Traditionally I hate RTS (real time strategy) as I like to ponder and choose and not feel like The game is a click-frenzy; however Northgard is so darn good I have to share. It is friendly to new players, has good gameplay which scales well, both single player campaign and multiplayer, and fantastic artwork. I grabbed it on a Steam sale and do not regret it. I’m still not confident that it’ll suit my game style and even in a basic game it feels chaotic. For now loving the game.

Who am I kidding, both have a relentless leveling grind so I’ll play wow to at least see some new models and zones. I don’t need Skara Brae that badly.

I’m also very excited and pleased that is over. I don’t have time for alts but I am considering doing daily quests on one of my other level 110 characters to get and spend Order Resources; for gold. Would be nice to start Battle for Azeroth with a nest egg. It also makes alt levelling far easier.

I was also finally able to finish the DK class quests which grant the flying undead dragon, and also have got Exalted rep with the Nightfallen. The DK class quests are amazing! I think Legion was worth the effort purely due to the integrated storyline and class quests I’ve seen – and I’ve only seen the DK quest line and a little of the Druid line.

A huge week. Happy killing.

Legion Flying takes dedicated attention to get because it requires completing all the zone quests, considerable effort in reputation farming, and making sure you have travelled everywhere. Those tasks unto themselves are worth it because they help/force the player to see the content. I dislike how unfriendly to roadways and cumbersome some of the zones are (High Mountain is a disgrace). So Legion Flying is essentially very easy when compared to very difficult content like the Mage-Tower fights, however it takes a concentrated effort of many months when you play very casually.

If I get Flying, see the raids, and a second Legendary drop by the time the expansion ends then I will be happy. … In the pic blow is Mortigen wearing a terrible clown-suit leveling drops surrounded by a few ghouls (unholy spec), a bodyguard, and a quest follower.

Presented by Blizzard Entertainment’s University Relations and World of Warcraft development teams, the seventh annual Blizzard Student Art Contest has drawn to a close. After some fervent debate and impassioned deliberation, our judges sifted through the many remarkable entries and identified the winning entries.

Take a look. So, so great.

On WoW: Legion…

• I’ve chosen to take my Druid into one area as a primary character, and play my Death Knight and a Demon Hunter through others. That way over the next 6 months I can see plenty of the zones, learn a few classes, and casually click my way through the world content. perhaps teh Druid will get there first, maybe the DK, lets see.
• I love the story so far (only one zone finished, and the Druid is just on level 103).
• Having the “special” mobs marked with a star on the map is handy and I’m always trying to kill/complete them.
• Getting “free” artefacts is wonderful, but getting special storylines is even better. Frankly the weapons would not need to be “legendary” for this feature to be great.
• I missed playing this style of game, and it took a little while or my fingers to remember the keyboard. I can’t smoothly fight while strafing around a target yet, but that will come again.
• I stil suck at watching the mob, watching my cooldowns, and watching the area around me. I reversed my Druid Bear into another monster a few times, and thankfully Druid Tanks can still take a serious beating before they die.
• I’ve died a few times, but not due to falling damage or AFK (yet). Repairs are not cheap.
• The Demon Hunter feels like its a bit of a gimmick, but its also darn fun so far. I guess the Death Knight looked the same way too in Wrath of the Lich Kind, and its still my favourite class.
• I’m not preordering the next expansion yet, as you need a level 110 character to unlock the new races via a rep grind. As I’ve not played Legion mainstory yet, the idea of rushing through it to just grind a rep seems silly. I’d also be surprised if the classes were not made available to players without the grind once the game is officially launched. The grinders get the races months early, whcih is a reward of sorts.
• I also plan to farm some old dungeons or transmog, mounts and such, irritate the world around me, and make a general nuisance of myself.

Happy killing folks, TyphoonAndrew

• The starting click through movies and “click to continue” screens are horrid. This game’s UX is so bad that you need to click “OK” to get to the starting menu! Who does that!
• The UX for political interaction is shite too – you click teh bottom left hand buttons to make choices and then close the screen with the top right! That’s UX fail.
• I hate using and defending Spys. I’d love a mod which removes them from the game.The in-game interface is ugly, constantly re-allocating the is a pain, and I want more detail on what they are doing and their success ratios. I give up trying to promote them.
• I’m now trying to learn the ins and outs of a Religious victory. Its nonsense at present. I’ll learn the Tourism one after I get the religious one down.
• The Domination victory is by far the easiest. By far.
• The starting position, presence of barbarian, and leader choice makes all teh difference. Those three factors are huge levers for success or failure. Yes that makes sense, but it also means some games are just dead from the start.

Anyway, on a lighter note – here is what happens in a sim game – a launch pad is next to sheep. Those poor sheep.

The new DLC expansion was released recently, again adding new content and also new game mechanics for Civ6. It introduces Eras, City Leaders, and a range of new sub-mechanics which will make the gameplay more complex. I’m holding off on buyig the expansion until I get a better grasp of the game as is.

PCGames – “Historic Moments award Era Score, and this is what determines what Age you will fall into as the era transitions. Reaching a certain threshold will trigger a Golden Age, but failing to do so will trigger a Dark Age. After receiving a Golden Age, the threshold is changed, and the next one is harder to achieve. But after receiving a Dark Age, the threshold is changed to make it a bit easier to get a Golden Age next time.”

The studio who creates civ6 has said they like DLC and microtransactions for their games, and can foresee doing more in the future (uptake is apparently very high for the DLC). I’d hate microtransactions to be in Civ but like the DLC small segments.

Refs:

• The announcement of Rise and Fall expansion
• Firaxis likes DLC fo Civ6 and will continue to make it.
• Overview of the “Rise and Fal”l DLC expansion