PSA: The Expanse Doesn't Suck

The Expanse premiered last week, per a previous post.  Hopefully some of you have watched the pilot episode.

Detective Miller looking thoughtful.

This is a public service announcement:  The Expanse doesn't suck.  The broadcast schedule will still give one "new" episode per week, but as a means to get us all hooked, the powers at Syfy have released the first FOUR episodes for free, right now.  That means if you can stream it, you can see the first 4 in a binge in under 3 hours (~42 mins/episodes).

This is probably a good move.  Espisodes 2 and 3 drag a little bit, but only because it's a character development timeout and an investment must be made as the plot begins to unfold.  The book suffered the same slower pace through this part of the story.

The series is remaining very faithful to the books.  Detective Miller's character is even better on screen than he was in the books, and they're doing a great job with his slowly growing infatuation with the missing girl Julie Mao.  The portrayal of crew member Amos is especially on point, and one of my favorite characters of the novels.  The Mars ships are as badass as I expected.

I'm hopeful that we'll get some quiet time over the holidays that I can rewatch them all.

Intro: Shadows of Brimstone

Longtime readers may remember me rambling about Shadows of Brimstone back in August after we attended GenCON.  After several dozen hours assembling and painting the little figures, and then being blindsided by an unforgiving Fall schedule, we have finally set aside enough time to actually play the game.

Background:
I first heard of Shadows of Brimstone from some of the folks randomly assigned to my table during a Star Wars Miniatures game at this year's GenCON.  We were all playing Rebels together and began sharing other games we'd bought or tried at the 'con.  They had supported the Kickstarter of Brimstone and told me where to find the Flying Frog Productions table in the vendor hall.  Interested, I dragged Onyx over to the table to check things out.

This is the banner we used to navigate to the booth:

Throughout the remaining days of the convention, I kept steering us back to this booth to try to get a demo session of the game.  But every time I went back, the tables were full and I could barely get close enough to watch over someone's shoulder.  I saw this as a great sign.  On our last day I caved to impulse and bought the City of the Ancients core box (there are two "cores sets") and the first expansion, Caverns of Cinder.

The game consists of cards, character sheets, oodles of tokens, dice, and map sections that lock together.  The miniatures (monsters and heroes) come unassembled and upainted and are the largest complaint about the game (most people, reasonably, just want to open the box and play, and feel that for the $$ involved they should come more complete).

Assembly and painting of the miniatures is going to be its own post (long overdue, but still on my radar).  But I'll summarize by saying that I went into this expecting only to glue the figures together (most require assembly like a model airplane) and give a basic spray-can coat of paint to help them pop on the table.  In the end, I did far more detail (and surprised myself with the results for a 1st timer), but the time involved deferred the actual play of the game from August to December due to "real life."

As I write, we have finished the first 3 beginner missions and things are beginning to gel.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's back up a bit.

What the heck is it?
SoB is a board game.  But that's like saying "EVE is a space game" - it really doesn't give you the context of scale, scope, and depth available.

The Setting:
Shadows of Brimstone is a dungeon crawler set in the late 1800s American West.  Deep inside the local mines, evil is stirring, and your posse of do-gooders is (reluctantly) sent in to smite it.  Wormholes to other worlds await deep in the mines where nasties are pouring out.  (My core box includes the basic Mines environment and Targa Plateau, a frozen land, and I love snow maps).  So, take your favorite Clint Eastwood western, mix in a bit of Cthulhu and noir, and just a pinch of Stargate SG-1 and you have Shadows of Brimstone.

I'll be really honest.  I was skeptical when I first saw the art.  I'm not a particular fan of Westerns, and the Cthulhu wave that's hit a lot of games the past few years is a little lost on me.  But the setting frikkin' works.  The flavor text on the cards is well done, the art in the books is great, and the randomness of the demons and tentacles somehow melds well with it.

The Play:
I won't give any lengthy description of the rules, but as an overview:

a) The game is completely co-op and there are rules to scale it from 1 to 6 players (playing with 5-6 players requires 2 core sets though).  By co-op, I mean that unlike other major games (Descent 2nd Edition, in particular), there isn't a player that has to assume the role of Dungeon Master or Overlord to control the monsters.  The monster AI is fairly simple with rules for how they spawn, choose targets, and an attack rotation.  The co-op aspect of it is something that drew us to it, as we can play together without one of us having to "lose" the game.

b) Almost everything you do is governed by rolling dice and drawing random cards.  At any given point, it's possible probable that you are moments away from certain doom. Every interaction involves chance, and most interactions range between merely "oh, that's bad" to "truly tragic" (very few "good news" encounters).   Many events range the entire spectrum; you draw a card and are told to roll some dice to see what happens (with possibilities of great fortune or a true ass kicking).  Players have some control over the dice via a reroll mechanic, and there are mechanics to regain lost health and of course gain in levels, equipment, and overall power, but the simple fact that at any point almost any action can trigger something that will kick your teeth in keeps you on your toes.

c) The map itself is random.  You draw cards from a deck and reveal the map bit by bit as you play.  Pieces interlock like puzzle pieces, but it's all luck of the draw whether you end up in a long hallway or an open room.  No two games will truly be the same.  It's subltle, but not knowing what's around the next corner (or how far you have to go to the boss room) keeps the creepy factor high.

d) For the first five minutes, it's a super-complicated game.  After the first session, you kind of say "huh, ok, I get it."  After the 2nd session, I didn't spend the entire game with my nose in the rulebook.  The manual is good, but it's pretty thick and it's easy to read something and then forget where you saw it.  Our first game involved only one fight but still took two hours due to all the fumbling through the manual.

e) You not only have Health points, you also have Sanity points.  Some of the encounters scare you so bad, they can literally drive you insane and scare you to death.  So far, managing the health pool seems to be the primary damage mechanic, but I can see that later managing both will add a layer of complexity.

I asked Mrs. Durden (Onyx) what she thought of it, and typed furiously as she talked.  Onyx says, "This is easier to get into than Descent.  For people that maybe have played other games, it has that good balance of being easy in concept but continuing to challenge. [The adventure] is a matter of luck; you're not going to roflstomp through, and that will keep you coming back."

Your Posse of Heroes
(Look out for the Night Terror behind you!)

Void Spiders!

Boss Fight, Session #2

End Fight, Session #3. I am the
Gunslinger with a pair of 6-shooters.  Onyx is the U.S. Marshal
with the street sweeping shotgun.

We are playing through the Basic missions as a mini-campaign.  The Adventure book includes a "real" campaign that we'll likely roll into after that.  I have taken over the dining room table in nerd nirvana for the moment and will need to clean it up before Christmas visitors.  I'm quietly hoping for more than a few snow days this winter so that we can get through the campaign.

I'll stop here. The next Brimstone post I'll tackle will be a how-to on painting the miniatures, as information on SoB online is perhaps a little thin.

The Expanse Premier

A long while ago, I posted that Syfy was doing a series based on one of my favorite Sci-Fi series, the Expanse.  I was skeptical.

First, I wasn't sure if the book series was a good candidate for a TV show.  The Expanse book series is full of some incredibly big (but slow) story arcs unfolding over multiple novels.  The first novel is great, if a little grisly, but the series kind of steps back to do some plot development before really starting to cook again in book 4 or 5.

Second, while the book characters are interesting, I feared that the near future setting would come off a little stiff/cliche (like Defiance), they'd try to make it too comedic (i.e. a Firefly knockoff*), a little too campy and yet self important (like Stargate Universe), or perhaps a poor-man's Battlestar Galactica.**

The series pilot is free right now on Amazon Prime as well as on Syfy's web page.  I've watched it twice.  The attention to detail in the series is pretty good.  Special FX are adequate but not overly flashy.  It's faithful to the books (altho Naomi should be a lot taller).  The writing is good, and the guys playing Detective Miller and James Holden are almost perfectly cast.

So, I'm impressed.  It comes off as a really solid foundation on which they can build.  I'm now excited to see how well the rest of Season 1 comes out (and SyFy has already ordered Season 2, a good sign).

I urge you to give it a try.  The series premiers on Monday at 10 in the US, with Episode #2 airing the next night on Tuesday.  But you shouldn't wait that long, go stream it now.

More info, courtesy of wikipedia.

*Note:  I love Firefly, but the Expanse series isn't cast in the same mold, trying to make it be something it's not would be a disservice to the source material.

**Note 2:  I also love the BSG remake, at least the first couple of seasons, but again, a poor feel/fit for the Expanse to emulate.

Breaktime: Hearthstone

Another non-EVE post.  If that offends thee, I pray you skip ahead a bit.

The past few weeks I've been entirely addicted to Hearthstone.  I've been playing for awhile (just after the Naxx expac hit, I think) but it was never a primary thing, just something to monkey with during downtime hours, or when I had 20 minutes before I needed to make dinner, or whatever.

Since we've been back from Blizzcon, it's been a large time consumer for me.  Not because of anything that was announced at the 'con or because of the new single player expansion (though that doesn't hurt), it's just the way the planets aligned and this particular game at this particular moment has struck my fancy.

The dozens/hundreds of games of Hearthstone I've played in the past few weeks has, I think (I hope) actually increased my ability to play.  I'm still not competitive in any sense of the word, but I'm starting to play differently, anticipate my opponent, and plan more than 1 turn ahead.  However, lately my play sessions have been pretty binary - I can go several games in a burst of wins, walk away for a half hour and come back to a string of losses.

My losses, at least lately, are against what I call gimmick decks.  If you play Hearthstone, you know the ones -- the Priest deck that gets Holy Champion out and then buffs the hell out of him at a moment when I don't have a Hex or Sheep.  The Druid deck that does amazing things with mana crystals and kills you by turn 3.  The mage deck that does weird things with Mana Wyrms, secrets, and Archmage Antonidas.  There are some really powerful feedback loops in Hearthstone that can blow a game up very quickly.

I did something this morning that I really didn't intend to do - I built a couple of gimmick decks.  My decks are generally built around synergy, of course, but I try not to wrap an entire deck around getting a few cards in a particular order.  I'm incredibly unlucky when it comes to such shenanigans.  But I got up this morning to be greeted by the 5-win Rogue/Warrior daily and both of those decks in my collection were horrible.  I adjusted the Rogue slightly and got a couple of easy wins and one afk-er, but needed 2 wins to clear the daily.

So I deleted both the Rogue and the Warrior and started over.  I'd been meaning to anyway.

For once, it worked.

Rogue:  Unearthed Raptor is a new (rogue) card from the latest expansion.  It copies a minion's deathrattle.  I'd been meaning to build a deathrattle deck for giggles, so I started here.  Hmmm... what else do I have?  In goes Fuegen and Stalagg, the brothers that summon 11/11 Thaddeus if they both die in the same game.  Baron Rivondare doubles deathrattle effects, so he's in of course.  There's a gaggle of others, but maybe you see where this is going.

First game, I play a Druid who is giving me a run for my money.  It's mid-game, we're both about even on health in the 15-17 range, and there are a few things on the board on both sides.  Fuegen had hit the board on turn 5 and died instantly.  In my hand are the Unearthed Raptor and Stalagg.  My next turn I draw the Baron and put the Stalagg and the Raptor into play, using Raptor to copy Stalagg's deathrattle.  Use my other minions to clean up the board and done.  Druids turn, he kills Stalagg, summoning Thaddeus and plays a taunty minion.

Even with Thaddeus on the board, my victory isn't assured.  We're both near 10 mana and the Druid has a fistful of cards to my 2 or 3.  If I had been the Druid, I might not have even been all that concerned; one good turn, maybe two, and he can break me.

But I know where this is going.  The Baron hits the table.  My Raptor suicides into the taunt minion, killing both.  With the abilities in play, I get another /pair/ of Thaddeuses (Thaddi?).  I've got a total of 33 attack on the board.  Thadd #1 attacks, bringing the Druid down to a few hit points.  I'm still nervous that I've left myself open to some sort of crazy druid surge, but I get a well played, and the Druid concedes.

I sit there stunned for a bit; the perfect combination happens on the very first game.  I am now spoiled forever on this deck, and I don't even like playing Rogues.

Not wanting to press my luck, I put the Rogue on the shelf.  I go back to my collection and construct a Warrior deck.  Another gimmick deck, less obvious, built around Divine Shielded minions.  This one shapes up to be a meatshield deck, basically throwing a ton of minions at the enemy in a suicide wave and a few other means of board control, and Warrior armor buffs (a Pally might have been a better pairing for the Divine Shield gimmick, but I needed a Warrior win).

I'd had my eye on a particular card I'd gotten recently - the Blood Knight - a 3-cost, 3/3 that consumes Divine Shields in play and gains +3/+3 for each one eaten.  I have a pair of them, and both go in the list.

First game, I play a warlock.  He gets off to a slow start but I begin with an Argent Squire (1/1, Divine Shield) and a Blood Knight in my hand.  I go second and am intending to burn the coin and have a 6/6 on turn 2.  Squire goes into play on turn 1 and remains unmolested.  On turn 2, I draw another Squire.  Hmmm.  Here I take a gamble -- I armor up (warrior special ability) and wait a turn.  Turn 3 comes and I burn the coin, play Squire #2 and the Knight, who comes out as a 9/9.  The opponent quickly mouses over him, mouses over his cards in slow procession, mouses back to the Knight, and then concedes.

I am once again spoiled on my first outing.  Make no mistake, my deckbuilding skills are subpar, and I expect this warrior deck to get deleted in a week or two when I realize how truly bad it sucks.

But for one, brief, shining moment.  The planets aligned, and I got the cards I needed.  Not a bad way to start a Sunday.

Overwatch Stress

So, I got an invitation to the Overwatch stress test this weekend.

I am both excited and appalled.

I'm excited because I really want to like this game. In my distant past, I was a shooter guy. I attended college in the heyday of Quake. I belonged to a clan, when that was a thing. I almost didn't suck.

I have played only a few shooters in the intervening years, most notably Global Agenda.  I am rubbish at console games and very out of practice at it.

These days I am too old, too dumb, and too slow to compete with a generation raised on CS, Modern Warfare, and the rest. So I am appalled that I'll be tossed in the meat grinder for their fodder.

At Blizzcon, there were kiosks set up to log your demo feedback. My write up for them included one topic:  what will make or break this game for me will be the matchmaking engine. If its smart enough to put me into a game with a slew of other terribads, I might stand a chance of having a reasonable time. If its more random, then I will not be in a position to contribute much, and will leave frustrated.

I realize beta/stress testing isn't necessarily intended to demonstrate this one way or another, but I'll certainly be paying attention to how balanced the teams are. Demo lines at blizzcon failed us and we got face stomped both times. I need a redemption or I'll be hard pressed to spend any money on the title.

Back in the Saddle

I'll (hopefully)  have an EVE post tomorrow, but for now I'll ramble a bit about real life.

The title of the post refers to this being the first week that I'd really done any rigorous exercise in a long while.  Onyx and I are back to our regular 2 days at the gym a week, and I did body weight stuff at home on the off days.  At the gym, we did a fairly normal swim workout one day, and I put on my funny biker clothes and hit the spin bike the other.  Instead of making me feel tired, all the effort has made me feel more focused and alert.  I have aches and pains, but the colors outside are a little brighter, and I've been sleeping a little more deeply.

I spent a good chunk of the early afternoon outside.  It's cold, but sunny, and I enjoyed getting my heavy Carhartt jacket out of the closet for the first time of the year.  Here's a secret:  I actually detest warm weather and really love temps from the 30s to 50s.  I don't mind snow, and a decade ago I would have moved north if a job or two I applied against had actually hit.  So, all that to say that today was a good day to be outside, and the work I got done was satisfying.

I should probably sharpen the saw and tackle an offending maple that I intended to take out this fall, but I stopped after mulching an acre of leaves.  Perhaps tomorrow if it's not too windy.

It occurred to me that this has been the first 'normal' week since perhaps July or maybe June.  I'm not working extra hours, or sick with the plague, or travelling, or entertaining out of town friends or customers, or getting ready for a race, or dealing with contractors at the house.  I keep saying that this year has been exhausting and I'm glad that we're finally seeing things settle back down.  (The weather here meant that from April to maybe June, I was mowing 2-3 times a week just to stay ahead.  The rest of the time it was raining.  The grass grew absurdly fast; all other chores went out the window ... once it dried out, I was neck deep in work politics and a job change and the last 3 months we've been on the road almost every weekend).

There's a zillion things I could do around the property, but considering all that we've done, I feel justified in a little recovery before I get too concerned about my to-do list.  Hopefully Fall is a slow burn and winter is mild and I can make progress.

I need to get my weight and diet back under control.  I'm not crazy out of bounds, but I'm above a magic number, and about 10 lb over my doc's target.  Travel and entertaining are bad news for the way I eat, and overall 2015 has been a crappy year for my weight.  Although I've kept the damage to a minimum, as things begin to return to normal, I'm also reminded that I should look at the scale too.

In terms of bikes and triathlons, right now next season is very much in flux.  I feel like I need to scope out the season at least at a high level as it'll affect my off season training.  For example, if I'm not doing any triathlons then I can dial back the swimming.  Right now I'm leaning towards focusing on biking, and taking on a couple of my bucket list goals -- an Imperial Century (100mi) or maybe a Double Metric Century (200km).  I've been biking since 2008 and have yet to complete my first Century - this is a right of passage for most bikers, and over the years I've been thwarted by injury and weather whenever my attempts are made.  I didn't even plan an attempt for 2015, but maybe 2016 should be the year.

Blizzcon Day 2

Sitting at the airport waiting for our flight back to cold dark November reality (as I type it is 28 deg F back home), trying to wrap my thoughts and feelings around what we just experienced.

I am running on 3-4 hrs of sleep and the Starbucks is only marginally helping so don't expect any long winded dissertations just yet.

I will say that I am leaving happy. WoW's evolution is swinging back to my preferred play style, with more emphasis on real world content and questing instead of instances. Things that I said wow needed years ago are now being implemented. It's not all love and hugs for wow, but I feel vindicated in many ways.

The past 4 days have been so full and so busy that I feel like we've been gone for two weeks instead of a few days.  We turned in the rental car this morning and it hit me that our arrival at LAX on Wednesday feels so very long ago.

I did want to correct something from yesterday (or whenever).  Our last trip to Blizzcon was in 2008 and according to Wikipedia had 15,000 attendees.  More recent years, and presumably 2015 included, are listed at 25,000 attendees. I kept saying the event felt bigger, and I was right. ;).

That many people requires a different approach or bad things happen. The biggest shift we noticed was that instead of Blizzcon being a homegrown house party of an event, it has gotten serious. Gone are the Blizzard staff "volunteers" running everything. In their place are hired security and professional temporary workers manning all posts. Staff were good with supervisors magically appearing anywhere there were issues. All staff we encountered knew their schiznit and had well rehearsed answers. When changes like this happen, often the result can be a very "corporate" feel, but the overall event retained most of its charm. When we weren't looking, Blizzcon became a professionally run event, and for the $$ we're forking out, it had to.

We are done travelling for awhile and I am thankful. After the past few weeks I am looking forward to the relative calm of the holidays. (Which is saying a lot, as our holidays are always too busy to truly enjoy).

More later on this topic... // Aba

Blizzcon Day 1

Day 1 of Blizzcon is done.  The movie trailer is out. We attended several panels but didn't walk the show floor very much.  Today we'll remedy that as I want to demo a few of the games and Onyx wants a few more trinkets from the Darkmoon Faire area.

I am here as a former hardcore Wow raider. Currently, I dabble in Hearthstone.  I play Diablo3 in spurts, but actually haven't messed with it in awhile. I poke WoW with a stick but cant call myself active. I am rubbish at RTS and didn't buy the last StarCraft expac and probably won't buy the upcoming one.

I am interested in where they take WoW. It's far too late for big risky innovation on that title, and they'll continue to milk it for cash while they can. That's not me being bitter, that's just where the title is in its lifespan.  I actually liked what I heard in some of the talk - in particular wow is getting GW2 style dynamic level scaling for the new continent.  Monsters and quests will scale to you and you can just go play where you want without ever worrying about getting off track. I like dynamic stuff, and I really like this.

The D3 presence here was small, and the one panel on it we missed. We did walk past it and it was PACKED. Like, all chairs full and people standing 5 deep all around the perimeter, call the fire Marshall PACKED. I was happy to see so much interest in D3. I hope Blizzard was watching.

The big focus is on esports (bleh) and Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch in particular. Next year will be a big year for Blizzard on this front, they recognize it and I wish them well, but my days of being halfway decent at fast paced shooters and clicky games are long over.

The last time we were here was 2008. They say the crowd is about the same size at 25,000, but I don't believe it. It feels much much larger than it did before. The venue is the same but there are more stages and more vendors and people just absolutely everywhere.

We are having a good time. Blizzards management of the crowd has been superb. There are so many flat panel screens around that as you walk or wait on a line your not really missing anything. As I mentioned, my gig was EVE Vegas and this was Onyx's.  But I'm finding things to check out and get excited about and that's why we come.

Blizzcon Day 0

Back on the road already, this time to Anaheim and Blizzcon. We got in yesterday and went straight from LAX to Randy's Donuts, which is made famous of course in Iron Man 2. The donuts were great and the local landmark was fun.  But yesterday was a 20-21 hour day, and we collapsed early LA time. I slept for 11 hours.

Badge pickup is today, and I assume underway as I type.  We are up the street waiting for entry into Disneyland.  We'll walk around a bit, then get badges, then decide if we want to come back for fireworks. 

Surreal moment of the day was standing in line for Disney (and now in full Star Wars toy onslaught), on a trip for Blizzard, talking about EVE.

Nerds rule.

Disenfranchising Core Playerbase ... On Purpose

Happened across this article about the Games Workshop AGM annual general meeting.  The whole thing is a good quick read, but will quote a few snippets here.

Background:  GW is a company name you may not recognize, but you probably recognize their primary product lines:  Warhammer and Warhammer 40k.  They're a niche tabletop miniatures company, with licenses for their IP across a wide range of tie in products (including a slew of PC games over the years).

As I've been reading more about the tabletop scene, I've noticed a large amount of angst with GW, and quite a few defectors who now swear to never buy their products again (in favor of most notably Warmachine, but honestly the tabletop market is simply exploding with neat games thanks to Kickstarter and the power of online internet shopping).  GW is the grand-daddy of these upstarts, but from my (very limited) exposure at GenCon and random local game stores, it appears that the upstarts are eating GW's lunch these days.

Part of this is an intentional strategy on the part of GW Management.  GW has been moving itself away from being a "tabletop game" company and towards a "hobby/model kit" company.   In other words - they view their primary audience as guys who assemble and paint but actually don't PLAY the games.  This comes at a time when gamers are pushing their local stores to offer more dedicated game nights but are being turned away because there's no time in the schedule to squeeze in more titles and no room for more tables.

This move isn't being unnoticed by the fan base, who a) actually enjoyed playing the games and b) are generally pissed off about being marginalized after supporting GW over the past couple of decades.

Here's the first quote:

I’ve got bad news for disenchanted gamers complaining on the Internet. The company’s attitude towards customers is as clinical as its attitude towards staff. If you don’t like what it’s selling. You’re not a customer. The company believes only a fraction of the population are potential hobbyists, and it’s not interested in the others. 

.... 

 When another shareholder asks if the company would sell games with pre-painted easy to assemble miniatures like the popular Star Wars themed X-Wing game, there’s a collective growl from the Games Workshop people. It wouldn’t be a hobby business then, it would be a toy company.

It's interesting, but not unexpected, that X-Wing came up in conversation.  Fantasy Flight's X-Wing tabletop game, in particular, appears to be simply printing money.  Expansions sell out before reprints can be shipped from China.  X-Wing is highly accessible to new gamers because, in part, the minis come pre-painted.  Clumsy guys like me can simply buy the ships and play. It's apparent that GW is dismissing this as "casual play" (in EVE terms), but that over-simplification saddens me.  X-wing has it's flaws, no doubt, but at the Club and National level is a nuanced game of strategy and ability to gauge an opponent. As my 4hr game at GenCon shows - it can scale from 3-4 ships to dozens for that 'epic' all-day gaming session that the serious guys love.  (And if X-Wing is too ezmode, its more complicated brother Armada is the X-Wing ruleset on crack.)

In response, GW is waiving their hands saying "Pah, noobs" and retreating from a tabletop market that is thriving.  This is truly puzzling ... I'm not saying that they should clone X-Wing, but simply dismissing the forces at work that is making X-Wing successful instead of trying to step in and grab market share when (not if, WHEN) X-Wing eventually cools down might be a better strategy...

I leave the Games Workshop fortress confident of one thing. Managment have set a course and they will not be deviated.  ... 

Niche businesses are often very profitable and the hard decisions they take is what makes them different, but they’re also vulnerable if unforeseen events reduce the attractiveness of the niche. ...

All of this reminds me of a certain small Icelandic video game company just before there were riots in Jita.  Niche game with a bunch of hard-headed leaders all hyping and reinforcing their own version of reality.  Sound familiar?

I hope it goes better for GW.

Nerdvana

Sixty thousand geeks and nerds descend upon a hapless town in the midwest.  And there was much rejoicing.

Has not been a lot of EVE-ing this weekend as Mrs. Durden and I traveled to GenCon in downtown Indianapolis this weekend.  I'm trying to write this summary post before we dash off to a GenCon dinner-party with college friends that are also in the same zipcode as us.

We attended last year for the first time and quickly marked our calendars for 2015.  Last year we were lured in to see my very favorite author (Jim Butcher) and completely underestimated the size, depth, and scope of the event.

We've been to Blizzcon -- this blew it away in terms of scale and size and ... scale.  The Indy convention center is huge.  Like huge even on Las Vegas casino scales.  GenCon takes up all of it.  Fills it completely, and there is spillover to the surrounding businesses, malls, and bars.

Nerds.... everywhere.  Nerdvana.

Distractions

Over the weekend (last weekend, this post has been in the edit bin awhile), I cashed out my latest round of SOE loyalty points and put a total of 10 Stratios in the cooker.  It was the single largest LP buyout I'd done at 1.2M points.

Somehow, I managed to get all 10 bpcs across the cluster to my factory station, only then to get my Badger II ganked at a 0.5 gate carrying some trit and other base materials.  I wasn't mad, but it caused me to sigh ... a 25M isk loss a few minutes after I'd moved ~2.5B isk of bpcs was somewhat ironic.

That, combined with a few other negative things caused me to write the very tired sounding post a few days ago.  This week has been busy at home, but in my off-hours I've been pulled into non-eve things.

Game Roster Rundown

Back on the old guild's forum, I'd post updates every so often as a rapid fire update per game title.  Haven't done it in awhile, so here you go:


WoW - Easy one first. Done, over, and not logged in at all this entire expansion. Never say never (I could see myself logging in some random rainy weekend and blasting a new character up through some levels for fun) but don't expect a triumphant return anytime soon.

Heroes of the Storm - Game launches tomorrow, I guess.  I've had beta access for quite awhile.  The click frenzy multiplayer game isn't my cup o' tea, but the tutorial was fun to play through.

Guild Wars II - There's an expansion coming soonish.  Honestly, the feature list that I've seen really isn't pulling me into the game.  I barely started the 2nd season's storyline before I burned out and left sometime last year.  I still recommend this game for anyone looking for a fairly old-school, big title MMO.  The game looks great; the amount of armor sets and dyes make the game fun.  The world exploration and dynamic event system is one of the best I've played.  But, the world exploration kind of stalls out around lvl50 and the last few levels are a haul.  At endgame, the content is either busywork daily questing, a grindfest wagon train of event farming, or a mess of reflex-testing combat mechanics in dungeons and storyline content.  The WvWvW pvp arena was an interesting concept, but running back from the spawn point repeatedly reminds me of the old Alterac Valley grinds in WoW.  I want to like this game very much for it's look and feel, but can't help but find reasons to not log in.

Diablo III - Last major effort was at the end of the 2nd ladder season.  Mrs. Durden has started a new Witch Doctor through season 3, but I haven't rolled anyone new yet.  I'm not sure what I'd play, honestly - the Wizard and Crusader are my favorites and I replayed them for S1 and S2.  D3 is a good companion for EVE as it lets me get my hack and slash, character building tendencies worked out without it affecting EVE.  The game does get grindy if you farm a bunch of bounties, but as an occasional game to jump into and kick some demon ass, it works very well.  I especially like Act I, as it reminds me of fun times in Diablo II.  It's a bad time of year for me to be playing two different titles (D3 + EVE) and so this one has to go on hiatus.  It's nice that it doesn't cost anything beyond the box shelf price, so I can pick it up and run when I feel like it.

EVE - I just resub'd my main account for 12 months.  I expect to be here, killing burners and rambling about crazy things for the foreseeable future.  I just hit a reasonable milestone in terms of my personal wealth, so it's time to set my sights higher and perhaps flesh out some of the blank spots in my ship museum.

And that's what I am (and what I'm not) playing at the moment.

How Spreadsheets In Space Saved My Job

About 11 years ago, give or take, I started my empire building Merlins.  I graduated to Moas and Apocs and Tempests.  I built all kinds of things, and like most spaceship industrialists I had an excel sheet.

It was nothing fancy.  Ship name, raw materials per run, cost for each material, and how many you wanted to build of each item.  The outputs were simple - projected profit and how much trit/pyer/iso (etc) I needed to buy and haul.

It struck me tonight while making dinner that the old EVE build sheet might have saved the jobs of 35 folks I work with and avoided much stress upon their families.  It was such a simple yet powerful model that I've been using the same fundamental layout for all kinds of things over the years.

Long story short, yours truly built a labor model not unlike the old EVE sheet.  Put "Sr. Engineer" in for the Merlin, extrapolate how many heads we want over the next 5 years instead of accounting for trit/pyer/iso, account for some labor rates, and the math flows from there.  Repeat the recipe for the entire team and start summing costs by fiscal year at the bottom.

It's not rocket science.  Far from it.  But my model was detailed enough to hold up under scrutiny, and sophisticated enough to show that the "move all the work to California" option being pushed by my boss's boss (aka "little boss") was actually several million dollars MORE expensive than leaving a perfectly good team right where it's at.

We had a series of big meetings this week.  So, after a break, we put the numbers on the screen.  My numbers disagreed greatly with little boss's hand calculations.  He all but attacked me and the temperature of the room began to rise steadily.  I sidestepped and parried his verbal barrage and politely refused to remove the content from the screen.

Meanwhile, from where I stood, I could see the boss's boss's BOSS (aka "Big Boss") absorbing all the content with a squint and a sly little smile.

"Keep reading, please, please keep reading..." I thought to myself.

With some help from my coworkers, we bought enough time and distracted little boss long enough that the Big Boss started asking questions.  Victory.  We had a 20 minute conversation about my rationale and assumptions, and I sent him home with a copy.  Little boss was pissed, and I caught hell the following morning.

I'm sure I had an insolent little smirk on my face during his little rant.  Doesn't matter.  The damage was done.  Internet Spaceship Spreadsheets have, I hope, kept the little bastard from screwing 35 people with half-truths and a blatant power grab.

And if it doesn't pan out... at least now he'll have to work for it.

Nerd Fall

Item #1 - As faithful readers know, I'm going to EVE Vegas this year, and I'm pretty excited about it.

Item #2 - We're now also going to attend Blizzcon. I'm excited about that too.

Item #3 - These two events are separated by barely 10 days.  My wallet is not excited about this, but the rest of me is ok with it.


For those that don't follow WoW/Diablo/Blizzard nerd lore, Blizzcon is Blizzard's version of Fanfest.  It takes place in Anaheim CA and is attended by 25,000 folks.  It sells out almost instantly, despite annual price increases that bring a tear to your eye.

I'm not really playing any Blizzard games.  I dabble in D3 a week or two every few months.  I didn't buy the latest WoW expansion.  I'm approaching the age when I'll be slow and old to be any good at Overwatch (the new shooter / Team Fortress clone).

So here's the backstory:  Mrs. Durden expressed some interest in going to Blizzcon this year.  It was a passing thing that kept popping up, like "hey can you take out the trash, and by the way wouldn't it be cool to go to Blizzcon?"

Interest perked up after I bought tickets for EVE Vegas.  If EVE Vegas would be "my" trip, then "her" trip would be Blizzcon.    We're not doing any big trips this year, so a couple of west coast weekend trips fit our budget.

We went to Blizzcon in 2007 and 2008 and then bought virtual tickets via DirecTV the next few years.  In 2007, getting tickets was easy and we kind of blundered into it.  In 2008, there were server meltdowns and lots of drama, but somehow one of my orders managed to go through and we went to Anaheim.  After that, we were kind of "over" the fuss of getting tickets ... we tried (not very hard) to get tickets in some of the intervening years, but staying home and inviting friends over to munch popcorn and watch nerdTV from the virtual ticket was kind of fun in its own way.

Anyway, the first batch of Blizzcon tickets went on sale at 10pm last Wednesday.  We had decided that we were serious about going.  We were both woodpeckering F5 in our browsers as the clock wound down.  As 10pm struck, I managed to click through first and thought I got stomped by a laggy javascript checkout button, but somehow landed in the full legit checkout while Mrs. Durden got sent to the waiting room.

Still not believing I was "really buying" tickets, I skeptically walked through the checkout.  "Can't be happening," I kept thinking.  But it was.  A few minutes later I got the email from eventbrite to prove it.

So, in late October we'll be heading west to Vegas for EVE stuff.  We'll come home on a Monday, maybe Tuesday.  About 1.5 weeks later, we'll get back on a jet and fly to Anaheim for Blizzcon, a day at Disneyland, and maybe a road trip somewhere outside the LA basin.  I'm perhaps more excited for EVE Vegas, but Blizzcon is familiar territory and I'm excited to go there in a different kind of way.

I hope there are good shirts for sale at EVE Vegas.  In 2007, I went to Blizzcon attired in a swanky Guristas logo shirt, and drew comments from Blizzard staffers about CCP and EVE during the first day.  Good times.

D3 Season 2

I posted a few days ago that Diablo3 Season 2 was coming to an end, and it was going to be tight to make it to the level cap at our casual pace.

Thanks to an anniversary buff that gave bonus XP and bonus gold, we kicked over our lvl70 characters on Sunday.  Me, as a Wizard and Mrs. Durden as a Crusader.  We both went with aoe builds and our ability to clear rooms was astounding.  I would stand in back and lob meteors while she did the spiral hammer thingy.

I have no idea what I'll play for Season 3, but will probably run it again.  D3 is a game that I can't play constantly, but has enough replay value in the campaign that I don't mind running through it a few times a year.  And playing with the Mrs. a few hours a week has been a good way to goof around.  We used to play EVE together, and then WoW together. Our game interests have diverged significantly in the past 3 years or so.

We got a bonus level near the end that put us into the land of rainbows and unicorns.  The entire texture set looks like it's drawn with crayons and water color, and all the mobs are turned into carebears, flowers, and pink unicorns.  It's a great easter egg, and was the best way to wrap up our campaign.  I tried to take a screenshot, but it eluded me and then I died horrendously to a particularly mean pink bear, so I quit screwing around.

X-Wing Miniatures

A few days back, I added e a new section of blogroll (on your right) entitled "Other Nerd Stuff."  I'm not sure if it will stay; it may vanish just as suddenly as it appeared.

I attended college in the early 90s, and many of my nerd friends did nerd things like tabletop and pen-and-paper RPGs.  I spent some time playing Magic: The Gathering in the days of Revised and 4th Edition.  And while at the college-town game store, I browsed the aisles of Warhammer, D&D, and other franchises.  The toys/models/minis looked cool, but I lacked the time (and funds) to really dig in.

Gaming Roster

Let's run down my games roster and see where things are going.  I've done this every few months on an old guild website, and it's sometimes interesting to read months/years later.

These are in no particular order, altho I'm saving the best for last. :)

• WoW:  Mrs. Durden has a subscription active and bought the collector's ed of WoD, but has barely played (ironically, as I proofread this, she went in and fired it up).  Per previous post, I didn't send any more of my money to Anaheim for this title, and don't intend to.  Status:  Done.
• Diablo3:  I did a run this fall to lvl a character and get the Season 1 rewards.  This was very fun as a single play-through but not compelling enough to keep me grinding for equipment.  I'm reading just now that patch 2.1.2 will bring Season 2 and I'll likely pick another character class and lvl up again, which will be a good distraction for a week or two.  So I guess file this one as not active but pending.
• Warmachine Tactics:  This is a PC incarnation of the tabletop game.  It's turn-based strategy with fiddley/nuanced combat mechanics (compared to say, Starcraft).  I've fallen behind in my patching and should spend some time here to see what features have been.  Status:  On hiatus but probably next. 
• GW2:  The game that I miss but can't bring myself to play.  I'm conflicted about this title; every description I come up with is a 2 part sentence with the structure of "GW2 does XYZ really well, BUT they did ABC and screwed it up."  I played at launch and have a couple of good (1-2 month) runs since then.  The game does a pretty good job at look and feel, and I found the original storyline to be pretty good, but falls short in endgame, economy, and crafting.  I wish this had been the WoW-killer but it wasn't meant to be.  I don't think the sporadic short-patch cycle has really done this game any good; I would love to see an expansion announcement instead of getting content in dribs and drabs.  Each patch cycle feels like a race to consume the new content, followed by lots of thumb twiddling.  Status:  Possibly done, but probably not.
• X-Wing Miniatures:  Not a PC game, but I'll include it in the list as it's a big time waster.  Active game, potentially a huge $$ sink.  Have been spending my free time playing with the mechanics and reliving my youth by making Tie Fighter sounds at the dinner table.
• EVE:  Active.  Primary game for now and the foreseeable future.   I feel like EVE is in its most playable state that it's ever has been.  There is still some embarrassing unfinished business (Captain's Quarters in particular), but some of these are getting fixed.  When the short-patch cycle was announced, I really wasn't happy because I'd seen it as an overall bad move for GW2 and had a bad taste in my mouth.  But in EVE's case, the short-patch cycle doesn't introduce linear content to be consumed, but instead offers cleaner dirt for the sandbox in the form of fixes, new ship models, quality of life (example: skill queue) and other goodies (burners!).  I'm excited to see where some of the late 2014 patches lead us - Thera, the mystery supernova, active sleepers, etc.  It's a good time to be in the game, and hopefully EVE can keep the momentum going and we can see some increased login numbers in 2015.

I'm probably forgetting a game or two, but there's the list for now.