Archives

Brawl vs AI

Mar25

The most recent brawl in the updated Arathi Basin is vs a team entirely of AI.  I really don’t think even Alliance can lose but it’s enjoyable for a few reasons.  For one, you know you aren’t going to get blasted out of your boots and GY farmed by a team 100x better than you.  I quit doing random bgs for like 2 years now, when I use to do them ALL THE TIME, because of this.  With the exception of WoD where Alliance dominated, you could expect, as Alliance, to get murdered in every single bg.

I’m talking terribly unbalanced by score, HK’s, damage, you name it.  You sort a scoreboard and see the top 7 be Horde by damage and welp, why even bother.

The AI has decent damage, and even then are often better than the live players.  However it gives Alliance in particular a chance to win for once, and practice stuff like spinning.  These bots try to stealth cap and ninja cap like a BOSS.  You have to be on your spin game or they WILL take it from under your nose.  I think it’s very excellent practice without getting absolutely slaughtered like you would in any other game.  So my reasons for liking it really boils down to

  1. fighting a team only slightly sub-par with an average Alliance player
  2. Almost impossible to not win
  3. Your team has a good chance to respond to inc calls and WIN the team fight
  4. Alliance works together and can actually feel a win

That being said, I would love to see different flavors of this like in Overwatch. Have a legendary mode where the AI has god-mode where they know where the other team is at all times and responds accordingly.  THAT would be sweet.  They could know that you have 3 in the road going to Farm and 1 hunter at stables and send an appropriate amount where they need to go.  I’d love to see that.

The Gates

Mar22

I’m kind of scratching my head as to why Blizzard keeps gating absolutely everything behind something else.  Ok, not really, I know it’s to keep people in the game longer.  But typically it’s not even remotely fun AND it didn’t use to be that way. Normally games start off pretty grindy and get easier, this is going the other way. Here’s my examples.

New races or classes:

Classic: Just pick them and play

BC: Just pick them and play (Blood Elf, Dranaei)

Wrath: Just pick it, do a very interesting starting area, and play (Death Knight)

Cata: Just pick it, do a very interesting starting area, and play (Goblin, Worgen)

MoP: Just pick it, do a very interesting starting area, and play (Pandaren)

WoD: None

Legion: Just pick it, do a very interesting starting area, and play (Demon Hunter)

BFA: Get A BUNCH of reps to EXALTED, do a TON of quests, and then play (several hours to even get to that point mind you, applies to lightforged draenei, dark iron dwarves, night borne, etc etc)

 

Flying:

Classic: No flying

BC: Flying was very expensive, nether drakes requiring grind

Wrath: Purchase Northrend flying for gold.  A lot of it.

Cata: Purchase old world flying for gold.

MoP:  Get to max level and purchase panda flying for gold.

WoD: Get to max level and grind out a very long, and 2 part series of quests and achievements to get flying.

Legion: Get to max level and grind out a very long, and 2 part series of quests and achievements to get flying. Then promptly lose it in the next zone shortly after earning it.

BFA: No flying again, do a very long 1 part to grind out rep and quests to get flying.  Expansion has been out 8 months and there isn’t even a part 2 yet.  Sigh.

 

Flight points:

I’m a little fuzzy on the specifics between expansions on this one, but before BFA you just got to the flight point, learned it, and could use it.  If I recall correctly your alts would also have it.  At some point that became no longer the case.  It was like that, as far as I know, from Classic until Legion (10+ years).

But hey, in BFA there are flight points you have to grind rep for and BUY before you can learn them, and some even locked behind QUESTS.  What the actual shit Blizzard?  NO flying AND you have to grind or buy flight points to get around in a timely fashion?  It’s especially egregious in some zones where the flight points are only on the coasts of the land and none anywhere near the center.   Why not just remove the X on the game when we log in and remove the log out option?

 

WINTERGRASP IS BACK!!

Mar15

They turned Wintergrasp into a queue-able battleground and WOW.  I haven’t seen this much activity even back when it was new! Lines of vehicles everywhere, people getting chased down by catapults, 12 sieges and demos rolling towards the towers, just amazing!

It’s a good time all around.  Now that being said, I do believe that defending is way easier than attacking right now.  I played 3, won 2, and the loss was attacking and the 2 wins defending.  I have some thoughts about that.

Defenders, just have it easier.  You can spare maybe 4 vehicles to go get the towers and break them down in relatively short order, making the game end quicker.  The rest of your vehicles can be helping ALL THE OTHER players who are in the turrets on the keep, on the ground assisting you, and absolutely wreck both the players and the vehicles coming in.  So let’s count that, defenders have the keep turrets, the RPG GGs, any vehicles they have (catapults are SCARY anti-personnel vehicles right now!), and any players in ideal situations around the keep.  As a solo player you can stand on the keep ledges if ranged, you can stay near the keep walls and teleport instantly back in, etc.

As the attackers you… you can get vehicles.  And uh, that’s it.  You have to send way more than 4 people to defend your towers since there are 3 and 1 player has a hard time taking out 1 vehicle.  So let’s say 3 players per vehicle.  If the other team is rolling 12 sieges, like my loss game was doing, you need probably at least 30 people to go take care of that.  That leaves 10 people to go beat up the keep, and you’re facing all the defense I just talked about.

Now let’s say you are on the attack, and  defending your towers, you have all the rings and temples and workshops and have 16 vehicles. I think that’s the max.  You send all 16 to batter down the keep walls.  The defenders can abandon breaking down your towers no problem, and rush to deal with you with all the resources they have.  Let’s just list, IMO of course, what side has what to be clear.

Defenders:

  1. Turrets on the keep
  2. Attacking from the walls
  3. Easy port back into the keep for safety
  4. RPG GG (two shot vehicles)
  5. Easily defend-able choke point assuming the other side only opens one wall
  6. The leisure to abandon tower breaking at any time for keep defense

Attackers:

  1. uh.  the same vehicles defenders can get?
  2. ?????

 

I really don’t know how the attackers can win very easily.  They are pretty much forced to be spread out, with the ease of getting vehicles both sides that I’ve seen have pretty equal amounts, but attackers need to defend 3 towers spread across the south part of the map, while also making a HUGE push to the keep, against massive defenses.  Attackers have to get down the turrets, defend against the other sides vehicles, protect their own vehicles against players as well, while also trying to break down walls where you are basically immobile while doing so.

They may need to add something for the attackers, like the ability to repair the vehicles.

 

 

Diablo 1.0, I’m Ready

Mar13

 

It runs totally fine too.  I forgot a few things though, like how doors will be stuck open if a demon dies in front of it, and how you have to save constantly because it doesn’t auto save progress.  Man, save points or manually saving is so late 80’s to early 90’s isn’t it!

 

The butcher still made my heart race like crazy though.

This entry was posted on March 13, 2019, in PvP.

The matchmaking in Overwatch is totally garbage

Mar9

Seriously.  I’m on a 7 game LOSING streak today.  I got 3 gold medals with this on one of the losses, that’s how terrible my teams have been.

 

 

I even played with a guy who lost 2 with me, then HE got swapped to another team and won 3 in a row before it reshuffled.  Then I went on to lose 4 more.  Then I joined with my husband where we lost even more.  Like at least 20 losses with not a single win.

 

It’s not even close games either.  It’s like being camped in spawn, never getting anywhere near the point, moving the payload maybe an inch.  No cards for your team at all and absolutely decimated over and over.  Very bizarre today.

 

I am pretty sure this game does not let you see the other teams MMR because you’d find yourself at 1000 playing against someone at 3000 or something.  Like a full team of under 500 against a 3000.

This entry was posted on March 9, 2019, in PvP.