In the past few weeks, I have completed not one, not two, but three separate legendary quest chains in World of Warcraft. My rogue has claimed both the Band of the Archmage and the Fangs of the Father, while my warlock is now the proud owner of Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest.

I now present to you my thoughts on the three quest chains, as well as on the process of grinding for high level rewards in general.

Fangs of the Father:

Man, this was a journey. I wonder if anyone around today has been reading this blog long enough to remember Operation: Payoff?

Either way, this is a process that began all the way back in patch 4.3. The quest lay forgotten in my log for much of the final days of Cataclysm and nearly all of Mists of Pandaria, until I could finally solo Dragon Soul. Then it was a matter of some weeks of grinding to upgrade my daggers to their ultimate, legendary state.

On the whole, this was my favourite of the three legendary chains. Wrathion is a very entertaining character, and Dragon Soul remains one of my all-time favourite raids. While I did get a bit sick of it by the end, mostly I enjoyed revisiting it.

By legendary standards, the quest didn’t feel like too much of a grind, either. Dragon Soul is pretty quick to breeze through, especially as a rogue, and there aren’t too many hoops to jump through.

My only major complaint is that the daggers actually look less cool with each upgrade level. The legendary versions are downright hideous. Shame you can’t transmog legendary items.

Band of the Archmage:

Conversely, this was the least interesting of the three legendary chains. Khadgar is amusing, and getting to interact with Garona — albeit an alternate universe version — was somewhat cool, but on the whole the story wasn’t that interesting.

It certainly pales in comparison to the excellent storytelling present in the quest line for the Shroud of the Celestials back in Pandaria.

It’s funny because I seem to remember Blizzard saying that they liked the epic storytelling and solo changes of Shroud of the Celestials, but wanted to de-emphasize the repetitive grinding for the Warlords of Draenor chain, but that’s the exact opposite of what happened.

In WoD, it was basically nothing but grinding. Oh, we got a few story moments and solo boss fights, but they were all quite brief, easy, and generally underwhelming. Mostly it was just a lot of endless raid grinding.

The overall chain actually didn’t take me all that long thanks to the garrison, catch-up mechanics added over the course of the expansion, and the short length of WoD as a whole, but it still felt like a massive slog to me.

I considered giving up many times. Only a desire to have not wasted the effort already put in and my own perverse completionism kept me going on.

It also needs to be said that the legendary ring itself is a great disappointment. The “awesome effect” we were promised turned out to be an ugly reskin of a disc priest bubble, and you can’t even control your own ring in a group because they’re all tied to everyone else in your raid. And while solo, the ring’s effect is quite weak.

Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest:

This one I have more mixed feelings on.

On the one hand, the story is pretty good. I’m still not entirely clear how or why Kalecgos opted to fuse a dead Dragon’s soul on to me, but otherwise it’s a nice chapter of the Blue Dragonflight’s history. Some of the challenges in between the more grindy phases were also pretty fun. Loved the revamped Nexus.

I also got to spend a lot of time in Firelands, which is a raid I quite like and regret not seeing more of back in Cataclysm.

But by “a lot” I mean “ultimately too much.”

Even by legendary standards, this quest chain was a horrible grind. Three separate multi-week stages involving repeating the same raid over and again is just brutal. I may like Firelands, but by the end I just utterly fed up with the place.

The staff is pretty cool, and I like the mount effect. Shame it’s tied to the staff and not just something you can store in your mount journal and add to your action bar, though.

On grinding:

Unfortunately, after all this, I am not left with a sense of accomplishment, nor much joy in what I’ve gained. Mostly I’m just relieved it’s over.

I am reminded of why I almost never pursue long term or difficult goals in MMOs. The reward almost never matches up with the amount of effort needed to get there.

I have to wonder: Is grinding ever worth it?

I’m not talking about spending lots of time doing something you enjoy anyway. I have no regrets over getting 100% ability wheel completion in The Secret World because I achieved that simply by playing the game as I normally would.

No, I’m talking about forcing yourself through content long after you’ve stopped enjoying it — if you ever did — just for the reward at the end. In theory, this is supposed to give one a warm sense of accomplishment, but it doesn’t seem to work out that way. Whatever sense of accomplishment you might have always ends up being dwarfed by the vague unease over how many hours of your life you’ve wasted doing mindless, repetitive tasks for the promise of a few pixels.

I mean, I am glad I did these chains… but more out of a obsessive need to not feel like I’ve missed anything than because the experience was so special. I do like having the items, and every chain had at least a few moments I truly enjoyed, but in the end, I’m not sure any of them are worth all the time and headache.

If nothing else, at least I can enjoy being a god in timewalking dungeons. With her Fangs, Shroud, and Band, my rogue can sometimes end up doing as much or more damage than all the other players in the party combined.

So that’s fun.

After going on the backburner for a few months, The Park and Halloween got my interest in The Secret World revved up to a fevered pitch once again. After yet another night of staying up past midnight reading theories on the lore forums, it occurred to me I’ve never much talked about my own theories surrounding the many mysteries of the Secret World.

I thought it might be interesting to have a public, written record of them so that I can either crow when they turn out to be right, or laugh at how hilariously wrong they turned out to be.

Be aware that this entire post will contain massive spoilers for the entirety of the TSW mythos to date, including The Park.

Cassandra King is a descendant of King Arthur:

The general instinct of most people in the TSW community seems to be to just assume everyone is a god or a mythological figure in disguise. Most people tend to be of the opinion that Cassandra King is someone from Greek mythology, perhaps the Trojan Cassandra. I’ve also heard her hypothesized to be Artemis, Aphrodite, and a bevy of other ancient fertility goddesses.

I really don’t like the idea of Cassie being an immortal, though. The whole appeal of her story is that she’s an ordinary girl — well, as ordinary as a precocious self-taught sorceress can be, anyway — who managed to outsmart the big three secret societies and the very god of deceivers.

There isn’t really a lot to support the idea, either. Just her first name and her “Do you have any idea who I am” line.

I prefer to focus on the significance of Cassie’s surname, and in so doing, I find a way to explain her importance while mostly maintaining her hook as a “normal” who beat the greats of the Secret World.

What are the odds that a woman named King wound up stealing Excalibur?

I think Cassie is a direct descendant of King Arthur. This is sort of the best of both worlds. It more or less maintains her identity as a normal person who made her way to greatness — Arthur’s line having theoretically languished in obscurity for centuries — while also explaining the line, “Do you have any idea who I am, or what I am about to become?”

If she were already a goddess, what is left for her to become? But if she is an ordinary person from an extraordinary line, regaining Excalibur could make her truly a force to be reckoned with.

This could also explain what she’s doing in Scotland. Perhaps Excalibur will grant her access to further treasures or powers that are the legacy of her family, which have lain hidden in the British Isles for centuries, waiting for the true heir to the king to return.

Finally, depending on which version of things we follow, this could also make Cassie a relative or descendant of Morgan le Fay, which would explain her talent as a witch.

There are many Hells:

This one started when I first stepped into the Niflheim holiday dungeon. It was clearly part of the Hell Dimensions, but also totally unlike the Hell dungeons we had explored before.

Then it occurred to me that it’s always been the Hell Dimensions, plural. And there are a lot of references in Tokyo to “the Thousand Hells.”

So I don’t think Hell is a single place. I think there are many Hells, and the one we explored with Wicker was just one of them. Niflheim is another. Who knows how many more there might be?

Emma Smith might be Lorraine Maillard’s daughter:

I’m offering this as an uncertainty because there’s a lot of things about this that just doesn’t add up, but it’s too intriguing not to mention.

The Park is full of subtle nods to TSW, but one that totally passed me by on the first play through has the potential to be a major revelation. Don’s letter to Lorraine mentions that he wanted to name their child Callum if a boy, or Emma if a girl.

I don’t believe in coincidence where TSW is concerned. I’m sure Joel Bylos knew what he was doing when he put that in there. It might just be a deviously clever red herring, but it’s definitely meant to make us wonder if Emma Smith might somehow be Lorraine’s long lost daughter.

If that’s the case, there are basically two possible scenarios.

One is that Emma is Callum’s twin brother. Perhaps, for whatever reason, when Lorraine was released from the mental asylum, the authorities only gave her back Callum. Perhaps Emma was even abducted by the Orochi Group or one of the secret societies. Lorraine, already somewhat unhinged at this point, repressed all memory of Emma’s existence.

In this scenario, Emma’s powers could be explained as the result of Lorraine’s latent sensitivity to the occult and/or the influence of the dark power in the Atlantic Island Park.

The main problem with this theory is that the timeline doesn’t add up at all. Callum was born thirty years ago, but Emma looks to be around eight years old in TSW. That said, she’s definitely not an ordinary girl, so perhaps she doesn’t age normally.

The other possibility is that Lorraine had Emma much later, after the Council of Venice implanted the bee in her. Being the child of a bee, especially a unique artificially created bee, could definitely explain where Emma got her power from.

The main issue with this theory is that it’s a bit hard to believe Lorraine would have another child after what happened with Callum, but she is pretty unstable, so her behaviour is difficult to predict.

Both possibilities have the issue that Emma seems to be British, and Lorraine definitely isn’t. This could, however, be explained by Emma not being raised by her biological mother. Certainly no one — not even Lorraine if she was sufficiently lucid at the time — would think letting Lorraine try to raise another child could be a good idea.

The one final flaw is that Emma has made clear her real name is Anima, not Emma. But perhaps this is her own invention, and the name Emma came first?

It’s all a big long shot, for sure. But it’s intriguing.

Consider that the story of Lorraine and her son is constantly being compared to Hansel and Gretel, but if Callum is Hansel, who’s Gretel? And is it a coincidence that both Callum and Emma have a teddy bear as a central part of their story?

Daimon Kiyota is not a god:

This isn’t so much a theory as a counter to a theory, but I’ll include it anyway.

Daimon Kiyota is another character widely speculated to be a mythological figure in disguise, likely a Shinto deity, but I personally don’t buy it.

As with Cassie, a large part of the appeal of Daimon’s character is that he is (supposedly) a normal person who has managed to make himself a force to be reckoned with in the world of the occult. This is all but confirmed by the turn-in text for The Seven Silences.

Now, I do think Daimon is at this point fairly extraordinary. I’m pretty sure his “father,” who visited New York, was really just him, and if that’s true, that means Daimon hasn’t aged since the 1920s. I’m pretty sure he’s got some funky powers going on, possibly related to the pachinko machine (which wasn’t always a pachinko machine, but it always was). I think Daimon started out human, but he may not be anymore.

But a god? No, I don’t think so.

The woman who came between the brothers in Babel was Lilith:

Pretty much that. We know that the secret society that would become both the Templars and the Phoenicians was ruled by two brothers from the Tower of Babel, but that a woman came between them, sundering their bond and the society they ruled.

That sure sounds like something Lilith would do, and we don’t have a lot of other strong candidates.

Interestingly, this is another thing that some people want to pin on the supposedly divine Cassandra, but I really think Lilith is our better candidate. It’s not really so much different from what she pulled with Callisto, Mara, and Dracula.

* * *

What say you? Does this tinfoil hat make me look fat? Feel free to add your own theories in the comments.

You may remember a few months ago I was so enamored with Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC that it inspired me to do something previously unthinkable and start a second play through, this time as a Qunari rogue.

In the process, I learned a few interesting things about the story, characters, and game mechanics, and now I share that knowledge with you.

Warning: Here be spoilers.

Cassandra isn’t so bad after all:

I was not a fan of Cassandra on my first play through. I did not hate her as I do Vivienne, but I certainly liked her a lot less than any of the other companions. She came across as almost bipolar, seemingly hating my inquisitor’s guts one moment and lavishing praise on me the next.

However, on my second run through the game, my decisions led to my having a much higher approval rating with her, and as a result, I saw a lot of new (to me) and altered scenes that put her in a different light.

It’s not even so much a case of her seeming more likable, as simply more human. I realized there was a person underneath all that armour, both literal and metaphorical. I saw that was more to her than irritability and judgement.

She’ll never be my favourite character, but I do feel a certain sort of camaraderie with her now.

…Yeah, I admit it, it was mostly just the scene where I caught her reading Varric’s book.

That was sublime.

Dorian is cool, but Sera is better:

One of my main reasons for doing a second play through was because I wanted to see Dorian’s romance arc. I do not regret doing so, but I’ll tell you now: I liked romancing Sera a lot better.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Dorian is great. I’ve found him a hilarious and lovable character from the moment he first appeared, and that opinion has not changed since. He is second only to Sera and Solas when it comes to my favourite Inquisition characters, and only by the very slimmest of margins.

But perhaps that’s the problem.

Dorian’s romance is sweet, easy to do, and entirely pleasant from beginning to end. It’s a fairy tale — albeit a fairy tale with an unusually high quantity of sarcasm and naked dudes.

There’s no drama or challenge, and it doesn’t do much to flesh out Dorian’s character. It turns out he’s pretty much exactly who he appears to be. For me, the main appeal of an in-game romance is to see another side to a character, to understand them in greater depth, but Dorian’s romance offers little illumination. He’s the same delightful ball of snark and idealism throughout.

The conclusion of the romance in Trespasser is also fairly underwhelming. I don’t hate it as much as some I’ve seen, but it’s definitely less than stellar. Feels like they didn’t put much effort into it.

Sera’s romance, on the other hand, was a bigger challenge than some StarCraft II missions on brutal. Granted, I made it hard on myself by being a Dalish Keeper, but even so, Sera is a challenging character to wrap your head around. Even at the most basic level, deciphering the foul-mouthed, rapid fire word salad that is her dialogue is pretty much a full-time job.

Similarly, Sera is in many ways a less likable character than Dorian. She’s loud, she’s crude, she’s unpredictable and easy to offend, and she’s at least a little racist.

Yet all those things also make it so much more rewarding when you finally do win her over and begin to peel back the layers of her character.

Sera seems so basic at first, yet she is one of the most deep characters Bioware has produced, and that’s saying a lot. For all her many flaws, she has some incredibly admiral traits, and the balance between those two sides of her is fascinating to see play out. And in the end, it does seem as though the better parts of her nature slowly win out.

So as much as I truly do love Dorian as a character, Sera’s romance arc is simply so much more layered and rewarding.

Now, granted, it turns out a lot of the scenes I thought were part of Sera’s romance were not, so perhaps that has skewed my opinion, but I still think Sera has the edge.

As an aside, I was interested to discover much of Sera’s personal improvement in Trespasser happens even if you don’t romance her. I didn’t expect that.

Cole is happier as a spirit:

When I did Cole’s quest on my first play through, I chose to nudge him towards being more like a human. In retrospect, this seems an incredibly odd decision.

My inquisitor was a Dalish Keeper, and she tended to agree with Solas on nearly everything. Pushing Cole away from being a spirit seems terribly out of character for her.

All I can say is that it seemed like the “right” decision. I think we’re all so used to the “Tin Man wants a heart” style of story that we just follow it without thinking. Or at least I did.

However, for completionism’s sake, I took the opposite path on my Qunari, and I came to regret my original decision.

Cole is so happy as a spirit, so free. He’s able to cast off all his pain, and in so doing, he’s able to do so much good for everyone around him. He becomes a real embodiment of compassion and purity.

In fairness, he seemed pretty content as a human, too. I’m not sure there’s a wrong choice here. But to my eye he does seem more at peace as a spirit, and I think there’s something to be said for not forcing him to be something he’s not. Namely, human.

I’d rather accept Cole for what he truly is. It may be alien and hard to understand, but I think there’s a certain beauty to his true self, as well.

Flirting with Cullen as a male Qunari is wonderful:

Seriously, try it. I don’t know what’s better: Cullen’s spectacular discomfort, or the absolutely filthy looks my Qunari gives him.

Really wish I’d thought to take a screenshot of that.

Horn of valor is awesome:

This is something I noticed on my first play through, but the second time really confirmed it. You want all your warriors to be using the horn of valor ability.

It’s a pretty nice buff on its own, but add the upgrade that makes it grant guard to the entire party, and it becomes incredible. Add a barrier mage and enjoy your unkillable party.

You can skip an incredible amount:

My feelings on Inquisition’s mountains of busywork are known by now, so this time around, I decided to skip nearly everything aside from the main storyline, companion quests, and whatever random stuff I happened to stumble across along the way. There were some zones I never entered at all.

And I can’t say it had a particularly negative impact on my experience. I was still past level twenty by the end, I still had very good gear (thanks to the Golden Nug and crafting schematics carried over from my first character, admittedly), and the game still took me about sixty hours to finish, which is still incredibly long for a single player title.

Shows you how unnecessary all the other junk ultimately is.

Requisitions are entirely useless:

This is something else I kind of learned on the first time through, but the second time confirmed it.

Even skipping most of the optional content, I still had more than enough power to do everything I wanted to do. Power rains from the sky in this game, and it’s completely worthless once you have enough to unlock everything.

All requisitions do is eat up your hard-earned crafting materials for no good reason. They’re a trap; don’t bother with them.

Calpernia is cool:

I loathe the Templars and all they stand for. However, in the interest of completionism, I did decide to side with them on this play through. This didn’t do much to change my opinion of the Templars, but it did have one silver lining, and her name is Calpernia.

Calpernia is a most intriguing character. Misguided idealists are always interesting, and I thought it was a great twist to have someone so noble working for Corypheus. Here is someone who has experienced firsthand the very worst her country has to offer, but she still sees the good in it, and she still wants to redeem it.

That’s pretty amazing.

I only wish she had been given a bigger role. Like Corypheus himself, she feels like a waste of potential.

It’s extremely unlikely, but I would love to see her have a role in the next game. Maybe even as a full companion.

And finally…

This game is still buggy as all Hell.

I once again find myself with a number of gaming topics to cover that are not quite big enough to deserve their own posts. Today, we’ll be visiting the Nexus, Tamriel, and Middle-Earth.

Chaos! Madness! Like a hug for your brain:

This month saw the release of Heroes of the Storm’s wackiest hero yet, Cho’Gall. Played by two players at once, he brings twice the power of any other hero, at the cost of leaving his team a man short.

His release was also unique, with a handful of players getting him for free, and everyone else able to unlock him by partying with an owner and piloting a head for a few games. Those who already had Cho’Gall could earn gold by spreading the “virus” to more players.

Motivated by the lure of extra gold — or perhaps feeling masochistic — I waded into the depths of the Heroes community to acquire Cho’Gall, share him with enough people to earn my 2K gold, and level both heads to level five.

To be fair, it wasn’t quite the horror show I expected. Gall is pretty much the same as playing a hat-build Abathur — which I do with some frequency — and Cho is mostly just a standard warrior with a guaranteed pocket DPS. And I only encountered one prick while grouping with people.

Definitely don’t plan to play any more Cho’Gall going forward, though.

Not sure how I feel about him on the whole. I’ve heard lots of people say he isn’t that competitive. My knee-jerk reaction was that he was very overpowered, but I’ve softened on that. Truth is probably somewhere in between.

It really depends on the players. A bad Cho’Gall can ruin its team, but a good one is absolutely terrifying. Gall’s damage is absurd, and a good Cho will almost never die.

If nothing else, he’s damned annoying to play against. He’s a nightmare to deal with in the early game, and he has few obvious counters other than Leoric and to a lesser extent Kharazim (who must give up his better ultimate to serve as a counter).

Props to whoever came up with the idea of smashing together the names of his two players, though.

Towers of Doom:

Slightly more recently, Heroes also added its latest map, and this one is a home run. Towers of Doom is very much not like any other map added to date, and although it’s a bit early to say for sure, it might be my new favourite.

For a while, map design was starting to feel a little stale, with pretty much all map mechanics being variations on a few themes. Towers of Doom still has some familiar elements — fighting over altars is much like trying to capture tributes on Cursed Hollow — but there are some key differences.

The mechanics of every map to date have been designed to help with pushing in some way. They help you destroy forts, and eventually the enemy core. Towers of Doom’s mechanic targets the core alone, and cores cannot be attacked by any other means.

This is a refreshing change of pace in a lot of ways, but the most important difference is that winning a map objective does not generally give you any significant XP lead, so there’s much less snowballing than on any other map. This makes an already volatile game even more unpredictable, and comebacks can never be ruled out.

It’s also a very well-balanced map in terms of what roles are required. Most maps will tend to focus on team-fighting or on more traditional laning and pushing, but Towers of Doom has room for both. You need to win team fights over the altars, but destroying enemy bases to claim their bell towers is also very helpful.

The fact that towns don’t stay destroyed further combats snowballing and makes the map even more back and forth. If you’ve lost some forts, you can always reclaim them and/or steal some enemy forts.

I also love the idea of bringing back the announcers from previous maps — in this case Cursed Hollow and Haunted Mines — to battle against each other. Especially since those are both two very colourful and amusing characters.

Though I must admit to being a little sad every time I don’t end up on the Raven Lord’s side. You’re cool, too, Grave Keeper, but the Raven Lord is just so suave.

My only little complaint about all this is their decision to retire maps — at least temporarily — to prevent the map pool from becoming too bloated. I don’t understand why they don’t just let us blacklist one or more maps — that seems much better than the developers deciding for us what maps we can and can’t play on.

If I never see Dragon Shire again, it will be too soon.

Elder Scrolls Online: I’m still here

I continue to inch through Elder Scrolls Online at what I will generously call a snail’s pace, due to a combination of being frequently distracted by other things and the fact it’s a very slow game to progress in to begin with.

For the most part my opinion of it remains the same: It’s a solid but not stellar game. I remain somewhat unsure whether it will be something I stick with long term. It’s got a lot going for it, but I’ve yet to be blown away, and it has a lot of competition for my time.

I have managed to finish the first zone, earn my mount, and unlock weapon swapping. The latter two things have had a very pronounced positive effect on my experience, which leads me to wonder why they take so damn long to unlock. The mount, in particular, took about twice as long to unlock as it would in your average MMO, and frankly I think the average wait time is a bit much.

I’ve yet to see much evidence of the supposedly high quality storytelling this game boasts, but there was one quest that impressed. It was very disturbing, but very well done.

It involved what amounted to a residential school for Bosmer and Khajiit. Uncovering all the abuses suffered by the “students” was a pretty unnerving experience, especially given the history of my own nation. I did quite enjoy the opportunity to bring justice to the perpetrators in the end.

The whole “High Elves are racists” theme was prevalent throughout the Aldmeri starting zone, but it was mostly a very sanitized video game version of racism. This was the only quest to show the terrible results of bigotry, and it did so very effectively.

Also, as half-hearted as the whole racism story was, I also liked the game’s complete and utter disrespect for those who hold such attitudes, particularly Razum-dar’s insistence on simply calling them “idiots.”

I really hope I haven’t see the last of Razum-dar.

Generally I find this game’s writing fairly mediocre, but this is one of the more poignant pieces of dialogue I’ve seen in a video game.

I’ll also say I do enjoy this game’s eye for detail. I really like all these little stories that play out in your letters from the crafting hirelings (pro tip: Don’t **** with Pacrooti), and there are other small touches. The other day an NPC guard randomly complimented me on one of my heroic actions — which happened weeks ago in an entirely different zone.

War in the North: It’s okay, I guess?

Finally, I’ve also been working on getting through at least some of the backlog of games I’ve developed on my Steam account, starting with Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

I thought about doing a full review of it, but I don’t think I’ve got enough to say on the matter.

It’s not a terrible game, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it. It is, at best, adequate.

Despite an admiral effort at telling a new story in Middle-Earth while staying true to the books, there just isn’t much in the way of a story, nor are any of the characters developed enough to be interesting. Mostly it’s just an excuse to wander around decapitating Orcs.

On the plus side, you get to wander around decapitating Orcs.

The combat is mostly quite visceral and fun, but it can also get rather frustrating in certain spots. A lot of high level enemies pretty much just chain-stun you endlessly, which gets incredibly aggravating after a while.

Ultimately the main thing I liked was simply the character I chose to play as: an Elven battle-mage. I do love playing a spell caster who can wade into the fray and get their hands dirty. Plus she was voiced by Laura Bailey, which is always plus.

I’ll also give the game some credit for making its female armour actual armour.

We’re almost done.

We now come to the twenty-fourth chapter of Rage of the Old Gods, the first book of my epic science fantasy trilogy the World Spectrum. In the coming weeks, I will be posting the entire book for free on this blog. If you’re just joining us, you can get caught up with the previous chapters now.

All the preparations have been made. All debates resolved. Dusk falls, and the final battle is joined.

———————

Chapter twenty-four: The Burning Dusk

Late in the day, as the sky dimmed and the sun prepared to slip behind the peaks of the Gormorra Range, smoke was spotted on the northern horizon. The alarms sounded, and the camp readied for battle.

Leha went to her tent, put on her leather armor, and attached her blade to her arm. She collected the First One crystal, hoping it would be of use, and jogged to meet the other leaders. She bade farewell to Drogin and Eranna, who would be leading the mission to overload the barrier machine. She feared for her brother, but she doubted he would have been any safer in the camp.

The mental link spread through the army, and the forces of humanity assembled. Leha, Doga, and Natoma took command of their people and led them out of the camp, to the banks of the River Sheen, to their final stand.

* * *

The Automaton Lord came to a stop. It had been moving without pause for days, but unlike a frail human, it felt no fatigue.

It swept its rage-filled eyes across the landscape, seeing the dark river that was its army, the endless trees, and the vast fires its people had created to clear their path. Through the smoke that stained the darkening sky, it saw, too, the dark green hump of the small mountain to the east. From within it, it sensed the enigmatic energy of the First Ones.

When its kind had overthrown their creators, they had sought to remove all trace of them, but they had never thought to look for an outpost in this distant place. It was a mistake the Machine King would right soon enough.

Another source of First One energy appeared to the southwest. It burst out in a wave that filled the Machine King’s consciousness. The humans had used their crystal again.

Given recent events, the Automaton Lord doubted that the humans had any First One powers to use against its people. It would not play their game. It instructed its army to ignore the crystal’s burst and cross the river at another location. They moved on ahead of the Machine King, following in the wake of the great fires.

It began moving again, striding alongside the Automaton column. After several minutes, it paused again and turned its gaze to the mountain, to the First One outpost within. It raised its left hand and fired six bursts of energy in rapid succession. The bolts tore the air with a rumble of thunder, digging into the mountainside.

The creations of the First Ones were hardy, it knew, and that assault would not have been enough to destroy the outpost. But it would be damaged, and if any of the humans had been within, they had likely been killed. Once the battle was over, the Machine King would finish the job.

It resumed its march toward the human camp. Its people had been much weakened in recent times, but it would know victory this day, it told itself. It would crush that human girl and her army. Humanity would not be allowed to usurp the Gods’ rulership of this world again.

Never again, it promised itself.

* * *

Yarnig ran through what he would have to do and focused on keeping calm. The alarm bells had rung only minutes before, and the squad that would attempt to overload the barrier machine had begun to assemble. Filled with nervous energy, he had been one of the first to arrive.

They had come to him the night before to tell him what he would have to do. He had told them he could do it, but the fact was that he had doubts. He had never attempted so complex an illusion. But the entire battle plan hinged on him, and he would do everything he could to keep it from failing.

He had been given the shield of a battle wizard, a large, lead-plated oval. It weighed heavily on his left arm, and his muscles already ached. The weight of his shield and mail hauberk coupled with the waning heat of the day made him sweat. His sword hung at his side, but he doubted he would need it. His magic would protect him.

His heart pounded with apprehension at what was to come. But he wouldn’t have traded this for his life as a royal. Now, he mattered.

A gauntleted hand clapped onto his shoulder. “Good luck,” Natoma’s gentle voice said.

He spun around and found himself staring at her kind eyes and full lips. “Good luck,” he said dumbly.

She nodded once and jogged off, her armor rattling.

The other members of his squad looked at him oddly. He blushed, but it went unseen in the orange and red light of the sunset.

Not long after, the rest of his squad arrived, an ice creature connected them, and they left the camp, their feet pounding on the soil as they jogged northward. Yarnig felt the minds of the others, especially Erik, their thoughts and concerns thrumming at the edges of his consciousness. He felt their fear, but also their determination. Today, there could be no mistakes.

Eranna and Drogin took the lead, their faces stern and expressionless. Breena and Karn followed just after them, and the rest of the squad – about thirty specially selected wizards, technicians, and soldiers – spread out in a column behind.

After several minutes, Leha empowered them with Tyzuan energy. They soon left the field behind and entered the forest. Here, the twilight was far heavier, and the air felt cooler. Yarnig’s eyes struggled to adjust to the shadows.

Through Erik, he felt a bizarre tingle of energy from the west as Leha activated the crystal.

The party came to the shores of the River Sheen. They headed east, searching for a place to cross, and soon found a suitable ford. Before Yarnig even entered the water, he felt its chill through the minds of those ahead of him. When he and Erik waded in, the cold became more intense, and his legs ached from it. Once they stepped onto the opposite bank, the balmy evening air helped to warm him, though his pants stayed damp and heavy.

They started to move again, but then Eranna and Drogin stopped. Yarnig knew Leha was conversing with them – she maintained a link with them – but he couldn’t fully understand what the three were discussing.

Leha returned to her own affairs, and Drogin and Eranna faced their comrades, sending the news through the link. The Automatons had ignored the crystal; they would cross the river farther to the east, closer to Yarnig and his group. Several people swore. They had already planned to travel eastward to avoid the Automaton fires. Now they would have to waste time going even farther east. According to earlier scryings, the barrier machine lay in a direct line north of where Leha had activated the crystal. Moving to the east would take them out of their way.

They resumed their journey with renewed fervor, running as fast as they safely could in the dim twilight. They veered to the northeast, drawing ever closer to the edge of the machines’ forest fire. The omnipresent scents of evergreen needles and moist underbrush were slowly drowned out by waves of smoke.

From a distance, all Yarnig had seen of the fire was columns of smoke, but now he saw how massive it was. It seemed to stretch for miles, a wave of red and orange that swallowed everything in its path. The smoke blackened the sky and turned the setting sun a blood red.

When they came close enough that they could feel the heat of the fire and hear its roar – they were still many minutes of Tyzu-sped travel away – they paused so that Yarnig could weave his illusion. He focused his mind and gathered the strands of light around them, spinning them into a net around his party. He clenched his fists in concentration and forged an illusion that rendered them invisible without distorting the surrounding land.

The true difficulty lay in doing it while using so little magic that the Wizard-Automatons would not be able to sense it. He soon developed a headache.

They started forward again, moving slowly at first so that he could become accustomed to moving the illusion with them. Then, they sped up, running fast to avoid the edge of the forest fire, sweating in the heat.

The fire raced through the brush with incredible speed, and it almost caught them as they passed by. But most of them, including Yarnig, had grown accustomed to the behavior of the fire during the retreat from the north, and they managed to avoid it. Yarnig fought to tame his fears as waves of heat lashed at them. He could not afford to break concentration.

They made it past the leading edge of the fire and immediately looped back around to reach the area it had already burned.

Yarnig’s mouth lolled open. A vast area, miles in length, had been burned away to nothing, leaving only endless smoky fields of ash and soot. He could not see its northern tip. During the retreat, he had caught glimpses of the devastation the Automatons had created, but now the full enormity of it dawned on him.

The others felt equally shocked. Breena was especially affected, nearly stumbling at the sheer horror of it all.

They cleared their minds and pressed on, running north across fields so hot that their feet stung.

To the south, Yarnig could distantly see the Automaton army. Bursts and flashes of magic showed that they had engaged Leha’s defenders. That knowledge spurred them to further speed. To the north, they saw the Sextamaton carrying the barrier machine. Five Wizard-Automatons stood guard around it.

If he was to let the illusion weaken, and a single machine from either group looked their way, all their plans would be ruined, and he and his companions would die. He and Erik set their jaws and focused on holding the spell in place.

They raced across the ashen fields, the smoke burning their lungs. The barrier machine grew closer, and Yarnig’s party prepared themselves for what would come next. As they came in close, they slowed to a walk. Every footfall kicked up a cloud of ash that threatened to give their position away – even Yarnig’s illusion couldn’t compensate for all of it – and running only made the problem worse.

Yarnig surveyed the dark forms of the Automatons, sweating from more than heat and exertion. The machines seemed worn and weather-beaten – their armor was dirty, and they showed signs of wear and tear. He sensed Drogin think of all the various forms of maintenance they needed.

They came to the foot of the old Sextamaton. Its broad, six-legged form reminded Yarnig of a beetle. Before the Automaton revolt, Sextamatons had carried compliments of human soldiers, usually armed with crossbows, and this one still had a number of platforms on its back, near the barrier machine. He and his party took a deep breath, gathered their strength, and leapt onto the nearest platform, Tyzu’s energy propelling them upward as Yarnig let the illusion fall away.

The platform lay a few feet away from the rings of the barrier machine, and it was studded with automated crossbows designed to fire at people below – they could not target things on the platform, luckily.

The moment they landed, they spun about and unleashed a barrage of magic and crossbow bolts against the two nearest Automatons. One stumbled, a concerted attack tearing a hole in its neck. Yarnig sent out a disc of magical energy – something the Clanspeople had taught him – and it arced through the hole and into the machine’s chest. It fell, crashing against one of the Sextamaton’s legs and causing the humans to stumble.

Then the Automatons retaliated, nearly overwhelming Yarnig and the other wizards with a wave of burning energy. Leha soon weakened them with the energy of Sy’om, but he and the other wizards still fought hard to maintain their shields.

Drogin searched the floor for a hatch into the interior of the machine. He found one that had been sealed, but he cut it open with a beam from his wand.

“Come on!” he said, kicking the hatch aside with a clanging of metal.

The party filed through the hole, the wizards slowly retreating and shrinking their shield. Yarnig was the last to go through, his body shaking with the exertion of holding the protective magic. He would have died if the wizards below had not given their own energies to reinforce it.

He tried to jump into the hole, but it became more of a fall.

Breena and a few of the other wizards had lit their staffs to illuminate the dim interior of the Sextamaton. The austere cabin still held all the chairs and handrails that had once serviced its human crew, but a series of thick supports had been placed between the ceiling and the floor in the center of the chamber, below the barrier machine. Drogin shook his head disapprovingly at the hasty nature of the welds.

The wizards split into two groups. Half, led by Drogin and including Breena, gathered around the center of the cabin. They produced quartz crystals wrapped with silver wire and shut their eyes in concentration as they began altering the barrier machine. The other half, including Yarnig and Erik, worked on keeping their shield across the hatchway. The Automatons’ attacks had become subtler, but that made them no less deadly.

Eranna and her soldiers paced nervously, radiating frustration through the link.

The task took only minutes, but it felt like an eternity to Yarnig. Even with Leha evening the odds, the Wizard-Automatons were incredibly strong, and it took great effort to ward off their attacks. The battle between humans and machines made the cabin grow stiflingly hot. Yarnig’s head throbbed, and his and Erik’s bodies begged for rest. But Yarnig would not give in. This was his chance to prove himself, and he would not fail.

Finally, Drogin’s voice echoed through the link. It’s done.

Almost immediately, the energy in the cabin changed. Via Erik, Yarnig sensed the barrier fade and the machine draw vast amounts of energy to it. The air in the cabin soon buzzed with energy. The Sextamaton was now the center of a new jumping point to Tyzu.

Breena raised her staff, and the party vanished in a burst of light. They would make for the first of the ziggurats they planned to target.

They left behind Yarnig and Erik, who would be returning to the camp. They tensed as they dropped the shield, shifting their efforts and jumping away moments before the Automatons’ spells slammed into the floor where they had stood.

Moments later, the barrier machine began to emit an ominous whine.

* * *

They started with fire.

The forest fire spread to the opposite bank of the river, and the machines used their magic to fan the flames, sending hot embers and choking smoke to assail Leha and her people. The fact that the crystal had not lured the Automatons had meant that they were already off kilter – they had barely settled into their new position when the Automatons arrived – and now dozens of small fires started on their side of the river, further disrupting them. The human wizards contained the fires with their magic, but it kept them distracted.

Then, the fires cleared, and the Automaton attack began in earnest. They started draining energy from the river, and they hurled it at their human opponents. It was all Leha’s wizards could do to protect against the bombardment. They couldn’t launch any significant assaults of their own. The fury of the magical conflict roared in Leha’s ears and set off further fires within the trees around her.

As time wore on, the human wizards faltered, and dozens, then hundreds, died at the hands of the machines’ spells. Leha watched helplessly as her people perished. She could not cross the river; the magic was too fierce. A few crossbow bolts made it through the raging energy, but they did little to weaken the machines.

Leha listened to the screams and felt the heat of the fires. She debated whether to sound the retreat.

Drogin’s voice entered her thoughts. It’s finished. Pull back!

She sent him her gratitude and ordered all her people back to the camp. They leapt into action without hesitation, the combined powers of Tyzu and fear driving them out of the burning woods and onto the field around the camp. Leha led her people behind the earthworks, the acrid smoke of the fire still lingering in her nose.

As they took up their positions, bursts of light flickered through the camp as wizards dispatched the squads that would seek to destroy the cities of the Automatons. Other wizards focused their efforts on evacuating the noncombatants. There was no way that all, or even most, could make it to safety – time was short, and the wizards needed to save their energy for the battle – but they hoped to spare a few hundred.

Distantly, she sensed the minds of the squad leaders on the other worlds as they breached the barrier and began their attack on the ziggurats. By now, they understood the barrier well enough to breach it without her aid, though only with great effort and at great risk.

She climbed to the top of the first earthwork and turned her gaze to the north, where the fire continued to spread through the forest on both sides of the river. The Automatons had begun to cross the Sheen. They clustered on the shore, waiting for more of their force to make the crossing.

She held her breath as she waited for the barrier machine to detonate. Every Automaton that came across the Sheen brought her closer to their charge, closer to failure. But as long as they stayed close to the shore, there was hope that they would be caught by the explosion.

She channeled Tyzuan energy to where to she knew the machine to be, hoping to accelerate its end.

A light far brighter than the sun flared into life to the north. It expanded outward, devouring the countryside in a flood of blinding energy, and a roar greater than the greatest battle shook the earth and stabbed into Leha’s ears. She shielded her eyes from the glare, and a wave of hot air slammed into her, knocking her into the second earthwork. Through the link, she sensed the blast batter and topple those near her.

When the assault on her senses ended, she stumbled to her feet, brushing dirt from her armor. Around her, soldiers blinked their eyes and stumbled back to their stations. She scrambled back atop the first earthwork and gazed north, her heart pounding in anticipation.

The blast had boiled the river, and a dense fog hung over the north, mingling with the smoke from the fire. She enhanced her eyes and tried to sift through the murk.

Something stirred in the mist. Her face fell. The Automatons had survived.

But as the fog cleared, she saw that they had not done so unscathed. The machines on the far bank, nearly a third of their force, had been reduced to nothing but a field of burning slag. The river had absorbed some of the blast’s force, but many of the closer machines had also been damaged or destroyed. All told, roughly half of the Automatons had fallen.

Leha allowed herself the hint of a smile, returning her eyes to normal. The odds had been evened. Now, her people had a chance.

Minutes later, as the last hints of the sun disappeared behind the mountains, the machines charged, the Automaton Lord leading them from behind the front ranks.

Leha’s people launched everything that had at them. The trebuchets and catapults hurled boulders and volleys of smaller stones. Leha enhanced their flights with the power of Tyzu, and they smashed into the machines with terrible force, tearing bodies, smashing armor, and crushing heads. The battle wizards, also empowered Tyzu’s energy, lashed out with every spell they could muster, the light of their attacks flickering across the land. Breena’s wards burst up from the ground, hurling the machines off balance. Some picked themselves up, but others smashed into their comrades or the ground with enough force to cripple them. Some had the misfortune of falling into the great trench.

Still, the machines pressed forward, spreading out to come at the camp from multiple sides. Their magic met that of Leha’s army, and many of their spells slipped through the shields and blocks to blast the camp’s defenses.

The feedback weapons darted around the edges of the camp. With the aid of Leha’s abilities, they burned any Wizard-Automatons unfortunate enough to come within range.

As the battle raged, the sun set, and evening became night. But the fires continued their march through the forest, surrounding the camp in a ring of roaring flame, and their light created a new and eerie twilight.

The Automatons drew close to the camp, and Leha’s people could no longer mount their defense entirely from a distance. Leha, Doga, and Natoma charged forth from behind the earthworks, leading soldiers armed with swords, axes, narviks, and other weapons of close combat.

Leha gave herself to the primal fury of combat, and all sense of time fled from her. She fought until her limbs ached, and her skin shone with sweat. She fought until ash coated her face, and she could no longer remember a world without smoke. She fought until her venom glands threatened to run dry, and her throat hurt from screaming. She fought until countless cuts and burns marred her body, and her skin stung from the heat of flames and magic.

And still she fought.

Over time, she came to realize that the Automatons struggled with nearly as much ferocity as she. It made sense, she realized. By now, they surely knew of the attacks on the ziggurats. They fought with desperation.

Through the link, Leha also experienced the battle through the eyes of Doga and Natoma.

To the west, Doga had exhausted his supply of javelins, and he fought with a pair of silver-edged hatchets, leaping between the machines with an agility that almost rivaled Leha’s. She felt fear mingle with exhilaration within him as he struggled to hold the line against the Old Gods. She felt his heart pound as if it was her own.

To the east, Natoma danced through the battle, swinging her sword in arcs as beautiful as they were destructive. She had focused entirely on the moment, and no fear or hesitation could claim her.

Though she was not directly linked to him, Leha also saw much of Yarnig. She hardly recognized the figurehead emperor she had met all those months ago. He wielded Erik’s magic with awe-inspiring skill, and Automaton after Automaton fell before him.

The Automaton Lord stayed at the edges of the conflict. It would pick opportune moments and then charge in to deliver devastating spells or crushing physical assaults, before barreling back to safety. Leha gritted her teeth in frustration every time her people failed to catch it.

The very earth shook beneath the raging conflict.

And still, Leha fought.

* * *

Eranna raised her crossbow, and fired.

The Automatons came at them from all sides, the entire population of the ziggurat coming down upon them. Even the Worker-Automatons hurled themselves at her people.

Eranna’s squad was hard pressed to protect Drogin and the others as they modified the barrier machine buried beneath their feet. If it not for Leha’s powers and the element of surprise, they would not have had a chance.

An Automaton burst through the battle wizards’ defenses and charged the squad. Reloading, Eranna swung around and took aim at its knee. The bolt struck a weak point in the armor, and the joint crumpled. The Automaton fell hard, smashing into the flat surface of the ziggurat with a mighty crash.

Karn dropped his crossbow and rushed in. He drew a silver-edged short sword and attacked the machine’s face, his cuts spraying sparks and reeking smoke.

Eranna reloaded again. She fired at a Worker-Automaton rushing in from her left. The bolt pierced the machine’s head, and it collapsed.

As she swung back to the right, a brilliant light burst to life a few miles out from the ziggurat, momentarily distracting her. In addition to the ziggurats, Leha had ordered the destruction of as many major machine settlements as possible. That flash had been an Automaton mining encampment.

The Tor soldier turned her crossbow on another machine. She had begun the war as an invader. It seemed somehow appropriate that she should end it as one.

Okay. Let’s go, Drogin sent through the link.

Eranna and the others clustered together. The wizards raised their staffs, and they flashed out of existence, on their way to the next ziggurat.

* * *

At some point, the machines had broken through the camp’s defenses to the northwest, though Leha could hardly remember it happening. The breach had plunged both armies into anarchy, and the battle had lost all semblance of order.

Leha raced into the camp and placed herself before the advancing Automatons, calling all available forces to her. The Automatons had carved into the civilians taking refuge within the camp, and she sought to form a barrier between the machines and their targets. All around her, people fought, screamed, or ran for their lives.

She experienced some success, especially as other fighters began to gather around her. The Automaton’s march to the center of camp halted, and several of the machines fell within the first few minutes.

A damaged Automaton twitched on the ground ahead of her. A group of Clanspeople rushed in to finish it, but a crossbow bolt flew past Leha’s right side to break through its face, shattering its artificial mind.

Leha glanced behind her to see the shooter, and to her surprise, she saw it was Benefactor.

Death to the Rock Gods! he broadcast, braying maliciously.

Leha’s chest constricted at the sight of him so close to the fighting. Get out of here! she sent to him.

He stared at her for a moment, then slunk away, though he did not go far.

She turned her attention back to the battle. Her soldiers began to push the machines back. But then she felt a terrible rumbling, a rumbling she knew all too well.

As if out of nowhere, the Automaton Lord appeared, charging through the breach in the defenses. It came to an abrupt stop not far from Leha’s forces, seeming to know that she would slow it with the energy of Sy’om. It tilted its massive head downward, its baleful eyes burning, and she felt it take her measure.

It had planned this, she realized. It had stayed at the edge of battle, avoiding any risk to itself, and waited for her and her people to exhaust themselves. She had suffered countless minor but draining injuries, broken her left-hand middle finger’s claw, and tested the limits of her enhanced endurance. It was a tireless machine, strong and ready for battle.

And it had her trapped. If she went in any direction but forward, she would leave the soft underbelly of the camp exposed to its attacks. She couldn’t do that, and the Machine King knew it. It had goaded her right where it wanted her, and now it planned a final confrontation.

So be it, she thought.

She leapt into action, bolting toward her adversary. Her forces followed and engaged the lesser Automatons, leaving her and the Automaton Lord to square off against each other. She came to a stop a few dozen feet from the Automaton Lord and screwed up her legs as if to leap at it, but then she retrieved a javelin from the dirt at her feet and hurled it with all her strength.

Surprised, the Machine King couldn’t stop her javelin, and the missile slammed into the side of its neck a metallic clang and a shower of sparks. The javelin shattered, but the Machine King was undamaged.

Leha flexed her claws in frustration, and she became aware of the sheer size of her opponent. She felt a touch of fear seep into her heart.

The Automaton Lord attacked with a bolt of magic. She summoned Sy’om’s energy to weaken it, but the spell still had enough strength to kill her.

She rolled to the side. Hot dirt and pebbles pelted her back as the spell missed. She danced backward in avoidance of the Machine King’s continued assaults. At her command, her blade shot from its housing – with Drogin absent, a battle wizard had been assigned to controlling it – and leapt forward. The moment her feet touched the ground, she jumped again, hurling herself at her opponent.

It attacked, but a nearby battle wizard shielded her. She landed on the cold surface of its right knee and attempted to cut into the seams of its armor with her blade. She noticed it still bore scars from the battle along the northern front.

The Automaton Lord continued to pound at her shielding with its magic. Sparks flew through the air, and thunder pounded in her ears,

She growled as each stab of her blade failed to make any headway. She swore. The thing was indestructible.

A jarring burst of magic from the Machine King shattered her shield and sliced across her left upper arm. Searing pain cut through the limb, and she lost her grip, slamming into the earth below. She screamed and tried rolled out of the way as spell after spell burned into the soil around her.

Sensing her distress, Doga and Natoma ran for her position, bringing whatever few troops they could spare.

Leha and the Automaton Lord struggled for what felt like hours. Leha hacked and stabbed at its armor with her blade, gouged and dug at it with her claws, and hurled rocks and debris at it, but none of it seemed to have any effect.

At the same time, the Machine King bombarded her with its magic, and her number of injuries grew. A lance of energy seared the skin of her left thigh. A glancing blow from a ball of magic burned through her armor on the right side of her abdomen. Errant sparks blistered her face. Pain throbbed through her body.

As the battle wore on, her desperation grew. The Automaton Lord wore her down more with every passing minute, and she seemed unable to do anything to harm it. Having defeated many of the nearby Automatons, squads of soldiers rushed in to aid her, but they could not accomplish anything either, and the Automaton Lord killed them by the dozen. Their deaths stabbed at Leha like a knife.

Her world narrowed until it had room for nothing but her battle with the Machine King. And in that world, she was losing.

Doga and Natoma arrived, and they and their troops joined the battle. Leha almost wanted to tell them to leave, to warn them away from the danger, but she couldn’t make herself do it.

We won’t leave you, Leha, Natoma sent.

Never, Doga added.

Leha’s heart warmed with gratitude. At that moment, she didn’t believe anyone could find friends finer than these.

Leha redoubled her efforts to bring down the Automaton Lord, and Doga and Natoma added their own, cutting into the machine’s armor with sword and hatchets. For a time, Leha allowed herself some hope that, together, they would be able to achieve victory.

But as the minutes passed, she saw that the aid of her friends made no difference. The Machine King stood as strongly as before. She and her companions launched assault after assault, but it always pushed them back.

Then, it took the advantage.

They had fallen back again, and Doga was the first to dive back into the fray. He leapt for the same knee that Leha had attacked earlier, but the Machine King struck back, a bolt of energy slamming into the Lost One’s chest before he could avoid it.

Leha watched in horror as Doga’s limp form flew backwards and slammed into the ground a few feet from her.

Her blood boiled with frustration and grief. “Why won’t you die!” she screamed.

The Automaton Lord glared at her mockingly. It raised its right hand, and the ground before Natoma exploded. She fell, and she did not get back up.

Leha let out an inarticulate howl. She made to charge, but the earth before her burst, and a rock slammed into her forehead. She blacked out.

When she came to, the Automaton Lord stood a few feet away, staring down at her coldly.

She pushed herself to a sitting position and started to reform her connections in the mental link, but a wave of dizziness assaulted her and prevented her from standing. Her head pounded, and her vision blurred slightly.

The chilling voice of the Machine King ground through her thoughts. You are the reason the ziggurats burn. You are the reason humanity still infests this world. You have been the source of great suffering for my people. It raised its right hand and pointed it at her. Now, die, vermin.

Her dizziness had begun to fade, and she tried to scramble away, summoning Sy’om’s energy to weaken the Automaton Lord, but she knew it would not be enough.

A single crossbow bolt soared out from behind her. It struck the edge of the Machine King’s eye, and a small amount of glass fell to the earth.

The machine paused, seeming disoriented.

Leha spun around. Benefactor stood on a small rise behind her, holding his crossbow.

The Automaton Lord’s eyes flashed with anger, and it pointed its hand at Benefactor.

“No!” Leha cried.

A bolt of magic leapt from the great machine’s wrist and tore the air above Leha’s head. But as it raced for its target, the spell slowed and bent, turning back on itself. It looped around and struck its source at the Machine King’s wrist. The plates of silver shattered and rained down on the earth below, leaving a dark hole in the glittering bracelet at the base of its hand.

Leha looked about and spotted Yarnig off to her right, his hand held high in the air. Erik stood a pace behind him, his staff raised.

The Machine King made to retaliate, but Yarnig was not finished. The fire at its wrist did not die away. Instead, it spread between the silver plates and through the weak points in its armor, dissolving its hand and forearm in a slow-motion cascade of burning metal.

The Automaton’s remaining wrist glowed, and its magic fought against Yarnig’s, attempting to stop the spread of the emperor’s fire. Bursts of energy split the air, and Yarnig and Erik held their leaden shields up to withstand the assault.

The Automaton Lord was distracted; Leha saw her chance. The eyes, she thought.

She came to her feet, her blade singing from its sheath. The mental link resonated with cheers and encouragement for her, but she heard none of it. She had all her focus on the task at hand.

She tensed up her legs and leapt, landing on the Machine King’s torso. Before it could react, she leapt again, soaring high into the air.

And as she soared, by the light of the fires, she saw the camp, really saw it, for the first time since her battle with the Machine King had begun. She saw the dozens – hundreds – of bodies littered at its feet. But she also saw the hundreds rushing to aid her against it. She saw the broken bodies of Automatons littered in all directions, and she saw those machines that remained fighting for survival. She saw her people charging with renewed vigor, laying the final blows against their enemies.

She had not noticed any of it before. She had even ignored the information granted through the link, paying only enough attention to know what energies to channel where. But now she knew the truth.

Victory was at hand.

She slammed onto the face of the Machine King, her claws digging into the gaps in its armor. She pulled herself before its undamaged eye and stared into its hateful depths. “You’re not coming back a second time.”

She pulled her arm back and stabbed her blade through the glass of its eye. And she stabbed again. And again.

The Automaton Lord ceased battling with Yarnig to turn its power against her. Magic crackled and sparked all around her. Her flesh blistered and charred, but she fought through the pain, stabbing until her blade gouged deep holes in the Machine King’s artificial mind, and the light went out in its eyes.

The magical bombardment abruptly ended, and Leha released her grip on the machine, falling backward.

She was unconscious before she hit the ground.

———————

Enjoying the story so far? The next chapter will be posted soon, but if you can’t wait, you also have the opportunity buy the full ebook now!

As gamers, we don’t have a lot of ways to make our voices heard by publishers and developers. We can try posting on forums, but unless it’s an indie game, we’re just one voice among many thousands, and what we say will count for little in the eyes of the developers — if they’re bothering to listen at all.

That leaves voting with our wallets as the only reliable way to make our opinions count, at least in most cases. If a game company makes decisions we don’t agree with, we move on and take our money with us.

But is that ever really worth it? Are we sending a message, or only hurting ourselves?

Diablo and DRM:

The best example I can think of is the group of people who flatly refuse to play Diablo III because of its always online nature (which, for the record, I agree is bad).

I’ve never quite grasped the logic of this. “I’m upset that I will only be able to play this game 97% of the time, therefore I will play it 0% of the time. That’ll show ’em.”

It just seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

And it’s a real shame, because the people who refuse to play D3 for this reason are missing out on what has evolved into a very good game. Living your whole life without experiencing the joy and wonder of Covetous Shen is simply tragic.

There are also those who refuse to have anything to do with Steam because it is technically a form of DRM. I can only imagine the self-inflicted Hell that trying to be a PC gamer without Steam is in this day and age.

And it really doesn’t seem to be making difference. Steam is an unstoppable institution, and Diablo III is one of the highest selling video games of all time.

I’m not entirely immune to this myself. I avoided playing World of Warcraft for most of the Warlords of Draenor expansion in protest over many poor decisions, most notably the lack of flying, and I’ve refused to touch Star Wars: The Old Republic due to its atrocious free-to-play model despite kind of wanting to see how the Imperial agent storyline plays out.

And neither of those decisions has done much good, either. Blizzard did step back from the removal of flight, and that might have been due to the mass subscription losses WoD suffered, but the WoW community is of such scale my own contribution to that, if any, must be minuscule to the point of irrelevance. SW:TOR, too, continues to enjoy great success despite the endless (and justified) hate its business model receives. The Star Wars IP is a license to print money.

Those were both easy decisions, too. I didn’t have much interest in Warlords of Draenor in the first place, and class story awesomeness aside, my feelings on SW:TOR have traditionally been lukewarm at best. Obviously, if you’re just not enjoying a game, it makes sense to stop playing it.

But what happens when there’s a game you really want to play despite having some big objections?

The Empire and the Legion:

This has been on my mind lately because I find my “principles,” such as they are, are coming into conflict with what I want to play, and again, it comes back to WoW and SW:TOR.

Despite myself, I’m getting somewhat excited for Legion. It’s not all good news, but there’s a lot of stuff coming that interests me, and if nothing else, I think it can at least return to WoW’s traditional two steps forward, one step backward approach — as opposed to WoD’s “two steps backward then three into the ditch and flail around like a beached whale” approach.

But I’m still pissed about flying. I consider it a core feature of WoW at this point, so not having it in at launch basically means the expansion will be launching unfinished. I generally make it a policy not to pay for unfinished products.

Similarly, as I’ve discussed in previous posts, I really like what I’m hearing about SW:TOR’s Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion, and despite my ambivalence towards Star Wars in general, I’m really tempted to give the game another shot (third time’s the charm, perhaps). But I really don’t want to support such a miserable business model.

In either case, I’d feel like an awful hypocrite if I wound up paying for the games despite all my moaning and loud criticisms.

At the same time, I don’t want to be like those people refusing to play Diablo, missing out some potentially good fun by clinging to stubborn pride. I can’t escape the feeling that I’m really only punishing myself.

I am also reminded that I have always been very conscious of the non-homogeneous nature of game companies. You may dislike the actions of one aspect of a company, but that doesn’t have to reflect on all of it. Do the writers at Bioware deserve to be punished for the awfulness implemented by the bean counters? I may have little love for WoW’s big hat designers, but their art and music departments are definitely worthy of my support.

* * *

In case it isn’t clear, I haven’t yet come to a firm conclusion on this matter, and I can see strong arguments either way. You don’t want to be a doormat as a consumer, but it doesn’t necessarily make sense to deny yourself a fun game based on some matter of principle. I imagine where the line is to be drawn will vary from person to person. I’m not even sure where it’s drawn for me yet.

I’d be very interested to hear the thoughts of any readers on this matter.

And before anyone else brings it up, yes, I know I’m overthinking this. It’s kind of my thing.

I’m continuing to (slowly) work my way through Elder Scrolls Online. I still mostly stand by my initial thoughts on it — it’s firmly in the “okay, not great” category — but it is at least continuing to hold my attention, and in some ways it’s growing on me.

I credit a good chunk of this to the fact that the combat did become more challenging after a while. It’s still not particularly difficult, but at least it’s no longer a case of enemies falling over after two or three hits. And as I mentioned in a previous post, unlocking weapon swapping and a mount helped a lot, too.

As I’ve progressed, I’ve been able to delve deeper into the game, and there are a few areas that stand out as worth discussing.

Crafting:

I normally don’t pay much attention to crafting in MMOs. I like the idea of it, but in practice it’s always far too much grinding for far too little reward. However, when I saw that ESO’s crafting was a little more in-depth than the average WoW clone, I decided to give crafting a try once again.

It’s been a bit up and down. I’ve nearly quit a couple times, but now I think I’m getting the hang of it.

Even with the crafting hirelings, I find I’m having trouble getting enough materials. It’s really making me dislike this game’s baffling insistence on not having an auction house.

I’m also not entirely fond of the need to sink skill points into crafting — potentially a lot of them if you want all the perks. My understanding is that by endgame I’ll have more skill points than I know what to do with, but at low levels, I need all the points I can get, and with the glacial leveling pace in this game, spending one on non-combat skills always stings a bit.

I also found that — as with crafting in most other games I’ve played — anything I made was still quite inferior to whatever random drops I got from questing, but I’m starting to think this may be my own error.

I’m used to the WoW model of crafting, where you just make a piece of gear and that’s it. I didn’t give much thought to researching and adding traits, or upgrading crafting pieces beyond white quality, or enchanting. So of course everything I made sucked.

Now that I’m taking those things into account, I’m actually able to make some gear that’s worth equipping.

Now I really regret not taking up enchanting…

I’m also making sure to deconstruct most of the gear I pick up, rather than vendoring it, as that seems to be a pretty good source of crafting XP. That makes me less reliant on crafting gear to level up, which somewhat lessens my material-starvation.

I’m still making up my mind on crafting in ESO, but I’ve always liked the idea of self-sufficiency, of building my own equipment rather than kneeling at the altar of RNGesus. And it seems especially appropriate for a Bosmer huntress to live off the land. So if I can make it work, I will.

It also gives me some control over the appearance of my gear, though I’m still struggling to find anything I like the look of. The lack of a transmogrification or wardrobe system in this game is a tad baffling. And while we’re at it, what’s with the lack of a barbershop?

Realizing I had the same hairstyle as Lyris Titanborn just sucked the fun out of it somehow…

Dungeons:

Dungeons seem to be a lost cause.

I just can’t find groups. For several days, I joined the queue for the first dungeon each time I played, but even after hours of play, the queue never popped. Only once was I placed in a group, and it went nowhere. The tank left immediately for reasons known only to them, and the healer bailed shortly thereafter. After about twenty minutes, we got another tank, but a replacement healer never showed, and eventually everyone gave up.

I hate forming groups through chat channels, and even if I didn’t, hardly anyone seems to be forming groups for low level content.

We just sat like this for half an hour.

The game seems pretty busy, so I wouldn’t think it’s a population issue. Do people in ESO just not care about dungeons?

I’ve thought about taking up healing in the hopes of improving my queues, but I’m not sure I want to spend some of my precious skill points on something I may not get any use out of.

I wasn’t exceptionally keen on doing dungeons in this game to begin with, so it’s not the end of the world. Bit of a shame, though.

The world:

ESO is for the most part a solid game, and while it does have some significant moments of frustration (as discussed above), I am enjoying myself a fair bit.

What I’ve been struggling to understand is why. Yes, it doesn’t give a lot of cause for complaint, and most it is at least solid, but as I’ve said from the beginning, there’s little that blows me away, either. The story is decent enough to keep me going, but certainly nothing special. My opinion of the combat has improved significantly, but it’s no TSW or Neverwinter.

I think I’m narrowing it down, though: It’s the world.

ESO’s world is very detailed, and there are a lot of subtle things that make exploring it a more engaging experience than you’d find in the average MMO. I initially had my doubts about the policy of just leaving quests out in the world with no real clues as to their existence until you stumble across them, but I find it’s actually a lot of fun to try to hunt them down. They’re spaced pretty evenly across the map, so it’s not like you’re combing the countryside endlessly in the hopes of finding a quest or two.

Even if you’re not finding a quest — or a delve, or some other structured activity — exploring is rarely fruitless. The world is chock full of hidden loot, lore books, treasure chests, crafting nodes, and the like. It almost calls to mind the addictive wanderlust Guild Wars 2 once inspired in me.

Exploring is something I rarely enjoy in MMOs, but that’s because it’s so rarely made to be worth your time. When there’s something to the activity other than wandering without aim, it’s quite a joy.

Then there are pleasant little touches like ambient dialogue that reflects your actions, random NPC conversations, and most of all the weather.

I’ve played plenty of video games with weather, but none have come anywhere near the realism of ESO (except maybe FFXIV). It’s pretty special to be able to look up at the sky in a video game; think, “Hmm, looks like rain soon”; and be caught in a downpour ten minutes later.

I don’t get why there are random skeletons absolutely everywhere, though. Did the Orochi Group try to open a Tamriel branch?

The lore:

Something else that’s been interesting for a story nut such as I is getting to know the lore and history of the Elder Scrolls setting, which I’ve not had any significant exposure to before.

I know there are a lot of rabid fans of the Elder Scrolls lore, but I don’t think I’m going to be one of them any time soon.

The game’s story itself is adequate at best, and the many books of lore and backstory scattered around are mostly too dry even for me, seeming to favour wacky uber-fantasy names and an excessive amount of detail over actual depth or compelling content.

That’s not to say the lore is terrible. It’s just mediocre.

In fairness, my understanding of the lore is still quite incomplete, and I’m struggling to piece things together as I go, so that might not help. I will say ESO does a pretty good job, all things considered, of not making me feel overwhelmed as a newcomer to what is clearly a vast and intricate mythos.

And there are few things about the Elder Scrolls setting I’m developing a definite fondness for. Namely Bosmer and Khajiit.

No one who knows me should be surprised I’ve taken to Bosmer like a fish to water. Crazy, tribal, cannibal Elves? Sold!

I do think they’re a great middle ground between new and old ideas. They have enough elements of the traditional Elf archetype to feel familiar, but enough changes to feel fresh.

I like their feral, chaotic nature, as well as their irreverent sense of humour. It’s especially amusing when contrasted with the stuffiness of the Altmer.

Khajiit, on the other hand… They’re a cheap thrill, but an effective one. My impression to date is that there isn’t a lot of depth to them, in terms of individual characters or their culture as a whole, but their goofy speech pattern and roguish charm are pretty hard not to appreciate.

Again, they’re a delightful contrast to the holier-than-thou, aristocratic Altmer. On the whole, the Aldmeri Dominion is a very fun odd couple situation (odd trio, I guess), and I think I chose my faction wisely.

I am upset.

From the very beginning, the one mount I have most wanted in Heroes of the Storm was a vulture hoverbike from StarCraft. Now it’s finally been released… as a reward for the newly launched recruit-a-friend program.

As someone with few gaming friends, I am now in a conundrum. I must have this mount. This is where you come in.

Help me, blogosphere, you’re my only hope.

If you want to give Heroes of the Storm a try, please use my referral link: https://battle.net/recruit/78ZHCGZ5GP

Being recruited in this manner will grant you instant and permanent access to everyone’s favourite space cowboy, Jim Raynor. He’s one of the easiest heroes for new players to pick up, so he’s a good starting point.

You’ll also get a five day stimpack, which increases your experience gains by 100% and gold gains from matches by 150%. Excellent way to hit the ground running.

If you reach account level ten after being referred (which is very easy to do), you will also unlock an exclusive recruit-a-friend portrait for your account, as well as permanent ownership of the Banshee Queen, Sylvanas Windrunner, a powerful specialist who can also deal ruinous damage to other heroes.

If you’ve already tried Heroes of the Storm, you may still be eligible for recruitment as long as you haven’t played for too long. Anyone up to and including account level five is eligible for recruitment.

I’ve been max level in Heroes of the Storm since the technical alpha, have played all currently released heroes to at least level five (except Lost Vikings), and have three heroes at or above level ten (Jaina, Tassadar, and Sylvanas), so if you have any questions or want any newbie tips before jumping into Heroes, don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments.

Please note that since I play on the Americas server, you will also need to do so in order for either of us to be eligible for any recruitment rewards.

This recruitment program is not time limited, so even if you stumble across this post six months from now, you’ll still be able to reap the rewards of my referral link.

However, speaking of limited time offers…

Something salesy about there never having been a better time to try the game:

To celebrate the launch of the recruit-a-friend program, Heroes of the Storm is holding a 50% bonus experience week from now until December 16th. This will stack additively with the stimpack you get from the referral link for a total of 150% bonus XP from all sources, including versus AI matches.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they rolled out another bonus XP event sometime around Christmas and/or New Years, either.

They’re also extending their Black Friday sale until the end of the year, which means 50% off everything in the store (including anything released during this month). So that’s cool, too.

On top of all that, today’s patch has also increased the free hero rotation from seven to ten heroes going forward, so you’ll have far more options for trying new heroes, as well as leveling them up for bonus gold.

Futhermore, talent-gating by account level has been permanently removed, meaning you will have no limits on how to build your heroes regardless of your level.

I don’t want to whore myself too much here, but this is an excellent game, and with all the events going on right now, this is a very good time to join, and please use my referral link I want that vulture mount so bad.

* * *

While we’re at it, I also have about a bajillion buddy keys for The Secret World if anyone has yet to try this truly amazing game. Send me a message through my contact page if you want one.

Sometimes I think about adding polls to posts to gauge people’s opinions on matters, or perhaps to help make decisions on future blog topics or the like. But I had always assumed I don’t really have enough followers to get a sample size worth paying attention to.

I’ve decided to put that theory to the test. Depending on how many people bother to answer this poll, I might start adding them to posts in the future. Though I also reserve the right to wander off and lose interest in the idea without warning.

If nothing else, this might be a good way to get an accurate read on what kind of readership I actually have. Right now the metrics available to me are all telling very different stories.

Later tonight, the TV premiere for the new sci-fi TV series The Expanse will air, but the first episode has already been available online for several days. Always eager for some new sci-fi, I decided to give it a shot.

I knew little of The Expanse going in aside from the fact that it was getting a lot of buzz and had already been compared to Battlestar Galactica and Game of Thrones. That isn’t entirely good news where I was concerned, but I figured it was worth a try anyway.

The premise for The Expanse is pretty interesting. Two hundred years into the future, humanity has begun to colonize the rest of our solar system. Earth, ruled by the United Nations, and Mars, ruled by its military, are the dominant powers, with a smaller civilization of “Belters” eking out a existence in the asteroid belt.

Tensions are high between Earth and Mars, with war potentially on the horizon, and there is unrest in the asteroid belt as well, as its oppressed underclass chafes under the heel of the inner planets.

The world-building is pretty good, and the show has a fantastic eye for detail. For example, a bird that has adjusted to the low gravity on Ceres* and barely has to flap its wings to fly.

*(Which bears a suspicious similarity to Mass Effect’s Presidium.)

This is also an incredibly beautiful show, with absolutely stellar special effects (no pun intended). The Expanse is an absolute feast for the eyes, even with the crappy video quality of Space’s player.

Unfortunately, the rest of the show is less impressive.

“Dulcinea” seems to have been mainly written using a handbook of standard sci-fi pilot cliches. We’ve got “woman finds something strange and scary and screams hysterically,” and “gratuitous sex scene.” Throw in some casual torture, a wide-eyed rookie cop, and call it a day.

The characters are likewise extremely cliche. Thus far the story focuses on Detective Miller, a roguish but not entirely heartless detective on Ceres who is tasked with tracking down a missing woman, and Jim Holden, a roguish but not entirely heartless starship officer whose freighter investigates a mysterious distress signal.

We’re also introduced to a ruthless UN secretary, Chrisjen Avasarala, but her role is too small to form any real opinions of her. She is, however, played by Shohreh Aghdashloo, who voiced Admiral Shala’Raan in the Mass Effect games. Which is cool.

So thus far I’m terribly underwhelmed by the cast. The one character that I kind of liked has already been written out. And once again, in an incredibly cliche way.

It’s a pretty uneventful pilot, too. Only Jim’s plot advances in any meaningful way, and then only barely and only at the end.

On the whole, “Dulcinea” has mostly given me a greater appreciation for how good Dark Matter’s pilot was.

Still, it’s pretty, the concept is interesting, and sci-fi shows often have slow starts, so I’ll probably give it at least one more episode.

Overall rating: 6.1/10

Also it fills my heart with warmth that as of right now the Enterprise episode still appears higher in Wikipedia results for “The Expanse.”

I meant to do some Heroes of the Storm guides when the game officially launched, but with all the chaos of apartment-hunting and moving, I didn’t get a chance.

But now that life is more settled, and I’d like to start sharing some of what I’ve learned in my year plus of playing. I’m going to share my standard builds for my most played characters in each of the four roles. I’ll also be sharing links to their talent calculators on Heroes Nexus in case you need more info on the heroes and their abilities.

Today, I’ll be talking about my favourite support and assassin, Tassadar and Jaina. These are my two most played characters, with over 150 games played and master skins unlocked on each at the time of this writing.

And please remember any Heroes of the Storm newcomer under level five can get some sweet perks by using my referral link: https://battle.net/recruit/78ZHCGZ5GP

Read more about the recruit-a-friend a program here.

Tassadar: Executor of All Trades

General thoughts: The great thing about Tassadar is his versatility. He doesn’t necessarily excel in any particular area, but he brings a little bit of everything to the table, and he has few, if any, major weaknesses or obvious counters.

He’s also an excellent counter to stealth heroes, especially Nova. Between his trait and psionic storm, he’s fantastic at knocking enemies out of stealth, his shields help counter their burst, and dimensional shift completely negates Nova’s triple-tap while still triggering its full cooldown.

This build is meant to build on his versatility. It will allow you to put out very high healing numbers (rivaling a Malfurion or Kharazim) while also being supremely hard to kill and doing some some fairly respectable damage.

1: Conjurer’s pursuit: Collecting healing globes permanently increases your mana regeneration.

This build focuses on making very heavy use of plasma shield and psionic storm, and you will need all the mana you can get. If you’re diligent about grabbing healing globes in the early game, this talent should be enough to sustain you.

4: Leeching plasma: Basic attacks by shielded targets heal them.

This tier offers Tassadar’s only means of actually healing damage, and leeching plasma is more reliable than healing ward. Prioritize shielding squishy heroes with high auto-attack damage, like Valla and Illidan.

7: Khala’s embrace: A portion of plasma shield will remain indefinitely after its duration runs out.

This is a crucial part of the build. Once you have this talent, you should pretty much be using plasma shield on cooldown, even if — especially if — there’s no fighting going on. By blanketing shields across your entire team, you can greatly increase their survivability. Prioritize low health heroes. Shield yourself only if you’re near death or everyone else is already shielded. Staying at range and making judicious use of dimensional shift should be enough to keep you alive under most circumstances.

10: Archon: Gain a shield and greatly increased auto-attack damage for short period.

This is by far the easier to use ultimate, and therefore my pick. It’s been nerfed a few times, but the damage can still make a difference if the enemy team is backed into a corner or otherwise unable to escape. In a pinch, its shield can also save you from certain death.

13: Prescience: Dimensional shift activates automatically at low health.

Tassadar is pretty hard to kill to begin with, but with prescience, you’re nearly immortal. It will activate when you’re stunned, and it doesn’t trigger and isn’t effected by dimensional shift’s main cooldown.

16: Second strike: You can cast a second, free psionic storm after the first one.

With the survivability of you and your team covered, it’s time to boost your damage. A second psionic storm allows you to deal more AoE damage to the enemy team, recover from a misclick, control the battlefield, or clear large minion waves easily.

Important note: Multiple psionic storms do not stack. Placing two storms directly on top of each other will not double your damage.

20: Twilight archon: Increases the damage bonus and shield of archon and increases your auto-attack range while active.

Although the damage of twilight archon is devastating, its real value is in the increased range. Enemies will find it much harder to escape your wrath.

Storm shield is also a decent choice, but twilight archon is just too much fun. People underestimate you. And then they die.

Jaina: Blizzard Entertainment

General thoughts: Jaina is a very strong assassin, but in some ways a peculiar one. She’s not a duelist or a ganker. She’s not the best in small engagements. Team fights, though? She reigns supreme. Her AoE damage and crowd control will ruin the enemy team.

Keep in mind that Jaina has very low health and no escape tools. Always stay at range, and don’t take chances. A cautious Jaina is a successful Jaina. Blizzard is your main source of damage, and frost bolt can be used to poke, wear down, or finish off a wounded target. Cone of cold is mainly used to discourage enemies who get too close. You can use it offensively, but it’s very risky, so I don’t recommend it for beginners.

This build focuses on blizzard, capitalizing on Jaina’s existing strengths.

1: Lingering chill: Chill effects last longer.

Mostly this just makes your play more forgiving by making combos easier to execute. It allows you to easily keep a target permanently chilled by spamming frost bolt.

4: Snowstorm: Increases blizzard radius.

The default radius for blizzard is pretty small. This makes it easier to clear minion waves or hit multiple enemy heroes.

7: Frostbitten: Increases damage bonus against chilled targets.

More damage.

10: Summon water elemental: Fairly self-explanatory.

I actually think ring of frost is a better ultimate if you can land it, but it’s extremely hard to use effectively. Water elemental is much safer choice.

Two things to keep in mind about water elemental: It’s very good at chasing down wounded enemies without risking yourself, and it attacks fast enough to keep a Nova from re-entering stealth. This is a great way to force her to disengage.

13: Storm front: Increases cast range of blizzard.

This is, in my view, Jaina’s most mandatory talent. The default range for blizzard puts you entirely too close to the front lines. You need the extra range.

17: Snow crash: Adds an additional hit to blizzard.

Realistically, you’re not going to hit many heroes with all three blizzard waves, but this talent is a great asset for capturing mercenary camps and keeping enemies zoned out, and the other talents in this row don’t really fit this build.

20: Bolt of the storm: A targeted teleport on a cooldown.

Jaina is extremely squishy, and with all the burst potential in late game, you absolutely need an escape tool.

* * *

Any questions? Ask me in the comments.

The Expanse is apparently still offering early previews of its episodes, so when I went to watch the second episode, I found the third ready to go as well. That means you get two reviews for the price of one!

…Though given that the price is “free,” that’s maybe not such a great deal.

“The Big Empty”:

Most of this episode is devoted to Holden and his ragtag crew trying to escape in a crippled shuttle. Desperate repairs needed, little hope, you know the drill.

It’s certainly more eventful than the pilot, but that isn’t exactly saying much. It’s all things other sci-fi shows have done, and done better.

There is once again a cliff-hanger, so at least they’re good at making you want to move on to the next episode, but if they don’t provide a good pay-off soon, they’ll just be stringing the viewer along.

I hate being strung along.

The other plots continue to go nowhere slowly. My only comment on Chrisjen and her arc so far is that she appears to be pretty much just Dick Cheney in space. It’s making me feel oddly conflicted because I liked the actress so much in Mass Effect, and every time she speaks, I’m still thinking “Oh, yay, Quarian,” but now I kind of want to see her get hit by an asteroid.

The only thing that really interests me so far is Miller’s story — it is at least an effective mystery, and that’s always welcome — but it is, again, going nowhere. Most of his scenes in this episode are devoted to some side plot about water theft that doesn’t appear to have anything to do with anything.

I have seen some sci-fi shows that were very dull to start and then became great — Stargate: Universe comes to mind — but if The Expanse doesn’t do something impressive soon, I’m giving up.

Overall rating: 5/10

“Remember the Cant”:

Three episodes in, and we now get our first real glimpse of the third major faction in The Expanse: Mars.

Turns out they’re basically the Galactic Empire, at least in terms of art design.

Rifts quickly form in Holden’s crew as the Martian interrogators attempt to find — or create — guilt among them, and I come to the conclusion that I don’t particularly like any of them.

I do, at least, enjoy seeing the Martians get some development. It’s very early days yet, but they have the potential to be an interesting culture.

Meanwhile, Chrisjen’s story takes an odd turn. On the one hand, she seems much more sensible and a bit more likable this time around, but on the other, it seems very out of sync with the rest of her character to date. Is she a warmonger or not? Make up your mind, Expanse.

Miller’s investigation on Julie Mao continues to go absolutely nowhere, and tensions on Ceres reach a boiling point, costing the series the one character I liked after the last character I liked died.

In fairness, “Remember the Cant” is definitely a step up from previous episodes. There is a pretty good mystery developing here. Who is trying to start a war, and why? It’s certainly keeping me guessing.

But again, I can’t escape the feeling I’m just being strung along. Sometimes a good mystery only serves to make you drag yourself through an otherwise tedious story. I’ve had that happen before, and I’ve regretted falling for it.

“The Expanse” definitely has the potential to be a good show, but it’s still aways off, and I’m not sure how much longer my patience is going to last.

The fact is I’m just now enjoying this show very much. I want to, but I’m not.

Overall rating: 6.7/10

I’ve been distracted with so many different games lately that The Secret World has fallen by the wayside a bit. But this has not been through any fault of the game itself, and with a slight reprieve in my all-consuming mission to play ALL OF TEH GAMES, I’ve had a welcome reunion with my favourite MMO.

This happened to come just as issue #13 was due for release, and I’ve also had the opportunity to further explore the last major story issue and some of the other improvements in recent months.

Issue #13: Trail of Shadows

Issue #13 was a pleasant surprise. It’s billed as the final major update for Tokyo, but since I had assumed Reaping the Whirlwind was the end of the Tokyo story, this is a welcome bonus.

That said, issue #13 did turn out to be a bit of a disappointment. In fact, it may have replaced issue #6 as my least favourite issue to date. It’s not awful by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s nothing special.

There isn’t much in the way of an over-arching plot, and it’s just not all that fun. The first several missions were fairly tedious — though part of that is my fault for trying to do an investigation mission before any guides were up — and as much I love Ricky Pagan, his standalone mission was, again, kind of generic and just not that memorable.

That said, the final mission of the issue was very cool. Exactly the kind of inventiveness that we all love about TSW.

Sorry if I’m being a bit vague about it all, but the issue is still new, and I don’t want to spoil too much.

It did make me a bit wistful for other roads the game might have taken, though.

I love the story-telling in TSW, but one thing that always bothered me is how faceless and voiceless the player character is. We’re surrounded by such colourful characters with so much rich development, but we ourselves are empty non-entities.

I would have liked something a bit closer to Bioware’s style, where the main character is fully voiced and you can make some choices about your character. I don’t need to be able to direct the story or have as much choice as I might in, say, Mass Effect, but even if all our choices were ultimately meaningless flavour that didn’t affect the game’s plots, it would have been nice to have some backstory or personality given to the player.

This is finally realized a bit in issue thirteen, but I can’t help but wish something like this had come much earlier, and that the choices were irreversible.

Don’t get me wrong. I still loved the mission. My pining for what could have been doesn’t detract from the experience. I just wonder what might have been. Obviously it’s too late to change things now.

But even as issue #13 disappoints, I’ve gained a new appreciation for the last major story issue, Reaping the Whirlwind.

They all to the dark tower came:

It’s safe to say the reception for issue #11 was a bit lukewarm. I found it a bit uneven myself. As a result, I’d only done it once up until about a week ago, when I decided to return to Orochi Tower.

I discovered that you’re able to easily pick and chose which mission you want to repeat, which means you can do The Eight-Headed Serpent, which has you exploring the randomized floors of the tower, without bothering with the initial assault or the overly long finale with Lilith and the Mitsubachi.

I set out to explore every single floor of the tower, and I found it an extremely enjoyable experience.

The mission is fairly quick to complete, and the variety of different floors keeps it fresh and interesting. It’s exactly the kind of high quality solo experience that makes me love TSW so much: all the excitement, challenge, and high production values of an MMO dungeon without the need for a group and its associated drama.

The various floors overflow with Easter eggs, lore, and odd little mini-stories. I was particularly surprised by how much humour there is to be found, though perhaps I shouldn’t be considering how much of a walking joke the Orochi are. Regardless, it’s a thoroughly entertaining ride.

Going in, I expected Sycoil and Vali to be the most interesting subsidiaries to explore, based on their appearances earlier in the game, but while they had their moments, I actually found Zagan and Faust Capital’s floors to be on the whole the most enjoyable. Faust Beta and Omega are among the more creative floors, and in Zagan’s case, I just have to stand by the bizarre, twisted things TSW’s writers can come up with.

I’ll also give a shout-out to Anansi Beta and its life-size Pac-Man game for once again being wildly original. This is not something you’ll see in any other MMO, that’s for sure.

On the downside, I found Plethron and Manticore to be overall the least enjoyable. Manticore Beta, in particular, is probably the most annoying floor, combining all the worst aspects of sabotage missions with none of their usual virtues. That said, there is one bit in Manticore Alpha is very amusing.

“Seriously, how did you get funding for this?”

Running Orochi Tower also turns out to be fairly rewarding. You can net yourself three biohazard containers and a decent chunk of black bullion without too much effort, and I’ve discovered that it counts as all three mission types* for the purposes of daily challenges, so if you get a challenge to do any mission in Kaidan, it’s an easy way to knock that out.

*(I haven’t tested to see if it qualifies as an action mission, but seeing as it has more action than anything else and definitely counts as both sabotage and investigation, I’d be shocked if it didn’t.)

Speaking of challenges:

The last few weeks have also been my first opportunity to really delve into the new challenge system. Now, I knew off the bat I’d enjoy this. It’s exactly the kind of reward system I like in an MMO — do whatever you want and get rewards — and I’ve wanted something like this in TSW for a long time.

Hell, you could argue it was my idea. I spent over a year advocating for a system almost exactly like this on the official forums.

It just feels good to be able to easily access good rewards just doing whatever you were going to do anyway, and the steady stream of currency and XP can get very addictive, very quickly. It can even start pushing you to do things you would never normally do.

I’ve been running dungeons again, despite swearing off them until the dungeon finder is implemented, and even more shockingly, I actually participated in some PvP recently — a Stonehenge match.

Even more shocking, it actually wasn’t that bad of an experience. The last round of changes to the PvP buffs had a much bigger impact than I realized. I gained over ten thousand health, and for the first time in a TSW PvP match, I spent more time alive than dead. I was actually able to meaningfully contribute to my team. We still lost, but compared to the miserable experience I’ve found TSW PvP to be in the past, it’s a night and day difference.

And losing didn’t sting that much, because I still completed my challenge. Sweet, sweet bullion!

The Secret World has always provided fantastic story-telling and ambiance. I’ve said it’s the best single-player RPG on the market. But it’s always lagged as an MMO, with its group-focused and repeatable content being severely limited in scale and burdened by all kinds of blunders and poor system designs.

Now, that’s turning around. TSW will always be about story and solo-friendly content first, and that’s as it should be, but they’re doing a great job of bringing the rest of the game up to snuff without majorly jeobardizing its existing strengths.

It’s been three years since I joined The Secret World, and the game is still finding new ways to impress me.

Well, here’s something we haven’t seen from The Expanse so far: excitement.

“CQB” sees the Martian warship carrying Holden and his crew come under attack by unknown assailants… who bear a suspicious similarity to the ship that destroyed the Cantebury.

What follows is a very lengthy and largely entertaining battle only slightly hampered by the facts that I still don’t really care about Holden and his crew and that the bad guys apparently went to the storm trooper school of marksmanship.

Meanwhile, Miller’s plot continues to go nowhere. Seriously, why is he even in the show at this point? We’re four episodes in, and while I enjoy his hard-boiled attitude and general snark, he hasn’t done anything at all.

Also, Chrisjen apparently still exists.

I’m starting to feel like Holden’s the only character the writers even care about. He’s the only one whose plot has had any significant development so far. They should have just not bothered with Miller and Chrisjen, or at least waited to introduce them until they actually had something to do. They’re just taking up space (har har) right now.

But at least the titular “Close Quarters Battle” was entertaining. A slightly more drawn-out, stately kind of space battle than we tend to see these days. I’m reminded of Star Trek’s original vision of emulating old naval battles.

I’m also getting a bit more drawn in by the mystery. I think I’ve figured it out — they don’t keep including random mentions of the Mormons for nothing — but we’ll have to see if my theory pans out.

Though there’s still that feeling of being strung along. They’re certainly taking their sweet time offering any kind of reveals.

“CQB” was entertaining enough to convince me to keep watching for at least one more episode, but The Expanse remains on thin ice where I’m concerned.

Overall rating 7/10

Apologies for the short length of this post. There just isn’t much to say about this show. It’s very good at filling an hour with very little.

Regular readers will remember that I have tried Star Wars: The Old Republic twice before. The first time earned a hearty “meh,” though I was intrigued by what little I saw of the Imperial agent story. The second time resulted in a rage quit and a massive rant, thanks to the game’s ungodly abomination of a free to play model.

But regular readers will also know I’ve been agonizing over whether to give the game another shot, due to the major changes made by the Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion.

So, yeah, I finally broke down and gave SW:TOR one final chance. I even went so far as to buy a month of subscription, because it’s pretty unplayable otherwise.

I feel like I have to justify this decision, though I really shouldn’t. I may not be a big Star Wars fan, but I’ve always wanted to be. And I figure if anyone can make Star Was not dumb, it’s Bioware.

For the record, I still think the business model is a miserable horror show. I wouldn’t recommend the game for that reason. Myself, I’ll put up with almost anything if a game can provide a good story. I was having a hankering for some Bioware-style story-telling, and seeing as Mass Effect: Andromeda and Dragon Age 4: Tevinter Strikes Back* are probably still aways off, this was my best option.

*(Probably not what it will actually be called.)

I decided it would be best to start over from scratch, but I’m playing as essentially the same character. A Chiss Imperial agent who is as good as her loyalty to the Empire will permit.

So is the third time the charm for SW:TOR? I’m still not sure.

Better, but…

I’ll say this much: Knights of the Fallen Empire has made the game much better.

SW:TOR has some good stories, but they were always bogged down by, well, the rest of the game. As of Knights, you can now skip all but the main storylines. You won’t even see most of the side quests unless you chose to — a smart move considering the nature of gamer completionism. You can just sit back and enjoy the story without the tedious MMO grind. Mostly, anyway.

Also, I love the new leveling scaling system. There’s a double XP event on right now, so even though I’m still in chapter one, I’m already near max level, yet enemies still put up a fight, and quests are giving me relevant rewards. It’s wonderful.

I also like that you can solo some dungeons now. Dungeons were always one of the messiest examples of SW:TOR’s attempts to marry single-player style story with MMO mechanics.

The remaining leveling dungeons have been retooled to be role-agnostic, similar to WoW’s unfortunately abandoned scenario feature. Any attempt to break free of the trinity gets my support, and it certainly helps queue times, but it’s definitely an imperfect system. Some of my runs have gone perfectly well, but others have been miserable slaughterfests.

Admittedly, it’s also a bit hard to separate the improvements from Knights of the Fallen Empire and those from being a subscriber. The improved fast travel options, in particular, help massively. For a game with relatively small and claustrophobic maps, SW:TOR has an incredible amount of travel time.

If I’m still enjoying the game by the time my subscription runs out, my plan is to buy a bunch of cartel coins and unlock what I can to make the game bearable as a preferred player, but we’ll see.

I’m still a bit on the fence about the game as a whole. It’s a lot better, but it’s still struggling to shake off its WoW clone roots. The crafting is still mindless and grindy, the combat is still basic and overly easy, and it still has a horrific case of button bloat.

I am liking the Imperial agent story still, but thus far it hasn’t quite equaled its initial quality during the Hutta leg. It’s a pretty fun class, too, my issues with button bloat aside. SW:TOR is a textbook case of my least favourite style of MMO combat, but it’s probably the best example of that style. Complex rotations, good class flavour.

I’ll also give them some credit for creating a class where energy management is meaningful without being resource-starved or tediously slow. WoW still hasn’t figured that out.

Can’t stand Kaliyo, though. Really wish you unlocked companions more quickly.

New things (to me):

Having gone farther into the game than ever before, I’ve had a chance to explore more of SW:TOR’s features.

The player housing system, strongholds, seems pretty good. I’ve heard a lot of criticisms of it, but I’m enjoying it, in so much as I ever do housing anyway. We’ll see if it holds my attention long term, but it’s pretty easy to use, and it does have at least a little practical benefit.

I’ve also tried a few space missions, which are… odd. Nothing really wrong with them, but they feel so totally disconnected from the rest of the game, mechanically and story-wise.

I’ve tried crafting, as well, as mentioned above. It’s not so bad, but it’s not explained well. I kind of crippled myself by not realizing you need two gathering professions for each production profession. So now I’ve got 300 points in slicing and a completely useless armstech profession. As with so many things, I’m not sure if I want to keep at it. Slicing was a good money-maker, but the missions seem to be getting less cost-effective as I level.

Altitis strikes back:

And of course, my endless lust for alts has risen again.

There is actually something approaching good reason for this. I don’t know if I’ll stick with any of these alts, but in case I do, I want to get past the first few levels while I’ve still got all the subscriber, double XP, and anniversary bonuses.

I’ve focused on Sith so far. Played both inquisitor and warrior to a bit past level ten. I liked the “underdog” story angle of the inquisitor, and his voice actor is a little better, but I liked the mechanics of the warrior much more. Inquisitor was more of a caster type, and while I like that fine normally, if I’m going to play a class with a lightsaber, I want to use the lightsaber as much as possible.

Also, I took an instant liking to Vette, so that’s pretty much decided.

I feel I should have a Republic character to see both sides of the story, but I can’t decide what class to pick. I recall from my first time trying the game (as well as my experience with the warrior) that I enjoy the mechanics of the Jedi knight, but while I’ve heard good things about its story, what I saw of it was snore-inducing. They do get Jaina Proudmoore as a companion, though, so there’s that.

I was considering a consular, but I’ve heard a lot of people say their story is quite weak. The trooper story sounds like something I’d enjoy, but I’m not sure what I’d make of the class’s gameplay.

I have no interest in smuggler at all.

And there’s the final Empire class I haven’t tried. I initially had no interest at all in the class, but then I heard the female bounty hunter is voiced by Grey DeLisle, and now I’m tempted to make one just because of that. If I do, it’ll be a human female with blonde hair and green eyes. Ideally named Nova, but that’ll probably be taken. As will November, Annabella, and NovaTerra, I suspect.

Hmm.

Anyway, since I’m experimenting with polls, I’ll let you readers have a say. What should my next SW:TOR alt be?

Feel free to offer justification for your vote in the comments.

* * *

So I’m still a bit uncertain with SW:TOR. It’s certainly a much better game than it was, but it still suffers from its origins as a “me too” WoW clone. But it’s growing on me a little, and it has at least managed to hold my attention longer than on my previous two sojourns to a galaxy far, far away.

We’ll see if it lasts.

We have now come at last to the twenty-fifth chapter of Rage of the Old Gods, the first book of my epic science fantasy trilogy the World Spectrum. In the coming weeks, I will be posting the entire book for free on this blog. If you’re just joining us, you can get caught up with the previous chapters now.

The war is over, but the true battle has just begun.

———————

Chapter Twenty-five: The True Battle

Consciousness returned slowly. At first, she was aware of only brief snippets of unintelligible sounds or flashes of pain. Then, gradually, her mind ordered the sensations, and her thoughts churned to life.

She groaned and started to rise, but a hand pressed against her chest. “Don’t move,” Erik said.

Leha opened her eyes. Erik crouched over her, holding her down with one hand. In his other hand, his staff glowed faintly. Yarnig knelt next to him, his eyes closed, holding his hands over her charred belly. One hand held a piece of silver-wrapped quartz. Her body throbbed with pain, but it was not as intense as she would have expected. Odd sensations fluttered across her stomach as Yarnig mended the burns.

The sky was still dark, and the firelight had diminished; a Clan lantern to her left provided most of the illumination. The smell of smoke was still present, but it had lessened.

“You were very badly injured,” Erik explained. “Most of your body was burned in the battle, and you broke a bunch of bones in the fall. We need you to sit still while Yarnig Heals you.” She noticed that Yarnig mouthed some of the words as Erik spoke them.

Leha remembered the last few moments of the battle, and she realized that she must have been near death when Yarnig and Erik had started Healing her.

The thought reminded her of what had befallen Doga and Natoma before she’d blacked out.

“Doga… Natoma,” she gasped.

“They’ll be fine,” Erik said quickly. “Doga won’t be back on his feet for a while, but he’ll live. Natoma just broke a leg and got a knock to her head. She’s organizing the camp through the link.”

Leha breathed a deep sigh of relief. She had feared the worst, especially for Doga.

She took a moment to calm her breathing. “What happened?” she asked, indicating the ruins around them with a sweep of her eyes.

“The Automatons are gone,” Erik said, removing his hand from her chest. He sounded tired. “I think the loss of their leader broke their spirit. When it happened, a bunch of them just ran off. A few others went on suicide runs. I heard one laid down and let itself be destroyed – I don’t think that’s true, though. There are still a few out in the wilderness, but no one thinks they’re a real threat.”

Leha nodded weakly and muttered her thanks to him.

Yarnig finished with her stomach and moved on to a badly burnt knee.

After a few minutes, Leha thought to ask, “Where’s Drogin?”

“He’s back from his mission,” Erik replied. “He’s leading a crew cleaning up the camp, I think.

“I’ll get him for you.”

Leha thanked him again and settled in to wait.

“Leha!” her brother called a few minutes later. She heard footsteps, and then Drogin’s smiling face appeared above her as he knelt next to her. He had a cut over one eye and some blisters on one hand, and his clothes were burnt in several places, but otherwise, he seemed well. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’m getting better,” she said. “What about you? How did the mission go?”

He smiled wider. “We did it. The ziggurats are gone.”

She returned his smile. She squeezed his forearm with one weak hand. “Good job.”

* * *

Soon after, the two Tors finished treating her more serious wounds, and she sent them away to find people more in need of their abilities. Drogin left to continue the cleanup effort. Leha planned to join him later.

She tracked down Doga and Natoma. The Lost One was still unconscious and undergoing treatment, but Natoma was well enough to talk. She congratulated Leha on her victory.

Then, Leha sought out Benefactor. She found him at the side of a tent, resting and drinking from a water skin. His crossbow sat at his side, and he still wore his armor.

He greeted her, but she began to praise him profusely for his hit to the Automaton Lord’s eye before he could do anything else.

“You saved me. You saved everyone!” she said more than once.

If he had possessed the physical capacity, she thought he would have blushed.

“How did you do that?” she eventually thought to ask. “That would have been a difficult shot for an experienced archer.”

He paused briefly, then he worked his lips furiously. You didn’t notice. I shot at the eye twenty-one times. I hit it once. His whole body shook with silent laughter.

Leha burst into laughter.

When their humor subsided, a sad look came into Benefactor’s eyes, and he glanced up. My family is avenged, he said.

Leha lost her smile. She sat in silence for a time, unsure of what to say.

She came forward and wrapped him a hug, burying her face in his shaggy fur. “Thank you. For everything,” she said, remembering everything he had done for her since her first journey to Sy’om.

He hesitated, surprised by the unfamiliar gesture, before returning her hug. He managed to hold her without touching any of her tender burns. He could read her thoughts; he knew the places to avoid.

They released each other, and Leha held him at arm’s length.

We did a good thing, he said. The Automatons were dark creatures. The universe is a better place without them.

She nodded, sending her agreement.

She thanked him one more time, and left.

She attempted to aid with the efforts to return order to the camp, but she found she was too tired and hurt to do much of anything. Drogin sent her to find her bedroll – after she made him promise to do the same – and within minutes, she had fallen asleep.

* * *

Early next morning, she forced herself awake, and went in search of Natoma, who would no doubt be at the head of the cleanup efforts. The walk gave her the opportunity to see the situation in the camp for herself.

The still-present pall of smoke stained the sunlight red, painting the ashen camp in a surreal tone. The air was warm, but the humidity of the past days had dissipated. Bodies still littered the ground in places, but she noted that many had been collected and moved off. None of the wrecked Automatons had been moved, and their dark forms dotted the camp. About half the tents still stood – most of them in the southeastern quarter. The others had been crushed, torn apart, or incinerated. Distantly, she heard the cries and moans of the wounded. Elsewhere, she could hear people shouting instructions, though the words eluded her. Otherwise, the camp was eerily quiet. She saw almost no one. She assumed that the people were occupied elsewhere.

She found Natoma conversing with Eranna at the northwestern edge of the camp, and they brought her up to date. About a third of the able-bodied survivors had been sent to the River Sheen. A dam of ruined Automatons and other debris had been created by the destruction of the barrier machine, and if it was not dislodged soon, it was possible that the camp might be flooded. Another large group had been assigned to collect and bury the bodies before disease could spread. The area west of the camp had been turned into a vast graveyard. The Northern Clans, the Lost Ones, and the ice creatures had begun to send laborers, medics, and supplies to aid those in the camp.

The forest fire had moved on to the south and was in the process of burning itself out. It was expected to die within the day.

No one had sighted any Automatons since the end of the battle. Once they had the situation here under control, Eranna and Natoma planned to send out parties to hunt them.

When Leha had arrived, the other two women had been planning a census to determine their losses. Leha told them to go ahead. She knew their losses would turn out to be heavy, but she also knew it had been worth it.

She bade farewell to Eranna and Natoma and headed for the river, where she used her strength and her powers to aid those trying to clear the blockage.

Once she settled into the rhythm of work, her thoughts began to wander.

The war was over.

She let that thought move through her mind as she slowly adjusted to it. It seemed too sweet a thing to be true. After all the months of pain and toil and terror, the power of the Automatons had been broken. Those few machines that remained would never be able to adapt to life without the infrastructure of the ziggurats or the leadership of the Automaton Lord. Soon, humanity’s victory would be total.

Her mind turned to the future. Soon, people would be able to return to their lives – what was left of them. They would begin the process of rebuilding. The losses inflicted by the Automatons were beyond measure; it would likely take centuries for the human race to recover.

And that brought her to her own dilemma. With the defeat of the Automatons, her duties as the leader of humanity were almost complete. But not entirely. She had pledged herself to safeguarding the future, to ensuring the mistakes of the past were not repeated. She had spent long hours searching for a solution to humanity’s flaws, but she had yet to find one, hoping that she would in the future.

Now the future had come. The war was over, and her people would soon disperse to rebuild their nations or found new ones. What was to stop them from eventually returning to the old national divides, the old prejudices? She couldn’t stand the thought, after all they had suffered through, of the nations once again going at each other’s throats.

But what could she do to stop it? She couldn’t change human nature, and even if she could, she didn’t think it would be right. Her people could not be forced into peace.

She wondered if there was anything she could do that would have any real impact. Ultimately, people made their own decisions. She could only influence them, and even that power would fade over time. She could not preach her views to the generations that would be born after her death.

She doubted there was anything she could do that would guarantee a peaceful future for humanity.

But, she decided, she had to do what she could. She was a revered figure, the Hero of Heart, and she wielded more influence than anyone alive. If she spoke, people would listen.

She didn’t think she would be able to live with herself if she did not at least try to change things for the better. She would do her part – however small it may be in the long run.

She started to formulate a plan.

* * *

The gathering took place upon a churned and ash-covered but relatively clear field near the west edge of the camp. Several thousand attended – all those who were not too wounded or caught up in the recovery efforts to come – spreading out in a great fan of humanity. Those unable to see it in person would witness it through telepathic links to their comrades. None but Leha knew the true purpose of the gathering, but most believed she would speak about their victory. The people chattered to each other in anticipation.

The sun shone brightly in the hazy sky, warming those below it.

At the far edge of the gathering, Leha climbed atop the back of a ruined Automaton, the platform from which she would make her speech. The metal was cold, but it lacked the unnatural chill of a functioning machine.

She surveyed the crowd and took a deep breath, enhancing her voice and lungs so that she would be heard.

“The war is over,” she declared, her voice reverberating through the afternoon air.

A cheer went up from the crowd. Some clapped.

“The power of the Automatons has been broken. Their ziggurats are dust. Their leader has fallen,” she continued. “Humanity has once again triumphed over the Old Gods!”

They cheered even louder, their voices booming in joy. Leha let them enjoy the moment, smiling faintly.

When they quieted, she spoke again. “But the true battle is yet to come.”

The people fell silent, seeming confused.

She tried to calm her tense nerves. She didn’t find this as intimidating as she had her address before the battle, but she knew just how much rode on how they reacted to her next words.

“The true battle will lie in making sure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated. The true battle will be fought not just by us, but by our children, by all future generations.”

The people stayed quiet. She could not gauge their reaction, so she pressed on.

“The blame for this war cannot be placed upon the shoulders of the machines. Hate is their nature. We are the ones who resurrected them, the greatest enemies humanity has ever known. It was our distrust and our greed that led us to build armies of them, to refine them until they had the power to overthrow us. The destruction you see all around you is the result of human folly, human hatred. The blame for it rests upon our shoulders.

“We can’t allow something like this to ever happen again!”

She heard muttering among the crowd. She feared that they would be unwilling to accept any responsibility for the war.

“The greatest danger we now face comes from within ourselves. We can’t allow ourselves to again fall into fractured nations and factions. We are one race.

“The future of humanity will not be won on the battlefield. It will be won in our hearts and the hearts of our descendants. The darker aspects of ourselves – hate, ignorance, and selfishness – are our enemies now, and it will take all of our strength to hold them back.”

She paused, letting her words ring through the air. She still couldn’t read the mood of the crowd. She sweated.

“It won’t be easy. But if there is to be any hope – any hope – of a bright future, we can’t allow ourselves to forget the danger that they represent. If we fail, the future will suffer, and this – ” she gestured at the devastation that was the camp “ – will be the result.”

She paused, her heart pounding, and prepared to finish making her case.

She stared into the crowd, standing proudly. “The next great battle has come, and we must face it. Who will stand with me?”

For a brief moment, all was silent, and Leha’s heart stopped.

The thousands in the crowd spoke as one. “I will!” they cried, their voices shaking the Automaton beneath Leha’s feet.

The tension left Leha’s body, and she allowed herself the joy of the moment. The crowd clapped and cheered for her, the noise of it vibrating through her being. She surveyed the familiar faces in the throng. Unmitigated pride filled the faces of her brother and her friends.

Leha smiled and raised her hand in salute to the gathering, feeling an overwhelming sense of relief. She smiled and laughed.

It was finally over. She had defeated her enemies, and she done her part to ensure a better future.

It was possible that the efforts of her people would ultimately fail, that the human race would once again fall into chaos. But now, she had hope. She had planted the seeds of peace, and she and those who believed in her would do everything in their power to make sure that they took root. Her words and her actions would be recorded in books and tales, and future generations would take inspiration from them. The ice creatures would be there to stand as a symbol of unity and serenity, and Lahune’s order would continue their efforts to bring humanity to its greatest potential.

There was hope.

———————

Enjoying the story so far? The next chapter will be posted soon, but if you can’t wait, you also have the opportunity buy the full ebook now!

As an aside, I find posting this chapter a fairly depressing experience, as this is a battle those of us in the real world seem to be losing badly as of late. We’re incredibly eager to turn on anyone who bears even the vaguest or most tangential resemblance to those who would do us harm, and one of the leading candidates for leader of the free world is a guy whose political philosophy seems to be that the problem with Nazi Germany was a lack of gold plating and scantily clad women.

One could also look back to GamerGate or its cousins in the Sad/Rabid Puppies camps. Or consider how many people are still displaying the Confederate flag with pride — even here in Canada, which is as depressing as it is confusing.

There’s a prevailing sentiment among “social justice warriors” (as the Internet is so eager to label us) that things like this are the last dying gasp of an outmoded way of thinking, but I fear this is an overconfidence that could cost our society badly.

And if you think you’re above this kind of hate and fear, you’re not. No one is. But if you can be aware of this, if you can make the effort to fight against the darker parts of yourself, if you can choose to be driven by hope and compassion rather than fear and self-interest, then you are part of the solution. The true battle isn’t something won through a single, final victory, but through constant struggle. For all of us.

Also, I do hope I’m not coming across as tooting my own horn here. I certainly don’t expect my silly little sci-fi novel to do much, if any, good in the long run, and I’m sure my rather ham-fisted attempt at a message has all kinds of criticisms that can be leveled against it. I just hope you see some value in the message, however inelegantly presented.

Next up is the epilogue, and then we’ve reached the end of the book.

I now continue my build guides for Heroes of the Storm. Today, I’ll be looking at my top-played warrior and specialist: Johanna and Sylvanas Windrunner.

Coincidentally, Sylvanas is also one of the characters you can permanently unlock using my referral link. Learn the details here.

And don’t forget to check out my previous guides for Jaina and Tassadar.

Johanna: Shield of the Faithful

General thoughts: Johanna is the archetypal tank. She has very weak damage and mobility, but she’s extremely hardy and offers very strong crowd control. As Johanna, your most likely cause of death is going to be the inevitable overconfidence that comes from being almost — but not entirely — invincible.

As Johanna, your job is to get into the thick of battle and stay there. Constantly fowl the enemy team with your crowd control abilities. Force them to turn their attention to you — and away from your more vulnerable team mates.

Punish can more or less be your bread and butter damage ability. Condemn is useful for grouping up enemies for your team mates’ AoEs or interrupting powerful channeled abilities, like Valla’s strafe or Li-Li’s jug of a thousand cups. Shield glare is always handy but shines the most against auto-attack heroes like Valla or Illidan, and in rare cases, its long range and ability to ignore walls can allow you to land kills that would otherwise be out of reach. Iron skin’s shield is handy, but its crowd control immunity is arguably even better.

This build focuses on Johanna’s existing strengths, making her the perfect tank.

1: Reinforce: Using basic abilities grants a stack of block, reducing enemy auto-attack damage.

Pretty self-explanatory.

4: Laws of hope: Increases health regeneration. Can also be activated to provide a quick burst of healing.

Johanna has a pretty strong survival toolkit to start with, but the one she lacks is self-healing. This addresses that. The passive healing lets you recover from mild to moderate damage between fights, while the activated ability gives you burst healing to survive in the heat of battle.

Note that the passive regeneration continues even when the ability is on cooldown.

7: Battle momentum: Auto-attacks reduce ability cooldowns.

A versatile talent that allows you to apply crowd control more consistently, get more use out of reinforce, and boost your (admittedly meager) damage.

10: Falling sword: Leap into the air and crash down a few seconds later, damaging and knocking effected enemies upward.

Strong arguments can be made for both of Johanna’s ultimates, but I prefer falling sword. It deals more damage and can hit more targets, and in a pinch, you can use it as an escape tool.

13: Hold your ground: Increases the shield provided by iron skin and reduces its cooldown if it is destroyed.

Another talent that lets you hang in the thick of things longer, reinforcing your role as a frontline brawler.

16: Holy renewal: Shield glare heals you for each hero hit.

This plus laws of hope serves to address Johanna’s lack of self-healing. The healing for each hero hit is actually pretty substantive, so if you hit most or all of the enemy team, you’ll heal for a huge chunk of health. It’s at this point that you really start to get in the “she just won’t die” realm.

20: Indestructible: Upon reaching zero health, gain a shield equal to your maximum health for a few seconds. Two minute cooldown.

The name says it all, really.

If you’re being hit hard enough for this to activate, odds are you just want to retreat. You might also be able to get in some quick healing with shield glare.

Sylvanas: Screaming Fury

General thoughts: Sylvanas is listed as a specialist, but I find she’s better played more like an assassin.

In theory, she has great push power, but she’s extremely squishy and her escape tool is difficult to use, so she melts under any kind of pressure. That means that while on paper your specialist toolkit is awesome, in practice you’ll only be accomplishing much pushing if the enemy team is dumb enough to ignore you.

Unlike most specialists, Sylvanas is usually not a good choice to solo a lane — which is something I dearly wish my team mates would understand.

She is, however, a great defensive specialist — that is, she can counter enemy pushes brilliantly. She’s one of the few good counters to a pushing Azmodan, for instance.

She has also has fantastic damage and can be a real asset in a team fight, unlike many other specialists. Just remember that you’re one of the most vulnerable heroes in the game. Rely on the support of your team and be cautious.

This build increases Sylvanas’ damage, making her as lethal as any true assassin.

1: With the wind: Increases withering fire’s range.

Where possible, I like to pick talents that have both offensive and defensive applications. Something Sylvanas excels at is hunting down wounded enemies and finishing them off, and with the wind enhances your ability to do that.

Meanwhile, it also allows you to put out strong damage from a greater distance, thus putting yourself at less risk. This is crucial when you’re as squishy as Sylvanas.

As Sylvanas, your best defense is a good offense.

4: Paralysis: Doubles the duration of black arrows.

This is my one specialist pick in the build. The default duration of black arrows is a bit weak, but this gives you all the extra power you need to completely shut down enemy minion waves.

It also allows you solo mercenary camps more effectively, but despite Sylvanas’ role as a specialist, I’d still recommend getting the help of team mates where possible, especially for bruiser camps.

7: Remorseless: Using an ability empowers your next basic attack.

As Sylvanas, you’ll be spamming withering fire almost constantly. That means remorseless amounts to a nearly constant increase to your already high auto-attack damage. You can ruin people with this talent.

Try to space out your withering fire shots so that there’s an auto-attack between each one.

10: Wailing arrow: Fire an arrow over a long distance. When it reaches the end of its path or you reactivate the ability, it explodes, dealing area damage and silencing enemy heroes.

Possession is wildly regarded as one of the game’s weakest ultimates, so wailing arrow is the default choice.

There are two many uses for it. One is to fire it in the middle of a team fight to silence as many opposing players as possible. The other is to use its range to finish off one or more low health enemies that would otherwise escape. Both good choices.

You can also use it to interrupt channeled spells, but this requires very good timing and aim due to wailing arrow’s relatively slow travel time.

13: Evasive fire: Withering fire increases your movement speed for a short time. Stacks.

As Sylvanas, mobility is crucial to offense and defense. You’ll be spending most of your time either chasing and harassing enemies, or running for your life. Evasive fire helps with both.

16: Cold embrace: Shadow dagger increases damage taken by enemies, but its range is reduced.

This can be useful for clearing minion waves, but it really shines against enemy heroes. It can win team fights outright, but even against single targets, it’s plenty useful.

20: Bolt of the storm: A targeted teleport on a cooldown.

Sylvanas has a teleport by default, but between how awkward it is to use, her extremely low health, and a lack of strong competition on this talent tier, bolt of the storm becomes the obvious choice.

If you read this blog often, you will remember that I did not have high hopes for MTV’s Shannara Chronicles, which adapts Terry Brooks’ Elfstones of Shannara into a TV series. Now at last the pilot has premiered, and despite my very low expectations, I gave it a try in the hopes my long quest for some good fantasy TV would be satisfied.

So what did I think?

Well, it’s not good news.

First, a little backstory for those who are new to Shannara.

The Shannara Chronicles is based on the Elfstones of Shannara, which was the second book of the original Shannara trilogy (or quartet if you count First King).

The heart of the story is the Ellcrys, a magical tree which seals away the forces of the Void, otherwise known as Demons, in a magical prison called the Forbidding. The Ellcrys is maintained by a sacred sect of Elves called the Chosen, but when the Ellcrys sickens, Demons begin to escape, and the Chosen are murdered.

Only one remains, Amberle Elessedil, having fled the Elven capitol of Arborlon shortly beforehand.

But though Amberle is the main character, the chief protagonist is Wil Ohmsford, scion of the legendary Shannara bloodline. Directed by the enigmatic druid Allanon, Wil must protect Amberle as she embarks on a quest to restore the Ellcrys.

Along the way, they also cross paths with and are joined by Eretria, a cocky young Rover (Gypsy) girl.

The TV series follows the same basic story, but right away, there are differences.

Now, anyone who knows me knows I’m not a stickler for continuity or staying slavishly true to source material. Stories change and evolve; I accept that.

But a lot of the changes in The Shannara Chronicles are just change for change’s sake. They serve no purpose; they don’t make the story more interesting or more suitable for television. Often they make the story less interesting.

For example, in the TV series, the rules surrounding the Chosen and the story of Amberle and her time in the order are completely different. A sacred and dignified ritual is transformed into some bizarre Hunger Games-esque bloodsport, and Amberle’s reasons for fleeing Arborlon are totally different, robbing the story of a crucial piece of foreshadowing and the heart of Amberle’s story.

And hey, let’s throw in some random sexism because why not!

Similarly, for no reason at all, the leader of the Demons is now not actually a Demon.

What? Why?

Seriously, why? That doesn’t serve any purpose at all. It does, however, defang the Demons quite a bit, and whatever other flaws Brooks’ early works might have had, his Demons were bloody terrifying. The fact that their leader is now a human just completely robs them of their alien horror.

The one change that is positive is that we see a lot more of the ruins of the old world — our world — than were in the books. In the books, the remnants of the old world are rarely seen, especially in the earlier parts of the series, but the fact the Four Lands are not some alternate world but actually our distant future is at this stage of the story the main thing distinguishing Shannara from any other generic high fantasy story, so I think they were smart to play it up.

A shame that it is purely a visual element and does not impact the story. Not so far, anyway.

Visuals are one aspect of the Shannara Chronicles that I cannot praise enough. This show is beautiful. The special effects and art design are second to none. It’s an absolute feast for the eyes from beginning to end.

Beyond that, though, I find little to compliment.

My biggest worry when I found out that MTV was doing this series was that it would be all flash and no substance, and unfortunately, I was right to worry.

Even by Hollywood standards, the cast of the Shannara Chronicles is absurdly pretty and clean. I’m not a fan of the school of fantasy where everything is brown and everyone is dirty, but this is the opposite extreme. I was particularly distracted by the fact that Amberle’s uncles appear to be approximately six months older than her.

Also, what is with the music? I don’t want to hear New Agey pop music in the middle of a medieval fantasy.

The dialogue is similarly entirely too laden with modern slang and idioms. And even that aside, it’s still pretty bad dialogue. Not Lucas bad, but bad.

Of all the show’s weaknesses, though, the biggest is the core cast, none of whom are particularly inspiring. Wil is just a pretty boy with no personality. Allanon is the biggest disappointment by far, being about thirty years younger and a hundred times more handsome than he ought to be while completely lacking the mystery and intensity I associate with the last druid.

I’m not sure how I’d rate Eretria. I find her absolutely insufferable, but I did in the book, too, so maybe that’s a win for the show?

Amberle is the only bright spot. She’s not great, but she offers no cause for complaint, at least. To borrow a phrase from my father, she’s the only one I can’t hear acting.

A lot of the minor cast members are actually pretty good, too — Wil’s uncle, Flick, is a pitch perfect match for how he was in the book — but being minor cast members, we don’t see enough of them for it to matter.

So in the end The Shannara Chronicles has almost exactly matched my expectations. I wish I had been wrong, but I was not.

If I could watch the show for free, I might give it another episode or two to see if it improves, but so far the only way to see it I’ve found is to buy episodes on Google Play, and it’s not worth the money. The pilot was two dollars and two hours that I dearly want back.

Overall rating: 4/10

Why is it so bloody hard to find decent fantasy on TV? It’s so rare to begin with, and what fantasy shows do exist are rarely of any quality. Once Upon a Time is wildly inconsistent, and it spends most of its time in our world, so even at its best it doesn’t entirely scratch the fantasy itch. The Shannara Chronicles, well, you just read the review. I don’t have any way of watching Game of Thrones, but for all its hype, the more I hear about it, the less appealing it sounds.

Sci-fi TV has a long and storied history of greatness. Why can’t television get fantasy right?

Here’s why this is a difficult show to review: This entire episode could have been condensed down into ten minutes, and nothing significant would have been lost. And I’m being generous with that ten minute estimate.

Holden and company receive an offer of help from an OPA terrorist, and despite the characters immediately acknowledging that they have no other options, half the episode is spent on their debating whether to take it.

The most noteworthy part of the episode comes from a series of flashbacks depicting the backstory of said terrorist, which manage to be both very brief and longer than they need to be. But at least they’ve got a good emotional punch.

Meanwhile, Miller painstakingly teases out a few other minor clues about Julie Mao — something that could have been done in a single scene. Which makes this most eventful episode for Miller to date by a wide margin.

And that’s it. How do I review this? What do I analyze? It takes serious talent to fill an hour with this much nothing.

I think it’s time I just give up on this show. We’re five episodes in, and it’s still going nowhere slowly. Even Stargate: Universe — the poster child for shows that sucked at first but then became awesome — was showing significant improvement by now. Maybe The Expanse will attain greatness sometime down the line, but at this point we’ve hit “life is too short to waste on this” territory.

Overall rating: 4/10 Like watching paint dry in slow motion.

Even though this blog is free, I feel like I’m ripping you off with just a two hundred word review, so now I’m just going to ramble incoherently for five hundred words or so.

Well, my father is always saying I should talk about music on the blog, so I guess I’ll talk about my awful, awful taste in music for a bit.

For the last several months, most of my musical attention/obsession has been focused on the most recent offerings from two of my favourite bands, Metric and Chvrches. Last September, within a week of each other, Metric put out their sixth album, Pagans in Vegas, and Chvrches released their second album, Every Open Eye.

I was a bit disappointed with Metric’s last album, Synthetica, but Pagans in Vegas has once again completely blown me away. After playing it safe with Synthetica, they’re trying new things again, and while some songs are clearly failed experiments (Cascades comes to mind), many are excellent.

Something else interesting about Pagans is that a lot of the songs feel like throwbacks to the many different sounds Metric has had over the years. Celebrate and Lie Lie Lie remind me of Old World Underground, whereas For Kicks sounds like the best of the Fantasies era.

But by far my favourite song on the album is The Governess, which is a clear throwback to their first album, Grow Up and Blow Away, in all its quirky and morose glory. That was and still is my favourite album, and I had long since despaired of them ever revisiting that style of music, so The Governess just fills me with happiness.

Probably doesn’t hurt that it always puts me in mind of a character from my current writing project, either.

Meanwhile, Every Open Eye turned out to not be quite as good as Chvrches’ first album, The Bones of What You Believe, but there are still more than a few strong tracks on it. In particular, the standout by far is Down Side of Me, an achingly beautiful and haunting song that is possibly my new favourite Chvrches song (which says a lot) and definitely Lauren Mayberry’s best vocal performance to date (which is also saying a lot).

I saw them live back in October, and let me tell you: Lauren is the real deal. Absolutely amazing performer, as well as an all around charming and lovely person.

…I sincerely apologize for subjecting you to all that.

Oh, and if you’re looking for a good mystery novel, I’d highly recommend The Cuckoo’s Calling by “Robert Galbraith” (who is of course really J.K. Rowling).

Actually, in theory, it’s not that good of a book. The twist at the end strains credibility, it relies on a lot of cheap tricks to maintain the mystery, and there isn’t a lot of drama or suspense. But the characters are colourful and fiercely likable, and the writing is just so excellent that it’s just a delight to read even despite its flaws.

You know, I was starting to feel like my alt addiction was finally coming under control. I haven’t started a new character in WoW in ages. I’ve only bothered to gear up my rogue in this expansion. In months of playing Elder Scrolls Online, I’ve never even been tempted to start another character.

Yet Star Wars: The Old Republic has triggered a severe relapse. Blame the unique stories for each class, I guess.

I’ve been experimenting with Republic classes. Trooper won the poll from my last post, so I tried it first, but after playing it through the first planet, I wasn’t overly enamored with it.

So that left the Jedi classes. I decided to do what I did with the Sith and play them both to about level ten.

What I had heard from others is that the consular story is pretty boring, while the knight plot is far more epic and exciting. Maybe that’s true later on, but to start with, I found the consular story a lot more compelling.

The initial knight storyline is just an incredibly straightforward “here are bad guys, go kill them” story. The consular’s has a certain degree of mystery to it. A lot of delving into lore and history and such.

I’ve also come to the conclusion I have a strong dislike for the male knight voice. Maybe I should have rolled female for that class.

Of course, I’d already experienced the mechanics of both classes while trying their Sith equivalents. I already knew I liked the knight/warrior mechanics. Yet something interesting happened with consular. A class that I disliked as a Sith was actually fairly fun as a Jedi.

Of course, they’re mechanically identical. Only aesthetically different. Yet somehow that’s enough.

I think a lot of it comes down to expectation. When I think Sith, I think unbridled fury. I want to wade into the fray and impose my will upon enemies. So when the inquisitor was more about force powers than lightsaber techniques, I was disappointed.

Yet Jedi are far more calm and spiritual. For them, it makes sense to focus more on mental disciplines.

Consular’s spells are also more based on telekinesis. Again, mechanically identical, but I find hurling giant rocks at people more interesting than the lightning powers of the Sith, which end up feeling like what you’d see from any mage class in any other MMO.

So not only do the consular’s force powers not bother me as they did with the inquisitor, I even ended up choosing the sub-class more focused on spellcasting.

I have been noticing for a while that — at least for me — role-play and head canon can make a big difference in how I play and what I enjoy in games.

For example, as a rule, I’m not fond of farming for resources or putting much effort into crafting. Yet I’ve been spending a lot of time doing just that in Elder Scrolls Online. Part of this is due to ESO making that a more rewarding activity in general, but a lot of it is down to the simple fact I play a Bosmer. It makes sense for a tribal hunter-gatherer to be living off the land and gathering and crafting her own supplies.

I noticed something similar in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Playing as a Dalish Keeper, I didn’t mind so much harvesting supplies from the wilderness. Again, it’s just what they do. Whereas on my Qunari, I really did view it as nothing but a chore.

I’m sure I could think of lots of other examples of RP altering my play preferences. I know it influences my zone choices in WoW. I wonder if anyone else finds this to be the case? It’s probably just me being weird again.

So, anyway, right now, it’s looking like my Republic main is going to be a Jedi sage. Right now I’m playing him mainly light side, though I don’t plan to be too rigid about it. I will definitely deviate from the Jedi Code from time to time, because there are some aspects of the Jedi philosophy that are just so powerfully stupid and wrong-headed I could never force myself to follow them.

My general thinking is he is a proper spiritually enlightened type. Taking a bit of inspiration from the Diablo crusader. He’s calm, wise, and compassionate, but still down to earth and approachable, with a good sense of humour — I like taking snarky conversation options where possible.

Meanwhile, I also decided to go back to the inquisitor long enough to finish Korriban — mainly for the payout of Cartel Coins, paltry though it may be — and now I’m wondering if maybe I do want to play it after all, despite my previously deciding to focus on the warrior.

I still wish for more lightsaber-focused abilities, but maybe what I have is enough. And I really like both the story and the voice acting for the inquisitor. Warrior story and voice acting are decent so far, but inquisitor really grabs me.

But I really do like Vette…

As an aside, I realize this is somewhat subjective, but it seems to me like the first companion for almost every class, well, sucks. I’ve played six classes far enough to get a companion, and of them all, Vette is the only initial companion I like. Qyzen and Khem are bland one-note characters, Kaliyo is an unrepentant psychopath, Aric is just a prick, and the first Jedi knight companion is an appliance.

Companions are also my only major reservation about choosing consular over knight, because I know knight gets Jaina Proudmoore as a companion later on.

(Yeah, I know her name is Laura Bailey, but she’ll always be Jaina to me.)

Agh, I’m so confused. I want to play everything!

A new writing gig:

In other news, I have just started on a new game writing gig. From here on in, I’ll be contributing regular content to the newly launched site MMOBro. My first contribution is Six MMOs to Watch in 2016. From fresh titles to older games with exciting new developments.