What is next for Blizzard...

First an update on the potential giveaway… turned out anything worthwhile was used up or given away already. But I promise I will make it up at the next milestone of 10k views.

Now with that out of the way I am going to delve in to the topic of today.

For many years we have seen Blizzard go from strength to strength.  From the original RTS games through Diablo and WoW and now with the trio of Hearthstone, HotS and Overwatch. Especially Overwatch have been a really good game in my opinion. Sure it suffers from the same balance issues as any non-symmetrical PvP. But it is still fun and it hits that really sweet spot of rewarding but not over time-consuming.  

But as Buffy and the gang asked… Where do we go from here..? With the upcoming Blizzcon the question of what will Blizzard do next is a hot potato indeed, The Star Craft 2 saga have concluded and due to its weird position as a E-Sport I think Blizzard are reluctant to muck around too much with it or start a new chapter in the saga. Also where do you go next, keeping things fresh but still being true to what people know as Star Craft? As for the old dog on the porch… World of Warcraft is really on its last leg… We can all see the sunset and while it is pretty and I am sure we will see at least another expansion. It is still walking well threaded ground. Hearthstone and HotS do not really make for grand expansion and to Overwatch, being a PvP arena shooter the idea of a paid expansion is pretty much anathema… (take note EA and your insane reliance on splitting the BF player base over and over again) That leaves us with Diablo… And the internet have been abuzz with some theories that Blizzard will reveal a new Diablo this year. Now this is not a dumb idea and while I am not a big fan of the Diablo games I find them fun enough. There is also as noted above nothing else I can really see being the big ticket item for this year´s Blizzcon.

So what would I like to see from a new Diablo game… Well I would like to see them jump the timeline so to speak. Push things a generation or two forward. A returning evil after a time of peace (cliché I know) maybe a slightly more Elizabethan-ish design… Or why not go all fantasy steampunk. They have flirted with it before with the Warcraft games. Not too bothered with classes but for what it is worth i´d love to see an elemental gunslinger replace the classic mage… Even if the gun mage is becoming as strong of a thing as the staple I suggest it replace. Also I would really like to see a class that is based around a quarter staff… Much like the monk i´d like it to be agile and mobile. As for the rest I think they have it nailed down now for regular game, I have heard that running the ladder get a bit grindey after a while but it is a non-essential part of the games for me.

But time will tell and personally I am much more interested in seeing some more Overwatch stuff, not only for the current game but some spin-off titles exploring the rich but mostly hidden world surrounding the game. That is what would make my Blizzcon.. That and getting one of those swagbags for free… But I do not think that Blizzard would prioritize sending one of those to a blog that scrapes up less than 250 views a month. =P

Well… That will be it for now.

Be nice and play fair, and I will see you again next week.

T

Celebrating mediocrity... (5k views)

Arn´t they cute.. they are unrelated to today´s post.

So... I hit a sort of milestone. And since i am born in the eighties i always try to celebrate even the small things.

I hit 5k views... Yeah... in total.... Not in a day... or a month.... or even.. sad to say.. a year... No it took about two years.

But that is also way more than i actually thought i was going to get. Sure a part of those are crawlers and other types of trackers. But i am still proud because i kept at it and following through has never been my strongest point when left to my own devices without a concrete goal or deadline.

So i´l try to dig up some digital swag and giver it away later in the week. You know.. to celebrate. =P

So what now...? Not much, i´l keep on trucking and see if we can hit 10k in one year perhaps. Than 15k in six months... who knows.

I have also started to work on a little side project... The guys sitting the the top of the page. Who and what will come at a later date as that is around version 0.5.

So.. Thanks for the time and let us get another 5k views together.

Cheers.

Suicide Squad a review. Spoilers.

So what to say about the Suicide Squad.... 

It is a movie that have some serious problem, but none of them big enough to stop me from enjoying the movie. But first... The plot goes thusly.

Superman have pretty much triggered a new arms race as the world realized that not only where they not prepared for a metahuman (DC´s catch-all term for anything with superpowers) attack but they where woefully unequipped... These events where part of the BvS movie. 

Enter Amanda Waller (played to perfection by Viola Davis, at no point did you doubt that she could and would destroy you) and Task Force X lead by the biggest stick since Scott Summers... Rick Flagg(played by Joel Kinnaman). My guess is that Flagg had his pert in the movie reduced when Tom Hardy dropped out because he literally serve no purpose in the movie. Anyway... Flagg is the commanding "officer" of the task force consisting of the best of the worst. The idea is to send in a bunch of nano-explosive laced criminals to do black op´s missions. If they live and complete the objective they get time off their sentences. If they fail Waller just toss them under the buss and if they start to color outside of the lines... click click boom. Head comes off. Generally speaking at least one member of Suicide Squad tend to bite it when they are sent out. 

I leave it up to you to guess if this movie follow suite. 

So.... Enter the antagonist, A ancient metahuman that the government try to control, this goes about as good as expected. So once the big bad start to fuck up one of DC comics many made up cities Waller activate TF:X and Flagg, a bunch of no-name marines and the self titled Suicide Squad consisting of 

Deadshot (Will Smith, master marksman and single dad) 

Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, amphibian metahuman with heighten strength and durability)

El Diablo (Jay Hernandez, Pyrokenetic gangboss)

Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney, Angry.. really angry.. Throws boomerangs) 

Enchantress (Cara Delevingne, the host of a angry spirit that can do magic.. ish...)

Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie, Crazy as balls acrobat and psychologist)

Flagg also bring in Katana (Karen Fukuhara, Master swordsman with a magic sword) as his enforcer, not a all together bad idea seeing how these are not the most balanced people to begin with. Beyond this point the movie can pretty much be split in to two... One is a average summer action movie and the other is a fairly smartly written drama... neither get the time it needs to really shine. I guess it do not need to tell anyone that the big bad is beaten and everyone is happy... Oh well... Alive... Sort of... Also we have a Joker sub-plot that is fun but also really does not go anywhere.(I´l make a separate post about Jarred Letos Joker.. Lot to say there.)  This is very clearly a origins movie setting up this sub-franchise of the DC CU. 

Now what make the movie a worthwhile watch in my mind is the fact that it does a lot of "show not tell" as far as the characters and their motivations. The action part of the movie is rather useless, it does what it needs and for the most part it is well put together. But seeing how the movie manages to make you feel for the bad guys as wells as the antagonist... Not so much for the big bad... But it belongs to the action part of the movie. The smart use of the bigger DC universe is another, the movie fits in very well and actually makes me more interested in the upcoming movies. There is a genuin warmth in the movie and more than a few really funny moments. The timing and pacing is also nice and the extra credit scene is absolute gold. 

Now i have brought up before (several times.. I know) how much I like the Amanda Waller character and there is not enough praise I can give to Davis for how she make this character work (and álso David Ayer and John Ostrander for actually writing a good character) She has all the menace and stone cold attitude that i always felt that the Arrow version lacked. You get the feeling that she could make even Batman tighten up with a single look... Not to mention the poor generals and politicians she bulldoze in the movie.

It does suffer from traileritis... Much of the early movie have been spoiled by trailers and seeing how the later part holds no real twists worth mentioning... It was annoying, But the great soundtrack from the trailers carry over in to the film it self making up for some of it. 

So to cap it off... It is no Avengers but a much better film than the previous Superman films gave any indication of DC/WB being able to produce. A easy to digest summer popcorn film with a great cast and enough hearth to fill the empty void that BvS left. 

Box over box over Overwatch

So a bunch of people are angry at Blizzard.. again....

And i guess it is kind of justified this time. You see Blizzard have taken the whole Loot Box scheme they have to a new level. Usually you get "gold" that you can use to buy any stuff you do not win form the boxes.

But for the Olympics Blizzard have a new box, with some new skins, sprays, victory poses and stuff. You get these as usual when you level up but here is the kicker. The event is just three weeks long and then the box goes in to the vault until next summer (potentially) and seeing as there is one hundred-ish new items one could understand that people get antsy.

Especially as you can ofc also buy these boxes for the regular price.

Now as someone who have done the seasonal grinds in WoW... I´d gladly pay to be able to get around that. But now for kicker number two. remember how I mentioned that you can use gold to unlock stuff... Not this time... The seasonal items can only be won by the grace of RNGsus.

This last detail is what I guess pushed the most vocal people over the edge as these are generally the same people that invest the most money in the game and by that token have the most "gold" to spend. NOw all that gold have to sit pretty until the next hero is released.

This is of course a calculated move by Blizzard, had people been able to use the gold it would have made a deep cut in to the number of boxes bought. Cynical as it might seem, Blizzard is not anyone's pal... bro... BFF... They are in the habit of trying to make money. You do not make money by giving away all your stuff for free. It would be the morally right choice seeing as we paid full price for the game (but on the flip side... Artist have to eat too., =P )

Now full disclosure, i bought five boxes and i was lucky enough to get exactly what i was looking for. The Torbjörn "IKEA" (in reality called Tre Kronor) skin. So for me the minimal investment i have made compared to the amount of enjoyment i get from using that skin is not even measurable. But i can understand that some people spent a lot and did not get what they wanted and the lack of an option to buy it via the "gold" store just pile on to that frustration. It also i would guess hurts that a new player starting now  or a low level player will have a way easier time to get the new stuff as the XP needed to level up is a lot less before level 20 i think.

Any way, me personally i can not give a flying fuck about any feathers this have ruffled or any slippery slopes people say this is the start of. Sure it is cynical and very much a sign of the times but at the same time i get quality entertainment for pretty much peanuts.

If this is a deal breaker for you, by all means quit and hit up your bank for a charge back... Me i am going to play a short hairy man from Gothenburg dressed as if he feel asleep at a IKEA company Christmas party.

//Peace

No post today.

Busy with stuff.

Post coming later in the week.

Take care.