July 2024 In Review

 Blaugust 2024 is here which means July 2024 is over! Let's take a look at what happened on the blog in July.

The Blog

 Blogger provided number (last 30 days graph so a bit off a full month): 29,200 visits

 This is up about 7,000 from June and there was a spike around 7/5 while I was out of town.  I did not dig into the spike.

 

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 18 (week days minus days I was on my trip)
  
• Posted: 22
• Difference: +4 Woohoo! Lots of good topics to talk about and playing a new game, Once Human, kept the ideas flowing.
  
•  Search Trends
• "throne and liberty beta review", "throne and liberty impressions", and "throne and liberty open beta review" flew to the top this month with lots of Google searchers finding my initial impressions post and then after beta review post.  Look at that mountain in the chart!
• 
  

  

  Look at that mountain in the chart all driven by Throne and Liberty searches.
  

  
  
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continue to be towards the top still thanks to this post: Best Battlefield!?
• Then another new search trend is cropping up around the game Once Human (see What I Played).  Lots of folks (me included) are searching for information about how seasons and season resets will work.  Here are the most common search terms:
  
  • once human 6 week reset
  • once human seasons
  • once human season reset
  • once human resets
  • once human seasonal wipe
• And for New World searches... well they dropped all the way to page 2 of the results!  It's all Once Human and T&L here baby!
  

What I Played

 For the first month in close to two years the answer for "what I played" is NOT New World.  I basically quit New World cold turkey after coming back from my trip.  I do drop in to reset some long duration trading post listings and to keep my "days since last login" fresh on the company board but that is it. I have not actually "played" the game since June.

 What I have played though is a lot of Once Human (all tagged posts).  I really like the game even though it has tons of issues and is death marching towards a seasonal model that is going to piss a lot of players off with how the server locking has gone.  We'll see if it has staying power after July.

 I also took the opportunity to try out the Throne and Liberty global beta and I shared my thoughts.  I wasn't hooked enough to say for sure I am playing at launch but having broken the New World grip on my gaming time it is entirely possible I give it a go in Sept.  It will be free 2 play so not much risk.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

 In July 2023 I was prepping for my first Blaugust!  

 Season 2 of New World was in full swing and I was posting my daily checklist which was a long standing driver of traffic to the blog as it was picked up on the New World subreddit.  Sort of makes me sad to look back and see how positive we were on New World and just a year later and its doom and gloom.

5 Years Ago

  July 2019 was in the 'no blogging' era and nothing comes to mind.

10 Years Ago

 In July of 2014 I was also not blogging regularly so had no entries.

15 Years Ago

  July of 2009 had us talking about the infamous Darkfall review debacle and eventually we got the real Kieron Gillen Darkfall re-review to talk about.  To be honest the original review was fair.  Darkfall was a turd of a game.  Personally I liked my May 2009 take by taking Kieron's review of The Path and treating it like it was for Darkfall.

 I was also enamored with Battlefield Heroes through the month of July. It still holds a spot in my "best battlefield" list.  Sad that it closed so soon after launching.  It was Fortnite-like before Fortnite!

 20 19 Years Ago

 Technically I have 20 named years on my sidebar, but mathematically 2005 is only 19 years ago.

 In July of 2005 it was a mix of Battlefield 2 posts and posts complaining about World of Warcraft.  Hmmm... that seems familiar.

Blaugust 2024 is almost upon us

 July 31st means we are one day away from every bloggers favorite month: Blaugust!  Blaugust 2024 is about to get kicked off.

 The format and week by week playbook is mostly the same as last year.  I plan to participate daily and looking to achieve Rainbow Diamond Award level by hitting the 31 or more posts in the 31 days of August.  Check back tomorrow for my “First Post of Blaugust” (The idea is that for your very first Blaugust post you take a bit of time and introduce yourself and your blog.)

 Weekly topics if you are interested:

• Welcome to Blaugust Week (August 1st – August 3rd) – The idea behind this week is to give a specific time to be actively talking about Blaugust and welcoming new members to the fold. This could also count as promoting Blaugust for the “Spreading the Madness” achievement. The hope is that drumming up some heavy activity of talking about the event might allow us to pick up a few more stragglers.

• Introduce Yourself Week (August 4th – August 10th) – The idea behind this week is to have some structured time around getting to know the other bloggers. I realize that those of us who are veteran bloggers might have already written half a dozen introduction posts by now, but it is a great time to share anything interesting you might have in your arsenal.

• Creator Appreciation Week (August 11th – August 17h) – Developer Appreciation Week or the D.A.W. was an event that took place in the blogging community independent from Blaugust but eventually died out. The more modern idea is to show appreciation for the things and creators that we love. This could be authors, musicians, developers, artists, or even other bloggers, with the focus being on sharing something that we love so that maybe others might appreciate it as well.

• Staying Motivated Week (August 18th – August 24th) – As we get towards the end of the event, the activity can often trail off a bit. The goal of this week is to share some of your own tips surrounding how you keep motivated and stay focused on creating content. If you are new to the event, you might share some of the things that have helped you stay engaged during Blaugust.

• Lessons Learned Week (August 25th – August 31st) – This week is a reminder that the goal of Blaugust is to refresh the content creators out there for the coming year, and not to burn them out in the process. Some folks are going to cross the finish line and immediately go dormant and others will want to process their thoughts about the proceedings. This space is reserved as a bit of a cooldown lap so that you can share your own experiences.

What Surprised Me In 2023

 To go along with my 2023 disappointments I wanted to share some surprises.

 The Finals

 The Finals surprise launched in December and I've not stopped playing since.  It is one of the most refreshing FPS games I've played in a while and I have fun every time I log in and play.  My teenager is also playing now that he has his own gaming PC and is the first FPS we've played together.  I'd recommend the game to anyone that is interested; it is free to play.

 Throne and Liberty Turn Around

 Throne and Liberty (T&L) blasted onto the scene in 2023 with an amazing trailer and lots of promise as "the next big MMORPG" only to follow up the initial hype train with a train wreck of a beta test where a completely different game seemed to have appeared.  Littered with mobile-game features like auto play and static combat the game was written off as "another Asian pay 2 win grinder".

 However the T&L development team took the harsh feedback to heart and re-engineered major aspects of the game.  Auto play was removed, the grind was significantly reduced, and combat was updated to be more fluid.  It is still a tab-target combat system but gone is the static combat where you were stuck in place.  Characters now can move with most of the combat abilities and from all accounts the system is better for it.

 T&L also launched in Korea in December... with the changes noted above.  Again that is a big turn around from the development team.  From various folks that jumped into the Korean launch it also seems like the game is in a good spot and the changes have addressed many of the initial concerns.  

 I am adding T&L to my "want to play" list for 2024.

 Blaugust 2023

 I didn't know about Blaugust until I came across it via Mastodon (gamepad.club instance specifically).  I had a lot of fun with my posts last August and look forward to Blaugust 2024!  You can see my Blaugust 2023 tagged posts here.

 

 

Blaugust 2023 Blaugchievements

Blaugust 2023 has come and gone.  It is time to check my blaugchievements!

Reading the Manual – By the time you have arrived at this page, you have probably already completed this blaugchievement. Essentially this is here to instill the importance of actually reading the introduction to Blaugust post.

- Complete!

Joining the Cause – This one is gained by filling out the sign-up form and choosing to participate in this year’s Blaugust event. If for some reason you cannot fill out the form, please contact me and I will collect your information to register you directly.

- Complete!

Recruit a Friend – Convince another blogger to participate in this year’s Blaugust event. This could be a brand new blogger but also could just be convincing another blogger out there to participate. Again much of the focus on Blaugust is to stir up activity in the community and get bloggers active again.

- Failed.  I have no friends.

Spreading the Madness – This one is gained by promoting the Blaugust event either on your own blog or through any of your favorite social media channels. Again we are trying to get more bloggers active to revive this art form.

- Complete!  All of my blog posts tagged for Blaugust 2023 and you can check my Mastodon, Twitter, and Threads for Blaugust mentions.

Friend of Wumpus – This one is gained by signing up for the official Blaugust Discord. While this Discord was created for this event, it stays surprisingly active all year round and becomes a locus of our community.

- Complete!
 

Sharing is Caring – This one is gained through posting your content in the “Share-Your-Content” channel on the Blaugust Discord. It is good to get in the habit of doing this because often times topics posted end up spurring additional discussion.

- Complete!
 

Forum of Friends – This one is gained through participating in a discussion in the “Post-Discussion” channel on the Blaugust Discord. Often times this is where active discussion happens about posts and serves as a real-time extended comments section.

- Complete

The Pet Tax – This one is gained through posting a picture of an animal friend in the “Stuff-and-Things” channel on the Blaugust Discord or by creating a content post devoted to that animal. This is preferably your pet, but if you do not have any pets then posting any cute animals will suffice. This is quite possibly the most important achievement.

- Does it count if I did it today (9/1)? Complete!

Friend Like Me – This one is gained through answering a question or helping out another blogger on the Blaugust Discord. We have a number of channels like “Blogging-Help” or “Writing-Prompts” designed to help folks out. Any sort of helpful interaction is appreciated and rewarded with a toast.

- Complete!  I suggested writing prompts such as the #MondayBlogs hashtag, my Steam backlog posts, and GamesMadeMe posts.

Shared Thoughts – This one is gained by leaving a comment on another participating Blaugust blog. While a lot of focus is made on Discord, it is always a good idea to leave a comment directly on a blog since there will be folks who are not already active in this community.

- Complete! I visited several blogs this past month and left comments. I even keep going back to a few!  Some folks even commented on my blog!

Federation of Bloggers – Create a social media account on any of the Fediverse platforms (Mastodon, Pleroma, Calckey, Misskey, etc) and follow the official Blaugust Mastodon account. This account lives on Gamepad.Club which coincidentally is a lovely Mastodon Server if you don’t have one already in mind. During the event, the Blaugust account will be boosting posts made with the #Blaugust2023 hashtag.

- Complete!  I moved over to gamepad.club's Mastodon.

Getting Inspired – Often times reading a blog post will inspire us to create our own post connected to the same concept. There are times that I have things to say that are far too long to cram into a comments section. This blaugchievement is gained by writing a blog post that has been inspired by another blog post from a Blaugust participant.

- Complete!  I visited multiple bloggers in the first week and featured their content and my thoughts about it on this blog. 

Pickup Group – This one is gained by playing a game or joining in an external event with other Blaugust participants. We have the “Gaming-Together” channel and sometimes groups come out of that, and there was some discussion about someone hosting a one-shot pen and paper game. The whole goal here is to get you mingling with other members and building permanent bonds.

- Failed! I don't have friends.  I didn't play with others.

Hot Topics – Write at least one blog post based on the Blaugust Prompt List. Some years ago we had this whole “topic web ring” sort of thing that was a giant mess. However it did produce a pretty solid list of topical prompts, and my hope is that someone participating in this event will find them useful.

- Complete! I hit multiple prompts such as revisiting my origin story for blogging.

Welcome Wagon – This one is gained by writing a blog post based on the first week’s theme of welcoming folks to Blaugust. Hint, this may also count as the “Spreading the Madness” achievement. The idea is to get some activity in those early days of Blaugust to potentially expand our members and have folks join mid-event.

- Complete! On the first day of blogger... new bloggers!

Introduce Yourself – This one is gained by writing a blog post based on the second week’s theme of introducing yourself to the community. If you are a veteran, chances are you have already written more than one introductory post, so this can also be focused on just telling people about something in your life or some accomplishment. The exchange of information is key to creating those strong long-term bonds, and as such this serves its purpose.

- Complete! This was a fun one: first I revisited my first blog post ever and second I wrote one of my longest posts ever about games that made me the gamer I am today.

Creative Appreciation – This one is gained by writing a blog post based on the third week’s theme of creative appreciation. This has morphed over the year and began its life as a completely different initiate called “Developer Appreciation Week”. Now the goal is to focus more generically on those who create things that you appreciate. It could be an artist, writer, game developer, streamer, YouTuber, podcaster, or another blogger. The goal is to share something you love and talk about what makes you love it… and maybe introduce new people to this thing you care about.

- Complete! I featured my favorite New World creators , some MMO creators, and thanked NEFFEX for their copyright free music. 

Staying Motivated – This one is gained by writing a blog post based on the fourth week’s theme of staying motivated. The goal here is to share your own experiences in how you have managed to stay motivated during this challenge. The struggle with blogging is doing so in a consistent manner because it is all too easy to fall off the face of the earth never to be heard from again.

- Complete! My favorite post was how I deal with temptations to want to play too many games!

Lessons Learned – This one is gained by writing a blog post based on the fifth week’s theme of lessons learned. Often times when you go through an event like Blaugust, you learn something about yourself in the process. The goal here is to share that information with others so that our experiences that benefit those who come after us.

- Complete! Multiple posts but my favorite was about my Steam backlog.  

Going Platinum – What would a series of achievements be if there was not a “Platinum Trophy”. This one is gained by completing all of the achievements above during Blaugust.

/cry... so close

No Post Today - Blame Starfield!

 Must watch Starfield streams.  This post still counts for Blaugust!

Lessons Learned: Patience Is Rewarded - New World: Rise of the Angry Earth!

Update: After posting this the New World team also posted a news article covering tons of details.  Check it out here. 

Original post below...

 Blaugust rolls on and today's lesson learned is: patience pays off.  Yesterday there was some frustration in the New World community with a developer update that basically said "wait until next week".  But they tricked us because the avalanche of information started TODAY with back to back videos from the New World team.  To say I am excited is a vast understatement and I am so glad I held back any complaints about the dev update.  My patience has been rewarded!

 The first video is the Balance of Power update which covered a ton of changes coming to the game.  I can't do justice to all of the changes in this post so I will link to the video and let folks consume it.  I will be posting more about individual aspects over the next few weeks as we learn more.  I am really excited for the changes though and in summary is "less, but more meaningful loot + new ways to get the gear you want".

 The second video, which just a cinematic, is the real HYPE video in my book. Not only is it a great cinematic for the expansion, Rise of the Angry Earth, but it reveals some key pieces of information.

• Some big bads from the Angry Earth invasion
• A peak at the new weapon: the Flail
• A peak at mounts; we saw a wolf mount and a mastodon-like elephant mount
• Maybe a hint at not only mounts but animal companions / pets?
  
• A possible new enemy type and/or race maybe - there was a Minotaur-looking character featured
• Launch is 10/3

Watch the video below! 

Lessons Learned: Next Week

 It looks like Blaugust 2023 is going to finish out before we get the big expansion news for New World.  How do we know?  Because the most recent developer update from Amazon Game Studios, the makers of New World, can be summed up by the phrase "next week".

 There is a good summary of the video on Reddit: here.  But really the answer is "next week" as the team dodged many of the pressing community questions stating that we'll get answers next week with the Season 3 + expansion announcements.  I sort of give credit to the team willing to put out this video knowing that so many answers were "next week" and the community feedback wouldn't be that great.

 Lesson Learned: Be patient.

 Personally I think it's an odd week to try and plan any major announcements.  Starfield will be dominating the gaming community buzz so it will be hard to elbow out space for any other major news.  I know I'll be planets deep in Starfield and not as invested in New World next week.  I imagine many others will be as well.

 With that said I am excited for the announcement(s) and what the team is bringing us.  We know there will be the expansion, mounts, major perk reworks, combat balance changes, and the dreaded details of the "New World gear reset".  I just may be delayed getting around to viewing depending on how awesome Starfield is :)

Lessons Learned: Steam Backlog Is What It Is

 This post is part of my running series: My Steam Backlog (see all MySteamBacklog tagged posts).  This post is ALSO a part of Blaugust 2023's lessons learned week. Why? Because my Steam backlog is what it is.

 I had set the year off to tackle as much of my Steam backlog as I could.  It was part reflecting on games that I played in the past and part playing games I never played (or didn't play enough to form an opinion).  The reflecting has been easier than the playing so I thought for Blaugust's "stay motivated" week I'd hit some of the "need to play" list.

 I stuck to my alphabetical approach and I'm still in the Bs which meant I hit some doozies.  First was The Binding of Isaac which just killed my momentum as I didn't really want to play it and just kept putting it off.  I should have skipped it but felt I needed to be fair to the objective of hitting the full backlog.  Putting this one off meant I put the rest off and thus didn't get anywhere and thus had to shift gears for "staying motivated" week for Blaugust.

 Lesson Learned: If a game in my Steam backlog is not interesting then don't play it.  Life is short; don't play crappy games.

 Going forward I will be more strategic in the games I play from the backlog. This doesn't mean I won't touch on all games, but some will just be commentary like I've done for games like the Bioshock series.

 I also picked up on a tool called Steam Completionist from a post on Aywren's blog so I am going to check that out to see how it can help me better track my backlog.

 

 

Lessons Learned: Final Thoughts on Linus Tech Tips

 It is ironic how the Linus Tech Tips saga mapped out to the Blaugust 2023 plan.  Started in the "creator appreciation week" and now wrapping up in the "lessons learned week" with: Here's the plan.  This will likely be my last commentary on this saga and can be summed up by: right message; wrong messenger.

 Before we get to the "right message" I want to note that I found the start of the video as a microcosm of what I see as the issue: the cult of Linus.  Linus starts by talking about being chewed out by his boss which he makes out to be the LTT community.  Linus Media Group (LMG) is a company with a CEO and that CEO is not Linus.  Linus' boss is in fact not the community; it is the leadership of LMG.  This is part and parcel of why there is a problem; Linus continues to treat this as though he's a small content creator on Youtube instead of letting the 100+ company that is LMG be a company.

 With the start out of the way I want to address the "wrong messenger".  I ask the question: is this Linus or is this Linus Media Group?  Like I said about the apology video we need to hear from the LMG CEO and not the personality of Linus.  Linus has avenues, such as the WAN Show podcast, to get his updates out.

 With that said I do want to acknowledge that the underlying message was the right message (finally).  The right changes are hopefully going to happen.  LMG seems like a fun place to work (though that "cool work place" may be part of the issues with employees feeling overworked -- no one wants to lose the "cool job").  

 I do wish them luck in their goals but right now I can't get past the apology video and the "cult of Linus".  I may watch a video that pops up in my feed but I will view it as a corporate production vs how I see most Youtube video content.  The LTT that was no longer exists.

The Build That Motivates Me: Wheelchair Mage

Updated: 8/29/2023 - added weapon tree builds - also this build is up to date for Season 2.

 I wanted to share the build that keeps me motivated in New World.  This is the gear for my "wheelchair mage" as we've dubbed it on Castle of Steel.  It is heavy armor sword and shield/firestaff; focused on stacking fortify and using flamethrower to mow the folks down.

Here is the gear:

Weapon Trees

- Fire Staff: https://nwdb.info/build?skills=0-igb4m8-q07kcg_2-m7scu8-oj0cao_8-ki8e4k-mhepts

- Sword and Shield: https://nwdb.info/build?skills=0-igb4m8-q07kcg_2-m7scu8-oj0cao_8-ki8e4k-mhepts

 Images in case the build tool goes away:

 

Staying Motivated NOT to play stuff!

 The Blaugust 2023 "staying motivated" week rolls on and as I mentioned a couple days ago I mistimed my "Steam Backlog" game playing to match up to this week's posts so instead I am going to talk about staying motivated NOT to play everything that pops up in my feed!

 The first temptation for my game time is World of Warcraft's launch of the official hardcore servers for Classic.  Willhelm over at TAGN had some commentary on the event and it seems there is a rough go of the launch impacting more than just classic hardcore so that is helpful to keep one temptation off my plate.

"... but the errors and issues, down to being told constantly that you’re not in a raid if you join the queue as a group, have been annoying"

 Next up on the temptation list is Skull and Bones which is supposedly starting a closed beta today.  It looks like a cool game and I applied for the closed beta.  However, based on some leaked rumors the game is in rough shape so I'm not sweating that beta invite landing.

 Wayfinder is also tempting.  There is early access for $20, but it has been a trainwreck of server issues for the game.  I played the earlier betas and the game was OK, but I couldn't get past the idea of picking a premade hero vs creating my own character.  Still on my "maybe list" but right now I'll pass with the early launch jitters.  As a note my main thoughts on the game mirror Massively OPs First Impressions: I honestly can’t tell whether I like Wayfinder or no.

 The last temptation is Guild Wars 2 launching it's Secrets of the Obscure expansion. I've said many times that if my fancy with New World ever wanes that Guild Wars 2 is the game I'd jump back to.  I have jumped to Guild Wars 2 multiple times before and each time I get the most recent expansion.  I also believe that the best times in MMOs are around launches; new games or expansions.  So there is a thread of me that wants to jump in at launch here but my brain can only take one true MMO at a time and the MMO of the moment for me is New World!

 I'll be over here motivating myself to stop being tempted by stuff :)

 

Staying Motivated for Starfield

 For Blaugust 2023 "staying motivated" week I also wanted to touch on Starfield as it is right around the corner (8/31 for early access, 9/5 for regular folks).  The game is shaping up to be a once-in-a-lifetime launch and every passing day requires more and more motivation to be ready for it!

  Outside of the fact that Bethesda is a huge name in the gaming world what caught my attention most about Starfield is the scope.  There are other games like, No Man's Sky, that compete on scope but for me the ship sailed on No Man's Sky with its subpar launch (though all reports are now it is a really great game with lots of updates).

 Seeing the early gameplay trailers and deep dives on systems for Starfield I was blown away by things like building your own ship module by module only to be followed up by "oh and you can collect your own crew to have on the ship".  Then you can take your starship to a thousand different planets (honestly once these games get past like 10 planets it doesn't matter if its 1,000 or 100,000).  On top of this there will be fully fledged storyline!

 Then there are things like building bases and factories to make you stuff. There is resource gathering and combat.  All of it affected by a planet's gravity and other environmental variables.  Honestly the only thing that caught me off guard that is not included in the game is ground vehicles but I can let that slide if I can just hop in my starship and fly around a planet.

 I am trying to control my hype here.  This is going to be a massive launch and I expect problems; no doubt some interconnected online service the game relies on will hiccup.  Additionally it is a solo game with no multiplayer and my history is I fizzle out on solo games (but surely Starfield will be different).  So I need to keep myself motivated because I really, really want this game to be everything it is being hyped up to be as it looks very, very fun.

Staying motivated in New World (Gear Reset)

 Making an audible for Blaugust 2023's "stay motivated" week and swapping from my original plan to cover my Steam backlog.  Instead I am going to talk about New World and how I am staying motivated in the face of the pending gear reset.  The developers have yet to detail that gear reset, but we are getting drips of information in each update.  Knowing it is coming and lacking the details to go with it makes it very hard to stay motivated to play currently.  What exactly are we working for if it will be made irrelevant in a month's time?

 For me the answer to the "what keeps you motivated in New World?" question is simple: completing stuff.  New World has some vertical progression with it's expertise, gear score, and upgrade system but that is all behind me at this point.  There are many horizontal progression paths for me to work on now.

Ultimate Trophies

 This is the big one.  There are 9 ultimate trophies in the game to get and each one requires copies of each major trophy in that category (crafting, gathering, and combat) and a crafting component that costs an arm and a leg (45,000 gold + 100,000 faction tokens).  I now have 8 out of 9 of them and I ran out of arms/legs a while ago.

 What fascinates me is that I don't even craft but here I am knocking out the ultimate crafting trophies.  Just. To. Have. Them. In case I do want to craft.  The major trophies are fine but require you to teleport to all of your houses to change out trophies for each craft you want to do.  Ultimate trophies combine them together and thus remove the need to zoom around changing out trophies.  Soon I'll never have to ever think about changing trophies around in my house.  I will have all the ultimate trophies and be done!

 I need approx 30k gold and 80k faction tokens which I hope to finish out this week.

Crafting Gear Sets

 Crafting trophies are great but in order to hit end game gear score (590+) items in crafting you must also have the crafting gear sets.  The gear pieces drop from various named enemies all over the world or can be bought on the market.  I set a threshold of 3,000 gold.  If it was cheaper than that then I bought it; otherwise it was off to farm.

 I actually enjoy farming in New World.  I am aided by ample time to AFK back and forth to kill the named spawns.  I probably wouldn't do it if I had less play time.

Heartrunes

 Lastly on the horizontal progression is getting all the heartrunes in the game.  I actually only have a few and only a couple of them upgraded.  This will be where I change my effort over to once I am done with ultimate trophies.  These are also perfect "grind" objectives (except you have to complete an expedition 3x to get basic heartrunes to start with).  For example the brutal grasping vines required me to get 3,000 thorny vines from briars.  That was fun (not).  

 But I embrace the grind. Some folks Netflix and chill; I grind and chill.

 Other Stuff

 Then there is other stuff.  

With transmog now released there is a ton of skins to go out and collect.

I still love playing Outpost Rush and PvP Arenas and they give great rewards so there is always a new build to be looking towards.  I am eyeing up a heavy sword n shield/spear build along or a BB/IG medium build.

Then there is the company I hang out with; lots of returning players to help out.

Also at some point I really need to clean up my houses; so much furniture dumped everywhere.

Steam Backlog: Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Bioshock Infinite

 For Blaugust 2023's "stay motivated" week I told myself I was going to play games in my Steam backlog, but then New World decided 8/21 was the day of days to drop transmog. So no backlog games played today, but since we were still in the Bs and next on the list was Bioshock it still qualifies as a game I can cover in my Steam Backlog series!

  Bioshock is one of my all time favorite games and those that know the game probably can guess why.  Even all these years later I hesitate to spoil it for anyone.  It's a must play!  Bioshock was more of an experience than it was a game, but that is not to say the gameplay wasn't great.  This game was an amazing marriage of story telling, game play, and that final satisfying twist.

 While Bioshock was more of an experience its successor, Bioshock 2, was more of a game.  The story featured some interesting choices and like the first game I'd rather not spoil them.  There was more game here as well but I am not sure it was for the better.  Some of the "more game" took away from the story aspects of the game but it was still a great game and story.  There was also a multiplayer mode.  Why?  I don't know. It was not needed and I didn't enjoy it.

 

 The most recent Bioshock entry is Bioshock Infinite and marked the series departure from the deep sea to the skies.  Like the first two the story elements of the game are best left unspoiled.  The underlying world that they are building is just fun and the expansion into floating cities in the sky was well done.  

 Bioshock was more experience.  Bioshock 2 was more game.  Bionshock Infinite was more of both game and experience.  Infinite is one of the few games where I feel like story telling and action combat are done well together.  And there is plenty of action in infinite with mechanics that on paper seem impossible, but the game somehow pulls it off.  

 Over all if I had to stack rank the games it would be:

• Bioshock Infinite
  
• Bioshock 1
  
• Bioshock 2

 Bioshock 1 is a must play, but if you've played it you know why you likely aren't going to play it much more than that first play through.  Bioshock Infinite however is fun to jump back into as there is so much fun to be had and different ways to traverse the game.  1,2, or Infinite - all of them are worth your time!

 This post is part of my running series: My Steam Backlog (see all MySteamBacklog tagged posts).

Steam Backlog: The Binding of Isaac

 Another week is beginning for Blaugust 2023 and as I laid out in my planning post this week it is all about playing some games in my backlog!  So... consider this post as part of my running series: My Steam Backlog (see all MySteamBacklog tagged posts) and come back all week for more!

 Dusting off where I left the backlog we were still in the Bs (and 2023 is almost over!).  The next game up was The Binding of Isaac.

 This is a weird one.  I don't remember why I got the game and I only vaguely remember playing it originally so I decided this was one I needed to download again to write a post about.  It didn't take me long though to remember why I didn't play it much.

 The first part that throws me off is the theme of the game.  Let's just say it's not for the feint of heart.  As I have no heart... well let's continue.  No, actually lets not.  I don't like the premise or theme of the game. If you don't want to think about a mother sacrificing her child then don't play this game.

 The second part that throws me off is... well.. I'm old(er) with slow(er) reflexes and poor(er) vision.  Binding is a game that is all about fast reflexes amid tons of things going on at once.  I did get the hang of it after a bit and can see the draw in the skill ceiling the game offers. 

 BUT combine a theme I don't enjoy with gameplay that is for a younger (better?) gamer and I could not force myself to an hour of play.  I gave up after twenty or so minutes.

MMOre creators

 Blaugust 2023 marches on and for a low key Saturday post to end Creator Appreciation Week I wanted to throw up a couple MMO creators I also follow on Youtube

• Lazy Peon - https://www.youtube.com/@TheLazyPeon
• Not a fan of everything as Peon spends a lot of time in games I'd never consider, but he revisits games year over year so I find his insight on change over time very useful.
  
• Force Gaming - https://www.youtube.com/@ForceGamingYT
• Covers a lot of gaming areas but has a love for MMOs.  Always great insights and reasonably reliable to have videos up on key game events in a timely fashion.
  
• Josh Strife Hayes - https://www.youtube.com/@JoshStrifeHayes
• Josh is like a college professor and makes viewers feel at home in his classroom.  Like Peon I am not a fan of everything but there are some masterpieces in his channel like his recent reflection on his own content fro three years ago: Why Modern MMO's Suck - Josh Strife Hayes Reacts (I'd recommend any MMO nerd like me to check it out)
  

Podcasts I Listen To

 For Blaugust 2023 Creator Appreciation Week I wanted to share the podcasts I am currently listening to and fair warning; I listen to A LOT of podcasts (2x speed baby!).

Tech and News

• This Week in Tech
• The Screensavers TV show defined the tech nerd that I am today.  Decades later I am still listening to Leo Laporte on This Week in Tech which is now an entire company with many tech-centric shows and podcasts.
  
• Up First by NPR
• My daily news podcast
  
• The Indicator
• From NPR; covers news through the lens of indicators like government jobs reports
  
• Planet Money
• From NPR; covers all sorts of topics in the news through an economic lens
  
• POD Save America
• A no-bullshit conversation about politics.
  

Misc

• Business Wars
• Nintendo vs Sony?  Google vs Apple?  Crypto Wars? Listen to how businesses fight/fought it out.  One of my favorites.
  
• Freakonomics Radio
• Born from the Freakonomics books. This podcast will change how you think about the world.
  
• Serial
• Broken into seasons; Season 1 is stellar.  2-5 are still worth a listen.
  
• Writing Excuses
• Authors, including Brandon Sanderson sometimes, talk shop about writing books; mostly Sci Fi and Fantasy.
  
• Fish Nerds
• Whether you are fly fishing in a stream getting those ankles wet or deep in the ocean casting nets; fish nerds, fish nerds.  It's a podcast.  Just for the halibut.  All things fish, fishing, and eating fish (and the catchiest intro song)!
  
• Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
• Dan Carlin doesn't post often but when he does it is an event. Get ready for 6+ hour episodes covering all sorts of historical eras.  His various series around WW2 are masterpieces.
  

Gardening Podcasts

• You Bet Your Garden
• Mike Mcgrath is old as the dirt in his garden and has been hosting the You Bet Your Garden radio show forever.  The call in radio show is available as a podcast.
  
• The Beet (formerly Epic Gardening)
• Almost daily short gardening episodes
  
• The joe gardener show
• Joe L from Growing a Greener World on PBS has a podcast; great for gardening topics
   

Green Bay Packers

• Bleeding Green and Gold
• Father/son recapping Packers games.
  
• Blue 58
• Weekly podcast that covers all things Packers; durinjg the season and offseason.
  

Gaming Podcasts

• Massively OP Podcast
• All things MMORPGs.
  
• New World to Go
• The only New World podcast still standing.  Wish they would get back to regular episodes though; I miss BDLG and Redbyrd!  
  
• The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast
• Tabletop games and just a great group of folks talking games.
  
• The Battlefield Show
• Keeps me current on BF 2042 and future BF games
  
• HBO's The Last of Us Podcast 
• I can't rant at the end of the world without first listening to the podcast to go with each episode of HBO's TV show "The Last of Us".  Gaming because its all based on a game.
  

Favorite "one time" Podcasts

• S-Town
• My all time favorite podcast series.  This is a roller coaster of a story and an emotional ride.
  
• Spellcaster
• At top of mind considering the crypto boom and bust; covers the story of Sam Bankman Fraud (SBF)
  
• Welcome to Dreamtown: Adelanto 
• Listing due to it being recently released and I really enjoyed it.  Story of a small town and mary J.
  
• HBO's Chernobyl Podcast
• HBO's Chernobyl mini series is an amazing show to watch.  The podcast is a perfect companion and I highly recommend it to anyone that watched the show.
  

Content Creator Drama: Linus Tech Tips

 I was going to write a long Blaugust 2023 post today about the Linus Tech Tips (Linus Media Group) drama, but I decided against it.  Sometimes "content creators" grow up to become companies and to no one's surprise (except maybe Linus') a company cannot operate like a "content creator".  So much respect lost for LTT in the past week and their apology video (not going to honor them with a link) was the straw that broke me (seriously; sponsor jokes!? WTF!).

 So... I did the one thing I had in my power to do that actually means anything in this situation. 

Fin.

NEFFEX

 I wanted to use Creator Appreciation Week for Blaugust 2023 to hit some areas adjacent to my current areas.  One of those adjacent areas was music; specifically music that is made for and encouraged for content creators to use.  NEFFEX is one of those musical talents contributing to the greater content ecosystem and is a favorite for many video game content creators.

 NEFFEX produces copyright free songs (a mix of metal/rock/rap) and actively encourages content creators to make use of them (as they say in every video description: CREATORS - DOWNLOAD AND USE THIS SONG COPYRIGHT-FREE).  I first ran into them watching some New World PvP video montages.  Their song Tough really fits the theme of PvP action.  Tough is also my favorite NEFFEX song; take a listen below.

 If you are in search of music for a video NEFFEX has hundreds of songs for you to choose from; give them a listen.

HUNTgaming

 I have been dabbling in Way of the Hunter recently and wanted to share my favorite Way of the Hunter content creator for Blaugust 2023 Creator Appreciation Week.  That creator is HUNTgaming on Youtube.

 What I like about his content is that he has a near perfect blend of comedy and game content.  Even when he is doing a guide I end up laughing out loud.  One of his most recent videos featuring the new Africa map is a classic.  Rubber duck? Swimming pool? Love it! Check the video out below and if you are playing Way of the Hunter or just want a few laughs check him out.