On the 17th day of Christmas

It's the 17th day of Christmas! Here's a general update. 

The grocery store gig has been good. I'm getting somewhat consistent hours, but could use more. Hours are still mostly cut across the board, so most of my co-workers aren't doing so great financially. One little hiccup from the company, they started sending out checks via mail rather than having the employees [that pick up their checks at the store] pick them up at the store. Naturally, this has sowed discord amongst the employees and a sore blow to their morale, as they aren't getting their checks on time when they want and need them. Companies need to better by their employees. This is such a small change but it's done a lot of damage to the employees.  

In terms of covid, there has been none or not very many cases at the job. In terms of covid safety, surprisingly, we have been very safe. I can't quite explain it other than the fact that the store is so empty when I work [late shifts] that there's hardly any people coming in, making my chances of catching covid from a customer very low. Eso es muy bien! 

This is a super harsh winter in California this year. Surprisingly, flu and influenza is very low this time of year [due to mask wearing, and not breathing in as much cold air, and because people aren't going out as much], but you never know when you can catch a cold or worse, the corona virus. The weather is amazing during the day, about 60 degrees, but at night it goes to about 50. Desert weather.

In terms of gifts, I've already finished all my shopping. This year, because I knew that work hours were low, I made sure to do all my shopping in the first week of December. Cool things I look forward to getting for Christmas: A Japanese dictionary from my friend, a German dictionary from my brother, a steampunk novel from my father, and candy, oh! How I love candy! Ich liebe Süßigkeiten! I am so looking forward to eating candy on Christmas! 

I've been playing a lot of computer games online: Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, and Team Fortress 2. Mi dia fue maravilosa porque jugue los video juegos en la computadora con mis amigos todos los dias. 

I've become a much better player at all the games. I have three different Heroes of the Storm teams that I play with at different times and on different days depending on who's available at any given time. The main thing I've learned from all this online gaming with voice and headsets is that its not always about winning or playing well, you have to learn how to speak well with your team, and how to boost their morale when their morale is very low, you have to learn how to speak as a leader, and then they will follow your lead. Naturally as the medic in every game, I'm the playmaker. Ich bin der Doktor, Art und Fürsorge.

Lastly, I've been learning languages on the Google Translate app and YouTube, Sugoi kūru! [to learn the accents better through voice actors], going out on long walks, reading lots of books [I just finished Ovid's Metamorphosis, and a book on Buddhism, called The Things Buddha taught], and playing acoustic guitar and electronic keyboard, el teclado y la guitarra, me encanta. 

This Christmas is a real blow to the morale of the American people. Just be happy for what you have, but more importantly than being happy about what you have, make sure that you have deep in your heart, the capacity for happiness. Many a time has gone by when a friend, family member, or casual acquaintance is very upset about whatever is going on in their life, only for me to realize that even if things were going good for this said person, they still would have negative things to say. You must learn to not say negative things around the people you care about. It's not always about being happy, rather, sometimes its the capacity for happiness that must be restored. 

Felicem natalem Christi

How To Play PC Games On A Potato

Have you ever wanted to play pc games on a cheap, crappy, laptop? Is that all you have and a nice gaming desktop is too expensive? Well, look no further adieu, here's my guide for how to play pc games on a potato. 

Keep in mind that your potato has to be at least somewhat decent. I would say spend at least $400 [or more if you can spare, but my laptop is $400] and make sure you have a graphics card. My laptop is an Asus with a Radeon Graphics card. The computer isn't anything special but it boots up fast with Windows 10. 

To start, you must make sure you have your laptop's energy plan set to High Performance. This is a no brainer but you would be surprised that some people only always leave their laptop's energy plan set to save energy or energy planer because they use it periodically throughout the day and can't always have it plugged in. However, for gaming you'll always want this set to High Performance. 

Now for the in game settings. I'm going to give you my options that have me running three different games [Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, and Team Fortress 2-my favorite games] with smooth frame rate and relatively low [if any] input lag. The games won't look great, or that good, but it will be smooth. Always make sure to run the games in windowed mode, a smaller window, as fullscreen takes up more processing power on your CPU, making your potato cry more and lag incessantly.

Overwatch 

 

Display Mode: Windowed

Resolution: 1366x768 [60`] [you always want this set to whatever option your overwatch game has the ` key set to, as this is your native resolution, which will give you better fps]

Vsync: OFF

Triple Buffering: ON

Reduce Buffering: OFF

Limit FPS: Custom

Frame Rate Cap: 30

Graphics Quality: Low

Advanced then click Render Scale: Automatic 50% 

And everything else set to low and off. Make sure to run the game in windowed mode, about 70% fullscreen size.

Heroes of the Storm

 

For this one it's more tricky as this game can become super laggy sometimes. A trick I've learned is that whenever you disconnect from a game just repeatedly hit the ESC key [don't know why that works]. You're going to want to go into the game files folder and add your own custom options there. 

 

On my computer you start by clicking This PC then going to Documents then Heroes of the Storm, and there you will see a text document entitled Variables, click that and change as neccessary. Here are my settings. You can tweak these as needed but I have everything set to the lowest possible and low and behold! The game runs fine. 

 

accountCountry=USA
alternateclock=false
alternateLowTextures=true
ambientenvironmentmap=false
aolight=false
architecturePreference=2
autojoinchannel=true
camerafollow=true
camerasmartpan=false
chatpositionx=0.000000
chatpositiony=0.000000
cheapquadselection=true
creepnormalmap=false
creepQuality=0
creepselfshadow=false
creeptrans=false
creepUseGroundNormalTexture=false
cursorconfinemode=1
deff=false
deffspec=false
deffspecpow=false
depthDisp=false
displaymode=0
displayunitstatus=Damaged
dof=false
dragScrollMode=GripWorld
dragscrollspeed=28
extrapostprocessbuffer=false
fogvolume=false
foliagedensity=0.000000
foliagequality=0
frameratecap=60
frameratecapGlue=30
gamma=1.253306
globalhdr=false
glossmaps=false
GraphicsApi=Direct3D11
GraphicsOptionEffectsDetail=0
GraphicsOptionLightingQuality=0
GraphicsOptionModelQuality=0
GraphicsOptionMovies=0
GraphicsOptionOverallQualityVer7[21]=5
GraphicsOptionPhysicsQuality=0
GraphicsOptionPortraits=1
GraphicsOptionPostProcessing=0
GraphicsOptionShaderDetail=0
GraphicsOptionSSAO=0
GraphicsOptionTerrainQuality=0
GraphicsOptionTextureQuality[2]=0
halo=false
height=1080
highqualityframeblur=false
highqualityhaloblur=false
highqualityhaloblurgame=false
hotkeyprofile=0_Default
keyboardscrollspeed=31
lastDeviceId=39028
lastReplaySaveMode=0
lightingLevel=1
lightmap=true
lightmapcastshadows=false
linearDepth=false
localao=false
localeidassets=enUS
localeiddata=enUS
localeidinstall=enUS
localhdr=false
localight=false
localShadows=false
lowqualitymodels=true
lowQualityMovies=true
mastervolume=1.000000
mousescrollspeed=32
MoviesSeen[1]=1
music=true
MusicContinuous=false
MusicHeard=1
musicvolume=1.000000
normalmap=false
normalzieHalfVector=false
OptionRevision=5
OptionRevisionAccount=0
parallax=false
particlelod=0
particleobjects=0.000000
particleterrain=0.000000
physicsClothEnabled=false
physicsdensity=0
physicsMaxComplexRagdolls=0
physicsRagdollsEnabled=false
pixellight=false
portraits3d=false
preBlendedCreep=true
PreferredGameSite=
profanityfilter=true
reverb=false
ribbonlod=0
shadowmapsize=512
shadows=false
simplifiedCloaking=true
simplifiedShaders=true
soft=false
softshadows=false
sound=true
soundambience=true
soundambiencevolume=1.000000
SoundAutoDetectCPUCoreCount=4
soundchannels=32
soundeffects=true
soundeffectsvolume=1.000000
sounderrors=true
soundheadphonemode=false
soundoutput=Speakers (Conexant SmartAudio HD)
SoundQuality=0
soundready=true
soundreadyvolume=1.000000
SoundResampler=NOINTERP
soundresponses=true
SoundSampleRate=22050
soundui=true
sounduivolume=1.000000
soundvoices=true
soundvoicesvolume=1.000000
spec=false
splatlod=0
ssparticles=false
subtitles=false
targetinfopanelpositionx=0.000000
targetinfopanelpositiony=0.000000
targettexeldensity=0.150000
terrainHeightmapBlend=false
TerrainTextureLowResCacheSize=40
TerrainTextureSize=480
texQualityLevel=0
transparentshadows=false
treadlod=0
useLowqualitymodels=true
voicechatautojointeam=true
vsync=false
watercaustics=false
waterdeptheffects=false
waterflipbook=true
waterrendertargetformat=0
waterrendertargetsize=768
watershadow=false
width=1920
windowheight=697
windowstate=1
windowwidth=991
windowx=185
windowy=0
winkeydisabled=false
 

You can delete your files and copy and paste mine but I don't recommend that. I recommend looking at what your settings are and changing them to mine if you have a potato machine to game on. These settings will automatically change your in game graphics settings [it will say custom when you check it in graphics settings] so you don't need to mess around with the in game settings for HoTs except for the following. It helps to lower the sound quality, turn off headphones mode and reverb, turn off voicelines and subtitles, turn off Vsync, and run in windowed mode, about 60% to 70% fullscreen size.  

Team Fortress 2

Lastly, my favorite fps game, TF2. This one was a bit more tricky for me to get perfect but I finally nailed it. 

Resolution: 1280x720 [I've had problems with Native Resolution on this game]

Display Mode: Run in a Window

Click Advanced Graphics Settings 

Model Detail: Low

Texture Detail: Low

Shadow Detail: Low 

Shader Detail: Low

Color Correction: Disabled

Antialiasing Mod: None

Filtering Mode: Bilinear

Wait for Vertical Sync: Disabled

Motion Blur: Disabled 

Multicore Rendering: Disabbled 

High Dynamic Range: Full [if available]

Use Bloom effect: not toggled on

That should do it for these three games. What works for me might not be as great for others. Again, this is only options for people with a super low end laptop. Mines only cost $400 so its pretty much a potato. Also, keep in mind that you must run the games in windowed mode with these settings. For Hots I have to play it on a much smaller window for it to work, which caused me to learn how to play it with a smaller interface, which thankfully is easy with the grid movement button via mouse. But its also the same for Overwatch and Team Fortress 2, you must run the games in a smaller window, maybe not a totally small screen like I do for hots, but like 70%-75% of the screen you're used to if you always play games on fullscreen. 

Another important detail is that because you're going to be gaming in windowed mode for all this, you need to go into your Mouse Settings and where it says Roll the Mouse Wheel To Scroll, set it to One Screen At A Time. If you don't do that whenever you accidentally click outside of the window of any of the games, you'll run into problems.

I was really bored today because of the election so I decided to write this. I hope this helps somebody out there who like me, isn't very technical with computers but is willing to learn and test things out. And game on a potato.

Happy gaming!

Video Games Made Quarantine Better

Video games have made quarantine better. Like way, way, way, better. In the world of 2020, where covid-19 is running amok across every nation, every state, and every city, the world of video games has not only become more open and welcoming, but it's made life and quarantine better. 

I'm a pretty busy guy. I have a job, I read lots of books, I write a lot, I have friends and family to attend to, and I play guitar, bass, and piano. So I'm usually short on time most work days. However, the quarantine has really given us all a lot more time. Time to ourselves. In some of these moments I immerse myself in the world of PC video games, and the results are almost therapeutic. 

I only play team based competitive games. I'm a big fan of Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch. In addition, I've played some 200 hours on Steam of Valve's Team Fortress 2. I always play the role of support healer, the character that stands back, avoids damage, and doesn't die often, healing the team and keeping them alive. This element of support [they call me Dr. Love] gives me a sense of cooperation, teamwork, and accomplishment that single player games can never provide. Because, as they say, we are all in this together. The best way to win a team-based competitive game [no matter what title it is] is through teamwork, experience, information, communication, and awareness. Ironically, these things are also needed to combat covid.  

The fantasy realities that these games provide gives the player an outlet. An outlet for their frustration, an outlet to escape from their work from home jobs or on site jobs, an outlet away from their friends, families, and coworkers. Aside from the occasional gamer trolls, it's a safe house. It's a happy place. And when I'm just chilling at home at the crib, that's where I want to be. 

Anger Management in Video Games

 Everybody's been there. You're in the middle of a competitive match in a video game and then one of your teammates berates you and the rest of the team, hurling insults and cuss words, sometimes even slurs. 


It's not a good look on the individual that performs this action, but nonetheless, it is forever constant no matter what rank you are and no matter what competitive game you play. Here are some tips and tricks on how to control your anger in competitive video games. 

1) Don't react 

No matter what you do don't give that person who is toxic and angry the power of a reaction. It's always better to ignore that person and move on. If you're the angry person, realize that you overreacted and stepped out of bounds, and come to the conclusion that you have to control your emotions and the way you react to the game. 

2) Keep calm

Always keep calm. When you're winning, keep calm, when you're losing, keep calm. Don't raise your voice if you use voice communication in the game, rather, always speak with a cool and even level and tone. The calmer you are the more effective you can be in the game and improve. This is the most effective way to use voice coms in competitive games too. 

3) Get used to losing

Get used to losing. No matter how good you are at a game, all these team-based games that I play have many variables based on what my teammates and enemy team players are doing. So technically speaking, no matter how good I am as an individual player, I can still lose if my teammates are just a little derpy. Get used to it. It will happen and you will lose as a result of it. It's a part of life. 

4) Get mad, then get over it

Sometimes you have to just lay someone out on the pavement, and watch the gore from behind the scenes afterward. You will get angry at people and will inevitably tell them off. That's normal. What you must accept is that it was wrong to do so, apologize if you like or have the willpower to do so, and then simply move on. 

5) Keep playing

When most 'nerd rage' gamers get mad in a game they get so worked up emotionally that they stop playing the game. While this might be a good way to take a time out like a toddler, I actually think that if you're angry at the game, you should continue to play, and learn to calm down while continuing to play. Instead of smashing the TV screen, just keep playing and learn to enjoy the solace of gaming again. After all, the reason why we play video games is so that we can have fun. The longer you keep playing, the higher your chances are of having fun while doing so. So remember, have fun. 

Good luck and have fun!     

Back To Reality

Hello, world. I've been on a leave of absence from work since April. Tomorrow I get back to my retail gig at the market. I thought I'd jot down some thoughts on the time I spent away from work. 

I've been in my own quarantine without having caught the virus since April. I didn't see or talk to people in person other than people at the grocery store and my family. I really started to miss those everyday actions and interactions with people. I went out on a lot of long walks on most days. Even tonight I went for a long walk. 

The time I spent away for two months was great. Time spent enjoying an interior life. This pandemic calls for the individual to have an interior life. If you don't have an interior life this pandemic is going to be very rough for you.

I caught up on a lot of reading. I read The Plague by Albert Camus, We the Russian dystopian novel, Slan the first mutant novel sort of like X-Men, The Day They H Bombed Los Angeles the first zombie novel from the 1960s, an entire Science Fiction Hall of Fame collection of short stories from the 1930s-1960s, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Marquez, The Satyricon by Petronius Nero's style expert, The Art of War, the Tao Te Ching, parts of Don Quixote, 75% of Plutarch's Lives, and parts of Zhuangzi. All of these things have merit and were well spent reading time. I was particularly impressed by Love in the Time of Cholera. How it goes to such excruciating and yet humorous details about the tribulations of undying love. 

Reading was probably the one thing that I couldn't do without during this time. I learned a lot reading Plutarch's Lives about famous men of antiquity [my favorites are Pompey, Crassus, Ceasar, Pericles, Romulus, and Nero], their virtues or lack thereof, military conquest, and the culture, history, and philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome. I plan on finishing Plutarch's Lives within the next week or so. I got into reading Plutarch because my brother turned me onto a podcast about the History of Rome, Mike Duncan's History of Rome [downloaded over 100 million times] so I supplemented that with Plutarch. The book was given to me by a customer at my work. She thought I would like it because I've told her that I've read certain things in history and philosophy.

I also spent a lot of time gaming. I played a lot of Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, and Team Fortress 2. My go-to games for the last six years. I started playing ranked Heroes of the Storm a lot more and that's been a good experience. I took a break from competitive Overwatch but still plan on playing it in the future. Likewise, I've been on a break from Team Fortress 2. So it's mostly been Heroes of the Storm ranked mode. Playing online games competitively teaches you how to be a team player and a leader. To improve and rank up in games takes determination, will, skill, and sheer luck. Although I probably played way too much I would say it was a good experience. Therapeutic even.

I also spent a lot of time reading the news, watching the news, and discussing politics with friends on social media. If you aren't following up on the news you should wise up and start paying attention. There's so much happening in a single 24-hour news cycle nowadays that not reading the news for one day will put you far behind on the issues. I read the news every night before bed and sometimes also in the morning when I wake up. It's a routine.

With the pandemic still ravaging the human population in America and the unending systemic oppression of black and brown people by police still haunting us every day, keeping up with the news will make you a smarter, more informed individual. You don't want to be an everyday low information person. Those people sound dumb when they speak before others and they speak the loudest as well. Do you want to be like them? If not, then keep up on the news. You don't have to be a news junkie but a few articles every day goes a long way.  I recommend Rachel Maddow [for a general but important view] on msnbc for TV and the Nytimes [for a national view] website for text-based news.

Lastly, I want to say that I did a lot of thinking and soul searching, without even going anywhere, doing anything in particular, or leaving my house. This is the time for us to do that; during a pandemic that's put millions of Americans out of work, during a period of civil unrest where police brutality and racism is running rampant. I thought a lot about what I want out of life. Goals, dreams, actions, near, far-term, the future, and all the metaphysical feelings associated with it. The time off really chilled me out. I see now more than ever that the world exists based on your reaction to it, as well as others'. You can only control yourself, your own actions, and your own thoughts. If you can bring people into your life and make them meaningful to it in some way then perhaps that's what we are all here for. "Love is life's sovereign goal." If more people saw life in that way, the world would be a much better place.

How To Be A Great Healer In Competitive Games, Synergy

In my last post, I went into detail about what it takes to be a great healer in competitive games. Here, I'm going to expand upon the ideas from that, and go into more specific detail about synergy with the characters I play. To keep things short I'll go into the synergy between the healer and only one other character in each game. 

What is synergy? 

Creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts. 

In short, this means you, as a healer, can combo with other characters [tanks/assassins/other healers] in such a way, that both you and the other character are that much more powerful [assassins], tanky [can take up more damage without dying, tanks], or durable [ other healers]. Your powers combined with others is so powerful that it is actually one of the most important deciding factors in if your team wins or loses the game. Other than actual skill. 

Now, I'm going to go into quite a bit of detail about synergy with the healers that I play in Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, and Team Fortress 2. Yall ready for this? 

First, Overwatch. I have 340 hours as a Mercy player and she's the reason why I play the game, because I really enjoy her playstyle, which is sort of campy, sort of like a ninja, and her synergy with other characters is astounding. When Mercy follows a character, healing and damage boosting them throughout the round, this is called pocketing, essentially Mercy is a great character to pocket with because she can use her cadeous staff not only to heal and keep the character she's pocketing alive, but she can also damage boost them as well, increasing their damage by 30% while doing so. Essentially, every time someone doesn't need healing, as a Mercy player, you always want to be damage boosting, in that circumstance. 

So, in Overwatch one of the strongest combos to synergize with is the Mercy/Pharah pocket. Pharah is a girl who shoots rockets and can fly in the air. Mercy can use her L-shift to fly with her in the air as well, creating a space force style combination, that, in the right hands, can be downright unstoppable. As Mercy, I want to make sure that Pharah can survive long enough to do as much splash damage with her rockets as possible, so I want to heal her in certain key firefights, and I want to damage boost her accordingly, like when she's hitting three or more enemy players with rockets, raining hell from above, with me beside her, flying around. I've found that every time Pharah uses her ultimate ability, Rocket Barrage, I always want to make sure in that moment that I'm healing her instead of damage boosting, because it takes a second before the rockets start shooting, and in that split second the enemy team can insta-kill her easily.

This is one of the strongest combos in Overwatch but it is beatable. If the enemy team plays a hit scan [like Soldier 76, Ash, McCree, Orisa], or two, sometimes, if need be, they can easily either kill Pharah as she's being pocketed by Mercy, or kill Mercy first, and then Pharah once she doesn't have that Mercy support. However, there are some Pharah players who are so good that they simply won't die to any hit scans, as long as they have the healing/damage boost support, they will always kill enemies. Combine that with a Mercy player who is superb, and you have a combination that is simply unstoppable. The strongest combo in the game. And for me the most fun. Add to that the fact that the combo has a funny name; Pharmacy.

Second, Heroes of the Storm. Varian is the King of Stormwind, from World of Warcraft, the leader of the Alliance. When he goes full tank mode, he uses a sword/shield, can parry attacks, charge to enemies/allies, and he's also super strong, probably the best tank in the game, IMO. My main character is Morales, she's a medic from Starcraft Broodwar. She's basically Mercy/Medic [from Team Fortress 2] but in MOBA form [massive online battle arena, like Dota, like League, what Heroes of the Storm is]. She uses a ranged single target heal that can be empowered with level ups and different talent choices. She has a Safeguard that can throw some shields on allies, an ultimate ability called Stim, where she can power up an ally to give them more attack power, and a Displacement Grenade which she can throw to enemies, displacing their attacking/defensive positions. 

Varian is a high tier hero and Morales is mid-tier because she doesn't have many escape routes and she's easy to kill. However, when you combine Morales with Varian, it is almost unstoppable. She can pocket Varian, making sure he doesn't get low on health. She can grenade any enemies that try to flank Varian or herself. She can stim Varian in a pivotal fight to turn the tide of battle. She can safeguard Varian to increase his defenses in fights. If you're a good Morales and watch your positioning so well that you hardly ever die, Morales will be able to keep Varian alive most of the time. And Varian will be able to tank through most of the enemy team damage, leading to easy, flawless victory. Basically, the strategy is foolproof. I can't even count how many games I've won with this combination with my friend Ip. The classic tank/healer dynamo of Heroes of the Storm, for me.  

Third, Team Fortress 2. If you made it this far, obviously my main character is the Medic ["Ocktober Fest!"]. I have 100 hours on medic and counting. My favorite character to pocket in TF2 is actually the Soldier, which is basically the same as the Mercy/Pharah combo except no flying, no damage boosting, all healing, all ground foot moving, and positioning. 

But actually it might not be the best nor the strongest. If you have a Heavy on your team in TF2, that is the character you want to pocket. The heavy is a tall, fat, gent with a mini-chain gun. He sometimes eats sandwiches to gain health, which he can also throw out to you when you're low on health. The Medic is a German doktor. He's the OG Mercy, meaning he heals with a ranged single target heal. However, he can't damage boost. But, he has the choice of being able to have different weapons in hand 1, hand 2, and a melee weapon. This is where TF2 gets its strategic qualities because the way you customize your weapons options heavily modifies your gameplay and game experience. For simplicity's sake, we're going to say the Heavy and the Medic are both using stock equipment that comes with the game. 

Okay, so the Heavy has the mini-chain gun as his primary weapon and the medic uses the medgun as his primary weapon. Here's where TF2 gets more interesting than Overwatch. The medic's medgun, when fully charged, at 100% makes any character he uses it on invulnerable for 8 seconds. Yes, you read that right. The medic's medgun makes any player he uses it on invulnerable for 8 seconds. This is so strong that it's primarily the reason why I enjoy playing TF2, and it changes the tide of most firefights if used on the right ally player at the right time. 

So, going back to our Heavy/Medic combo, the Medic can pocket the Heavy when securing points or pushing the payload. And when the Heavy is surrounded by tons of enemy players, you can pop Uber on the Heavy [it's called uber because the Medic is German], and he can literally mow down the entire enemy team in one fell swoop because his mini-gun has a far range, rapid fast fire, and it's super strong. For me the Heavy/Medic combo is the best combo in pc gaming history. A real bromance to Overwatch's sisterhood of the traveling pants.

That's all for now. There are plenty of other combos in these games, but for me these are by far the strongest that I utilize on a regular basis. Practice finding different combos as healers and you will find that there's almost nothing that can't synergy at least a little bit. You want to find what combos well and what doesn't and be able to see it on the enemy team as well, as this is a very strategic element of playing healers and winning games. 

"Have you tried not dying?"

How To Be A Great Healer in Competitive Video Games, An Essential Guide

 
Hello, ladies and gents. I've been doing a lot of writing exercises, mostly of a somewhat serious nature. Here I thought I'd lighten the mood up and write about how to be a great healer in competitive video games. 

This guide adheres to any kind of healing in any competitive video game but in this specific context I'm referring to healing in Heroes of the Storm [a Blizzard moba], Team Fortress 2 [class based shooter from 2007], and Overwatch [Blizzard's first-person shooter]. 

First, why would you want to play healers? Well, the reason I play healers is that I just prefer to be the backline of the team, not doing damage, not tanking damage [absorbing damage, and mitigating it], and healing the team, ensuring our victory by making sure that every player gets to survive fights more easily, making the entire team more durable, stronger. 

The other reason is that healers are naturally the playmakers of the team. If you're playing the healer you have the most important job, ensuring everybody's survival, mostly the tanks [the big brutes of games, that can take damage but can't dish it out as much as the DPS], but also the DPS [damage per second, the assassins of the team, getting the kills]. So if you're naturally a leader you'll gravitate towards being a tank or a healer, or if you're not naturally a leader but want to play a leadership role, then you'll gravitate towards being a healer. This is mostly of a personal nature for me, but it applies to other people as well. 

Or, you could want to be a healer because it just fits your personality. I don't have fun playing tanks and assassins, it's not my cup of joe. Girls gravitate more towards tanks and healers in online games, I've noticed, but other times they're on the frontlines getting the kills, so you can never judge a book by its cover. 

Second, it's all about positioning. As a healer, you're supposed to be in the backline of the team, making sure you don't get hit too much, or die very often, if at all. For example, the best thing you can do as a Mercy player in Overwatch is simply to not die very often and keep on healing as much as you can, and damage boosting if need be [don't worry about that for now]. The longer Mercy is alive and keeps healing, the better job she is doing. 

As a Mercy main myself, I've found that the best way for me to maximize my healing with the cadeuous staff is to simply not die. This is harder than hell, as most enemy players will be looking for you, Mercy, throughout the entire round to kill you, so that you can't keep healing. 

The trick is to be ninja-like. The less time the enemy team sees you, the easier it will be for you to survive. In fact, I know that the enemy Mercy is a really good player if I hardly ever see her throughout the entire round. The best way to do this is by using all obstacles in the map to your advantage; walls, monuments, buildings, ally players, and your abilities like your flight L-shift button. It should also be mentioned that you must know how to super jump to be an effective Mercy. To super jump, simply press L-shift and crouch at the same time while flying to an ally, and right before you reach the ally hit the space bar. This will give you a super jump, making it harder for enemies to hit you and making it easier for you to get to places where you can be ninja-like; hide, heal behind walls or around corners, or get to the high ground on maps so you can avoid fire on the ground level. 

Positioning by itself is a very simple concept. But, like playing healers or maining [I only play healers, maining is a term referred to when you only play healing characters as oppsed to tanks or DPS] it's easy to learn but hard to master. Steep learning curve. As a healer this is something you'll work on all the time, always improving upon. You'll never be a grandmaster of positioning as even grandmasters die out of position. 

Third, know your character. This is a given but you'll be surprised to see how many players out there will play their character the wrong way [their own way or just being clueless, which can be misguided and cause more losses in pug {pick up group} games].

There are so many players that think they've got their character down. They have hundreds of hours in the game, they keep perpetually playing the same healer characters, and then they wonder why they keep losing games all the time. Obviously, it's inevitable that sometimes you're going to lose games, but you can mitigate some of the percentages of losses if you simply know your character, so well, that you understand the mechanics of the character better than most of the other healers in your rank. 

How well do you know your character? Well, you simply play a lot of that one character. But that's only the beginning. The flip side is that you have to study up on your character; look up videos on how to play the character better, read forums where lots of different people give insight on how to play the character better, and lastly, learn from your deaths. If you know what keeps killing you and you utilize that knowledge to your benefit, you can lessen the number of deaths that keep happening the same way, and then start to learn more from the more random elements that kill you. Again, a very simple concept. But the meta for knowing your character is steep. 

Lastly, have fun. The whole point of competitive video games is to have fun. Yes, there will always be toxic players [people who can't restrain themselves, take their anger out on the team, cuss people out, are childish and stupid], and throwers [people who purposefully lose games because they're either not good players, or they want to make a point to the team that they're especially toxic] but for the most part, most players play for fun, and they play to win. Keep that in mind. Fun AND winning. Not just winning, not just having fun. The correlation between the two is strong as heck, but it should be noted yet again that if you aren't having fun you should simply log off the game and do something else. Fun is the one thing money can't buy and if you aren't having fun playing healer then you should definitely play a different class [tank/assassins] or take a break from gaming; perhaps go for a nice walk, or enjoy a nice novel. As a healer, your job is the most important to you and the team. With great power comes great responsibility. Use it wisely. 

Medic [from Team Fortress 2 w/ German accent]: Get on the cart dummkopfs!

The initmitable competitive gaming spirit: 3 years later

Greetings! This is a post about competitive gaming. I used to write a lot of posts about PC games, even going to the excruciating details of Blizzard Tuesdays patch updates. It's been a while since I've written anything like that so I figured I'd do an update from when I wrote about this stuff back in 2016. 

I've been a competitive PC gamer since 2010 when Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty came out. I was so addicted I used to play team matches with my college classmate in the middle of class. We were a great Terran/Zerg combo. However, I also played a lot of Smash Bros Melee against all my friends in middle school, Halo 3 multiplayer in high school, and a lot of Starcraft Brood War [also middle school]. 

I was also really into single player jrpgs since grade school. To this day some of my favorite gaming moments have been from playing Xenogears, Final Fantasy 7, and Final Fantasy Tactics. 

Anyways, I'm still a big gamer today. Last Thursday I was at my first Smash Ultimate tournament at Fire and Dice [local hobby shop] and I did pretty well for my first tournament. I beat a really good Lucina player in bracket and did pretty well [but still lost] against two other players. It was a good exhibition for me and my friend Neal, a Yoshi player. I played Samus and Dark Samus most of the time but I did two matches [where I almost won both] as Fox. 

I still play some of the old games I used to play three years ago. I've found that I'm not only much better at them, but that I'm getting better and better each day, exponentially. It was a very slow, gradual change that took me three years.

Part of it was that in the past I didn't have as much confidence. Also, I didn't have the right mindset. I would go into a competitive game with the mindset that I just want to have fun and losing didn't matter. Now I go in with the mindset that I will have fun AND win. That's a huge difference. 

When I play certain games like Ovewatch and Team Fortress 2 [my personal favorite fps games of all time] there's actually a lot going on in my head, especially as I play the healer role most of the time. 250 of my 600 hours on Overwatch are on Mercy, the best healer in the game. And 65 out of my 200 hours on Team Fortress are on medic, the only healer in the game. 

Anyways, there's a lot going on in my head when I play. In every given scenario I'm running subroutines in my head: If I follow this person will that lead to a successful frag? If we're outnumbered and my allies die fast and I fall back and let my teammates die will I be able to live and regroup with them out of spawn before the enemies kill me? If I take out the syringe gun and shoot down an enemy soldier/scout/demo/pyro/spy will I be able to live/run away back to safety? Its endless really.

Its like a puzzle. There are endless variations of what could really happen. You could play the perfect game and your team can still lose because of your allies' inefficiencies. The main reason why I lose certain Team Fortress games [I always play Control Point] is because my allies will run in fast, get killed, and get backcapped [killed as they run to the point out of spawn] before I can get to them. That's a very common way to lose a game in Team Fortress. Probably the most common. 

These same 'subroutines' apply to fighting games. I recently became friends with a guy I met through work that plays a lot of fighting games. And he's very good at all of them. He was surprised as heck and applauded me when I was able to figure out how to play all these technical fighting games and after 2 matches where he'd win, I had figured it out and starting defeating him in loops. The reason I was able to figure it out is because I'm playing with this same logical thought processes. 

It takes a lot of practice to get to the point where you don't have to run through the endless variations/variables. Anything can happen really. But then again if you can make what you want happen and it comes to pass, that is where the power of the smart, thoughtful gamer comes in place. 

It took me a while to understand games. For the longest time I just played games to relive stress. But at some point I realized I wanted to be great and 'git gud' [Kranky's advice] at every game I would ever pick up. Although I'm no e-sports champion I would say that I'm a damn good gamer at the games I play: Heroes of the Storm, Starcraft, Overwatch, Team Fortress, Smash Bros, and Marvel Vs Capcom 2. I've even gotten to the point where I see single player games as extremely relaxing and enjoyable. Its good to find out that you don't need to always have that competitive mindset to have a great time. 

Gamers take their gaming very seriously. You're always going to run into those toxic people that will talk shit about your gameplay and hurl insults/slurs, harassing people, etc. You might even become one of those people during some of your matches. The thing you gotta realize is that even when you're so good you're at the point where most people you play against/with are scrubs, in the end its all just a game. If you can't understand that then you should stick to the single player arena. Rage will only hurt your gameplay and your mindset. To be a winner you have to think like a winner. 

"Experience transcendence." 

Original post from 2016 here: https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-inimitable-competitive-gaming-spirit.html

Merry Christmas

Christmas is three days away and the holiday cheer is at an all time high, especially at my work. There's been a lot of 48 hour weeks for me, which is good. I've been playing a ton of Smash Ultimate at my friends' house and I've really upped my skills, especially with Ridley and Starfox. I've already got most of the gifts I wanted to send to my family as well. The only thing that really gets to me is the holiday playlist at work. Its the same playlist every day for the entire month! Its been crazy, to say the least...

I was thinking about treating myself this Christmas and buying some new games. I was interested in Starwars Battlefront 2 (for the graphics and Starwars skin), Battlefield One (WW1 is a great theme with cool archaic weaponry), Dragon Ball Fighter Z on Steam (maybe, my friend has it on the Switch), and possibly Fallout 76 (it sucks but it will get better). I also wanted to get the new World of Warcraft expansion Battle for Azeroth but I know if I do that I'll spend too much time gaming, as well as paying a pesky 14.99 monthly fee. Damn you Blizzard! (Side note: I've been playing a ton of Overwatch lately, and I've become a better player, mostly playing Mercy, Ana, and Moira. I'm still just slightly below Gold Tier level in Competitive but I'll get there eventually)

Other things I was thinking about was computer books through the video game publisher HumbleBundle. They're offering all these computer programming and hardware books for cheap, they're all ebooks. Other than that I was just going to save my money and just get my folks whatever last minute gifts I needed to get them. I have a lot of cool stuff as it is, I don't need anything too expensive.  

There's a lot of bad energy out there going on in the world, especially in terms of politics. I just had a Trump supporter wearing a MAGA shirt say some racist stuff to me at work. I had to let it go because I don't want to lose my job. These Right-wingers are really acting out in the public sphere, its like Charlotteville all over again. There's the government shutdown happening soon because Trump can't get his 5.7 billion dollars for his Wall, despite the fact that most Americans don't want to spend extra cash on a wall. Trump's supporters like Ann Coulter are saying that if Trump backs down and doesn't get the funding for the wall, Trump will be utterly humiliated and will definitely not get re-elected. However, I happen to think that it doesn't matter what Trump does, he won't get re-elected. I think the American people have smartened up, they're no longer willing to be political peons, they're going to fight back against everything that Trump stands for; tax cuts for the wealthy, increasing division against our allies, bad foreign policy, bad deals, ideas, and retaliation in trade, and evil treatment of refugees and those seeking asylum, especially regarding small children. There's a lot to upset about this holiday season! 

Its a political shitstorm alright. Its hard not to get angry at the direction the country is going. These Trump supporters are really coming out of the woodwork and they're not afraid to show off their racist and misogynistic views. Its hard not to talk and think about this stuff as a young progressive American citizen. Sure I live in a nice neighborhood and I'm safely sheltered unlike most Black Americans, but I believe in the progressive model. Old white men have always told me that the older I get the more I'll realize that being Republican is the smart thing to do. However, I think that's just their wishful thinking. I think the Democratic agenda is much more realistic, more humane, and will reduce the drastic gap between rich and poor regarding income inequality. In short, I believe the Democrats will help me more than the Republicans in life. I believe, if the Republicans had their way, that nobody would receive government benefits without working a certain minimum amount of hours, passing drug tests, and applying for jobs within a certain time period. Its already like that in certain states. This place has really gone to the dogs. However, its the only land I know, and love. 

But that's enough about politics. I read the news everyday and the everyday events of the Trump Whitehouse is infuriating but not shocking in the slightest. We have a long way to go in electing intelligent and thoughtful politicians (Obama anyone?), that despite their political ideology, can unify our blessed nation into a cohesive whole, especially after devastating shootings, natural disasters, and at the very least pay respects to our fallen soldiers. The Republicans are putting up with Trump because he's their guy; this is their last hour of power in Washington, if the government is going to be shut down because Trump didn't get his wall, then government be damned. As said in a popular Washingtonpost op-ed: The rats (Republicans) eventually tend to jump off the sinking ship (Trump agenda).

But all that aside the holidays this year hasn't been too bad. It hasn't been too crazy at work or in general. Life is good. I'm getting a lot of reading done and still playing guitar. Lately, I've been reading this book on computers; How Computers Work by Ron White, this book from 2008, that covers a lot of material, mostly hardware and software, how it all works. I'm getting a lot out of it and plan on reading more about computers. 

Its interesting because at first when I started reading it I thought it was boring and that I wouldn't be able to get into it. I returned it and then re-checked it out again, but this time the information stuck. It reads like a manual with a lot of diagram pictures but it makes sense and isn't too difficult to comprehend. One thing I've learned is that if you want to be good with computers you have to learn a lot of advanced mathematics as well as have a lot of patience. It would be super difficult for me to learn computer programming because I'm terrible at math and don't have a lot of patience. However, I think I can understand how hardware works and perhaps learn to be able to fix most problems on my computer with more knowledge and experience under my belt. My plan is to eventually build my own PC. I think that would be a great conclusion to my computer knowledge and experience. 

Happy Holidays to you and your family. Thanks for reading my blog and supporting my writing, whoever you are and wherever you are. And despite your politics, God bless you, and God Bless America.

Merry Christmas!

What are you playing this weekend? End of April Edition

Hey, I wanted to take the opportunity tonight to talk about video games! Its been a while since I've posted about gaming. Here's what I've been playing lately.

Overwatch: After putting in about 500 hours into this game I'm really progressing into a much better Mercy player. The higher up the ranks you go the harder the game becomes but there's a very gradual skill ceiling so that it doesn't feel overwhelming. The great thing about being a Mercy main in competitive? Everybody loves you!

Team Fortress 2: I used to be so bad at TF2 it was kind of pathetic. I've got about 200 hours put in and now I'm an Uber-God Medic (laughs). You know you're good when you're the only medic in a 12 player game and you're top of the scoreboard most of the time. My friend Griff (steam name) has about 8,000 hours and sometimes I play with his hardcore TF2 buddies, which sometimes includes famous players from back in the day, like Vexon (check him out on YouTube). When I play with this great players being a beginner medic with like .1 of the amount of hours they have, I just have to sit back and play my best. After all we're just doing pub casual games. Its super fun.

Warcraft III Frozen Throne: So I had been talking about playing Warcraft III for a super long time and I'd always attempted 1v1 matches but didn't really get anywhere. I took my friend Brian's advice and started doing teams, mostly 4v4 games. Brian used to be one of the top ten Warcraft III teams games players back in the day. He still plays to this day. And I'm finding improvement in my playing although it is still a steep learning curve. The main thing I like about this game as opposed to Starcraft is that the units and battles are smaller, with more focus on the hero play, like a moba. Heroes of the Storm anyone? Its pretty cool. I main Undead, really focusing on learning the race as best I can.

Heroes of the Storm: This has been a mainstay game for me since technical alpha. Still enjoying it. I don't enjoy ranked mode so much but unranked draft is my main hangout. I play most of the healers but I also dps with Nova, Guldan, and Illidan. My main character is Lt.Morales, of course I'm always the medic.

Starcraft Brood War: So I finally got back into Brood War ever since I bought the new and visually improved Starcraft HD. You can pick it up for as cheap as 15 smeckles. The game looks like a brand new baby, a shiny new coat that improves upon its outdated pathing and visual discolorations. Like in Warcraft III I play team games with a focus on the Zerg race. For the Swarm!

Marvel Vs Capcom 2: I've been playing this game for a long time with my buddies in real life. We play this more than Super Smash Bros now, its become a cult classic. My main team is Spiderman, Rogue, and Doctor Doom with a rotating roster of those three sometimes mixed with Magneto, Jill, and Jin. Its a true fighting game and takes a lot of skill to master the infinite combos.

World of Warcraft: So I resubbed to WoW and I've been enjoying pvp a lot. Its super fun. I'm even leveling a low level character with my friend Griff and we're doing a lot of low level pvp. Its surprisingly fun although difficult. Pvp  in WoW can be super tricky, especially at max level on my Holy Priest. I think Holy Priest might be the hardest class I've ever played in the game. I've got my work cut out for me on this one. Especially because I mostly just log on to pvp.

Honorable mention: My friend Gordon's Super Nintendo and N64 collection. We've been playing a lot of classic video games from Nintendo at my friend's house. They have nostalgic value as well as amazing replay-ability.

I play a lot of games but I also try to play in moderation with a rotation of the games so it doesn't get too stale. This is going to be a great weekend for gaming!

Christmas of Goodwill

(Here's another sort of vlog or personal blog post for you)

Today was a terrific Christmas. I started the day off by waking up early at nine-thirty to play some Heroes of the Storm. Then I proceeded to play Destiny 2, which my brother got me for Christmas. Its a great science fiction fps mmorpg (that's a lot to say!) created by Blizzard Activision under Bungie, there's a lot of companies working together on this game. They did a pretty good job with the product. For an mmo that doesn't cost a monthly subscription its a fantastic game. Definitely worth the buy, or in my case worth trying out.

I got past the beginning areas and was playing Crucible mode with my brother. Crucible mode is Destiny's pvp (player vs player) combat system. We did this mode called quick play where we had to capture points and kill any enemies that tried to take them from us, basically king of the hill from Call of Duty, Team Fortress 2, or Overwatch, other popular fps's. I'll probably end up leveling my character mainly through pvp. Its fun. More on me getting sliced by an energy sword and dying instantly in another post.

After that we went to lunch at this Korean bbq place, except we didn't cook bbq. Instead, we had this clear broth beef stew with pot stickers, all these cold items, and this great hot steaming egg dish. It was excellent. My dad and I talked a lot about new music, avant-garde classical music. By then it was around three or four.

Later in the day I went to one of my best friends' house. We relaxed, exchanged gifts, played Smash 4 (he won most of the games), and watched a little of Metropolis by Fritz Lang and a bit of The Day the Earth Stood Still, both of them are two super old science fiction movies on Netflix. Metropolis is from 1926 and The Day the Earth Stood Still is from the 50's. I'll definitely want to finish both. I've already seen Metropolis but The Day the Earth Stood Still seemed quite interesting.

Approaching seven I went back home. My brother and I exchanged gifts and opened them by the fireplace. The gag gift I got that was also quite amazing was a framed picture of Mercy from Overwatch, a gift from James, my brother. Its quite good artwork. Its a head portrait but you can also see a little of her bodysuit armor as well as her characteristic halo and blonde hair. Sick.

In addition to that I got Starbucks coffee (I'm a coffee addict as of October), chipotle sea salt peanuts, a Lucio Pop figurine, a $25 Panda Express card, a Zelda wallet (from my friend), and the first science fiction cyberpunk novel written in the 1950's called The Stars My Destination. I think I scored the motherload. It feels really great to have people who care about me so much and got me great thoughtful and utilitarian gifts.

I called my mother and spoke to my younger brother. It was nice to hear their voices. I told my brother that he's really helped me get situated into reading more books and increasing my knowledge, improving my writing, and finding an audience for this blog. He's an inspiration although he can't take all the credit, (laughs). My mother seemed to be doing well and she said she was going to ship one of my guitars from Wisconsin out to me here. The guitar I'm speaking about is a heavily modified (Frankensteined) Godin guitar, a Canadian guitar brand. I got the guitar because I've seen John Mclaughlin playing Godins. It will be really cool to get that guitar out here eventually. I could use it for jams, recording, and band practices.

Yeah, things really turned out well on this Christmas day. It was a great occasion for good food, good friends, good family, and a good optimistic outlook for tomorrow. It couldn't get any better.

Grimoire: Manastorm is a fun spellcasting Unreal Tournament

So I was looking around on the free to play game section on Steam and I found this game called Grimoire: Manastorm. This is an fps (first person shooter) game made by Omniconnection where you play as wizards and cast spells to kill your enemies. Pretty great idea already. Replace guns with a bunch of spellcasters and you have a super fun experience. The game is in early access on Steam.

From my initial experience and only having played the game for maybe twenty minutes I can say this is one of the most fun free to plays I've tried out on Steam. I haven't had this much fun on a free to play on Steam since Nosgoth was out.

The game's free version only comes with the fire and earth spellcasters. The fire mage is freakin' amazing. They give you one of the coolest mages ever for free which is pretty awesome. When you burn people as a fire mage it is so satisfying watching their hp drop. It makes me feel like the pyro from Team Fortress. I love it.

The other class you get free is the earth mage. His regular attack speed is super fast but weaker than the fire mage but he can heal himself I noticed. You can cast a spell that creates a tree and when you stand near it your hp recovers at a moderate speed. He's definitely a support mage. This game has supports like in Team Fortress or Overwatch.

The game features abilities like a moba (like Heroes of the Storm) and all the different mages' abilities can be countered so its possible to survive any situation theoretically and given the proper skill and effort. One thing to note is that you can teleport too. This makes the game crazy fast a la Unreal Tournament and Quake, great games to be inspired by. It brings the Skyrim (the first person view of the mage with the fireball or manacrystals in their hands look exactly like Skyrim) style mage into the twitch shooter environment. Its the best idea I've seen in a game in a super long time. The fact that this game puts together ideas and is inspired by so many other games is probably what makes it so fun. Add to that the unique idea of shooting spells instead of guns. How clever and unique.

The one thing that could be better is the graphics. However, you don't need high end graphics in a twitch shooter. As long as the environments are creative enough and fun to play on everything's cool. I'm going to keep playing this game. I'm interested in seeing how big the community becomes for it and how long the player base will keep on it. I think the game has a lot of potential especially if they create more interesting spellcasters.

Making limited time work as a passionate gamer (that loves Blizzard)

I was thinking about ideas for things I could write about and this idea popped up in my head. How do you create time to play video games and how do you manage your gaming time in order to get the full gaming experience? Pretty interesting question that would vary for every passionate gamer. Here, I'd like to go into details of my gaming time management and what games I focus on playing.

First, when do I play games? Life goes fast and you only have so much time within a given day. That's why I like to wake up early (10am, I know that's late for most people lol) and that's pretty much my prime time gaming spot for the entire day. I do sometimes play late at night (12am-3am) as well but not all the time due to my roommate needing sleep for work. So when I wake up at ten I get ready for the day, maybe eat something small, grab some water or iced tea, and then hop on the computer. I'll usually game from then on until I need to go to work. Lately I've been going in around 330pm so that gives me about a good five hours. Those five hours are spent wisely (on the right games), at least I like to think so.

Okay, so first things first I like to start off by playing some Heroes of the Storm matches. I always do the quests for gold because I always want to be ahead of the curve when a new hero comes out. I always want to have enough gold to buy them right away upon release. It's a super fun game and I'm really great at it as well so it doesn't feel like a chore just to do quests, akin to doing quests in World of Warcraft. After I finish the quests I hop off quickly and move on.

Then, there's Overwatch. I still play Overwatch frequently but not as often as last year. Now I play for just a little bit and then I like to move onto other games. Lately, I've been playing dps heroes (mainly Reaper with mariachi outfit) in Quick Play so I've just been practicing my aim and not really focusing too heavily on competitive at all. I'm waiting around for Doomfist to be released before I play more competitive. I think the game will be more interesting then. So yeah I play a few rounds and then stop playing.

Here's a curve ball for ya. I recently started playing World of Warcraft again and I've already leveled to 110 (max level currently) but the game's really only just beginning at that point. Finding the time to play has been super difficult as I'm already on a time budget as it is. I think I've found the solution. I should focus on pvp for the time being. I pretty much only played wow back in 2013 just for pvp so I can do it again. It doesn't require hours and you can farm pvp gear which will still increase my item level. Problem solved. But still fitting this game into my schedule is really pushing my time to its limits.

So World of Warcraft is just a game that I might maybe play within those five hours but a game that's more likely to be launched is Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls. Ever since I bought the necromancer dlc the game has become much more fun to me. I already played the game a lot before and I have every character to max level and I can do some pretty high torment levels on my barbarian but the necro has just reignited the fun switch for me. I typically don't play this game often either. I just log on, do a few rift runs, farm a bit, test out all the skills and abilities all the time, and that's everything I do for now. I've been trying to farm more set gear and increase my toon damage but as you know it's all just a grind. A fun grind, like doing a five-o down a handrail on a skateboard!

Playing just Heroes, Overwatch, and Diablo 3 can take up the entire five hours but sometimes I'll play other stuff other than those games. These are some more curve balls.

Honorable mention to Team Fortress 2. I love TF2. Honestly, its probably the best first person shooter game I've ever played. Everything about it is amazing and once I start playing its hard for me to stop, even though there's no real incentive to keep playing (like lootboxes) other than just for the love of the game. I've been meaning to play it more but sometimes Overwatch takes that fps game slot. I can't play both in the same day (or if I do I have to play tf2 a lot more) because too much fps gaming gets repetitive to me.

The next two are games that I don't really play competitively or anything, just for funzies. I started playing Starcraft 2 again but I'm so out of practice that I can barely remember the units (especially the new legacy of the void ones) or even the buildings that require other buildings to make units. Its all coming back to me now and I've even been playing zerg and protoss. The last time I played competitively (on the ladder) I only played terran.

And then there's Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne. This game is just so cool. It reminds me of Heroes of the Storm but much more difficult to play. I'm enjoying the steep learning curve this game has. I think I can learn to play pretty well if I just keep messing around with it here and there but it would take me a super long time before I could start wrecking people in 1v1's. For now I've just been practicing 4v4's. Its fun, casual, and I'm learning how the game mechanics work. I'm only about 12 years late on this one guys!

That would pretty much cover any given day with a five hour time slot. Sometimes I'll get an extra three hours late at night if my roommate is up  so in total I could possibly have eight hours in total. That's a lot of gaming time for any person but when you're passionate about games and you love the multiplayer experience its not like a job, its a chore of love.

I should also mention that when I'm playing most of the time I'm chatting with my friend Sean from Wisconsin on discord, my Warcraft guild, my friend Eric, and gaming friends that I met through my brother. They're all super chill people and talking to them makes the entire experience more meaningful.

Sometimes after these long sessions I feel like I was time hopping with Chromie! 

Overwatch competitive is in a bad place right now

Overwatch competitive is in a pretty bad spot right now. Players have reached the tipping point because of competitive mode. This season (season 5) placed players lower than their sr (skill rating, measurement number of how good you are) than previous seasons and its become a grind to go back to last season's sr and then to also exceed that and push to the next ranks. It's become incredibly difficult. Players have become more stubborn (one trick ponies, only want to play certain heroes, never switch off to counter enemy compositions). Not to mention the fact that players have become so incredibly toxic.

The most toxic thing that's happened to me is this one time I lost a match (in comp of course) and this guy yelled on the mic "you guys all fucking suck!". He was yelling at the top of his lungs so it was painful to the ears with my headset on. What a dick. Its fair to say that Overwatch is probably Blizzard's most toxic game. I can see why. Players just want to win. Every loss hurts them (my precious sr!) and winning is the only way to verify that they're "good".

Let's not forget the lower level ranks which are severely difficult to rank up through. At the bronze, silver, gold levels you have pretty much no control over anything but yourself. Players are insta-dps lockers and when you ask them to switch most of the time they'll just stay whatever hero they first picked. It's become infuriating as a support main myself. Its come to the point where I don't play too much competitive. In fact, the only Overwatch I've been playing is the ptr. I've been having a lot of fun playing Quick Play with Doomfist on the team. I'm still pretty much healing but only because nobody picks healers too often.

I've actually developed a new philosophy to the game when it comes to what heroes I should play. Next time I play comp I'm going to only pick heroes that are needed. So if somebody already picks a healer I'll go dps or tank. I've come to the conclusion that being a one trick pony isn't the most effective way to develop a good team. You gotta play what the team needs. I like players that wait until everybody has made their character choices and then says oh well I guess we need a tank and then picks one. Those are the players that are the best Overwatch players.

Anyways, because of the problems and toxicity in competitive Overwatch has gone to a boring, salty, and toxic halt. Until Doomfist comes out I don't see myself playing too much comp, if ever. I think the game is probably at its worst footing right now ever since launch. It could possibly even become a game that people stop playing because competitive just isn't fun anymore. Well, why not just play Quick Play you say? That wouldn't work because competitive is the only game mode where players actually try to use their heads and work together as a team. All the other modes are just filler for competitive in this game. Plus, Quick Play just isn't a fun game mode. Usually you only get one healer (if even that) and its all based on dps comps with maybe one tank (again, if even). Its super lame.

This all makes me super sad because I love the game dearly but I fear that if Blizzard doesn't do something the game might just disappear.

Just like Tracer blinking away....

Overwatch duplicate drop rates drastically reduced (on the ptr)

Ever open a ton of loot boxes excited as all hell only to find that every item is just a duplicate? Welcome to loot box hell. Well, Blizzard has finally addressed the issue and the duplicate drop rates have been drastically reduced. Because duplicates give you credits (which we need for skins and or in game items) Blizzard is increasing the credits we can get from loot boxes. "We'll make sure that your credit intake will be at least the same, if not more," game director Jeff Kaplan said in the latest Developer Update video. (pc gamer)

This is great news! One of my missions for Overwatch is to eventually unlock every item in the game and getting dupes all the time was always a drag. I'm somewhere near level 350 now so I've been there, done that. These are some impressive changes but honestly it should have come a long time ago. This was something that the guys at Blizzard should have thought about and fixed somewhere near the beginning of the launch of the game. But as they say, c'est la vie. 

 There's also a new option that allows for you to permanently save your highlight videos. This all live on the ptr right now.

Doomfist and Summer Games in the next patch?

So apparently there was an error log found on Battle.net forums and reddit from the latest ptr patch that references Doomfist and another Summer Games event. You can click on the picture and see that it references both. The entire Doomfist arg was kind of a blunder to me. Kind of similar to Sombra but with Sombra it was at least interesting for a little while. Doomfist has just been referenced over and over again and then there was that thing where Terry Crews was supposedly seen at Blizzard possibly voicing Doomfist. Yeah, that would be really great but nothing ever came out of all that arg hunting and Terry Crews stuff. Perhaps in the next patch we will find out? Patch 1.13 will probably have Doomfist and a Summer Games event. Check it out in the next couple weeks.

Death of a healer main

So I've been playing a lot of Overwatch and I thought I'd share my experience with you all. I'm at a pretty moderate (but low) level in Overwatch. I'm Silver rank with about 1600 sr (skill rating points) but I've been just 50 points shy of Gold rank (2200 sr) during my first or second seasons. For a couple seasons I didn't even play competitive and now I'm back at it. I've always played competitive as a healer, usually playing Ana, Mercy, Zenyatta, or Lucio with the occasional Symmetra if I feel like I can pull a rabbit out of a hat for a win. But I've come to the realization that in Silver healing is just not worth it. If I wanna win games more I gotta dps (play assassin characters) myself and get those elims for the team. So far it's been working out surprisingly well.

I think I'm gonna give up playing healers in Overwatch for a while. At least until I get to platinum or higher. The main reason for this is because other people that play dps at this level just aren't good enough. They don't play the game enough to really know how the characters work or how to work best and effectively with a team. Sometimes you have a team that likes to spread out, well you gotta act accordingly. Other times you got a team that stays together through it all, and you gotta act accordingly for that too.

So yeah, dps has been really working out for me. Right now my roster includes McCree, Soldier 76, Pharah (been using her a lot, she wrecks hard in low elo), Mei (she also wrecks hard in low elo because she's hardly ever picked), and Reaper (because of the buff and because I hate Winstons). I'm thinking about adding Genji and Sombra to this list too because I feel like with my skills I could really do well with those characters. For a while I was practicing dps a lot in Quick Play to work on my aim with all these characters but now I'm using that training in real competitive matches.

I still get losses but now when I lose I don't feel the same way as when I was healing. Usually I still do great even when I lose, its a different kind of loss, not as bad feeling in a way. I'm thinking Sombra could become like my main because I like how she has so many tools at her disposal and how she's like a poker (just runs in, shoots a bit, and then runs out). I feel like I could excel in that play-style. As for right now though I'm happy being on the frontlines with the team getting elims and paving the way to victory.

I still play the occasional tank here and there but now with competitive my attitude is that you gotta pick your character fast and everyone else fills after that. It was the same with my healers. If I really wanted to play Ana or Mercy I had to pick them super fast after loading game screen. The thing is that most people just fill roles so if you just pick what you want super fast chances are you'll get to play whatever character you want.

The game's become more of a "play what you want" game for me whereas before I was being strict and reducing myself to saying "ok, I gotta play a healer because I'm a super good healer and we won't win without me healing". That's a fair assumption to make because in silver I've seen some of the worst Mercy's and Ana's ever but at the same time even if they're a bad Mercy they're still getting some healing done. And if I'm dpsing there's a higher chance of victory. So it's not a bad trade off.

So yeah, there it is everyone. The death of a healer main. Rip. It was fun. I'll be back to Ana and Mercy when I'm higher up the ranks. Until then I'll be tearing it up in low elo.