Back from the dead.  Or rather, back from the cottage.

I was lucky this year, in that I was able to spend a long time working remotely from the cottage, with the odd trip back to down to meet some VPs.  It meant that I woke up, took 5 minutes to make a coffee and then I was off to the races.   When work was done, I was 2 minutes away from the boat in order to de-stress.  During the working hours, I stared at the water; a different type of clock watching I suppose.  All of that with the family around me.  It was a good month.  The downside is that I won’t get any summer vacation, and I’m truly feeling it.  Without the ability to fully wind down, it feels a bit like treading water some days.  But the big project date is at the end of September and I’ll take some time after that.

I should also mention that my beer diet went well.  There is something magical about having a cold one on a boat, or around a fire.  Now to shed that excess!

Diablo 3 – Season 11

I usually go back at the start of every season, run a few folks up to 70 and get to T10 or so.  I’ve been playing a monk since the start, and they are always a solid go-to each season.

This season is different, as a necromancer is available to play.  I am not a big fan of pet builds, and from 1-70, I don’t think any of type of build is actually viable.  Anyhow, I took one from 1-70, all natural (no paragon, or gems) to get a feel for it.  It feels a whole lot like a Witch Doctor, but with Corpse Explosion.  I am just not far enough in the gearing to try out other types of builds, to get a proper feel for the interactions between skills.  It’s certainly nostalgic, I’ll grant that.

In the meantime, I got a DH up to 70 and T4.  He’ll farm what needs to be farmed in order to kit out the necro.  Usually I set up a monk for farming, but a DH is a decent alternative due to their clear speed and sheer ease of use.  I’m thinking another 10 hours or so and that should be more than enough to get back to the necro.

Related, there’s a good article from Jason Shreirer on how D3 was saved by Blizzard on Kotaku. Now, I’m not going to outright say that getting rid of Jay Wilson was what really saved the game, but it’s pretty clear that the majority of the game design decisions for the first iteration were approved by him, and subsequently thrown out when he left.  It almost makes one forget Error 37.  Almost.