Diablo 3 Season 18 just ended last week and I wanted to write a review of what I did for season 18. I had a fairly productive season although the season felt a little bit shorter than previous seasons. I wanted to play the Witch Doctor again this season and try out the new legendary gem, the Legacy of Dreams. I ended up doing pretty well with it. I did a greater rift 102, which was rank 75 for the NA hardcore Witch Doctors. I managed to reach paragon 933 for the season and my overall paragon level now sits at 2023. I ended up playing 78 hours for the season and I also managed to reach the Guardian rank in the seasonal journey. I think I could have done better but I needed to play a lot more. Overall, I am really happy that I ended up that high on the greater rift leaderboard.
I had a real good start for season 18. I picked up a Staff of Chiroptera, which boosted my damage early on. I did have two deaths for the season. The first death came pretty early on. I was playing with the Helltooth set and pushed a little too hard. I managed to transition to a Legacy of Dreams setup but it was real hard finding ancient legendaries this season. My second death came on the very last day of the season. After I finished doing a greater rift 102, I had a very bad disconnect and lost my second Witch Doctor. I wasn't too worried or angry because it was so close to the season ending and I didn't have to bother re-levelling again. The Legacy of Dreams setup is much like the season 17, where the main damage comes from the Carnevil helm and the Dagger of Darts. The damage done is a little less than season 17 because you have to use one less legendary gem than normal.
For season 19, I am going try playing with the Witch Doctor again. I want to do better than season 18. With the Haedrig's gift being the Helltooth set for the Witch Doctor, I am pretty sure that I can get off to a very fast start. I really want to reach a higher greater rift this season and I want to reach at least paragon 1000. I also want to reach the Guardian rank again because there is a very cool pet you can get when you reach that rank. I kind of want to play with the Crusader or the Monk because they got 2 new sets. If I have time, I might try the Crusader. Anyways, I hope everyone had a great season 18 and I hope everyone does well in season 19.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
BlizzCon 2019 Review
I just got back from BlizzCon and I had an amazing time there. This was my seventh BlizzCon and probably one of my most favourtie BlizzCons that I have attended. I managed to play a lot of the demos on the show floor and watch some incredible Overwatch. I ate a lot of good food while I was there and I also got to meet my guildies (Nick, Jen, Alyssa and Shawn). I left on a Thursday to Anaheim which meant that I arrived in Anaheim on Thursday afternoon. I wanted to get there a little bit earlier but I didn't think I had any plans to do stuff on the days prior to BlizzCon. I kind of wanted to go to Disneyland and check out the new Star Wars area but I think I could do that some time later in the future. When I arrived in Anaheim, I went over to get my badge and wristband. There was no lineup there, so getting the badge and wristband was real easy. I went over to the store area and picked up my statue, which was the free item everyone who attends BlizzCon gets. This statue is pretty enormous, it wouldn't even fit in my luggage. I also got some items from the BlizzCon store. I got the Art Magnet (which I always get every year, now I have 7 of these magnets), the Diablo playing cards, the Diablo Corded Bracelet, the Funko Pop Pumpkin Reaper and the Cute but Deadly Diablo 3 pack. I also went over to the Overwatch League store truck and managed to pick up the Vancouver Titans Force of Nature t-shirt, which I had been looking for online. I met up with my guildies in the evening and ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
On Friday, I lined up for the opening ceremony. I was able to get inside the convention this time around but there were already a lot of people inside. I made my way to the Mythic Hall but there were no seats there. The Mythic Hall seemed to have fewer seats than previous years and with the Portal Pass people, there were very few seats available. I managed to get over to Hall A (the Legendary Stage) and managed to get good seats there. For the opening ceremony, they finally announced Diablo 4 first, which had a very cool cinematic. They also announced the new WoW expansion, Overwatch 2, the new Heartstone expansion and a new play mode for Heartstone called Battlegrounds. I was a little bit surprised that there was no Diablo 2 remastered but I am guessing that they would announce that next year. After the opening ceremony, I went back to the Mythic Stage to watch the Diablo 4 panel. This was pretty interesting, it gave an overview of what this game was about. After the Diablo 4 panel, I lined up for the Diablo 4 demo. The lineup was long but there were a lot of computers there so the lineup was pretty quick moving. I played with the Sorceress first and I had a lot of fun playing with it. The Sorceress had a lot elemental spells and her ultimate turned you into a ball of lightning, which is much like getting the Conduit shrine in Diablo 3. I want to write more on Diablo 4 so I'll try to keep it simple here. After Diablo 4, I went over to the Diablo 4 experience area, which was a very cool area to go to this year. They had a number of props and artwork related to Diablo on showcase. They also had a place where you could get sacrificed, which was also cool. At the end of the area, you could get a cool Diablo 4 poster and have the Diablo dev team sign it.
After that, I went over to do the Diablo Immortal demo. This time they added a new class you could play, which was the Demon Hunter. I played through with the Monk this time around. The controls felt the same as the last time I played with it, but it certainly felt more awkward after playing with Diablo 4. Next I went over to the Heartstone area and got a poster from it. I tried the new Battleground mode. It was pretty interesting but it was a little difficult learning what to do on it. I didn't quite understand which cards were the most important or how the attack order went. I managed to do ok on it though and ended up 4th. After Hearthstone, I went over to the Overwatch area. They had two play modes there, one for PvE and one for PvP. I did the PvE mode first and it was pretty fun. It is much like the previous PvE encounters in Overwatch, where you had to kill different types of omnics. You could choose different skills and pick up different types of items to boost your healing or damage. I then tried the new PvP mode which was called Push. The Push mode is kind of like a tug of war where you had to push your robot to one side. I don't think it will become as popular as the other game types but it is certainly pretty interesting. After Overwatch, I went over to the Darkmoon Faire area. This area was pretty much the same as with previous years. They had a lot of shops where you could buy stuff. I wanted to get the new Diablo art book but decided to get it later. I did buy some toy capsules which had badges in them. After the Dark moon Faire, I went over to the Blizzard Arcade area. This was an area where you could play a bunch of old games. They also had the Slaughter Calf Inn there as well. I spent some time playing Diablo 2 while I was there. After that, it was time for dinner and my guildies and I ate at P.F. Chang's. We still had time left and we walked around the convention again.
On Saturday, I really wanted to watch some Overwatch World Cup. Unfortunately Team Canada didn't even make the playoffs. I was really surprised that they did so poorly since they had medalled in the previous BlizzCons. Instead, the first thing I did was play Diablo 4 again. This time I played with the Druid. It was real fun to play with the Druid even though your 2 pets didn't do much. After that, I went over to the Epic Stage and watched Diablo art panel. The panel was pretty good, I learned how to draw Diablo and watched how the artists create some of the monsters in Diablo. Next, I went over to the Blizzard arena and watched the quarterfinal match between France and the Netherlands. Both teams looked pretty good, Soon from France was hitting some ridiculous headshots on Widowmaker. Next up was semifinal match between USA and South Korea. This was one of the biggest match ups that was at BlizzCon ever. The crowd was very loud and chanting U-S-A. The USA won the match 3-1 and eventually won the World Cup, beating China in the finals. After watching the World Cup, I met up with my guildies again and we hung around the Blizzard Arcade area. It was now close to the Closing Ceremony so we went over to the Mythic Stage. For this year's BlizzCon, they hadn't announced the closing band until the Closing Ceremony. I really didn't like how Blizzard did this and the bands that they announced weren't very famous. We ended up watching The Glitch Mob, which was an electronic band. They were ok, I have seen other worse music bands. After the Closing music act, I ate a fried chicken sandwich from the food trucks outside. And that was pretty much it for BlizzCon 2019. I really enjoyed myself at this year's BlizzCon. Apart from the Closing ceremony, I really liked all the announcements and the demos that they had on the floor. All the artwork were also very impressive as well. I think this BlizzCon was one of favourites of all time. I would like to thank all the Blizzard staff for being super friendly and of course a big thank you to my guildies for hanging out with me.
On Friday, I lined up for the opening ceremony. I was able to get inside the convention this time around but there were already a lot of people inside. I made my way to the Mythic Hall but there were no seats there. The Mythic Hall seemed to have fewer seats than previous years and with the Portal Pass people, there were very few seats available. I managed to get over to Hall A (the Legendary Stage) and managed to get good seats there. For the opening ceremony, they finally announced Diablo 4 first, which had a very cool cinematic. They also announced the new WoW expansion, Overwatch 2, the new Heartstone expansion and a new play mode for Heartstone called Battlegrounds. I was a little bit surprised that there was no Diablo 2 remastered but I am guessing that they would announce that next year. After the opening ceremony, I went back to the Mythic Stage to watch the Diablo 4 panel. This was pretty interesting, it gave an overview of what this game was about. After the Diablo 4 panel, I lined up for the Diablo 4 demo. The lineup was long but there were a lot of computers there so the lineup was pretty quick moving. I played with the Sorceress first and I had a lot of fun playing with it. The Sorceress had a lot elemental spells and her ultimate turned you into a ball of lightning, which is much like getting the Conduit shrine in Diablo 3. I want to write more on Diablo 4 so I'll try to keep it simple here. After Diablo 4, I went over to the Diablo 4 experience area, which was a very cool area to go to this year. They had a number of props and artwork related to Diablo on showcase. They also had a place where you could get sacrificed, which was also cool. At the end of the area, you could get a cool Diablo 4 poster and have the Diablo dev team sign it.
After that, I went over to do the Diablo Immortal demo. This time they added a new class you could play, which was the Demon Hunter. I played through with the Monk this time around. The controls felt the same as the last time I played with it, but it certainly felt more awkward after playing with Diablo 4. Next I went over to the Heartstone area and got a poster from it. I tried the new Battleground mode. It was pretty interesting but it was a little difficult learning what to do on it. I didn't quite understand which cards were the most important or how the attack order went. I managed to do ok on it though and ended up 4th. After Hearthstone, I went over to the Overwatch area. They had two play modes there, one for PvE and one for PvP. I did the PvE mode first and it was pretty fun. It is much like the previous PvE encounters in Overwatch, where you had to kill different types of omnics. You could choose different skills and pick up different types of items to boost your healing or damage. I then tried the new PvP mode which was called Push. The Push mode is kind of like a tug of war where you had to push your robot to one side. I don't think it will become as popular as the other game types but it is certainly pretty interesting. After Overwatch, I went over to the Darkmoon Faire area. This area was pretty much the same as with previous years. They had a lot of shops where you could buy stuff. I wanted to get the new Diablo art book but decided to get it later. I did buy some toy capsules which had badges in them. After the Dark moon Faire, I went over to the Blizzard Arcade area. This was an area where you could play a bunch of old games. They also had the Slaughter Calf Inn there as well. I spent some time playing Diablo 2 while I was there. After that, it was time for dinner and my guildies and I ate at P.F. Chang's. We still had time left and we walked around the convention again.
On Saturday, I really wanted to watch some Overwatch World Cup. Unfortunately Team Canada didn't even make the playoffs. I was really surprised that they did so poorly since they had medalled in the previous BlizzCons. Instead, the first thing I did was play Diablo 4 again. This time I played with the Druid. It was real fun to play with the Druid even though your 2 pets didn't do much. After that, I went over to the Epic Stage and watched Diablo art panel. The panel was pretty good, I learned how to draw Diablo and watched how the artists create some of the monsters in Diablo. Next, I went over to the Blizzard arena and watched the quarterfinal match between France and the Netherlands. Both teams looked pretty good, Soon from France was hitting some ridiculous headshots on Widowmaker. Next up was semifinal match between USA and South Korea. This was one of the biggest match ups that was at BlizzCon ever. The crowd was very loud and chanting U-S-A. The USA won the match 3-1 and eventually won the World Cup, beating China in the finals. After watching the World Cup, I met up with my guildies again and we hung around the Blizzard Arcade area. It was now close to the Closing Ceremony so we went over to the Mythic Stage. For this year's BlizzCon, they hadn't announced the closing band until the Closing Ceremony. I really didn't like how Blizzard did this and the bands that they announced weren't very famous. We ended up watching The Glitch Mob, which was an electronic band. They were ok, I have seen other worse music bands. After the Closing music act, I ate a fried chicken sandwich from the food trucks outside. And that was pretty much it for BlizzCon 2019. I really enjoyed myself at this year's BlizzCon. Apart from the Closing ceremony, I really liked all the announcements and the demos that they had on the floor. All the artwork were also very impressive as well. I think this BlizzCon was one of favourites of all time. I would like to thank all the Blizzard staff for being super friendly and of course a big thank you to my guildies for hanging out with me.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Overwatch League Season 2 Review
Sorry for this blog post for being late. I wanted to write this blog earlier but I wasn't really motivated to write recently. Anyways, Overwatch League Season 2 is now over. The Vancouver Titans, who I have been cheering for the entire season, finished second. They lost the Grand Finals to the San Francisco Shock in Philadelphia. I wanted to cover some of the OWL season and what happened in the playoffs for this blog. The last time I wrote about the Vancouver Titans, they were playing the GOATS comp pretty good but now with the role lock introduced in Stage 4, things began to change. Even though they won most of their matches in Stage 4 (they only lost to the Washington Justice and the San Francisco Shock), the Titans looked less dominant than the other 3 stages. They managed to go 5-2 for Stage 4 and they also managed to lock up the number 1 seed for the playoffs.
The playoffs for the Overwatch League was real interesting to watch. The playoffs were still in the same 2-2-2 role lock meta but this time a new character was available to play, which was Sigma. Even though the Titans had to wait a week before to find out who they were going play, the Titans looked really sharp playing this meta. The Titans first took on the Seoul Dynasty and they beat them 4-2. Their next match was against the LA Gladiators and they also won 4-2. Their next match after that was against the NY Excelsior. This match was super important because who ever won this match, went directly to the Grand Finals. The match against the Excelsior was super intense but the Titans managed to win 4-3. In the Grand Finals, the Titans were set to face the San Francisco Shock. Before this match, I kind of predicted that the Shock were going to win based on the way each team were playing. I was real shocked at how easy it was for the Shock to beat the Titans. The Shock beat the Titans 4-0 but it also was pretty close during each map. I was kind of disappointed at the score but I knew the Titans were facing an uphill battle. Maybe if the Titans were a bit more lucky, they could have won a few more maps. Overall, I am real happy that the Titans did very well in their first season of the Overwatch League.
Even though there is some time before Season 3 of the Overwatch League starts again, I am really looking forward to the next season. In Season 3, all of the Overwatch League teams will have some "home" dates, meaning that each team will play games in their own city. Previously, all of the Overwatch League games were played at the Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles. The Vancouver Titans will be hosting 2 "home" series for season 3. One is on May 16 and 17 and the other is on July 4 and 5. I managed to get floor seats for the first series in May and I am still waiting to get seats for the one in July. I am real excited for this because it will be the first time I will be attending an esport event in my home city. I remember the first ever game the Vancouver Grizzlies played in Vancouver and being at that arena when they won at the buzzer. That is all for now but in a few days I will be attending BlizzCon and I can't wait for all the news and excitement surrounding it. I hope I can write a detail report of all the things at BlizzCon in the next blog.
The playoffs for the Overwatch League was real interesting to watch. The playoffs were still in the same 2-2-2 role lock meta but this time a new character was available to play, which was Sigma. Even though the Titans had to wait a week before to find out who they were going play, the Titans looked really sharp playing this meta. The Titans first took on the Seoul Dynasty and they beat them 4-2. Their next match was against the LA Gladiators and they also won 4-2. Their next match after that was against the NY Excelsior. This match was super important because who ever won this match, went directly to the Grand Finals. The match against the Excelsior was super intense but the Titans managed to win 4-3. In the Grand Finals, the Titans were set to face the San Francisco Shock. Before this match, I kind of predicted that the Shock were going to win based on the way each team were playing. I was real shocked at how easy it was for the Shock to beat the Titans. The Shock beat the Titans 4-0 but it also was pretty close during each map. I was kind of disappointed at the score but I knew the Titans were facing an uphill battle. Maybe if the Titans were a bit more lucky, they could have won a few more maps. Overall, I am real happy that the Titans did very well in their first season of the Overwatch League.
Even though there is some time before Season 3 of the Overwatch League starts again, I am really looking forward to the next season. In Season 3, all of the Overwatch League teams will have some "home" dates, meaning that each team will play games in their own city. Previously, all of the Overwatch League games were played at the Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles. The Vancouver Titans will be hosting 2 "home" series for season 3. One is on May 16 and 17 and the other is on July 4 and 5. I managed to get floor seats for the first series in May and I am still waiting to get seats for the one in July. I am real excited for this because it will be the first time I will be attending an esport event in my home city. I remember the first ever game the Vancouver Grizzlies played in Vancouver and being at that arena when they won at the buzzer. That is all for now but in a few days I will be attending BlizzCon and I can't wait for all the news and excitement surrounding it. I hope I can write a detail report of all the things at BlizzCon in the next blog.
Friday, September 13, 2019
New Juno Reactor Songs 2019
Just a quick Juno Reactor update for this blog. Recently there has been some new Juno Reactor songs that have been put out. It is really cool to hear these new songs just right after Juno Reactor's newest CD from last year. I think any Juno Reactor fan will appreciate these new tunes because they are very good.
The first new song is a collaboration between Juno Reactor and GMS. It is called "Into Valhalla" and it sounds so cool.
I really like the title of the song plus this song reminds me of the Orcs from the World of Warcraft. I thought the only negative of this song is that the horns could have been a bit more stronger. Other than that, I really like this song because it has that electro/rock music blend, which sounds so badass.
In addition to "Into Valhalla", there were several other Juno Reactor/GMS collaborations, which we already knew about. There were the Zombie (GMS remix), the Dakota (GMS remix) and the Komit (3 of Life remix) (which btw sounds a bit different than before). One new remix that did come out was the Let's Turn On (GMS remix). I really love this new remix as well as the previous ones. I don't know if I like the original Let's Turn On or this remix more but I certainly like both of them. I think this really cements my feeling of having Let's Turn On as one of my top 10 Juno Reactor songs. This remix kind of starts off slow but when it gets going, it starts to really get going. This a great remix to play on the dance floor.
The last two that I want to cover are the Ingonyama (Bliss remix) with Ace Ventura and Midival Punditz's "Nukhta" (Juno Reactor remix). The Ingonyama (Bliss remix) is really well done, it had been a long time since Ingonyama first came out. I really like this remix, it's more suited to be played on a dance floor. I know that Ace Ventura has played this in his live shows and it is a great song to dance to. The last song "Nukhta" (Juno Reactor remix) is a very interesting one. I know that Juno Reactor (Ben Watkins) is a fan of the Midival Punditz, who did one of the remixes for Navras. This one isn't one of my favourites but I can certainly appreciate this remix.
Well that's it for now. Hopefully Juno Reactor will come back to North America some day and I can hear some of these remixes soon. I would love to have the chance to be able to dance with Dakota or Let's Turn On playing very loudly. The next blog will probably cover the Overwatch League Season 2 so please stay tuned.
The first new song is a collaboration between Juno Reactor and GMS. It is called "Into Valhalla" and it sounds so cool.
I really like the title of the song plus this song reminds me of the Orcs from the World of Warcraft. I thought the only negative of this song is that the horns could have been a bit more stronger. Other than that, I really like this song because it has that electro/rock music blend, which sounds so badass.
In addition to "Into Valhalla", there were several other Juno Reactor/GMS collaborations, which we already knew about. There were the Zombie (GMS remix), the Dakota (GMS remix) and the Komit (3 of Life remix) (which btw sounds a bit different than before). One new remix that did come out was the Let's Turn On (GMS remix). I really love this new remix as well as the previous ones. I don't know if I like the original Let's Turn On or this remix more but I certainly like both of them. I think this really cements my feeling of having Let's Turn On as one of my top 10 Juno Reactor songs. This remix kind of starts off slow but when it gets going, it starts to really get going. This a great remix to play on the dance floor.
The last two that I want to cover are the Ingonyama (Bliss remix) with Ace Ventura and Midival Punditz's "Nukhta" (Juno Reactor remix). The Ingonyama (Bliss remix) is really well done, it had been a long time since Ingonyama first came out. I really like this remix, it's more suited to be played on a dance floor. I know that Ace Ventura has played this in his live shows and it is a great song to dance to. The last song "Nukhta" (Juno Reactor remix) is a very interesting one. I know that Juno Reactor (Ben Watkins) is a fan of the Midival Punditz, who did one of the remixes for Navras. This one isn't one of my favourites but I can certainly appreciate this remix.
Well that's it for now. Hopefully Juno Reactor will come back to North America some day and I can hear some of these remixes soon. I would love to have the chance to be able to dance with Dakota or Let's Turn On playing very loudly. The next blog will probably cover the Overwatch League Season 2 so please stay tuned.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Diablo 3 Season 17 Review
Well Diablo 3 Season 17 just ended and I wanted to write a review of what I accomplished. I had a real good season and did very well with my Witch Doctor. This season was the Season of Nightmares and I ended up playing with a Legacy of Nightmare Dagger of Darts setup. This setup does a ton of damage and is fairly tanky as well, which is nice for Hardcore players. I managed to do a greater rift 113, which put me at rank 57 for the Hardcore Witch Doctors. The greater rift 113 is my highest greater rift that I have been able to do so far. My seasonal paragon hit 1145, which is also my highest ever for a single season. I managed to do this while only playing 132 hours for the season. My overall paragon level sits at 1980. In addition, I managed to reach the Guardian level on the seasonal journey and I was able to get the new Galactic Wings for the seasonal accomplishment.
The Legacy of Nightmare Dagger of Darts is pretty easy to build. Other than getting every piece of gear at an ancient level, the build is straight forward. I think one of the earlier piece of gear that I managed to get was an ancient Tasker and Theo gloves. This was pretty useful early on because it can be both used in the LoN build plus with the Helltooth set. I didn't get any primal legendaries for my build but I don't think it matter that much. I had an unfortunate death early on with a weird disconnect error but I was using my Jade set at the time and I didn't lose that much progress. I didn't think I could reach as high a greater rift but somehow I managed to do it. This LoN build has very simple play style which is to just spam your primary fire, which is the Poison Dart. I have been using a more unconventional style which uses the Hex skill. I really like Hex a lot because not only you do more damage to the monsters you are killing but it also transforms the monsters into pigs which are not able to hit you back. Hex is really useful for killing elites but unfortunately it doesn't do anything against rift bosses.
Season 18 begins on August 23 and is pretty much going to be the same as season 17. I think I will continue using the Legacy of Nightmare Dagger of Darts build for season 18 with a couple of minor changes. I will probably end up using a mix of Dagger of Darts and Gargantuan, which I was using for the majority of season 17. I don't think this build will do as much damage as the pure LoN Dagger of Darts build but it does come pretty close. I hope everyone had a good season 17 and I look forward to playing season 18 soon. I have more updates coming up about Juno Reactor and the Vancouver Titans so please stay tuned.
The Legacy of Nightmare Dagger of Darts is pretty easy to build. Other than getting every piece of gear at an ancient level, the build is straight forward. I think one of the earlier piece of gear that I managed to get was an ancient Tasker and Theo gloves. This was pretty useful early on because it can be both used in the LoN build plus with the Helltooth set. I didn't get any primal legendaries for my build but I don't think it matter that much. I had an unfortunate death early on with a weird disconnect error but I was using my Jade set at the time and I didn't lose that much progress. I didn't think I could reach as high a greater rift but somehow I managed to do it. This LoN build has very simple play style which is to just spam your primary fire, which is the Poison Dart. I have been using a more unconventional style which uses the Hex skill. I really like Hex a lot because not only you do more damage to the monsters you are killing but it also transforms the monsters into pigs which are not able to hit you back. Hex is really useful for killing elites but unfortunately it doesn't do anything against rift bosses.
Season 18 begins on August 23 and is pretty much going to be the same as season 17. I think I will continue using the Legacy of Nightmare Dagger of Darts build for season 18 with a couple of minor changes. I will probably end up using a mix of Dagger of Darts and Gargantuan, which I was using for the majority of season 17. I don't think this build will do as much damage as the pure LoN Dagger of Darts build but it does come pretty close. I hope everyone had a good season 17 and I look forward to playing season 18 soon. I have more updates coming up about Juno Reactor and the Vancouver Titans so please stay tuned.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Overwatch League Season 2 Stage 2 and 3 Review
It's been a while since I last wrote about the Overwatch League. The Vancouver Titans, which is the team I am cheering for, is doing incredibly well. So far this season, the Vancouver Titans have only lost 1 regular season game. Their overall record sits at 20 - 1, which is tops in the league. This is very impressive since the Vancouver Titans are a first-year team and no other team is better than them in the regular season so far. The Titans have already clinched a top 6 seed for the end of the year playoffs. I think the Titans will end with one of the top 2 seeds for the playoffs if they end up losing less than 4 games in the next stage (Stage 4). I am hoping that the Titans will end up doing well for the rest of the season and the playoffs so we might end up seeing them in the Grand Finals in September.
In Stage 2, the Titans managed a 7-0 record and they ended up making it to the Stage finals, where they lost to the San Francisco Shock. The Titans were mostly playing with the 3-3 composition and there weren't many teams that could compete with them using this composition. Not only do the Titans have great individual players but they also understand how to work together as a team. While it might be possible that other teams may have better players, the Titans have better teamwork. The Titans beat the Spark, the Dynasty (twice), the Outlaws, the Fuel, the Uprising and the Defiant. In the stage 2 playoff, they beat the Fuel and the Excelsior before losing to the Shock 4-2. The Titans could have beaten the Shock but the Shock were way better with the 3-3 composition.
In Stage 3, the Titans went 6-1. They didn't look as comfortable in this stage because the meta was changing in this stage. Many teams were using a different composition and it took a while for the Titans to adjust. The Titans beat the Reign, the Gladiators (twice), the Spark, the Fuel, and the Hunters. Their only loss came against the LA Valiant, which still ended up being pretty close. In the Stage 3 playoffs, they beat the Houston Outlaws, but were defeated by the Shanghai Dragons, who ended up winning the Stage 3 playoffs. The Titans look very good against the Outlaws but the Dragons played really great against them.
Even though the Titans did not win Stage 2 or 3, I think this will help them when the end of the year playoffs begin. With Stage 4 bringing in the 2-2-2 lock, I think the Titans will need to change their roster a little bit. The end of the year playoffs should be their main goal for the rest of the season so I don't think their record in stage 4 will matter a whole lot. Titan's stage 4 schedule looks pretty tough but they won't have worry about not making the stage playoffs since there is no stage playoffs for stage 4. I look forward to seeing all the Titans' games for the rest of the season and I hope that they will end up making the Grand Finals.
In Stage 2, the Titans managed a 7-0 record and they ended up making it to the Stage finals, where they lost to the San Francisco Shock. The Titans were mostly playing with the 3-3 composition and there weren't many teams that could compete with them using this composition. Not only do the Titans have great individual players but they also understand how to work together as a team. While it might be possible that other teams may have better players, the Titans have better teamwork. The Titans beat the Spark, the Dynasty (twice), the Outlaws, the Fuel, the Uprising and the Defiant. In the stage 2 playoff, they beat the Fuel and the Excelsior before losing to the Shock 4-2. The Titans could have beaten the Shock but the Shock were way better with the 3-3 composition.
In Stage 3, the Titans went 6-1. They didn't look as comfortable in this stage because the meta was changing in this stage. Many teams were using a different composition and it took a while for the Titans to adjust. The Titans beat the Reign, the Gladiators (twice), the Spark, the Fuel, and the Hunters. Their only loss came against the LA Valiant, which still ended up being pretty close. In the Stage 3 playoffs, they beat the Houston Outlaws, but were defeated by the Shanghai Dragons, who ended up winning the Stage 3 playoffs. The Titans look very good against the Outlaws but the Dragons played really great against them.
Even though the Titans did not win Stage 2 or 3, I think this will help them when the end of the year playoffs begin. With Stage 4 bringing in the 2-2-2 lock, I think the Titans will need to change their roster a little bit. The end of the year playoffs should be their main goal for the rest of the season so I don't think their record in stage 4 will matter a whole lot. Titan's stage 4 schedule looks pretty tough but they won't have worry about not making the stage playoffs since there is no stage playoffs for stage 4. I look forward to seeing all the Titans' games for the rest of the season and I hope that they will end up making the Grand Finals.
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Diablo 3 Season 16 Review
Well Diablo 3 Season 16 just ended and I wanted to go over what I did for the season. I had a fairly good season, I met most of my goals. I wanted to reach a greater rift 100 for the first time and I ended up doing a greater rift 101. I was mostly playing with the Helltooth set again and I was finally able to reach that greater rift 100. I wanted to play a Zunimassa + Helltooth hybrid set but it was kind of hard to play with. My greater rift 101 put me in rank 133 for the hardcore Witch Doctor leaderboard. A lot of people were playing with the Jade set and that set was the strongest set for the season. I think I only saw about 3 other Helltooth Witch Doctors above me in the rank. I managed to do all of this while only playing 83 total hours this season. This season ran pretty long, it was about 4 months long. I was able to reach paragon 958 for the season and my overall paragon level now sits at 1864. I managed to reach Conqueror in the seasonal journey and I also managed to have no deaths this season as well. So overall, I had a very good season.
My original plan this season was to play with the Zuni + Helltooth hybrid build. This build was possible because this season gave you the Ring of Royal Grandeur for free. That extra ring slot made it possible to run this hybrid set. I started out experimenting with different skills. At first, I used the Grasp of the Dead skill to proc the pet damage bonus for the 6 piece Zuni set. This worked ok but it didn't have much output as the next one, which was to use Haunt (with Poisoned Spirit rune) instead of the Grasp of the Dead. This one was better for the damage but it is a lot more trickier to use. A lot the times, you had wait until the Haunt skill would tag an enemy before your pets did any damage to them. With the Grasp of the Dead, it is more easier since it occupied an area when you cast it so several enemies would be hit at once. As far as damage is concerned, I would say the hybrid set is about the same damage output as the Helltooth set. The only difference between the hybrid set and the Helltooth set is that you take a lot more damage with the hybrid set and it is also a lot trickier to use. Therefore, I just used the Helltooth set for most of the season since it is very easy to use and I feel really comfortable using this set.
For season 17, I am probably going to play with the Witch Doctor again. I don't know which build I am going to try this season. I might stick with Helltooth set for most of the season but I also want to try a Zunimassa Carnevil set or a Legacy of Nightmares (LoN) Carnevil set. These sets look very fun to play with but I don't know which one is better. The Legacy of Nightmare set might be too difficult to gear for so I probably won't do a LoN build. I also want to reach the Guardian rank in the seasonal journey so I will probably have to run multiple characters to reach some of the seasonal goals. If you reach the Guardian rank in the seasonal journey for season 17, you get the Galactic wings which I really want this season. I hope everyone had a successful season 16 and I hope everyone does well in season 17.
My original plan this season was to play with the Zuni + Helltooth hybrid build. This build was possible because this season gave you the Ring of Royal Grandeur for free. That extra ring slot made it possible to run this hybrid set. I started out experimenting with different skills. At first, I used the Grasp of the Dead skill to proc the pet damage bonus for the 6 piece Zuni set. This worked ok but it didn't have much output as the next one, which was to use Haunt (with Poisoned Spirit rune) instead of the Grasp of the Dead. This one was better for the damage but it is a lot more trickier to use. A lot the times, you had wait until the Haunt skill would tag an enemy before your pets did any damage to them. With the Grasp of the Dead, it is more easier since it occupied an area when you cast it so several enemies would be hit at once. As far as damage is concerned, I would say the hybrid set is about the same damage output as the Helltooth set. The only difference between the hybrid set and the Helltooth set is that you take a lot more damage with the hybrid set and it is also a lot trickier to use. Therefore, I just used the Helltooth set for most of the season since it is very easy to use and I feel really comfortable using this set.
For season 17, I am probably going to play with the Witch Doctor again. I don't know which build I am going to try this season. I might stick with Helltooth set for most of the season but I also want to try a Zunimassa Carnevil set or a Legacy of Nightmares (LoN) Carnevil set. These sets look very fun to play with but I don't know which one is better. The Legacy of Nightmare set might be too difficult to gear for so I probably won't do a LoN build. I also want to reach the Guardian rank in the seasonal journey so I will probably have to run multiple characters to reach some of the seasonal goals. If you reach the Guardian rank in the seasonal journey for season 17, you get the Galactic wings which I really want this season. I hope everyone had a successful season 16 and I hope everyone does well in season 17.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
My Top 10 Juno Reactor Songs Revisited
The last time I made a top 10 list of my favourite Juno Reactor songs was back in 2015 and I wanted to update this list today. I wanted to make a new list to see if there were any changes to the list and since a new album "The Mutant Theater" came out last year, I was wondering if any of the new songs are now on this list. There are a lot of great Juno Reactor songs and it was really hard making this list. First of all, I wanted to give you my previous top 10 songs (2015 list), which are:
- Samurai
- Navras
- Pistolero
- Journey
- Invisible
- Tanta Pena
- Mona Lisa Overdrive
- Zwara
- God Is God
- Biot Messiah
Now for my updated top 10:
- Samurai (no change)
- Navras (no change)
- Dakota (new)
- Invisible (up 1)
- Tanta Pena (up 1)
- Pistolero (down 3)
- Journey (down 3)
- Let's Turn On (new)
- Zwara (down 1)
- Mona Lisa Overdrive (down 3)
Some honorable mentions are: God Is God, Biot Messiah, Hotaka, Return of the Pistolero, and Ingonyama.
Review: The top 2 songs for me remains unchanged. Samurai and Navras remains my 2 most favourite Juno Reactor songs. Dakota comes in at number 3. I really, really love this song (both the original and the remixes). Invisible and Tanta Pena both move up 1 spot. I moved Pistolero and Journey down 3 slots. Another new song Let's Turn On makes this list at number 8. Zwara and Mona Lisa Overdrive fills out the top 10, both dropping down a bit. Off my top 10 list from 2015 are God Is God and Biot Messiah.
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Overwatch League Season 2 Stage 1 Review
I have been watching a lot of the Overwatch League (OWL) recently. The OWL just finished stage 1 of its second season and man was it really exciting to watch. I did watch a lot OWL last year too but in season 1, I really didn't have a team that I was cheering for. For Season 2 however, I knew that it would be much more entertaining to watch since I could now cheer for my favourite team, the Vancouver Titans. The Vancouver Titans is one of 6 new expansion teams and it is really nice to cheer for my home team. I managed to buy the All Access pass on Twitch so that I could watch a lot of the Overwatch League and get some good bonuses. I also bought a couple of Vancouver Titans jerseys.
The Vancouver Titans are owned by the same owners who own the Vancouver Canucks (the Aquilini family). I was really excited when they first announced this because I have been cheering for the Canucks for a very long time and now they were officially going to compete in the Overwatch League. Their logo is kind of interesting, they have a yeti as a logo, which kind of fits the Pacific Northwest. I really like the color scheme they have chosen for the Overwatch team, which is blue and green (the same colours as the Vancouver Canucks). I also like the nickname "Titans", which is also the same nickname for various football teams (one in particular is the T.C. Williams Titans, who has a movie called "Remember the Titans"). The Vancouver Titans is mostly made up of Team Runaway, which was a South Korean contenders team. There is a great video about the Runaway Team in this video:
The Vancouver Titans are a very good team. They started out pretty strong and ended up wining stage 1 of the Overwatch League. They managed to win all their games so far, but some games were really close. They sit at the top of league right now, just slightly ahead of the New York Excelsior. For the regular season, they beat Shanghai, Guangzhou (twice), Paris, Los Angeles Valiant, Chengdu and San Francisco. In the Stage 1 Playoffs, they managed to beat Boston 3-0 and beat Seoul 4-0. In the Stage 1 Finals they faced off against San Francisco and won a very close match 4-3. The Stage 1 Finals was really exciting to watch, both teams played great. I hope the Vancouver Titans can keep on winning in the next few stages like they did in stage 1. In the second stage, there are going to be some major changes to the meta and different heroes are going to be used. In Stage 1, the meta was to run a 3-3 comp (the GOATS comp), which was a comp made up of 3 tanks and 3 support. In Stage 2, there will probably less 3-3 and maybe more DPS characters being played. If so, I hope that the Vancouver Titans can adjust well since they were very good at the GOATS comp. I am going to be cheering for this team all season long and I hope to learn more about their players and coaches as the season runs along.
The Vancouver Titans are owned by the same owners who own the Vancouver Canucks (the Aquilini family). I was really excited when they first announced this because I have been cheering for the Canucks for a very long time and now they were officially going to compete in the Overwatch League. Their logo is kind of interesting, they have a yeti as a logo, which kind of fits the Pacific Northwest. I really like the color scheme they have chosen for the Overwatch team, which is blue and green (the same colours as the Vancouver Canucks). I also like the nickname "Titans", which is also the same nickname for various football teams (one in particular is the T.C. Williams Titans, who has a movie called "Remember the Titans"). The Vancouver Titans is mostly made up of Team Runaway, which was a South Korean contenders team. There is a great video about the Runaway Team in this video:
The Vancouver Titans are a very good team. They started out pretty strong and ended up wining stage 1 of the Overwatch League. They managed to win all their games so far, but some games were really close. They sit at the top of league right now, just slightly ahead of the New York Excelsior. For the regular season, they beat Shanghai, Guangzhou (twice), Paris, Los Angeles Valiant, Chengdu and San Francisco. In the Stage 1 Playoffs, they managed to beat Boston 3-0 and beat Seoul 4-0. In the Stage 1 Finals they faced off against San Francisco and won a very close match 4-3. The Stage 1 Finals was really exciting to watch, both teams played great. I hope the Vancouver Titans can keep on winning in the next few stages like they did in stage 1. In the second stage, there are going to be some major changes to the meta and different heroes are going to be used. In Stage 1, the meta was to run a 3-3 comp (the GOATS comp), which was a comp made up of 3 tanks and 3 support. In Stage 2, there will probably less 3-3 and maybe more DPS characters being played. If so, I hope that the Vancouver Titans can adjust well since they were very good at the GOATS comp. I am going to be cheering for this team all season long and I hope to learn more about their players and coaches as the season runs along.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Happy New Year 2019
Well this blog post is about a month late but I wanted to do a summary of 2018 and what 2019 could be. 2018 was a very disappointing year for me. There was a lot of promise but it ended up not so well. I think two of the most disappointing things for the year was not being able to go to a Juno Reactor concert and the Diablo fiasco at BlizzCon this year. Not being able to see a Juno concert live was so disappointing because there were several chances for me to see one. The first was obviously at the Electronic Love Music Festival at Agassiz. Ben was set to do a set there but couldn't because of visa problems. The next opportunity was at DefCon in Las Vegas but I had other priorities at that time. The third chance was in November in California but I was also unable to go. The other major disappointment was at BlizzCon. I think I was anticipating a new Diablo game to be announced but I didn't expect it to be a mobile game. The feeling at BlizzCon was very surreal and you could feel the energy of the crowd dissipate. I was pretty shocked as well but once I got a chance to play with Diablo Immortal a bit, I felt a bit better. Even though there were many disappointments this year, there were also some good news. Juno Reactor's new album "The Mutant Theater" came out and I really enjoyed listening to this new album (even right now, I still like very, very much). I think Dakota is now one of my favourite songs of all time. I managed to visit my best friend this year in Grand Forks and I was able to see a bit more of British Columbia. BlizzCon was still very enjoyable as well. I also managed to see a hockey game and go to California Adventure Park again. In 2018, I also played lots of Diablo 3 and did very well in the greater rift rank.
For 2019, I hope this year will be a very successful one. I really hoping that I will finally get a chance to see Juno live somewhere this year. Since I was so close in 2018, I am hoping that 2019 will be a lot better. I hope that Juno will get another chance to play at the Electronic Music Festival. For Diablo, I am expecting more of the same. I don't think the gameplay for Diablo 3 will change much but there have been little tweeks and changes lately. I will probably still play lots of Diablo 3 but I wouldn't be surprised that I end up playing less than last year. If BlizzCon happens in November again this year, I will probably go again. I really like going there, not just to see all the demos and e-sports but now I really enjoy hanging out with other BlizzCon members. One thing that I really look forward to this year is cheering for the Vancouver Titans in the Overwatch League. The Overwatch League just started last week and the Vancouver Titans won their first match. I hope the Titans do very good this year because I will be cheering for them all season long. If they end up making the playoffs and competing for the championship, I think that would be a good start for this franchise. I also have five weeks of holidays this year and I am hoping to use them wisely this year. I hope everyone had a great 2018 and I hope that everyone has a fantastic 2019 as well.
For 2019, I hope this year will be a very successful one. I really hoping that I will finally get a chance to see Juno live somewhere this year. Since I was so close in 2018, I am hoping that 2019 will be a lot better. I hope that Juno will get another chance to play at the Electronic Music Festival. For Diablo, I am expecting more of the same. I don't think the gameplay for Diablo 3 will change much but there have been little tweeks and changes lately. I will probably still play lots of Diablo 3 but I wouldn't be surprised that I end up playing less than last year. If BlizzCon happens in November again this year, I will probably go again. I really like going there, not just to see all the demos and e-sports but now I really enjoy hanging out with other BlizzCon members. One thing that I really look forward to this year is cheering for the Vancouver Titans in the Overwatch League. The Overwatch League just started last week and the Vancouver Titans won their first match. I hope the Titans do very good this year because I will be cheering for them all season long. If they end up making the playoffs and competing for the championship, I think that would be a good start for this franchise. I also have five weeks of holidays this year and I am hoping to use them wisely this year. I hope everyone had a great 2018 and I hope that everyone has a fantastic 2019 as well.
Friday, January 11, 2019
Diablo 3 Season 15 Review
Well Diablo 3 season 15 just ended last Sunday and I wanted to write what I did for the season. This season, I was focused on the Wizard because I hadn't played with that class for a very long time. Overall, I did pretty well but I didn't end up playing as much as the previous seasons. I only played 87 hours this season even though the season ended up being longer than 3 months. I managed to reach paragon 845 and do a greater rift 91, which put me at rank 261 for the NA hardcore Wizards. I think I could have done a better greater rift if I had played more. Overall, I am pretty happy of what I accomplished and I even managed to do all of the seasonal journey.
For most of the season, I was playing with the Tal Rasha set. This set is pretty powerful and very straight forward. All the items needed for this build was pretty easy to get. I had a little trouble with finding a good Deathwish, I tried re-rolling it but I only got one good ancient Deathwish. What I really like about this set is that it is really good for speed farming. I was able to do lots of normal T13 rifts very fast because of this set. The downside of the Tal Rasha set is that sometimes you don't know when you are about to be killed. Most times, you have a shield that takes the incoming damage for you but once that shield is down, your health instantly drops. It is a little nerve-wracking when playing this on hardcore. I did have 2 deaths this season but if I had more experience playing with the Wizard, I think I could have avoided those deaths. This season's theme was double bounty bags so it was real easy to reforge the legendary items to ancient and also get materials needed to upgrade them.
For season 16, I want to play with the Witch Doctor again. There is going to be a new patch that will buff most of the class sets so I am hoping to see if I can finally reach a greater rift 100 with the Witch Doctor. Season 16's theme will be that everyone will have the Ring of Royal Grandeur as a buff so that you don't need to equip it. The Ring of Royal Grandeur allows you to one less set item to get the set item buff (so you would need only 5 pieces of Helltooth instead of 6 to get the maximum set buff for example). I really need to try playing Diablo 3 more this season and not end up like season 15. Season 16 might only last 2 months too so that means I need to be more focused. I hope everyone had a great season 15 and look forward to season 16.
For most of the season, I was playing with the Tal Rasha set. This set is pretty powerful and very straight forward. All the items needed for this build was pretty easy to get. I had a little trouble with finding a good Deathwish, I tried re-rolling it but I only got one good ancient Deathwish. What I really like about this set is that it is really good for speed farming. I was able to do lots of normal T13 rifts very fast because of this set. The downside of the Tal Rasha set is that sometimes you don't know when you are about to be killed. Most times, you have a shield that takes the incoming damage for you but once that shield is down, your health instantly drops. It is a little nerve-wracking when playing this on hardcore. I did have 2 deaths this season but if I had more experience playing with the Wizard, I think I could have avoided those deaths. This season's theme was double bounty bags so it was real easy to reforge the legendary items to ancient and also get materials needed to upgrade them.
For season 16, I want to play with the Witch Doctor again. There is going to be a new patch that will buff most of the class sets so I am hoping to see if I can finally reach a greater rift 100 with the Witch Doctor. Season 16's theme will be that everyone will have the Ring of Royal Grandeur as a buff so that you don't need to equip it. The Ring of Royal Grandeur allows you to one less set item to get the set item buff (so you would need only 5 pieces of Helltooth instead of 6 to get the maximum set buff for example). I really need to try playing Diablo 3 more this season and not end up like season 15. Season 16 might only last 2 months too so that means I need to be more focused. I hope everyone had a great season 15 and look forward to season 16.
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