Release The Names!

So if you haven't heard Blizzard is finally doing something many believe should have been done for quite some time now. What is it you may ask? Well characters who have not been logged on World of Warcraft since November 13th 2008 will run the risk of losing their name. Say what? It means if you or anyone has a character who has not logged in since that date someone creating a new character or using a paid name change will have the option to use that name. Yes I know this is pretty big news.

If you want the official news release you can read it here

Now I for one am all for this announcement. You see for years now it has been a running joke that it is not only near impossible to name your characters anything close to what you want. There has been videos even joking at the matter posting gibberish and some how some way someone has the name. This process has resulted in the popularity of using unique spellings and special characters to have some semblance of the name you wanted.

My only argument to this is 6 years seems like a very long time I would have gone with 2010, but will actually see how this works itself out. Now I now some people are thinking as they always do that this is some sort of money grab. Why because they think players are going to buy a subscription to a game they haven't played in 6 years just to keep their name? I really think not. They other argument is this is going to generate a nice amount of money for Blizzard on paid name changes. Don't get me wrong, I am sure many people will use this opportunity to use the service, but in no one do I think this was Blizzard's major incentive to do this. They care about the players no matter what anyone thinks and truthfully in my mind they are doing this for the newer players who will actually not have a bad experience when creating their new characters

Even After Everything You've Done, I Would Have Saved You.

Here we are in the middle of the week once again, and I am sitting here with a list of topics for my lists. I am not going to use any of these this week though. I was thinking and with next week so many great super hero shows are either starting a new season or starting fresh I thought this would be the perfect time to make a list of my favourite Super Hero games of all time. So here goes!

5. Saints Row IV

Now I know most of you wouldn't even consider this to be a super hero game. Well I say think about it there are humans with super powers which can do outrageously improbably things. So really it is a super hero game isn't it? Not only that it is insanely fun because really anything you can think about you can do.

4. X-Men Arcade

Back in the 90s there were great games of the beat em up style. It  seemed like a monthly thing to have a new brawler where you'd slowly walk to the right and punch the hell out of bad guys. Most of these games are now forgotten to history but X-Men stayed with me. It wasn't that complex at all, and it wasn't groundbreaking by any means it was just better than the others. Cleaner. More fun. Oh, and it let six of us play!

3.  The Punisher

It was the Punisher game we deserved, but maybe not the one the world was ready for back in in 2005. The ESRB almost gave it a rare AO rating for violence, and several countries demanded edits before allowing its release. It’s hard to blame them, the game played was ultra-violent even by todays standards. You could drown a man in a toilet, crush a skull in a piano, use a piranha-filled aquarium as a dunk tank, and even play matador to a rhino, using a bad guy as a cape. What made this game something to remember for me though was fighting Yakuza alongside Iron Man, storming a beach with Nick Fury and killing Russian mercenaries with the Black Widow.

2. inFamous 2

inFamous 2 isn't based off of something we already know.it was a super hero story created directly for gamers. While I liked the first game it wasn't until the second that I really thought this is a super hero game I will never forget.

1. Batman Arkham City

What else could it be? All the other games gave legitimacy to titles based on comics, but the Arkham releases were the first to be game of the year caliber packages. Arkham Asylum understood Batman like no game before, embracing and perfectly recreating the character at his best. He was a warrior, a detective, a stealthy predator, and most importantly, a hero. Arkham City improved upon all this and more and to me is the obvious choice more so than any other as best super hero game.

There you have it this week's list all put together. Do you have a favourite not making the list? Let me know or complain about my list and tell me what should replace what. It is what these lists are for.

You Fail At Destiny If...

Happy Fail Day everyone! Now it has been a week since we have all had a chance to play Destiny in one way or another so as normal today is the perfect time to say why you, others, or myself have failed at it horribly. We all are obvious experts so let's just get to it.

You Fail At Destiny If...

• You are not playing it on current gen
• You were expecting a true MMO
• You aren't left wondering how it is a repetitive grind-fest without any real grinding
• You don't think the scenery is some of the best ever
• You think anyone giving criticism to the game must be wrong with everything they have said
• You believe the game is difficult
• You don't like Peter Dinklage
• It doesn't leave you wanting more
• You think it is game of the year material
• You love the server shutdown warnings
• You don't find it odd they already have a DLC and expansion schedule 1 week after the release of the game
• You think the story is one of the best ever written
• You enjoy the spider boss in Nightfall Mansion

and finally

• You still think playing it on XBOX is ok

There you have it this week's edition of Fail. Hope you all enjoyed it if I was referring to your misgivings or not. Happy shooting!

The Frostwolf

Here comes Monday, well actually it is already here but you my just now be accepting that it is actually the case. With Mondays comes Machinima though, well at least in the little bubble of the world I choose to live in. This week I have decided to showcase a machinima from one of my favourite makers who has not only given us things of the years to laugh at, but also given a bit of the serious side once in awhile as well. I am, of course, talking about Nixxiom. This time he brings us a story set on Draenor and deals directly with the Frostwolves themselves. So have a watch I am sure you will enjoy it just as much as I did.



Wasn't I right?

Ask Gauss

Sunday! Yes here we are at the tail end of the weekend and up here in the land known as Canada seems as if the warmer temperatures are finally starting to say goodbye. Just means there is more excuses to stay inside and get my game on I guess. Also you could argue there is more time for me to reply to your questions in a timely manner. So I will try. With that in mind let's get to some.

So why do you hate Destiny?

Again I don't hate the game. I actually enjoy playing it. I have just said the game is rather repetitive in the main storyline missions. Often criticism gets mistake for hate for me and I am not sure why that is the case. I have been having fun playing and I will continue to do so. This just means the game is a good game just not a great one in my books. Just leaves you wanting more in a variety of ways because the game itself doesn't have a real identity. So hopefully that puts this to rest .

Did you happen to see that ridiculous play from Reynad during the Hearthstone matches at Dreamhack?

If you haven't had the pleasure


All I can say is this is the type of play which sets you apart from great players. I never even thought of this while staring at it just as long as he did. All I really could think to do after it happened was to slow clap and say to myself I am not worthy.

When was the last time you played LoL?

The last time I was bored enough to update it and log on.

There they are answers to questions for this week. Thank you to everyone who sent something in regardless if it was answered on here or not. Would not be possible without all of you. So again thank you, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Nature Of The Game

Friday is here and you can take that deep breath as the weekend is almost upon you. I know isn't it a great feeling? Now I am assuming most of you read my post yesterday about Destiny. I have been enjoying the game even though I did have some negative thoughts about the game. I thought maybe it was because my lack of interest in shooters that the game itself would have a hard time keeping my interesting for more than it would take to see a little of the end game content. I must say I didn get a lot of interesting feedback including this submission by FlipmanV for today's Reader Post. If you agreed with my post yesterday or not this is another interesting point of view.

Are some gamers simply naive towards the basis of game design?

Destiny's gameplay is repetitive is something Gauss and others have said, the argument I hear to counter this statement is: 

Well, in Mario all you do is jump. In Call of Duty, all you do is shoot people. In Star Fox, all you do is shoot ships. In Tetris, all you do is stack.

Using this argument only shows that you lack knowledge or experience in gaming. Seriously.

Mario games are essentially a logical, action puzzle game featuring different challenges until the end. CoD and Battlefield takes you through the story while mixing up gameplay. Ride a tank, race through this jeep, use pistols only, stealth mission, etc. Star Fox [64] is a rail shooter in which the field is dynamically changing. Bosses also require different strategies to beat. Actual strategies. A puzzle game is logic-based. Saying it's repetitive implies that you're not willing to learn any potential combos and strategies. Most puzzle games are insanely difficult to master.

Let's look at Destiny. All the missions remain the same. You ride your Sparrow to the destination. You kill enemies. You then have your Ghost hack some sort of machinery. Then you fight a wave of monsters and eventually leading up to a boss, while boss summons more monsters periodically.

Now, the enemies aren't any different. You hit their weak spot, which is 90% of the time, in their head, eyeball, or stomach. You shoot and take cover when you're low on health. Your strategy doesn't change, you're literally not doing anything different. There's stuff like the Hydra and Hobgolbin which gives the illusion that it requires "strategy", but waiting until they lower their shield is not a strategy and requires no extra skill.

There's no missions like in CoD/BF in which you have to ride a gunship, or a sneaking mission, or a boat mission, or any other mission that simply doesn't involve whatever the hell you've already done on the first 3 missions.

Other than the sword-fight level, there's no instance in which you needed to change your strategy or do anything different. It's about as mindless as it can be. Similar to Assassin's Creed I and I believe even Gauss would agree that was one of the most repetitive games ever created.

Thank you FlipmanV for your take on this whole thing. Like I have said before I have been having fun playing the game and I will in all likelihood be playing it for a couple weeks before I think I will lose its flare and then will put it down for awhile. This doesn't mean it is a bad game it just means it isn't a great game.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Non Spoiler Destiny Review

So as is custom on Thursday when I am playing a new game going to give my non spoiler game review. So there should be no reason to complain about how I ruin the game for you for any such and such reason. If you are worried about that know that I am not even half way leveled up so their really is no way I could possibly do that anyway. so here goes

I like the feel of the world, It is well designed and the visuals are something many other games will be comparing themselves to. I am not sure Destiny's interesting lore is going to pull itself together into a good story, but who knows I could be wrong.  Not coming from a true shooter gamer I can see the gameplay fundamentals are there along with the  the level designs. The missions themselves which connect you to the lore seem always to be go here then there and shoot things on the way. There is not much dialogue about the story itself except when Mr. Dinklage makes his presence known.
Now compared to most MMOs the story showcased and lore is basically the same you would get in any run of the mill MMO, but when you start comparing it to an MMO you realize it is missing many key elements which an MMO has.

The levels are huge by single-player open world game standards, but compared to an MMOs, they feel quite limited. One favourite thing to do in MMOs is shout across an entire zones to let it be known you have arrived(Pi anyone?). In Destiny you can't so much as talk to the people you see unless you are in the same party. As someone who has played a few MMOs it is hard to accept that as the norm.
This is why I think the makers shyed away from calling Destiny an MMO. It feels close enough to start talking about it, but once you do things don't really fit into place. I think anyone who has played it could agree that it really doesn't fit into any category at all, because you find elements in the gameplay which fit into certain niche but then thats it, and then you try to find something else to compare it to.  There is no denying that Destiny shows off amazing looking worlds, and gives you an countless exciting firefights. But the game feels so in-between game types it is hard for me to find the type of person I would recommend it to.

I know this sounds negative, but I have been having a good time with it. Aside from the combat the others aspects of the game are not done nearly as well as other games which focus on them. It does them enough to have fun with it, but I just find myself wanting more or forever comparing it to something else. I feel like Destiny is going to be a game people will talk about how they had a bunch of fun playing it, but it could have been so much more. I guess only time will tell with that though.

Yeah, Now We're The Cookies

So have you ever only picked up a game thinking why am I buying this? Despite the reviews you still think the game itself won't be one you will actually enjoy? I have done this quite a few times and I will admit some of those time I am pleasantly surprised at how much I have actually enjoyed the game. Now with Destiny I have this same feeling, but the jury is still out on it and will have to decide. For now though these are the top 5 games I was won over on.

5. World of Warcraft

This seems like such a weird choice knowing what you all probably already know about me, but it is true. I have always loved Warcraft Lore and the RTS games were some of my favourite games ever, but an MMO? I wasn't sure. I had not really enjoyed the MMO genre much up to this point and was actually angry that one of my favourite franchises was switching to this format. I then played it though and the rest is really history isn't it.

4. Grand Turismo 

Now I have always enjoyed a good racing game. I even enjoyed the games which allowed you to build your cars and engineer though exactly how you saw fit in order to improve their racing capabilities. Even with that I had been disappointed in the racing genre for years and even with all the great feedback coming out I wasn't overly excited when I picked it up. I am glad I did because this is still far and away the best racing game and probably in my top 10 games I have played all time.

3. The Walking Dead Game

It really is a simple truth that most games based on Television or Movies are not worth the time of day. This game was even being released in episodes and I thought a small price to check out a game which had received pretty damn good reviews. I am forever glad I did for it really is a gem.

2. Heavy Rain 

Murder mystery games tend to not hold my interest. Also I figured since this game had such a high budget a lot of the hype coming out was around the fact that they were pushing it. I was pleasantly surprised and finally figuring out the origami killers identity was a special moment.

1. Uncharted

Now Uncharted is one of my favourite franchises out there. The gameplay is never short of entertaining and the stories are always well thought out and inspiring. This wasn't always the case. When I was first hearing about Uncharted all I could think about is it was serious game coming from the makers of Crash Bandicoot. It really took a lot for me to pick up this game and try it and now I think why in the hell did it take me so long to do so.

So there it is my list of games I love, but came close to never trying them. What games make your list? Is it similar to mine? As always let me know one way or another.

You Fail At Knowing About Destiny If...

Happy Fail Day everyone! This week I might be doing something surprising I will be talking about a shooter in the same breath as something I will actually be playing. This would be Destiny as I have picked it up and will be giving it a shot. At least for a couple weeks. So if you haven't heard or no nothing about Destiny this is for you.

You Fail At Knowing About Destiny If...

• You didn't know it was an online FPS
• You know nothing of "The Collapse"
• You were not aware it is about exploring our solar system
• You didn't know they have been avoiding calling it an MMO
• You missed them calling the game "alive"
• You didn't know you won't be able to play the  Dust Palace mission if you don't have a PS4
• You didn't know the game is heavy based on matchmaking
• You haven't looked into which focus interests you the most
• You have made the connection between "the traveler" and "God"
• You didn't know the 3 races are Human, Awoken, Exo
• You were not aware the class choices are Hunter, Warlock, and Titans
• You are not pumped that the robot is going to be voiced by Peter Dinklage

and finally

• You will be playing it on XBOX

There it is this week's edition of Fail! Happy shooting everyone!

Funny And Lucky

Here we are on a Monday looking for something which will at least get you feeling better about being where you are and doing what you are doing. With that in mind for this week's Machinima Monday I thought I would showcase a series which is all about things working out just the way you want. This Hearthstone series by Trolden is called Funny and Lucky and every week it showcases plays within Hearthstone community which basically everything happened in really the funniest and luckiest ways. The current episode is #62 so have a watch and can't help but smile at the results.



Now you just can't help, but feel better just by watching that can't you?

Ask Gauss

Here we are up early on this Sunday morning and wondering where my pancakes are. Sometimes I just wish I had the super power of instant food preparation. Imagine all the time I would save! Sadly I do not have super powers, but one can dream can't they? One can also ask questions, and that is what today is about! I know that was awful, but here we go with the questions.

So now since more than a week has passed has the seasonal flare of Diablo passed?

I guess what you are asking is it just the same old thing as it was, but with a new character. Now you could say that if it was just about the leaderboards and all that fancy stuff. I think though when you add in the greater Rifts especially for the Hardcore characters it makes things a lot more exciting. When you raise the difficulty or get to the next difficulty rather you really don't have a gauge on how hard it could be. You are basically excepting the fact that this tier of the rift is going to be much more then you can handle. It really is a gaming rush that Diablo needs and I am enjoying it.

Did you see the new Card Back for this season of Hearthstone? What do you think?

If you haven't here it is.

I honestly think this is the best one they have done. It really gets all of the elements you would think from a pirate perspective while really not going too crazy with the design. I think I will be showcasing this one next month for quite some time,

Do you think there is too much Orc beheading in the gameplay footage of Shadows of Mordor?

Is this really something people complain about?

And there they are the questions answered for the week. Thank you to everyone who sent something in and if you cannot find the links on the top right of the page feel free to send in your questions directly to gaussafication@gmail.com and regardless if I post them on her I will get to them eventually. Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

Not This Again

So here I am on this Friday still wondering why I am not in the Heroes of the Storm Alpha. Yes, I know there is a limited pool of players and yes I am upset that I am not actually one of those players. Now with that in mind many of you often besides poking fun at how I am currently not in the Alpha send me honest opinions about the game and your feedback on it. This week's Reader Post is one of those and how the environment of Heroes is changing towards some of the other MOBAs out there and how a change can possible take place. So here I give you Tora's take on it all.

It's happening again with Heroes as with all of the other MOBAs out there.

Players are looking at "total kills" and "total damage" and using those as baselines to brag about who is and is not a "good player".

This is a problem, as many players who develop game breaking bad habits will use these scoreboards in ways that justify their bad habits in the game.

This is just as bad as people who used "recount" in WoW to justify being "Good DPS" or "Good Heals" despite the fact those scores only show 1/2 of the picture.

SOME key aspects are as follows:

* Twitch Movement - these players will spam click the map to move back and forth like they are on some sort of illegal narcotic. This interrupts their spell casting and hinders their actual participation. You can literally have 3 twitch movement players around 1 honest player, and those three will do 0 damage, while they are individually picked off by 1 honest player.

Why do some players use Twitch Movement? So they can use a separate counting program to display how many "commands per second" they are performing, making them LOOK like good players for league videos and gameplay.

Solution to stop this: There are HUNDREDS of ways to penalize this behavior, so I have no idea what to suggest at this juncture. The only thing I can think of is something akin to a click counter evaluator for the score board.

* Max Damage Out - this is good half of the time. I have known players who are bottom barrel in damage out, but because they know strategy they win more times than they lose. See, Damage out can be manipulated through a combination of twitch movement and just randomly attacking resetting creeps, structures and doodads. They boost their Damage out to look like they are awesome, when, in fact, all they do is waste their damage on sponge targets which yield very little.

At the same time I know players who top charts and are awesome in every way.

That's why this is such a difficult topic, but this concept of Max Damage Out will plague this game like all others if some sort of evaluation of "effective damage out" isn't being made. 

One of MANY possible Solutions: Effective Damage could be an evaluation of how much damage is done to a singular target (or multiple if aoe is used) in a row until the target is downed or the character dies. I don't know, there are many ways to resolve this.

Finally

* Strategic Playing

PLEASE, GODS, PLEASE, DEVS, PLEASE ANYONE support a function which evaluates EFFECTIVE strategic use of Warning Symbols, Quest Collections, and Destruction to Buildings.

Strategy is always subjective, but there are certain CORE elements of strategy that CAN be evaluated.

There have been games in other MOBAs where I've had a bad time, I've just been killed and killed and killed. Enemy outweighs our own team by 10-12 levels, and so I've been forced to do suicide runs while my teammates defend home base. Because the enemy team was so concerned with DPS and Player Kills, they completely ignored my little level 12 guy as I tore down building after building until I won the day. My entire team lined the bottom of the scoreboard, but our strategy beat the tar out of the enemy.

This game needs to be the first MOBA game out there that measures strategic playing. Yes, it is subjective, but as I said above, SOME elements of strategic gaming can be measured.

Possible Solution: A player receives + Strategic Playing Points for every single building directly attacked while the enemy is down. You gain a bonus % for each enemy dead while you are attacking. So if the enemy team is ACED out, and you do ONE BIG PUSH down a single lane, you gain +25% to your strategic playing point score for each point of damage you deal to a core building (towers, etc...).

Strategic Playing Points can be earned in a gradual gain for every consecutive point dealt to a building before its destroyed. 

Strategic Playing Points can be LOST if an enemy is allowed to attack an entire lane without facing ANY resistance. If your character is alive, then he or she loses strategic points if they aren't engaging a lane that has an enemy presence.

So say if you're alive and you're fighting one lane which has an enemy player in it, ok, you are doing your job, you do not lose points even if another lane is being assaulted by an enemy without resistance.

Expand this to measure the number of characters in each lane. So a group with 5 characters in the top lane fighting 3 enemies, while 2 enemies go unopposed while destroying buildings, unless the 5 characters are making progress themselves, they'd lose points for allowing their base to be taken without any resistance.

There are ways to create these metrics. Some of them would be exceedingly complex, but they could show players how to play by rewarding those who play well, and penalizing those who simply "farm for damage" without caring about their team.

I think it makes sense I know people love to stroke their Epeens but there has to be some way of dealing with it all. Once again thanks to Tora and everyone else who submitted something this week. It would not be possible to do this without any of your submissions. 

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Fresh Meat N' Greet

So I am not sure if you have heard, but Blizzard came up with a great new idea. Not only does it have an epic name, but it truly is a great idea. They are interviewing members of the community and then allowing those interviewed to choose the one next in line. If you would like the whole story you can get it by clicking here.

This to me doesn't only give great feedback from the community, but it also lets the community itself get to meet the players. Too often the only ones heard are the ones who are streamers or who are of a very vocal group in the community. This really has the potential to hear from the everyday player what they like about the game, what they like to do while playing, or really what they don't like at all.

This should really help Blizzard not only seek out opinions from the everyday player to improve the game from  years to come, including any planned expansions. I know I have already read all the current interviews and look forward to reading the next set and those beyond as I believe anyone who has any interest in Diablo and its future should also.

To those people this is the game you want to play let them know how you would like it to be played. Get your voice out there and really feel like you contributed something to the games future.

This Was Not Our Destiny

Here we are the 2nd day of September, and what is September good for you ask? Well besides a slight increase in depression with the realization even if you no longer are in school that school has begun it means games are on there way. Every gamer knows summer time is a huge lull in terms of big games being released. With September brings new life into the gaming industry with so many big named games getting set to release. So I figured for my list this week I would list the titles I am most excited to see coming the rest of the year.

5. Dragon Age Inquisition

Slated for October the 7th the newest game in the dragon age series will be available for play. It may just be me and my fascination with dragons, but I love this series and I cannot wait to get my hands on this game.

4. Civilization: Beyond Earth

We will get to play the newest installment of Sid Meier's epic game on the 27th of October. I know some people find turn based games too slow, but to me I just love playing the single player versions of these games just to feel like you are apart of it all.

3. Shadows of Mordor

September 30th will bring us the release of Shadows of Mordor. The game itself has so many customizations and niches just makes me want to try out how they all can workout. Also it takes place in middle earth and who does love that!

2. Assassin's Creed Untiy

Ever since Assassin's Creed was a thing I always hoped they would make one of the games connecting to the French Revolution. Well on November 11th I will get my wish, and I for one cannot wait to see it all first hand.

1. Warlords of Draenor

There are games that just get everyone pumped. I cannot remember the last time I was this excited to play a game. Warlords has everything I could possibly ask for story wise that just gives me those gamer chills. November 13th cannot come soon enough.

There you have it. Do have some which you think should have made the list? Or jsut others which deserve honorable mention? Let me know as always.

You Fail At Diablo III Seasons If...

Fail Day! Yes it is that day isn't it. It is also around me the first day of school for everyone. So no worries about running over kids during the middle of the day only have to pay attention in the morning and in the middle of the afternoon. Makes my life slightly easier. Something else which just started this past Friday was Season 1 of Diablo III and with it some cool little things. So as always when there is something new there is also plenty of ways to fail at it.

You Fail At Diablo III Seasons If...

• You have been complaining because you haven't got any of the season only loot on your non seasonal characters
• You sent in a ticket because your paragon level wasn't right
• You forgot to level your artisans
• You didn't notice the achievement spam happening
• You got an achievement for seasons which you didn't already have
• You keep spending all your gold on dyes
• Your hardcore character died before 70
• You are leveling on normal
• You went in adventure mode first to unlock all the artisans
• You are staring at the leaderboards while playing
• You were one of the people who used exploits to level
• You are not enjoying rerunning the campaign

and finally

• You haven't taken part

There it is this week's edition of Fail! Hope you all enjoyed it!

Garrosh Ice Bucket Challenge

Happy Monday! So I know all of you have seen quite a number of Ice Bucket challenges. I know I have. When I saw Ian Beckman machinima with Garrosh taking the challenge though it just showed me how far this cause is going. So it became the natural choice for this week's video showcase. If you don't know anything about the ALS Ice Bucket challenge I urge you to find out more and donate if you can, and if not at least spread the word and try to get those involved who can.



I know.

Ask Gauss

Sunday! Yes it is that time already isn't it. Sunday means 2 things it is the end of the weekend and it is time for me to answer some questions. Only one of those things is true this week though, because it is a long weekend. So let's just go ahead with the questions!

Have you made a Seasonal Character yet it Diablo?

Yes I made a Hardcore Demon Hunter on Friday. Will in all likelyhood be my only seasonal character unless it dies a horrible death. It is a refreshing change of pace. I have always enjoyed running the campaign and this gives me a reason to do so with a bit of a challenge as well. I am not going to be forcing the issues or anything or going crazy compete mode. Although I say that know and it may change guess I will have to see.

Do you think a lot of people have beat Heroic Naxxramas?

I think a good number of people have. I have seen while just casually leveling up on the ladder a good number of people with the cardback. I would guess about 1/5 have had  the card back who have a rank of 10 and above. Anyone can look but decks suited to beat bosses after that it comes down to some luck and some execution. So i really expect anyone who wants to put the time in to it can get all the bosses down.

Still no Heroes?

Still nothing I am starting to think Blizzard is anti beta for me again.

There you have it some questions answered for the week. As always thanks to everyone who sent one in. I will get to answering to all of your questions regardless if they made it on here or not. Enjoy the long weekend or what is left of yours if you aren't so lucky!

Welcome to Hardcore

Now today being Friday it should be the Reader Post. I know that you all know that, but I came across something today on the Diablo III forums which not only made me facepalm, but just really spoke to the entitled nature of some gamers out there today. So with that in mind here is the link to the post from Allanon if you are too lazy here is the post itself

The intent of the disclaimer (as everyone knows) is that Blizzard does not want to handle cry babies from blaming Comcast or other circumstances out of their control upon the death of a hardcore character. However, what has happened to myself and perhaps a few others is completely different.

Blizzard may not have physically deleted my character, but they may as well. I logged in on Wednesday around 9:15 PM after an extremely busy day on my level 28 Monk and was unaware of the still present server issues. Around 9:30 PM EST, the servers were brought down for maintenance and I was greeted with a 3007(?) error while at full health in the middle of combat. 

After 10 to 15 minutes when the issue was "fixed", the servers were brought back up and I was greeted with a dead character.

I understood the "risks" that I signed away when I chose to play hardcore. Yes, I was and still am fully comfortable with losing my character to anything outside of Blizzard control...but this was within the realm of Blizzard's control. There IS no difference between what happened to me and what is happening to the normal characters that have been deleted and restored. Why should I be punished just because I clicked a button that said that I won't be resurrected? Should I not be compensated if YOU delete my character? If so, the line begins to blur. I demand answers.

Now I understand frustration in losing a Hardcore character. I have been there and have had to deal with all the crap associated with it. I have also lost one of my characters to server problems completely out of control. This is one of the things you have to deal with hardcore wise. You cannot get attached. If you are that type of person you aren't really meant to play hardcore. If you get upset over a level 28 just wait until you lose your max level character for the first time.

Reaper of Souls 2.1 Fun

Now if you have been living under a rock or "haven't been paying attention" as Captain Hale would say. So just in case you here is Blizzard's video of what is new in this patch.

Now we cannot officially take part in season till this Friday, but I have had a chance to experience everything else the patch has had to offer and I must say I have been quite impressed. Now I am playing completely hardcore these days so I haven't been pushing to the extreme on the Greater Rifts but they are quite challenging even up to the point where my DH is at. I havent been upgrading the gems but I will start as I think that really is going to be the only safe bet for pushing forward with the rifts.

Now the Dexterity to armor change is quite a big one. I can say my Demon Hunter can take a couple hits so Hardcore has been a lot less stressful, but it makes me bummed at the same time because the fear factor isn't there as much as it was before. On the other hand my monk is loving it as am I the removable of One With Everything. It will make gearing a Monk much easier and won't make secondary resists the be all and end all of gearing up.

So I will say if you haven't played for a bit or wondering if it will be worth the time I would say most definitely. I have been having quite a bit of fun with it the last few days. Also if I am not completely busy within my games feel free to drop me a line if you are up for some Hardcore craziness just no raging if your character happens to kick the bucket.

Happy Demon Slaying!

The Scourge Will Consume You

Here we are right in the middle of the week and I find myself right in the middle of trying to come up with a list for this week's post. I figured since all the cards available through Curse of Naxxramas are now available I would give my favourite 5 cards. Now, of course, I may have a different point of view but as always I don't really card about things like that. So here they are my top 5 Curse of Naxxramas cards.

5. Nerubian Egg

This card is great as protection against board wipes. It also is a great target for power overwhelming, taunting, and any other random buffs you can use. Overall just gives great value and can be very scary early game if popped.

4. Zombie Chow

Now reading the deathrattle of this card you might think it is pretty junk. When you think about it more though for 1 cost and 2,3 it gives you some great options at early board clears. Not to mention it has great effect for the deathrattle when paired with a soul priest punishing the opposing player for keeping it alive.

3. Reincarnate

Paring this card with any minion who has charge can cause ridiculous combos. I have used it to make multiple Leeroys, Al'Akirs, and to spawn Thaddius. This card is one which I think may see some adjustments in the future but for now I am enjoying it as is.

2. Sludge Belcher

The anti Zoo card if there ever was one. I really believe this was the purpose of this cards creation. Now it doesn't make zoo useless it just makes players adjust their deck with this card in mind. It also just makes for more interesting play when it always could be an option your opponent could throw down.

1. Baron Rivendare

Now on its own it is not that scary at all, but when pair with other things this card can get out of hand extremely quickly. Even looking up and seeing what could happen when this card is paired with any of the above is scary. I don't want to give away all my secrets but I have built decks with solely this card in mind, and will most likely continue to do so.

There you have it. What do you all think? Do you agree? Let me know what cards you cannot get enough of from Curse of Naxxramas, and maybe I might even see why while playing you on the ladder.

You Fail At Defeating Kel'Thuzad in Hearthstone If...

Fail Day! Yes it is here all of you who were worried about the lack of fails being pointed out while I was gone can now rest easy. Also since this was the first week of the Frostwing Lair was available for play I decided it would be fun to poke fun at those who have yet to defeat it. So here we go.

You Fail At Defeating Kel'Thuzad in Hearthstone If...

• You couldn't beat Sapphiron to unlock him
• You haven't seen what happens when his armor is removed
• You tried to use a weapon class
• You didn't emote him just to see what his response was
• You didn't realize phase 2 starts when he has no cards in his hands
• You kept getting your super buffed minion stolen
• You didn't yell "tank grab the adds" when the popped just to make yourself smile
• You thought you would finally get the Betrayer of Humanity
• You think complaining on the forums about him cheating will be of a help
• You believe the only reason you didn't win is because you didn't pay to win and have such and such legendary
• You Net-Decked
• You Net-Decked and still lost

and finally

• You have yet to try Frostwing Lair

There you have it this week's edition of Fail. If you are still plugging away in Naxx keep at it. Heroic KT can be a pain just takes some patience!

Lords Of War

Happy Monday everyone! Now instead of going on and on about how crappy Monday is today I am just going to get right to it. There are games who have back stories and then there are games who have back stories. The Warcraft universe is one of these. There is lore piled upon lore so much you could spend weeks discussing it. With Warlords of Draenor we are being reintroduced to some of these people from the past, and Blizzard came up with a great idea to remind us or show us for the first time what we will be dealing with. This series is called Lords of War and will be showcasing a Warlord we will be encountering in the upcoming expansion. So here is part one.



If you are like me more of these cannot come soon enough!

Ask Gauss

Sunday and my first real post since I have been back from vacation. Even though I did have a pretty great vacation I am glad to be home. There really is just something about coming home after a vacation and realizing how much you missed it. That though is not really the topic of the day though is it? It has been awhile so let us answer some questions!

I would ask if you saw the Warlords of Draenor Cinematic, but I know you did. What I want to know is what you thought of it?

First if you are living under a rock here it is



I know I probably say this abut every expansion opening cinematic, but I think this one is the best thus far. It really brings old to new very well. I also really appreciated the salute to the Warcraft cinematic almost got that you cannot change what is supposed to happen moment. I have actually found myself watching it randomly again and again just because of how pumped it makes me to take part in it.

So all the Naxx cards are now in, what do you think?

The meta is still evolving, but I have been seeing quite a few different decks leveling up then I would have expected. I have also been having a blast trying to build my own decks with all of the new cards. Now I also think next season will be a really interesting one as I think the meta will be all over the place as people are adapting. This really is in my opinion an exciting time to play Hearthstone.

Did you miss gaming during your vacation?

Of course, but then it was also nice to have a nice relaxing break.

There you have it. For all of you who sent in questions especially while I was gone it will take some time to catch up and reply to them all. So please be patient I am not ignoring you! Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

Vacation Over

My vacation is over and I am back. Everything will be returning to normal come Sunday figured I would give you all a heads up to prepare yourselves.

Going On Vacation

Picture says it all. Just letting you all know I will bet taking a small vacation and won't be posting while I am away. So sorry in advance for your Gauss withdrawals! Everything though will be back to normal as soon as I get back so no worries!

The Swapper

So I have been at a loss lately with new games and what to do. I have been playing a lot of the older games I have, but I was looking for something new to play when I game across a game which had got pretty good reviews, but I just never looked too much into it. I am glad now that I was actually bored enough and downloaded The Swapper off the PSN network.

The game itself is a puzzle solving game so I know it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you are looking for something new to do while waiting for other games this really is something I would say check out. The levels themselves are visually amazing I would say without a doubt the best looking puzzle game I have ever played, and I really enjoyed how it required you to think out of the box to try and solve the puzzles.

The game requires you to use this experimental weapon which creates a clone of yourself to turn on lights, open doors, get across areas and so on and so forth. Also it is never a bad idea to actually use your brain once in awhile while gaming instead of mindlessly grinding. I'll leave the launch trailer below for anyone who interested during this summer time lull.

How Imaginative

So there comes a time when all of us have our moments when we just have to release our anger and throw out insults. It happens all the time, sometimes we mean it sometimes we want to hurt people and sometimes we can't even say them without laughing. This only holds true in the games we play. Sometimes the characters do the same and spit out insults we will remember forever, and this is what this week's list is all about. My favourite insults from gaming.

5. "Chicken-wuss" - Seifer Final Fantasy VII

This insult may seem tame, but the best part of it was Zell's overreaction and how he kept calling me it again and again. I swear I cannot play this part without laughing like crazy.

4. "You're an inspiration for birth-control" - Duke Nukem 3D

Now Duke has always had the epic lines even if his games have been lackluster at times. This one is just one of my favourites of his.

3. "You look jet lagged and by that I mean you look like shit" - Battlefield 3

When I first heard this I am pretty sure I kept saying it over and over for about a week.

2. "Looks like the Good Lord got your ass and your face mixed up" - Red Dead redemption, John Marston

Pretty sure when this happened I spit out my drink and wanted to high five the screen.

1. "No, let me clarify  if you don't watch it, I'll be wearing your ass for a shoe" - Fallout, Vault Dweller

So many great insults from this game I could have made a best Fallout insults list. I am sure anyone who has had the pleasure would agree without question.

There you have it. I know there are a bunch more I could have added to the list and surprisingly this was a much harder list to narrow down then you would think. Enjoy the rest of your day, who knows maybe you will even hear one of these directed towards you!

You Fail At Using Broken Game Mechanics If...

Fail Day! Yes you can sit down and stop with the stand ovation. It is my favourite day of the week too. Some might think it is hard to come up with things every week, but every time I may have that thought someone proves to me just how easy it is. This week is no difference as the Hearhtstone Forums gave me some great inspiration. So here we go.

You Fail At Using Broken Game Mechanics If...

• You use your "ability" to not die in Beyond Two Souls to finish the game faster
• You take bio breaks during the puzzles in Uncharted to come back and let the game tell you the answer
• You ring out yourself while spamming force abilities with Yoda in Soul Calibur IV
• You forgot to libra monsters while spamming auto ability in Final Fantast XIII
• You got game over while trying to get infinite lives in Super Mario Bros
• You forgot to plug in a second remote to just out of pits in Megaman 3
• You use a strategy guide for every RPG you play and still cannot beat the game
• You used an ability program controller in Street Fighter 2 and still couldn't beat M. Bison
• You died as a Druid in WoW because your flight-form button was macro'd incorrectly
• You don't use smoke bombs in Assassin's Creed
• You use pistols to kill Bloaters in The Last of Us
• You don't put high level red gems in the weapons of the characters you are leveling in Diablo III
• You didn't kill your entire party up one character when attempting to defeat Ruby Weapon in Final Fantasy VII
• You never use Dark Templar on Protoss Campaign levels in Starcraft

and finally

• You tried to use Alexstrasza on Heroic Loatheb

There you have it this week's edition of fail. Hope you all had a good laugh, simple, or whatever else you may do!

Warlords Anonymous

Happy Monday! A very Happy Monday to those who are enjoying the Civic Holiday, and a very shitty Monday to those who have no idea what I am talking about. With that in mind some of you may need something to cheer yourselves up, and what better way to do that then with some Machinima, after all it is Monday isn't it. This Machinima comes from Ian Beckman who I have showcased many times, but it really is because his Machinima always amuse me. I figure the same goes for all of you, so enjoy!



I was right wasn't I?

Ask Gauss

Here we are on the Sunday of a long weekend. These Sundays are always the best Sundays because you realize you don't have to do anything tomorrow. Unless, of course, you don't have a long weekend then they are basically a slap in the face and me pointing it out really just makes you angry. On that note it is Sunday so let's answer some questions.

So do you think the Plague Quarter was better than the Spider?

Besides the obvious bugs which happened I think so. I thought the bosses on Normal were not as easy as they were last week, and the heroics were tougher in the sense that I built specific decks to take each boss down. To me I thought that is what the heroics would be anyway. One of my favourite parts of Hearthstone is making a deck with a purpose, and the Heroics this week actually let me do that causing me to consider using cards I would never find myself using. So here is hoping the same happens next week.

Do you think the Last of Us remaster is a money grab?

Honestly no. I really feel they noticed the influx of Xbox users from the previous generation and figured this is a great opportunity to allow them to play one of the best games ever made. Sure some who have already played may buy again, but the point of this really is to showcase to the former Xbox users and get them to stay with Playstation, and truthfully this may be the best game to do it with even if it is from the previous generation.

Which Hero would you add to Heroes of the Storm?

I think Thrall is the Obvious choice.

And we are done with questions for the week. Thank you to everyone who sent something in and long weekend or not, enjoy the rest of it.

The Arakkoa

Happy Friday everyone! Also a Happy long weekend to all my Canadian friends! Don't you always feel better on a long weekend? I know I do. So I was thinking, and with that time in thought I realized I had not done any posts concerning WoW Lore in quite some time. I have been getting a lot of emails about WoD beta and some of the stories going on within it. So I figured this would be a good time for one of you to pass on some information about some questlines in the beta. Now if you don't want anything spoiled keep in mind there will be spoilers here so don't read. So here is Gamespud and his findings regarding the Arakkoa.

So I've been playing in beta and I'm in Spires of Arak atm. I'm not 100% done with it but I've already found a lot of interesting facts about the Arakkoa. So it seems there are 3 variety of Arakkoa split by their deities. There is the outcasts who we work with who worship anzu and follow the teachings of Terrok. There are the Setthek who worship seethe (the creator of the curse) who does not appear to be an old god btw.. impossible to say unrelated but we literally kill him (again) so yeah.. Then there are the adherents of Ruhkmar who worship.. well.. you guess.. and like to burn people with fiery beams of doom. 

One interesting thing I found in the zone is that the adherents did not create their tech themselves. In fact they are just using apexis tech dug up from excavations. You get to peek inside these a little bit and let me say they seem suspiciously reminiscent of Uldum. The tech seems very titanic in origin. It's hard to say if anything is really old god related as nothing directly states so but they have hinted at odd things in my opinion like "returning to the old ways". Then again its hard to say anything on the Arakkoa definitively at the moment as the whole zone is very much filled with mystery and is kind of a chase for answers. 

I love the zone as each quest is basically little tidbits to taste at as you constantly search deeper in the darkness trying to uncover these secrets. So I was mostly just reporting what I've learned from beta to you who I know is a big lore buff and was hoping to get some thoughts from you on the subject.

The Arrakoa have always been interesting to me as they seem to have the Old God connection without it being stated outright, and now with what might be a titan influence on Draenor is even more interesting. Thanks to Gamespud for the report and I look forward to hearing more from you and everyone else.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!