February 2014 - Alternate Image Gaming

random

Why PVP Season 15 Makes Me Sad

February 19, 2014

There’s a few things about the recently announced and soon to start PVP season 15 that came with patch 5.4.7 that have got me a little bit down. The biggest thing, easily, is that it means we’re a long, long, ways away from the expansion. There’s an achievement for reaching 27,000 conquest during season 15, at normal arena cap, that’s 15 weeks or nearly 4 months starting next week. Prior to that announcement, my friends and guildies were hoping that Warlords would launch around the same time as Elder Scrolls Online. We expected Blizzard to plan that to crush the upcoming game (as they tend to do, not that I wanted it), but apparently not. So, I mean, the disappointment is my own fault, not like it was announced, but it doesn’t make it any less.

The next part and (more…)

random Screen Shots

Screen Shot of the Week: Line Up War Wolves!

February 17, 2014

A friend of mine noticed a couple of players on their Kor’kron War Wolves standing in a line and joined in. A short while later, a few more joined. It’s fun to see spontaneous organization. Click after the break for a bonus picture (different view and no caption).

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Hearthstone

Hearthstone Impressions

February 16, 2014

I’ve played a little bit of Hearthstone now and I want to drop a little feedback. Keep in mind, it’s still in beta, but it plays like a pretty complete game. For that, I’d say they’re doing a good job with it so far. It’s fun, but it’s far too simple. I have a decent win/loss ratio (I think) but games are nearly always one sided. Either I wreck them or they wreck me – it’s hard to be much fun on either side of that. This is because of the simplicity. Bad draw early on can create a deficit that can never be recovered from. However, it’s the lack of countering that is my real complaint. I played a game where on turn 3 or 4, the opponent played a card to “steal” one of mine, used that to kill my taunt creature and (clearing my side of the board) and dealt 10 damage. Prior to that turn we were equal with full health but I had 2 strong(ish) cards in play and he had one weak one. At the end of the turn I’m down 1/3 of my health and he had 5 minions to my 0. No way to stop it. No way to counter. What I’d love to see is a Magic the Gathering style counter spell mechanic. The ability to cast certain types of spells during the opponents turn would be such a huge improvement. It would at a little complexity. Do I save this burn spell to see what my opponent does or use it now? I’ve seen many games where either side could have stopped a loss by simply being able to stop one spell or one minion during a key fight. It just needs a little more. (more…)

From the Web

From the Web: Conan O’Brien Plays World of Warcraft

February 9, 2014

For any mutual fans of Conan O’Brien and WoW… this is pretty much a must watch. Conan goes to Blizzcon ’13, plays a little bit of WoW and brings his special brand of humor to cast the 3v3 tournament.

Yes, I know I’m a little late with finding this video. So sue me. (Actually, don’t sue me).

random Streaming & Videos

WoW Celebrities

February 3, 2014

I’ve decided something… I really don’t like the word “celebrities”. Not conceptually, mind you, but the actual letter structure of the word – it’s just weird. Anyway, I wanted to talk a little about the celebs of the WoW community. Individual servers often have their famous or infamous types. The servers I’ve been on have the people that are known because of their progression, the high-end raiders, but that’s usually the guild tag. Those who are really known are the trolls. We had player who went by Skillasaurus(spelling may be off). He always talked in all caps like he was a barbarian and said ridiculous statements, such as, “SKILLASAURUS NO AFRAD OF STOOPID GM. SKILLASAURUS ONE SHOT GM.” It was actually somewhat entertaining how he never broke character or said anything that was actually inappropriate, but still got trade chat in a fuss everytime with people legitimately trying to argue with him. He even got people to create similar named copycat characters to bathe in the spotlight. There are those, however, that exceed local server fame and are followed by thousands if not millions. Who? How? Why? (more…)

Warlords of Draenor

Problem with Warlords Premise

February 1, 2014

I’ve been doing some thinking, some pondering, some soul-searching over the plot line of the new expansion… and I really don’t think I like what I know so far. In previous expansions, we fought incredibly powerful and epic enemies. In BC, we fought Illidan who was a massively powerful mage who dedicated his life to power and combat, was granted extra power by demons. He was the first of his kind – a demon hunter and was thousands of years old. We may or may not have been prepared. In WolLK, Arthas was a Paladin, who was effectively merged with a Shaman/Warlock, infused with demon power, given amazing gear and had the power over death. Come on. In Cataclysm, Deathwing was the freakin’ aspect of earth granted power by the titans and corrupted (and possibly empowered further) by old gods. In MoP… we got an orc who only a few years before was basically mopey kid in Outlands who couldn’t have fought off the average basic campfire. While the enemy in Warlords doesn’t seem to be quite as insignificant as Garrosh, I don’t expect the epicness of previous expansions. There will be spoilers below, continue at your own risk. Also, check out the end of the post for the Warlords trailer. (more…)