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.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
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.
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