Birthday Break

So all of you may or may not know that the 26th of July is my Birthday. If you didn't then now you do. With that in mind I am going to be taking a short break from blogging for my Birthday starting today. After my short holiday I will be back with everything you know and love about my posting. Hopefully you don't all miss me too much and can go about your day without feeling like something is missing!

Happy Birthday to me!

You Must Defeat My Dragon Punch

Happy Wednesday! Yes here we are right in the middle of the week thinking about something to argue over. So what better time to have a list in which people will have opinions for days about. So what is this list then? Well the most recognizable signature moves in video games. So here we go let the arguments begin!

5. Spin Dash - Sonic

So we have seen the little blue ball rolling around collecting coins for years. He was always going to be on this list it was just a question over where.

4. Spin Attack - Link

Now I was thinking of putting the yelp in, but that doesn't really count as a "move". Every Zelda game though we see Link with his sword and shield preform this again and again.

3. Fus Ro Dah - Dovahkiin

Who doesn't love this battlecry? Like really? How many people scream this and have no idea where it comes from?

2. Get Over Here - Scorpion

Now when I thought about this list I knew this was going to be number 1 or number 2 but it came in at number 2. That doesn't mean that it isn't recognizable as I am sure all of you know. Just means that it just falls short.

1. Hadouken - Ryu and Ken

Now I am sure some of you have your doubts, but hey it is my list. I scream this randomly when I throw a ball just for laughs. Always a great time.

There you have it. This week's list. Feel free to argue till the cows come home about it.

You Fail At Talking With Non Gamers If...

Fail Day! Yes here we are in the middle of summer with a Fail Day upon us. What happens in the summer? Well we see people we don't always see because work schedules or more relaxed for everyone. With that and myself being a gamer I am around my fair share of non gamers. So I run into a like problem throwing out the gamer talk. So here is a fail day for me and all the other gamers out there for when we get that look.

You Fail At Talking With Non Gamers If...

• You keep saying they Ninja'd your Beer
• You are complaining to others about girlfriend aggro
• When you fold in poker you say GG
• You are wondering why someone is so confused by the card that says "You must construct additional Pylons" card in Cards Against Humanity
• You make a technical alpha joke
• You pretend to die while touching water and no one laughs
• People think you are a mime when you are pretending there is an invisible wall
• You complement someones APM while watching them text
• You make a joke about how light someone's skin is
• While instructing someone how to load something on netflix you refer to the buttons as R1 and L1
• You told someone you pwnd them

and finally

• You have nothing non gamer related interesting to say

There you have it this week's edition of Fail. Hope you all enjoyed it and hopefully your conversations are a little less awkward.

Call Of The Warrior

Monday! Yes I know it is here and you aren't too excited about it. Will have to live with it. Also don't worry I have a great machinima for you. Now if you don't know Nixxiom then you should. I have showcase a few of his creations before, but as you will find when you watch his machinima most of them are generally of the comedic nature. It doesn't mean he can't do serious stuff just tends to not do so. Call of the Warrior though is on the serious side and quite good have a watch you won't be disappointed.



Was I not right?

Ask Gauss

Sunday! Yes here we are on the tail end of our weekend once again. It is sad, but we have ways of curing that sadness. One of which might actually be seeing what questions I am answering this week from all of you. If you are still unsure some how or are new to the whole thing. Just send in your questions to gaussafication@gmail.com. If I answer it on here congratulations if not be sure I will get to it eventually. With that let's get to it.

Did you happen to see the footage for the Warcraft movie from Comic-Con? If so what did you think?

From what I saw it appeared to be scenes from the novel Rise of the Horde. Now there were some changes, which is completed to be expected but even in low quality I liked what I saw. I know some people are complaining about CG but what did you expect if you wanted the orcs to look like the orcs we know and love. Be sure when we see more things from the Alliance perspective you will get a better feel for the whole thing. It really has made me very curious what is in store for us come November and a Trailer.

Do you like how Blizzard is now getting people to buy into their Betas?

I assume you are referring to Legacy of the Void and previously Heroes of the Storm. Companies have been doing this for awhile. Now for Free to Play games it makes a lot of sense to do a Beta this way. It gives people who are willing to contribute to the game financially a bonus of getting to play first. It also gives them the opportunity to spend the money they were going to spend anyway. Blizzard though for LotV is just allowing people who pre-purchase a chance to play the beta and the prologue. Nothing serious. It is not like they are getting into the campaign and are going to spoil it for everyone. So to all the people freaking out about Blizzard trying to cash in unfairly to people forget it. They are just buying the game early and getting a chance to play. If they were buying beta access and not the game then that would be a different story.

Do you go to Comic-Con?

No San Diego is a little far.

There they are the questions for the week all answered for yours and my enjoyment! Enjoy what is left of  your weekend and if you are like me enjoy the heatwave

Whispers of Oblivion Rant

So here I was going through my Reader Posts for the week. When I find this rant sent to me from Zergnator who finds everything to complain about the new Legacy of the Void missions he can possible think of. Starcraft doesn't have they best story. It never has. Even in Brood War the story had great elements that were built on, but it has always had those cheesy comedic moments along with the the obvious cliches. I have always enjoyed that type of Science Fiction which is why I think Star Wars and Doctor Who are so popular. We get it, it is science fiction but it doesn't have to be dull and serious. Anyways, I thought I would share the rant just to get it out there so here it is.

I've gotta say, I've never seen such an amazing concept butchered and bastardized like the hybrid plot. If you're reading this and not aware, the prologue missions for LOTV were leaked a couple days ago. I was too curious to wait until I could play them myself and watched them through to the end. The most obvious problem with them is the quality of the writing. Now without commenting on the GLORIOUS dialogue I want to focus on the hybrid plot. So let's go back to BW for a sec, to that secret mission where zeratul finds the hybrid for the first time. 

The setup for the hybrid plot is imo one of the best parts of BWs plot. To begin with, it's basically something that comes out of no where. Just when you think you get the lore and story entirely this twist happens. You are told by Duran that not only does he serves "a far greater power", but it has slept for countless ages, is represented by the hybrid, and plans to change the universe forever. There are apparently thousands of secret labs across the galaxy doing the impossible, creating zerg/protoss hybrids for some unknown reason. Something exists out there that is stronger than the terrans, protoss, or zerg and can break the laws of nature. 

I feel like there's a real element of lovecraftian horror there. In the hands of a genius writer, this could've become amazing in sc2. The buildup was already there in BW, and when I first played SC2 the followup on that was one the things I was most hyped for in WOL. Now, between WoL, HOTS, and LOTV it's turned into a joke. It has gone from one of the most promising to one of the most disappointing things to come with this game, and it's reduced to WoW writing level of crap (considering WoW is one of blizzard main IPs I wouldn't be surprised if that's the inspiration for SC2 story-telling). It's told in such a cheesy, unbelievable way, and in the LOTV missions I feel like i've seen the worst of it.

Just.....first off in WOL the horror of the unknown was broken entirely by having mr. exposition AKA tassadar show up (how convenient). It's such a lame way to explain it, there's no subtlety, and honestly the hybrid plot being paired up with a cliche prophecy is not just too convenient, but dumb. OK, so.......how the hell does the prophecy exist anyway? Who wrote it? When? Why? How do they know the future, and most importantly: this is not warcraft.........right? That's a straight up fantasy trope being forced into a sci-fi/war series. That makes no sense in the starcraft universe. Even if there are subtle elements of fantasy in the old games, it's not nearly as prevalent and over-the-top as it's portrayed now.

Back to LOTV, I love how that taldarim guy can talk to amon like he's freaking dr. claw. The whole thing felt like an episode of some 80s cartoon action show, like He-man or TMNT lol, it's just so bad. Chris metzen I assume you're the main writer in charge...........how did you go from SC1 to this? I mean, SC1 didn't have the best plot ever in a game, but it was so much more engaging and original, or at least in it's execution. The bastardization of the dark themes is so painful too. If this was it's own series, I wouldn't complain about it having a cheesy vibe. Thing is.....it's called starcraft, and people who grew up with SC1 and BW associate it with writing that takes itself rather seriously, and portrays a dark, warring version of the future.

You don't change the whole tone of the series in a sequel like that. That would be like if dead space 2 turned into a family comedy.

Was I right? Have a great weekend!

Remembering

“On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer.” – Satoru Iwata (1959-2015)

When I prepping and planning my posts for the week this past Sunday there was one thing that came to my mind what today's post was going to be. Sure I gave shout out on Fail Day, but for a man who gave so much to the industry that I know and love it wasn't enough. He built his life on being a gamer. He started as a programmer and always wanted to program games he wanted to play. He wanted the public to enjoy them as much as he did. He was quick with ideas about what to bring to the table and give the public something they wouldn't only enjoy that day they brought it home but years from then.

Without him I never would have got to play things like Dragon Warrior, Super Smash Bros, and Earthbound. Games that to this day have stood the test of time. Without him we wouldn't be having those family tournaments playing Wii Sports or those drunken nights with our friends making idiots of ourselves doing the same thing.

He was also open to the public and wanted them to be involved in the process. He wanted them to feel appreciated for being fans. He even took a paycut in order to show not only the public, but the company himself how passionate he was about what they were doing. There probably never will be another like him and the world is a sadder place without him.

/cheers

It Might Come In Handy If You, The Master of Unlocking, Take It With You

Wednesday here we are in the middle of the week once again and it is time to throw a list your way. When deciding what to go with for a list this week I sat around thinking. Then it was slightly awkward and then I realized there we go. The most awkward video game cut scenes. So here we go and obviously slight spoilers ahead

5. Cave Scene - Metal Gear Solid 3

So Metal Gear Solid games have some amazing dialogue and great story that is always put together in a way to be appreciated. Then there was this scene...

4. Pole Dancing - Dead or Alive 2

So to be honest these games aren't very good. Most of the game you are wondering how let this game be released. Then there was the pole dancing and you are not sure to laugh, facepalm, or get someone to show them and ask what the hell is this.

3. Sonic's Human Girlfriend - Sonic the Hedgehog

So Sonic has had some weird choices over the years in terms of story telling, but as I am sure most will agree this takes the cake. Not only is this entire scene awkward but completely unbelievable

2. Yuna and Tidus Laughing - Final Fantasy X

You knew this was going to be on here you just were not sure where. This scene you are wondering the entire time how this was the best take of the whole thing. This scene has actually become a running joke for bad voice acting in general.

1. Every Cut Scene in the Entire Game - Resident Evil

These are so awkward and bad I couldn't even pick one. The game itself was actually pretty good, but sometimes I find myself mindblown by how awful the cutscenes are in this game. You almost think it is some sort of weird joke, but then how does that fit into the horror of the game.

There it is this week's list. Do you you agree? Let me know one way or another as always.

You Fail At Knowing Who Satoru Iwata Is If...

On July 11th the gaming world lost someone who really changed the face of gaming as we know it. So in his honor let's give him the Fail Day he deserves

You Fail At Knowing Who Satoru Iwata Is If...

• He originally worked as a programmer for Hal Laboratory
• You were not aware he was one of the original programs of Mario
• When you just googled to check to see if I was right you also found out he worked on The Legend of Zelda
• You have ever played a Kirby game
• You are a Pokemon freak
• You didn't know he was the one who popularized motion control
• You have never thanked him for that DS you own
• You did not know he was the first President of Nintendo who was not a member of the Yamauchi family
• You own Nintendo stock
• You if never followed his Facebook or Twitter
• You don't know what Nintendo Direct is
• You had not heard that a Rainbow Appeared over Nintendo's headquarters the day after his death
• 
  

and finally

• You have never played one of his games

There you have it. This week's edition of Fail. A tribute to someone who is gone too soon.

Walking Dead vs The Last of Us

So here we are starting a new week and wondering where our weekend went. Just sitting around trying to avoid work and looking for something to occupy us. Well I have just the answer, well at least for 6 minutes at least. RackaRacka is actually an amazing youtube channel for special effects videos which are completely amazing in countless ways. Their latest video had a gaming spin to it and I just had to share it with you all. So watch and enjoy!



Now wasn't that a great 6 minutes.

Ask Gauss

Sunday! Yes here we are with are weekend's coming to an end. Seems like it just started didn't it? Sunday besides being the end of the weekend though is a time when I get to answer some questions sent throughout the week. So without making you wait any longer here we go.

Is it just me or do you find yourself playing a lot of older games during the summer?

I always end up playing a bunch of older games during the summer. Normally replay a few Final Fantasy games or some other rpgs just to pass the time. Not because there isn't anything good that is new coming out, but just because it is a more relaxed environment playing something old if you have to run off and do something in the summer. When you are playing something new you hate being interrupted and that is a hard thing to have in the summer 

Why do people insist on picking low tier Heroes in Hero League?

I think people pick who they like. Problem is some heroes are suited for a very team dependent and they end up being bad picks. The bigger problem I have is when people pick heroes for rolls they shouldn't. grabbing a 2nd or 3rd support when it isn't needed, double specialists, 2 or 3 warriors. This is just asking the game to be a horrible experience not just for your team because I don't know about all of you but I hate being on the winning end of a one sided game. Just feels like a waste of time.

Do you still hate pallys?

That is like asking if I still breathe

There they are the answers to the questions for the week. Hope you all got something out of it. Enjoy the weather and the rest of your weekend

Open Worlds and Time

Friday! And yes the first weekend in July so hopefully some good weather to be on it's way. In other news lately I have been having a lot of discussions about open world games and how their story breeds urgency and yet really doesn't have any. For this week's Reader Post Flaks is talking about that in relation to everyone's new favourite open world game Witcher 3 and other games which take on the same concept.

Don't you think in Witcher 3 it's a bit annoying when the story calls for urgency, yet, there's none.

The Batman Arkham Games that are semi-open world also has those moments of "urgency"

Mostly with Batman Arkham City:

"I have to save Catwoman from being lynched, I can't waste no time"

Before I do that, I first spend an hour or so fetching some Riddler trophies and beat up some people scattered all over the map to level myself up before I go to the courthouse to save her.

So much for that urgency.

Among other things in which Batman is poisoned, need to find a cure, and the announcements of how many hours Protocol 10 starts.
Since the announcements are only announced in story progression, it sometimes takes a couple of real life hours before you finally hear that an hour has passed, and sometimes an hour has passed in 20 minutes or so.

I did read that for Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain, there might be a sense of urgency in which apparently when you have a mission involving rescuing someone, if you take too long to complete it, by perhaps being side tracked doing other stuff, and in-game days go by, the person might die, and your mission is a failure.

to be honest, I would hate it if you have an open world game, and there's no time for you to explore everything in it, because of lack of time.
Something I had with Shadow of Memories also called Shadow of Destiny, in which you travel back in time to change the events leading to your death, it's not exactly open world, since you're stuck in this little town, but you visit different eras of time of it.

And even though, you could explore it, and talk with people there, and change little things in it, that would change things at present time, you only had a limited amount of time.

Like if you were murdered around 10PM, and your life gets reset back to 9PM, you have like an hour the time to prevent yourself being killed, the time counts down real time for the duration, even if you go back in time and visit a different era, the time in the present still keeps moving, along with the time you're currently in in the past. but it kinda speeds up a minute or so after you talk with someone, so every little thing you do you lose precious time, some story cutscenes take off 10 to 20 minutes of your countdown time, even if the cutscene itself wasn't that long.

that game did had urgency with the limited freedom you get with doing other things, but there's not much you can do in fear of running out of time and starting over, but I would love to have the chance to explore all options instead of keeping myself busy before time runs out.

If the story says urgency, but grands you the unlimited freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want, then I'll take it then having a timer over my head. Any thoughts?

Thank you Flaks and everyone else who sent in a post to be considered for this week. As always this could not be done without all you and your contributions.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Net Down

So Thursday is normally the day where I go off about something and today I have no short of that. As some of you possibly noticed my blog didn't post at its normal time of 9am today. Why is that? Well there is a very simple answer to that. My net went out. Now normally this wouldn't be much of an issue, but this time it was because it was not do to a power outage it was due to the companies way they installed it.

Now if you have been reading my blog for a bit you would have known I recently moved. Everything has gone in pretty much flawlessly. Also decided that a pool was a good choice to have in the backyard. Everything has been going smoothly and the pool may even be ready to swim in this weekend.

Yesterday while the pool guys were working away they had to drive a bobcat up the side of my yard which isn't a weird situation at all. The problem was when they buried the line for my net they did it so shallow that the weight of the bobcat caught the line and disconnected it. I spent the better part of the day arguing with them to send someone to my place to fix the horrible job they did. They were then going to send someone out yesterday evening when in fact they couldn't. Wanted to change it to the afternoon today, which would result in 2 full unproductive work days. They finally ended up coming this morning after I pretty much released the krakken on them.

So yes I apologize for the late blog today, but it does make you realize how net driven our world and not just the gaming world is.

If It Doesn't Fit, Just Flip It Over

So here we are thinking about yesterday when I was referring to the casual gaming crowd. So it got me thinking what better thing to do a list about today then Casual games. That's right what are those games that anyone anywhere can pickup and have some fun with. Now let me be clearing this isn't about games that you can choose to play casually because really that can be any game. I am referring to the games that you can do that and anyone anywhere can really play. So here we go

5. Rockband

So Guitar Hero did it pretty good, but I just think Rockband did it better and could get more people involved in this crazy showdown. Not to mention it also had a great sound track even if it really didn't help you play an instrument at all.

4. Plants vs Zombies

So is there anyone out there that hasn't play this game? Even if it is one of those copies and not the real thing? I will be the first to admit I have spent way to much time playing this game and enjoyed every minute of it.

3. Wii Sports

The ultimate party game where you can really just have fun doing just about anything. I don't even think Nintendo thought this game and the sequels would be as popular as they have been. No matter how much time passes this game is always fun to play with other people when you got some time to kill.

2. Worms Armageddon

There will be people who will say Angry Birds this and Angry Birds that, but I am sorry Worms is and always will be better. Sure it is silly and outragous but that's what makes killing your enemies with sheep, old women, holy hand grenades, and concrete donkeys fun.

1. Tetris

I am not sure you could choose anything else here. The game which has had so many remakes and yet the core gameplay has never changed. Do we know why we are doing this? No. but that doesn't mean we won't continue to do so.

So there you have it. This week's list. Do you have another game that you think should have been included? As always let me know why you know better than I.

You Fail At Being A Casual Gamer If...

Fail Day! Here we are once again looking to occupy our time by poking fun at others. Now, I received an interesting mail the other day about how I always tend to poke up at hardcore gamers or people who think they are hardcore gamers, but never the casual ones. Well I figured enough was enough so today is the day.

You Fail At Being A Casual Gamer If...

• You think being one means you spend all your time playing facebook games
• You just stick to your Wii
• You don't play any RPGs
• You don't have the time for story heavy games
• You feel like you shouldn't customize anything
• You find some games are intimidating
• You don't tell people you actually game
• You don't bother to learn anything about the games you are playing
• You don't stick within your comfort zone
• You believe you are a Hardcore gamer
• You buy games that you never play
• Anything you do play you spend countless hours on learning everything about it
• You rearrange your schedule to have time for your gaming exploits
• You are the red shirt guy of any game you play

and finally

• You left your raiding guild to be more casual in another guild which raids more and has a much bigger commitment

There it is, this week's edition of fail. Hope you all enjoyed it and got something out of it besides the time you ended up using reading it.

The Master Assassin

Happy Monday! Or as Happy as a Monday could possibly be for anyone. As always as it is here in Gauss land Monday is time to showcase a video of some sort to ease you into your week and today will be no different. On the 24th of June was Ezio's 556th birthday. One of the world's favourite video game characters of all time. I give you the tribute to his life that we all saw from birth till death.



You may now start your week!

Ask Gauss

Here we are the first Sunday in July, and if you are like me you are wondering where all the nice weather is. I guess it just means there is more time to spend inside and enjoying your gaming time. Before you get to any of that though it is Sunday which means it is time to answer some of the questions sent in. For those of you who don't know how to send in your questions you can do so easily by any of the means on the sidebar of this page or you can email me directly at gaussafication@gmail.com. With that out of the way let's get to the questions.

Do you take offense to someone not likely a game that you think was amazing?

Honestly? No. Now to clarify there are people who don't like games for the sake of not liking them. They have never played them and hardly know anything about them and just hate them on principle. The Final Fantasy Series is the biggest example of this. If someone dislikes something and can tell me why they don't like it or why it really isn't there thing then that is completely different. I respect people's opinions, but I hate bandwagon gamers who just jump on something for the sake of it. Diablo III has got a lot of hate this way and really people have just hated on it because they thought it was the popular thing to do.

Do you think Free to Play communities will never have a non toxic atmosphere?

Truthfully? Probably not. When people have free rein to basically be an asshole anonymously they will continue to do so. It really is sad that gamers as a whole at like this. To me this gives gamers a horrible reputation and really is one of the prime examples on why the general public especially the older crowd will not take gaming as a past time seriously. As with anything the worst of something is always looked at never the middle ground and never the top end always the worst of the worst. So you can thank all of the LoL ragers and entitled brats for everything they do for you.

So the Butcher?

Ya he's fun isn't he?

Thanks to everyone who sent in a question. As always if I don't get to it on here I will eventually if I answer it on here or not. You are all always so patience and know that this wouldn't be possible without all of your contribution.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Memories of the Fire Festival

Happy Friday everyone! So normally this is the time of the week where I throw out a Reader Post, but I thought I would do something different. I was reminded the other day that it is the Fire Festival in WoW once again. A time that always used to be great fun for me defending the Thunder Bluff flame from the Alliance for countless hours. I used to boast that no one could grab the flame while I was guarding it. I was also reminded by Gimmlette that one day one night that wasn't the case. Have a read.

Dear Gauss,

Well, it's the Fire Festival again. Spectacular Death did our annual "running about stealing the horde flames" event. We started in Orgrimmar, which is a shadow of its former self, and then headed to Thunder Bluff. We circled the fire on our flying mounts, waiting for everyone to catch up. Inevitably, this brings back memories of a time, I think it was in 2009, when you issued a challenge on the WOW Llane forum that we happily took. SD has a large number of new members, members who don't know much of the guild history, so we told them this story; a story which helps them understand who we are. 

In case you don't remember, you challenged any Alliance group on the server to come steal Thunder Bluff's flame. I think you said you were going to be "on duty" so to speak, on the first Saturday of the Fire Festival. We already had an event where we were taking people around to either desecrate to honor flames on Kalimdor on that night. I just added "Steal Thunder Bluff's Flame" to the evening's entertainment. I seem to remember posting to the forum "We'll see you then."

We teamed up with 3 members of another guild and brought 6 members of SD. I remember we had a paladin, a guy who no longer plays, who hated, just hated, PvP, but this sounded like a fun time.

Back then, there was no blimp dock and you had to fight your way from the elevators to the flame. I remember there was a warrior in the group and he and the paladin decided to run in first. I remember mounting on the, is it west side (?), elevators and riding off. I'm lousy at negotiating tight spaces and I got stuck going in the door of the building to the left which is attached to the bridge that takes you to the rise where the flame is. (You'd think, because I have a tauren, I'd remember names, directions and locations, but you'd be wrong. "That'a way" is how I describe things.)

I remember it took us 3-4 tries to get across the bridge and up the ramp to the location of the flame. You had, probably, 6 people from Three Score waiting for us, as well as a handful of other horde. I remember trying really hard to simply kill enough people to get close to the flame. I remember later, you said the shaman (?) spec'ed into hurricane, specifically to blast us off the bluff. I remember how it took 2-3 seconds for me to hit the ground when blown off the cliff. I'd fallen off a lot of places by then, but this fall was something different. Then, I would run back and easily get my body but I'd have to get back to the fire location, which involved another 3-4 deaths. 

The challenge had been to steal it while you were there. I remember how we all died and then, in raid chat, discussed how we just needed to get one person over to the flame, steal it and take a screenshot of the event. People who didn't PvP were getting annoyed with all the dying. We were something like 90 minutes into this attempt. It was late, maybe near midnight, but none of your guild showed any inclination to leave. We had two, maybe three, tries left in us. 

We let our PvP flag run off, knowing that it would come back the instant we rezzed. But we were counting on that one-two second lag. I ran around in front of you. The pally and the warrior would attack the shaman and a priest. (Oh man, his name began with a "V". I remember riding with him and he jumped off Thunder Bluff. Cows fall at the same rate as dwarves.) Our rogue, Minaithelan, would sneak behind you to the flame and try to steal it. He didn't have to live. He just had to get a screenshot that proved he stole the flame. The strategy worked. I know we all paid for that attempt by dying but it worked. 

This story was relayed to the "new" members of Spectacular Death as we landed next to the flame in Thunder Bluff. The only resistance we encountered on a Monday night, was the guards. There was no horde. We did encounter resistance in, of all places, Silvermoon. We determined that it's because you can't fly to land directly on top of the flame, as you can with the other capitals. We had a blast on Sunday defending the flame in Exodar. Neither it nor the one in Silvermoon are in convenient locations, either, so defending there is rather fun. 

People liked the story. We have a running joke about us being a "hard-core PvP guild" so this fits with the mythology we've created. Mina and I really miss that kind of give and take; having an adversary in guild form and the challenges that presented. World PvP, to put it bluntly, sucks. People aren't attached to defending a capital as they used to be. Horde rarely attack any place other than when there's some holiday that requires them to get something, like honoring an elder in the pool in the Mystic Ward in Ironforge. It's really too bad. 

So, dear Gauss, we miss you. We miss the challenge. We miss the fun. We have a lot more people in SD who, had they been a part of the guild then, would have given you a real challenge. We were kind of like mosquitos, but we loved doing that. 

Yours,

Gimmlette

They were good times and I wouldn't replaced them for anything. Even if I don't play as much as I used to doesn't mean the people who made it fun to log in and play everyday are forgotten. /cheers

Enjoy your weekend!

Player Community

Here we are yet another day yet a bunch more people who can't seem to get along. Now I have been stating for awhile that free to play games just breed toxic environments. For the very reason that you really cannot make bans stick. Lately though something has really been bothering me about some of the players in Heroes of the Storm.

Now I am not saying that I am the greatest player. I am also not saying that there isn't times when I am pissed off about teamates poor play and I don't take it out on them. What I will say though is if someone offered me advice I would think about it and take it. I would probably say thanks and look into what they were saying. I would discard them and proceed to my CoD behaviour and rip into them like my mother does every night when she wants me to go to bed.

Time and time again I give players useful tips, which are not said in a condescending way, but in a way that it would not only benefit them but the team as a whole. After all Heroes is a game which teamwork is paramount in your success. Hell I have been asked to take specific talents in order to allow some of my teamates to preform better, because again that is what leads to success.

What I don't get is this sense that if you are told that something will be helpful it is automatically assumed you are attacking the person. Does this come from people's experience in other games? Are they always under attack? I will tell you and people I play with will tell you there is a pretty easy way to determine if I am upset or angry or if I am simply giving input and direction to help the team. This attitude just doesn't help build an environment that will allow solo queues to be a fun place to play, and truly that is what will suffer from here on out.

Canada Day

Happy Canada Day! Yes it is July first and for those who do not know that means it is Canada Day. On this day in 1867 my dear old Canada became a country of its own. So we will celebrate by any means necessary and end the night with some awesome fireworks.

There won't be a list today for those looking for it so will have to wait till next week. I just wanted to make sure everyone had themselves a great Canada Day. Also should wish my Father a happy birthday as he does turn 65 today may I be so lucky to make it as far as he has.