TLDR: Blocklords and Diablo 4!
Hi all,
I'm taking the weekend off from Gods Unchained to play some other titles. Diablo 4's second open beta is this weekend, so that was a must. Blocklords also released seasonal goals (daily, weekly, and season-long goals) that offer an NFT reward at the end, so I've been working on that, too.
Diablo 4
Server slam event! The idea was to run an open beta for Blizzard to determine how many servers they'd need on release. Seeing as how I never queued, I'm guessing they had enough. Hopefully, that means launch day will be smooth. Also, since they are giving the fanatics the ability to start playing 4 days early (by paying more for the game), that should also help lessen the load on launch day.
In the Server Slam, the level cap is 20, and the stretch goal (for a cosmetic mount reward) is to kill the first world boss Ashava (level 25 world boss). Whelp, I was ready with my level 20 necromancer for the very first spawn!
It was my first time fighting that boss, and it was a nice challenge! I'm honestly not sure our group could have beaten it on Veteran difficulty. Luckily, I had blood mist on my necromancer, and was able to dissolve (and become invincible) for the boss's ultimate: a nearly 360 screen-wide sweep of death.
In the first beta, I tried out the sorceress (my go-to diablo character). In this one, I tried out the Necromancer. I'm glad I tried it out. It was alright, but I won't be going with him for my first character. Based on feedback, the skeletons had been nerfed pretty heavily, but even ignoring that, the play style wasn't quite what I was looking for. I went with a build focused on Bone Spear, and it was still not quite active enough. Honestly, I may try out a Barbarian or Rogue for the first character.
Blocklords
Blocklords is in Beta, and to keep people engaged/playing/testing, they've released seasonal rewards:
If you can reach 10k XP, you get a Legacy Militia hero. Blocklords is like an Age of Empires-style game (but multiplayer) and a few key pieces of the game (heroes) are actually NFTs. That might not be for everyone, but I love the concept. I actually also like that the NFT component is limited. Not every loaf of bread or grain of wheat requires a wallet transaction. Actually, playing the game day to day you don't need the blockchain at all, which is nice.
I've got all 14 squads recruited (max for beta). I have 2 of every type of squad (woodcutters, stone miners, cooks, etc.), and I've gotten into a pretty self-sustaining loop of producing food, tools, and all the other materials I can sell for gold.
My gaming group realized that the events (of which you need 65) are actually time locked. As in you only get X per hour. This is nice, because they build up while you aren't playing. Then when you log in, you'll get 3-5 quickly.
So far, I'm on pace to reach 10k xp, but we'll see if I can keep that pace up.
Conclusion
It's been a nice change of pace. I've actually not been playing Gods Unchained much at all this week. Maybe 1-3 games a day. It's nice when you have 10 minutes to kill and can play a quick aggro deck and be done.
You don't need my recommendation to try D4. It's a huge game. If you even sort of like ARPGs, you'd better be signed up to play. It's amazing - even just to level 20.
Blocklords may not be everyone's cup of tea. Not everyone likes Age of Empires. Not everyone likes NFTs. With that said, though, I think the game has quite a bit of promise. I'm hoping it will deliver.
Thanks for reading!