Kyir

We were denied the true glory of orcs versus humans, but in space!

I don't think the recent expansions actually live up to Blizzard's claims that they're returning to those roots. The most recent one certainly felt like it was just a few cutscenes devotes to faction leaders making angry faces at each other (and killing people I guess) and then the players go goof around on troll island. My biggest concern relates to your point, and is that they're going to double down on the recent trend of making pretty much all bad actions by any character the result of some corrupting influence by spooky evil being, because there's already enough of that in Warcraft 3 as it is. If it's just a few characters getting additional screentime, I'm not too concerned, but I would hope they don't just bog the whole thing down with it. I'm getting increasingly excited by new tower defense content though. Warcraft 3's battlenet never works for me for some reason, and a lot of standalone games just don't have the same charm.

Blizzard’s statement that they were updating Warcraft 3’s story to line up better with how events are laid out in World of Warcraft seems... bad, given what a mess that game’s become. I’m curious what’s motivating them to mess with the writing when it seems like more risk for litte reward. I don’t think anyone (reasonable) would be particularly upset if the remaster of a ten year-old game didn’t line up perfectly with modern products, but I can think of plenty of changes that would annoy me. Anyway! Tower defense games! Someone better remake Wintermaul Wars.

Just noting that there’s 3 days left of a free Battlerite Royale event.

Nick's stream also suggests that there's intense lasso-based gameplay.

Accidentally replying to an old post, whoops. (I'm glad to get backup on the nipple presence though.)

They all cut their thumbs off in a ritual that took place at the end of the last episode to rid themselves of the genie that had been forcing them to cast pods for all eternity.

Given that none of them have had digits cut off, they are keeping up the thumbs front too.

The battle royale standalone version of Battlerite came out into early access this week. Battlerite Royale. BR? BRBR? Regardless, it's a pretty interesting experience. The rounds seem to be much shorter than most games of the genre, and there's a lot of quirky little things that add a surprising amount of variety between rounds (at least for now.) Fake chests you can place that explode when opened, potions that turn you into parts of the scenery, etc. The devs also seem willing to experiment with the content they've already released, and that's been for the better so far. Anyone else playing it?

I strongly endorse going back to watch some of the higher-ranking clips from the various streams. They are a source of joy in these dark times.

The Bane pair seems like the one with the most potential to me aside from all the fringe cases. Shadow Shaman too. The problem seems to be that you have almost no saves if you're running two offensive supports like this most of the time, and you risk getting run over pretty hard if you're not winning all your fights convincingly. I saw Waga playing him mid, so that might be an alternative that frees up another support with more... supporting abilities.

Lost a bit of interest after Liquid dropped, but I'm glad I caught most of the grand finals. That was some great Dota. The new hero looks kind of nuts. Saw some weird interactions with his ultimate and other abilities, including some that are clearly just outright broken. I'll be interested to see where he ends up getting run once people stop banning him every single game.

Iconoclasts is my GOTFHOTY beyond any shadow of a doubt, and probably ultimately will be my GOTY too. Pillars of Eternity 2 and Celeste were both pretty good, but I think everything else has been largely disappointing or not interesting in the first place.

On a different note, I've found the Dotaroyale mode to be pretty underwhelming. It feels very much like cat herding when I'm not with people I know, and I don't think the mode is going to be around long enough for winning strategies, comps, etc. to permeate through the broader playerbase. I do think the increased emphasis on the PvE side is interesting in comparison to other royalelikes, but it's difficult to appreciate when most rounds end up being very short. I wish Valve would let their interesting custom modes linger a bit longer than they usually do.

I've taken to egregiously long walks to work lately, so here's a list of national security podcasts that are informative or engaging in one way or another: Rational Security Podcast: Generally irreverent, broad range of expertise, expertise, and interest on the parts of the hosts. Sometimes spirals into the kind of self-referential nightmares that make Idle Thumbs and Important If True so amusing. War on the Rocks: Policy wonks drinking and arguing about things, mostly. The episodes that have two or three experts in a particular topic with diverging opinions are my favorite, but it's a good place to get more information on important events that don't get enough examination. Too many international realists though. Bombshell: More drinking and international affairs, but with a wider scope and more consistent format. Expertise, engaging hosts, etc. I'm starting to repeat myself. National Security Law Podcast: Lawyers! The focus has generally been on detention, Guantanamo authority, and AUMF lately, but the hosts make an admirable job of covering important developments every week.

It’s that time of year again! How’s everyone liking the state of the game going into TI8? I’ve found pro games to be pretty exciting lately, but the low-Ancient meta is kind of killing my personal game enjoyment. Time for Liquid to be back-to-back champs!

Somewhat belated, but I'm one of the weird people speculated about who listen to the Podcast but don't play Netrunner and have no other source of news about the game. It's a bummer to hear it's ending, but I guess that's inevitable. Thanks for all the pods!

Important If True Episode 3 confirmed

I want games journalism to stop groveling and dispensing 10s whenever anyone throws them a bone in the form of games like this. No other preferences on what the form not-groveling takes.

I’m glad there’s another character that makes that one final boss Absolute Hell. At least they nerfed it recently (maybe in preparation for this character?)

I’ve done a bit of the dungeon run stuff, but the drop rate of interesting stuff in packs isn’t high enough to keep me interested in the main game. I refuse to pay money, and they refuse to give me enough free things.

Yeah, I don't think unreliable narrator narratives work unless the story being told is still interesting despite not necessarily being an accurate depiction of events. Both versions of Kvothe are too one-dimensional for me to be particularly interested in any narrative involving them.

In Idle Thumbs 300 (I think) a reader wrote in with descriptions of how they imagined the hosts prior to seeing pictures. Nick was described as possibly being “very muscular” and everyone laughed nervously. I’m glad to see Nick is shaping himself to meet this expectation in the gym.

I have managed to avoid ever seeing a pewdiepie video, and this podcast paints a fascinating picture of who he is and what he does. Are all of his videos just him reacting to events in slow motion? Does he watch stupid stuff happen to people on the streets through unsecured security cameras? The possibilities are endless.

That was not at all obvious to me. I realized some of it was repeated in the episode, but I thought that was a stylistic choice by Nick. I made a similar assumption about the audio quality. This is what happens when everything because a self-referential vortex! Honestly, I think my illusion is a much better reality.