Diablo 3 / Season 11 Update

~ Insomnia176 ~ Leave a comment

d3 s11 witch doctor

I started playing Season 11 of Diablo 3 over the last weekend, and as of Sunday night, I hit level 70. Monday night/Tuesday morning, I’ve reached Chapter 4 of the seasonal journey and Paragon level 20. I’ve received 4 pieces of the seasonal gear set, with the last 2 pieces, as well as the Season 11 portrait frame and pet coming if I can complete the tasks presented in Chapter 4.

If none of this makes since, then I’m sorry that you’ve never had the satisfaction of playing Diablo 3! While I assume most people probably launched into the season with the newly released Necromancer, I used the Rebirth option and took my old Witch Doctor into the Season as fresh as a newborn baby. That is his stats in the image at top, and for the record, the 74 hours and 50 minutes that show as his play time is the accumulative hours since I created him a couple of years ago.

I’ve played half way through a couple of seasons several years ago, but never felt the urge to complete one. Last season, though, I settled in and played all the way through with a Demon Hunter, and I had a blast! Each seasonal character starts fresh, at level one, with no gear, experience or gold. You go in as if you had just loaded up the game for the first time. There are a series of 10 tasks per chapter (there are 4 chapters) that you must complete in any order to progress and earn the rewards that are set forth at the beginning of the season. You can only earn these rewards on one character per season, yet you may run as many characters as you’d like through the seasonal journey – but only one will walk away with the prizes, which are usually a 6 piece armor set, a portrait frame and a cosmetic pet.

If you want to use a pre-existing character that you’ve already learned and played with, you can select Rebirth at the seasonal screen. No matter the level, gear, or money of this character, it will start back at level 1 empty handed. Fear not, though, all that gear, levels and gold will be waiting for you once the season is over. See, at the end of each season, the character you created/Rebirthed,  will be added back to your regular roster of characters, along with any money and items you’ve accumulated.

It really is fun! I know it may not sound like it, but Blizzard knows how to keep people coming back to the well for their games, and Seasons in Diablo 3 is no different. Even better, I hear they’ve added Seasons to the console versions, as well. Everyone can enjoy the gear grind no matter their platform (except mobile, of course. Sorry, folks.)

I’m hoping to complete Chapter 4’s quests by the end of the week, time permitting, and collect my final rewards. If I can, this will be my 2nd season completed, and I can’t wait for Season 12, already.

9 1/2 Years

~ Insomnia176 ~ 1 Comment

I checked my archives to be sure, and my first post for this blog goes back to January of 2008. That was the year I decided to try my hand at a blog on MSN Spaces, which went down the pipes a few years later. Seeing their demise, MSN Spaces allowed users to download their blog for safe keeping, or offered to transfer it to another site, free of charge. And that’s the story of how I became a WordPress user, in a nutshell.

For 9 1/2 years I’ve written irregularly on this blog about pretty darn much everything. From reposting news stories to my rambling reviews of movies and books. I’ve posted deep thoughts that may have sounded ignorant, inexperienced or immature to others. But I shared. It was pretty darn personal, at times, and while I might have been embarrassed to share as much face-to-face, the distance between me and your monitors made all the difference.

A Jack of All Trades, Master of None could be used to describe me and my blog, I suppose. I’ve tried my hand at it all. Lately, though, I’ve fallen away from writing/blogging because I just haven’t felt the pull to do so. I take that as a sign that I’m not doing something I find interesting enough to talk about. Or maybe I’m tired of talking about the same things over and over, just as you’re surely tired of reading about them. So, I asked myself yesterday – as a matter of fact – what’s next? Do I try to revive this nearly 10 year-old blog that I’ve poured random willy-nilly tidbits of information into, or do I try my hand at something new? Nooooo, not vlogging, we all know I can’t maintain that, either. I’m just not a video person. I have a face made for radio, as the saying goes.

A new blog, perhaps. Maybe it’s time for me to imitate one of my heroes, The Doctor, and regenerate into my next form. But what is the next me? What do I really want to blog about that I feel would keep my attention for awhile longer? And what about the 9 1/2 years of baggage this blog hauls along behind it in the Archives? Hmm. I may not be a real Time Lord, but maybe I need to study up a tiny bit more before I give in and let the golden blast of reformative energy transform me.

It’ll Be Too Late for Regrets

~ Insomnia176 ~ 3 Comments

I was reminded tonight that I “use” to do X, Y, Z, in the past. I “use” to be like this, that, the other, in the past. That’s all true and good. I did “use” to do those things and be that way.

Know what else I “use” to do/be, in the past?

I use to be 26 years old at the time in question. I was ignorant of the world even at that ripe old age. I had a good job and making money I could blow every weekend. I had a wife I loved and would do anything for, and the most awesome son in the world. There were times when we would put our new baby to bed and sit up at night playing Canasta, Aggravation or watch a movie. We’d eat popcorn, have a Coke and just hang out together.

I never worried about house payments, medical bills that keep piling up, being laid off from a job I’ve been at for over 15 years. I was 128 pounds lighter, wore clothes I liked, enjoyed other people’s company even when I didn’t act like it. I was able to get around better, didn’t get winded standing up from sitting down, wasn’t on blood pressure medicine with the threat of a heart attack looming around every corner. My joints and bones didn’t ache and I could sit down and stand up without groaning and listening to my knees pop and grind. I never had to worry about getting the money to have a new roof put on, new windows, doors, building on a spare room, keeping 2 vehicles running. I never had to wonder when I could just sit at home with my family and watch a movie or play a card game or eat popcorn – all of us together at the same time – without having to synchronize our schedules or wonder if one of us was going to be rushing through it to get to the next “thing” we needed to do.

A lot has changed. But a few things are still the same. I still have a wife I love and would do anything for, and now I have 2 of the most awesome sons in the world. And sometimes, in the early hours of the morning when I first open my eyes and see daylight peeking through the slits of our bedroom blinds, “sometimes,” I still feel a ray of hope and all the cares of the world are lifted from my shoulders.

But yeah, nothing will ever be like it was back then. It’s not meant to. And when I am confronted with how much “I’ve” changed, I wonder if anyone else realizes that “I’m” not the only one. That’s life, I guess. We all live it. Every day. It don’t stop, but when it does, it’s too late to take back any regrets.

Love y’all. Be good.