set dungeon will complete my chapter 4 seasonal journey, which will give me a pet. I think the goal for the rest of the season will be to reach paragon 600 and maybe try playing a crusader again.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Happy New Year 2016
Well 2015 is in the books and 2016 is here. I had a lot of fun in 2015 and I hope to have as much fun this year. I managed to complete finding all the legendary items for Kanai's cube in Diablo 3. I also have all 6 classes played and most are able to greater rift 25 and above. I also managed to watch the Star Wars movie (finally). I thought the film was very good (not great), probably won't be seeing it again. Now here are 5 things that I am looking forward to in 2016:
1) More Diablo 3 - Just like in 2015, I am hoping that we will get a bunch more patches and seasons in Diablo 3. The next season (season 5) is starting on January 15th. I think each season will run for about 3 months so that means we will probably see a total of 3 seasons in 2016. I think 2016 would be a good time to announce a new Diablo expansion. I would like to attend BlizzCon again this year but I won't mind if I cannot go.
2) Juno Reactor coming to Canada - It looks like Juno Reactor is coming back to Canada in 2016. So far it is penciled in for June 4th. I don't know if it is the whole band coming or just another DJ set with Ben Watkins but I am quietly optimistic that Juno Reactor is coming back for another live show. A lot times in the past, there were rumors of a live show coming to Vancouver that never materialized so I am kind of nervous that this show may not happen as well. Also, there might be another "album" released in August (Juno is playing at the Ozora Festival at the same time). It is very exciting time for Juno fans around the world.
3) Warcraft movie - The new Warcraft movie is set to debut this year (in the summer iirc). I normally don't go to the movie theaters to watch movies but I am very excited about this one. First of all, I've played the Warcraft games and I love the story in those games. Second, this was filmed here where I live so it will be interesting if I can pick out any details in the movie where I possibly have seen it before.
4) New video games - There will be plenty of new video games in 2016. The first new game that I want to try out is Overwatch. I have already paid for this game (since it has some goodies for other games that I play). I don't think I will be playing this game often but I do want to try it. It seems to be fairly fun to play but I think it will be like Heroes of the Storm for me (a game that I will play for a little bit but not too much). World of Warcraft will have a new expansion out but I don't think I will play it.
5) Fishing trip with my best friend - My best friend and I are planning a fishing trip sometime in the summer. We were talking about this for a long time. Our plan is to go to Vancouver Island and find a guided tour to fish for salmon. Not all the details have been worked out yet but I am excited about going fishing. We were planning to invite a couple more friends but it seems they cannot go because of their busy schedules.
1) More Diablo 3 - Just like in 2015, I am hoping that we will get a bunch more patches and seasons in Diablo 3. The next season (season 5) is starting on January 15th. I think each season will run for about 3 months so that means we will probably see a total of 3 seasons in 2016. I think 2016 would be a good time to announce a new Diablo expansion. I would like to attend BlizzCon again this year but I won't mind if I cannot go.
2) Juno Reactor coming to Canada - It looks like Juno Reactor is coming back to Canada in 2016. So far it is penciled in for June 4th. I don't know if it is the whole band coming or just another DJ set with Ben Watkins but I am quietly optimistic that Juno Reactor is coming back for another live show. A lot times in the past, there were rumors of a live show coming to Vancouver that never materialized so I am kind of nervous that this show may not happen as well. Also, there might be another "album" released in August (Juno is playing at the Ozora Festival at the same time). It is very exciting time for Juno fans around the world.
3) Warcraft movie - The new Warcraft movie is set to debut this year (in the summer iirc). I normally don't go to the movie theaters to watch movies but I am very excited about this one. First of all, I've played the Warcraft games and I love the story in those games. Second, this was filmed here where I live so it will be interesting if I can pick out any details in the movie where I possibly have seen it before.
4) New video games - There will be plenty of new video games in 2016. The first new game that I want to try out is Overwatch. I have already paid for this game (since it has some goodies for other games that I play). I don't think I will be playing this game often but I do want to try it. It seems to be fairly fun to play but I think it will be like Heroes of the Storm for me (a game that I will play for a little bit but not too much). World of Warcraft will have a new expansion out but I don't think I will play it.
5) Fishing trip with my best friend - My best friend and I are planning a fishing trip sometime in the summer. We were talking about this for a long time. Our plan is to go to Vancouver Island and find a guided tour to fish for salmon. Not all the details have been worked out yet but I am excited about going fishing. We were planning to invite a couple more friends but it seems they cannot go because of their busy schedules.
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