Xbox: Diablo III Ultimate Evil Edition

We tried the demo of Diablo III on the Xbox360 several months ago.  It was appealing, the ability to play together without a split screen was the extremely appealing.  Life intruded and we never pulled the trigger, until this week on the Xbox One when the Ultimate Evil Edition released.

The new game contains the expansion to the game and looks amazing.  Blizzard did an amazing job, and the ability to link to your existing battle.net account was a very nice edition to the new release.  I can see familiar themes in Diablo and Warcraft.  Witch Doctor models are very similar to trolls, spells and animations are familiar as well.  Familiarity isn’t a bad thing, it is comforting in it’s own way.

We got our first chance to play yesterday afternoon and late into the evening.  He rolled a Witch Doctor and I rolled a Demon Hunter.  We are still in Act I but have had a blast.  The Witch Doctor is an amazing class with creepy pets and spells galore.  He has zombie dogs, spiders, bats, zombies, and soon hex chickens at his disposal.  Creepy wonderfulness and fits the name of the class.  Demon Hunter is ranged damage that is mobile and a blast.  She looks like a grown-up Little Red Riding Hood out for vengeance.

We started together and now I’m three levels ahead because all the gear I got had +experience modifiers and the exact opposite was true for him.  I have also been the random beneficiary of gifts from my friends list, although I haven’t been able to return the favor yet.  The gifts have been amazing pieces of loot that have made my demon hunter that much more kickass.

I have no doubt that there will be more Diablo III today, so excuse me it’s time to go kick evil in the ass.

Technorati Tags: Blizzard,Xbox One,Diable III,Witch Doctor,Demon Hunter

Weekend Activities: SWTOR and Xbox

SWTOR got a lot of play Thursday and Friday, easy stress escape and I got caught up in leveling my bounty hunter.  What is really irritating me is that since the last time I played the fine folks over a Bioware have for some unfathomable reason disabled the ability to take a screenshot during a dialogue scene with a NPC.  I’ve missed countless great shots of humorous lines or facial expressions as a result.  Hell, I’ve just missed great shots of my characters up close.

I have a plethora of screenshot for the wildlife or environment but not one of my character.  I am going to have to remedy that next time I log on.  I fell into the crafting trap this weekend, you know the one.  You spend more time logging in and out of various characters to craft items or send raw materials.  I wish they would release an app for one of the mobile platforms to let gamers do that stuff while away from their gaming rig.  I would definitely spend more free time in SWTOR or any game to be honest, that let me get some of the more mundane but vital activities, like crafting, accomplished while waiting at the doctor’s office or watching television.

I fired up the Xbox demo for Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD before I had my first cup of coffee on Saturday morning.  It left a bad taste in my mouth and I quickly moved on.  Hubby woke up and he tried it thankfully and I was instantly charmed.  So a couple of cups of coffee and a trial by hubby and AC: Liberation wound up on my game rotation for the week.  A full review when I am more than a couple of hours of game play in and more than one cup of coffee consumed.

Thanks to the fine folks at Gamefly I also played some Diablo III on Saturday.  I created a female barbarian and set off on my single adventures.  I got to New Tristam and learned that there was no way to link my battle.net account to my Xbox account and was instantly frustrated.  All those fine goodies from virtual Blizzcon tickets are going to go to waste because of my platform choice?  Seems like a oversight that should not have happened.  Diablo III never felt like a PC game to me and there is no way I’m paying PC prices for it when I can rent it or buy it from Gamefly.  The one thing I do really like about the port to the console is that cooperative game play isn’t fouled up by a split screen which drives us both bonkers.

Hubby fired up Mass Effect and started the ugliest character he has ever created on Insanity.  No seriously, the Shepard he created was so ugly I cringed every single time I looked up at the television and caught a glimpse of him.  He took pity on me and recreated Shepard as Sheldon Cooper and started over on Insanity.  All I have to saw is that Insanity is a difficulty setting I will never be attempting!

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BlizzCon 2013: Initial Impressions

There was much goodness revealed at BlizzCon yesterday.  An expansion for Warcraft, cinematics for Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone open beta announcement. Beta sign-ups are live for all expansions or new games, so sign into your battle.net account and join the fun.

Where to begin?  Diablo II first, The Reaper of Souls expansion.  Adventure mode: play where you want, when you want.  It is a separate mode from campaign mode, designed for players to freely move between modes and enjoy the game anyway they wish.  The game play looks amazing and I’m interested in the Crusader panel today discussing the upcoming class and changes in greater detail.  I admit I haven’t played Diablo III yet more than the trial but I am itching to, specially because the transmogrification system coming in the expansion is something that has peaked my interest greatly.

 

World of Warcraft, the Warlords of Draenor expansion looks to have the potential to revitalize and aging MMO in a competitive marketplace.  UI improvements are coming (true Bind on Account Heirlooms!), popular add-ons being integrated into the UI (random mount, battleground timers), and NEW and stunning character models.  Oh yeah let’s not forget Blizzard’s take on player housing is coming too!

Initial reaction here was meh, but digging deeper I’m deeply interested because let’s face it, I’m a lore junkie.  I think they took the easy way out and reworked old, familiar favorite characters from past Warcraft games but at the same time, they are bringing the past to bear on the present.  I didn’t play the RTS games but I know that the MMO I play today is based on what happened in those previous games and thus I’m looking forward to meeting the current day iterations of those beloved characters from RTS games.  Do I think they need to clear up some of the time travel that isn’t time travel confusion, oh yeah.  I think the potential is there, especially on the lore front.  Orc history, Draenei history, Ogres, and the incredibly juxtaposition of Thrall and Garrosh going back in time to meet their parents with affecting the timeline that we all know.

Heroes of the Storm is the Blizzard entry into the rapidly expanding and incredible popular arena style of multiplayer game.

Heroes is all about your favorite Blizzard multiverse characters into the same game.  Models for characters are familiar but different and game play looks fun, like a fast paced RTS with friends. 

Hearthstone, Heroes of Warcraft is the online card game that is set in the Warcraft Universe.  It has been in closed beta since August and open beta hits next month.

I’m in closed beta for Hearthstone, although I haven’t yet fired up the game.  It looks fun but at the same time I can’t seem to find any excitement on interest for an online card game.  Maybe I’m too old?  Also announced was the game will be coming to apple and android phones in beta form sometime next spring. 

Overall, the first day left an overwhelming impression that Blizzard has spent more time listening to the player base and is more focused on creating games that their players want to play.  Hopefully, the trend continues and they follow through with that potential. 

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Vacation Over …

Well, our impromptu too vacation is over and rime to get back to reality.  Where did we go you ask?  To a universe far, far, away.  We both have resubscribed to Star Wars: The Old Republic and are loving it.  It is such a different experience than March when we last played mainly because my computer isn’t overheating anymore.   A couple of rig improvements and now my machine no longer contemplates torching itself when I fire up SWTOR.

Admittedly, part of the reason we’ve been MIA for the last ten days is that we’ve rerolled characters on a new server.  When we came back to the game our server was empty, not nearly as bad as some server stories I’ve heard since being back, but still the economy was non-existent and fleet never had more than 25 people at peak.  After a quick web search I found an excellent site for server stats in SWTOR and we reolled on Jedi Covenant on the Republic side.  Starting planets routinely have over 75 people per planet and we’ve seen well over 100 people on Coruscant.  The atmosphere is generally positive and players are excited about the game. 

In other gaming news around the web before E3 next week:

• Star Wars 1313 details leaked ahead of E3, more details to follow at the convention
• The Secret World made several announcements:
• Launch delayed until July 3
• Third Beta Weekend entitled “Hell Raised” is June 15-17
• Fourth Beta Weekend is June 22-24 and players will get to experience PvP
• Early Access begins June 29th
• A new pre-launch Alternate Reality Game has been launched
• Rift announced its first expansion, Storm Legion, set to hit a retailer near you this fall
• The Elder Scrolls Online team has been talking and are unapologetic for bringing the series to the MMO format or for how they’ve structured the game
• 38 Studios closed its doors, laid off the entire staff, and then revealed how close the MMO based in the Kingdoms of Amalur setting was to completion
  
• South Korea raided the local offices of Blizzard during an ongoing investigation of customer complaints concerning the inability of Korean customers to return Diablo III
• Guild Wars 2 next beta weekend was announced June 8 – June 10

 

Technorati Tags: Star Wars 1313,Star Wars: The Old Republic,The Secret World,Rift,The Elder Scrolls Online,Kingdoms of Amalur,38 Studios,Guild Wars 2,SWTOR,TESO,TSW,Diablo 3,Blizzard