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!

Difficulty Is Not The Same As Skill

So yesterday I did a list talking about skill and video games. As always this leads to great insight about my the game I play is better and harder then the game you play. To that is not the point. I wasn't talking about if a game is hard or difficult or near impossible. To me this doesn't classify if a game takes skill or not to play at a high level.

Now I know some of you right now are shaking your heads wondering what in the hell I am talking about. Well here it is. If something is difficult it doesn't imply it takes skill to do. It is hard to level a Hardcore Character in Diablo on T1 it doesn't mean it takes skill to do it. Dark Souls is a very hard rage inducing game, but that doesn't translate to skill. It is often imply if something is hard that means it takes skill to do, but that actually is not really the truth at all. Sometimes things are hard in games because you trying to do something you may have not prepared for or you are high enough level to complete. 

Think of it this way defeating the original Ragnaros in Molten Core was difficult because you needed 40 people gear with fire resistance, but once you had this and once everyone knew where they were supposed to stand and not to do the encounter went near flawless. This is why to me if you practice something over and over while you may appear to be getting better your knowledge is the thing which is increases while your skill may increase minimally. This is precisely why RPGs always seem easier when you play them again and again. You know where to go you know what to do and when to expect it. It doesn't mean you have skill like a boss at the game it really is the phrase "practice makes perfect"

So as I love getting emails about how such and such is harder and takes more skill than such and such please remember this and everything I wrote, because if you do maybe you will realize something. The game was hard and congrats on your achievements, but it really doesn't mean you have more skill than such and such because you play such and such.

I Can't Build There, Something Is In The Way

So here we are and today I thought I would come up with a post which will probably not only cause people to going insane with rage, but one I feel I may have been avoid because I am not really in the mood to read email upon email of people being a bunch of tools. What you may ask is this about then? Well this is about gaming and about skill. Now this is about at top level play, of course, in the games I will be listing anyone can come in and "play". Also I am going to focus on current games as to not have to deal with the ideas of older games requiring more skill or were they just more difficult. That is another point I want to make. In my mind difficulty is not the same as skill. Something can be hard, but that doesn't mean it is skillful. As an example a lot of RPGs are difficult in the sense you need to know certain things about environments or elements, but in my mind knowing those things doesn't make you skillful as a gamer it makes you knowledgeable ,which is something completely different. So here we go!

5. Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Fighting games in general require players to be able to visually see and anticipate what their opponent is going to do. This in addition to being able to execute combinations of buttons and speeds which casual gamers find near impossible. The Tekken series in my mind in consider quite skillful because the combinations are done at a much faster speed then any other fighting game because you really are just punching and kicking each other endlessly and nothing really fancy.

4. League of Legends

Now some would say I give MOBAs a lot of shit for not being skillful. This is not true I give them crap because the players believe because they can play the game they are the best gamers in the world. Now LoL liek all MOBAs requires you to have knowledge of your opponent and what they are capable of and adapt to it. Not every game is the same. The problem is the map actually is.

3. DotA2

For all the same reasons that LoL made this list DotA2 does. Why did it rank higher on my list? Well it just comes down to more choice, more adaptations and more anticipation and adaptation. That really is the only reason.

2. Soul Calibur V

In my mind the most difficult and skillful fighting series around. SCV in my mind wasn't the most skillful but like I said was going current. What makes this different? Surroundings are much more important and the game is much more balanced on a character to character basis. Everyone is not quick and everyone doesn't have the same strength. You need to not only understand how much damage you can do, but in addition how much you are able to withstand and in my mind makes it much more of a skill orientated fight.

1. Starcraft II

In my mind RTS is the most difficult genre there is and SC2 is the only RTS of note. You are not only anticipating how one character is going to reacted but an entire army, while maintaining your own army. This is not just a mico orientated game but a macro one as well which makes this miles ahead of the competition in every aspect of skill.

There it is. I am ready have at it with your thoughts.

You Fail At Naxx Heroic Bosses If...

Fail Day! Yes it is here along with a brand new wing in Hearthstone Naxx and 3 more Heroic Bosses to try and defeat. Did you happen to defeat all of the ones from last week? Well if not I am here of course to make you feel better on this edition of Fail Day.

You Fail At Naxx Heroic Bosses If...

• You didn't pay attention to the Hero Powers
• You didn't realize Grand Widow likes to ignore Lightwells
• You thought it was unfair they had 45 health
• You thought they were too hard
• You thought they were too easy
• You didn't exploit Maexxna hero power and endless heal yourself
• You tried to do Anub with taunts
• You just thought using the deck you always use on ladder would work
• You heard other people had defeated them easily and you played along like you did the same
• You thought the lag effect was a nice edition to the wing
• You made a forum post that there was a bug because the boss was using cards 3 times
• You couldn't even defeat the normal versions
• You net decked to win

and finally

• You didn't defeat any of them.

There you have it this week's edition of Fail. Hope you enjoyed it and good luck on this week's wing!

Unity Comic Con Trailer

Here we are Monday morning wondering why it has to be Monday. This is nothing new though it happens every Monday it really is just the norm. What is also the norm is for me to showcase something for all of you. It is not a normal showcase though. At Comic Con there was a new trailer released for Assassin's Creed Unity. Now normally trailers are never something I would show on Mondays because they are just trailers and nothing really special. This trailer though is something special and you really have to watch it to understand why a trailer like this would change my mind. So have a watch

Wasn't I right?

Ask Gauss

Sunday! Yes that wonderful day of the week which is both happy and sad. Happy in the sense it is still the weekend and you can enjoy your time, but then sad because the weekend is almost over. So as we are mulling over what remains of our weekend how about we sit back and answer some questions so you can read the responses.

Do you think enough people will purchase the Naxx wings in order for the meta to evolve at all levels of play?

The first wing is free and then from then on 700g is not a lot and the payment option truthfully isn't that expensive at all. You can even buy all the wings in advance for $20. People will play the wings people will beat the wings and the cards even though only 30 of them in total will have a drastic effect on how the game will be played. Now that doesn't mean everyone will get every single card the first day the wing is out or that these changes are going to happen instantly, but it would be crazy to think they won't have any effect at all.

Do you think it is unfair you will only be able to ride the Azeroth Chopper on a Horde character?

It makes sense it is a Horde bike. I understand why people are upset though as some might have voted differently if they knew this was going to be the case. To me though that is the very reason they didn't say anything. They wanted everyone to vote for the bike they believed was the best and would like to see in game and not vote for the bike they would ride in game. There is a big difference in that. I am actually pump it is going to be a free mount as I was expecting it to be a Store mount or a mount that had more to it then just logging in.

Are you paying attention to ComicCon?

Is this a trick question?

There you have it! Questions answered for the week, thanks to everyone who sent something in if I answered it on here or not. Try to enjoy what is left of your weekend!

Zoo Zoo Zoo

So there has been talk especially lately that the Meta in Hearthstone is going to be set for awhile. Now I don't particularly agree with that the game for some time now has showed us that some cheap decks can be very effective and quite popular. Zoo Lock being the most popular of the aforementioned decks. This leads me to this week's Reader Post from Vithar who has some concerns about the current meta game and his hopes of Naxx cards changing things.

I've been building my paladin deck and my variant of handlock for a while, then frustrated at how long it was taking to craft my deck i quickly built a lockzoo and only spent 400 dust and got great results from it. I can 100% guarantee that if players had the cards they needed for the deck they really wanted to play you would not see them as much as we do now. It's just so cheap to make the deck that people play it because they can.

Keep in mind im a player that spent no cash on this game (blizzard wont accept any of my plastic cards even the prepaids so i cant even if i wanted to, the amount of times i bought a prepaid and couldn't use it man...) but i imagine even the players that do or did spend cash might not have the money or time to build a control warrior with the 5-6 legendaries you need for it.

Blizz is going to have to nerf the cards to stop it from being popular now, even then though that could frustrate a lot of casual players. they cant raise dust requirements because it will wreck the playerbase, and lets be honest blizz aren't going to lower dust costs. Maybe Naxx will change this, i doubt it because you need to spend cash for it (and for people in my situation that's impossible), but who knows. i can see deathrattle decks becoming a thing now though, could be interesting.

I hate to be that skeptical prick but i think it will be around for a while, because honestly it's a pay to win game, and the cheapest way to win right now is zoo.

Anyways, my two piece. Do you think the Naxx cards are going to mess with the zoo pop? What do you think of the current meta  and what needs to change?

There you have it. As always thank you for all the submissions as it couldn't be possible to do this with them. Enjoy your weekend everyone!