Ready, Set Mastery

I’m not sure why, but I ended up getting hooked into Diablo 3 season 10 in spite of myself. The season got off to a really slow start for me, barely getting through the main chapters of the season journey by the end of the opening weekend. Somehow that was still enough to get its claws in. I suppose it helps that I was sick a bit this week, and D3 is nothing if not the perfect mindless pastime when you aren’t feeling well.

One of the reasons I had written this season off is that the conquest options this time around are not that great. The “freebie” one is to level 3 legendary gems to 65, the rest are all stinkers. Two of them are speed run achievements that essentially require a coordinated group, and two more are multi-class achievements that require leveling at least one extra character. So of course I got it into my head somehow that I wanted to do the set dungeon mastery one. This requires mastering 8 different set dungeons. I had been throwing shards at Kadala trying to complete all of my demon hunter class sets and finally got them all.

I did the Marauder’s one first since that was the free gift set this season, and honestly it was one of the worst of the four. Those stupid rock worms are a pain and I was always tight on time because of missing an enemy or two in all the nooks and crannies of that map. Next up was the Unhallowed Essence dungeon, which had a lot of the same problems as the Marauder’s, but with fewer annoying worms. Mostly that one came down to RNG being kind and giving me nice double packs of spiders to hit with my multishot. The Shadow set dungeon was strange to me. I had never used that set before and clearing the whole thing in time with a single target impale build was pretty daunting. It turned out to be far easier than I imagined. After a couple practice runs to get the lay of the land I had no trouble with it. I saved the Natalya’s dungeon for last, mostly because I was waiting for a couple of extra pieces of gear to drop to help make it easier. Honestly I’m not sure it mattered. That dungeon was by far the easiest of the four. The map is nice and open and the objectives are incredibly easy.

The big lesson I learned from mastering all four of these is that set dungeons require a really different mindset from the rest of the game. For one thing, the map for each one is static, so it pays to memorize the layout (or look at the map ahead of time online like I did) to optimize your path. It also requires some patience and discipline, since for some of the objectives one misclick can mean failure. I found it helps to try to achieve a sort of zen state while attempting these. Do a few trial runs so your path through the map becomes second nature, since that will help make sure you finish in time. Then just focus on your objectives and glide along until either you win or you fail. I got very used to letting myself die quickly if I failed so I could port out and start over. All of these dungeons, even the easiest one, took at least 2 or 3 tries. I also recommend sticking with one until you clear it, because the few times I got frustrated and did something else just meant I had to get a few more practice runs in to get up to speed when I came back later. Better to just get through it while the dungeon and your build are fresh in your brain.

Anyway now I have two shiny new banners to show off my DH skills, and can start thinking about which other class I want to master. OK let’s be serious the answer here is wizard, which to my great shame I still haven’t gotten all of the masteries for. I’ll be leveling one up to correct this grievous error. And of course there is the ulterior motive here, which is that mastering ALL of the set dungeons scores you a sweet pair of wings. I honestly don’t know if I have it in me to do these for the melee classes, but maybe someday. Those wings are some serious motivation.


Ready, Set Mastery

Diablo 3 Season 10 Starts

Each of the last few seasons seems to have started off worse and worse in terms of my enthusiasm, and season 10 continues the trend. I logged in on Friday night for the start and didn’t even have enough friends around to make a full group of 4 to level with. I guess I’m not the only one struggling to get excited about D3 right now. Sure the new quality of life additions are great, but there’s nothing fundamentally new or exciting about this season. On top of that, the conquests this time around are completely awful. If you want a stash tab you’ll probably need to either do a speed run which requires a coordinated group, or you’ll have to level multiple classes. I’m suddenly very glad I got all my tabs already.

As for my season progress, it is mixed so far. I only got to around level 50 on the first night of the season, which I believe is a new low for me. I didn’t play much at all on Saturday, so it took until Sunday for me to even reach 70. Luckily I’m playing a DH and their set this season is the Marauder set which I really enjoy and am familiar with. I also got a few lucky drops while leveling and doing early rifts, so I managed to clear up through chapter 4 of the season journey very quickly yesterday afternoon.

So my goal of getting my cosmetic stuff for the season is met, and I’m unsure how much farther I’m going to go with it. The game feels pretty stagnant right now, and I have no desire to work on this season’s conquests. Then again I really love the Marauder rockets build and am having a blast running around with it. I suspect I’ll play at least a little bit more and then let D3 fade again until there’s something new to do.


Diablo 3 Season 10 Starts

April 2017 Gaming Goals

Oh hey it’s April already! Wow. Okay let’s take a look at how badly I failed at my March goals and set some new ones.

March Goals

FFXIV: Keep up with the MSQ as it releases. Goal met! I had no trouble keeping up this time since FFXIV has become my main MMO for the time being.

Get at least one more job to 60. Goal met! I got both NIN and AST to 60.

Do the new Hildebrand quests. Goal failed, miserably. I still haven’t really started these.

Avoid burnout! Goal met! I think? I’m still playing almost daily but I’ve been varying what I do enough that hopefully I’m not about to burn out.

WildStar: Keep playing every week. Goal failed. I played a few times in March and got to check out the Primal Matrix stuff a little bit but it just didn’t keep me hooked since most of my friends are in FFXIV.

FFXV: Make some headway. Goal failed. I didn’t really touch FFXV at all in March.

Horizon Zero Dawn: I don’t even know that I had a set goal for this one although it was on my list from last month. I did finish the game though so I’m counting it as a Goal Met!

Justice Monsters V: I didn’t have a set goal for it for last month but I still want to put it on the list. I played it almost daily until they pulled the plug. I’m sad that I no longer have access to this great little game.


April Goals

FFXIV: Do the new Hildebrand quests. There’s not much left I really want to do before Stormblood so there’s no excuse not to finish these.

Finish the umbrite step of the anima weapon for my SCH. I’m currently on the step prior to that one, but have been squirreling away umbrite and various things to exchange for sands so hopefully that step should go quickly once I get all my aether oil.

WildStar: Play once a week. Yes I keep putting this on the list and failing at it. I really love this game and it makes me sad when I don’t play it. I think the thing holding me back is that most of my social circle has no interest in it anymore. I’m going to keep trying though!

Mobile Games: Find a replacement for JMV. I need to look into some of the actual pinball games available and see if I can find something that I enjoy for filling that void.


Very modest goals this month, because the real world is a bit overwhelming right now.


April 2017 Gaming Goals

AggroChat #150 – The Tyranny Game Show

Featuring:  Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo and Thalen

aggrochat150_720

Tonight we record the show our March AggroChat Game Club game Tyranny.  For those uninitiated to the game, it is a deeply story driven RPG in the proud PC tradition of Baldur’s Gate or more truthfully Planescape Torment.  Six of us played the game… and six of us played a vastly different game experience. Tyranny after all was one of our games we talked about during the Games of the Year show, and for several of our cast they chose to do a second play-through for the show.  Join us as we hash out our thoughts about this truly interesting game.