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.
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