Monthly Archives: May 2015

good games that are good, non-wow

Good Games That Are Good: Europa Universalis

There was a time just a few years ago when the title of this post would have produced quite a few “huh?”s, but thanks to the recent mainstream success of Crusader Kings II, Paradox Interactive and their quirky grand strategy games have never been so in vogue.

Most of your time in a Europa Universalis game is spent staring at a map, which is admittedly not the most exciting sounding thing in the world, but that’s just scratching the surface – the EU games are all about digging into diplomacy, trading, colonization, and, of course, warfare, I know some would rather play with dreamjackpot games instead.  Someone who’s never played the games before might benefit from having it compared to, say, Civilization, but the playstyle of Civ and EU really couldn’t be more different from each other.  Europa Universalis aims to be a more nuanced experience, and one that will keep you engaged for several times as long as a game of Civ will.

It also leads to situations like this.
It also leads to situations like this.

Europa Universalis, then, is a step up in complexity, designed for those who want more fine-tuned control than they’re going to get in most other empire-building games.  And if that isn’t enough for you, you can graduate to Victoria II and then eventually even more grognardy war games, but don’t rush – Europa Universalis has enough to offer you for many months to come.  So give the series a look if you haven’t already and if you’re a strategy fan.

Oh, and prepare to hate comets.

pox why

meta-wow, music

There are a couple of things that Blizzard always gets right

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One of those things is cinematics.  Because oh, Blizzard has got a flair for those.  Who among us who played Warcraft III doesn’t get chills at Arthas’ betrayal at the end of the Human Campaign?

Next up is music.  There have been too many talented composers at Blizzard over the years to name them all here alongside their contributions, but I feel that Blizzard games have some of the best soundtracks you will find in any video game.  From the infamous Terran theme in Starcraft to the bouncy and jingoistic Warcraft II music (heard today in pet battles), to all the multitude of melodies that you’ll here in World of Warcraft today – I just love it all.

My favorite music, of course, resides in my favorite raid:

Mmm. Just listening to it brings me back.

Tell me of your favorite Blizzard tunes!

pet battles, screenshots

Live to win ’til you die

So I’ve been doing this newfangled pet battling stuff all morning.  When it all first went live in… MoP, I believe, I only played WoW for a couple of months so I didn’t get much of a chance to mess with it at all.  But seeing as now I’ve had a menagerie sitting in my garrison for six months I figured it was finally time to do something about it.  To that end, I’ve been slowly working up a team to hopefully take on a variety of challengers.

This Sunday SUNDAY, we have NUTS the Squirrel, CURATOR the… uh, robot custodian, and the oh so rare SPIRIT OF COMPETITION… in a FIGHT YOU WON’T BELIEVE VERSUS…

…a cult leader, apparently?

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And also a guy in (old) Shadowmoon Valley who I have no argument with.

Sounds accurate to me!
Sounds accurate to me!

Anyways, it’s pretty fun.  And pretty frustrating because after a while it starts to get difficult.  It’s like Pokemon with type strengths and weaknesses and everything and having three max level pets when you should really have, like… at least one of each type is, um, tough, to say the least.

BUT HEY, at least someday, eventually, I’ll be able to beat the guys in my garrison!  …maybe!

thoughts

So basically I love WoW Token

Well, it’s been a few months since the WoW Token rollout, and I’ve gotta say I’m a fan.  When the price tips low, I can cover my entire subscription just via gold… and I’m a casual with one single garrison and not a whole lot of skills in the capitalism department.

I think making money in WoW is pretty easy these days.  Between garrison mission rewards, salvage, dailies, LFR rewards and selling things like gathering materials and Savage Bloods, I feel like I’m making out like a bandit at all times.  The times sure have changed from a decade ago when I was spending days farming and selling Briarthorn so I could afford the 600g required for an epic mount.

What does everyone else think of WoW Token so far?  How many have YOU bought?

non-wow

Are You Playing Diablo III Yet Because Holy Frick

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I know, I know, I’m behind the times.  Pretty far behind the times.  But I finally caved and snagged both Diablo III and the expansion.

And you know, I love me some ARPGs.  I love them a lot.  I love the Torchlight series, I love Baldur’s Gate II Dark Alliance, and of course I love the older Diablo games.  There’s something pure about the idea of a lootfest isometric RPG; something that reminds me of playing old arcade games back in the day.  You just go around and kill things and collect prizes.  No questions asked.

So I knew going in that I was probably going to love D3, but dang.  I don’t know what Blizzard did but I cannot stop playing it.  I made a wizard and between the whole tornado summoning thing and feeling like Jubilee with Arcane Torrent, it’s an absolute blast.

Also yes, I am spending tons and tons of money on transmog.  Because welcome to my life.

Screenshot011
Also I look like a Final Fantasy character. Prove me wrong.
guides, hunter, hunter kindergarten

Focus Fire and When To Use It: A Beast Master Hunter Guide

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Focus Fire.

That little yellow glowy button is one of your biggest boosts to DPS, and learning its nuances is something that you’re going to want to do once you hit max level and start looking into things like raids.  It can be kind of tricky to master, and there are quite a few little variables involved, but hopefully I can help to clarify a bit.  Here, then, is when to use – and when not to use – a Beast Master Hunter’s second best friend (your pet being your best friend, of course):

big focus fire

WHEN TO USE FOCUS FIRE:

1. Use it at five stacks, of course.  The button will glow and you won’t miss it.  There is an exception, which I will cover later.

2. Use it with Bestial Wrath.  It doesn’t matter if it’s only one stack.  If you have a build up of it, use it.  It’s also not a bad idea to pop it for other large cooldowns, such as Stampede.

3. Use it when you are about to AoE.  That means Barrage and Multi-shot.  And lastly,

4. Use it if it’s about to expire.  If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it, and get no benefit!

Now then, let’s discuss the other side of the coin:

WHEN NOT TO USE FOCUS FIRE:

1. If you’re almost, but not quite, ready for Bestial Wrath.  Say you have somewhere between 10-20 seconds left to go before Bestial Wrath is off cooldown, but your yellow glowy button is telling you to click it.  Do you?  Nope.  Because if you do, then it will be expired by the time Bestial Wrath is ready to go!  Instead, wait until your Bestial Wrath is about ready to pop (below ten seconds left on the cooldown.)

2. If a boss is invincible or shielded or otherwise unavailable or something for a short amount of time and your Focus Fire won’t expire by the time you can use it again.  In this case you’ll want to tactically delay it – the same as any other cooldown, really.

…and that’s about the only times you shouldn’t be using it.  Because Focus Fire is just that good.

Okay, that about does it for today’s Hunter Kindergarten Guide!  If you have any questions, comments, or other concerns, feel free to post a comment or bug me on Twitter!

 

characters, screenshots, thoughts

Cause I Just Gotta Get Into It: The #1 Thing That Makes Me Stick With a Character

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Anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time probably knows that I’m kind of a big nerd who comes up with stories and backgrounds and personalities for each of her WoW characters.  That’s just how I’ve always been, and in fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret: it’s often one of the major things that keeps me playing a game.  Perhaps even the #1 thing.

Yes, it’s true!  Oftentimes long after I’ve found a certain game satisfying from a gameplay standpoint I’ll continue to return to it, again and again, because there’s something nice about seeing a character again.  It’s like seeing an old friend.  Like going back to a book that you’re emotionally invested in.  Without that connection to a character, I’m usually not inspired to play said character – or game – very often.

I frequently hear people talk about how they’re in WoW because of their friends.  I’m in WoW because of my friends, too.  My friends are polygons, though.  And I love ’em.

Even if they're huge friggin' nerds.
Even if they’re huge friggin’ nerds.
good games that are good, non-wow

Good Games That Are Good: Civilization IV

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From a technical and mechanical standpoint, I think that Civilization IV is probably the greatest thing Firaxis has ever done.  In fact, from a technical and mechanical standpoint, I think that Civilization IV is probably the greatest strategy video game of all time.  As soon as you load up the game and Baba Yetu (by the peerless Christopher Tin) kicks in, you know you’re in for an experience, and that is what Civ IV gives you.

Taking what prior Civilization games did and refining them down to one shined and polished experience, this is the 4X game that other 4X games have yet to beat.  By offering a plethora of options and victory conditions for every playstyle, perhaps what really sets Civ IV apart is the fact that it appeals equally to both oldschool  Civ players and newcomers to the series or genre.    With the expansions, especially, Civ IV is just unparalleled when it comes to options and depth of gameplay.

Tesla
It’s also basically unparalleled when it comes to One More Turn syndrome.

662 hoursYou may have noted that I haven’t quite said that this is my favorite 4X game.  That’s because that title goes to Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, which also holds the title of Pike’s Favorite Game of All Time.  But as much as I love, love SMAC and think it’s a classic, the UI is a little rough and it lacks the polish and finesse of Civ IV.  So don’t be intimidated.  Jump on into Civ IV and experience alternate history the way it’s meant to be experienced – with the Mayans hurling nukes around, of course.

meta-blog, thoughts

Fire And Rain: aka a Look at the Future

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My WoW life yesterday started out pretty well – I beat Blackhand (and I did it in style – top of Recount, baby!) and I was feeling pretty good about the future, about 6.2, about my alts, and so on.

Then, after I logged out for the day, Blizzard dropped the bombshell which I’m sure most of you have heard about by now: We’re getting no flying for the rest of this expansion, and don’t get your hopes up about it being a thing in future expansions, either.

I probably should have seen this coming, but it still felt to me like a punch in the gut.  Partially because it seems like such a weird step backwards in regards to content accessibility.  Partially because the announcement came right after I was feeling really good about the game.  And partially because of the fact that this was all apparently first mentioned offhandedly in some interview with a third party site rather than, I dunno, on the WoW forums or something.  It all just came out of nowhere and felt weird.

On to the topic itself – I have written before about why I wanted to see flying in the future, so I won’t recount all of my reasons here.  Suffice to say that flight was one of the big things I was looking forward to seeing in the future.  I was looking forward to exploring Draenor in a whole new way.  I was looking forward to doing archaeology properly rather than starting a dig, looking at a big mountain, and promptly changing my mind.  And I was really looking forward to being able to finish those Treasure Contract garrison quests, which I’ve done ten million times by now, in five minutes instead of twenty.

But now it looks like none of this is going to happen, and, silly or not, it put a big damper on my mood last night.  And I say this as one of the most hopelessly optimistic video game bloggers you’ll probably ever meet.

flightIt got me wondering about my future with the game and my motivations for playing it.  For the most part I have been a staunch supporter of Warlords of Draenor and of garrisons (beyond a few annoyances), and it was weird to feel negative about it for the first time.  I wondered – and still wonder – how long the feeling will last.  I wonder if I’m being melodramatic.  But I also wonder if I’m not.

That said, I still have a blog to write (and I am having a blast being back, by the way), and as of writing I still have something like two and a half months of game time left thanks to WoW token.  So I suppose for now the best I can do is continue to play until then, and then see how things are and how I feel about them.

We’ll just have to see!

hunter, i love hunters, screenshots, thoughts

I Am Going To Play a Hunter Forever. Probably. Maybe.

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Did you know that in just a couple of months this blog will be eight years old?  Yup.  I have been blogging about this dumb game almost as long as I have been playing this dumb game.  And the entire time, I have been maining a hunter.  Sometimes I play another class as an alt or something (like that druid I raided with in WotLK) but that’s just, you know, an alt.  Not a main.

When I started playing World of Warcraft all those years ago I rolled a hunter because why not; and now here I am nearly a decade later still playing a hunter.

WoWScrnShot_051815_163348Sometimes I think it’s my lot in this Warcraft life; to play a hunter forever.  Which I am fine with, of course.  But then I remember that I also once thought I would never switch mains and yet here I am playing a completely different character.  (Same class, of course, but.)

So things can change.  My life in Azeroth can change.  I can’t guarantee I’m going to play a hunter forever because hey, if I changed mains then I can change classes too.

But I’m probably going to play a hunter forever.

Why?  Because I’m Pike.

Pike groks hunters.