On July 19th, 2014 on Azeroth Pirate Radio, episode 56. I declared that guild housing should include airships. Now with the release of Warlords and how Garrisons are playing out, I reaffirm this on several fronts! Many people were angry with how integrated garrisons were going to be, but now I see nothing but people excited about garrisons, logging in, sending their followers out on missions, upgrading buildings.
Blood Death Knight Primer for 6.0.2
So you are a Blood Death Knight and patch 6.0.2 is hitting on 10/14/2014, are you prepared? Well here are a few quick things you should be aware of and prepare yourself to tank in the new Warcraft world, with trimmed down spellbooks, modified mechanics, stat squish and stat changes! So after reviewing the DK changes in the patch notes, and make note they said pestilence replaces blood boil, as of writing this, blood boil was still in on the PTR and in beta.
XBOX One or PS4?
This is the dilemma I am working under. I want to upgrade my console but am unsure. So currently I only have an XBOX 360, I do have a Nintendo 3DS, but lately been predominately a PC gamer, playing the likes of Warcraft, Civilization, Diablo, Starcraft and an assortment of other Steam games. In the past I have been typically first to jump on the new consoles, but this year I have sat back and watched, trying to make up my mind. Some of this is me just putting down on paper my thoughts and the arguments I have with myself regarding buying one or the other.
I know most just say PS4, its currently winning its a no brainer, but not for me. I am a casual gamer, haven’t used my console much except for playing games with my kids, games like Disney Infinity or Lego Marvel. Now I am aware there are exclusives on both sides that interest me, like The Order: 1886 on PS4 and Sunset Overdrive on XBOX One. I like that both have a built in blu-ray player, that helps me reduce the devices I have connected in my media room.
So how am I going to decide, well there are a few things. One I want is a good deal, the price needs to be right, maybe a perk here or there. Second I want something that will grow with my kids and I (they are currently almost 4 and 1 as of writing this). Third I want something that my friends are playing, something that has a great online experience. As I mentioned on my 360, I have played some more kid friendly games recently, but also spent a majority of time streaming Netflix through XBOX Live, so I need to take that into consideration.
Recently Microsoft had a phenomenal deal, that I was almost tempted to get, where they were selling a game bundle with Madden, then get a game for free! But I think I still have an issue with that $399.99 price tag for either console. I feel if the consoles were at say $349.99 maybe bundled with a game, it might be more enticing. At $299.99 I would have bought one already. So I feel price and perceived value are two very big things for me.
Online experience is also a big part of it, many of the people I would want to play games with are halfway around the country or even the world. Right now I love XBOX Live. I feel its easy, intuitive, my biggest gripe is when navigating XBOX Live via web browser, it feels half thought out. The games with gold is a nice feature, and usually has at least 1 free game a month I am interested in, whether I have the time to play it or not. PS4 I have limited experience with other than folks who do have a Playstation Network (PSN) account say its ok, but XBOX Live is better for the most part. I know PSN also offers free games as well, similar to the games with Gold. So I look at both offerings and say which one will be better this year, next year, 5 years from now?
Something else I am looking at is does the console force you to have extra unnecessary peripherals. For XBOX One I am glad they ditched the kinect sensor, I never use the kinect sensor on my 360 today, so don’t feel I need to jump on this half baked tech for the XBOX One. For the PS4 its the Vita, reading so much how Sony is dropping 1st party support and its primarily going to be used to stream games, I am not sure I need this feature, as I am perfectly happy with my 3DS. As long as neither are made mandatory this is a wash from my perspective.
So what am I to do? Do I leave my 10+ years on XBOX Live to join the Playstation crowd? Will XBOX One turn around their sales and catch up to Sony’s very fast start in the current generation console war? Is 1886 or even Sunset Overdrive truly console sellers? If I go with PS4 am I going to miss out on Halo 5 (mind you I have Halo 4 and have barely played it). Will XBOX One have an awesome new installment of Gears of War? With PS4 have a great God of War sequel, and bundle in the previous versions, as I missed out on PS3 versions? These are all questions that bounce around my head as I consider which to get.
I feel its not just as simple as get one or the other, what am I going to feel comfortable with, what console will my kids enjoy? Right now it seems PS4 is pulling me away a bit, saying come on, XBOX doesn’t love you anymore, I am new, fresh and a slight step up. But then you see Microsoft making some dramatic changes to try and close that gap saying, hey look we are the same console you love, and we are working hard to keep you, because you matter. I know some of you are going to say get both consoles, but thats not an option, at least for the foreseeable future.
I know posting this is just fueling the internet console wars debate, but needed to get this out, as not a day doesn’t go by that I don’t look to see if there are any deals going on.
Garrison Planning for Warlords of Draenor
Arguably, one of the features I am most excited about is also one I have had the least hands on time with while in beta. I am of course talking about Garrisons. I know many people are iffy on this feature, some don’t like being forced into garrisons, some are looking forward to this expanded version of player housing over Mists of Pandaria’s farm feature.
The first question I asked myself is what kind of player do I plan on being in Warlords. Well I decided my gaming won’t change much, so my typical 3-4 days of 2-3 hours per day won’t change, and of course my guild, Phalanx of Nod, will be raiding. Phalanx of Nod’s raiding approach is casual but focused. So I asked, what features of garrisons will allow me to better myself in raids with my limited playtime? Also its important to note, my main character is a Blood Death Knight, with Jewelcrafting as my main profession and mining as my secondary.
Blizzcon 2014 Prediction: Warcraft RTS Remastered
So this year we celebrate two big milestones for Blizzard entertainment. First is the 10 year anniversary of their extremely successful MMO, World of Warcraft. But more importantly its the 20 year anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. I remember Warcraft, Orcs and Humans being the 2nd RTS I ever played right after Command and Conquer, and instantly I was hooked, eventually picking up Warcraft 2 and Warcraft 3. Sadly outside of Warcraft 3, the other 2 really aren’t playable on modern computers, but they contain such great story, especially with the Warcraft movie, focusing on that very first RTS, or at least drawing heavily from that storyline. Its sad to watch 2 great games that helped start it all just collect dust and many new players to the Warcraft universe to never experience them. Which brings me to my prediction…