Six Degrees of April 22, 2016

Hey I figured out how to type the degree (°) symbol…cool…hope this shows up on my site properly.

Six Degrees of April 22, 2016

This week I looked at another 7 sites (sadly one was last updated in August – I included it but added an extra).

• Grimoires of Supremacy
• AggroChat
• Lock & Bolt
• Growing up in Azeroth
• Gnomecore
• Reputation Grind
• The Ancient Gaming Noob

Grimoires of Supremacy – ilvl 720+ link curve

Ikralla over at Grimoires of Supremacy talks about the ilvl controversy.  The cuddly panda concludes that it’s all our own fault that ilvl is so prominent in World of Warcraft, and I’d have to say in most games these days.  Some great points are addressed – how can ilvl accommodate for spec, or secondary stats, or how effective you are at using your abilities.  It’s a well thought out post and I think it addresses a very valid point.  I can see ilvl being useful when playing with strangers.  There’s no real way to tell how a person will perform when you invite them to group with you, so I suppose ilvl is at least a basic barometer that indicates that the character has at least attained a certain level of gear.  But everyone knows plenty of players who may have characters with high ilvl and be ‘qualified’ to participate in certain battles, but are they really ‘qualified’?  They may have the ilvl but not the actual skill or perhaps they always stand in the fire or whatever…ilvl might work with strangers but not with those you know.  For me, I don’t have the ilvl nor the skill…even with all the months that Draenor has been out, I have yet to even attempt any of the raids…good thing I still have a few more months until Legion comes out.

AggroChat – Episode 103 – Reboot Done Right

Belghast puts out episode 103 of AggroChat…over 2 years of shows.  Belghast, Ashgar, Grace, Kodra, Tam, and Thalen get together to talk about stuff, and they cover a bunch of things.  First they talk about their experiences and expectations in the Overwatch Beta…I’m still pissed that I haven’t got in on the beta after all this time…not like I haven’t paid my dues to Blizzard over the past decade+.  In any case, they raise some good questions about the viability of playing Overwatch in solo queue.  Then they talk about the Wildstar faction updates and how they are not going to be pleasing to many people – keep the factions separate or make them irrelevant and let friends play together – if the idea is to get more players, why make it so hard for friends to play with each other?  There’s also a discussion about treating the Dark Souls bosses as though they are raid bosses…its a different mindset playing solo than in a raid team but a calm head helps in both. They also comment that Dark Souls III IS NOT Bloodborne even though they are similar.  But then they fall into a discussion about cosmetic looks in MMOs…I’ve made my thoughts clear about how my character looks, but they highlight how different games do cosutmes better than others…its an interesting discussion, but one I checked out on – perhaps someday I’ll be more interested in cosmetics but I haven’t reached that point yet.  In any case, they cover a bunch of topics in a well organized and thought out podcast that I look forward to listen to every week.

Lock & Bolt – Blaugust Day 18 – Over the Hill

Byx over at Lock & Bolt has taken a break from posting.  It looks like a new job was coming back in August and excitement and nervousness were the emotions of the day.  Hopefully Byx is enjoying the new situation and will come back to the blog someday, but in the meantime, the post from August 18, 2015 was an interesting one.  Byx talks about the idea of our MMO heroes aging and what they’ll do once they retire.  I think this is a great concept and something that could launch many tales.  I think Byx is on to something – do the super powerful heroes ride off into the sunset or do they become the villains for future generations of heroes to cut down?  I can see this sort of thing in Pen & Paper games as well.  When you reach level 100, have raided all the things and saved the world from ruin too many times to count, you as a gamer go off to another game…another world, but what happens in the game world, to your character?  Its and interesting thought experiment.

Growing up in Azeroth – Apparently, I’m a Raid Leader

Fussypants came to the realization that she is a raid leader.  And along with that realization, she’s learned some important lessons…have a good attitude, try to be knowledgeable and know the fights, and having a second in command. All good things for a raid leader to have.  Her discussion on how she became a raid leader and learned these lessons is pretty interesting. I’ll have to admit I respect raid leaders…they put in so much effort, I’m sure I’d never be able to pull off what most of them do on a regular basis…I just play the game, they seem to live it at times and make it more enjoyable for everyone else.

Gnomecore – Legion Release Date Announced

Gnomecore talks about the upcoming release of Legion and plans for finishing up the current WoW content. Obviously the announcement for Legion took up a lot of blogging space this week as any announced expansion to the largest MMO would. Im still struggling Druid at level 91, but I might get to 100 by the time the expansion drops. Gnomecore is taking a leisurely approach to the final days of Draenor having achieved most of the things they wanted in the current expansion.  Last time was another story and they talk about getting through everything before moving on.

Reputation Grind – Eight

Acehawkblade talks about getting 8 characters to level 100 in Warcraft.  Wow…that is definitely an achievement. I’m jealous sitting here with my 91 level Druid. All these people who are more focused than I am really make me want to dedicate myself, but I can never seem to stick with things.  Ace also talks about the latest season of Diablo 3…another game I started playing, and enjoying, but never got completed. I am pretty sure I am more of a perfectionist or a read everything I can about a game before I get paralyzed with the fact that I can’t get things perfect type of person, rather than a completionist.  In any case, congrats on 800 levels of Warcraft!

The Ancient Gaming Noob – CSM 11 Announced – Xenuria Wins at Last

Wilhelm Arcturus, long time blogger and Goonie takes some time to talk about the CSM election results and other happenings in Eve Online. Even though I’ve spent most of my time in Eve facing off against the Goons, my capsuleer career began in a corp friendly with them…I even signed up for the Something Awful forums way back when, but either way it goes, Wilhelm has always been a fun read.

The 11th Council of Stellar Management vote was held recently and the election results were announced at Eve Fanfest. Wilhelm talks about the Goon suggested ballot winning 6 of the 14 spots, but from the results, it looks like the Imperium’s current nemesis – Pandemic Legion – also picked up quite a few positions.  With all the chaos of CSM X, it will be interesting to see how this year’s group pans out, particularly with the current state of null sec.  According to Wilhelm, low turnout resulted in power block wins, but I also wonder if Gevlon’s call for a boycott might have had an impact on the number of votes cast.  Personally, this is the first year I missed the vote because I let my subscription lapse.

Regardless of whether you play Eve or not, it is always fun to read about…take a break from the politics of the real world and dive into the politics of a galaxy far, far away.  And even though Wilhelm might be on the wrong side of things, he provides a very fun and interesting read.

Roundup

So there you have my Six (Seven) degrees of April 22, 2016.  A little Eve, a few bits of Warcraft, some raiding, some Overwatch, and a lot of fun gaming.

Morning Ramble 2.71