Testing new Blogger Feature

A Blogger feature update!?  Which just lets me insert search results?  In 2025?

OK I guess.  Here is the "New World Aeternum" search insert.

 

August 2025 In Review

 August has come and gone and so has Blaugust 2025.  I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve for Blaugust so let's take a look back at the August that was.

The Blog

Blogger recorded visits for July: 326,819

In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target:  31 (to meet the Blaugust goal of once a day)
• Posted: 17
• Difference: -14
• I fell off the Blaugust horse early and never got back on it.  My Blaugust plans to talk about blogging and blogging platforms never materialized. I'll get a Blaugust recap out here in the next few days.
•  Search Trends
• Search trends changed in June and that trend continued in July:
• "battlefield secure boot" "secure boot required battlefield" - Secure Boot being required to play the Battlefield 6 beta was a hot topic and I shared my own experience in a post which netted the most Google clicks of any posts this month.
•  "deadlock invite pending" - this search skyrocketed around the time of the Deadlock update (which I posted about here).  Honestly surprised Valve has continued with the invite system for the open test; seems like at this point they'd be better off just letting anyone try that wants to.
• "arc raiders countdown" - this actually trended way, way down this month which is expected as we are at the midpoint between Tech Test 2 hype and the October release date for ARC Raiders. 
• In "things I observed in search console":
• Image searches for "minecraft mountain base" is my top result for images.  It's neat to see many years later that my Minecraft adventure from 2010 (15 years ago!) is hopefully inspiring new builders.  The post: Minecraft Mountain Base
• "bf2042 iwo jima" netted a small number of  visits which was nice to see as BF2042 enjoyed a resurgence in interest thanks to Battlefield 6.  The new Iwo Jima map has been a blast to play in 2042.

What I Played

 My friends and I have been sticking with Dune Awakening, but honestly, it’s pushing me to the edge of rage quitting more often than not. The combat is rough, and PvP ends up being a frustrating mess. Losing in PvP can set you back hours of progress, especially if your opponents decide to thumper your thopter — sending it to a worm and deleting it permanently.

 Normally, I wouldn’t mind setbacks like that, but the combat feels so bad that I never feel like I have a fair chance. Ground fights are plagued with stagger locks that stop you from dodging, activating skills, or even moving. Then you add in tactics like players gliding in silently on a thopter, pocketing it mid-air, and dropping right behind you… it just leaves you feeling powerless. More often than not, you have to resign yourself to being ganked repeatedly, even when you’re actively looking for a fight.

 So yes, I’m still begrudgingly playing Dune Awakening with my friends, but the PvP endgame just isn’t fun. There’s only so much building and gathering I can do to distract myself from that.

 Later in August, I jumped on the No Man’s Sky bandwagon after the Voyagers update. I’ve been really enjoying my early exploration of the galaxy. There’s something refreshing about a game with so many possibilities. The fact that I can take off in my ship from a planet, fly into space, head to another world, and never hit a loading screen still amazes me. Add in space stations, the anomaly, space pirates, and more than I can list, and it’s clear this game is going to steal a serious chunk of my gaming time. And I haven’t even touched on the multiplayer yet!

 On top of that, my sons and I have been continuing our Minecraft adventures. I need to get us set up on a realm, especially after we lost progress when a local save reset on us. It’s also tough that our current setup isn’t persistent, so if we’re not all playing at the same time, no one can move the world forward. A realm would solve most of that and make our sessions much smoother.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

 August 2024 was a wonderful Blaugust experience and my wrap up can be read here.

 Also in August of 2024 we got a first look at Dune Awakening's gameplay.   It was clear in the video that combat wasn't going to be great and sure enough a year later and combat isn't great.  I guess it's a positive that the initial video look we got back then was what the actual game turned out to be.

 August of 2024 also brought us Deadlock's initial beta test.  This was the hottest game since sliced bread at the time.  A year later and the game has pretty much dropped in interest and is still in a test phase.  Player activity is down from hundreds of thousands peak players to just tens of thousands.  It's possible the game peaked before ever making it to release.

5 Years Ago

 In August of 2020 we were enjoying the Crowfall Beta. At the time I thought this was the next big game for me.  I was going to lose hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to it. Fast forward to today and Crowfall has already been shut down.  But the Crowfall Beta does hold a special place in my nonexistent heart because it was through the beta community that I found out about this other game called New World and little did I know at the time but New World would be the game where I lost thousands of hours (4,000+ and counting!).

10 Years Ago

 August of 2015 existed in the time of no blogging for me.

15 Years Ago

 August of 2010 was marked by my purchase of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.  15 years later and he has delivered five books in this amazing series!  Now if only George RR Martin could deliver at such a pace.

 Another interesting post and article to look back on was this one: MMO Developers: Read this, learn from it .  Now 15 years later I'd of expected more MMOs to have been developed around the single server design.  And while we have mega servers in many MMOs we really haven't gotten another single server MMO like EVE Online.

20 Years Ago

 In August of 2005 I was complaining about Alterac Valley in World of Warcraft and how it needed to be rebuilt.  I really miss those days.  Alterac Valley was such a fun experience at the time and I dearly miss those simpler days where I had hours and hours to devote to a singe map game mode and write such long winded change requests for it!

 Speaking of WoW battleground design suggestions I also suggested they should be cross server.  At the time it was a foreign thought to have cross server activities. Fast forward to modern MMOs and it's hearsay if they launch without cross server capabilities.  Oh how times change!

 I made a Battlefield 2 video and uploaded it to Google Video.  Sadly it's been lost to history at this point as I didn't opt to migrate it to YouTube.  Not even the Wayback Machine has a copy of the video even though it did archive the page at one point.  Another sign of "oh how times change"!  Note: it is possible I have a copy on my old hard drives sitting on the shelves; I just haven't spent the time to dig through them.

 

Blogging Medium

 I promised as part of Blaugust 2025 that I would talk about and maybe search for a new blogging platform.  I've been on Google's Blogger (aka Blogspot) for over 20 years now and it hasn't had a major update of any sort in several years.  Before I get to exploration of entirely new platforms I do want to talk about a couple that I did already try.  The first one up is Medium and I have some thoughts.

 First, you can visit my experiment on Medium here:  https://medium.com/@heartlessgamer 

 What I liked about Medium is it's clean design. Black text, white background, and no effort to make that simple and clean template become a reality.  Also attractive at the time I tried it was the fact it can import Blogger posts with just a couple clicks so it was easy to port in content for testing purposes.

 A couple features I liked but didn't get to experience were the ability for visitors to leave me private messages as well as the ability to add a "tip the author" option on posts.  I could do the tip thing via any number of services with my blogger blog but that'd take extra effort vs the integrated option with Medium. 

 What I didn't like was that Medium felt like an ecosystem where I was just another cog in the grand scheme.  It felt like I was just putting my posts into a social media platform vs running my own blog.  I also dislike that Medium, like other platforms I investigated, require a cost to use your own custom domain.  It is hard to beat the fact that Blogger supports your own domain at no cost.

 Ultimately Medium didn't hook me and I gave up on it shortly after starting. I wouldn't say it is "off the list" because the member fee is only $5 a month which is not terrible compared to other platforms I'll talk more about in the coming days.

July 2025 In Review

July 2025 has come and gone and Blaugust 2025 is here!  But before we can jump into my Blaugust activities we need to look back at July.

The Blog

Blogger recorded visits for July: 50,824 (don't ask me why the chart doesn't match the number)

In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target:  n/a (been unmotivated lately to blog so every post is a bonus in July)
• Posted: 7
• Difference: +7
•  Search Trends
• Search trends changed in June and that trend continued in July:
• "arc raiders news" - everyone still wants Arc Raiders news and they aren't going to find it on this blog because there isn't much news coming out.
• "arc raiders countdown" - I don't know why people keep searching for this but they do and they end up on the blog here.
• In "things I observed in search console":
• Two of my posts about Call of the Wild: the Angler continue to be top pages visited from Google.  The game has ended development but it seems people still are looking for information.
• Bottom Fishing in the Angler 
• the Angler Multiplyer Woes
•  My thoughts on Once Human's end game are also a frequent flier for Google searchers.
• End Game Thoughts on Once Human

What I Played

My friends and I continued to play Dune Awakening.  We briefly joined a guild but the guild folded shortly after; which was OK because they let us take a bunch of supplies from the guild base.  We changed sietches and started a new base which is more well organized.  By end of month we had progressed to the end game in the Deep Desert and most of our playtime now is either going into the Deep Desert to shoot rockets from our thopters or doing crafting/gathering so that we can go into the Deep Desert to shoot rockets.

New World drew me back in to complete the Season 8 pass before the season ended in late July.  I didn't do much more than grind the pass so not much to share. 

We also had a spat of internet outages in July which meant I put some more time into my career mode in Wreckfest which continues to be my go to offline

My youngest son is also big time into Minecraft now and at the age where we can start carefully playing in survival mode.  That has been fun to get the youngest (6) and oldest (16) and myself (old) into a shared world building and playing together.  We've done a bunch of creative mode but survival is a much more engaging experience so is worth mentioning here.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

July 2024 brought a surprise hit to my gaming PC in Once Human.  As my post on the subject indicates: Once Human Has No Right To Be This Popular.  The game was a janky buggy mess but boy was it fun.  It is very similar in nature to Dune Awakening but Dune has been much less fun in comparison.  The fun didn't last as my group and I gave up Once Human after the first seasonal reset.

We also got to test Throne and Liberty's global version.  The beta impressed enough for my friends and I to give it a go later in 2024.  

5 Years Ago

July 2020 featured no blog posts.

10 Years Ago

In July of 2015 I wasn't blogging much, but between June and July I was enjoying the game Town of Salem.  It is a hidden role game similar in nature to One Night Werewolf for anyone familiar with it.  And since I made a blog post about it during a time I was not blogging much at all it must have made an impression on me!

15 Years Ago

In July of 2010 I declared Amalur as a failure.  This was well before it became the infamous failure along with it's developer, 38 Studios.  Maybe I am MMO gaming's version of Nostradamus? 

We were also getting ready for Guild Wars 2 in July 2010.  I had posted reasons why it was going to succeed and reasons why it was going to fail. The big argument back then was MMOs with the number 2 in the title were a bad idea and the genre was littered with failed games (AC2, UO2,EQ2).  Guild Wars 2 was also causing some drama by removing dedicated healers from the game as players all focused on their own self healing.  Folks back then were very attached to their roles in the "holy trinity" (healer/DPS/tank).

Fast forward 15 years later and Guild Wars 2 is still going strong and proved the market wrong about MMOs with the number 2 in their title.  Also folks ended up not too concerned about not having a traditional healer role and more "support" type roles emerged while everyone basically got to contribute to DPS.  Guild Wars 2 is also regarded as a "top MMO" in the market these days so obviously did something right.

15 years ago we all thought MMO websites were going to be BIG BUSINESS as a flurry of activity around them resulted in website owners making bank.  Oh how wrong we were.  With that said if anyone want's to drop me a cool million for this little slice of the internet hit me up! 

20 Years Ago

In July of 2005 I was really into PvP in World of Warcraft.  I was also wrapping up my four part review for the game. 

Based on my recollection of my summer vacation in 2005 apparently you still collected bugs on your car during long road trips.  Fast forward 20 years later and I can't remember the last time my car was plastered with dead insects after a road trip; even after a 30+ hour road trip in 2024 there was barely a bug smear. 

 

May 2025 In Review

 May 2025 has come and gone and with it so has 20 years since I started blogging!  And as is expected with this blog I am woefully behind getting to posting anything of merit to celebrate that 20 year mark.  Worry not dear reader for I am working on something that will be released.... sometime... soon... maybe.  In the interim let's take a look back at May.

The Blog

Blogger stats for April: 41,137 (note: below graph includes some June dates and is missing May dates)

 

In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 2 (I've been posting less these days so was honest with myself; post April review and post about 20 years; so 2 posts was the target)
• Posted: 8
• Difference: +6
•  Search Trends
• This past month had some shakeups to some long standing search trends.  Battlefield related search results dropped off the list while some old Once Human and some new New World searches popped in.
• "once human end game" and similiar searches hit the top spot and drove visitors to my completely out of date post: End Game Thoughts on Once Human
• "motherwell wishers coin" lead the pack of unique New World searches and delivered searchers to this post: New World: Obtaining Motherwell Wisher's Coin
• I am sure there is some sort of patch change that brought interest to this unique round shield in the game; which I am not even sure can be obtained anymore even with the guide I posted. 
• "new world wispy spritz" was the next New World related search trend which coincides with the Springtide Bloom event coming back with the recent Season 8 patch.  Searchers were probably disapointed to find my post just complaining about the cost of the crafting recipe... Why New World! Why!?
• And poking around lower in the list of search trends I found "heartless 2012 game" climbing along with "heartless game"; my assumption is searchers first try "heartless game" and are confused when they end up on my blog so they go back and try the 2012 search only to wind up back here.  Oh well!

What I Played

May marks the end of school for my kids and thus our annual beach trip so blogging and gaming were both limited.  I did get some time to play New World Aeternum and shared my thoughts on the start of Season 8 here.

Honestly I am just buying time currently waiting for ARC Raiders to have another beta test OR more hopefully just shadow dropping after June 6th and Summer Games Fest! 

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

In May of 2025 we were all waiting for the "big June announcement" for New World so while waiting for that I was off trying other games.  One of them was Elder Scrolls Online which I picked up after having not played it for over 10 years!

Wayfinder announced it was moving to an "offline" game model which was an unfortunate move.

5 Years Ago

May 2020 featured no blog posts.

10 Years Ago

May of 2015 marked my blog's 10 year anniversary!

15 Years Ago

May of 2010 marked my blog's 5 year mark!

Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers (DotP) made it's way to PC and I suspect the success experienced with the DotP games lead to the eventual creation of Magic the Gathering Arena.

Frozen Synapse also launched in May of 2010 and to this day I still have fond memories of the game.  I especially liked the "publish to YouTube" feature of the game that automated recordings of games for easy publishing. 

20 Years Ago

I started blogging in May of 2005 and I owe y'all a longer exposition on the 20 year milestone, but if you are interested in how it all started you can read all of my posts from May 2005.  Enjoy the step back in time!

 

20 years!

Today marks 20 years since I started blogging!  But I'm at the beach on vacation so won't post more until I'm back home.

April 2025 in Review

  April has come and gone and we are rapidly approaching this blog's 20 year anniversary later in May!  But before we look forward let's check back in on April.

The Blog

Blogger stats for April: 33,990 (note: below graph includes May dates and is missing Apr dates)

 

In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 0
• Posted: 4
• Difference: +4 (Have been doing other stuff than gaming or blogging so 4 is a win)
•  Search Trends
• "Discord Install Failed: Can't find PresentationCore 4.0.0.0" and my post in regards to my trials and tribulations with this Discord install bug gained traction in April so I assume there was some sort of Discord issue (I also noticed my Reddit post on the bug gained some new comments).  Read more about it: Discord Install Failed
  
• "new world PvP server" overtook searches for my frigid inferno build even though I only have my one post about the PvP servers before they launched.
• "new world frigid dawn" and related searches continued for my heavy armor flamethrower build for New World: Frigid Inferno build page
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games","what is the best battlefield game" continues to stay strong driving traffic to my post Best Battlefield!?
• "once human end game" was also a top click getter this month even though I've not posted or played Once Human anytime recently (nor do I have any plans to return) 
  

What I Played

I didn't play New World at all in April.  Actually I didn't play any game in April until the ARC Raiders tech test came out on April 30th.  So really I didn't play anything in April.

With that said; I freaking loved my time in the ARC Raiders tech test so expect more blog content on it in the near future!

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

In April of 2024 I was testing Pax Dei in it's Wilderness Alpha phase.  I enjoyed my time in the test but the game was a long, long ways away from being a game worth considering.  Unfortunately it still launched into a form of early access and it has all but died off as a game of interest for me.

The Fallout TV show was also causing a ton of buzz and all of the Fallout games saw spikes in player numbers. 

We also got to enjoy a partial eclipse in our area.

And last but not least; one of my most trafficked and searched for posts of all time was posted in April of 2024: Best Battlefield!?

5 Years Ago

April 2020 featured no blog posts.

10 Years Ago

In April 2015 one of my favorite Battlefield games, Battlefield Heroes, announced it was ending service.  I still miss that game.

We also got a gem of a post from Raph Koster going into the depths of Star Wars Galaxies development.  If you have any interest in the history of MMORPGs this is 100% worth the read.

15 Years Ago

In April of 2010 I was getting used to the idea of playing video games on a tablet device.  Amazing to look back all of these years later and find it funny now to question playing video games on a tablet or mobile device.  Ironically I still do not own a tablet of any sort. 

April of 2010 also marked the start of info drops for Guild Wars 2 (post 1, post 2).  Guild Wars 2 is still trucking along!

And while 10 years ago in April we learned that Battlefield Heroes was shutting down, 15 years ago in April we were excited about Heroes getting new maps and game modes!

 20 Years Ago

I started blogging in 2005 but not until May so come back in May for the big 2 0 extravaganza.  Oh wait; it's MAY 20 FREAKING 25!  OMG! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

March 2025 in Review

 Yes it is April 18th and I am just getting to recapping March here on the blog (note: the publish date will reflect 4/1 as to avoid upsetting my OCD).  Motivation has been scarce lately so you get what you get when I give it!

The Blog

Blogger stats for March: 28,632 (note: below graph includes Apr dates)

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 0
• Posted: 6
• Difference: +6 (Have been doing other stuff than gaming or blogging so 6 is a win)
•  Search Trends
• "new world PvP server" continues from Feb to drive traffic to the blog.  I am playing on the PvP server but haven't shared any thoughts yet.  Still my post about the servers before they launched is where many folks land from the ole' Google.
•  Searches around my flamethrower build for New World continue to drive traffic to the Frigid Inferno build page
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continues to stay strong driving traffic to my post Best Battlefield!?
  

What I Played

For March I had very little in the "played" category.  I did play some New World but nothing serious.  Sort of just checking the trading post and doing weekly objectives.  By end of month I was not playing any games including New World.

I did play a few games of Magic the Gathering with my oldest son using precon decks we have sitting around.  That was enjoyable.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

March 2024 saw my short lived attempt to figure out what the deal with Path of Exile was.  It didn't catch me and the experiment was short lived.

Also in March, the New World developers let us know there would not be an expansion in 2024 but there would be a "big announcement" in June.  We all know how that went...

 Ashes of Creation was previewing their Commissions system.

5 Years Ago

March 2020 featured no blog posts.

10 Years Ago

March 2015 featured no blog posts.

15 Years Ago

In March of 2010 Bioware's boss was flat-out lying about the success of Warhammer Online; "Right now it's [a] really profitable business unit within my group.".  That was followed with rumors that Bioware proper was going to be more involved with Mythic (both part of EA at the time).  Years later we know how that turned out...

My gmail was hacked...

And last but not least I was playing a lot of Battlefield Bad Company 2 in March 2010.  It remains one of my favorite Battlefield games to this day!  Scroll through the full month of posts to see my various BFBC2 posts.

 20 Years Ago

I started blogging in 2005 but not until May so come back in May for the big 2 0 extravaganza.

 

Working to catalog all of my past characters

 Just dropping a post to reference my page: "The Many Characters of Heartlessgamer"

 I am going to attempt to catalog all of my characters in any game I put significant time into.  Goal is to "remember" characters from the past 25+ years of gaming and include server and class/race information as I am able to recollect.

February 25 In Review

February 2025 is already done!?

The Blog

Blogger stats for Feb: 40,187 (note: below graph includes March dates)

In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 0
• Posted: 3
• Difference: +3 (I was really demotivated in Feb so the fact I got 3 posts out is a win)
•  Search Trends
• "once human end game" (and its variations) along with "once human lea research lab" popped up this month and there was increased traffic to my August 2024 post: End Game Thoughts On Once Human: Finished LEA Research Labs
  
• "new world inferno build", "inferno build new world", "new world flamethrower build" keep on trucking as folks continue looking for builds for the Inferno artifact.  My out of date but mostly still relevant Frigid Inferno Build is where they often land.
• "new world PvP server" also caught some traffic directing 
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continues with my post Best Battlefield!?
  

What I Played

For Feb it was ... wait for it... New World.  Shocker! I still love this game and still play almost daily.  The big change for this month was that a long lost acquaintance and a chance encounter in 3v3 arenas convinced me to try out the Season 7 PvP servers.  The selling point to get me to jump is that he could get me leveled up to 65 "in 5 minutes".  True to his word I was basically leveled to 65 in a few minutes thanks to being able to turn logs into ethereal dust which crafts into animus that you get 2,500 XP for opening.  So a few minutes at the crafting station and hundreds of clicks opening animus and I was 65.

There is also drop on death PvP gear that is easy to obtain (easy to lose as well) so I was geared up in no time (and then promptly ungeared with my first open world death).  And while I was max level with gear there were still some annoyances I had to deal with such as leveling my faction up to max level which requires me to finish the main story quest to access a specific zone. I am still working my way through that and enjoy the frequent open world PvP skirmishes since everyone is flagged and there is always the chance they are loaded with PvP drop-on-death gear! 

I also jumped into the Anvil Empires early access test and that game simply isn't ready for much serious testing consideration.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

Feb of 2024 brought us Enshrouded and I enjoyed my time digging around that world.

My beloved Green Bay Packers once again exited the NFL Playoffs with a loss to the dreaded San Francisco 49ers.  Boo!

I was also in my very early stages of playing around with AI image generators.  Its a bit crazy to look back over the last year and see how much AI has changed.  I really need to take some time to share more of my AI dabbling.  There is some cool stuff out there.

5 Years Ago

Feb 2020 featured no blog posts.

10 Years Ago

Feb 2015 I felt obligated to post and so I did.

15 Years Ago

In Feb of 2010 I was playing Allods Online open beta and then had my launch reaction and then promptly started arguing about its plans for a cash shop.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was a hot game heading our way in Feb 2010 and still ranks as one of my favorite Battlefield games.  I spent time comparing it to Battlefield 2, talking about SecuROM DRM, and 

Some of us bloggers also challenged ourselves to try and make believe that Warhammer Online wasn't shutting down or going into maintenance mode.  Oops.

 Oh and I started the idea of posting regular monthly look back posts with my first "What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying" post that looked at the month prior of Jan 2010.  I must have had more free time back then; I played a lot more games.

 20 Years Ago

I started blogging in 2005 but not until May so come back in May for the big 2 0 extravaganza.

 

January 2025 In Review

The first month of 2025 has come and gone; lets take a look back.

The Blog

Blogger stats for Jan: 21,700

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 22 (weekdays minus holiday)
  
• Posted: 9
• Difference: -13 (motivation, lack there of)
  
•  Search Trends
• "new world inferno build", "inferno build new world", "new world flamethrower build" have been gaining momentum since New World Aeternum (NWA) launched thanks to my build post: Frigid Inferno Build.
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continues with my post Best Battlefield!?
  

What I Played

For Jan it was more New World.  I just can't stop playing.  I enjoy the game and play almost daily.  I cycle through the same activities: play the in-game market, queue up for 3v3 arenas, and then queue for Outpost Rush.  Once a week I venture off into the FFA PvP zone for my golden coconut.  Some call it boring and repetitive; I call it just plain fun.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

January of 2024 brought us Enshrouded and I enjoyed my time digging around that world.

My beloved Green Bay Packers once again exited the NFL Playoffs with a loss to the dreaded San Francisco 49ers.  Boo!

I was also in my very early stages of playing around with AI image generators.  Its a bit crazy to look back over the last year and see how much AI has changed.  I really need to take some time to share more of my AI dabbling.  There is some cool stuff out there.

5 Years Ago

In January of 2020 I was putzing around with a mono black devotion deck in Magic the Gathering: Arena.  If memory serves me it wasn't exactly competitive but it caught some folks off guard every once and a while as its a nonstandard way to win a game.

10 Years Ago

In January 2015 we received the announcement about Guild Wars 2's Heart of Thorns expansion which was the first expansion for the game and piqued my interest.

15 Years Ago

In January of 2010 we were beta testing Allods Online.  I am sure my younger self thought it surely would be the World of Warcraft killer (narrator: it wasn't).

Star Trek Online was entering open beta as well. 

And we were all enjoying Avatar in movie theaters.  I really didn't want to like the movie but had to admit it was a fun movie.

 20 Years Ago

I started blogging in 2005 but not until May so come back in May for the big 2 0 extravaganza.

 

Dec 2024 in review!

December 2024 is in the books so let's take a look back at the blog over that month.

The Blog

Blogger stats for Dec: 23,527 visits

 

Note: this is the last 30 days graph as of 1/2 so off by a day or two

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 15 (weekdays minus holiday weeks/vacation)
  
• Posted: 10
  
• Difference: -5 (took some time off blogging just because)
  
•  Search Trends
• "new world inferno build", "inferno build new world", "new world flamethrower build" have been gaining momentum since New World Aeternum (NWA) launched thanks to my build post: Frigid Inferno Build. I need to take this rise in the search rankings as a sign that I need to update the build for all the changes with NWA (though it mostly stayed the same).
• "new world roadmap 2024", "new world 2024 roadmap", "new world road map 2024" dropped off the search radar this month which is not surprising as we enter 2025. This reminds me I still haven't posted about the "living roadmap" the New World developers gave us.
  
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" is proving it has a long run as it proceeds to drive traffic to Best Battlefield!? but that may be ending soon as I found this note on my Google Search Console today.
• 
  
  
  
  
• "deadlock invite not showing up", "not getting deadlock invite", and other Deadlock invite related searches keep driving traffic.   I am amazed they still have an invite system for the game's test version with how much trouble it causes and how steep of a player count drop off the game has experienced.
  
• Last, but not least, was "quitting throne and liberty" which directs folks to, no surprise, my post on "Why I quit Throne and Liberty"
  

What I Played

For December I was back in New World smashing  faces in 3v3 arenas and outpost rush matches.  I've also spent some time hitting the winter event to get some of the rewards I've not gotten in the past (skins; gotta collect 'em all).

Marvel Rivals was a surprise hit this month for me and I've put in a good number of hours.  I really enjoy the game.  I am not sure its a long term game as hero shooters wear me out and there is not enough with Marvel Rivals to separate itself from that trend, but for December it was a big hit in my playtime.

I gave Brighter Shores a few minutes of my time and this Monday Screenshots post is all you are going to get out of it.

I also took a moment to try out Deltaforce and if you told me I was playing Battlefield 2042 I'd of believed you.  It is a literal clone of the game to the point the UIs look almost identical.  I was going to make a post about this but it is not worth the time and effort.  I do find it sort of crazy how the community is giving Deltaforce a pass

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

December 2023 marked a momentous "gamer dad" moment for me as we gifted my oldest son his very own gaming PC components and I got to watch him put it together.

The Finals surprise launched and I recorded my first win.

Groundhog Day had me thinking about modern storytelling in video games.

5 Years Ago

Dec 2019 was in the 'not a lot of blogging' era and nothing comes to mind.

10 Years Ago

In Dec of 2014 the biggest event recorded was that I upgraded my GPU.

15 Years Ago

In Dec of 2009 Borderlands (the original) was the hot game and I wrote this review.

I also decided to go back to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) and give it 10 more days of my time.  You can check out my "10 Days of WAR" posts by starting here.  To no surprise I was done playing the game, again, after the 10 day experiment.

 20 19 Years Ago

Technically I have 21 named years on my sidebar (since I am posting this in 2025), but mathematically December 2005 was only 19 years ago.

In Dec 2005 we were speculating the Draenei were the next race coming to to World of Warcraft which eventually turned out to be true. 

Oh and I became somewhat of an early viral celebrity with an article I wrote for the Gamergod (now defunct) website discussing why MTV was doing a better job at games journalism than actual games media.  I was mentioned in a GU Comic (now defunct) about it (which I used the wayback machine to go nab a copy of to include here and in the original post).  You can also use the wayback machine to read the forum thread for the comic.

"a guy" = me

Heartlessgamer Rap

Who knows what the future of AI will look like, but for now, I am having a lot of fun exploring creative possibilities that were once beyond my personal talents, resources, and time. One such pursuit is music creation.

An AI generated image of an old(er) video game blogger creating music.
Sort of not at all what I look like.  I prefer my jeans NOT ripped.

Back in the day, I dabbled in electronic music (over 20 years ago!) and was a fan of the MTV Music Maker—a sort of video game for wannabe musicians. I even had a Napster chat channel where I shared my electronic music, though those early creations have been lost to time. Recently, I've started experimenting with Suno and AI-generated music, reigniting that old creative spark.

After some trial and error and watching YouTube tutorials on the best practices of song prompt writing, I've developed an AI-collaborative approach to lyric writing. The process is a partnership between my creativity and an AI assist. I contribute the core ideas and overall structure, while the AI helps refine the lyrics, ensuring proper length and rhyming.

The collaboration isn't always smooth. The AI sometimes changes key pieces of text—for instance, replacing "Keyboard mouse" with alternative phrases even though "keyboard mouse" is a key lyric considering I am a PC gamer.

These unexpected shifts can lead to more interesting results. When I got stuck, the AI came in with clever solutions. A perfect example is the line "every post he writes erupts," which the AI suggested when I was struggling to incorporate blogging into a verse.

Rhyming has been particularly fascinating. The AI's skill at creating unexpected rhymes—like "alien sand"—has been a delightful surprise. Of course, there are moments when I simply insist on keeping certain lyrics, rhyme or no rhyme, maintaining my bit of control over the process.

The song I lyrics I ended up with:

[Verse] 

HeartlessGamer plays all night long
Virtual worlds where he feels strong
Pixelated lands where he belongs
Chasing dreams with epic songs 

[Verse 2] 

Blogging tales of heroes grand
Defeating foes with just one hand
From dungeons deep to alien sand
He conquers all with a fearless stand

[Chorus] 

HeartlessGamer is his name
In the digital realm he stakes his claim
No heart to lose no love to tame
In pixels and code he’s got the fame

[Verse 3]

Keyboard mouse like a knight’s sword
From level one to final boss
Strategic plays no room for loss
He’s the legend and the lore

[Verse 4] 

Loading screens and power-ups
Collecting lives and winning cups
Every post he writes erupts
With cheers from fans they fill his cups

[Chorus]

HeartlessGamer is his name
In the digital realm he stakes his claim
No heart to lose no love to tame
In pixels and code he’s got the fame 

Lyrics in hand it was a lot of trial and error with different music styles and combinations.  What resulted was a few different versions of the song.  Personally I have a wide ranging music taste.  You can catch me listening to everything from Lean On Me by Bill Withers to Mad World from the Donnie Darko movie to my teenage years dominated by music from Korn.  I tried to mix many of those genres and musical styles into the prompting, but ultimately the style that worked out best was rap and electro-pop.

The two song outputs worth sharing are:

• HeartlessGamer Rap
• HeartlessGamer Plays All Night Long

November 2024 In Review

 November 2024 has come and gone and with it I'm a year older and wiser as I celebrated another birthday that puts me somewhere in my mid-40s.

The Blog

 Blogger provided number (last 30 days graph so a bit off a full month): 18,200

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 16 (weekdays minus vacation)
  
• Posted: 14
  
• Difference: -2 (the election results deflated my mood for a few days)
  
•  Search Trends
• "new world roadmap 2024", "new world 2024 roadmap", "new world road map 2024" continues to be the top driver of traffic even while I was on hiatus playing Throne and Liberty.  Of course we already had the 2024 road map and recently got the "whats next" update (which I need to post about still)
  
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" is proving it has a long run as it proceeds to drive traffic to Best Battlefield!?
• "throne and liberty daily checklist" also creeped up the list for a short run in November but dropped out fast
• "ashes of creation pirate software" also blipped driving some traffic to my post going over the video between Pirate Software and Stephen Sharif 

What I Played

 November started out strong with a lot of Throne and Liberty, but the game wore on me and I found myself less and less interested in the progression system which kept me from logging in.  By the end of the month I had given up on the game entirely.

 Which meant I had a hole in my MMO play space and to fill it I leaped back in New World.  It is honestly the better MMO of the two games and I'm enjoying my time back in New World far more than I was enjoying my time in Throne and Liberty.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

Nov 2023 was dominated by New World posts

• New World Economy
• Brutal Road Map Update for New World
• New World Arena
• Rethinking New World's Progression
• and plenty more during that month
  

5 Years Ago

Nov 2019 was in the 'not a lot of blogging' era and nothing comes to mind.

10 Years Ago

In Nov of 2014 we got the first teaser trailer for The Force Awakens.  Oh the promise!  The excitement! Can we go back and pretend none of the other sequel movies happened?

And I was playing ArcheAge at the time.

15 Years Ago

In Nov of 2009 the rumors began to swirl about the imminent shutdown of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as the grim reaper that is EA began to cut staff at EA Mythic.  I miss WAR.  I think it had a chance to be a better game than it turned out to be.

We also got our hands on Left 4 Dead 2 which I still revisit from time to time all these years later. There is nothing better than playing as the zombies in that game!

I was also celebrating World of Warcraft and Firefox hitting their 5 year anniversaries.  I swear this was just yesterday though... but 15 years... 15 years ago... that means we've had both of them for 20 years now!

Oh and WTF (What the Favre)!

 20 19 Years Ago

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

 In Nov of 2005 I was posting about the keys to the World of Warcraft's auction house; a pastime in every MMORPG I've ever played.  The online market and economy is one thing that sets these games apart in my book.

Star Wars Galaxies' ill-fated New Game Experience (NGE) was getting the proper drubbing it deserved.  No more tears, or words, shall be shed in remembrance of this event.

October 2024 In Review

 October 2024 is in the books!

The Blog

 Blogger provided number (last 30 days graph so a bit off a full month): 19,800

 Note: this is missing the first few days of October where there was a spike in traffic visiting my Hurricane Helene posts.  You can see it falling off on the left side.

 

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 0
  
• Posted: 24
  
• Difference: +24!  With the hurricane havoc every post was a win!
  
•  Search Trends
• "new world roadmap 2024" remains the top result that drops folks onto the blog
  
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continue to drive traffic as well to Best Battlefield!?

What I Played

 October started with no gaming due to the hurricane causing power and internet outages, but towards the middle of the month I was able to get going with Throne and Liberty and that has consumed most of my gaming time.  I have two level 50 characters now and am working to max out my main's gear.

 I did spend a little bit of time in New World as well.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

 Last year in October 2023 we got a chance to play The Finals beta and I ended up really enjoying it.  It didn't hold me long term but my oldest son is addicted and plays every day.  He is pretty good at it too.  Every once and a while I hop back on to play with him.

 We also got the "mind blowing" Star Citizen video.  A year later I am not sure anyone can say the game is any closer to what that video promises.

 Oh and New World's expansion, Rise of the Angry Earth, launched.  It brought mounts, level 65, level 700 GS, and a bunch of changes to the game.  It was light on content and staying power, but feature wise it was great.

5 Years Ago

  Oct 2019 was in the 'not a lot of blogging' era and nothing comes to mind.

10 Years Ago

 In October of 2014 I was getting a chance to play Archage for the first time.  I honestly couldn't remember the game all that well so it was good to re-read my initial impressions post.  My... uhhh... younger self does come through in the post.

15 Years Ago

 Setting a milestone and trend that continues to this day in October of 2009 World of Warcraft launched cross-realm (aka cross-server) dungeons and thus ended the idea that you were limited to the server you joined in an MMORPG.

 For fantasy readers: we received the first Wheel of Time book co-authored by Brandon Sanderson.

 We also got the Left 4 Dead 2 trailer; one of my favorite game trailers of all time!

 20 19 Years Ago

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

 In Oct of 2005 we had hints that Diablo 3 may become an MMORPG.  Oh how wrong we were!

 We all celebrated Raph Koster starting his blog in 2005!  And he is still at it today which is pretty cool as I've gotten the chance to catch up with him over Discord as he works on his new project, Stars Reach!

 Oh and I got banned from the World of Warcraft forums for posting a picture of a magazine article.  A magazine I physically had in my hands.  Ironically this ban stands to this day!

August 2024 in review

 August (or should I say Blaugust) 2024 has ended so lets take a look back.

The Blog

 Blogger provided number (last 30 days graph so a bit off a full month): 30,300

 This is up about 1,000 from July.  I do not know what the big spike was in late August as I could not zero in any posts that had that much traffic.

 

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 31 (Blaugust Rainbow Award level)
  
• Posted: 32
• Difference: +1 because I can't let a reward go unclaimed!
  
•  Search Trends
• "new world roadmap 2024" surged to the top spot this month.  Ironically it appears so often that I created a post for those exact terms with the 2024 roadmap which is just continuing to gain traction.
  
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" still all are near the top but not the top dog anymore: Best Battlefield!?
• Once Human searches filled out the third spot with searchers looking for more details around the season resets.  This makes sense as the first launch servers recent changed over.  Unfortunately searchers will find nothing of value on the blog as I've not gone through myself or commented about the actual mechanics of the resets... yet!
  

What I Played

 Once Human dominated my August playtime as I made it to level 50 and set up my Frost Vortex build.  I also built a proper base finally (it looks like an airplane hanger).  I posted about none of these accomplishments because I had other ideas for Blaugust posts that took up my blogging time.  I have had to take a break from gaming for the past week due to real life stuff (trip, work, kids stuff) so I have yet to transition from my first scenario into a new one (likely moving to a PVE hard mode server with some folks on Sept 8th).

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

 August 2023 brought my introduction to Blaugust (check my Blaugust 2023 tagged posts) and I jammed the month full of posts.

 The most notable game launch was Starfield (early access started late Aug) and it's hard for me to believe that was already a year ago.  Too bad that game landed like a dud, but they finally added vehicles a year later so I guess I should fix my old post.

5 Years Ago

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

10 Years Ago

 In Aug of 2014 I was not blogging regularly but I was thinking about it as evidenced by: Long time, no post.  My nonexistent heart was warmed by all the commenters that stopped by though!  6 comments; probably the most of any post in the last 10 years... ha!

15 Years Ago

 August of 2009 was the month I became a father and my life was forever changed.  That kid is now 15 and about to start learning to drive.  He may, and this is a BIG may, also be better at video games than me now.  Speaking of comment counts; this post garnered 40+ which was heartwarming but it also shows how much commenting on blogs has died off over the years.  I'd have a crazy smile on my face if a post these days hit 10 comments; let alone 40+!

 Also some loser named Brett Farve (don't you dare spell check me) signed with the Minnesota Vikings in August of 09.

 20 19 Years Ago

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

 In Aug of 2005 I was posting on Google Videos (before this thing called YouTube).  Sadly I think the video "CS:S video released - Two of the gReatest things eveR" and "Battlefield 2 Video - Lets go!" are lost to history as I am not sure I have copies anywhere and they did not make its way to YouTube when that took over for Google Video.  It is crazy to think had I just stuck with videos in that early era I could have been a YouTube content creator instead of annoying my team at work about getting stuff done. 

 With that said; one video from that Google Videos era did get saved to YouTube.  A World of Warcraft video I made while playing with the guild behind the Taverncast podcast: The Pod People invade Westfall.flv

Blaugust 2024: That's a wrap folks!

 Another Blaugust has come to an end.  Let's check in to see how I did:

 Posts: 31 - one a day!  Hooray!

 What about blaugchievements (we know this is the real reason I participate in Blaugust!)

• Reading the Manual – Read the introductory blog post with the rules of the event.     Joining the Cause – Sign-Up for Blaugust.
• Completed
   
• Recruit a Friend – Convince another blogger to participate in Blaugust.
• Failed; I have no friends
   
• Spreading the Madness – Promote Blaugust on your blog or through your social media of choice.
• Completed as the toots on Mastodon and posts on Blue Sky account for
   
• Friend of Wumpus – Join the Blaugust Discord.
• Completed
   
• Sharing is Caring – Post your content in the “Share Your Content” Channel.
• Completed; who doesn't love a judgement free zone to spam drop blog links
   
• Forum of Friends – Take part in a discussion on the “Post Discussion” Channel.
• Completed
   
• The Pet Tax – Post a picture of an animal friend on the “Stuff and Things” Channel or create a blog post about them.
• Failed
   
• Friend Like Me – Answer a question posted on the Blagust Discord or help out a new blogger.
• Failed
   
• Shared Thoughts – Comment on a blog post from another Blaugust participant.
• Completed; I made my rounds this year!
   
• Federation of Bloggers – Sign up for a Fediverse account and follow the official Blaugust account.
• Completed
   
• Getting Inspired – Write a blog post inspired by a post from another Blaugust participant.
• Completed; see my post about Inventory Management
   
• Pickup Group – Play a game or take part in an activity with one or more Blaugust participants.
• Failed
   
• Hot Topics – Write a blog post based on the Blaugust Prompt List.
• Completed; see my post about a quote
   
•  Welcome Wagon – Write a blog post based on the first week’s theme of Welcoming Folks to Blaugust.
• Completed; see my First Post of Blaugust
   
• Introduce Yourself – Write a blog post based on the second week’s theme of Introducing Yourself.
• Completed; see my post about fishing
   
• Creative Appreciation – Write a blog post based on the third week’s theme Appreciating the works of some Creative or Company.
• Completed; see 1, 2, 3
   
• Staying Motivated – Write a blog post based on the fourth week’s theme of how you have managed to Stay Motivated.
• Completed; see my post on staying motivated about MMORPGs
   
• Lessons Learned – Write a blog post based on the fifth week’s theme explaining some of the Lessons you have Learned through Blaugust.
• Completed
   
• Going Platinum – Complete All of the Blaugchievements for Blaugust 2024.
• Failed... :(
   

Blaugust 2024: Staying Motivated

 Ever had the itch to reply to someone online after seeing them post about an accomplishment?  Not a reply to say "good job", but an itch to comment on what they accomplished.  An itch to provide that feedback that is burning a hole in the back of your mind.  An itch that the original poster had no intent for you to scratch in a reply because they were never soliciting your feedback?  Turn that itch into motivation.

 It is "Staying Motivated" week for Blaugust 2024.

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.

 Over on Mastodon, Evan Prodromou tooted a thread that rang true for me and is excellent advice.  It fits right in the theme of staying motivated as it is an excellent way to source ideas for your blog.  Ideas that you have a keen interest in sharing because it already came to your fingertips but instead of firing it off into the void of social media you drop it on your blog for safekeeping.

 So next time that itch to tell someone they were did something slightly less efficient than you did strikes turn that into a blog post.  Make the blog-o-sphere better.  Feed those large language models with your own training data.

 Be like heartlessgamer!  One of the main driving factors that caused me to start blogging was lamenting lost forum posts as forums I frequented were getting shut down and posts deleted.  Starting a blog was my way to control my own posts and to contribute to the ecosystem of the Internet.  That same thread still motivates me today.

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.