 | Nevik on Heroes of the Storm, Some thou… |
| Happy 2nd Birthday D… on My trip to Blizzard ANZ + RoS… |
I’ve never been a good writer about my own experiences and mainly made this blog to post the Blizzard stuff I do. I’ve neglected even that side sinse I started doing the ocasional article for Silicon Sports (http://siliconsports.net/author/narull/).
I thought I’d post this for one of my stalkers who I know atleast used to watch here, incase you where wondering.
Disclaimer: Heroes of the Storm is currently still in Technical Alpha, everything posted here could become out of date or change at any time.
Heroes of the Storm (henceforth referred to as Heroes), Blizzards latest game has become a major addiction of mine, I was lucky enough to receive an invite to the Alpha on day one and have been playing it a lot since.
As of a couple of weeks ago lots of new players were invited from all over the world and it seems that among these people are not only DOTA and LoL players stuck in their ways, but also a lot of new players to the genre, players who are learning.
Now I have no issue with new players, I was one a couple of months ago and I’m far from a pro, but what does bug me is when people do try and teach you or even Blizzard offers you a tutorial that you ignore it thinking you’re better than that.
So let’s get to some of the fundamentals that I find people are missing.
1. Find a hero that suits you.
One of the most exciting things about Heroes is that it has many different heroes from the Blizzard universes and a lot more on the way. Each having their own playstyle and with the skill choices no two are alike, someone playing Kerrigan can be completely different from the other teams Kerrigan just because of the skills they choose.
The key here is to find a hero that you not only love because it’s your favourite, but it also matches the playstyle you enjoy and/or want to become good at.
If you want to be a support character but find yourself having more fun rushing headfirst into a battle to attack than perhaps support isn’t the best for you. Find an nice in-between, something that you can have fun with but won’t end up dead every five minutes (because really no one enjoys being dead).
Now I’m not saying don’t try different heroes I’m just saying find one you love and give the game a good go with it, rather than switching heroes every match. That way while you are learning the maps you won’t be learning your hero as well which makes it more difficult and generally less fun.
3. Learn the map objectives.
Currently the Alpha only has four maps implemented with another being added soon(tm), each has a very specific objective to the map, these are a must for winning the game and are too often ignored. Personally I recommend playing Practice games until you have tried all four, but I realise people like jumping straight into versus so just listen to your teammates and don’t be afraid to say you’re new to the map and ask what needs to be done.
While most sites (even the official site I believe) list the maps, I’ve listed them and described the best thing for the main objective.
The four maps currently are:
Blackheart’s Bay – Where you must collect coins from Chests that spawn and mercenaries and hand them in to Blackheart at the middle of the map to have him launch a barrage of cannon fire against your enemy. Simply put, coins are god for this map, get as many as you can, help your team get more, turn-in whenever you can and you could win without ever taking on a building yourself.
Cursed Hollow – Where every few minutes a ‘Tribute’ will spawn, GO FOR THIS TRIBUTE! These are the end all be all for this map, if your team is able to capture all three the Raven lord will curse the enemy team making all their buildings no longer fire and their minions are reduced to 1 hp. While this curse is active do not go get mercenaries or such, push a lane or two and push hard!
Dragon Shire – This map has 2 shrines one at the top the other at the bottom, control them both and someone can take the dragon knight in the middle of the map and become a powerful dragon. If you manage to become the dragon PLEASE don’t attack heroes or minions, attack towers! The dragon is a siege weapon and does mass damage to towers etc. But very little damage to heroes, he has an ability to kick heroes away from him so go ahead and use that, but do not chase down heroes etc. Also don’t be afraid of when the Dragon is going to die as he explodes with a knockback giving you plenty of time to get out of the enemy base.
Haunted Mines – Now this is a tricky one, this map involves a mine that when active you go into and collect skulls. Skulls make your Grave Golem more powerful so the team with the most skulls has a more powerful Golem fighting for them and hence can push a lane easier. However! The first Golem is generally not very good (its power increases by length of the match) so the current “best strategy” in my experience is to ignore the first opening of the mines and get all the mercenary camps. This will help in two ways, firstly you will be up in lanes getting experience while the other team is in the mines gathering skulls, so you will get a level ahead normally. Secondly the mercenaries this early in the game are extremely useful to push with.
These of course are not the only things you can do on the maps, getting mercenaries to help is a must on almost every map, team fights and not going 1v3 or such is a massive thing that should be taken into account, these are just some helpful tips for new players to have a read of.
3. Have fun! Test things! Report Bugs!
Remember we are still in Technical Alpha and even after that comes Beta so bugs and changes are to be expected, report them over on the Bug Report Forums and if you have a Technical issue check out the Technical Support Forums
I hope with this it helps someone, even if it’s only one new person or one LoL/DOTA player to learn that sitting in lanes at all times isn’t the best thing to do. In the end it’s a GAME we are meant to have FUN playing, but everyone likes to win so the objectives and hero choice that work well for you do matter.
Please remember why we game is to have fun, let’s make heroes an awesome game together and enjoy taking on others as our favourite heroes from the Blizzard universe.
If you’re interested in playing Heroes head on over to the beta signup page here: Heroes of the Storm Beta Signup
Find out more about the game here: Heroes of the Storm Official Site
This was my entry into @kierpanda’s http://eatgamelive.com/ Reaper of Recipes Challenge, I had a lot of fun taking part and doing up my own submission so I decided to post it here for anyone interested. Make sure you checkout http://eatgamelive.com/ for other epic game inspired recipies!
This is a recipe I learnt years ago when living with Korean friends, I use minced beef (hamburger meat for my American friends) because it’s cheap but you can use other cuts, all in all this recipe costs very little once you get the spices so it’s great to have if you’re on a tight budget but want something that tastes great.
Lore:
The Eternal Conflict is the name of war between the High Heavens and Burning Hells. This eternal struggle has now spilled over into the world of Sanctuary, but originally took place on the Battlefields of Eternity.
While one day we Nephalem may bring end to the conflict, for now we must battle to protect our brothers and sisters on Sanctuary, this dish will prepare you showing the nature of evil in the Hells (Spicy beef) the pure light of the High Heavens (White Rice) and the Battlefields of Eternity (Green Onions).
“There is a war that rages on even now, beyond the fields that we know–between the utopian kingdoms of the high heavens and the chaotic pits of the burning hells. This war is known as the great conflict, and it has raged and burned longer than any of the stars in the sky. Neither side ever gains sway for long as the forces of light and darkness constantly vie for control over all creation.”
—The Great Conflict
Material Requirements:
To prepare this dish you will need to hunt down these materials, I have found a good hunting location for these is called your ‘local store’ they should not be too hard for a mighty Nephalem as yourself to procure.
Gearing up:
While gearing up for this battle doesn’t take long, actual fight time will be about 15 min and you will be able to serve your entire group of 4.
The Battle:
Technically for me it’s been over 2 years now, since my life changed, my gaming habits changed, everything changed.
I was one of the lucky ones I guess, receiving a beta invite on the 2nd day that Diablo III went into closed beta, back than you could only level to 13 and the game stopped after defeating the Skeleton King and boy were things different.. I remember Demon Hunters being the worst class ever (even at such low level!) and getting a complete overhaul with all their skills, I remember friends driving for hours to come and give it a go at my place and I remember just how many times I played the beta, I levelled to 13 on over 40 characters, just doing the same thing again and again, my housemate at the time thought I was nuts, my girlfriend at the time just didn’t care but I saw potential in this game, I saw it as something I could dive into and forget the troubles of the real world, I enjoy mindless repetitive tasks and slaying demons became soothing to me.
I also acquired the Diablo III mouse which counts your clicks for you and did runs of beta to find out the ‘average’ amount of clicks you had to do for each class to beat the Skeleton King and runs on the least clicks possible, looking back it was clear I was addicted and the game was still months from release, I played beta from September 2011 when it first started and at least every couple of days until it shut down, I was in love.
May 15th 5pm(Australia time) was the big day, the day that the burning hells opened to the world and Diablo once again took so many souls, I had ordered 2 collector editions from 2 different stores just to make sure I got one, from 7am that day I put a sign on my mail box saying “I AM home, please come to the door, do not leave a missed parcel notice”, but I also had to go to the doctors that day, luckily a friend came over to house sit while I went out so that I had no chance of missing my CE…until my car broke down, the battery had died, clearly the work of Diablo himself, he knew I was coming for him. I had to call my friend at my house and have them come and pick me up, by the time we got back home there was the missed parcel notice on my front door, you won that battle Diablo, but the will of Narull is stronger! I had already secured a Digital copy and while not a CE it would do and I could upgrade later.
At 5pm I sat at my computer ready to go, I was on voice chat with several friends from a chat room I frequented, we wanted in and at 5:01 I logged in….fine I made my Demon Hunter and started the hunt…my friends however oh how they raged. Now this is odd because I almost feel like I missed a big part of D3’s launch, even know it was the worst part, the dreaded ‘Error 37’. Blizzard had massively underestimated how many people wanted to play on launch and the log in servers got destroyed, instantly the complaints spread across the web, gaming sites, forums, everything exploded with hate. Blizzard acted quick and diverted resources to the servers to try and get them going but it was in vain, the launch had been soiled and it took a good day or so before people could log in easily.
But me? nope I was again lucky, no problem logging in, no problem getting ingame, nothing I was playing and loving it, as I had played the beta (possibly too much) I went through quick and had already defeated the Skeleton King and far beyond by the time any of my friends were able to get online.
Since that fateful Tuesday a lot has changed ingame, D3 was a bit of a letdown to many and the log in errors caused a lot of people and reviews to give the game a lower rating than it deserved, I freely admit the game wasn’t perfect, Inferno was INSANE, Invincible minions were so so hard to kill (only the main mob was damageable), Demon Hunters Smoke Screen was overpowered, elites and champions would constantly heal when you died and if you died more than once your resurrection counter could go up to 30 seconds so the mob would be back at full health by then. Generally things were just a bit off, but hell I still loved it, the challenge was set very very high but that’s what I enjoyed, it WAS a challenge a completely ridiculous challenge.
Before Inferno got nerfed I was proud that I made it all the way to Diablo on Inferno without using Smoke Screen as well, it was damn hard but I did it on my Demon Hunter and while I could never beat Diablo on Inferno I’ll always be proud that I even made it that far.
Over the years Diablo has received a lot of patches, more than I expected and Blizzard has admitted even more than they planned, but they were devoted to fixing some of the mistakes and trying to please the masses. While if you visit the forums it may not seem like much has changed if you go ingame and play with people you can see it has a lot love the game. The expansion has been well received, the AH and RMAH have been shut down, Blizzard fixed the dreaded Error 37 (expansion launch went extremely smooth).
Times have changed and only for the better and I know that Blizzard has a lot more in store for us, from the new Demon I got a glimpse at the expansion launch (see my Trip to Blizzard ANZ post) event it’s clear they are working on more, the 2.1 patch is in the works as well which will add some form of ladder and timed rifts which I’m very excited about.
I’ve been lucky enough to make the ANZ community ingame with over 1000 members, become an MVP on the official forums and even go to Blizzard ANZ for the expansion launch event, I’ve made great new friends because of this game and continue too have fun with them daily. Diablo, Blizzard and the D3 Community are my family now and I’m proud to be a part of it.
Diablo III is a completely different game than it was 2 years ago and if you still sell it short you are only punishing yourself. Could it have improvements? Sure, but what game is perfect? As with us all you learn as you age and become wiser every year, here is too Diablo III’s 2nd Birthday and too many more to come!
Blizzard are Celebrating Diablo III’s 2nd Birthday with an ingame buff adding +100% chance to Legendary drops and double Rift Key Fragments, you can see full details here: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/14005211/
I’m giving you fair warning here I’m going to try and recall all I can from my entire trip, not just the event night. If you don’t care about the trip itself that’s fine, but seeing how the Blizzard ANZ team has made there office a mini version of Blizzard HQ is truly amazing.
Some time ago I was lucky enough to receive an email from Blizzard ANZ inviting me to an event they were holding in Sydney for the Reaper of Souls expansion, little was known about what the event would entail but there was no way I was going to refuse this offer. As I’m sure anyone reading this knows I’m a little obsessed with Diablo III and I cannot wait for the expansion to come out. After speaking with Blizzard more closely they also invited me to come in early and check out the office, have a chat with everyone and I happily offered to help out in any way I could.
So on March 20th I packed my bag and headed to the airport, as I haven’t flown in years plus I was going to Blizzard I was slightly excited, Zuul however had to be locked up for 24 hours and he was less impressed.
Angry bird is Angry
Arriving late in Sydney after a traffic jam in Brisbane (14 plane backup for the runway) and finding my way to the hotel I sat and relaxed for a minute enjoying my view, then decided it was time to clean myself up and go and see if I could hunt down Blizzard, unfortunately that didn’t go so well for me as I am horrible with directions and the Blizzard office really need a better sign out the front of the building. I actually saw someone walking down the street with a RoS t-shirt on and thought to follow him, but decided against it. This was a mistake as it would later turn out it was Paul Warzecha that I saw.
Thankfully twitter to the rescue!
After receiving my tweeted SoS PJ (Arcagnion) from Blizzard contacted me, walked outside his building and I was so close yet so far away.
Blizzard really need to get a bigger sign.
Once I had been saved by PJ he took me inside and showed me around. Now Blizzard share an office with Activision, basically Blizzard are upstairs and Activision is down, with a common lunch/break room. I met Chris who is the boss of Blizzard ANZ, Marie who does marketing and later I’d find Dan (PR manager) locked away in the meeting room doing press interviews with Paul Warzecha (D3 Lead Artist) who had come down from HQ for the event. So in total Blizzard ANZ is pretty much run by only 4 people, but these 4 people work insanely hard for everyone in the ANZ community and just speaking to them all whether 1 on 1 or all together their passion for the industry and for ANZ was clear.
One of the first things Chris told me is how they had worked hard to bring a little piece of the magic of HQ down under and I have to say they have done so well. The office has little nick-knacks and Blizzard items all over, from the Giant orc statue that greets you as you walk upstairs to the sword Chris had got for working for Blizzard for 5 years, it was amazing to see these items in real life and all of it just made me feel like this must be an amazing place to work.
Orc Smash?
Must resist killing Treasure Goblin!
(More pics in the gallery link at the bottom)
Once I had met everyone and had a little chat about the night I was shown to the room where PJ had just finished setting up some Alienware laptops with access to the new ANZ server and also Reaper of Souls access for people to try out and was introduced to Paul. Now I wasn’t sure what to expect when meeting the Lead Artist for Diablo, I thought possibly someone in such a ‘big’ position may be slightly cocky, but luckily I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Paul is a genuinely nice guy, Blizzard had flown him and his wife down for the event and even know he had been doing interviews all day he was happy to talk to me. I asked him if there was something he had worked on that I’d know off the top of my head and he had a laugh and said the simplest thing, a toad, this is the man in charge of character art for D3 but he also does the little things so he was the one who made the Witch Doctors toads, an easy task to start with I was told, but seems it evolved more and more as the designers wanted more things leading up to the giant man-eating toad.
You could see from the look in his eyes the pride he took in his work and how much he clearly enjoyed it. We ended up talking about Australia and how he was liking it and how he and his wife also plan on visiting New Zealand as they are big LotR fans so they are looking forward to going all over the North Island.
It was a proud moment for me to talk to one of the devs in a casual setting, I didn’t do an interview or such as it wasn’t really my place, I was just enjoying meeting the people behind a passion of mine. Soon I’d also meet the guys from the SiliconSports team (who I’d later find out would have to share a bed due to them getting the wrong room) and Mary and Sunset (later self-designated ‘Door Wenches’) all who I’d spoken to on twitter before, it was amazing meeting the people I’d spoken to online and after doing some setting up for the event we all prepared for the masses to be let in.
Let the event begin!
Once everything was ready we opened the doors and I stood inside telling people where food and alcohol was as they walked in, I noticed that this seemed to make people quite happy to meet me and everyone dug in and started socialising. I met far too many people to list during the night, we had about 65 people from fansites, media and community members. Everyone from the talented Aussie YouTuber ZiggyD to Shout-caster AtlusLoL and then the community members from The Southern Legion clan for D3. I spent the night meeting and talking to more and more people, I was amazed at how many knew who I was from the forums and was happy that everyone was so excited to be there, excited for Reaper of Souls and excited that Blizzard were doing the event for ANZ.
After some mingling we all sat down and the main event started. Chris introduced himself and the ANZ team, he gave a shout out to some of the big names that where there and even included me, then he introduced Paul to the crowd and Paul started explaining what he does and how RoS has evolved over the months. Things like that Westmarch used to be just dead, it was planned to have no people, no birds, nothing just a dead town that was creepy, but what would inhabit a town like that for us to kill? Well rats and bats basically, but luckily along the way someone said “hang on the players just killed the Prime Evil and now they are on rodent duty” so that was all changed to what we will see in RoS now. He explained his work and going from a piece of concept art to a 3D model to in game. How they would make a model and then have to modify it because of the top down view of Diablo. He told us of his favourite monsters and art and the level of detail that goes into each and every demon.
He also explained how they go over old art as well, a good example of this was the Executioner which was a piece of concept art from the Blizzard North days, but back then they didn’t have the technology to give it justice in the game so it was left aside. Paul and his team however loved the design and decided to bring it into Reaper of Souls.
How the Executioner came to life.
Needless to say it was great seeing how the development evolved over the time that they were making RoS, things were added, removed, readded and removed again, things got so close to finish that they had working in game models but were then removed just because it didn’t fit well. Blizzard had listened to feedback and worked very hard to get this one right and I think that will show when people play through Act V and experience it for themselves.
Paul then had a Q&A session and the best question of the night was “What’s your favourite monster that didn’t quite make it?” he told us of the ‘Bogadile’ a Crocodile which could burrow to move and lived in the Bog, it sounded so cool but just didn’t make the cut in the end. However! one day Paul was asked to make a Piranha for the new Witch Doctor skill, then he was asked to make a giant Piranha so it could eat people (like the toad), but Paul remembered he had already made the Bogadile as a monster in game and suggested that and it was well received. So the Bogadile did make it into the final game in a way, but we won’t be fighting it, instead it is on our side.
He also told us of 2 other demons which didn’t make it into the game because they ‘didn’t feel right’, a giant head with arms coming out of its eyes that just dragged itself along with its arms and another monster that was a zombielike set of legs but instead of a torso it had a giant pussball for it’s body and dragging behind it was the dead human body. These things were creepy indeed and may one day see the light of day, but for now they didn’t have a good feel or fit into the current game.
Paul then moved on to his work tablet which he had brought with him and showed us ZBrush, which is the program they use to make the Demons etc that we see in game. He started simply with a grey ball and started live sculpting a demon head before our eyes, it was amazing seeing the talent this man has and how simply yet how detailed he could be in just a matter of minutes.
Of course just when we were all picking our jaws up off the floor he showed one he “had just finished before heading to Aus”, this Demon is with the Animation department now he said so they can “make it work”. What it will be used for one day? Who knows, but I can’t wait to find out.
Looks like it will hurt.
Once Paul had stopped wowing us Chris came back up and announced the big news. The ANZ server was official and live, people could play on it right now and of course the room went wild. I was happy that I had prepared my own picture earlier and tweeted it out to the world at the same time I saw PJ duck off to make the official post on the forums. It was a great atmosphere that only got better as Chris revealed the gift of CE’s for everyone attending the night, again the crowd went wild and we all got up and went back to socialising. Discussing how amazing Pauls work was, how amazing it is to finally have an ANZ server.
At one stage I was pulled aside by the photographer who was doing video interviews and was asked to answer some questions on film for Blizzard HQ, I later learnt Blizzard will be doing a ‘highlight reel’ which will be interesting if my footage is used because well, 1 I was a little drunk and 2 I honestly flat out forgot one of the questions while in front of the big recording lights as I was just too hyped at everything.
I met up with YDFWM and Ryoka from the official ANZ forums and chatted about current pings, the forums and what we plan on doing at launch, they seemed happy with everything and very excited to be apart of the community. I learnt that Ryoka had to be sold on actually attending the event and finally learnt what YD’s name meant (which I won’t repeat here as it’s a bit vulgar). I spoke with the Southern Legion members and learnt just how passionate they are about the game, how excited they are for RoS and how much they were all enjoying themselves. Again it was simply too many people I spoke too and they were all overjoyed to be there.
Ryoka, Arcagnion, YDFWM & myself
I wish I had taken more pictures but my phone died from too much tweeting but as the night wound up Chris was trying to get people to leave but they were just having too good a time, it took a good hour plus turning on all the lights, turning off the music and then finally telling people they won’t get there CE’s to get people to move on. I stayed back with the Blizzard people to help clean up and once we had we all took a seat outside and just talked for a while. It was great talking to Chris in a casual setting, learning about what everyone does and what they expected from the night compared to what had happened. I think it would be fair to say that everything exceeded the plans and that the night was seen as a success. We ended up just sitting and talking (and drinking) for a good hour or so before we decided we best head off, before we did though Chris invited me back in the morning to hang around the office until my flight which was great as I had no clue what I was going to do all day.
I actually ended up going across to the Casino with some Blizzard people to meet up with some others from the event who were having an unofficial ‘after party’ but eventually around 1am headed back to my hotel and randomly ran into Mary getting out of a taxi returning to her room, she handed me some Mcdonalds fries and said I’d eat them as we parted ways at the elevator and I almost passed out instantly once I into my room (I admit those fries were good though).
Waking up at 9am I knew I’d have a slight hangover as I hadn’t drunk anything in 2 years beforehand. But after a shower and a few litres of water I was back on my feet, checking out and heading back to the Blizzard office. PJ greeted me and already everyone was back at work, gathering information from news sites etc that had run articles overnight about the ANZ server. Overall it looked like a positive reaction from the public and I felt as if the ANZ crew where very proud of the months of work finally paying off and being made public. I was told I could grab the spare desk and go nuts on the computer so I started catching up on the forums like I normally do and was happy reading the positive posts from the ANZ community. Blizzard have had this in the works for a very long time, but they don’t ever like to reveal something until it is 100% and it’s good to go. Chris had told me how right up until the event the server was still in the ‘test’ phase and he was waiting on the go from the techs as to if it would indeed stay stable and they would be able to make it the announcement or if it needed to undergo further testing. Luckily things worked out great.
Sitting in the office at Blizzard with the team working around me I felt like I was with family, Blizzard is a place where they do care about the community and they try to make people happy, unfortunately you can never please everyone so at times they must bear the brunt of some bad reactions to things, but if you can see past that and look at the bigger picture you can see the people behind the company who truly do care and work so hard to keep the community happy. This is a place I’d like to call home (well work) one day and I’ll keep working towards that goal. After several hours looking over forums, talking more to Chris about the event and the news, following up some minor things and having lunch with PJ, Mary, Starlight and Lalor it was time to head off.
It was a little sad leaving the office, the 24 hours I spent down in Sydney for this were amazing and I hope to go back sometime if Blizzard will have me. I adore the ANZ community and will always do all I can for them. I enjoy what I do on the forums, twitter and in game as more than just a game, it’s a passion, it’s a part of my life and I am proud of that.
I’ll be back Blizzard ANZ and hold that desk for me ok (A man can dream).
I claim this desk in the name of Narull.
Full gallery of the pictures I took on my trip can be viewed here: http://imgur.com/a/mz70K
With less than 2 weeks remaining until the Diablo III Auction Houses close down things are going a bit insane for the Gold AH.
I believe people have started to panic, thinking that they won’t be able to get items as easily anymore so they have gone into hoarding mode. Like when a Cyclone is coming people are ‘cleaning out the shelves’ on the AH and for those who know what RoS holds it’s a golden age of making some quick gold.
Anything from Legacy Legendaries to rares and even whites are selling on mass. Even Legendaries which are debatably useless like my The Grand Vizier are selling for decent amounts(1 million for mine). Could this be people not knowing that buying Legendaries doesn’t unlock transmog? or could it be that people think magic find will be hard to get and they don’t know it’s almost all removed? Possible as well. But all we do know is that weird things that wouldn’t sell before are selling now.
Lets look at some examples of what I’ve sold over the last couple of days.
White items selling for 50,000 gold each.
So why are people stocking up on whites? For Common Debris clearly, which is used for lvl60 crafting. Now I’m sure some people are doing a lot of crafting in the new system, but I also fear people are stocking up thinking they can use them at lvl70. Unfortunately lvl70 crafting uses Reusable Parts which is a new material from salvaging lvl70 whites so at lvl70 Common Debris is almost useless apart from for an alt. This applies to all crafting materials. I know some people want to reroll gear straight off the bat going into RoS, but really it’s not overly needed and you will replace the gear quick enough anyway and none of the lvl60 matts are used at lvl70.
Gems Gems Gems!
It was a hard choice to sell my Gems, they -could- still be used but as I’ve played the RoS beta I know that from 60-70 you start getting new Gems dropping and they are far better, so why not make the gold now. The above picture of Gem sales took around 2 hours. Gems are selling like hotcakes and for decent money so really why not get rid of them when you need gold more then you need low level gems in RoS.
It does make me wonder if the market will crash soon, will people run out of gold to buy these items? Will they realise it’s almost a waste? or do people just have that much gold burning a hole in their pocket? I won’t even touch the Real Money Auction Houses gold sales as it’s just going up and up in price but personally I expect it to crash the last couple of days before the shutdown, all I know is that as the End of Days for the Auction Houses draws closer things are getting weirder, take my advice and sell now, Gold is far more important than that random Legendary you have laying around on an alts follower so sell it and make a quick buck before you’re stuck with it forever.
Blizzard’s take at a Collectable Card Game has quickly turned into a worldwide phenomenon with people scrambling for Beta keys like the Black Friday shopping we see every year over in the US.
But why is it that it has become such a craze among the gaming world? Blizzard releasing any new title in any of their games would cause such a reaction, but Hearthstone is something else, it’s a complete new game not just an expansion.
The overall reaction from some fans has been rather amusing if you look at the game from announcement till now. At first people insulted and badmouthed Blizzard for going back to their roots, taking a chance and even making a free to play game(no Hearthstone isn’t pay to win, no matter what anyone says) and now? those same naysayers want in the beta bad and if they are in the beta they find they love it so much that they want more.
That is where we find ourselves today and that is the issue I think Blizzard never expected to find themselves in. Just what kind of game is Hearthstone? does it have longevity? will players be still playing it in six months? can it become an eSport? and just what kind of devotion can it handle, can someone play it exclusively as their ‘main game’. Currently Hearthstone doesn’t have a lot of single player content and while there is AI you can play against it’s clearly not intended for long term play, the game is built around playing competitively against other real people. Blizzard did announce at BlizzCon that they intend on adding ‘Adventures’ to the game post release and they will continue to add cards via expansions for the long term which should alleave some of the craving but as everyone who knows Blizzard fans will know, they always want more and I’m sure Blizzard is already planning the long term future for the game.
But why is it that Blizzard find themselves in this situation? Personally I think the issue is that people have enjoyed the simple fun of Hearthstone that they want more of the same. Hearthstone is the perfect game for sitting down and relaxing with. Whether you only have 10min for a quick game or if you want to have something simple to relax with while you half do something else Hearthstone is the perfect game to go along with it, but that’s not to say that you couldn’t create a deep environment with it and be able to play it exclusively, just that currently it may be best if you had something else to go along with it.
When I play Hearthstone I boot it up while playing my 3DS or watching a movie/TV show on my second screen. It is the perfect company to go with something else and I think this may have been what Blizzard intended in the first place. When you compare Hearthstone to Blizzard’s other games it is by far the most casual, you don’t have to devote mass amounts of time to it to have fun, you can come and go as you please with no penalty and if you don’t play for months and then want to have another go you can pick up where you left off without any issues because of new content being added.
Some may say this is a bad thing. Is it too casual a game? will that make it so the ‘hardcore’ players will quit after a month and Hearthstone could have issues because of them leaving, but for every ‘hardcore’ player there is plenty of casuals enjoying the game in the same way I am, just relaxing to a game or twelve while watching something, talking on forums/twitter or having a nice cup of your favourite beverage.
So to all the ‘hardcore’ players out there, I do understand why you desire more from Hearthstone and while I don’t think Blizzard expected it we know they are working on it, for now why not sit back, relax, grab a drink and enjoy the simple fun of playing a card game.
You can read more about upcoming content and changes for Hearthstone here: http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/11524460/hearthstone-at-blizzcon-fireside-chat-panel-highlights-11-8-2013
Opt-In for beta testing of Hearthstone here: https://us.battle.net/account/management/beta-profile.html
With online games becoming more ‘mainstream’ and the focus on online interaction, game Developers may be seeing a change in their job description and players may need to have a small change of attitude.
Back in the day you barely heard from Devs, they were the silent heroes(or villains) behind a game, creating masterpieces from the shadows and then viewing feedback both in secret and via community managers/e-mail/etc.
But now things are changing, fans want more and more direct contact with games and more direct control over what they want from a game. This brings into play the issue of if a game Dev is happy to speak to the public or if they still wish to do so from behind the safety wall of someone more adept in dealing with the masses.
I think the trick to this change will be up to the players, if and when a Dev speaks up, if you have a discussion with them instead of flat out abuse they should be happy to talk. Think of them as animals in the wild, when you see a bird you want to get close too you don’t run up screaming or it would fly away, you need to approach with caution and care, don’t scare them off. (No offence was intended to Devs by comparing them to scared animals)
I don’t think it’s such a bad thing for Devs to speak up and I think all game Devs out there should know the world is changing and the job description may change a bit to having to speak with the public more, but the public needs to adapt as well.
When you play a game you love or hate you are playing the Devs creation, their ideas, passion and hard work are what goes into making a game and just because you may disagree with the plans some Devs have or you don’t like a change that is made does not mean it was a bad choice, simply a viewpoint that is different from your own.
Now this may sound harsh but gamers worldwide need to realise that you are playing the Devs game, not yours and with that will come disagreements and changes you don’t like, I’m not saying being passionate about your favourite game is bad or that expressing your viewpoint is wrong either I’m simply saying you need to understand that Devs have the benefit of knowing where they plan the game to end up at, they don’t make snap decisions because they are in for the long haul and any change even the smallest could affect something planned for later on in the games lifetime.
There is some amazing game Devs in the world working on all sorts of different games and really there is something for every type of gamer out there. But games are a major passion for a lot of players so game Devs need to face the masses and explain or at least discuss there changes and the masses of passionate fans? They need to understand that to a Dev a game is there sweat and tears, it’s there creation and they are shaping it both to make you happy but also to achieve their dream of what the game should become. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean it’s bad.
It’s a bold new world for gaming people.
Well Blizzcon is complete and while I know everyone is writing recaps, thoughts and otherwise I thought I’d chuck in a personal viewpoint from home instead of those who were their. This isn’t meant to be a recap of what was shown, for a detailed recap check out a fansite like BlizzPro
Due to living in Australia Blizzcon started at 3am local time, while the stream itself didn’t start until 4:30am I still decided to be up and hitting the twitterverse when the doors opened to see pics and reports people posted.
Previous to Blizzcon I decided to make myself a treat, go go Blizzcon cupcakes.
Stream Teething problems.
Every year for the Blizzcon live stream there is some form of issue, I’ve seen people complaining about this on the forums and I myself had some issues when the stream first started as stream 1 had no video and low sound, stream 2 had video but low sound, but stream three was just right 😉
This being said, Blizzard were on top of it and by the time the opening ceremony was over(all 4 streams broadcast it anyway) it was mainly fixed. Stream 1 still had some issues with background noise but again it was fixed soon enough.
Others complained about stuttering and issues with playback on day 2, but again this came down to an easy fix of clearing cookies and setting the videos playback time to current.
All in all these were tiny issues and I think this years stream was the best of all the years. The trick is even with technology advancing you can’t get it perfect when so many people are connecting.
Day 1 Watch List
Day 1 I managed to pack in a few different things, I watched the following panels live:
Preshow
Opening Ceremony
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Cinematic Intro – Bringing Death to Life
StarCraft II Update
Hearthstone: Fireside Chat
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Preview
Heroes of the Storm Overview
Cosplay/Talent Contests
I won’t go into detail of each event because there is enough people doing that, but I will say that Blizzard excelled at showing off new features, showing their passion for what is being worked on and it just left me wanting to play these damn things NOW. Half way through the Fireside Chat I had to switch the stream to my 2nd monitor just so I could have a game of Hearthstone and Blizzard continue to make the most amazing cinematics in the world with the Heroes of the Storm trailer just being pure epicness.
Day 2 Watch List:
Day 2 was a bit more frustrating, way to many things I wanted to watch live, which lead to two things. Day 3 was created because I knew I’d have to watch some things later and I also ended up streaming 3 stages at once for some of it. Still I managed to watch a lot live.
Hearthstone Exhibition
Heroes of the Storm Live Matches
WCS Global Finals: Grand Finals
Closing Ceremony
Day 2 was mainly esports and seeing the games being played. As with a previous post I’ve made some people say I’m just “watching others have fun” but damn. The Hearthstone Invitational Tournament had me on the edge of my seat, amazing games and Artosis finally got the win. Since I was rooting for him I was happy, plus I’m proud to say I beat him once on the ladder(although it was only because he played Jaraxxus and I had Sacrificial Pact). Heroes of the storm looks simple enough to be easily accessible by all but deep enough to be fun and the StarCraft finals are always amazing to watch the pros go at it.
Day 3 Everything I missed:
As with all Blizzcons there is just too much you want to see that is on at the same time, luckily with the Virtual Ticket I’ve been able to go back and watch the rest. There is no official day 3, but sure as hell is an unofficial one.
World of Warcraft: What’s Next
World of Warcraft: The Adventure Continues
Diablo III lore and Story Q&A
World of Warcraft Live Raid
StarCraft II Exhibition
The Evolving Sound of Warcraft
World of Warcraft Raids, Gameplay, Questing and More
Warcraft Movie Presentation
Heroes of the Storm Deep Dive
Diablo III: Gameplay Systems + Crusader
World of Warcraft Q&A About Almost Everything
Diablo III Open Q&A
Epic Cosplay and You
All in all a lot of information to take in, the Q&A sessions can be annoying and you can see who is from the forums and just asking the same spammed subjects which is just a waste of time in comparison to those who are giving good feedback or asking questions others want to know as well. But seeing what is planned for the future in depth along with seeing direct communication between devs and members of the community is what makes Blizzcon great.
What I feel I really missed out on:
Blizzcon is great for everyone, whether you’re at the convention or at home watching it is still great to watch and be apart of. However for us at home there is a couple of things lacking.
Being able to ask questions of the Devs etc – We had the ability to tweet the casters and they may pick our questions during one of the brief 10min breaks when they interviewed someone, but really this was lacking and very very few questions got asked. I know it would be tricky to do but a system where Virtual Ticket holders could vote on specific questions preshow to be asked would be amazing.
An actual feel of the show floor – I wish Blizzard could make it feel more like we are part of the con rather than just watching the panels. A simple virtual tour or someone just strolling around with a camera would have been great just to see everything that we can’t see.
Meeting the CMs/GMs – I know the con had sections setup to meet the GMs and CMs. While I’m lucky enough to have discussions with some members of the CM team rarely, it would be great just to be able to see these setups and have a virtual meet and greet, even if it was just the CM/GMs saying hi to the stream.
People at the con didn’t have to see old information – This one is simple but bugged me. During breaks and also as ‘informational’ videos are played to the stream. The Hearthstone one was the worst as it was a video released back when hearthstone was first announced. Since it’s announcement and now a lot has changed, even the name of Arena has changed but the video was old so they were still referring to it as ‘The Forge’. This can easily be confusing to those not ‘in the know’ and really is just lazy of Blizzard, it wouldn’t have been hard to make or at least update these videos.
Closing thoughts:
So another Blizzcon has past and it’s another I wasn’t able to attend. I’ve watched every Blizzcon live since the Virtual Ticket came to be and before then I’d sit on forums awaiting new info. This year was by far the best. The details of information given to fans, the pride and passion that Blizzard show and the amazing quality of everything just sets Blizzard apart from others.
I cannot wait to get my hands on Heroes of the Storm and Reaper of Souls(dear god I want Reaper of Souls), Hearthstone has become something of an addiction to me, StarCraft II is something I am passionate about watching professionally(but only because I suck at it) and the allure of WoW is calling to me every day and I know with the storyline for Warlords of Draenor I won’t be able to resist.
While the stream is a bittersweet thing I’d take it over nothing anyday, the ability to see what others are seeing live is amazing and makes you feel like part of the convention even if it is only a small part.
I can only hope there will be another Blizzcon next year and while I know I won’t be able to go, I will be here at home at 3am again tuning in to enjoy every second of it and absorb every piece of information.
You can see the official information for Blizzcon here: http://us.battle.net/blizzcon/en/
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/reaper-of-souls/
Heroes of the Storm: http://www.heroesofthestorm.com/en-us
Hearthstone: http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/
Over the last several months and years I have noticed a trend in the world. People are starting to lose pride in their work, their passion, even their own thoughts(such as this blog) or tweets on twitter.
It is a sad thing to see in this day and age and I’d like to say that it doesn’t matter what you do or even if you enjoy doing it. Take pride in what it is and it will make it overall more satisfying for you.
I know a lot of younger people hate having to get a job at a fast food place or someone may detest having to deal with the same trouble shooting issues day in day out when working tech support. But if you take pride in your work even if you don’t enjoy doing it, it can lead to so many more opportunities. The higher ups will look at you more closely and more opportunities will open up for you. Companies will always prefer to have someone taking pride in what they do rather than someone “just getting the job done.”
If you are passionate about something whether it be sports, gaming, coffee, whatever, it doesn’t matter but take pride in that passion. Be proud of yourself and show that in what you do. When you are telling someone about it be enthusiastic and show that you’re not afraid to take pride in your passions. This will make people think twice about it and perhaps even open a new world to them.
I take pride in my passions, I take pride in this post just as I take pride in every post I make on forums/twitter etc, even if someone else doesn’t approve or like me for what I do or say I know I’m enjoying it and when it boils down to it thats what will get you through the day. It will make a day full of something that could be annoying or frustrating far more worthwhile.
After All if you can lay down at night and smile because you are proud of the work you did then really does anything else matter?
Pride is a dying art, but embrace it. Let it be apart of your work, your personal life, everything you do! I guarantee it will make your life a lot more fulfilling.
Narull Down Under 