I played a few different games this week, but the majority of my time was spent with League of Legends, Diablo III, and a few assorted console titles. As far as LoL goes, I’m still in ELO hell, and still trying to dig my way out. Last night I had the perfect team comp to get a win, and then the jungler had “Net issues” and didn’t actually start playing til 15 minutes into the match. That win would have resulted in heading back to a promo series, but alas it wasn’t to be. I don’t have much else to report on that front, because thinking about it irritates me. Playing is still fun though. Will be nice to report my advancement to Silver, but it hasn’t happened yet.

On the console front, I’ve played a bit more of the South Park RPG, but also spent some time with The Order 1886. I went to my friend’s house the other day and he had just picked up a copy for his PS4. He was already a little way into the game, but I played for a while with him anyway. The next day I went back over, and this time he had already completed the game, so I started from the beginning, this time playing on hard. I made it a few chapters in before we decided to play something else. Overall, The Order is just about the best looking game I’ve seen on this console generation, and I think it is very much deserving of a sequel, hopefully including some co-op and multiplayer options. The other game we played for a bit was Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare, and that game is super entertaining. I was surprised, because it seemed like a rather cheesy game, but the depth of the game modes and the frantic action had me hooked right away. We played some co-op survival first (much like CoD Zombies) and then I played some multiplayer death match type games. It was pretty cool.

Otherwise I’ve spent the rest of my time on Diablo III. Season 2 started recently, so I thought it would be a good idea to roll up some characters I’d not played before, just to see what was up with them, and the new season.

The first character I made was a Hardcore Seasonal Witch Doctor. I hadn’t really played that class at all, so I didn’t really know what I was getting into. I happened to catch Eri online though, so she offered to powerlevel me a bit, since the same had been done for her. Next thing you know, my level 10 Witch Doctor is hiding in fear from mobs on Torment IV. That’s the highest difficulty I had seen to that point, but man the experience poured in. Everything was going well, and though I had a close call or two, I didn’t die. Until one point I ported into the zone and Eri had dragged mobs across the point of entry, and I got stuck and smashed. Even with my death prevention, I got screwed. The death was permanent, and all that remains is a ghost of the Witch Doctor, who had briskly advanced to level 52.

Frustrated, I ended the session that night. I ended up deciding to try again, but level more traditionally with the other class I had never played before, the Barbarian. This was even more short lived, because I tried playing on too hard of a difficulty to increase my leveling speed, but without the appropriate gear you’re stuck swigging potions, and the cool down is pretty long. The Barbarian was dead by level 7, which is rather sad, but I determined I don’t care for the class at this rate either.

I decided to go back to the Monk for a bit after this. He’s hit 70, he’s got 5 paragon levels, and I turned up the difficulty to Expert at this point, but I think I might bump it up again, and I’ll tell you why in a moment. Here’s what the Monk looks like at the moment:

I didn’t do much with the Monk before deciding that my Seasonal Hardcore character from Season 1, the Crusader, needed some play time. Fortunately my shared stash and all of my recipes etc are available on the normal Hardcore mode (non-seasonal) so I was able to twink out the Crusader. Not only was he able to use my higher-end gems, but I was also able to craft him some set gear, and I lucked out and found more recipes as I played, so he actually has 5 slots of green gear, which is pretty good for a level 37. With the set gear and uber gems, I was able to bump up the difficulty to master and had no trouble clearing rifts and bounties. I also can attest that the Crusader is 10x more fun to play than the Barb. Just saying.

Above is the Crusader looking all regal, below is a shot of his gear. It’s nice stuff for the level. Can’t wait to see this guy hit 70.

For a better look at the gear, you can click this link for the b.net profile. I’m debating now on whether I should grind him out quickly, or if I should play the monk some more just so that I have more paragon levels for him. I suppose I’ll split my time between the two. I also need to decide what character to recreate for the season. Maybe I’ll roll a demon hunter again. Oh well, til next time.

#stateofthegame #diablo3 #roundup