Thursday, September 27, 2018

Battle for Azeroth, apparently

I was pretty excited for the new World of Warcraft expansion, Battle for Azeroth. Excited so much that I started playing a month in advance during the last month of Legion. I put my three mains at 110, farmed gold and generally just waited for its release. Hopefully the new content would bring back some of the spark of not just the PvP content in WoW, but from the Warcraft RTS series as well.

My review of the new expansion can be best summed up as the following: Where?

Where is this alleged battle for Azeroth? It does not exist, from what I can tell. Besides a couple of PvE quests in the vein of fighting the opposing faction, and the somewhat poorly implemented Warfronts (i.e. a PvE raid) there is nothing in the game suggesting a battle for the future of the world.

Additionally, what a horrifically missed chance and exploitative bait and switch by Blizzard. If the intro CG trailer and follow up gameplay videos were anything to go by, you would have mistaken the expansion for being focused on the concept of War, for once. Because ... you know ... it is Warcraft, after all, right? They have to actually bring back Warcraft at some point, surely?

More dungeons, more raids (released at a drip pace), more zones to level. That's basically it. Admittedly the new zones are really quite nice, a huge improvement over the abomination that was the stupid island horror in Legion. Warfronts are sort of fun for rather stupid/broken reasons, and island expeditions can be amusing at times. Otherwise, same old formula for a game that has really not followed up on its heritage. At least in my opinion.

Having said that though, I did manage to do what I always do. Do some PvP, record it, make an interesting video. I actually really enjoyed editing this one, with a lot of thought and deliberation into an editing style, with a track I have had on the back of my mind for a couple of years now. It has come together quite well, so there is that at least.



Not gonna lie, sometimes the things I edit worry me slightly. I might just be a bit darker and malevolent that I like to believe. I am surprisingly ok with this...

Anyways, I have been really disappointed with Blizzard games lately. Overwatch seems ok (despite being a bit too childish for me lately) but a severely neglected Diablo franchise and a very unconvincing WoW universe is ... really disappointing. What frustrates me, is that for folks like myself (and I a certainly not alone in this), addressing the war/battle/pvp element of WoW's universe would be so easy. The game already has a host of interesting battlegrounds, arenas and events. You could modify them ever so slightly (Warsong Gulch CTF with teams of 15, 10v10 arena, AV with no tower caps etc.), make them worth double honour/conquest, and make all BGs contribute to warfront and raid access. Done.

There's your Battle for Azeroth, and you didn't even need to add a thing.

Friday, April 6, 2018

Monster. Hunt. Whirl.

I am getting old. Thirty years of age is a strange age. When you start putting a 3 in front of your digits, you start thinking about where you are in life and where you would like to be. You find the metabolism and regenerative capabilities of your body are not so resilient, and you actually need to exercise and eat well to not expand rapidly. You also realise you start dedicating less time for things you enjoy as things in life (e.g. work) start to take the reins.

Having said that, I never would have guessed that I would randomly pick up and play Monster Hunter: World. Perhaps it was said realisation that I don’t play as many games as I used to, or perhaps I just longed to get lost in a magical world of monsters and slaying once again (i.e. Skyrim). Whatever the reason, Monster Hunter: World has been an interesting experience, one that I have several opinions about that are not all positive.


Certainly the game is addictive. ‘Hunt’ monsters. Equip their body parts. Get better at stuff. Repeat. Admittedly, I found this cycle to be a bit unusual at first, perhaps having never played a Monster Hunter game before. Having actively decided not to hunt real-life animals ever again, I was immediately put off the idea of killing innocent fauna in an environment I was clearly invading. Then, using their various organs and limbs as decorations was somewhat psychotic and just a little disturbing. For a clearly Japanese made game, it perhaps explains why they still have no problem with mass whaling.

The combat mechanics of MHW I also initially found frustrating. Depending on weapon type, you get locked into ludicrously long animation swing times that you cannot cancel, usually resulting in a whiff followed up by getting hit by the monster in question. Against certain larger foes, this process can prove fatal, resulting in gameplay that is very hit and run and timing based that I found far too slow and static for my liking. It is perhaps no wonder that I locked onto and stuck with Dual Blades, the most free flowing and fastest weapon type in the game. It has its downsides, but lack of boredom and keeping of sanity are easily its best perks.



Anyways, long story short, I managed to punch through the game’s story and eventually hit endgame which I can honestly say is also a little disappointing. Unlike games such as Diablo 3, Path of Exile and even Skyrim, there is very little to do besides farming the game’s ‘bosses’ - Tempered Elder Dragons. For me, running a rather predictable tanky and sustain build, this was not overly challenging, despite people on the internet claiming it to be. This leads to another thing …

The online console community is crap. There is little to no consensus on what is good or what works and how best to play the game. Some may think this is a good thing, but when people don’t know or care about basic game mechanics or zealously believe that whatever dumb, stupid thing they are doing is the only way to play, it becomes a serious problem. There is an elitist perspective of “just dodge everything” which is just terrible advice for newcomers. My tempered elder dragon kill times are almost as fast as people stacking full damage, the difference being I clear them 100% of the time without dying. Often forum posts asking legitimate game mechanics questions will be answered by idiots telling them about irrelevant information with no definite answer. Compared to the almost scientific approach that players use in games like D3 and PoE, testing, evaluating and comparing models with room for debate, MHW discussions are a cesspool of ignorance and elitism which makes no sense considering the kind of game that it is.

Perhaps I am just getting old and bitter, but such things I have little time and patience for. I will probably fire up MHW again if considerable endgame content comes out and maybe even again if it comes out on PC. The latter will make the game incredibly faceroll – aiming with a controller is non-existent – but we shall see. Until then.

Monday, February 12, 2018

We are Legion!

Hello. It's been awhile. Let's begin.

I randomly decided to play WoW again for a month. I don't really remember why. Boredom most likely. I mean, in the same month I also started reading The Horus Heresy 40k novels, some of which are actually pretty damn good, and found that I enjoyed reading them more than playing WoW. Funny old world aint it?

I guess the reason for this was twofold. Firstly, the lack of community really did not keep me interested for long. I seemingly am the only person I know who was playing it at the time (at least on Horde/Frostmourne), so having no real reason to stick around was very much a thing. The second reason was really the issues with World PvP on Frostmourne, now that it is almost a 5:1 Alliance population dominated server.

Pretty much every world quest you will do will require you to contest with an Alliance player (or two ... or three) in some way. Due to the new leveling and daily mechanics, this most often than not puts you in the cross-hairs of a max-level/geared raiding no-lifer who literally kills you in 1 hit and can fly. I am not exaggerating here. So, this somewhat staggered leveling experience of "disconnecting randomly" becomes quite a chore for someone late to the game.

World PvP is also incredibly broken with scaling mechanisms heavily favouring the more geared player, especially with legendary perks active. Not having any legendaries puts you at a huge disadvantage, so even in a 1v1 encounter, you are going to struggle. But its never just a 1v1 encounter on Frostmourne as Horde.

Well, screw world activities you might say. I certainly always have, always favouring the much more controlled and interesting battleground encounters. Here at least things were vaguely resembling something balanced, particularly regarding the gearing process, even if I thought the PvP talents system was stupid. Although I never obtained a single Legendary during my journey, I still managed to have a bit of fun with the game, even making a short PvP compilation of some of my more laughable encounters against classes that really should have beat me (e.g. Frost Death Knight).



While I wouldn't say my playtime in Legion was a waste of time, I can confidently say it was the least interesting and gutted WoW experience I have played thus far. Some of that charm from earlier iterations of the game is definitely gone with the rather watered down talent trees and class choices to make. Hopefully Battle for Azeroth brings back some of that old Warcraft energy.