A Casual (Carebear) Gamer: Middle already....

Middle of the month already, blink and time passes more than it feels like it should. I've been saying that more and more recently, guess that means I'm getting 'old'. I'm not the only one with age on the mind, HappyConsoleGamer just turned 50 and did a video.

I recently came across the channel Alien Theory. So many great videos about the Alien franchise; Past and present. Such as: Bishop's First Mission and Aliens: The 1989 TV Version.

SCS did a year in review vid that really shows how much work has been done to both ATS and ETS 2 games. Great to see.

One of the newer top 10 lists from gameranx showed their tech pick list from the CES; Interesting to know about items but none are immediately in any form of 'omg'. Time will tell it items in the hands of the public 'become a thing'.

The show also showed off the new transparent LG tv "World’s First 4K Wireless transparent TV"; And while I'm sure the tech is there and it does look impressive.... I'm not sure my personal needs, need, this tv. It was funny to me that one of the shots shown on the TV's promo was of a cat jumping; If I did have a TV like that, all I'd see in transparent mode would be my cat sitting behind the screen.

THE BURNETTWORK had an interesting video/chat regarding Star Trek:

New STAR TREK feature announced by Paramount and Bad Robot, but it's another PREQUEL! WHY?!? #918

Mad Max has been a game I've been played too much, far too much; Way more than I really should have. Too many late, late nights. Or at least that's my retrospective perspective of the last week with it's gameplay. It's become a completionist thing. Area's 'needed' to be cleared, stuff collected, unlocks unlocked etc. The more complete the game is the more time I've 'needed' to put into 'ending it'; Not in a bad way, just a need to complete. The story lines are very Mad Max and it is what it is. I've expectations of some good things happening but have to temper that with it being so very 'Mad Max'. Not all sunshine and roses etc. So I'm in the end spiral, gotta go with the flow to see how things pan out in my do it all way. There's a big satisfaction in clearing each section of the map. I've been enjoying it even if there are so many things that will not effect the outcomes of story.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Finally getting to Gastown has both been good and bad. Good in that I've gotten there with all else completed (so far); Bad in that I thought it would have been a more constantly hostile filled environment.

Lots done and lots to do....

En Garde is proving to be a really nice fun game. It's not hard but even with the difficulty setting there's way more options to alter how the game plays. Tailor it to your liking. I'm in it for the fun so am happy with casual. A hard core gamer for this type of game, with all the settings on hard and harder and all the helpful modifiers turned off. Well I think they'd be somewhat 'unimpressed'. This isn't a 'Souls' game; This is 'fun'.

Darkest Dungeon has seen some action. The Heretic was on my mind and better to get that roadblock out of the way before trying to make some progress. 4 cursed heroes in a location with the Heretic and he didn't miss an opportunity to appear. Maybe the game was going easy on me(finally), but the fight was RNG favorable to me. I've said it before but I've played the harder modes more 'easily' than this radiance run. Maybe I've turned a corner(and just like that jinxed myself, again)?

World of Warcraft has also made a reappearance, thanks to my wife. That said I've still got an aversion to 'end game' WoW. The idea of raiding and gearing up constantly, never mind getting into the last two

patch areas; As much as I like this expansion, I'm just not 'feeling' it any longer; Or 'into' it. So with my wife I've gotten her back into leveling a druid as I relearn to level a Shamen to play along with. None serious costume and all. It's just nice to play and level and enjoy the game as we go.

Logging into my old Troll Druid, his Boomkin form seems to have been changed in looks. Like a lot that seems to have been updated graphically in game. The change is ok. The animations seem better and smoother overall.

Needless to say I've still done nothing with my Dracthyr Evoker since the expansion launch. More than a bit of a waste. When I start thinking of playing that class the DPS becomes unappealing and the Healer spec seems a lot more hassle than it's worth. That's not to say I don't like them as healers, I think they're good.... Just as a role, healers overall are under pressure to perform as well as taken for granted. Raids with PUG's proves the abuse is real. So while I'd play one the effort seems less than appealing.

The game could do with a lot (A LOT) more tanks an healers. Eternal problem is the eternal problem but when a raid(even the newer ones) has a queue of 40+ minute wait for either or both(tanks/healers) it's past ridiculous.

Eve Online has seen a lot of my mains, main alts(on main accounts), Alphas and lesser alts get more attention than they probably should in regard to asset micromanagement. In doing so I've cleared up and moved around a lot more assets. Still lots to faff about with. Eve's gameplay is where a player wants it to be(for the most part).

Industry is industry and I've been doing a good bit but nothing fantastic. Some BPO's on the go for Time and Input refinement. I've gotten to go through a lot of my old researched BPO's, too many of them(lots never really used), and in turn got a lot of nostalgia for solo running a POS back in the day. I've waffled on tis blog about that stuff before(good, bad and ugly). Somewhat better times in owning such structures for activity progress in industry. Not sure it's worth the effort solo now. Last time I checked on running a small refinery it didn't fill me with hope but maybe now? Then again wasn't there a 'core' that needs to be added and has a 100% drop rate? Which invites structure ganking.... Maybe I should looking to it again.... For now I'm using someone else's structure which I'm hoping won't get blown up and loose what I'm working on.... Eve paranoia is real. delonewolf did some good vids on the subject. Wish he had more recent stuff but real life is real life o7

Star Trek Online is also still on the go, the end of the Red Alert event filler is nearly done. It'll be good to get the next reward on the upcoming event on Xbox; PC is always my main side of STO so I'll be happy with it's event. As well as the start of the new yearly campaign. Progress short and long term. The more you do with the game the more you'll get. Again I'll keep saying it's a game with monetisation but there is no 'need' to pay for it in any way to get the most out of gameplay for free. The longer you play it the more you'll get out of it. Yea I'm into it, so maybe I'm beyond biased. For me after years of enjoyment I found the benefits of the 'lifetime' worth the buy and am still glad to have done so. The next "expansion" should also be interesting. Star Trek Online: Both Worlds, Coming January 23rd!

Some interesting vids online about the coming STO anniversary as well:

Anniversary Daily Giveaways Coming, What You Need To Know - Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online: Both Worlds, Coming January 23rd!

Lots coming and lots to do. That said for the last week it's been a case of alt hopping and casual content engagement.