My Life as a Gamer: The Round-Up

World of Warcraft

Late last night, just after the 10pm news, I hit Level 110 on my main character. I would have hit that on Wednesday, but tech issues last week fucked me out of two days; nonetheless, I'm there and ready to get going- oh wait.

I did this through using Order Hall missions that award XP to your character, every Profession quest I encountered, and then all--and I do mean all--of the quests in just two zones: Stormheim and Highmountain. I still have to play through Azuna and Val'sharah before moving on, and I still have to do Suramar before I can unlock World Quests. During this time, I have to run at least two dungeons (Eye of Azshara and Darkheart Thicket), and I've already got a quest for a third (Maw of Souls), and I have to finish my Order Hall campaign.

Gearing up, therefore, is going to be delayed; I can only hope to meet the minimum Item Level needed for Heroic Dungeons by Tuesday, and I likely won't without going total No Life (and I don't like doing that). As I write this post, I'm listening to #9 of Laps Around Dalaran (the Fatboss TV podcast) and they're talking about how the endgame right now has all you need to keep you busy on just one character for weeks--if not months--on end. As I expected, Legion is not that alt-friendly- especially right now during the launch period. However, it is casual-friendly; if you're not a Mythic Raider or Rank 1 Gladiator you will not be disappointed at there being a wealth of worthwhile things to do at the cap.

Hearthstone

This week's Brawl is a repeat Brawl--the one with preset decks, but you choose a second class at the start and that class's cards get mixed into it--so I knocked out a few quests and used the accumulated gold to buy another Adventure wing. As I maintain a strict Free To Play policy with this game, I'm well behind the curve on Adventures, so don't expect me to go nuts on the Karazhan Adventure anytime soon. That sad, the free prelude for Karazhan--and the one associated Brawl--have been hilarious so far.

Steam

Like anyone else with two brain cells to rub together, I only buy on Steam when the game is on sale. I got the Anniversary Edition of Titan Quest (which includes the sequel) and the Ultimate Edition of Dragon Age: Origins recently, for $12.50 total. Damn. Right now, Styx: Master of Shadows is on sale for under $8 and I'm tempted to snatch it up despite just being added to a backlog of games, and I'm thinking that I have refrain now in anticipation of a more desired game's inevitable turn to be deeply discounted.

Fantasy Flight Games

Their license contract with Games Workshop expires in a few months, so all of their licensed games will go out of print and Organized Play using them will cease to exist. Anyone who did not see this coming is a fool. Either Games Workshop is not satisfied with the work relative to the reward, or they found another party that will do what FFG did in a way GW benefits better from and a new contract will go to them. If you like what FFG did, the time to buy their shit is now. (For me, that means only Talisman, and I don't care that much.) Not that I think FFG will feel much in the way of pain; they've got plenty of other popular properties, many of them owned by FFG, and will do just fine (barring SJWs running that company into the ground).

Attack on Titan

I've been watching Oliver Campbell and MisfitDruid at Twitch play this game. Oliver's doing it on PS4, while Misfit's doing it on PC, and I realized a few things right off the bat: I rather like how this game plays, despite not being a fan of that genre of game in general; they did a good job of translating the anime into a playable product (making something go from passive consumption to active participation is a challenge); the team behind this game knew their limits and respected those limits, resulting in what they could do being rather well done. Go look it up, and wait for a sale if you want to buy into it.