A Green Mushroom

The Whispers of the Old Gods expansion is out for Hearthstone!  The new cards are fun, but the thing I'm most excited about is actually not the cards. Right around the time they launched this expansion they put out a new "Standard" and "Wild" format for Hearthstone.  Wild is what we had before, where all cards ever released are available but standard format only allows cards from the past few expansions plus the core cards from the very base game of Hearthstone.  This means the designers can finally redesign the game for balance regularly while keeping a few cards from dominating every deck. Long term the move to a standard format is a great move for Hearthstone. They also put pre-constructed decks in the game for each class.  You have to own the cards to create the deck, but if you do it only takes one click in the deck creation screen to have one of their pre-made theme decks. Personally, this had gotten me to play the game a ton more.  I love pilo...

Blizzard Games In this episode: Blizzard games have been a part of our lives since we were kids. Now, as adults, we are still loving and playing Blizzard games. From the original Warcraft to The Lost Vikings to Overwatch and whatever comes next, we will probably be playing Blizzard games our whole lives. Games like Warcraft got us hooked, Hearthstone being on every device we own keep us connected, and new takes on old genres like Overwatch keep us coming back. Blizzard breaks down existing game genres into their fundamental parts, builds them back up into a new product, and then polishes them until they shine. Weekly Geekery: Void - Spider-Verse Beej - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Season 2 Health Hack: One day each week, eat no meat at all. It’s easier than it sounds! Check out MeatlessMonday.com for recipes and details on starting it. Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app, drop a review so we know how we’r...

Lately I've been picking away at the Hearthstone single player adventures.  They're really fun, especially the newest one with the League of Adventurers.  The single player adventures give a new way to experience the game and they're not afraid to break typical rules.  It's cool to see. After finishing up the normal mode I jumped into the class challenges.  It surprised me to find that these are actually my favorite thing in Hearthstone so far.  You're presented with a match up of a predetermined class vs a boss and given a pre-made deck.  It's everything I want from this game. I like having a balanced playing field where the decks are fun to play against each other.  This mode provides that. It makes me realize how much I just hate the deck construction.  I love piloting a fun deck but I hate spending time trying to create my own decks.  I wish there were more modes in Hearthstone with premade decks.  I know that if there...

I'm starting to lose my current drive to play Hearthstone. I've been playing it daily ever since the Grand Tournament released in late August.  I've done my daily quests, weekly brawls, and monthly ladder.  At this point I've gotten a deck I like for most of the classes in the game and I have all the cards that I want. I'm kind of just in a holding pattern until the next expansion or adventure gets released for the game. And while I'm in this holding pattern the same old thing is starting to bug me, the quest structure.  The daily quests in Hearthstone aren't about playing  the game, they're about winning  in the game.  Most of the daily quests that are given out are win a certain number of games with a certain class. I hate this structure. My favorite days of Hearthstone are when I get quests about playing  the game.  Quests like "Do 100 damage to enemy heroes" or "Play 20 minions that cost 5 or more mana."  I love thes...

After having a crazy busy September all the way until now I thought it would be a good time to check in on my gaming to-do list that I started for Blaugust last month.  Let's see how progress is going: Persona 4 Golden - I really need to make time for this game.  I loved playing it.  It's just been on hold.  I must make time for it! Hearthstone - Still doing my dailies and playing enough to get weekly/monthly rewards . Fire Emblem Awakening - I want to get back to this eventually, but with new Fall releases coming out I don't know when that will be. FFX-2 - This is right up there with Persona 4 Golden.  I need to start carving out time for RPGs before all the Fall game releases drop! Super Mario Maker  - Almost all my gaming time (which has been very limited) has gone into this game lately.  I don't regret it at all.  This might be my game of the year! [adding to list] Star Wars Uprising  - This mobile Star Wars game came out e...

I've been playing a lot of Hearthstone lately.  On top of the daily quests I'm also keeping up with the weekly Tavern Brawl and working my way through the class challenges in Solo Adventure. One of the best things about Hearthstone is that it's available on basically every modern device.  You most likely own something that you can play it on.  I actually end up playing it on a bunch of my devices including PC, Mac, my iPhone, and my tablets. In my experience the game is smoothest and looks the best on PC.  On Mac it doesn't feel optimized.  It's not something I would have ever noticed if I hadn't been playing many versions of the game. It runs the worst on my Android Nexus tablet.  It's super annoying and almost unplayable.  I also tried the game on my brother's modern Android phone and it was also laggy.  It's easily the worst version of the game, but it's still playable which is something. The platform I end up playing the most on i...

And the winner of my most played game of the show award goes too.... *drumroll*.... HEARTHSTONE! Surprise!  Or not. I played Hearthstone every morning and every night that I was in Seattle for PAX.  I would have played it in lines on the show floor too, but the network connection in the middle of the convention center was horrible. I'm still loving Hearthstone.  I've been doing my daily quests and climbing my way up slowly in ranked mode.  It's been fun seeing how the new expansion is throwing the meta into disarray too. The best part of Hearthstone is still how many devices I have it on.  It's always within an arm's length from me.  I typically play a couple games throughout my day.  It's great for waking up, taking breaks, and going to sleep. I expect I'm at the peak of my Hearthstone hype at the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is an evergreen game that I consistently play in one form or another for a long time.

Earlier in the month I was inspired to make a gaming to-do list because of a great post by Izlain .  Now that we're nearing the end of the month and the end of Blaugust I thought it would be a good time to check in on the status of my list. Here's where we stand: Persona 4 Golden - Still playing and enjoying!  I plan on playing more. Hearthstone - Succeeded in getting to at least rank 20 by the end of the month.  Kept up with the Tavern Brawl's every week for card packs.  Will continue to play for now FFXIV Heavensward - I did daily trial roulettes until they stopped being fun.  Now I have the game on hold until the next content update. [removing from list] KOTOR II - Tried and found it wanting.  Done with this game. [removing from list] Valkyria Chronicles - I got back to the game and have been playing it.  Still not complete.  Will keep playing Dirty Bomb - I tried it and didn't like it. [removing from list] Fire Emblem Awak...

I'll admit it... I've been netdecking. "What is netdecking?" you might ask.  Well, netdecking is when you don't want to go through the pain of trial and error in deck construction for a card game, so you go online and look up some of the best decks.  Then you recreate them! I'm talking about Hearthstone at the moment, but netdecking applies to any card game with deck building. Since I've been trying to get back into ranked play I'm finding myself needing to netdeck to get anywhere at all.  This game used to be newbie friendly, even in ranked play, but it's not as much anymore.  Once you get to rank 20 or less (lower numbers are better in Hearthstone) the opponents start to get really good and if you don't have a modern deck with good cards you don't stand much of a chance. I used to be able to get really far in the ranked mode, even with the standard starter decks.  I can't imagine what it must be like for someone who is com...

Although it wasn't explicitly in my gaming to-do list I've been playing Hearthstone PVE content.  I've owned both of the Solo Adventure's since they released but I never got around to finishing them. I'm trying to remedy that now. Both of them reward unique cards for defeating the bosses the first time.  I really want those cards for deckbuilding since one of my goals was to get back into ranked play in Hearthstone.  More cards means more options for ranked play. The content is actually really fun.  I don't know why I didn't stick with it the first time.  Each boss offers a challenge that breaks the game in interesting ways.  They have unique spells, minions, and hero abilities.  It's been a ton of fun seeing what each one has to offer. In a way, I wish the cards weren't locked behind a content wall but at the same time I truly am enjoying my time with the Solo Adventures. If you're playing Hearthstone and haven't tried them yet...

I'm inspired by Izlain's post on the first day of this Blaugust event.  He has created a gamer to-do list.  I'm constantly doing this in my own head as I'm working through my backlog, but I never formally write it down. But since I loved his idea so much, I think I will write it down this time just to try it out.  It might be nice to have a gaming to-do list formally written out.  Izlain did a top 10, but I think mine will be slightly less: Persona 4 Golden - Continue playing until I either beat the game or grow bored of it and decide to retire the game. Hearthstone - Get to at least rank 20 by the end of the month.  Do the Tavern Brawl's every week for card packs. FFXIV Heavensward - Do the daily trial roulette as long as I keep having fun with it. (I'm already bored of the other roulette options) KOTOR II - Finally try the PC version since it got a major official update and has a community content fix patch on Steam. Valkyria Chronicles - Get ba...

As I alluded to yesterday, I'm still playing Hearthstone off and on. The single biggest thing that has pulled me back in is the new Tavern Brawl mode.  It is a mode that is open from Wednesday to Sunday each week and it has a rotating rule set.  Every week is a new and crazy set of parameters.  As soon as you win your first Tavern Brawl game for the week you instantly earn a card pack. All of this together totally appeals to me. I highly recommend checking out Tavern Brawl if you've even played Hearthstone.  The rulesets are so fun and varied.  This is the most fun I've ever had with the game.

I've been trying to level up and finish the main story in Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward lately with my core gaming time, but I've also had little spurts of time to play mobile games on my phone.  They're all fun in short bursts and I've talked about most before, but I thought it would be fun to give a quick rundown. Spider Solitaire I used to play this for hours on one of my old Windows PCs before I had a gaming rig.  I found a great version on iOS and I've put much more time into it than I thought I would.  Spider Solitaire is my favorite form of classic Solitare out there. You Must Build a Boat A fantastic match-3 puzzler that is a follow up to 10 million.  I loved that game and I love this one too.  I've almost beaten it, at which point I'll retire the game.  It's really nice to have a match-3 puzzler with a definite end.  It makes me feel invested all the way through. Hearthstone I'm still occasionally playing Hearthstone on my phone. ...

Hearthstone is now available on phones!  As a result I've played it more in the last few weeks than I have in the last year. It's a great fit on phones.  They already have the touch controls perfected from the tablet versions of the game, they just had to make some minor adjustments for smaller screen sizes and the game is good to go.  I actually think the phone version may be the best version of the game since it can always be in your pocket. My problem now is that I'm really struggling with not having modern decks.  I don't have any of the expansion content and most of my good decks from when I initially played the game  just suck now. It's frustrating because I really want to get into it again, but I either need to spend a ton of time earning gold to unlock cards or drop a bunch of real world money on the same thing.  If there were a core pack of cards that I could buy for a flat fee to catch back up I would do it.  But I can't really just...

Well I had a crazy week.  I barely played any games at all.  But I had some time to scan the headlines and keep up with gaming news. I realized that there aren't actually that many games announced that I'm excited for.  I was thinking ahead to everything I know of that is supposed to release this year and I only game up with a couple that I'm really interesting in getting. Final Fantasy Type-0 is the game I'm most excited for.  I obviously love the Final Fantasy series and this is the first time Type-0 is getting released in the U.S.  It's a gritty, mature take on war and it has the Final Fantasy name attached.  It's also an action RPG which is a departure for the series.  I've purposefully avoided most information about it because I know that I'll pick it up day one.  I'll always give a new Final Fantasy game a chance and I like discovering the world on my own. Because of my love for the series I'm also excited to get my hands on Fina...

My trusty PC had been slowly dying for the last 9 months or so.  It's not it's fault.  I'm hard on my PCs.  Between high end gaming, video editing, Adobe Suite programs, running a media server, and leaving it on 24/7 it's pretty rough being my PC.  For awhile I was replacing my PC every 2 years from scratch.  This PC had been hanging in there (via 4-5 upgrades) for almost 6 years!  It was finally to the point where hardware was just failing. Because of that, I've been unable to play any PC game that puts strain on my system for the better part of a year.  I've been limited to Hearthstone and some emulation .  I also got the PC version of FFXIII to run on my system, but just barely.  And if you think about it, that's a game designed for Xbox 360 and PS3 which are showing their age.  That's why you haven't seen me discuss PC gaming much this year. I mention all of this to say... I finally built a new computer!  I had some extra m...

While working on my Final Fantasy Project I've also regularly been playing Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm.  Both are fantastic Blizzard games.   Hearthstone is their digital CCG and Heroes of the Storm is their new MOBA. It's extremely interesting to see the way their incentives are structured.  Both games use in-game gold to let players buy goods.  In Hearthstone you can buy card packs or arena entries and in Heroes you can buy new heroes to play with.  Both games let you earn gold by playing in various ways. The big difference is that Hearthstone rewards you for winning, while Heroes rewards you for playing.  I've found myself get more drawn into Heroes because of this. In Hearthstone three wins will get you some in-game gold.  In Heroes you get experience for playing any game whether you win or lose.  That experience causes you to level up and at each level up you get gold. Both games have daily quests.  Hearthstone da...

Right now one of the most important features to me is the ability to suspend and resume a game whenever I need to.  I have 2 little kids (under 4 years old), so when I'm at home they always take priority.  When I game I need to be able to stop at any moment to help them out or spend time with them.  It's given me a completely new appreciation for good suspend and save features. Save anywhere is really nice to have, especially if it's quick to do.  But even better than that is the ability to instantly suspend a game.  This is why I've been spending so much time with my 3DS and Vita.  With the 3DS I can just close the lid and know the game will be in the exact same spot when I come back.  The Vita is just as easy with the PS button which instantly suspends the current game.  This is easily the best feature of these systems for me. Another awesome thing I've found is on the Wii U and 3DS virtual console.  Virtual console titles are games fro...

Once again I find myself between Final Fantasy games.  That means it's time for some evergreen games before I dive into the next entry in the series.  For me evergreen games are those that have self-contained play sessions and no real "end" to the game. First up is Mario Kart 8.   Even though it's not much of a change from Mario Kart 7 it's a lot of fun and I'm enjoying my time with it.  The biggest improvements are HD graphics and better online play.  It's Mario Kart.  If you like Mario Kart you will love Mario Kart 8.  If you don't like Mario Kart you should skip it.  You basically know what you're getting. Hearthstone has gotten a ton of my time.  Now that it's on iPad it's perfect to play while watching TV on the couch or laying in bed before falling asleep.  I love that the games usually run somewhere in the 5-15 minute range.  I know I can sit down and play without having to commit to long play sessions.  It's easily ...

There's a wave of hype building for Blizzard's new digital CCG, Hearthstone .  It's winning me over.  It's strange since I'm not normally a CCG guy, but I think this one could be for me. I've dabbled in various card games over the years.  I've used other people's decks and played a little bit of Magic the Gathering and the Pokemon card game .  I got seriously into the Game of Thrones Living Card game for about a year.  It helped that one of my friends owned every single card from that game.  I also picked up a starter kit for the Netrunner Living Card Game and loved the ideas in it, I just didn't have anyone to play it with consistently. So that's where I'm coming from.  A little of bit CCG and LCG knowledge paired with one year of fairly intense play (and a tournament) for the Game of Thrones LCG. Why does Hearthstone appeal to me so much?  Well, it's the first digital card game created by a proven AAA video game design comp...