Welp, Now We Know

The first impact of Chris Metzen's hiring as a Special Executive Something-or-other by Blizzard has been felt, and it is somewhat underwhelming.

Sorry kids, this is a facsimile.
From the Blizzard store.

Yes, it's a limited edition print of Grom Hellscream signed by Chris Metzen.

Sorry, it's already sold out.

I have to imagine some marketer at Blizzard is counting the profit from these cash store items, thinking that this is like shooting fish in a barrel. Or to put it another way, there will always be whales around in Blizzard's space, which also explains the success of Diablo Immortal.

"What Ho!"*

Last Saturday, my son, his SO, and I made a trip about 45 miles north of us along I-71 to attend the Ohio Renaissance Festival for the day.

I picked them up at their apartment around 10:30 and we headed in a northeastern direction. The weather had cooled off so that the high temps were in the low 60s (16-17 Celsius) with partly cloudy skies. After a month's worth of temperatures in the mid-80s to low-90s (30-32 Celsius) it sounded fantastic.

Apparently it did to everybody else, too:

When we got off the highway we were stuck in traffic for 2 miles until we reached the entrance. Along the way we were watching the capacity information on the Ren Fest's website, and by the time the photo above was taken they were expecting 90% capacity at the park grounds. I grew increasingly nervous as the line dragged on, because I realized they might reach capacity and we'd be out of luck, but we eventually parked and got in line to get into the park itself.**

I ran on ahead and got in line for tickets, as this line turned out to be the line for season pass holders, and then we got into the park itself.

On warmer days, there are Faire people
on the ramparts heckling the crowd as they
enter, but I guess they had the afternoon off.

The mythical Elizabethan town, Willy-Nilly On-The-Wash, is the home of the Faire. Queen Elizabeth herself is in attendance, along with her court, and she attends the jousts that are held in the center of the Faire. 

The leaves partially obscure the Queen
and her Court.

If you've ever been to a so-called Renaissance Festival --I say 'so-called' because these festivals aren't exactly what I'd call authentic but more in the spirit of an Elizabethan faire-- you know that there's jousting, shows, music, vendors, and food. And plenty of people dressed up in what SCA-dians call "garb" to more fully immerse themselves in the experience.

Not sure how I managed it, but these
slice-of-life photos of the crowd somehow
managed to have at least one person turning
and looking right as I snapped the pic.

See what I mean?

But there were crowds. Holy crap, were there crowds.

I might have to invest in a selfie stick so
I can get a higher angle of the scope of the crowd.

Before you ask, no, I did not make it to the Mud Show this time around. That's fine, because I caught a couple of other shows, including a fire show:

If you have trouble seeing it, trust me...
The fire is real.

There were also artisans there, such as this person working with glass sculpture:

This is not the same as the glass blower,
who was in another part of the Faire.

Still, it felt kind of weird being here after having been away for six years. Admittedly one of those years the Renaissance Festival was closed due to the Pandemic (2020), and I wasn't interested in attending in 2021 due to the potential aftereffects of said Pandemic, but the other years? Well, with kids going away to college and my wife simply not being interested in going any more***, I couldn't really justify driving up and wandering around by myself for an afternoon. I mean, I could do it, but it wouldn't be the same as attending with friends or family.

The Faire has been around for about 33 years, and over that time the trees have all grown and matured, buildings have been added, and activities have sprung up. Those trees ringing the jousting area above? They weren't there six years ago. Actually, the area behind where we were standing was an open field for about half a football field's length until you ran into the food vendors and bathrooms, but now... Well, it's all filled up to the point where it felt like you really were in a small town. 

Feels like something right out
of M.A.S.H., which really dates me.

"About a third of these buildings weren't even here six years ago," I mentioned to my son. 

"Yeah, it's really grown up a lot," he replied.

Still, some of the places have been around forever, and it felt like seeing an old friend when I came across them.

Such as this vendor. They specialize in
wooden swords and shields.

There were other vendors that did not want photos taken of their work, which was a shame, but I respected their requests. Among them were the weapons vendors, metalworks and leatherworks, clothiers, and jewelry vendors. 

But you still couldn't escape the crowds. Holy crap were the crowds impressive. 

No, Bourbon Chicken isn't period, but
that's fine. If this were period, we might all
be eating trenchers, I suppose, which 
would not be that healthy for someone 
with my health issues.

For someone who isn't a big fan of crowds, I just kind of hung in there, but it was the parking and direction where the crowds' impact was felt the most. 

When we got off the highway, it took us 40-45 minutes to crawl along 2 miles to finally park. And on the way out, it took us 45 minutes just to leave the parking area. I do know that several people wearing "Parking" shirts/vests were unceremoniously relieved of duty by one of their superiors when it became obvious that they had no idea how to organize traffic flowing out of the park. Their situation wasn't helped by the rent-a-cops who were giving priority to cars already on the road rather than letting people leave the parking area. 

I do know that there's been a bit of contention between the community that the Festival grounds are on and the Fest's management; the Fest wants to expand amenities, such as running water, electricity, cell phone service, etc. and the community is less concerned about that and more concerned about taking in their cut of taxes from all of the Faire goers. So... There's issues there, but that's also the price of success. The place is a destination location of 200,000 visitors annually, although I think this year they're probably going to smash that record.

Still, one last item that you might find amusing, this car that I saw while walking back to our car:

I was amused.

*If you've ever seen The Swordsmen's comedy act, they use that as a greeting.

**On Sunday, they reached capacity and had to turn people away from the entrance. Kind of wild if you ask me.

***She used to like going, but that all changed when the kids were little. She began to complain about the shows all being the same, everything costs too much, etc. etc. Considering she says that about practically everything --including Gen Con, in case you were wondering-- I pretty much have given up on trying to get her to go with me. In some ways, despite her not having grown up in Cincinnati, she has become the archetypal West Sider, with the only difference being that unlike the older hardcore West Siders she doesn't have any money stashed away in a coffee can in the backyard. I mean, there are some lines that should never be crossed.

Meme Monday: Miscellaneous Memes (Once Again)

Yeah, I know, it's a cop out, but I really don't have a theme for today. So, I'll post a bunch of memes that I've kind of stored up for a rainy day.

And no, it's not raining here in our little corner of the Midwest, but hey, I'm sticking with it.

I really like this one. Sometimes, the
DM has gotta do what they've gotta do.
From Pinterest.

Something like this happened last night,
when I had a dream that I was supposed to
provide a Top Ten list for various marching
bands and I had to put everything together during
the presentation itself. Needless to say, it
did not go well. From Happier.

This has been my eternal struggle. I liken
it to writing too many words that you then
have to cull later. 
From funny memes.

I've been there. They effing HURT.
From shaneplays.

Death Comes for the Unwary

I seem to have a mental block.

I start a toon on a Classic WoW Hardcore Server, get past the initial wave of potential deaths, and...

Ouch.

Deathwyn Mk. 1 and Mk. 3 died on the same mobs, the middle of the pack Defias, at Level 14 and 13 respectively.*

After a day of stewing in my own juices, I decided to create Deathwyn Mk. 4, and she very nearly died early because I was being stupid and jumped down to where a lone Kobold was, only to suddenly find myself surrounded by respawns. At that point I just bailed and ran away, not caring about the loot that potentially dropped.**

But that's the thing: at L13 through L15 I believe something clicks on in my head saying, "You've got this, you know what to do, and you can run away easily if need be. Relax a bit..."

That's bad news.

The Hardcore Challenge servers are a bit different than regular servers for one big reason: the respawns are SO FAST. That makes normal questing fraught with danger, and given that you have only one life, you have to treat every attack as if it might be your last. 

I need to play more conservatively, take fewer risks, and acknowledge that in HC servers just surviving is a victory. Maybe once I can get to L20 I can start to relax a bit, but you never know.

*Deathwyn Mk. 2 died to a murloc at L9 because I'd kill it, it would immediately respawn and attack, and I eventually ran out of both health potions and mana. After about the fourth respawn I was surrounded by other respawns and I was saying out loud "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME!"

**When I managed to come back a bit later, I discovered it was a 6 slot bag. Woo hoo!

Meme Monday: Ren Faire Memes

It's Autumn, so that means that the Ohio Renaissance Festival is in full swing.

The joust from back in 2016. I last attended in 2017, but
it was a gloomy last weekend of the Festival, and I didn't
have a lot of good photos to choose from.

So, I figured why not have a Meme Monday about Ren Fest memes?

I mean, "Yeet!"
Whatever. From Pinterest.

My mom never said my face would
freeze in that position if I did that;
that was from moms of the previous
generation. From Quickmeme.

One highlight of the Ohio Ren Fest is the
Time Travelers' Weekend. They were doing
it before it showed up on The Big Bang Theory.
From @Sleestak on... Whatever the hell it's called now.

One drawback to the Ohio Ren Fest is that
if you're a history nerd, a SCAdian, or just
a geek in general, you're going to find stuff
to buy. LOTS of stuff.
From @a_very_odd_fellow from...
That place again.

And you can't talk about any Ren Faire
without admitting that all the women in garb
are pleasing to the eye. Huzzah!
From memeguy.

And one bonus meme:

Truth. For us, it's a 45 minute drive
back home. I pity those for whom it's
a couple of hours or more.
From Reddit and The Princess Bride.

A Side-Eye at 4Chan Rumors

I'm not exactly a fan of 4Chan.

Okay, that's not news; the few times I've ever been over there I've come out of that place and felt like I needed a shower, not to mention a full AV system scan of my PC*.

That being said, someone claiming to be a Blizzard insider posted some "leaks", and it was quickly picked up and distributed via Reddit:

You'll have to click on this and get to the original
if you want to be able to read it.
From Reddit (and, you know, that place).

Some of this appears to me to be blatantly false.

I mean, the whole "Cataclysm Classic is not in the works" is not the case. The surveys that Blizz put out --and I'm one of the recipients about 9 months ago-- all indicated that Cataclysm Classic was a done deal. There were no options in the survey I received to say "I'm not playing Cata Classic". It was all about "what features did you like in Cataclysm that you're looking forward to in Cata Classic". One of the items, interestingly enough, that wasn't even an option was "the World revamp". I kind of expected that to at least be there, but I was surprised when that wasn't even on the list of items to look forward to.

Another item that I consider to be false is the interest that Microsoft has in "breaking up Blizzard". Now, I would totally agree with Microsoft deciding to move toward a more work-from-home environment and selling off some of Blizzard's high cost property in California, but breaking them up completely? I don't think we're at that point yet. I could see Diablo Immortal (or is that Immoral?) being moved over to King, because it's a mobile title and it should go to the mobile studio, but Blizzard's classic properties will, for the near future, stay within the Blizzard house. Judging by how Microsoft has handled Zenimax, as in "they didn't touch it at all", I presume they'll do the same for Activision Blizzard. At least at first.

That being said, some of these assertions do ring true. 

The most obvious one to me, and probably drives certain Retail purists nuts**, is that "WoW Classic has moder [sp] players than Retail World of Warcraft right now."

I mean, duh. Between Hardcore Challenge servers --which are always full-- and the steady play of people in Era and Wrath Classic, Retail's appeal is to a smaller slice of the overall WoW pie. 

Another item I find to be (mostly) true is the assertion that "Dragonflight is the remains of a cancelled mobile game co produced with chinese [sp] partners that was bolted onto World of Warcraft to pad a massive gap after the catastrophic response to patch 9.1. This lead to a ship [sp?] in tone that the players have noticed and found off putting." Oh, not that all of Dragonflight is from a mobile game, but that the Dragonriding portion is. Given how much promotion that Dragonriding has gotten --and continues to get-- it's pretty obvious it's a core part of Retail's experience right now. If you told me that the Crafting Orders system is also from a WoW themed mobile game, I'd believe that one as well. I could easily see a WoW Dragonriding mobile game, with Crafting Orders being a way to "improve" your dragon and provide an impetus for microtransactions. As for the change in tone, well... people have been complaining about the ever increasing power of the "big bads" in Retail WoW, and Dragonflight (at least at first) seemed like a bit of a soft reset in that area. If the Retail community in general is conditioned to fight "the big bad that the previous big bad was scared of", then Dragonflight definitely can be off-putting. 

But hey, if nothing else, this little kernel of.... something.... from 4Chan got me interested enough to post about it.

*I would set it up and let it run overnight and check in the morning.

**I'm pretty sure that if I say his name three times, like Beetlejuice, he'll appear and tell me that I'm an idiot for liking an old version of the game. So, I'm going to keep my mouth shut in that regard. At least Gevlon won't suddenly appear and rain on everybody's parade, since we're all slackers to him.

Meme Monday: Rite of Passage Memes

My youngest and I share music* on a regular basis. I'll send her an email with a few pieces of music that I like, and she returns the favor. 

This whole thing began with a text from her having recently discovered Stevie Ray Vaughan from one of her classes, and I used the opportunity to pull out various versions of Jimi Hendrix' Little Wing** so that we could compare the different interpretations of the same song. It has since snowballed into a wide variety of pieces covering a lot of different genres.

Over the weekend, we had another exchange which was inspired by Russ Ballard --hmm, another subject of a post in the future-- but my first exposure to Russ Ballard was when I got my first boom box:

Yes, this exact model. Why we got it via
the catalog and not from a Sears store is because
it cost $149 at the store.
Screenshot taken from the 1984 Sears
Spring/Summer Catalog. 

Getting your first stereo, whether it's a boom box or an-all-in-one shelf system, was a rite of passage for a teenage boy back in the day. I realize that getting your driver's license and your first car was probably higher on people's bucket list, but before you could get that you likely got your first boom box first. 

So, in honor of that first boom box, I present some memes about rites of passage:

And it must be said that with the how tight
shorts were back then, "roasting your nuts"
is pretty damn accurate. From Reddit.

Well, yeah. Been there, and I don't feel
bad about it either. From GetYarn (and Lucifer).

Pretty self explanatory. I just
realized that for an entire generation of
kids, Emma Watson was their first crush
in the same way that Carrie Fisher was for mine.
From Starecat.com (and the HP movies).

And, of course, in Florida the rites
of passage are a WEE bit different.
From MemeDroid.

*Via YouTube; I don't subscribe to a music streaming service. Although, I guess it could be argued that our membership in our local public radio stations entitles me to stream their stations guilt free. And that way, I even get access to their HD2 station, a Jazz format, without having to purchase an HD radio.

**Here's the original:

And then in the 80s, recorded at roughly the same time, is the version by Sting, Branford Marsalis, and Gil Evans, from Sting's Nothing Like The Sun album:

...and Stevie Ray Vaughan's version from the Legacy Edition of Couldn't Stand the Weather: