The biggest reveal at BlizzCon 2018 was Diablo Immortal. In this blog, I want to cover my opinions on it and what we can kind of expect from the Diablo team in the future. My basic summary is this: The handling of the announcement was very bad but I am excited for this game to come out and keeping my expectations for this game very low. I did try the demo at BlizzCon and I had an awesome time playing it. Some of my thoughts here won't be the same as others so please keep an open mind about this game.
The Announcement of Diablo Immortal
Well the announcement of this game couldn't have gone worse. I don't know what Blizzard expected when they decided to announce the game here. People attending (and watching) BlizzCon is mostly comprised of the die-hard, PC user fan base. Most of the Diablo fans (me included) were expecting something big this year, maybe not Diablo 4 since there was a blog post several weeks back saying that it would be announced later. I think many of us Diablo fans were expecting something like a Diablo 1 or 2 remaster or some updates to Diablo 3 (like the Druid). The very last thing that many of us were expecting was a new Diablo mobile game. Many people suggested that if Blizzard wanted to announce Diablo Immortal here at BlizzCon, they should have announced something else along with it to take the "sting" out of just a mobile game (although I think they kind of tried with the Nintendo Switch Diablo 3 game). Like many people said on the internet, this was the wrong place and the wrong time to announce this game.
The Demo of Diablo Immortal
I tried the demo at BlizzCon and I was very impressed with the demo. Although I only tried the demo once, I had a real good feel of what the game could be when it comes out. The demo involved going through an area of gameplay and then finally fighting a boss at the end. The graphics were very detailed, even though it was on a phone. The gameplay and the movement of the characters felt really smooth and the enemies were pretty well detailed as well. The controls of this demo felt "weird" at first. It was kind of tough to move your character with only using your thumbs. Once you get the handle of the controls after a few minutes, you quickly understand your limitations and your ability to move the character in an efficient manner. The skills also looked very polished although there were only a couple of skills that you could use. I think in a fully developed game, there could be more choices as to which skills you can use. Overall, I give this demo a solid B rating.
Questions about Diablo Immortal
I have heard many concerns about this game so I will try to answer some of those questions here. Although it is just my opinion and not Blizzard's, I think these answers might prove to be more right than wrong.
1. Will Diablo Immortal have microtransactions?
I most definitely think that this game will have some sort of microtransaction. The question is whether these microtransactions will be pay-to-win or not. In the past, Blizzard has maintained that their games will never be pay-to-win. The reason why Blizzard never wants a pay-to-win model is that they don't want the players to feel 'cheated' when playing with other players who used their own money to gain an advantage. I think one of those situations occurred with the real money auction house in Diablo 3. Players were able to buy the best gear in the game with their credit card and Blizzard realized this and shut the auction house down. I can see Diablo Immortal having microtransactions mainly for cosmetic purposes (for things such as character space, stash tab, armor skins, etc).
2. How viable is it to have a Diablo game on a phone?
I think one of the main reasons why people don't like a mobile game is that it takes up too much battery life so that you would need to constantly recharge your phone battery. I don't see this game as something that you could play for 8 hours straight. Also, another concern is whether this game would be playable on your phone or not. I personally don't own a mobile phone (well I do but it definitely won't run Diablo Immortal) so I may have to spend a lot of money on a new cell phone (not to mention the data charges to play this game). Another complaint that I hear a lot is that the controls of this game is pretty tricky on a phone. The solution to this could be to try this game on a tablet. A tablet might be the better way to play this game since it usually has a bigger screen and is capable of holding more memory.
3. What is the end game content of Diablo Immortal?
Well we don't have any clue as to what the end game content will be as for now. I think Leviathan tried to ask this question at BlizzCon but the devs didn't have any answers for him. Some end game content that I can see is a dungeon loot system like they have in World of Warcraft or even the same greater rift system in Diablo 3. It will be interesting to see what the Diablo devs will come up with concerning the end game.
Well that is my review of Diablo Immortal. I think there are legitimate concerns about this game but I think that once people try this game out, they might end up liking this game. I think it is way too early to speculate as to whether this game will be a success or not. I am willing to try this game out but I am also keeping my expectations very low because it is just a mobile game. Although having said that, I am excited about learning the stories of Diablo Immortal and what it could mean for the future PC Diablo game (because we all know that Blizzard is indeed working on a new Diablo game for the PC). I hope everyone had a great 2018. My next blog will probably cover season 15 of Diablo 3 and what I did in 2018.
Friday, December 28, 2018
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
BlizzCon 2018 Review
I just came back from BlizzCon and I had an amazing time there. My plan was to leave on Tuesday October 30th and then leave on November 4th. BlizzCon was held in Anaheim again on Friday and Saturday. I had a lot of free time so I wanted to do a lot of stuff while I was in California. On Tuesday, I went to a hockey game at the Honda Center. The Anaheim Ducks were taking on the Philadelphia Flyers. It was a pretty good game. Although the score was close (it was 3-2 for Philly), the game kind of wasn't. Even before the game started, I knew that the Ducks coming in were being badly out-shot by their opponents. This game was similar to those previous Ducks game. The Ducks were really badly out-shot by Philly, it almost felt like the rink was tilted in Philly's favour. The Ducks tied up the game late in the 3rd on the PP, but they quickly gave up the winner to Philly a few seconds later. One player on the Ducks who really impressed me was Rickard Rakell. He made some real sweet passes (one to Pontus Aberg was really impressive). His line (Rakell, Aberg and Getzlaf) was the only Ducks line that did anything remotely offensive. The other Ducks weren't good at all (Kesler was nearly invisible - he was only good on the faceoffs). Ryan Miller was in net and he looked ok (not spectacular, just solid). On the Philly side, Sean Couturier had a good game (so did Claude Giroux but you kind of expect that out of him). Brian Elliot was in net for Philly, he looked solid as well but he didn't have much to do this game.
On Wednesday, I went to the California Adventure Park, which is the park opposite of Disneyland. It was my second time going there and I don't think much has changed since the last time I visited there. I think I managed to go on all the rides there. My favorite rides were the Soarin' Around the World, the Incredicoaster (which is the largest roller coaster there), and Radiator Springs Racers. I also went on the Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission Breakout, which is by far the most scariest ride there. This ride is real scary because it just goes up and straight down several times. I think this one was called something different the last time I went. After going on all the rides, I went to the Downtown Disney area. Much had changed since last year, the ESPN zone and the Rainforest Café wasn't there anymore. I wanted to eat my dinner there but then I went down Harbour Blvd over to Oggi's restaurant to eat my dinner (even Clancy's restaurant is closed too). On Thursday, I went to get my BlizzCon badge. I went there pretty early because there were going to be bag checks and security that made things go slower this year. After picking up my badge, I went to the BlizzCon store. I picked up 4 items: the Key Art magnet (which I always buy every year), the Key Art t-shirt, the Book of Adria (which I had to have this year) and a mini Gold Pachimari plushie. I had already bought some items from the Blizzard gear store so I didn't need to buy a lot of stuff. After the BlizzCon store, I went over to the Outlets at Orange. They have a lot of shop there selling lots of cheap things. I managed to pick up 2 t-shirts there (one was at the Adidas store and it only cost me $6, which is incredible). I so badly wanted to buy some shoes there but I didn't think I would have enough room in luggage to carry it back so I didn't buy any. There were some nice shoes at the Nike store selling for $50. I could have spent all day here shopping for stuff but eventually I went to dinner.
On Friday, BlizzCon was starting. I was real excited this year because I knew something about Diablo was going to happen. I went to the convention center pretty early again because of the extra security. The lines were already backed up when I arrived at about 8:00 am. I felt really bad for the people who came in later because a lot of them were behind the security area and they probably had to wait even longer than I did. I really think all the extra security was a bit too much but I guess it is better safe than sorry. Even though I was further back in line (I think there were groups of people, I was in group 3 or so), I managed to get pretty good seats for the opening ceremony. On my way to the Mythic Stage, I noticed that the demo station at the Diablo area was covered up so I knew that they were going to announce something new. The opening ceremony was pretty cool, They announce a new hero for Heroes of the Storm, the new expansion for Hearthstone, a new hero for Overwatch, Warcraft 3 remaster and some news about WoW classic. Last but not least Diablo announced their new game Diablo Immortal, which is a mobile game. I want to go over this game in more detail so I will probably make another blog post about it later. After the opening ceremony, I stuck around to listen to the Diablo Immortal panel. Even though this is a mobile game, it looks very cool to me. Although there were many people in crowd (and probably many people on the internet) that really, really didn't like this game (again more on this later). After the Diablo Immortal panel, I went over to the Overwatch Arena to see the Overwatch World Cup. The first game had already started and the USA were taking on the UK. The score was tied 1-1 when I got there and the match was finished the UK won 3-1, which was the biggest upset in Overwatch World Cup history. Next up, Team Canada was taking on France and they did a good job. Even though the match was close, Team Canada came out on top 3-0. One neat thing that the Overwatch Arena did was that there were cheering sections for each country. So if you were cheering for Canada, there were certain sections of the arena that you could sit with your other country mates. After the Team Canada game, I went over to the Heartstone area. I played the demo for Hearthstone and got to play with some of the new cards there (although I wasn't too impressed by them). After the demo, I watched the Hearthstone Streamer showdown, which featured people like Kripp, Trump and Kibbler. After that, I went over to the Overwatch demo area and played a round of that, then I did the Warcraft Classic demo with a Paladin and finally I did the Diablo Immortal demo (again I will write more on this later). The next to last thing that I did was that I went over to the Darkmoon Faire area and they had Overwatch Nerf weapons that shot some rubber balls. After all that, I went over to try Diablo on the Nintendo Switch and got my Diablo poster signed by the devs. I was really hungry now and I ate some quesadilla and some spicy fries over by the food trucks for dinner and that was the end of Day 1.
On Saturday, the main thing that I wanted to do was watch Overwatch World Cup again. I arrived pretty early again and I managed to sit with the Team Canada section area, so I was surrounded by all the Team Canada supporters. The first match was between South Korea and UK. This was a very intense match, UK had forced South Korea to 2 ties but they ended up losing 2-0. UK's main tank Fusions and their off-tank Kyb were playing really well. Next up was Team Canada and they were facing off against China. Team Canada didn't do so well this match and lost 3-0. I guess they weren't very prepared to face China and China kind of rolled Team Canada up. China's Leave was playing really well for them. Even though Canada lost, they next played UK for the Bronze medal. This match was pretty close as well but Canada came out on top 3-2. I saw a lot people wearing Team Canada jerseys (although the 2018 version wasn't as good as the 2017 version that I have). I was going to stick around for the gold medal game between South Korea and China but I knew that South Korea was probably going to win (they had won the previous 2 World Cups). "Aside" After watching some of the clips of the Overwatch World Cup, I did see myself cheering on Team Canada (I think just right after Sideshow "drank" a whole bottle of maple syrup - I'll try to find that clip on the YouTube or something, haha found it is at the 2:30:00 mark).
When I left the Overewatch Arena, I literally ran into Dreadscythe, Nite and SVR. They said that Neinball and Leviathan were at the StarCraft arena so I followed them. We watched the semi-finals between Serral and Rogue (Serral won 3-1). After that we hung around the Horadric Diablo area and then went over to the Mythic stage to watch the Diablo Q&A panel. After the panel, I ate dinner by the food trucks (I got some loaded fries and they were very yummy). Then me, Dreadscythe, and Nite played the Warcraft demo again. Wyatt Cheng was having his "bedtime story" talk at 9:00pm at the Horadric retreat area and so I stayed for that. It was really hard to listen to Wyatt because it was very noisy in that area so I only got to hear a little bit of what he said. After the talk, we all went over to the Mariott and hung around for bit before I went back to my hotel at about 11:00pm. And that was all for BlizzCon. I had an amazing time there again and I can't wait to go back next year.
On Wednesday, I went to the California Adventure Park, which is the park opposite of Disneyland. It was my second time going there and I don't think much has changed since the last time I visited there. I think I managed to go on all the rides there. My favorite rides were the Soarin' Around the World, the Incredicoaster (which is the largest roller coaster there), and Radiator Springs Racers. I also went on the Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission Breakout, which is by far the most scariest ride there. This ride is real scary because it just goes up and straight down several times. I think this one was called something different the last time I went. After going on all the rides, I went to the Downtown Disney area. Much had changed since last year, the ESPN zone and the Rainforest Café wasn't there anymore. I wanted to eat my dinner there but then I went down Harbour Blvd over to Oggi's restaurant to eat my dinner (even Clancy's restaurant is closed too). On Thursday, I went to get my BlizzCon badge. I went there pretty early because there were going to be bag checks and security that made things go slower this year. After picking up my badge, I went to the BlizzCon store. I picked up 4 items: the Key Art magnet (which I always buy every year), the Key Art t-shirt, the Book of Adria (which I had to have this year) and a mini Gold Pachimari plushie. I had already bought some items from the Blizzard gear store so I didn't need to buy a lot of stuff. After the BlizzCon store, I went over to the Outlets at Orange. They have a lot of shop there selling lots of cheap things. I managed to pick up 2 t-shirts there (one was at the Adidas store and it only cost me $6, which is incredible). I so badly wanted to buy some shoes there but I didn't think I would have enough room in luggage to carry it back so I didn't buy any. There were some nice shoes at the Nike store selling for $50. I could have spent all day here shopping for stuff but eventually I went to dinner.
On Friday, BlizzCon was starting. I was real excited this year because I knew something about Diablo was going to happen. I went to the convention center pretty early again because of the extra security. The lines were already backed up when I arrived at about 8:00 am. I felt really bad for the people who came in later because a lot of them were behind the security area and they probably had to wait even longer than I did. I really think all the extra security was a bit too much but I guess it is better safe than sorry. Even though I was further back in line (I think there were groups of people, I was in group 3 or so), I managed to get pretty good seats for the opening ceremony. On my way to the Mythic Stage, I noticed that the demo station at the Diablo area was covered up so I knew that they were going to announce something new. The opening ceremony was pretty cool, They announce a new hero for Heroes of the Storm, the new expansion for Hearthstone, a new hero for Overwatch, Warcraft 3 remaster and some news about WoW classic. Last but not least Diablo announced their new game Diablo Immortal, which is a mobile game. I want to go over this game in more detail so I will probably make another blog post about it later. After the opening ceremony, I stuck around to listen to the Diablo Immortal panel. Even though this is a mobile game, it looks very cool to me. Although there were many people in crowd (and probably many people on the internet) that really, really didn't like this game (again more on this later). After the Diablo Immortal panel, I went over to the Overwatch Arena to see the Overwatch World Cup. The first game had already started and the USA were taking on the UK. The score was tied 1-1 when I got there and the match was finished the UK won 3-1, which was the biggest upset in Overwatch World Cup history. Next up, Team Canada was taking on France and they did a good job. Even though the match was close, Team Canada came out on top 3-0. One neat thing that the Overwatch Arena did was that there were cheering sections for each country. So if you were cheering for Canada, there were certain sections of the arena that you could sit with your other country mates. After the Team Canada game, I went over to the Heartstone area. I played the demo for Hearthstone and got to play with some of the new cards there (although I wasn't too impressed by them). After the demo, I watched the Hearthstone Streamer showdown, which featured people like Kripp, Trump and Kibbler. After that, I went over to the Overwatch demo area and played a round of that, then I did the Warcraft Classic demo with a Paladin and finally I did the Diablo Immortal demo (again I will write more on this later). The next to last thing that I did was that I went over to the Darkmoon Faire area and they had Overwatch Nerf weapons that shot some rubber balls. After all that, I went over to try Diablo on the Nintendo Switch and got my Diablo poster signed by the devs. I was really hungry now and I ate some quesadilla and some spicy fries over by the food trucks for dinner and that was the end of Day 1.
On Saturday, the main thing that I wanted to do was watch Overwatch World Cup again. I arrived pretty early again and I managed to sit with the Team Canada section area, so I was surrounded by all the Team Canada supporters. The first match was between South Korea and UK. This was a very intense match, UK had forced South Korea to 2 ties but they ended up losing 2-0. UK's main tank Fusions and their off-tank Kyb were playing really well. Next up was Team Canada and they were facing off against China. Team Canada didn't do so well this match and lost 3-0. I guess they weren't very prepared to face China and China kind of rolled Team Canada up. China's Leave was playing really well for them. Even though Canada lost, they next played UK for the Bronze medal. This match was pretty close as well but Canada came out on top 3-2. I saw a lot people wearing Team Canada jerseys (although the 2018 version wasn't as good as the 2017 version that I have). I was going to stick around for the gold medal game between South Korea and China but I knew that South Korea was probably going to win (they had won the previous 2 World Cups). "Aside" After watching some of the clips of the Overwatch World Cup, I did see myself cheering on Team Canada (I think just right after Sideshow "drank" a whole bottle of maple syrup - I'll try to find that clip on the YouTube or something, haha found it is at the 2:30:00 mark).
When I left the Overewatch Arena, I literally ran into Dreadscythe, Nite and SVR. They said that Neinball and Leviathan were at the StarCraft arena so I followed them. We watched the semi-finals between Serral and Rogue (Serral won 3-1). After that we hung around the Horadric Diablo area and then went over to the Mythic stage to watch the Diablo Q&A panel. After the panel, I ate dinner by the food trucks (I got some loaded fries and they were very yummy). Then me, Dreadscythe, and Nite played the Warcraft demo again. Wyatt Cheng was having his "bedtime story" talk at 9:00pm at the Horadric retreat area and so I stayed for that. It was really hard to listen to Wyatt because it was very noisy in that area so I only got to hear a little bit of what he said. After the talk, we all went over to the Mariott and hung around for bit before I went back to my hotel at about 11:00pm. And that was all for BlizzCon. I had an amazing time there again and I can't wait to go back next year.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Pre BlizzCon 2018
BlizzCon 2018 is almost here. Today I wanted to go over what I think will happen at BlizzCon 2018. There have been just a little bit of news regarding BlizzCon, not much yet but I think we will get more in the next couple of weeks. The schedule for BlizzCon has been released but not the floor plan. They have also announced some of the virtual goodies for Overwatch, WoW, HotS, and Hearthstone when you buy a BlizzCon ticket or a virtual ticket. They also haven't announced what the closing ceremony will be (it is usually some rock band). I think what will happen is that they will announce some updates on WoW classic, a new character for Overwatch, new character for HotS and the next expansion for Hearthstone. I am also really looking forward to the Overwatch World Cup this year.
But the most exciting news (probably) is going to be about Diablo. In the schedule right after the opening ceremony is the main Diablo panel. This usually means that something big will happen to the Diablo franchise. I don't think anyone knows what that will be but I think it will be a new Diablo game. There have been many job postings about a new Diablo game and there wasn't any news about Diablo in the last BlizzCon so this year might be right time to announce a new game. I don't think Diablo 3 will be getting a new expansion because there haven't been any updates for this game in a very long while. There is a slim possibility that there could be an expansion (maybe there might be a new class like the druid) but I don't think that will be the case. I am guessing that the next Diablo game will probably be another action role playing game (arpg) but I am also guessing that it could be a massive multiplayer online game (mmo) as well. I hope there will be a demo station for this new Diablo game at BlizzCon. I always try to play as many games when I am at BlizzCon because it is usually a once in a lifetime opportunity to try a new game or a new mode.
I am planning to go to Anaheim on a Tuesday so I will have plenty of time to explore California. The last time that I went to BlizzCon, I left on a Thursday and I didn't feel too good about it because I had to do so much on Thursday that I kind of felt a bit rushed. I am hoping by going a bit earlier that I will have plenty of time to rest and plan my schedule. I might go to a hockey game on Tuesday night, go maybe to Disneyland on Wednesday and get my badge on Thursday. As for Diablo 3 Season 15, I had a bit of a rocky start. I am playing the Wizard this season and I already died twice this season. My first death happened at level 20 something so it wasn't too bad. My next death was when I tried to do a greater rift 40. This one hurt a lot because I was levelling up my Gem of Ease but I wasn't able to get it to level 25 so I couldn't use it on a level 70 weapon yet. So levelling back up to level 70 took a while. Right now, I am doing okay. I have managed to reach greater rift 70 so my primals have unlocked (even though I haven't found one yet). I got all my pieces for the Tal Rasha set but I don't have any ancient gear. I am at paragon 500 or so but it is quite easy to level up fast so far. I am hoping by the season end that I will reach paragon 900 and be at greater rift 90 or higher.
But the most exciting news (probably) is going to be about Diablo. In the schedule right after the opening ceremony is the main Diablo panel. This usually means that something big will happen to the Diablo franchise. I don't think anyone knows what that will be but I think it will be a new Diablo game. There have been many job postings about a new Diablo game and there wasn't any news about Diablo in the last BlizzCon so this year might be right time to announce a new game. I don't think Diablo 3 will be getting a new expansion because there haven't been any updates for this game in a very long while. There is a slim possibility that there could be an expansion (maybe there might be a new class like the druid) but I don't think that will be the case. I am guessing that the next Diablo game will probably be another action role playing game (arpg) but I am also guessing that it could be a massive multiplayer online game (mmo) as well. I hope there will be a demo station for this new Diablo game at BlizzCon. I always try to play as many games when I am at BlizzCon because it is usually a once in a lifetime opportunity to try a new game or a new mode.
I am planning to go to Anaheim on a Tuesday so I will have plenty of time to explore California. The last time that I went to BlizzCon, I left on a Thursday and I didn't feel too good about it because I had to do so much on Thursday that I kind of felt a bit rushed. I am hoping by going a bit earlier that I will have plenty of time to rest and plan my schedule. I might go to a hockey game on Tuesday night, go maybe to Disneyland on Wednesday and get my badge on Thursday. As for Diablo 3 Season 15, I had a bit of a rocky start. I am playing the Wizard this season and I already died twice this season. My first death happened at level 20 something so it wasn't too bad. My next death was when I tried to do a greater rift 40. This one hurt a lot because I was levelling up my Gem of Ease but I wasn't able to get it to level 25 so I couldn't use it on a level 70 weapon yet. So levelling back up to level 70 took a while. Right now, I am doing okay. I have managed to reach greater rift 70 so my primals have unlocked (even though I haven't found one yet). I got all my pieces for the Tal Rasha set but I don't have any ancient gear. I am at paragon 500 or so but it is quite easy to level up fast so far. I am hoping by the season end that I will reach paragon 900 and be at greater rift 90 or higher.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Diablo 3 Season 14 Review
Well Diablo 3 season 14 just ended and I ended up doing pretty good. I decided to play with the Witch Doctor again this season and I wanted to do a bit better than season 13. I started off pretty strong. I had one unfortunate death but overall I was pleased with my season. My Witch Doctor ended doing a greater rift 98, which was the same greater rift that I was able to do in season 13. My greater rift 98 put on rank 36 for the NA hardcore Witch Doctor (which was 2 ranks higher than season 13 - my rank in season 13 was 38). I tried several times to a greater rift 99 but I didn't think it was possible (I think I needed more dps somewhere on my gear or more paragon points). I was running in the solo self found league and I ended up being 3rd out of the Witch Doctors. I was also able to reach paragon 1132, which is the highest I was able to do for one season. My overall paragon level now sits at 1777. I also managed to finish up the seasonal journey, which was pretty easy to do this season.
For the most of season, I was playing with the Helltooth set again. I love this set because it is so easy to use and the gearing for it isn't too demanding. It is so easy to run greater rifts over and over again because this set is so consistent. You never really feel in danger of dying because most of the damage you take is off-loaded to your pets. I had a silly death early on because of I didn't think some of the arcane beams would hit me when I did a boss fight against Eskandiel.
For the most of season, I was playing with the Helltooth set again. I love this set because it is so easy to use and the gearing for it isn't too demanding. It is so easy to run greater rifts over and over again because this set is so consistent. You never really feel in danger of dying because most of the damage you take is off-loaded to your pets. I had a silly death early on because of I didn't think some of the arcane beams would hit me when I did a boss fight against Eskandiel.
Although my second Witch Doctor didn't die, I really didn't find any great Helltooth gear. I think my Witch Doctor in season 13 had way better gear. I tried really hard to push greater rifts and I was hoping to reach greater rift 100 but I don't think it is possible without a lot of paragon points.
For season 15, I am going to change my class to the Wizard because I haven't played with that class for the longest time. My last Wizard that I did play was way back in season 2. I think overall my least geared class is the Wizard because I am able to reach greater rift 65 with the other classes. In Season 15, there is another theme and this time it is going to be double bounty bags. I think this will mean that I will going to do a lot of bounties this season . I am hoping to play a Tal Rasha or a Firebird Wizard this season. I can't wait until BlizzCon later this year because I am hoping they will announce a new Diablo game there. I hope everyone had a great season 14 and I look forward to season 15, which will be starting tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Vancouver E-sport is coming!
Just announced today (from a report by ESPN), Vancouver (as well as Toronto) will be getting an Overwatch team for season 2 of the Overwatch League. This is a very big deal since the Vancouver franchise will be one of 20 cities that are represented in the Overwatch League. Even though Vancouver (population wise) is one of the smaller cities, it is big enough that I think it can be very profitable and have a very large fan base. I am really excited about getting an Overwatch team in Vancouver because I do love supporting my local sport teams. The Vancouver Overwatch team is owned by the Aquilini ownership group, which is the same ownership group that owns the Vancouver Canucks. Although Vancouver may not host any Overwatch games for season 2, I think there is a possibility that it might in season 3. There are reports that a 200 seat e-sport arena will be built in Richmond by 2019 (although Rodgers Arena could also be another potential place for the Overwatch games).
Not only is getting an Overwatch team a big step for e-sports in Canada but also there was the Dota 2 championship "The International 2018" (TI8) being hosted at the Rodgers Arena in Vancouver a couple weeks back. The TI8 is the largest championship e-sport tournament with a prize pool of 25 million dollars. I may have wrote about the International a few years ago and the prize pool has gone significantly up. The International is traditionally been hosted in Seattle, where the Dota 2 company is. I think one of the reasons why this International was hosted in Vancouver was that the Key Arena in Seattle is being re-fitted for a hockey arena for the new Seattle team in the NHL. In any case, Vancouver did a fantastic job of hosting the International. Even though I didn't go down to Rodgers Arena to check out the games, I did manage to watch some of the games on Twitch.tv. There was a decent crowd during the bracket stage and for the final, there was a huge crowd watching in Rodgers Arena. I think with the amount of support for e-sports in Vancouver allowed them to own a franchise in the Overwatch League.
Although nothing official has come out yet from the Overwatch League, I am very excited about cheering on the new Vancouver team. We still don't know what the Vancouver team will be called or what colour scheme they will use. I am hoping that they use the same colour scheme as the Vancouver Canucks (blue and green). Although I might be slightly biased but I hope somehow Johnny Canuck will be represented by the team. I will be definitely buying a Vancouver team jersey when it comes out (as well as the Overwatch team skins) and I hope to watch them when they play any of their games in Vancouver.
Not only is getting an Overwatch team a big step for e-sports in Canada but also there was the Dota 2 championship "The International 2018" (TI8) being hosted at the Rodgers Arena in Vancouver a couple weeks back. The TI8 is the largest championship e-sport tournament with a prize pool of 25 million dollars. I may have wrote about the International a few years ago and the prize pool has gone significantly up. The International is traditionally been hosted in Seattle, where the Dota 2 company is. I think one of the reasons why this International was hosted in Vancouver was that the Key Arena in Seattle is being re-fitted for a hockey arena for the new Seattle team in the NHL. In any case, Vancouver did a fantastic job of hosting the International. Even though I didn't go down to Rodgers Arena to check out the games, I did manage to watch some of the games on Twitch.tv. There was a decent crowd during the bracket stage and for the final, there was a huge crowd watching in Rodgers Arena. I think with the amount of support for e-sports in Vancouver allowed them to own a franchise in the Overwatch League.
Although nothing official has come out yet from the Overwatch League, I am very excited about cheering on the new Vancouver team. We still don't know what the Vancouver team will be called or what colour scheme they will use. I am hoping that they use the same colour scheme as the Vancouver Canucks (blue and green). Although I might be slightly biased but I hope somehow Johnny Canuck will be represented by the team. I will be definitely buying a Vancouver team jersey when it comes out (as well as the Overwatch team skins) and I hope to watch them when they play any of their games in Vancouver.
Saturday, August 11, 2018
August 2018 Update
Well I had a very busy July and August is going to be pretty busy as well. I wanted to write about the Electronic Love Festival that I attended in Agassiz but unfortunately that festival wasn't a good one. Ben Watkins from Juno Reactor was supposed to do a DJ set there but he never came. I was really excited at first since it was another opportunity to see Ben perform. I went to Electronic Love Festival on July 27th (Friday) right after work at around 10am. It took me about an hour drive to get there. When I got to the festival, I set up my tent, not knowing if I was going to need it or not. There wasn't much to do when I first arrived, I walked around the festival. There were a couple of stages that had music performances, there were some small shops around and some food trucks as well. The place in Agassiz was near the Fraser River so there were many people swimming in the river. I wanted to go into the river as well but I didn't have any swim shorts. I tried relaxing a bit in my tent but it was pretty hot (about 30 degrees C). I wish I was more prepared because I didn't have any sun screen as well. I also wished I brought along a book. I had my dinner at around 6pm and by 7:30pm, I wanted to see what music they were playing. I mostly stayed around the Zen Den stage because that is where the music was listenable. The other stages were playing some crappy music so I stayed away from those stages. I did manage to see some good performances like the Dream Tree, which played some cool sitar music. Ben was supposed to play at 11:30pm but I didn't see him when it was time. I was hoping that he was delayed or something so I stayed until 1:30am and by that point, I knew that something had happened. It turned out that Ben couldn't enter Canada because of some Visa problem. I went to sleep shortly after that and woke up around 8am. I was wondering what to do for Saturday since it was going to be another long day so I decided to leave the festival at around 11am. I was hoping to catch the Crystal Method later that day but I was feeling pretty pissed that Ben didn't perform on Friday. I feel fortunate that I did because I was able to catch the Overwatch League Finals, where the London Spitfire were crowned season 1 champions.
Another Juno Reactor live show that is happening is at Def Con in Las Vegas on August 11. I also wanted to attend this show because the whole Juno Reactor band was going to play. Several members of the ReactorLeak forum are going too (people like unseung, Mikey, Isaiah, and Jeremiah). I hope everyone there has a great time watching that Juno show. To celebrate the Def Con show, Juno released the Dakota EP, which has the original Dakota song, a radio edit, an extended mix as well as a GMS remix. The GMS remix is so well done, it is definitely one of my favorites from the Mutant Theater album. I hope there is another chance next year to catch a Juno Reactor show because I really felt like this year could have been it.
In other news, Diablo announced that there were going to be several projects that will be announced later this year. I am hoping that the new Diablo game will be announced at BlizzCon this year. On August 12th, I am going to Grand Forks, BC to visit my best friend. This is another reason why I couldn't attend the Def Con show in Las Vegas. I don't know how long I will stay in Grand Forks but it will be a good opportunity to see my best friend again. My next blog post will probably be in September and hopefully it will be about Season 14.
Another Juno Reactor live show that is happening is at Def Con in Las Vegas on August 11. I also wanted to attend this show because the whole Juno Reactor band was going to play. Several members of the ReactorLeak forum are going too (people like unseung, Mikey, Isaiah, and Jeremiah). I hope everyone there has a great time watching that Juno show. To celebrate the Def Con show, Juno released the Dakota EP, which has the original Dakota song, a radio edit, an extended mix as well as a GMS remix. The GMS remix is so well done, it is definitely one of my favorites from the Mutant Theater album. I hope there is another chance next year to catch a Juno Reactor show because I really felt like this year could have been it.
In other news, Diablo announced that there were going to be several projects that will be announced later this year. I am hoping that the new Diablo game will be announced at BlizzCon this year. On August 12th, I am going to Grand Forks, BC to visit my best friend. This is another reason why I couldn't attend the Def Con show in Las Vegas. I don't know how long I will stay in Grand Forks but it will be a good opportunity to see my best friend again. My next blog post will probably be in September and hopefully it will be about Season 14.
Monday, July 2, 2018
Juno Reactor - The Mutant Theater
Juno Reactor's ninth album The Mutant Theater just came out last week (June 22) and I wanted to write a review of the whole album. I have listened to this album non-stop since it came out. I am still waiting for a physical copy of the album but I have downloaded a digital copy. I knew that this album was going to be very good since I have heard most of the songs before the album came out. Out of the 9 songs on this album (all Juno Reactor albums have 9 songs in them, except for Luciana), I only didn't know 3 of them (Dakota, Showtime and The Tannhauser Gate). The album as a whole is now one of my favourite Juno Reactor albums. It has a very good theme to it (Space/Out of the Universe/Fantasy) and each of the songs flows nicely to one another. I will give a more detailed look at the album later but I will go through each of the songs individually now.
1) The Return of the Pistolero
- When Juno Reactor was performing their new songs at the Lublin and Ozora shows in 2017, one of my favourites from that show was this song. This song is truly amazing in that there is some great guitar playing from Amir Haddad. There is also some great vocals by Taja Devi and Tula Ben-Ari. For a 11 minute song, this is truly one of the greatest Juno Reactor songs ever.
2) Our World
- Our World was the first single released from this album. I have already covered this song in another blog post so I won't go into too much detail here. It is definitely one of the stronger songs in this album.
3) Let's Turn On
- Let's Turn On is another song that was featured heavily at the Lublin and Ozora shows. I think the album version of this song is much better than the live version because you can hear all the small blips and chirps. I know there is a video version as well but the album version is the best version. This song features the vocals of Michele Adamson.
4) Dakota
- Dakota is probably my most favourite song from this album. It really surprised me when I first heard this song. Somehow Ben Watkins was able to put together aboriginal chants with his electronic music seamlessly. I am not sure any music artist is able to pull off something like this. I like to call this my Canadian Juno Reactor song because I think Ben must of been influenced while travelling and doing shows in Canada.
5) Alien
- Alien is another song that was featured in the Lublin and Ozora shows. I think it was probably one of the first new song that we heard. It really works well with the Mutant Theater vibe. If you could sum up the Mutant Theater album as whole, this song would probably be it. This song features the vocals of Taja Devi.
6) The Sky is Blue The Sky is Black
- I found this song a while back when watching the Ozora show. I think Ben called this song Mutant Machina before. I like Ben's vocals here. I didn't like this song at first but is now growing on me.
7) Showtime
- Showtime is one of the songs that I haven't heard before the album release so it was pleasant surprise when I listened to this song for first time. I don't know what influenced Ben to write this song (I asked on the forum, I will edit this when I get an answer). This song really makes you go on an epic trip.
8) Voyager 304
- Voyager 304 is much like Voyager 303, which was previously released before. Although I think Voyager 304 is pretty much okay, it is better than Voyager 303 (only a little bit better). It is probably one of the weaker songs in this album but it sets up the next song very well.
9) The Tannhauser Gate
- The Tannhauser Gate is very surreal. You can tell this song was influenced by the movie Blade Runner. You can almost picture the movie running in your head when listening to this song. Fans of the Blade Runner movie will definitely enjoy this song. This song also makes the album complete.
As a whole the Mutant Theater album is sitting as my second most favourite Juno Reactor album (just behind Labyrinth). I think there are some great songs in this album, you could argue that most of the good songs are in the top half of this album. I think one song that could have made this album even better is Ingonyama (with Ace Ventura) but I wouldn't know which song to take out (maybe Voyager 304 but then again this song sets up The Tannhauser Gate really well). I really recommend everyone checking out this album because it is one of the better Juno Reactor albums.
1) The Return of the Pistolero
- When Juno Reactor was performing their new songs at the Lublin and Ozora shows in 2017, one of my favourites from that show was this song. This song is truly amazing in that there is some great guitar playing from Amir Haddad. There is also some great vocals by Taja Devi and Tula Ben-Ari. For a 11 minute song, this is truly one of the greatest Juno Reactor songs ever.
2) Our World
- Our World was the first single released from this album. I have already covered this song in another blog post so I won't go into too much detail here. It is definitely one of the stronger songs in this album.
3) Let's Turn On
4) Dakota
- Dakota is probably my most favourite song from this album. It really surprised me when I first heard this song. Somehow Ben Watkins was able to put together aboriginal chants with his electronic music seamlessly. I am not sure any music artist is able to pull off something like this. I like to call this my Canadian Juno Reactor song because I think Ben must of been influenced while travelling and doing shows in Canada.
5) Alien
- Alien is another song that was featured in the Lublin and Ozora shows. I think it was probably one of the first new song that we heard. It really works well with the Mutant Theater vibe. If you could sum up the Mutant Theater album as whole, this song would probably be it. This song features the vocals of Taja Devi.
6) The Sky is Blue The Sky is Black
- I found this song a while back when watching the Ozora show. I think Ben called this song Mutant Machina before. I like Ben's vocals here. I didn't like this song at first but is now growing on me.
7) Showtime
- Showtime is one of the songs that I haven't heard before the album release so it was pleasant surprise when I listened to this song for first time. I don't know what influenced Ben to write this song (I asked on the forum, I will edit this when I get an answer). This song really makes you go on an epic trip.
8) Voyager 304
- Voyager 304 is much like Voyager 303, which was previously released before. Although I think Voyager 304 is pretty much okay, it is better than Voyager 303 (only a little bit better). It is probably one of the weaker songs in this album but it sets up the next song very well.
9) The Tannhauser Gate
- The Tannhauser Gate is very surreal. You can tell this song was influenced by the movie Blade Runner. You can almost picture the movie running in your head when listening to this song. Fans of the Blade Runner movie will definitely enjoy this song. This song also makes the album complete.
As a whole the Mutant Theater album is sitting as my second most favourite Juno Reactor album (just behind Labyrinth). I think there are some great songs in this album, you could argue that most of the good songs are in the top half of this album. I think one song that could have made this album even better is Ingonyama (with Ace Ventura) but I wouldn't know which song to take out (maybe Voyager 304 but then again this song sets up The Tannhauser Gate really well). I really recommend everyone checking out this album because it is one of the better Juno Reactor albums.
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Diablo 3 Season 13 Review
Well Diablo 3 Season 13 ended last week and I wanted to go over what I accomplished in season 13. It was a very good season for me. I think I played as well as I could for this season. My main goal was to play with the Witch Doctor again this season and try competing in the Solo self found league that Leviathan set up. I managed to hit greater rift 98 and I almost hit greater rift 99 (I was about a couple seconds off from completing it). I kind of felt frustrated about not reaching greater rift 99 and I lost one of my characters because I died trying to finish off a greater rift 99. My greater rift 98 helped me reach rank 38 on the NA leaderboard, which is pretty good since I was playing by myself. I think it was the 3rd best for the Witch Doctor in the solo self found league. I managed to get to paragon level 1079 and my current non-seasonal paragon level sits at 1641.
For the majority of the season, I was playing with the Helltooth set, which is my favourite Witch Doctor set. I now realize how to optimize the Helltooth set perfectly and it's play style is pretty simple to work out. This season was the first season of playing with the Witch Doctor after the buffs from patch 2.6.1. The previous season was spent playing with the Necromancer so I didn't have the time then to play with my favourite class. I did manage to find a primal Sacred Harvester but again I lost my Witch Doctor when I was trying to do a greater rift 99. I had some very nice gear when my Witch Doctor died, most of my ancient gear had a Caldesann's of +400 intelligence on it. I also managed to find a good Traveler's Pledge and a decent Compass Rose. When my Witch Doctor died, I wasn't left with much gear so I couldn't get back to the level that I was on (I am kind of working on it right now during the off season).
For season 14, I might be going back to play with the Witch Doctor again. I might try a different strategy this time though. Since the free set for season 14 is the Zunimassa set, I might try to build a Zunimassa set that is for the end game. I know some people have managed to hit greater rift 100 with the Zuni set so it should be possible for me too. I also might try and play with the Wizard since I haven't played a Wizard for a very long time. The only thing that holds me back from playing the Wizard is that I don't really like playing with that class and I don't really like any of the Wizard sets play style. Season 14 is going to be the first season with a theme to it. Season 14 will have double goblins spawning so it should be kind of interesting to see. I hope everyone had a successful season 13 and I hope everyone enjoys playing season 14.
For the majority of the season, I was playing with the Helltooth set, which is my favourite Witch Doctor set. I now realize how to optimize the Helltooth set perfectly and it's play style is pretty simple to work out. This season was the first season of playing with the Witch Doctor after the buffs from patch 2.6.1. The previous season was spent playing with the Necromancer so I didn't have the time then to play with my favourite class. I did manage to find a primal Sacred Harvester but again I lost my Witch Doctor when I was trying to do a greater rift 99. I had some very nice gear when my Witch Doctor died, most of my ancient gear had a Caldesann's of +400 intelligence on it. I also managed to find a good Traveler's Pledge and a decent Compass Rose. When my Witch Doctor died, I wasn't left with much gear so I couldn't get back to the level that I was on (I am kind of working on it right now during the off season).
For season 14, I might be going back to play with the Witch Doctor again. I might try a different strategy this time though. Since the free set for season 14 is the Zunimassa set, I might try to build a Zunimassa set that is for the end game. I know some people have managed to hit greater rift 100 with the Zuni set so it should be possible for me too. I also might try and play with the Wizard since I haven't played a Wizard for a very long time. The only thing that holds me back from playing the Wizard is that I don't really like playing with that class and I don't really like any of the Wizard sets play style. Season 14 is going to be the first season with a theme to it. Season 14 will have double goblins spawning so it should be kind of interesting to see. I hope everyone had a successful season 13 and I hope everyone enjoys playing season 14.
Monday, May 21, 2018
If Overwatch characters had Juno Reactor theme songs
I've always wondered if the Overwatch universe and the Juno Reactor universe collided together, what would the result be? Well for one, each Overwatch character would probably have it's own Juno Reactor song attached to them. So for this blog post, I want to explore what Juno Reactor song would be a fit for each of the Overwatch characters.
Ana - God Is God
- Natacha Atlas's vocals fit in nicely with Ana's voice.
Bastion - Rotorblade
-Bastion is a robot so a song that reminds me of robots is Rotorblade.
Brigitte - Song to the Siren
- Brigitte reminds me of Taz Alexander's vocals. One of the songs that has great Taz vocals is Song to the Siren.
Doomfist - Hulelam/Badimo
- Doomfist reminds me of some South African music. The two that come to mind are Hulelam and Badimo from the Shango album.
D.Va - Mona Lisa Overdrive
- D.Va has a mech, which is sort of like riding a motorcycle. One of the most famous scenes in the Matrix Reloaded is when Trinity rides a motorcycle on the freeway. Mona Lisa is the background song in that scene.
Genji - Samurai
- Genji had training from Zenyatta to be more peaceful with himself. The lyrics sung in Samurai might be the same message Zenyatta is giving to Genji. "Anatawa Taiyo" means "You are [the] sun".
Hanzo - Hotaka
- Hotaka would be a nice song for Hanzo. The use of the taiko drums and shouting in it makes sense for Hanzo. This song fits in neatly with Hanzo's dance emote.
Junkrat - Swamp Thing
- Don't know if Junkrat was born from the swampland but this song fits pretty good. Both are erratic and a bit crazy.
Lucio - City of the Sinful
- Ghetto Priest's vocals fits nicely with Lucio's voice. One song that features Ghetto Priest's vocals is City of the Sinful.
McCree - Pistolero
- McCree is a cowboy so a good cowboy song is Pistolero.
Mei - Ice Cube
- Another easy choice. Mei can create ice walls and create a blizzard. Once those ice walls disappear, it almost looks like the ice crumbles.
Mercy - Guardian Angel
- Definitely an easy choice here. Mercy has a guardian angel skill, which allows her to fly towards other characters. She even has a voice line that says, "Your guardian angel".
Moira - Nitrogen
- Nitrogen is an alien-like song and so is Moira.
Orisa - Zwara
- Zwara is song about wanting the world to change and it matches nicely with Orisa, who was built with the intention of keeping the world safe.
Pharah - Tanta Pena
- Pharah likes to shout out her ultimate and so does this song.
Reinhardt and Torbjorn - Giant and War Dogs
- Reinhardt is a very big person so Giant suits him well. Torbjorn has a pirate skin and that reminds me of War Dogs. These two songs go well together and so does Reinhardt and Torbjorn.
Reaper - Angels and Men
- Angels and Men is all about death and this song reminds me of Reaper, who likes to shout out "Die die die".
Roadhog - Shark
- Roadhog has a shark skin called Mako so Shark would be a nice fit.
Soldier 76 - Immaculate Crucifixion
- Immaculate Crucifixion is a very powerful song much like Soldier 76.
Sombra - Invisible
- One of Sombra's skill is that she turns herself invisible for a few seconds. This song reminds me of Sombra's stealth skill.
Symmetra - Final Frontier
- Symmetra is from India and a good song that reminds me of India is Final Frontier.
Tracer - Putting on the Blitz
- Tracer has a very playful characteristic and her dance emote goes very well with Putting on the Blitz.
Widowmaker - Insects
- Well technically spiders are not insects but they do come close enough.
Winston - 10 000 Miles
- Winston come from the moon so this song fits in nicely with who Winston is.
Zarya - Trans Siberian
- Another easy choice. Zarya is from Russia so a Juno Reactor song that reminds me of Russia is Trans Siberian. I can sort of imagine Zarya singing this song.
Zenyatta - High Energy Protons
- Zenyatta is an omnic, which means he is a robot. A very robotic/techno song is High Energy Protons.
Saturday, April 14, 2018
My Juno Reactor Albums Ranked
With the new Juno Reactor album being delayed a bit (it will now come out in June), I look back and think which of the Juno Reactor albums that I like the best. It is very difficult for me to rank the albums since I really like most of them equally. But I decided that I should order them from my least to most favourite album in this blog post. I think when the new album comes out, these rankings will change. So here is my ranking from least to most (Luciana and Odyssey will not be included):
1. Transmissions
- To be fair, this was Juno's first album so it is not a really fair comparison to the other albums. Three are a few songs that I really, really like but overall there aren't enough great songs that make this album memorable.
2. Gods and Monster
- It is a bit weird to put this album so low in my rankings but there is a good reason for it. Even though I really love most of the songs in the album, this album doesn't "click" with me since it's music style is all over the place. I really love songs like Tanta Pena, Immaculate Crucifixion, and The Perfect Crime but there is also really bad songs like Mind of the Free and Tokyo Dub. Maybe if the closing song was Playing with Fire maybe this album might have done better?
3. Shango
- Shango is a lot like Gods and Monsters but there is a better rhythm to it. There aren't a lot of stand out songs in there but there isn't many bad songs as well. You can tell that there was a lot of experimentation with this album, with the use of Amampondos and Steve Stevens.
4. Bible of Dreams
- Bible of Dreams was my first album that I purchased. It had a lot of great songs and it was really easy for me to get into it. When I think of a "standard" Juno Reactor album, I think of this one. It has some amazing songs in it.
5. Golden Sun of the Great East
- I almost put this album a bit higher but I think this is the place that works for me. Since this was the most recent Juno Reactor album released, I am still kind of digesting this album. What makes this album so great is that it has very good flow to it (especially compared to Gods and Monsters). It has some spectacular songs in it as well. I might end up putting this album higher in the future.
6. Beyond the Infinite
- Even though this is one of Juno Reactor's earlier albums, this album stands the test of time. There are many great songs in this album and the rhythm of the album is very good as well. You will be hard pressed to find a bad song in this album.
7. Labyrinth
- Labyrinth is by far my most favourite album of all time. What makes this album so great is that there are no bad songs, there is a great opening and closing song, and it kind of tells a story along the way. The rhythm so really great as well, there are couple of slow songs with some incredible fast paced music mixed in it as well.
I hope the new album, The Mutant Theater, will end up as one of my most favourite Juno Reactor albums. With some of the songs that I heard that will be on the new album, I don't think it will end up being one of my least favourite.
1. Transmissions
- To be fair, this was Juno's first album so it is not a really fair comparison to the other albums. Three are a few songs that I really, really like but overall there aren't enough great songs that make this album memorable.
2. Gods and Monster
- It is a bit weird to put this album so low in my rankings but there is a good reason for it. Even though I really love most of the songs in the album, this album doesn't "click" with me since it's music style is all over the place. I really love songs like Tanta Pena, Immaculate Crucifixion, and The Perfect Crime but there is also really bad songs like Mind of the Free and Tokyo Dub. Maybe if the closing song was Playing with Fire maybe this album might have done better?
3. Shango
- Shango is a lot like Gods and Monsters but there is a better rhythm to it. There aren't a lot of stand out songs in there but there isn't many bad songs as well. You can tell that there was a lot of experimentation with this album, with the use of Amampondos and Steve Stevens.
4. Bible of Dreams
- Bible of Dreams was my first album that I purchased. It had a lot of great songs and it was really easy for me to get into it. When I think of a "standard" Juno Reactor album, I think of this one. It has some amazing songs in it.
5. Golden Sun of the Great East
- I almost put this album a bit higher but I think this is the place that works for me. Since this was the most recent Juno Reactor album released, I am still kind of digesting this album. What makes this album so great is that it has very good flow to it (especially compared to Gods and Monsters). It has some spectacular songs in it as well. I might end up putting this album higher in the future.
6. Beyond the Infinite
- Even though this is one of Juno Reactor's earlier albums, this album stands the test of time. There are many great songs in this album and the rhythm of the album is very good as well. You will be hard pressed to find a bad song in this album.
7. Labyrinth
- Labyrinth is by far my most favourite album of all time. What makes this album so great is that there are no bad songs, there is a great opening and closing song, and it kind of tells a story along the way. The rhythm so really great as well, there are couple of slow songs with some incredible fast paced music mixed in it as well.
I hope the new album, The Mutant Theater, will end up as one of my most favourite Juno Reactor albums. With some of the songs that I heard that will be on the new album, I don't think it will end up being one of my least favourite.
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Diablo 3 Season 13 Update
Season 13 started about a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to update my status for this season. For season 13, my main goal was to play with the Witch Doctor again since I hadn't played with the Witch Doctor since season 11. I am also participating in the new solo self found league which was created by Leviathan. Overall, I am really pleased with my progress so far. I just hit paragon 800 already and I am currently sitting at greater rift 86, which puts me in the top 100 of N. American Witch Doctors. It seems like the Witch Doctor is the least played class for hardcore players this season. Just by comparing numbers, there seems to be less Witch Doctors and Necromancers this season, which is really surprising to me.
Levelling up my Witch Doctor was pretty easy. I managed to hit level 70 pretty quickly and gearing for the Witch Doctor was fairly simple too. I started out with the Jade set since that is the free Haedrig's gift this season for the Witch Doctor. The Jade set is fairly strong but it lacks any damage reduction. I quickly managed to find a Helltooth set and that pushed me to greater rift 70 real quick. Unfortunately, I pushed a little too hard and I died while killing Malthael on Torment 13. It was a weird death because I knew that Malthael did a lot damage but when I died, my pets were still alive and managed to take Malthael down. Even with an early death, I didn't lose much progression and I was right back to where I left off. Now, most of my gear is ancient and I am only missing a few items left. I am really excited by the new power level of the Helltooth set. Before Patch 2.4.1, I was only able to reach greater rift 81. But now, with the power boost to the Short Man's Finger, the Mask of Jeram and the Helltooth set, this build can reach into the greater rift 90's. It looks like there's at least a 10 greater rift boost with the new patch.
The goal for the rest of the season is pretty straight forward. I want to reach as high a paragon level that I can reach (hopefully reach paragon 1000 for the first time). I also want to stay in the top 100 for greater rifts and maybe a top 5 in the solo self found league. I am almost completed the seasonal journey, I just need to do 1 more conquest. I hope I can continue to push throughout the season and be able to reach these goals. I am having lots of fun playing with the Witch Doctor again and I hope everyone else is enjoying playing season 13.
Levelling up my Witch Doctor was pretty easy. I managed to hit level 70 pretty quickly and gearing for the Witch Doctor was fairly simple too. I started out with the Jade set since that is the free Haedrig's gift this season for the Witch Doctor. The Jade set is fairly strong but it lacks any damage reduction. I quickly managed to find a Helltooth set and that pushed me to greater rift 70 real quick. Unfortunately, I pushed a little too hard and I died while killing Malthael on Torment 13. It was a weird death because I knew that Malthael did a lot damage but when I died, my pets were still alive and managed to take Malthael down. Even with an early death, I didn't lose much progression and I was right back to where I left off. Now, most of my gear is ancient and I am only missing a few items left. I am really excited by the new power level of the Helltooth set. Before Patch 2.4.1, I was only able to reach greater rift 81. But now, with the power boost to the Short Man's Finger, the Mask of Jeram and the Helltooth set, this build can reach into the greater rift 90's. It looks like there's at least a 10 greater rift boost with the new patch.
The goal for the rest of the season is pretty straight forward. I want to reach as high a paragon level that I can reach (hopefully reach paragon 1000 for the first time). I also want to stay in the top 100 for greater rifts and maybe a top 5 in the solo self found league. I am almost completed the seasonal journey, I just need to do 1 more conquest. I hope I can continue to push throughout the season and be able to reach these goals. I am having lots of fun playing with the Witch Doctor again and I hope everyone else is enjoying playing season 13.
Monday, February 12, 2018
Diablo 3 Season 12 Review
Well Diablo 3 Season 12 just ended on Sunday and I wanted to write a review of what I accomplished this season. Overall, this season was a very successful one for me. My main goal for Season 12 was to play the Necromancer since I didn't get a chance to do it at all last season. Another goal for this season was to reach paragon 900, which I managed to do in the very last week of the season. I ended up hitting paragon 911 and my overall non-seasonal paragon level sits at 1513. I think I could have had more paragon levels this season because I ended up playing about 110 hours. This is the fewest I have ever played (except for season 1). As for greater rifts, I ended up reaching greater rift 91, which put me at rank 113 for North American hardcore Necromancers. I have never hit greater rift 90 before with any of the characters before so hitting greater rift 90 was a good surprise. I also managed to hit Guardian in the seasonal journey, even though there was no incentive to do so.
Levelling up with the Necromancer is pretty easy, it kind of reminds me of the Witch Doctor in that you get pets that do a lot of damage for you. I first was playing with the Inarius set. The Inarius set is pretty easy to play with, especially with the Bonestorm build. I was using this set to quickly rank up my gems and do bounties with them. My end game build was using the Rathma set, which is the one with the Skeletal Mages. Although this set is simple to use and does a great deal of damage, I really don't like how the Skeletal Mages attack sometimes. It is very inconsistent in that sometimes the Skeletal Mages stand around doing nothing (especially if there are Grotesques around). I did have a disconnect death in the middle of season but that death only killed my Necromancer who was wearing the Inarius set (so I didn't end up losing my Rathma set at all). Even with a death, the greater rift progression went pretty smoothly for me.
For season 13, I am hoping to play with the Witch Doctor again. I like the Witch Doctor more than the Necromancer because the pets the Witch Doctor has is more consistent than the Necromancer pets. I also hoping to play a bit more than season 12 since about mid way through the season, I was getting burnt out. Diablo 3 is a great game when you are finding your gear and working with the end game progression but when it comes to grinding paragon levels and constant gem rank ups, it is very boring and tedious. I hope everyone had a successful season 12 and I hope everyone has a very successful season 13.
Levelling up with the Necromancer is pretty easy, it kind of reminds me of the Witch Doctor in that you get pets that do a lot of damage for you. I first was playing with the Inarius set. The Inarius set is pretty easy to play with, especially with the Bonestorm build. I was using this set to quickly rank up my gems and do bounties with them. My end game build was using the Rathma set, which is the one with the Skeletal Mages. Although this set is simple to use and does a great deal of damage, I really don't like how the Skeletal Mages attack sometimes. It is very inconsistent in that sometimes the Skeletal Mages stand around doing nothing (especially if there are Grotesques around). I did have a disconnect death in the middle of season but that death only killed my Necromancer who was wearing the Inarius set (so I didn't end up losing my Rathma set at all). Even with a death, the greater rift progression went pretty smoothly for me.
For season 13, I am hoping to play with the Witch Doctor again. I like the Witch Doctor more than the Necromancer because the pets the Witch Doctor has is more consistent than the Necromancer pets. I also hoping to play a bit more than season 12 since about mid way through the season, I was getting burnt out. Diablo 3 is a great game when you are finding your gear and working with the end game progression but when it comes to grinding paragon levels and constant gem rank ups, it is very boring and tedious. I hope everyone had a successful season 12 and I hope everyone has a very successful season 13.
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