It's been a while since I last wrote about e-sports that I wanted to share my feelings on it. There have been many positive (as well as negative) developments in the e-sports world that it is interesting to talk about. I wanted to write about e-sports again because I just came back from BlizzCon, which had a fairly big focus on the competitive aspect of video games. Most of the focus was on Overwatch, which is probably going to become one of the biggest e-sport games out there. Overwatch had a "World Cup" format at BlizzCon, where players from different countries faced off against each other. Pretty soon the Overwatch League is going to happen, which consists of teams in various cities around the world facing against each other. Whether or not Overwatch League is going to be successful is yet to be determined but there is many signs that it might be successful.
First of all, each city in the Overwatch League will have an arena where the games are played. I think for the first season, most of it will be played in the Los Angeles arena but I don't know for sure. The arena aspect is pretty important to e-sports in general since many people would like to attend a live competitive video game match. I know that for the Overwatch World Cup at BlizzCon, the arena was one of the things that made e-sports so important. Attending an arena is really just like watching e-sports on a screen because at an arena, there is a huge jumbotron where all the action is televised. Watching the video game players isn't very interesting at all since all the action is based around the game. Sure there could be some focus on the players (like how are they feeling or are they having a good/bad time) but most of focus will be on the big screen. Although the players are not the focus, it is important that they are there in the arena playing and not just playing somewhere else where no one can see them. Another aspect that I like about e-sports is you get the color commentary along with the visual part of the game. This is super important because most fans wouldn't know what is going on if there was no commentary when the video game is being played. This is very different to other sports in general since you never get commentary while attending a sporting event.
While I think that Overwatch League is going to be successful, there are other concerns that show that it might not be so successful. One of the biggest fears for e-sports is that you never know when the video game will become (or stay) popular or not. It might be great that 20 million people are playing your game right now but after 5 years, maybe there isn't any interest in the game at all. This really depends on the video game company itself, whether they will continue to develop their game or not. One concern is that there is already talk about Overwatch 2, which could vastly change the way Overwatch League is managed. If there is a new Overwatch game, this could be catastrophic to the new Overwatch League. I think it will be interesting to watch and see how the Overwatch League and how much success it will have in the next few years. I think other video game companies are also going to be taking notes and whether or not their own game could become as successful as the Overwatch League. Although I think the Overwatch League will be successful in the short term, I don't see just one game becoming a great success in the long term. Video games are constantly changing so I don't think something like the Overwatch League will be around 40 to 50 years from now. E-sports in general will be around for a long time even though the video games that we will be playing will constantly changing over time.
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Diablo 3 Season 12 Update
Well I'm off to a flying start on Diablo 3's Season 12. I decided to play a necromancer this season since I wanted to play it last season but I knew everyone else would be playing it on season 11. My necromancer started out pretty good. The Haedrig's gift this season was the Trag'Oul's set, which is the blood set. It is very good early on because it does a lot damage. The only problem with this set is that your health fluctuates a lot, which is very dangerous for hardcore mode. I was able to do most of my seasonal journey with this set, the blood nova is extremely fun to play with. After playing with the Trag'Oul's set, I decided to play with the Inarius set. The Inarius is also very fun to play with because when you trigger Bone Armor, it creates a circling bone armor around you doing damage to near by enemies. This is often called the Bonestorm build and is extremely fast and the damage output is pretty good. I am using this set right now just so I can do greater rifts and regular rifts done quickly. My Inarius set is very tanky, it has damage reduction from the Unity ring, the Aquila Curiass and the Inarius set damage reduction as well. Although this set is fun to play with, the maximum greater rift that it can do isn't as high as other necromancer sets.
I also tried playing with the Rathma's set, which is the pet build set. This set uses the skeletal mages and is pretty fun to play with also. The problem with this set is that your defenses is not very high so you are very vulnerable when there is enemies that can ignore your pets and come running into you. I might try to build a high end Rathma set but I don't like the fact that you are pretty vulnerable. Another option for a higher greater rift clear is playing with the Pestilence set. This set is currently doing the highest of all the necromancer greater rifts. I haven't played with this set so I am kind of hesitant of playing with this set. I will probably watch some more guides on YouTube so I know what to expect when I try this set.
Overall, I am having lots of fun playing with the necromancer this season. I am already at paragon 700 and I hope to reach at least paragon 900 when the season is over. I have done a greater rift 72 with the Inarius set but I know that I could even doing a higher greater rift with one of the other sets. I am also almost done with the season journey as well. I only need to finish 2 more objectives for the conqueror seasonal journey and 1 more from the destroyer seasonal journey. I should be able to finish completely the seasonal journey very soon. After this season is over, I want to play with the witch doctor again because I love playing with the Helltooth set and I won't play with the witch doctor until this season is over.
I also tried playing with the Rathma's set, which is the pet build set. This set uses the skeletal mages and is pretty fun to play with also. The problem with this set is that your defenses is not very high so you are very vulnerable when there is enemies that can ignore your pets and come running into you. I might try to build a high end Rathma set but I don't like the fact that you are pretty vulnerable. Another option for a higher greater rift clear is playing with the Pestilence set. This set is currently doing the highest of all the necromancer greater rifts. I haven't played with this set so I am kind of hesitant of playing with this set. I will probably watch some more guides on YouTube so I know what to expect when I try this set.
Overall, I am having lots of fun playing with the necromancer this season. I am already at paragon 700 and I hope to reach at least paragon 900 when the season is over. I have done a greater rift 72 with the Inarius set but I know that I could even doing a higher greater rift with one of the other sets. I am also almost done with the season journey as well. I only need to finish 2 more objectives for the conqueror seasonal journey and 1 more from the destroyer seasonal journey. I should be able to finish completely the seasonal journey very soon. After this season is over, I want to play with the witch doctor again because I love playing with the Helltooth set and I won't play with the witch doctor until this season is over.
Monday, November 6, 2017
My BlizzCon 2017 Review
I just got back from BlizzCon and I wanted to write a review of what I did there. I had a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back again. I decided to fly out to Anaheim on Thursday because I had already gone to Disneyland before and I didn't need the extra day(s) to do other stuff while in Anaheim. So when I arrived in Anaheim, it was already about 1:30pm. I quickly got my badge and I lined up for the Blizzard store. The lineup for the store was pretty long, I ended up finishing by about 4:00pm. Things that I bought was the goody bad booster pack, the key art magnet (which I always get every year I go to BlizzCon), a Diablo Halls of the Blind t-shirt and a Diablo toque. I had already bought a Funko Pop D.Va, a blue murloc mug and the Snowball plushie before I went to BlizzCon so that I wouldn't be tempted to buy those things at BlizzCon and have to carry all those things back in my luggage. The goody bag this year was a backpack, which was pretty cool. Other stuff that came with the goody bag were some badges, a pin, a backpack hanger and a Cute but Deadly figurine. When I finished with the Blizzard store, I went back to my hotel and took a little nap. Later on, I managed to text my friends and meet them in person for the first time. I was a little nervous about texting because I didn't know if my phone was going to work correctly while I was in the US. We ate dinner together and then I stayed with my friends until about midnight.
On Friday, I woke up around 7:00am and I was going to meet my friends at 8:00 but they weren't ready yet and then I lined up for BlizzCon. It wasn't too bad of a lineup. By 8:30, it was pretty long. The bad thing about this year's BlizzCon was that there were two entrances. There was one going into the main floor and another for the extended convention area (North Hall) . I was trying to go into North Hall but it seemed that everyone was to be pushed towards the Mythic Stage which was really strange. I guess they didn't want people to be running around the convention floor while the opening ceremony was about to start. I managed to find my friends in all that chaos and we ended up sitting in the middle row, about 4 sections back from the main stage. I couldn't see the main stage at all but I had a good view of the video monitors so it ended up being ok. The opening ceremony was pretty cool but not as exciting as years past. There was the WoW expansion announcement, a classic WoW announcement, a new Ovewatch character (Moira), a new Overwatch map (Blizzard World), a Reinhardt cinematic, a new Hearthstone expansion (Kobolds and Catacombs), Hanzo and Alexstraza reveal for Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft 2 free to play and no Diablo mentioned at all. After the opening ceremony, I went over to the Diablo area and tried out the demo station. This year, Diablo had set up a convention exclusive greater rift, where you had to beat certain bosses to go into the next level. You could pick from the 6 classes and each had their own set you could play with. The witch doctor had the Jade set and it was pretty easy playing with that set (since it was the same set that they showed form 2 years ago). After I played Diabo, I went over to get posters and signatures from Diablo, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch. I tried out the Overwatch demo, which featured Moira and Blizzard World map. I ended up stomping the other team while playing D.Va and Zenyatta. After that I went over to the Heroic stage to see the Diablo panel. The Heroic stage was by far one of the worst stages I have ever been to. There was limited seating at that stage and they were only putting people in a couple at a time. The Diablo panel was pretty good, although it seemed that they had something else to say for that panel. After the panel, the Westmarch Workshop had its meet and greet so I ended seeing Leviathan and Neinball again. I also saw other Diablo content creators such as Zhanji, BigDaddyDen and Bluddshed. After that I went back to my hotel and then went over to California Pizza Kitchen to have my lunch. After I ate, I went over to the Darkmoon Faire and watched the Community Contest over on the Epic Stage. I played on the Hearthstone demo after watching the Community Contest and it was pretty cool. I also managed to get a temporary tattoo from the Darkmoon Faire. By 9:30pm, I met with my friends again and we went over to the Rainforest Café over by downtown Disney to have our dinner. After dinner, we went to the movie theaters to watch Thor Ragnarok.
On Saturday, I woke up at 8:00am and I lined up around 8:30am. One of the things that I first wanted to see on Saturday was the Overwatch World Cup. Overwatch arena was really cool, it sort of reminded me of a smaller hockey arena. Team Canada was playing Team Sweden in the first semifinal game and it was very exciting to watch. The match was very intense, Sweden was doing great early on but Canada came back very strong. It all came down to the final map on Oasis. Canada managed to get a early lead and held on to win that semifinal game. There were huge cheers for Team Canada because there were lots of Canadians watching that match. After the semifinal game, I really wanted to buy a Overwatch Team Canada uniform. Unfortunately, they were all out of small, medium and large uniforms so I ended up buying a x-large uniform (which isn't too bad when I am wearing it). I went over to the food trucks to eat my lunch and it was very tasty. After lunch, I went over the Heartstone area to get my Hearthstone poster and signatures. Also, I got to meet Hafu and Trump and also got their signatures. After that, I went over to Epic Stage to watch the Diablo community panel. The panel was ok, it was only 30 minutes long (though it should have been longer). My friends wanted to do WoW dungeon run together but I ended up watching the gold medal game between Team Canada and Team South Korea. Although Team Canada was able to take one map from Team South Korea, the Koreans were playing too good and ended up winning the Gold medal game. Although Team Canada lost, I was really proud of them since it meant that Canada was one of the top teams in the world of Overwatch. I was going to play on the WoW questing demo but I ended meeting up my friends to watch the Muse concert. The Muse concert was really good (it was way better than the Blink 182 concert that I attended). I am not a huge Muse fan but I do recognize some of their songs. My two favourites are Uprising and Knights of Cydonia, which were the last two songs that they played. After the concert, my friends and I walked around the convention floor. It was really cool to see the various e-sport stages up close. We ended up eating at an Italian restaurant for dinner (I had some very good pasta). And that was the end for BlizzCon. Like I said before, I had an amazing time there and I can't wait to go back sometime again.
On Friday, I woke up around 7:00am and I was going to meet my friends at 8:00 but they weren't ready yet and then I lined up for BlizzCon. It wasn't too bad of a lineup. By 8:30, it was pretty long. The bad thing about this year's BlizzCon was that there were two entrances. There was one going into the main floor and another for the extended convention area (North Hall) . I was trying to go into North Hall but it seemed that everyone was to be pushed towards the Mythic Stage which was really strange. I guess they didn't want people to be running around the convention floor while the opening ceremony was about to start. I managed to find my friends in all that chaos and we ended up sitting in the middle row, about 4 sections back from the main stage. I couldn't see the main stage at all but I had a good view of the video monitors so it ended up being ok. The opening ceremony was pretty cool but not as exciting as years past. There was the WoW expansion announcement, a classic WoW announcement, a new Ovewatch character (Moira), a new Overwatch map (Blizzard World), a Reinhardt cinematic, a new Hearthstone expansion (Kobolds and Catacombs), Hanzo and Alexstraza reveal for Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft 2 free to play and no Diablo mentioned at all. After the opening ceremony, I went over to the Diablo area and tried out the demo station. This year, Diablo had set up a convention exclusive greater rift, where you had to beat certain bosses to go into the next level. You could pick from the 6 classes and each had their own set you could play with. The witch doctor had the Jade set and it was pretty easy playing with that set (since it was the same set that they showed form 2 years ago). After I played Diabo, I went over to get posters and signatures from Diablo, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch. I tried out the Overwatch demo, which featured Moira and Blizzard World map. I ended up stomping the other team while playing D.Va and Zenyatta. After that I went over to the Heroic stage to see the Diablo panel. The Heroic stage was by far one of the worst stages I have ever been to. There was limited seating at that stage and they were only putting people in a couple at a time. The Diablo panel was pretty good, although it seemed that they had something else to say for that panel. After the panel, the Westmarch Workshop had its meet and greet so I ended seeing Leviathan and Neinball again. I also saw other Diablo content creators such as Zhanji, BigDaddyDen and Bluddshed. After that I went back to my hotel and then went over to California Pizza Kitchen to have my lunch. After I ate, I went over to the Darkmoon Faire and watched the Community Contest over on the Epic Stage. I played on the Hearthstone demo after watching the Community Contest and it was pretty cool. I also managed to get a temporary tattoo from the Darkmoon Faire. By 9:30pm, I met with my friends again and we went over to the Rainforest Café over by downtown Disney to have our dinner. After dinner, we went to the movie theaters to watch Thor Ragnarok.
On Saturday, I woke up at 8:00am and I lined up around 8:30am. One of the things that I first wanted to see on Saturday was the Overwatch World Cup. Overwatch arena was really cool, it sort of reminded me of a smaller hockey arena. Team Canada was playing Team Sweden in the first semifinal game and it was very exciting to watch. The match was very intense, Sweden was doing great early on but Canada came back very strong. It all came down to the final map on Oasis. Canada managed to get a early lead and held on to win that semifinal game. There were huge cheers for Team Canada because there were lots of Canadians watching that match. After the semifinal game, I really wanted to buy a Overwatch Team Canada uniform. Unfortunately, they were all out of small, medium and large uniforms so I ended up buying a x-large uniform (which isn't too bad when I am wearing it). I went over to the food trucks to eat my lunch and it was very tasty. After lunch, I went over the Heartstone area to get my Hearthstone poster and signatures. Also, I got to meet Hafu and Trump and also got their signatures. After that, I went over to Epic Stage to watch the Diablo community panel. The panel was ok, it was only 30 minutes long (though it should have been longer). My friends wanted to do WoW dungeon run together but I ended up watching the gold medal game between Team Canada and Team South Korea. Although Team Canada was able to take one map from Team South Korea, the Koreans were playing too good and ended up winning the Gold medal game. Although Team Canada lost, I was really proud of them since it meant that Canada was one of the top teams in the world of Overwatch. I was going to play on the WoW questing demo but I ended meeting up my friends to watch the Muse concert. The Muse concert was really good (it was way better than the Blink 182 concert that I attended). I am not a huge Muse fan but I do recognize some of their songs. My two favourites are Uprising and Knights of Cydonia, which were the last two songs that they played. After the concert, my friends and I walked around the convention floor. It was really cool to see the various e-sport stages up close. We ended up eating at an Italian restaurant for dinner (I had some very good pasta). And that was the end for BlizzCon. Like I said before, I had an amazing time there and I can't wait to go back sometime again.
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Diablo 3 Season 11 Review
Well season 11 of Diablo 3 just ended and I wanted to give a review of what I accomplished this season. This season went very well for me even though I didn't play as much compared to the other seasons. I ended up reaching paragon level 934, which put me in rank 424 for the US servers. My hardcore witch doctor ended up doing a greater rift 81 in about 12 minutes. This is pretty good since my previous best was also a greater rift 81 but in 14 minutes. The greater rift 81 put me at rank 32 for all hardcore witch doctor on the US server. This is the highest rank I have ever achieved in a season so I am very happy that I was able to reach this rank.
I was mostly playing with the Helltooth set for the witch doctor again. I tried playing with the Legacy of Nightmare spirit barrage set but I didn't like playing with it. I was able to do a greater rift 81 with about a month left in the season but that is when I lost my witch doctor due to a disconnect. I think I could have done a higher greater rift if I hadn't lost my witch doctor since I was able to do the greater rift 81 with 3 minutes left. After losing my witch doctor, I quickly made another witch doctor but I wasn't motivated to try reaching a high greater rift again (my new witch doctor has only about 5 hours of play time on it). It was pretty good that the season was going to end soon so I didn't have to try spend lots of hours trying to build my witch doctor again. I was able to take a good break from Diablo but I was kind of nervous about losing my ranking. I think I was near rank 24 or so when I first hit greater rift 81 but several people passed me later and I finished at rank 32. Although I didn't finish my seasonal journey, I did complete it up to Conqueror again.
My non-seasonal paragon level now sits at 1451, which puts me near the top 500 US hardcore players. For next season, I was hoping to try out the necromancer because I knew that lots of people were going to play the necromancer in season 11. Patch 2.6.1 for next season is going to change lots of the sets so the top builds for each class is going to change a lot. Even though I am tempted to play with the witch doctor again for season 12, I think this is a good season to try a different class. Eventually, I also want to try out the wizard since I haven't played with that class for a very long time. Season 12 is going to start after BlizzCon so there is lots of down time for most of the players. I can't wait for BlizzCon to arrive (there's only 2 weeks left :D).
I was mostly playing with the Helltooth set for the witch doctor again. I tried playing with the Legacy of Nightmare spirit barrage set but I didn't like playing with it. I was able to do a greater rift 81 with about a month left in the season but that is when I lost my witch doctor due to a disconnect. I think I could have done a higher greater rift if I hadn't lost my witch doctor since I was able to do the greater rift 81 with 3 minutes left. After losing my witch doctor, I quickly made another witch doctor but I wasn't motivated to try reaching a high greater rift again (my new witch doctor has only about 5 hours of play time on it). It was pretty good that the season was going to end soon so I didn't have to try spend lots of hours trying to build my witch doctor again. I was able to take a good break from Diablo but I was kind of nervous about losing my ranking. I think I was near rank 24 or so when I first hit greater rift 81 but several people passed me later and I finished at rank 32. Although I didn't finish my seasonal journey, I did complete it up to Conqueror again.
My non-seasonal paragon level now sits at 1451, which puts me near the top 500 US hardcore players. For next season, I was hoping to try out the necromancer because I knew that lots of people were going to play the necromancer in season 11. Patch 2.6.1 for next season is going to change lots of the sets so the top builds for each class is going to change a lot. Even though I am tempted to play with the witch doctor again for season 12, I think this is a good season to try a different class. Eventually, I also want to try out the wizard since I haven't played with that class for a very long time. Season 12 is going to start after BlizzCon so there is lots of down time for most of the players. I can't wait for BlizzCon to arrive (there's only 2 weeks left :D).
Sunday, October 8, 2017
BlizzCon 2017 Predictions
We are about a month away from BlizzCon 2017 and I am really excited about going to Anaheim again to see all the things Blizzard Entertainment will present at BlizzCon. There have been some news already about what we can expect to see at BlizzCon this year. First of all, there won't be any new Diablo news this year sadly. It is sort of expected since Diablo has been working on Patch 2.6.1, which is a pretty big patch since it will re-work many of the set items. Season 11 will be finished in about 2 weeks and the next season (season 12) will start one week after BlizzCon. I have more thoughts about Diablo later. Second of all, the closing act for BlizzCon this year will be Muse. I have never been a fan of Muse (although I do know some of their songs) so I probably won't be in a rush to see their show.
As for the other Blizzard games, I think they will be announcing a new expansion for World of Warcraft. It is very likely since Legion has been out for a long time and that there is a WoW panel directly after the opening ceremony this year. I think Heartstone is in a similar place with WoW. There will probably be another expansion announced for Hearthstone. In Overwatch, I am hoping we get news on a new character or a new map. It looks likely that we will get a new character since Overwatch seems to announce about 3 new characters each year. I am also hoping that they will show a new animated short for one of their older characters (D.va or Lucio maybe?). Heroes of the Storm will probably announce more characters, most likely they will be Overwatch characters since they have been putting many Overwatch characters in Heroes now.
As for Diablo, I am kind of sad that they won't announce anything new this year. I was hoping we might be getting a new class to play (maybe Druid?) but I don't think the Diablo team has started working on a new class just yet since the Necromancer just came out this year. Many people point out that Diablo has only 1 hour of panels this year at BlizzCon and that they think that Diablo 3 is now in maintenance mode. I don't think that is true because I think another class will definitely be announced some time next year. If they don't, then that might mean that the next Diablo game might be ready to be announced. I mostly think that development time for Diablo is way longer compared to the other Blizzard games so we can't expect Diablo to keep pushing out new content on a fairly regular basis. I think the perfect time to announce something like the Druid would be at GamesCon 2018 over in Germany since the Druid has its roots over in Europe.
It is nice to write a blog post again since it has been a long time between blog posts for me. My last blog post was in August so I am sorry about not writing a blog post in September. I had written some of my thoughts into a fairly large blog post but I am having trouble putting all of my thoughts into that blog post. There wasn't much news anyway during September so I was really having a hard time coming up with a topic to write about. Hopefully, in the near future, there will be more news about which I can make topics of.
As for the other Blizzard games, I think they will be announcing a new expansion for World of Warcraft. It is very likely since Legion has been out for a long time and that there is a WoW panel directly after the opening ceremony this year. I think Heartstone is in a similar place with WoW. There will probably be another expansion announced for Hearthstone. In Overwatch, I am hoping we get news on a new character or a new map. It looks likely that we will get a new character since Overwatch seems to announce about 3 new characters each year. I am also hoping that they will show a new animated short for one of their older characters (D.va or Lucio maybe?). Heroes of the Storm will probably announce more characters, most likely they will be Overwatch characters since they have been putting many Overwatch characters in Heroes now.
As for Diablo, I am kind of sad that they won't announce anything new this year. I was hoping we might be getting a new class to play (maybe Druid?) but I don't think the Diablo team has started working on a new class just yet since the Necromancer just came out this year. Many people point out that Diablo has only 1 hour of panels this year at BlizzCon and that they think that Diablo 3 is now in maintenance mode. I don't think that is true because I think another class will definitely be announced some time next year. If they don't, then that might mean that the next Diablo game might be ready to be announced. I mostly think that development time for Diablo is way longer compared to the other Blizzard games so we can't expect Diablo to keep pushing out new content on a fairly regular basis. I think the perfect time to announce something like the Druid would be at GamesCon 2018 over in Germany since the Druid has its roots over in Europe.
It is nice to write a blog post again since it has been a long time between blog posts for me. My last blog post was in August so I am sorry about not writing a blog post in September. I had written some of my thoughts into a fairly large blog post but I am having trouble putting all of my thoughts into that blog post. There wasn't much news anyway during September so I was really having a hard time coming up with a topic to write about. Hopefully, in the near future, there will be more news about which I can make topics of.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Juno Reactor - Our World
Juno Reactor has released a new single called "Our World". This is a prelude to Juno Reactor's new album coming out in September called Mutant Land. You can hear "Our World" here:
What I like the most from this song is the vocals and the electronics used in it. This song reminds me of the Necromancer from Diablo 3. It is sort of dark and gloomy but then it also has nice "upside" to the song. Taja Devi, who does the female vocals, has a real nice voice and really reminds me of a female Necromancer. From her photos, she does resemble the female Necromancer look. What I kind of don't like about this song is that the lyrics aren't too deep. What I mean is that the lyrics really only consist of "Our world will never feel quite the same again", "Hey" and "Oh yeah". I suppose there is a deeper meaning to the vocals but I wish the lyrics were more complicated. Overall, I really like this song a lot. There is also a remix version of "Our World" called "Our World (Robert Heart Edit)" but there doesn't seem like it is changed a lot from the original.
Juno Reactor has been busy touring in Europe these past months and they have been touring with the Mutant Theater. Mutant Theater's light show looks spectacular when performed live. With Juno Reactor's music, the light show is something that I would love to have a chance to see one day. They have played in Lublin, Poland and there are several fan made videos from that show on YouTube. Juno Reactor played several new songs that probably going to be in their new album Mutant Land. Their next biggest live show is at the Ozora Festival, which is where Juno Reactor first teamed up with the Mutant Theater. I can't wait for the new album to come out. There will be a full blog post about it once the album comes out.
What I like the most from this song is the vocals and the electronics used in it. This song reminds me of the Necromancer from Diablo 3. It is sort of dark and gloomy but then it also has nice "upside" to the song. Taja Devi, who does the female vocals, has a real nice voice and really reminds me of a female Necromancer. From her photos, she does resemble the female Necromancer look. What I kind of don't like about this song is that the lyrics aren't too deep. What I mean is that the lyrics really only consist of "Our world will never feel quite the same again", "Hey" and "Oh yeah". I suppose there is a deeper meaning to the vocals but I wish the lyrics were more complicated. Overall, I really like this song a lot. There is also a remix version of "Our World" called "Our World (Robert Heart Edit)" but there doesn't seem like it is changed a lot from the original.
Juno Reactor has been busy touring in Europe these past months and they have been touring with the Mutant Theater. Mutant Theater's light show looks spectacular when performed live. With Juno Reactor's music, the light show is something that I would love to have a chance to see one day. They have played in Lublin, Poland and there are several fan made videos from that show on YouTube. Juno Reactor played several new songs that probably going to be in their new album Mutant Land. Their next biggest live show is at the Ozora Festival, which is where Juno Reactor first teamed up with the Mutant Theater. I can't wait for the new album to come out. There will be a full blog post about it once the album comes out.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Diablo 3 Season 11 Update
Well season 11 for Diablo 3 has started and I wanted to give an update to how I am doing. For season 11, I started out playing with the Witch Doctor again because this is the season where the Haedrig's gift is the Helltooth Set. I managed to get a real good start to the season because of this. I am currently at paragon 640, which is pretty nice. I also managed to do a greater rift 70 already and I have finished the Destroyer seasonal journey (I only need to do the Conqueror and Guardian to finish my seasonal journey). The Helltooth set is real nice to start out with because you really don't need to get much gear for it to work. I had a little bit of trouble finding a Short Man's Finger ring but once I found it, I was quickly able to do high 60's greater rifts. Most of my gear is now ancient and I still need to find an ancient Sacred Harvester and Ramaladni's Gift.
My focus for the rest of the season is to keep pushing with the Helltooth set for a while until I can find a whole set for a Legacy of Nightmares Spirit Barrage build. This is really hard to do because all items need to be ancient. I have some of the pieces already but it is probably going to take a long time finding those ancient pieces. I have never worked with the Spirit Barrage build but I look forward to working with it. I know that once you have the right pieces, it can out damage the Helltooth set easily. I don't know if I will be playing with another class this season because building the LoN spirit barrage build is going to take time. I would like to play with a wizard because that is the only class I haven't reached greater rift 60 with yet. I could also play a necromancer but I know that everyone is already playing with it. There is a slight chance that I might play a necromancer in season 12.
It will interesting to see when season 11 will end. Right now, it is projected for the season to end sometime in late September/early October. If they do that, then season 11 will be a lot shorter than normal. The reason why season 11 might be shorter is that Blizzard might want to start season 12 before BlizzCon hits on November 3-4. It might be possible that season 11 runs a bit longer and that season 12 will start after BlizzCon. I am really looking forward for BlizzCon this year because some of my guildies will be there. I am also excited about what will happen to the development to Diablo 3 and there might be hints to whether Blizzard will announce something for the new Diablo game. There will be a future blog post detailing what I predict will happen at BlizzCon this year. I hope everyone is having fun in season 11 and I hope I will end up doing as well as I did last season.
My focus for the rest of the season is to keep pushing with the Helltooth set for a while until I can find a whole set for a Legacy of Nightmares Spirit Barrage build. This is really hard to do because all items need to be ancient. I have some of the pieces already but it is probably going to take a long time finding those ancient pieces. I have never worked with the Spirit Barrage build but I look forward to working with it. I know that once you have the right pieces, it can out damage the Helltooth set easily. I don't know if I will be playing with another class this season because building the LoN spirit barrage build is going to take time. I would like to play with a wizard because that is the only class I haven't reached greater rift 60 with yet. I could also play a necromancer but I know that everyone is already playing with it. There is a slight chance that I might play a necromancer in season 12.
It will interesting to see when season 11 will end. Right now, it is projected for the season to end sometime in late September/early October. If they do that, then season 11 will be a lot shorter than normal. The reason why season 11 might be shorter is that Blizzard might want to start season 12 before BlizzCon hits on November 3-4. It might be possible that season 11 runs a bit longer and that season 12 will start after BlizzCon. I am really looking forward for BlizzCon this year because some of my guildies will be there. I am also excited about what will happen to the development to Diablo 3 and there might be hints to whether Blizzard will announce something for the new Diablo game. There will be a future blog post detailing what I predict will happen at BlizzCon this year. I hope everyone is having fun in season 11 and I hope I will end up doing as well as I did last season.
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Diablo 3 Season 10 Review
Well Diablo 3 season 10 just ended this last Friday and I had a very good season. I ended up playing a lot more than some past seasons. I was able to reach paragon level 991, which is the highest I ever reached in a season. That put me in the top 300 of all NA hardcore players. This is pretty unbelievable since I only play by myself. I know I could have gotten a higher paragon level if I played with other players but I like playing by myself. This was achieved by only playing 190 hours (184 hours on my witch doctor and 6 hours on my barbarian). My non-seasonal paragon level is now at 1361. As for greater rifts, my highest greater rift that I did on my witch doctor was a greater rift 81, which put me in rank 64 of all of the hardcore NA witch doctors. I was really happy that I was able to do a greater rift 81 since my highest greater previous to that was a greater rift 79 (in a season). My barbarian was able to do a greater rift 60. I could have done a higher greater rift for my barbarian but I didn't feel like pushing it on my barbarian. If I would have reached a greater rift 65, it would have ranked in the top 1000. I also ended up finishing the guardian seasonal journey this season.
My main goal this season was to do a greater rift 70 and maybe find some primal ancient legendaries. I ended up finding a lot of primals but unfortunately none of items that I found were usable in my Helltooth witch doctor set. I found about 5 2-handers, a couple of 1-handers, some set pieces (2 jade chest pieces, 1 zunimassa's ring), some other armor pieces, and a couple of other jewelry. I was really disappointed that I couldn't find any primals for my Helltooth witch doctor but since I was able to do greater rift 81 without them, I really didn't care that I couldn't find any primals for the Helltooth build. I was mostly playing a Helltooth witch doctor for the entire season. My first (and only) death came when I switched over to a Zunimassa build. Since I was playing with the Zunimassa set, I didn't lose any Helltooth items so gearing back up wasn't a big problem. I tried doing a Legacy of Nightmare Spirit Barrage build but I didn't feel too comfortable with it yet. I think the LoN spirit barrage build is something that I would like to try in the future since it is capable of doing a higher greater rift than the Helltooth build. I might even try it during the off-season.
With the necromancer coming out this Tuesday, I will probably spend a lot of time playing that in the off season. There is lengthy break between season 10 and 11 so there should be plenty of time to experiment with the necromancer. For season 11, I will probably play with the witch doctor mostly since I know that everyone will be playing the necromancer. I feel really comfortable playing the witch doctor since it is very easy levelling up and the free Haedrig's gift is the Helltooth set for season 11. Getting the Helltooth set very early on will make it real easy reaching greater rift 70 again. Once I have my witch doctor geared up (and hopefully with a LoN spirit barrage build), I will probably and try gearing up my necromancer. I hope season 11 runs a bit longer (much like in season 10) because it would help me play both classes. I am really looking forward to playing a necromancer because I see a lot people playing it on beta and it looks pretty fun to play with. I hope everyone had a fantastic season 10 and I hope they all enjoy playing season 11 with their necromancer.
My main goal this season was to do a greater rift 70 and maybe find some primal ancient legendaries. I ended up finding a lot of primals but unfortunately none of items that I found were usable in my Helltooth witch doctor set. I found about 5 2-handers, a couple of 1-handers, some set pieces (2 jade chest pieces, 1 zunimassa's ring), some other armor pieces, and a couple of other jewelry. I was really disappointed that I couldn't find any primals for my Helltooth witch doctor but since I was able to do greater rift 81 without them, I really didn't care that I couldn't find any primals for the Helltooth build. I was mostly playing a Helltooth witch doctor for the entire season. My first (and only) death came when I switched over to a Zunimassa build. Since I was playing with the Zunimassa set, I didn't lose any Helltooth items so gearing back up wasn't a big problem. I tried doing a Legacy of Nightmare Spirit Barrage build but I didn't feel too comfortable with it yet. I think the LoN spirit barrage build is something that I would like to try in the future since it is capable of doing a higher greater rift than the Helltooth build. I might even try it during the off-season.
With the necromancer coming out this Tuesday, I will probably spend a lot of time playing that in the off season. There is lengthy break between season 10 and 11 so there should be plenty of time to experiment with the necromancer. For season 11, I will probably play with the witch doctor mostly since I know that everyone will be playing the necromancer. I feel really comfortable playing the witch doctor since it is very easy levelling up and the free Haedrig's gift is the Helltooth set for season 11. Getting the Helltooth set very early on will make it real easy reaching greater rift 70 again. Once I have my witch doctor geared up (and hopefully with a LoN spirit barrage build), I will probably and try gearing up my necromancer. I hope season 11 runs a bit longer (much like in season 10) because it would help me play both classes. I am really looking forward to playing a necromancer because I see a lot people playing it on beta and it looks pretty fun to play with. I hope everyone had a fantastic season 10 and I hope they all enjoy playing season 11 with their necromancer.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
My Juno Reactor Live Experience Part 2 (San Francisco '08)
This next blog post will cover my experience at the Juno Reactor Live show in San Francisco on September 23, 2008. When I first heard about Juno Reactor coming over to do shows in N. America, I was really excited about attending a live show again. I first thought that Juno might be doing a show in Seattle, which is pretty close to where I am from. Unfortunately, Seattle did not make the list of cities Juno Reactor was going to be at. My next nearest place for the Juno show was in San Francisco so I decided to make plans to attend that show. Juno Reactor was also going to do shows in Colorado, Los Angeles, Chicago and in New York for their N. American tour. I also knew that Mikey (SLK from ReactorLeak) was also going to attend the show in San Fran so I knew I wasn't the only mega fan of Juno going. I think Joe (Unseung from ReactorLeak) was considering going as well but he only went to the Los Angeles show.
When I arrived at the San Fran airport, I was going to get a taxi, to drive me to my hotel. On the way to getting a taxi, someone noticed my t-shirt (my Juno Reactor t-shirt) and asked if I was going to the show later that day. It was a bit weird to me since I didn't think anyone would notice that I had a Juno Reactor shirt on. We chatted a bit before I left to get a taxi to go to my hotel. The live show was on the day that I arrived so I didn't have much time to go sight seeing that day (although I stayed in San Fran for a couple of days more after the live show). I went to the theater pretty early since I wanted to try and get in and see the band but unfortunately they didn't let anyone in early. Since I had a time to kill, I found a Japanese restaurant near by and ate my dinner there. After dinner, I lined up with other Juno Reactor fans. Fortunately, Mikey was already there and he noticed me and told me that we were going to see Ben after the show. There was a pretty good mix of fans at this show. There were many young people (some of those were Sugizo fans) and some older folks as well. People were coming from all over the place (I was from Canada, met someone from Utah).
The venue where the live show was pretty small but it was pretty packed with fans (maybe a hundred or so). The set list and Juno Reactor lineup was pretty much the same as the Fuji Rock show. The lineup consisted of Ben, Taz (vocals), Ghetto Priest (vocals), Amampondo (percussion), Greg Ellis (drums) and Sugizo (guitar). I bought a Juno Reactor poster there (it is now hanging in my computer room, I almost lost it when I was travelling back home). One new song that Juno Reactor performed was "Earthquake in the heart of Rome" (it never was released as a single or in an album). Another song that was performed at the San Fran show and not at the Fuji Rock show was "Inca Steppa". Some of my favourite songs that were performed were Biot Messiah (both Sugizo and Ben were excellent on the guitars), Pistolero (always a favourite live song), and Angels and Men (Taz did an excellent job singing on this one). The absolutely favourite moment that I will remember for as long as I live is when Mabi Thobejane did his drum solo. It was the most incredible performance that I ever saw. It is one thing to be able to see greatness in a video but it is a whole another thing to witness something great live. I wish I could describe what he was able to do but I don't think I can accurately describe what Mabi did.
After the show (it was a pretty long show, I was feeling exhausted but real happy), me and Mikey met Ben backstage. I got my photo taken with Ben and I also got to talk with other members of the band.
I was real happy with this experience since I never got the chance to do it when I went to Japan to attend the Fuji Rock concert. To compare this experience with Fuji Rock is kind of complicated since these were two different shows. Having my first Juno show outdoors with a massive crowd was pretty spectacular but I prefer a more intimate setting since it feels as though you are really connected with the band. After the show, I stayed in San Fran for a couple days and went sight seeing. San Francisco reminds of Victoria for some reason (they both have a wax museum and other similar sight seeing sights). I did go see Alcatraz, went on the trolley and the infamous curved street. I really had a great time in San Fran and I hope one day Juno Reactor will have another N. American tour soon.
When I arrived at the San Fran airport, I was going to get a taxi, to drive me to my hotel. On the way to getting a taxi, someone noticed my t-shirt (my Juno Reactor t-shirt) and asked if I was going to the show later that day. It was a bit weird to me since I didn't think anyone would notice that I had a Juno Reactor shirt on. We chatted a bit before I left to get a taxi to go to my hotel. The live show was on the day that I arrived so I didn't have much time to go sight seeing that day (although I stayed in San Fran for a couple of days more after the live show). I went to the theater pretty early since I wanted to try and get in and see the band but unfortunately they didn't let anyone in early. Since I had a time to kill, I found a Japanese restaurant near by and ate my dinner there. After dinner, I lined up with other Juno Reactor fans. Fortunately, Mikey was already there and he noticed me and told me that we were going to see Ben after the show. There was a pretty good mix of fans at this show. There were many young people (some of those were Sugizo fans) and some older folks as well. People were coming from all over the place (I was from Canada, met someone from Utah).
The venue where the live show was pretty small but it was pretty packed with fans (maybe a hundred or so). The set list and Juno Reactor lineup was pretty much the same as the Fuji Rock show. The lineup consisted of Ben, Taz (vocals), Ghetto Priest (vocals), Amampondo (percussion), Greg Ellis (drums) and Sugizo (guitar). I bought a Juno Reactor poster there (it is now hanging in my computer room, I almost lost it when I was travelling back home). One new song that Juno Reactor performed was "Earthquake in the heart of Rome" (it never was released as a single or in an album). Another song that was performed at the San Fran show and not at the Fuji Rock show was "Inca Steppa". Some of my favourite songs that were performed were Biot Messiah (both Sugizo and Ben were excellent on the guitars), Pistolero (always a favourite live song), and Angels and Men (Taz did an excellent job singing on this one). The absolutely favourite moment that I will remember for as long as I live is when Mabi Thobejane did his drum solo. It was the most incredible performance that I ever saw. It is one thing to be able to see greatness in a video but it is a whole another thing to witness something great live. I wish I could describe what he was able to do but I don't think I can accurately describe what Mabi did.
After the show (it was a pretty long show, I was feeling exhausted but real happy), me and Mikey met Ben backstage. I got my photo taken with Ben and I also got to talk with other members of the band.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
BlizzCon 2017 Idea (Blizzard All-Star)
I have wondered for a long time if something like this next idea I am about to present could be viable. There are many great video gamers around the world but I often ask myself "Who is the greatest video gamer?". Of course, you could just say that whoever wins the world championship of any given game is the greatest video gamer but that is only for one game. If you had to compete in multiple world championships, you would have a better understanding of who the greatest video gamer is. I guess what I am suggesting is to have an "Olympic" style of video game competition, where each video gamer has to compete against each other in several video games. Could this be even possible since there is so many video games that people are competing in right now? Probably not, since it would be almost impossible to play so many different video games that has a competition element to it. But maybe there is a way to do this ...
One video game company that I always follow is Blizzard Entertainment. They make a lot of great video games and I have been playing their games for a very long time. I always try to go to BlizzCon, which is Blizzard's celebration/convention. Recently, with the additions of a few games in the past several years (like Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch) to the 3 older franchises (Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo), Blizzard has now 6 different games for gamers to choose from. Of those 6, 5 of those games are definitely playable for e-sports in mind (with Diablo being the only exception). With those 6 video games, could Blizzard actually make a competition that would answer the question "Who is the best video gamer?"? I think I may have found a way to do this.
In my Blizzard All-Star format, I would pick the best 12 video gamers. The first game that I would choose to do is Overwatch, since it has a perfect 6v6 makeup. The winning team would move on to the next round while the losing team has 2 players voted or removed from competition. Now left with 10 players, the next game I would suggest to do is Heroes of the Storm (it is the best 5v5 game). Teams would be scrambled up again so that players aren't always on the same team. The winners move on, the losing team (once again) loses 2 players. With 8 players left, the players would compete in Diablo 3 (probably a type of 4v4 format). I don't know if Diablo 3 is the best game for players to compete in but with the additions of challenge rifts, it may become viable (if not, they could decide to make a competition that is fairly easy such as "First team to kill the Skeleton King on storymode" or something). Again, the winning team moves on, the losing team has 2 players knocked out. With 6 players left, the video gamers would move onto World of Warcraft. It might be possible to do some 3v3 PvP but there might be gear issues with this (since players would come from different regions). Again, something more simpler might be better (such as speed running from Ironforge to Menethil Harbor as a lvl 1 gnome). Winning team moves on, losing team loses 2 players again. With four players left, StarCraft 2 would be the next game. Players could compete in some kind of 2v2 PvP format. Winning team moves onto the final game: Hearthstone. With the last 2 remaining players, the format should be some kind of brawl instead of using the traditional "bring your own deck" type of format. I think this would be better since not all players in the All-Star challenge will be experts in Hearthstone (and would not have all the cards to build a competing deck).
Overall, I think this is the best way of determining who is the best video gamer. You have many different types of games in this format (first person shooter, moba, action, mmo, real time strategy and a card game). The voting system to kick out the losers probably isn't the greatest (maybe something like a RNG system might be better). I also like this format since even if you are the best at a certain game, it won't give you much of an advantage (well maybe except for StarCraft and Hearthstone). Even if you are the best at a certain game, it won't necessarily mean that your team will win. I think the list of the 12 video gamers that would compete in this might be difficult to determine since I really don't know anybody that plays all 6 of these games at a very high level. I would have the community pick the people they would like to see most (or think who would do the best in this format) from each game (people such as Kripp, Rhykker, Artosis, Day9, TradeChat, etc). If I would ever be chosen to participate in a tournament such as this, I would probably spend my time practicing games like Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft since I play those games the least. A tournament such as this might be too much for BlizzCon because all of the other games (well except for Diablo) are going to have some kind of e-sports tournament for their games at BlizzCon. It might be a better idea to do it at some other convention (such as GamesCon over in Europe). Although this e-sport style of tournament probably won't be happening for a long time, I look forward to the day that it does happen since it will answer the question "Who is the best video gamer".
One video game company that I always follow is Blizzard Entertainment. They make a lot of great video games and I have been playing their games for a very long time. I always try to go to BlizzCon, which is Blizzard's celebration/convention. Recently, with the additions of a few games in the past several years (like Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch) to the 3 older franchises (Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo), Blizzard has now 6 different games for gamers to choose from. Of those 6, 5 of those games are definitely playable for e-sports in mind (with Diablo being the only exception). With those 6 video games, could Blizzard actually make a competition that would answer the question "Who is the best video gamer?"? I think I may have found a way to do this.
In my Blizzard All-Star format, I would pick the best 12 video gamers. The first game that I would choose to do is Overwatch, since it has a perfect 6v6 makeup. The winning team would move on to the next round while the losing team has 2 players voted or removed from competition. Now left with 10 players, the next game I would suggest to do is Heroes of the Storm (it is the best 5v5 game). Teams would be scrambled up again so that players aren't always on the same team. The winners move on, the losing team (once again) loses 2 players. With 8 players left, the players would compete in Diablo 3 (probably a type of 4v4 format). I don't know if Diablo 3 is the best game for players to compete in but with the additions of challenge rifts, it may become viable (if not, they could decide to make a competition that is fairly easy such as "First team to kill the Skeleton King on storymode" or something). Again, the winning team moves on, the losing team has 2 players knocked out. With 6 players left, the video gamers would move onto World of Warcraft. It might be possible to do some 3v3 PvP but there might be gear issues with this (since players would come from different regions). Again, something more simpler might be better (such as speed running from Ironforge to Menethil Harbor as a lvl 1 gnome). Winning team moves on, losing team loses 2 players again. With four players left, StarCraft 2 would be the next game. Players could compete in some kind of 2v2 PvP format. Winning team moves onto the final game: Hearthstone. With the last 2 remaining players, the format should be some kind of brawl instead of using the traditional "bring your own deck" type of format. I think this would be better since not all players in the All-Star challenge will be experts in Hearthstone (and would not have all the cards to build a competing deck).
Overall, I think this is the best way of determining who is the best video gamer. You have many different types of games in this format (first person shooter, moba, action, mmo, real time strategy and a card game). The voting system to kick out the losers probably isn't the greatest (maybe something like a RNG system might be better). I also like this format since even if you are the best at a certain game, it won't give you much of an advantage (well maybe except for StarCraft and Hearthstone). Even if you are the best at a certain game, it won't necessarily mean that your team will win. I think the list of the 12 video gamers that would compete in this might be difficult to determine since I really don't know anybody that plays all 6 of these games at a very high level. I would have the community pick the people they would like to see most (or think who would do the best in this format) from each game (people such as Kripp, Rhykker, Artosis, Day9, TradeChat, etc). If I would ever be chosen to participate in a tournament such as this, I would probably spend my time practicing games like Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft since I play those games the least. A tournament such as this might be too much for BlizzCon because all of the other games (well except for Diablo) are going to have some kind of e-sports tournament for their games at BlizzCon. It might be a better idea to do it at some other convention (such as GamesCon over in Europe). Although this e-sport style of tournament probably won't be happening for a long time, I look forward to the day that it does happen since it will answer the question "Who is the best video gamer".
Sunday, May 7, 2017
My Juno Reactor Live Experience Part 1 (Fuji Rock Festival '07)
In this blog, I want to review my Juno Reactor Live show experience. I have been to 4 Juno Reactor live shows (2 of which were of Ben's DJ show here in Vancouver). The first 2 shows that I went to were of my most favourite live experiences ever. There is nothing like a Juno Reactor live show where all band members are present. The first 2 shows are what I mostly want to cover in this blog post. If you would like to know what happened in the shows in Vancouver, there is already a blog post that covers that experience. You can view it here: http://junoreactors.blogspot.ca/2016/06/juno-reactor-live-show-vancouver-jun-04.html
My first Juno Reactor live show happened at the Fuji Rock festival in Japan on July 29, 2007. I really wanted to go to a Juno Reactor show since I hadn't experienced it yet so I decided that I would try to do anything to attend a show live. My only options were to wait until Juno Reactor would come close to me (in Vancouver or somewhere pretty close) or make a trip to somewhere far away. When I first heard Juno Reactor was going to the Fuji Rock festival in Japan, I was a bit hesitant of going but after getting help from friends in Japan, I decided that I would try to make that trip to Japan and see a Juno Reactor show for the first time. I managed to message Ben to say that I would be coming to Japan to meet his band and that I would like to meet him. Ben wrote me back and told me to contact his Japan manager when I arrived at Fuji Rock (more on this later).
The Fuji Rock Festival takes place at the Naeba Ski resort in Japan, which is in the northwest part of Japan, pretty close to Nagano. It is a 3 day festival, I only went to one day of the Fuji Rock festival so my ticket to get in was cheaper. There are many bands that were performing there, bands like the Chemical Brothers and the Beastie Boys were also performing at the same event (unfortunately I didn't get to see either one). My friend and I took a bus from Osaka to the Fuji Rock festival, which took about 8 hours to get there. We got there about 9am in the morning and had a little bit of time before any of the bands started playing. There were many areas as to where the music were playing. The big main stage was at the Green stage and there were also several other stages. The festival began at about 11am and we saw Soil &"Pimp" Sessions and Fermin Murugurza. Both were pretty entertaining to watch. Later on in the day, we saw a little bit of Mika and Joss Stone. We also ate some pretty delicious food there. We tried to contact Ben's manager but we couldn't get a hold of him. We also visited other areas of the venue and bought some souvenirs (I bought the Audio/Visual Juno Reactor DVD there). I asked if the festival was selling the new Juno Reactor album (the Gods and Monsters album) but it wasn't out yet.
Juno Reactor was the last performance on the White Stage so we went a little bit earlier to see if we could move up in the crowd to see Juno Reactor up close. The band that was playing before Juno Reactor was the Vooredoms. It was a pretty amazing performance, they had a huge guitar-like instrument. The crowd was very rowdy for the Vooredoms show but fortunately for us, most of the crowd left after the Vooredoms show ended (probably to see the Chemical Brothers). We got to the front of the crowd and right in the middle of the stage too. I had a great view of watching Juno Reactor perform and it really blew my mind how awesome they were. I don't think I can really put into words just how amazing Juno Reactor's show was. Juno's band consisted of Ben, Taz Alexander (vocals), Greg Ellis (drums), Sugizo (guitar), Ghetto Priest (vocals) and the Amapondos (South African percussion). I think this lineup really represents the true version of Juno Reactor that I really love (this is also the same lineup that played at the San Francisco show a year later). The track list was the following (I've lost track a bit but I think it is mostly correct): Conquistador 1, Conquistador 2, Biot Messiah, Giant, War Dogs, Insects, Komet, City of the Sinful, Hotaka, Mutant Message, God Is God, Hulelam, Pistolero, Angels of Men, Masters of the Universe (encore). I think this was the first time Sugizo was playing with Juno Reactor, he did a wonderful job even though it was his first show. I had great time watching Greg on the drums and Taz did an incredible performance with her vocals. I wish I got a better view of Mabi but that problem was fixed a year later. I managed to view some footage of that day. You can see it here:
There's something about Juno Reactor's music that instantly gets you dancing to their music. It is the just the right combination of instrument playing, high quality vocals and electronic mixing that makes Juno Reactor the best band (in my opinion). I tried a final time to get Juno's attention but unfortunately I didn't get to meet the band. A couple days later, I got a phone call from Ben saying that his manager had lost his cell phone at Fuji Rock and he was apologetic about it. It was kinda weird because I was staying at my cousin's house and they didn't know that the phone call was for me (my cousins were like there is someone talking English on the phone!?!?). I got to talk with Ben for a few minutes (that was cool). In the end, I really had a great time going to Japan and watching a Juno Reactor show for the first time. I couldn't believe that I was actually watching a Juno Reactor show with so many people (and I think everyone there had a great time also). My friend didn't know any Juno Reactor songs but she also liked their show a lot. Stay tuned for my next blog which will cover the San Francisco show a year later.
My first Juno Reactor live show happened at the Fuji Rock festival in Japan on July 29, 2007. I really wanted to go to a Juno Reactor show since I hadn't experienced it yet so I decided that I would try to do anything to attend a show live. My only options were to wait until Juno Reactor would come close to me (in Vancouver or somewhere pretty close) or make a trip to somewhere far away. When I first heard Juno Reactor was going to the Fuji Rock festival in Japan, I was a bit hesitant of going but after getting help from friends in Japan, I decided that I would try to make that trip to Japan and see a Juno Reactor show for the first time. I managed to message Ben to say that I would be coming to Japan to meet his band and that I would like to meet him. Ben wrote me back and told me to contact his Japan manager when I arrived at Fuji Rock (more on this later).
The Fuji Rock Festival takes place at the Naeba Ski resort in Japan, which is in the northwest part of Japan, pretty close to Nagano. It is a 3 day festival, I only went to one day of the Fuji Rock festival so my ticket to get in was cheaper. There are many bands that were performing there, bands like the Chemical Brothers and the Beastie Boys were also performing at the same event (unfortunately I didn't get to see either one). My friend and I took a bus from Osaka to the Fuji Rock festival, which took about 8 hours to get there. We got there about 9am in the morning and had a little bit of time before any of the bands started playing. There were many areas as to where the music were playing. The big main stage was at the Green stage and there were also several other stages. The festival began at about 11am and we saw Soil &"Pimp" Sessions and Fermin Murugurza. Both were pretty entertaining to watch. Later on in the day, we saw a little bit of Mika and Joss Stone. We also ate some pretty delicious food there. We tried to contact Ben's manager but we couldn't get a hold of him. We also visited other areas of the venue and bought some souvenirs (I bought the Audio/Visual Juno Reactor DVD there). I asked if the festival was selling the new Juno Reactor album (the Gods and Monsters album) but it wasn't out yet.
Juno Reactor was the last performance on the White Stage so we went a little bit earlier to see if we could move up in the crowd to see Juno Reactor up close. The band that was playing before Juno Reactor was the Vooredoms. It was a pretty amazing performance, they had a huge guitar-like instrument. The crowd was very rowdy for the Vooredoms show but fortunately for us, most of the crowd left after the Vooredoms show ended (probably to see the Chemical Brothers). We got to the front of the crowd and right in the middle of the stage too. I had a great view of watching Juno Reactor perform and it really blew my mind how awesome they were. I don't think I can really put into words just how amazing Juno Reactor's show was. Juno's band consisted of Ben, Taz Alexander (vocals), Greg Ellis (drums), Sugizo (guitar), Ghetto Priest (vocals) and the Amapondos (South African percussion). I think this lineup really represents the true version of Juno Reactor that I really love (this is also the same lineup that played at the San Francisco show a year later). The track list was the following (I've lost track a bit but I think it is mostly correct): Conquistador 1, Conquistador 2, Biot Messiah, Giant, War Dogs, Insects, Komet, City of the Sinful, Hotaka, Mutant Message, God Is God, Hulelam, Pistolero, Angels of Men, Masters of the Universe (encore). I think this was the first time Sugizo was playing with Juno Reactor, he did a wonderful job even though it was his first show. I had great time watching Greg on the drums and Taz did an incredible performance with her vocals. I wish I got a better view of Mabi but that problem was fixed a year later. I managed to view some footage of that day. You can see it here:
There's something about Juno Reactor's music that instantly gets you dancing to their music. It is the just the right combination of instrument playing, high quality vocals and electronic mixing that makes Juno Reactor the best band (in my opinion). I tried a final time to get Juno's attention but unfortunately I didn't get to meet the band. A couple days later, I got a phone call from Ben saying that his manager had lost his cell phone at Fuji Rock and he was apologetic about it. It was kinda weird because I was staying at my cousin's house and they didn't know that the phone call was for me (my cousins were like there is someone talking English on the phone!?!?). I got to talk with Ben for a few minutes (that was cool). In the end, I really had a great time going to Japan and watching a Juno Reactor show for the first time. I couldn't believe that I was actually watching a Juno Reactor show with so many people (and I think everyone there had a great time also). My friend didn't know any Juno Reactor songs but she also liked their show a lot. Stay tuned for my next blog which will cover the San Francisco show a year later.
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Diablo 3 Season 10 Update
Well I am off to a flying start for Diablo 3 season 10. For this season, I decided to play a witch doctor again. I had this whole week off from work so I was able to play lots of Diablo. I am now sitting at over 600 paragon level and I reached my goal of greater rift 70. It is important to reach this greater rift level because at greater rift 70, this is when you unlock the ability to find primal legendaries. Primal legendaries are just like ancient legendaries but have the max stats on any given item. I haven't found any primal legendaries yet but I am hoping to find at least one this season. I also managed to complete the destroyer seasonal journey and I am very close to finishing the conqueror season journey already.
Gearing up my witch doctor has been fairly successful so far. With the Haedrig's gift, you can get the Zunimassa's set, which is pretty powerful. I was playing with the Zuni set for a while but I switched over to the Helltooth set once I found all the Helltooth items and a Sacred Harvester. One of the luckiest re-roll was when a re-rolled my Sacred Harvester. It managed to re-roll into a ancient version on my very first try. I also found a real good ancient Mask of Jeram. These two items made it very easy for me to quickly climb up the greater rift rankings. Unfortunately, I haven't found any ancient Helltooth items yet and I am working my way to finding these items. The only items that are ancient right now are my weapon, my off-hand, one of my rings, my helm and my amulet. I think I need to keep doing regular rifts and greater rifts to maximize the chances of finding more ancient items.
Also this week, I managed to get some BlizzCon tickets. I got mine on Wednesday and I am very happy about going to BlizzCon again this year. I decided to fly out on a Thursday so that I won't have to waste time doing stuff in Anaheim. I usually fly out on a Wednesday (it was a Tuesday last year) so that I could spend time going to Disneyland or something. I already booked my flight and my hotel so the vacation is pretty much set up. This year I am hoping some of my guildies come to BlizzCon with me. I got some extra tickets so I am hoping that they will be going.
Gearing up my witch doctor has been fairly successful so far. With the Haedrig's gift, you can get the Zunimassa's set, which is pretty powerful. I was playing with the Zuni set for a while but I switched over to the Helltooth set once I found all the Helltooth items and a Sacred Harvester. One of the luckiest re-roll was when a re-rolled my Sacred Harvester. It managed to re-roll into a ancient version on my very first try. I also found a real good ancient Mask of Jeram. These two items made it very easy for me to quickly climb up the greater rift rankings. Unfortunately, I haven't found any ancient Helltooth items yet and I am working my way to finding these items. The only items that are ancient right now are my weapon, my off-hand, one of my rings, my helm and my amulet. I think I need to keep doing regular rifts and greater rifts to maximize the chances of finding more ancient items.
Also this week, I managed to get some BlizzCon tickets. I got mine on Wednesday and I am very happy about going to BlizzCon again this year. I decided to fly out on a Thursday so that I won't have to waste time doing stuff in Anaheim. I usually fly out on a Wednesday (it was a Tuesday last year) so that I could spend time going to Disneyland or something. I already booked my flight and my hotel so the vacation is pretty much set up. This year I am hoping some of my guildies come to BlizzCon with me. I got some extra tickets so I am hoping that they will be going.
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Diablo 3 Season 9 Review
Well season 9 of Diablo 3 just ended and I wanted to write a review of what I accomplished this season. My main focus for playing this season was to play the crusader since I hadn't played with the crusader since season 4. I ended up doing pretty good overall for this season. I managed to reach paragon level 812, which put me in the top 1000 of all hardcore US players. It was pretty amazing to reach paragon level 812 since I only play solo. This is also amazing in that I reached the same paragon level that I did in season 7. I spent about 134 hours in total this season, which is about the same time I put in during season 8. My top greater rift clear was a greater rift level 71, which was rank 295 for hardcore crusaders.
I was mostly playing the Legacy of Nightmare (LoN) Bombardment crusader. I was playing with the Invoker's set at the beginning but my first crusader died pretty early. The LoN bomb crusader is pretty easy to play with since it doesn't involve much button mashing. It is pretty difficult to gear for and you do unfortunately take a lot damage with it. It really feels different from the witch doctor (which I normally play) since you are more worried about the damage you are taking instead of trying to maximize your damage output. Overall, the grinding aspect was pretty easy since all you needed to do was some lower greater rifts or normal T11 rifts. These took very little time (I'd say about 5 minutes each) because with the speed boosts from your mount and you are only really concerned about killing elites. I did have a lot fun playing with the LoN bomb crusader because back when I played Diablo 2, I played a lot of the conversion-thorn paladin and this kind of reminded me of that. I kind of wanted to play with the Blessed Hammer crusader but it ended up being too squishy for me. I think the damage output of the Blessed Hammer build is fine but managing the damage input is pretty hard.
Overall, I am pretty happy of what I accomplished this season. I ended up finishing the Destroyer seasonal journey and I almost finished the Conqueror seasonal journey. The Conqueror seasonal journey rewards you with the extra stash space but since I already managed to get all my extra stash space, completing the Conqueror seasonal journey wasn't on my to-do list. My overall paragon level now sits at 1239 and my main goal right now is clean up my stash space. It is a real big mess right now because I have all kinds of gear for my witch doctor, my crusader, my demon hunter, my monk and my wizard. For season 10, I am thinking of playing a witch doctor again since with this new season, there is going to be primal ancients and those are pieces of gear that I really, really want. I wouldn't playing a different class (like the Wizard or the Barbarian) but I will probably stick with the witch doctor. The new Necromancer class should be available to play in season 11 or 12 so I will probably be playing that when season 11 or 12 starts. I hope everyone had a fun season 9 and good luck to those playing in season 10.
I was mostly playing the Legacy of Nightmare (LoN) Bombardment crusader. I was playing with the Invoker's set at the beginning but my first crusader died pretty early. The LoN bomb crusader is pretty easy to play with since it doesn't involve much button mashing. It is pretty difficult to gear for and you do unfortunately take a lot damage with it. It really feels different from the witch doctor (which I normally play) since you are more worried about the damage you are taking instead of trying to maximize your damage output. Overall, the grinding aspect was pretty easy since all you needed to do was some lower greater rifts or normal T11 rifts. These took very little time (I'd say about 5 minutes each) because with the speed boosts from your mount and you are only really concerned about killing elites. I did have a lot fun playing with the LoN bomb crusader because back when I played Diablo 2, I played a lot of the conversion-thorn paladin and this kind of reminded me of that. I kind of wanted to play with the Blessed Hammer crusader but it ended up being too squishy for me. I think the damage output of the Blessed Hammer build is fine but managing the damage input is pretty hard.
Overall, I am pretty happy of what I accomplished this season. I ended up finishing the Destroyer seasonal journey and I almost finished the Conqueror seasonal journey. The Conqueror seasonal journey rewards you with the extra stash space but since I already managed to get all my extra stash space, completing the Conqueror seasonal journey wasn't on my to-do list. My overall paragon level now sits at 1239 and my main goal right now is clean up my stash space. It is a real big mess right now because I have all kinds of gear for my witch doctor, my crusader, my demon hunter, my monk and my wizard. For season 10, I am thinking of playing a witch doctor again since with this new season, there is going to be primal ancients and those are pieces of gear that I really, really want. I wouldn't playing a different class (like the Wizard or the Barbarian) but I will probably stick with the witch doctor. The new Necromancer class should be available to play in season 11 or 12 so I will probably be playing that when season 11 or 12 starts. I hope everyone had a fun season 9 and good luck to those playing in season 10.
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Vacation Spots that I want to go to
I have a total of 5 weeks of vacation time this year and I wanted to use some of that time to go to different place. Lately, I have been going to BlizzCon, which is in Anaheim, California. I was hoping to go somewhere different this time (although I might end up going to BlizzCon again). The following is my list of places that I would like to go:
1) Hawaii
I have always wanted to go to Hawaii for a very long time. The warm temperature and the beaches are definitely some of the features that I would like to experience. I have done snorkeling in the past and I want to do it again. I am a pretty good swimmer and I like to spend my time sitting out in the sun. I know there are many more outdoor activities in Hawaii and I would love to spend time doing those activities. I don't know which island I would go to but I will eventually have to spend some time researching for a vacation spot. My family have always talked about going to Hawaii but we have never went. I feel this year is a good time to vacation there.
2) Mexico
Other than Hawaii, I would really like to go to Mexico (somewhere on the coast) to experience the same feature as Hawaii. I think places like Cabo San Lucas or Cancun might be good vacation spots for me. Also, I have heard nice things about Puerto Vallarta. Either way, it might be exciting to experience some Mexican culture.
3) Japan
I have been to Japan several times (I think like 5 times). The last time I went there was in 2008, just to see Juno Reactor perform at the Fuji Rock Festival. I am itching to go back to Japan again because I know that Japan is ever changing and I don't think I would recognize all the changes since I visited Japan. I have family living there in Japan so housing won't be an issue. There are lots of good restaurants and shops that I would like see again. The only downside is that the flight to Japan is super long (over 10 hours).
4) Toronto, Ontario
Since my brother is living out in St. Catherines, Ontario, I would like to visit him out there and see what Ontario is like. St. Catherines is very close to Toronto and also Niagara Falls. There isn't much of a reason other than to see my brother and maybe see Niagara Falls.
5) U.S.
Like I stated before, I wouldn't mind going to Anaheim, California again for BlizzCon. I really have a lot fun while I am at Anaheim, although it is harder and harder to find things to do while I am there. I wouldn't mind seeing other parts of the US, such as San Diego or Portland. I prefer staying somewhere on West Coast, since it is pretty convenient to travel to those spots. People have suggested going to Las Vegas, but that doesn't tempt me too much.
Some other vacation spots that I once considered are Australia, Europe and the Caribbean Islands. Those spots are off my list right now because they are too far away from where I live and it might be really expensive to go there. Maybe when I retire I will consider these places but for right now, the top 5 places that I want to go are Hawaii, Mexico, Japan, Ontario and the U.S.
1) Hawaii
I have always wanted to go to Hawaii for a very long time. The warm temperature and the beaches are definitely some of the features that I would like to experience. I have done snorkeling in the past and I want to do it again. I am a pretty good swimmer and I like to spend my time sitting out in the sun. I know there are many more outdoor activities in Hawaii and I would love to spend time doing those activities. I don't know which island I would go to but I will eventually have to spend some time researching for a vacation spot. My family have always talked about going to Hawaii but we have never went. I feel this year is a good time to vacation there.
2) Mexico
Other than Hawaii, I would really like to go to Mexico (somewhere on the coast) to experience the same feature as Hawaii. I think places like Cabo San Lucas or Cancun might be good vacation spots for me. Also, I have heard nice things about Puerto Vallarta. Either way, it might be exciting to experience some Mexican culture.
3) Japan
I have been to Japan several times (I think like 5 times). The last time I went there was in 2008, just to see Juno Reactor perform at the Fuji Rock Festival. I am itching to go back to Japan again because I know that Japan is ever changing and I don't think I would recognize all the changes since I visited Japan. I have family living there in Japan so housing won't be an issue. There are lots of good restaurants and shops that I would like see again. The only downside is that the flight to Japan is super long (over 10 hours).
4) Toronto, Ontario
Since my brother is living out in St. Catherines, Ontario, I would like to visit him out there and see what Ontario is like. St. Catherines is very close to Toronto and also Niagara Falls. There isn't much of a reason other than to see my brother and maybe see Niagara Falls.
5) U.S.
Like I stated before, I wouldn't mind going to Anaheim, California again for BlizzCon. I really have a lot fun while I am at Anaheim, although it is harder and harder to find things to do while I am there. I wouldn't mind seeing other parts of the US, such as San Diego or Portland. I prefer staying somewhere on West Coast, since it is pretty convenient to travel to those spots. People have suggested going to Las Vegas, but that doesn't tempt me too much.
Some other vacation spots that I once considered are Australia, Europe and the Caribbean Islands. Those spots are off my list right now because they are too far away from where I live and it might be really expensive to go there. Maybe when I retire I will consider these places but for right now, the top 5 places that I want to go are Hawaii, Mexico, Japan, Ontario and the U.S.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Remix the Remixes
What I love about music lately is the amount of remixes done to the original music. I especially love a good remix since it offers something else from the original music. What makes a good remix is open to discussion but in my opinion, a good remix will have elements of the original music plus something else that will make it stand out from the original. If the remix doesn't have elements of the original music, the listener won't know if the remix is actually a remix or just an original piece of music. The remix also needs something different from the original music so that listener knows that they are listening to a remix. A good example of this is the remix below. It has both elements of Lucio's music plus music from the Heroes of the Storm. Check it out here:
You can clearly hear both music elements clearly (the faster portion of the music belongs to Lucio's music while the slower music belongs to the music of the Heroes of the Storm). These two music elements is blended together very nicely so that it fits with each other. This remix probably wouldn't have worked if either music portion wasn't sounding too great or if the two combined elements didn't mesh with each other.
There are many remixes that I really love listening to over and over again. One is the remix of Samurai (done by my friend Juan Obando). What he did was add some drums to the original music of Samurai. Since Samurai is already my favorite music, the added drums were a nice bonus to the music. I also love listening to unseung's remixes (especially his Masters of the Universe, Pistolero, God Is God and Navras). Unseung does a wonderful job of putting film quotes (and other various quotes) into the original music. It gives the remix an added depth that wasn't previously there. There are plenty more examples of "good" remixes but I won't try and cover all of them right now (maybe later).
Unfortunately, with "good" remixes, there are also examples of "bad" remixes. Again, I won't try to name these remixes but there are plenty of examples of what I call "bad" remixes. Sometimes the remix will take the original music too far so that the original music gets lost in the remix. Other times, the remix isn't too much different from the original making it hard to differentiate from the original music. Anyways, I always take the time to listen to these remixes, especially when I really liked the original music. I hope one day to learn how to remix a music piece. I have no clue as to how to do it since composing music isn't my thing. I envy anybody that can make a good remix.
You can clearly hear both music elements clearly (the faster portion of the music belongs to Lucio's music while the slower music belongs to the music of the Heroes of the Storm). These two music elements is blended together very nicely so that it fits with each other. This remix probably wouldn't have worked if either music portion wasn't sounding too great or if the two combined elements didn't mesh with each other.
There are many remixes that I really love listening to over and over again. One is the remix of Samurai (done by my friend Juan Obando). What he did was add some drums to the original music of Samurai. Since Samurai is already my favorite music, the added drums were a nice bonus to the music. I also love listening to unseung's remixes (especially his Masters of the Universe, Pistolero, God Is God and Navras). Unseung does a wonderful job of putting film quotes (and other various quotes) into the original music. It gives the remix an added depth that wasn't previously there. There are plenty more examples of "good" remixes but I won't try and cover all of them right now (maybe later).
Unfortunately, with "good" remixes, there are also examples of "bad" remixes. Again, I won't try to name these remixes but there are plenty of examples of what I call "bad" remixes. Sometimes the remix will take the original music too far so that the original music gets lost in the remix. Other times, the remix isn't too much different from the original making it hard to differentiate from the original music. Anyways, I always take the time to listen to these remixes, especially when I really liked the original music. I hope one day to learn how to remix a music piece. I have no clue as to how to do it since composing music isn't my thing. I envy anybody that can make a good remix.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Overwatch + NHL mashup
When I play Overwatch, I often think to myself that we have seen these characters before somewhere. These Overwatch characters often have the same characteristics as to other forms of media. One particular mashup that I have seen before is when somebody made a mashup of The Simpsons characters and to various NHL team logos. I have often wondered if this could be done with Overwatch characters and NHL team logos. Although my graphic design isn't the greatest, I managed to do a couple of "paint"-esq (very rough artwork designs) of various Overwatch/NHL team logo mashups. I tried to make the mashup based on the team logo as well as the Overwatch characters design philosophy. Some of these were easy to mashup but others need a little bit of an imagination. These mashups could even be used for the new Overwatch League (hehe). I hope you enjoy these.
1. New Jersey Reapers
This one was real easy to do. Reaper represents pure evil and so does the devil in the New Jersey Devils.
19. Minnesota Bastions
Both are related to the wild (Bastion was found hibernating in the wild).
Overwatch announced their latest hero, Orisa, so I decided to match her up with the NHL's newest team, the Las Vegas Black Knights.
1. New Jersey Reapers
This one was real easy to do. Reaper represents pure evil and so does the devil in the New Jersey Devils.
2. Colorado Meis
Since the Colorado Avalanche represents cold weather, this made sense to mashup with the Mei character.
3. Winnipeg Pharahs
Since both have characteristics of flying (the Winnipeg Jets and Pharah's rocket boost), this was another easy one to do.
4. Los Angeles Reinhardts
"Ah it's good to be king" is something this team might say.
5. Dallas McCrees
They both represent the "cowboy" characteristic. They must play their games at "high noon".
6. Philadelphia Mercys
They are both know for their wings.
7. Boston Roadhogs
Roadhog's face matches nicely with the Boston Bruins logo.
8. Detroit Torbjorns
"For the last time, I'm Swedish!" They both like making things (Torbjorn likes to make turrets, Detroit likes to make cars). I also could have matched Torbjorn to the Calgary Flames since both have small-ish players and his mustache stands out like Lanny McDonald's.
9. Ottawa Soldier 76'ers
Soldier 76's face is much like the Ottawa Senator's face.
17. Columbus D.Vas
D.va has a skin called "b-va", which resembles a bee. A blue jacket is a variant of a bee. (maybe the june bug skin could be called a blue jacket skin?)
18. Edmonton Zenyattas
I guess they both are related to oil?
10. Tampa Bay Hanzos
Hanzo has his storm bow, which is kind of like lightning.
11. Florida Junkrats
Junkrat's face matches nicely with the panther. Also, the Florida Panthers used to have a habit of throwing rats onto the ice after scoring a goal.
Hanzo has his storm bow, which is kind of like lightning.
Junkrat's face matches nicely with the panther. Also, the Florida Panthers used to have a habit of throwing rats onto the ice after scoring a goal.
12. Phoenix Sombras
The coyote is depicted as a trickster, which is what Sombra is.
13. St. Louis Lucios
They are both known for their music.
14. Buffalo Genjis
They both represent swords.
14. Buffalo Genjis
15. Carolina Tracers
Tracer's chronal accelerator is much like Carolina's hurricane.
16. San Jose Winstons
There can be a debate of who has more hair: Winston's Yeti or Brent Burns?
16. San Jose Winstons
17. Columbus D.Vas
D.va has a skin called "b-va", which resembles a bee. A blue jacket is a variant of a bee. (maybe the june bug skin could be called a blue jacket skin?)
18. Edmonton Zenyattas
19. Minnesota Bastions
Both are related to the wild (Bastion was found hibernating in the wild).
20. Toronto Widowmakers
Spiders can be found on tree leaves?
21. Washington Zaryas
21. Washington Zaryas
Both are known for their Russian. It's pretty cool to see a Russian standing in front of the US capital.
22. Montreal Anas
Both are very old (the oldest in fact).
23. New York Symmetras
I couldn't come up with a good match for Symmetra so I matched her with the New York Rangers.
Bonus: 24. Las Vegas Orisas
Overwatch announced their latest hero, Orisa, so I decided to match her up with the NHL's newest team, the Las Vegas Black Knights.
Extra Bonus:
I decided to do one more for the leader of the Overwatch + NHL mashup. Can you guess who that is?
Hopefully I will time to make up some more mashups in the future. There were some teams that I left off so hopefully Overwatch will make some more characters. I hope you enjoy these for now.
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Happy New Year 2017
Well another year is in the books. I wanted to write this blog post a little bit earlier but I was real busy to start the new year. The new Diablo 3 season (season 9) just started and I have been playing that. From last year's blog post, I pretty much accomplished what I set out to do in 2016. I managed to play lots of Diablo, I went to the Juno Reactor live show, I played a little bit of Overwatch and I managed to go to BlizzCon again. The only thing that I didn't do was to go on a fishing trip with my best friend, which probably won't happen until 2018. These are some of the things that I want to accomplish in 2017:
a) Play lots of Diablo 3 again.
It probably isn't a big surprise since I have been playing Diablo 3 for a very long time. I still enjoy playing seasons even though I have managed to gain all the extra stash space that is available. I am very excited about the changes and features that are coming to Diablo in 2017. I think both the armory and the currency tab will be good features for the game. Challenge rifts doesn't excite me too much but one thing that really excites me is the new class, the Necromancer. Even though the Necromancer kind of plays like the Witch Doctor, I think the Necromancer will bring lots of new play styles that I am willing to try out. There is already the Diablo 1 remake done in Diablo 3, which is running until the end of January.
b) Travel somewhere outside my home.
For 2017, I am hoping to get 5 weeks of holiday. With those 5 weeks, I am hopeful that I can use that time off to go somewhere. I have been going to BlizzCon for the past 4 years and maybe I will go to it again this year. Even if I do miss out on BlizzCon, I would like to go somewhere different (maybe someplace warm ie Hawaii or Mexico?). I could always go to Japan since I have relatives living there but maybe I will try to travel to somewhere I haven't been to.
c) Play lots of Juno Reactor music.
I always listen to Juno Reactor but this year I am hopeful that Juno Reactor might put out some new music. I know Ben Watkins has told us that some of the music might be in the new Blade Runner movie (which I am excited to see), but nothing has been confirmed yet. I know Ben played some new music at the Vancouver live show, so I am hoping those music will be out soon.
d) Keep up posting regular blog posts.
This is really hard for me to do since I often have other things to do. I will try to put out a blog post every 2 weeks so that it is on a regular schedule. Sometimes it is really hard to put a blog post out because there isn't a topic that I want to write about (other times it is real easy). I will probably have to make a list of all the topics that I want to discuss so that I am not scratching my head when I do have to put out a blog post.
Hopefully 2017 will be another good year for me. I know that I am not planning that much for this year but I am sure something exciting will happen this year. If it does, I will make sure to make a blog post about it. I hope everyone else has a great 2017.
a) Play lots of Diablo 3 again.
It probably isn't a big surprise since I have been playing Diablo 3 for a very long time. I still enjoy playing seasons even though I have managed to gain all the extra stash space that is available. I am very excited about the changes and features that are coming to Diablo in 2017. I think both the armory and the currency tab will be good features for the game. Challenge rifts doesn't excite me too much but one thing that really excites me is the new class, the Necromancer. Even though the Necromancer kind of plays like the Witch Doctor, I think the Necromancer will bring lots of new play styles that I am willing to try out. There is already the Diablo 1 remake done in Diablo 3, which is running until the end of January.
b) Travel somewhere outside my home.
For 2017, I am hoping to get 5 weeks of holiday. With those 5 weeks, I am hopeful that I can use that time off to go somewhere. I have been going to BlizzCon for the past 4 years and maybe I will go to it again this year. Even if I do miss out on BlizzCon, I would like to go somewhere different (maybe someplace warm ie Hawaii or Mexico?). I could always go to Japan since I have relatives living there but maybe I will try to travel to somewhere I haven't been to.
c) Play lots of Juno Reactor music.
I always listen to Juno Reactor but this year I am hopeful that Juno Reactor might put out some new music. I know Ben Watkins has told us that some of the music might be in the new Blade Runner movie (which I am excited to see), but nothing has been confirmed yet. I know Ben played some new music at the Vancouver live show, so I am hoping those music will be out soon.
d) Keep up posting regular blog posts.
This is really hard for me to do since I often have other things to do. I will try to put out a blog post every 2 weeks so that it is on a regular schedule. Sometimes it is really hard to put a blog post out because there isn't a topic that I want to write about (other times it is real easy). I will probably have to make a list of all the topics that I want to discuss so that I am not scratching my head when I do have to put out a blog post.
Hopefully 2017 will be another good year for me. I know that I am not planning that much for this year but I am sure something exciting will happen this year. If it does, I will make sure to make a blog post about it. I hope everyone else has a great 2017.
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