Emerald Nightmare

          Finally some hard content! And you know, I'm not talking about raids.  I'm talking about Mythic+ dungeons. But lets look on the raid first - Emerald Nightmare.

          First tier obviuosly must be easy, but I suppose Blizzard oversimplified EN. I believe, problem is the gear which was so easy to get. It actually wasnt that difficult to achieve 850+ ilvl, but raids were tuned for much lower ilvl, so casual people wont complain about difficulty. Only last boss provided some challenge. So here it is:

          1) Nythendra - 9th try, 4/10 - not as easy as Kargath once was, but still quite easy. Watch for explosive insects on the floor - this was our main source of wipes.

          2) Il'gynoth - 8th try, 3/10 - this will be a pain in Mythic definitely. Another a-lot-of-tentacles guy.

          3) Ursoc - 9th try 4/10 - Butcher\Patchwerk of Legion.

          4) Dragons of Nightmare - 3th try, 2/10 - very easy, this should be the first boss, not Nythendra. I think Blizzard undertuned this boss in the fear of people might get confused over amount of dragons.

          5) Elerethe Renferal - 20th try, 5\10 - first difficult boss, amount of things you have to watch for is a bit overwhelming - poison pools, spiders, tornadoes. And after all the flies to another platform and people miss the web and fall into abyss :) On our second kill this will be easier, I bet, but for now it is difficult.

          6) Cenarius - 25th try, 6\10 - another difficult boss. You have to work out your own tactic.

          7) Xavius - 5th try, 5\10 - surprisingly easy for the last boss. No idea why, but Blizzard really undertuned this one. Nowhere near as Imperator Mar'Gok once was.

          Overall I'm quite happy with this new raid, especially environments - looks really beautiful - corrupted Mulgore, corrupted Un'Goro, but the best of all is corrupted Moonglade - this is really awesome! Looks like a vortex with Cenarius in the middle. Though the last boss is the real disappointment - even the location you fight with him is so dull - I wonder who even made such blank space? What is the fun? At least after his defeat you may see something beautiful again - the real Emerald Dream, I wanted to see it since Vanilla :) Marvellous!

Always be the first

          Actually I'm not sure you can use such loud words in WoW, but anyways :) I've made my preparations to raids - I've achieved maximum possible gear for me, and now I'm top1 mage on my server :)

          Xavius, here I come! :P

Legendary!

          YAY, my first legendary! :) A little sad that it is not bracers, since two main mages from us three got bracers, and it really helps DPS-wise. (a lot of shit in my bags I know )))

Rolling into Fire

          I made my preparations before Legion - pots, flasks, bandages etc. I planned the way I was going to level, but the hardest decision was about what class to play - either it Mage or Demon Hunter. I enjoyed to play DH a lot, but this is one more melee class. From Cata raids are known to be unfriendly to melee, and there are many melee classes already. Also, my mage was better geared - I raided Mythics after all. But the main reason to stay on my Mage was Simcraft DPS charts - Mages were top DPS, while DH was only near the top. Today things are simple - it does not matter who you are - demolock, frost mage, or owl - you DPS more - the spot in the raid is yours.

          Definitely, you can achieve some nice DPS when using your toolkit right.

          However, Blizzard are well known for nerfing classes in the mid of the addon. In the past you could just roll to another spec, even if your gear was not right - say full crit, when you need full haste. But in the Legion things became worse - thanks to the Artifact system. You cannot just roll into, say, Frost from Fire if your Frost artifact is level 1.

          Firemages are already expirienced several nerfs, and, well, now I understand why. Actually we are still in a pretty good spot. Firemages cannot perform well with bad gear, but after 850+ ilvl and 60% crit we start to shine. And the change of the Combustion made this spell from very clunky quite useful and easy to understand. Even despite we are being outdpsed by DH's in every single encounter, especially in AoE situations I still do not regret of making a choice to pick a Mage.

p.s. Also I want to provide a screenshot of another instance I havent expirienced on Beta - Court of Stars - looks amazing! But require a lot of Nightfallen rep though.

Gold farm

          In the beginning of every addon it is obvious that crafting materials will cost a lot. You either spend your gold to aquire best crafting gear (such as Darkmoon trinkets for example) or make a lot of money selling things, assuming you levelled very fast. I'm gonna share one secret here, no idea how this will work on your realm though. The key to making gold today is Obliterum. Yes, yes, that thing upgradung your gear up to 850. It is obvious that hardcore raiders will spend a lot of gold on these (and they have it), but you need it too for your gear. I decided to sell it for now, because you have plenty of time to aquire gear from instances, you will be able to waste obliterum later - before raids start. But people are buying it. Thing is - if you find a method of easy Obliterum you gonna be rich. And it seems I've found one :)

Mage class campaign

          I've just completed mage class campaign - took me 5 days. Advice - watch for follower quests :)

Dungeons in Legion

          Gearing rush in coming to an end as well as my vacations :)
          Once again I must admit that this expansion is the best addon so far - there is so much things you can do, dozen of ways you can gear up yourself, so you really wont get bored.
          I had a week of vacations and I was able to complete: 100-110 levelling, part of Order Hall campaign, unlock World Quests, acquire enough gear to queue for heroics and complete all heroic dungeons (obv. except Suramar ones), and set my foot into Mythic dungeons.

          I was even able to complete Vault of Wardens - toughest instance of all.

          By the way, I planned to do this in Beta, but did do it, so I want to do it now - to range all instances from easiest to hardest. I will speak about my Mythic experience from Beta, except Suramar dungeons, which I wasn't able to visit since I haven't manage to achieve reputation requirements.

          1) Violet Hold - probably easiest of all, situated in Dalaran

          2) Eye of Azshara - I believe this will be the first Mythic+10 instance people will be able to complete. Bosses are quite easy, the last one - The Wrath of Azshara is not hard too - just avoid shit and DPS.

          3) Darkheart Thicket - where Xavius making his first appearance with his shadow :)

          4) Neltharion's Lair - long instance of medium difficulty, 4 bosses, all are quite easy, its the trash that can cause problems.

          5) Halls of Valor - another long instance, probably longest of all. Bosses are easy, except the last one - Odyn, he has several one-shot mechanics, also he prohibits to resurrect in combat - one hit - you are out of fight.

          6) Black Rook Hold - and another long instance. TBH even after several runs I cannot understand where to go there, map is really confusing. Medium difficulty of bosses.

          7) Maw of Souls - this is amazing instance except the part of its difficulty :) Bosses are tough, especially the last one - Helya. You must pay attention to many things - 2 types of AoE and tentacles

spawning beneath you. Problem is you cannot focus on both things, since AoE comes from above and tentacles from below - believe me, you will wipe good amount of times before you work it out.
          8) Vault of Wardens - this is the most difficult instance of The Legion. Trash mobs are few, but tough - named trash. Bosses are tough, to fight Inquisitor is really frustrating, but the last boss - Cordana Felsong is on par with heroic raid bosses - 5 phases, several one-shot mechanics - very hard.

          Yeah, that's it, so far it was very fun :)

Level 110!

          Man, I remember when I created the same post about level 100 :D Now its 2 years and 10 levels later :)

          This was absolutely amazing! Blizzard kept their word and made launch very smooth! I logged online with my m8's at 7 AM (Russian time) - 5 hours after release. We decided not to start at 2 AM because there was to point to rush.

          First reason was that login server would definitely be overloaded, despite game servers themselves does not lag, another reason - we thought Blizzard will allow people to storm Mythic dungeons at Tuesday - to receive additional loot, but they simply decided not to refresh instance locks for this week.

          The idea to make all mobs scale with your level was great - no longer all thousands of players storm this poor NPC to complete his first quest - now you can start anywhere you want. We decided to go this way: Hightmountain (because there is a lot of quests close ot each other - from my exp from Beta) -> Azsuna (because of profession quests you can complete along with your normal quests) -> Val'Shara (small zone with many quests). After 3 zones and several dungeons we should have to be level 110 - well, mostly it was true, although several Stormheim quests were still required.

 

          To level as Frost was definitely hard - I remember from my Beta exp that on higher levels mobs become quite tough, but as a DH you could dash away, you had powerful healing, all your abilities are instacast! As a mage to cast 2 seconds Frostbolts that hits for 60k on 800k HP mob is dreadfully painful.

          It took us 16 hours to level to the max. We didn't rush it, nor we slacked. It of course much better than 30-hours marathon of lag in WoD.

         

The last day before the Legion

       
          This is the last day before the Legion, cant wait for the next addon to start :) Do you feel the hype? Because I do :D This time I didn't plan to powerlevel - there is really no point.
          Do you remember the beginning of the WoD? It seems it was just yesterday when we stormed our road to level 100 through laggy WoD zones.
          Now, bye-bye WoD, it was fun, and see you tomorrow in the Legion ;)

Я поступил!

          Сегодня начинается новый этап в моей жизни - я поступил в МГУ! 5 месяцев подготовки, много прочитанных книг, сложные экзамены, и вот - сбылось то, о чем я мечтал с детства. Мне всегда казалось, что МГУ - это такой самый великий храм науки, место где собираются лучшие и умнейшие люди страны люди страны, ещё с детства когда я слышал или видел шпиль здания МГУ мне казалось - это мечта! Это лучшее место где можно оказаться! У многих моих знакомых после окончания МГУ очень успешно сложилась жизнь, вот и я надеюсь, что меня в скором будущем ждут новые приключения!

          Я пишу это сообщение спустя некоторое время, когда эмоции уже поутихли. Я хочу рассказать о том, как прошло мое поступление и почему я вообще решился идти в МГУ.

          После окончания РХТУ - ВУЗа где я получил свое первое высшее образования - я чувствовал, что мне чего-то не хватает. Я учился на заочном, и параллельно работал - работы было много, и учеба отошла на второй план. А учитывая качество заочного образования и почти полное отсутствие практики, могу сказать, что вынес я, к сожалению, не много. Кроме того, честно признаюсь, химия мне не особо нравилась. Да, в школе химия была моим любимым предметом, наряду с биологией и математикой, мне очень нравилось, когда смешиваешь один бесцветный и прозрачный раствор с другим, а в итоге получаешь, к примеру, ярко-желтую взвесь. Но в реальности всё оказалось не так здорово. Когда я поступал, я не понимал толком куда иду - да и что можно понимать в 16 лет. Вместо ярких растворов меня встретила довольно вонючая органика (в 99% случаев бесцветная), зубодробительный сопромат и механика. В общем - это как то не моё. Интересно было только на последних курсах, когда пошли занятия непосредственно по фармацевтическим дисциплинам. Да и там больше не про механизмы действия лекарств а про то, как правильно заполнять бумажки - регламентирующие документы и технологические карты. Короче говоря, закончив обучение и поработав в несколько лет в химии я понял, что хочу двигаться дальше - и не куда то, а в биологию - а точнее - в биотехнологию - во что-то, что связано напрямую с медициной, с действием лекарств на организм, и т.д.

          Где я только не был - даже в Сеченовку и Пироговку подавался. Нашел там интересные программы, вроде "фармацевтическая биотехнология" - посмотрел дисциплины - выглядело интересно. Но проблема в том, что почти все программы идут днём, а мне нужно было работать - не мог же я в 20+ лет сидеть на шее у родителей. Стал искать что-то вечернее. Заочно учиться я не хотел - был уже опыт - пользы вышло мало. Но, к сожалению, у нас в стране почему то очень мало программ для взрослых работающих людей. В принципе понятно - спрос формирует предложение - большинство учатся пока им 16-25, а потом идут работать. Взрослых людей, кому нужно высшее образование видимо не так много.

          В общем, по ходу своих поисков я натолкнулся на программу, которая шла не где-то, а в самом МГУ! Называлась она "Менеджмент биотехнологий", и шла на Экономфаке. Я выяснил, что это не совсем то, что мне нужно - это всё же больше про "менеджмент", чем про "биотехнологий", но других вариантов я не нашел. Похожая программа - про биологию+экономику шла на Биофаке МГУ, и там было больше биологии, чем экономики, но опять та же проблема - учеба шла днем, а мне надо было работать. Я было даже думал уйти с работы и пойти работать куда-то вечером, чтобы можно больше сил было отдавать учебе - но ничего путного из вечерней работы не нашлось. Остановился я на "Менеджменте биотехнологий" - сюда или никуда.

          Как принял решение - начал готовиться к поступлению. Планировалось два экзамена - английский и биология\экономика\менеджмент. По английскому экзамен разбит на две части. Первая часть включает в себя ряд заданий из области: "небольшой кусок текста, нужно заполнить пробелы". Вторая часть - нужно написать эссе, суммирующие основные мысли из статьи. Вторая часть - довольно сложная - фактически надо написать статью на статью. Сначала я вообще не понимал, как это осуществить. К счастью с МГУ шли подготовительные курсы и в ходе занятий мы успели разобрать ряд сложных моментов. Основная проблема была в том, что тексты и статья - всё экономической направленности - мы всё же на факультет Менеджмента поступаем.

          Экзамен по биологии\экономике\менеджменту, как видно из названия, состоит из трех частей. Экономическая часть для меня была самой сложной - даже несмотря на то, что именно к ней я готовился всё лето. Понятное дело, что обучаясь по химии с микро- и макро- экономикой я нечасто сталкивался. Какие задания по менеджменту и как их решать очень хорошо нам объяснила Комарькова Дарья, за что ей большое спасибо.

          И вот, наконец, день экзаменов! Не буду вдаваться в подробности самих экзаменов - было именно то, к чему нас готовили на подготовительных. Скажу уже результаты - по английскому я набрал 96 баллов. Первая часть, вроде была с одной ошибкой на все разделы - т.е. 49\50, а вторая чать - эссе - написана была тоже очень хорошо с парой мелких грамматических и стилистических ошибок. На подготовительных курсах нам очень рекомендовали хорошо готовиться к английскому, потому что при поступлении учитывалась суммарная оценка из двух экзаменов - т.е. максимум 200 баллов - и у кого выше - тот, соответственно, проходит. Так и случилось - если бы я набрал хоть на 4 балла по английскому меньше - уже бы не прошел - пришлось бы идти на контракт и выкладывать очень большие деньги. Честно говоря, я был готов идти и на контракт - всё таки диплом МГУ говорит о многом! Уж куда вкладываться, как не в образование.

          А на втором экзамене я набрал 64 балла. Не очень много. Благодаря Дарье я ответил на все вопросы по менеджменту почти без ошибок. По биологии, которую я, ясное дело, знал лучше всех экономистов я тоже ответил почти на все вопросы, но к моему стыду, из 12 вопросов один ответил совсем неправильно, второй наполовину - вроде всё знал, а всё равно накосячил. По экономике больше почти всё было неправильно - так и не далась мне эта наука за те месяцы, что готовился.

          А дальше самое интересное. Поступил я или нет?? Я сидел, как на иголках. Было, вы только представьте, 55 человек на 5 бюджетных мест и 10 контрактных. Я поначалу думал, что повезет, если на контракт пройду - как я обойду всех этих экономистов, которые собаку на этом съели. Каково же было мое удивление, когда я был на 8 месте из 55 человек. Фух, хотя бы на контракт прошел. Но внутри вдруг затеплился слабый огонек надежды - не все, кто набрал нужные баллы подают документы - некоторые поступают сразу по нескольким специальностям, а некоторые ещё и в другие ВУЗы идут. Количество иголок на которых я сидел увеличилось :) Или правильнее сказать уменьшилось - они сильнее начали впиваться )) Двое их тех, кто был в пятерке бюджетников сразу подали документы, потом ещё третий человек. А двое из тех, кто был на 5 и 6 месте документы сразу забрали. Осталось два бюджетных места, а я был на 6 строчке рейтинга. Потом ещё один человек документы подал. Одно место. Иголки впиваются уже конкретно, я себе места не нахожу - бегаю на работе по лаборатории. На меня странно смотрят, но я никому не рассказываю о своих планах.

          Одно место! Ну что же? И тут парень, что был на 5 месте передо мной тоже подает документы. Блин ... Из 55 человек занять 6 место и не пройти на бюджет. Это ж как обидно было - было был бы 20 или 30 какой - далеко от вершины - но тут не хватило лишь одного шага. Пишу Калмыковой Наталье Михайловне - она - руководитель приемной комиссии - поначалу показалась мне очень строгой, но потом оказалось - что это замечательный человек, заботящийся об абитуриентах. Вот кстати, никогда такого не встречал - обычно в приемных комиссиях очень сухие и жесткие люди, которые абитуриентов за людей не считают. А Наталья Михайловна поспешила меня успокоить, что ещё не всё потеряно - она лично связалась с тем человеком, что занял пятое место. Оказалось, что он также прошел и по какой то другой экономической программе и подал документы туда, а теперь думает, что из двух выбрать. То ли Наталья Михайловна его уговорила, то ли он сам решил на эконом пойти - в общем он отказался от этого пятого места на Менеджменте Биотехнологий и его занял я.

          Ура! Победа!!! Я поначалу не мог поверить. Я?! Обычный человек, не какой то там гений или медалист - и поступил в МГУ? Да ещё и на бюджет?! Невероятно!

          Невероятно, но факт. Я справился, и теперь открывается новая глава моей жизни. Новые знакомства, новые друзья, новые знания. Что ж, спасибо что разделили со мной эти приключения. Теперь - вперед, к победе! :)

          Да, блок поскольку игровой - надо хоть пару слов об играх :) Так уж совпало, что выход Легиона начинается одновременно с началом учебы в МГУ. Я долго готовится к Легиону, собирал команду, но учеба и моё будущее всё же важнее. Не знаю пока, как мне удастся совмещать - думаю вкачаться и одеться я успею, а с рейдами - посмотрим.

WoW: Legion Beta: High-level content

          As I said before - Legion has all chances to be the best expansion. You have plenty things to do after 110 hit.

          One new implemention is World Quests - it unlocks after you hit Friendly with all Legion factions (you usually get this during levelling, except Suramar rep). This idea came from Diablo III - simple thing - on World map there is all kind of events - like "kill 10 mobs and 1 miniboss", "bring 10 ore", "kill enough mobs to complete zone quest", there is also group world quests and once per week  - raid world quest (to kill world boss). Reward can be anything - gold, artifact power or some gear. Once per day you receive Emissary quest - you have to complete 4 World Quests in certain zone - then you receive big chest containing a lot of gold or Order hall resources and sometimes epic item, also a lot of rep with guys from this zone. This is the main thing, it seems, we will do at level 110. I didnt understand so far how often they update - but it seems quite often, I never run out of all World Quests.

          Another thing is Suramar - 110 only zone. Suramar has several very long quest lines, I didnt complete even one of it yet. The center of Suramar is Suramar city - citadel of Nightfallen and base of future raid. Suramar questsb award a lot of AP and unlocks all kind of things - for example there are 2 Mythic-only dungeons that requite Nightfallen rep.

          And dont forget - you still have your professions, achievements, pets, dungeons and raids.

          There will be 2 raids at the start of expansion - Emerald Nightmare (will open in a few weeks after release) and Citadel of Night (will open in several months after release). Raids are closed for now, only some bosses are availiable for testing.

          As usual several screenshots:

mr. Flaskataur that offers you free flasks, food and a hug if you not afraid :)

Fox mount! Can you imagine this? What next - rabbit mount? ))

Citadel of Night raid - looks amazing

One of the bosses - as you can see DH's DPS is quite good :)

This is the end of Havoc artifact quest line, final event.

Updated Wargrlaives. Looks awesome, isnt it?

 

The Twin Princes (#16)

Boss: The Twin Princes (#16)
My level: 100
Number of tries: 14
Difficulty: 5/5

          My dear brother ... Rise if you would ... For that is our curse ...

          THE HARDEST FIGHT EVER! Really, this cannot even be compared to any of DS2 bosses. And who have said that DS2 was harder? Not by a chance! Ruin Sentinels, The Lost Sinner, Nashandra - they all were much much easier. After 5 or 6 tries I finally managed to defeat Lorian. My thoughts was "This is the hardest fight in the game so far", but there is a second phase! After such hard battle when I almost exhausted my Estus flask second phase even more hard than first!
          I still cannot believe I've done this! Lorian himself is very swift, he teleports, it almost impossible to outrun him. And he hits LIKE A TRUCK! With my 1400 HP with Ember he smashed me for 600 or 700 - and I am not a caster, I was in plate armor, imagine how casters would suffer from his hits?
          My strategy was to avoid as much hits as I can and try to score at least one fast hit before he recovers. As for 2nd phase - rolling, rolling, rolling. Avoid as much hits and magic as you can. Do not try to hit until you 100% sure you have time to roll away after. Shield are useless here, even if they dry low stamina, you will be eventually exhausted since Lorian does not take his rest. The only way to defeat the boss - to be as swift as he is.
          It seems to be the last boss, and I'm glad I played this game, fought all those fights and especially marvellous last fight - The Twin Princes.

#darksouls3 #olddemonking

Dragonslayer Armour (#15)

Boss: Dragonslayer Armour (#15)
My level: ???
Number of tries: 4
Difficulty: 3/5
          Awesome! Another, dark version of Firelink Shrine! Oh if only this idea could come to heads of developers earlier. Imagine Dark Majula? Only this one thought already excited me :)
          As for Champion Gundyr - now he kicks :)

#darksouls3 #olddemonking

Oceiros, the Consumed King (#13)

Boss: Oceiros, the Consumed King (#13)
My level: ???
Number of tries: 5
Difficulty: 4,5/5
         
          «Ocelotte, my beloved child, where are you? ... Where have you gone? Why are you hiding from me? ... Ocelotte? ... OCEEELOOOOTEE!!!»

          Grandiose fight! VERY difficult boss, p2 is a madness - he charges rapidly from end to end of the chamber screaming, hitting you like a truck on his way. So far I've never exhaust my Estus Flask on any boss - this one was the first.
          And you know, I died even more than 5 times before I got to the boss himself. Very difficult zone. I've already wrote about knight with big 2h blade, that are very hard to beat. So here we can see upgraded version of those knight - each enemy feels like a boss, I waste 1-3 charges of Estus Flask on each enemy! By the way, here I have to notice one important thing I dislike about DS3 - enemies in DS2 seemed to have stamina, at least after a row of attacks they stop for a while and regain stamina. Here monsters does not seem to have any stamina at all - those big knight can chop you like a cabbage in a matter of seconds without any delay. Is this a new loop of difficulty? Because even for overpowered me it seems way to much.
          I don't remember any similar bosses in DS2.

p.s. When you start to rate something before it ends, like I do with encounters in the game, the usual situation is when you rate it 5\5 and then another boss is even more hard :) You have to change previous marks, or make some weird ratings like 6/5. I prefer 2nd way - looks weird, I know, but at least it will reflect the real difficulty. Peace!

#darksouls3 #oceiros #ocelotte

Champion Gundyr (#14)

Boss: Champion Gundyr (#14)
My level: 86
Number of tries: 5
Difficulty: 4,5/5
          Awesome! Another, dark version of Firelink Shrine! Oh if only this idea could come to heads of developers earlier. Imagine Dark Majula? Only this one thought already excited me :)
          As for Champion Gundyr - now he kicks :)

#darksouls3 #olddemonking

WoW: Legion Beta: Level 110

          It took me quite a while to level to 110 ))) About 3 months :D But I have my reasons, that I'll share later. As for now I must say this can potentially the best expansion ever.

 

 

 

          First of all Blizzard promised smooth launch due to their newest technology - "server shards" or smth. Doubtful, honestly, all their expansions lauches caused terrible lags and the game became terribly unplayable and frustrating for several days or even weeks. But lets hope for the best future :)

          Second, DH expirience was absolutely amazing! This is the class I dreamed for when I was playing my rogue for many years - agile, mobile, fast. Admit it, everyone wanted to play DH since WC3, isnt it? To slash enemies with enormous warglaives! To bombard them with Fel magic! To burn them with your blazing eyes! DH's kit is great, as once rogue kit was - you have many abilities allowing you to break your distance with enemies - to dash to them, or vault away. DH's AoE is just beyond awesome, this is what I was always lacking on my mage - burst aoe. It can take ages until you stack enough Ignite on enemies, but here you just - SLASH! CUT! BAM! and pack of trash is gone )))

          As for levelling expirience - it is great aswell. Zones are amazing - look on this screenshot - this is Val'Shara - the land of druids. Look on the screenshots below - this is Suramar, ancient elven city, that survived The Sundering. Graphical and texture makers overdid themselves - the game looks great! This time Blizzard have changed the technology when you level up - now all mobs are scaling with your level, making questing progressively harder. Although with levels you get better gear, mobs become much much  tougher with every level. For example on level 100 I could pull packs of 6-8 mobs despite my gear was quite bad - DH's starting gear - about 700 ilvl. But closer to 100 - 108+ I could only pull single mob - two enemies sometimes meant death. Quest rewards are also scale with your level - every level quest rewards ilvl increase for about 10 levels. So imagine when you play HC Mythic geared character with ilvl ~740-750, you can probably stomp enemies until level 105-106, but then quest rewards will be better than yours, so are mobs will be tougher.

          Now lets see what high level content offers us.

 

          And in the end another screen - Khadgar's head :)

 

 

          Looks creepy, isnt it? 8-)

Dancer of the Boreal Valley (#12)

Boss: Dancer of the Boreal Valley (#12)
My level: 82
Number of tries: 2
Difficulty: 2,5/5
          My first death was due to the fact I didnt change my weapons after Yhorm, so this boss was quite a surprise to me :) Quite easy fight - equip shield, roll behind the boss and strike. Boss has low HP, so it isn't much a deal. On the other hand, clearly, that my level and sword upgrade level were quite big, so the fight seemed easy probable because of that.
          Upgraded version of Flexile Sentury and The Lost Sinner combined.

#darksouls3 #dancerofborealvalley #dancer #borealvalley

Yhorm the Giant (#11)

Boss: Yhorm the Giant (#11)
My level: 82
Number of tries: 7
Difficulty: 3/5
          It required 4 tries to realize how it is possible to defeat this towering monstrosity, and 3 more tries to actually defeat him. Quite difficult boss - fast for a giant and hits like ... well, like a giant :)
          Upgraded and armored version of The Giant Lord.

#darksouls3 #yhorm #yhormthegiant

Aldrich, Devourer of Gods (#10)

Boss: Aldrich, Devourer of Gods (#10)
My level: 77
Number of tries: 7
Difficulty: 4/5

          Anor Londo ... This name returns us in the time long forgotten ... Gwyndolin, where are you ... eaten by a monster ...

          While Aldrich himself poses significant challenge, getting to the boss is by no means not an easy task too :) I died 6 times before I was be able to defeat Aldrich, but I also died 5 times before I could defeat the cursing beast that guards the gate from inside :) And those knights - I don't remember how many times I've died. Each knight is so strong so they can compete to Iudex Gundyr himself.

          And then was Aldrich ... Really, I made it from the first try, while helping Anri of Astora. I thought that this kill will be counted as mine, and even thought about exiting the combat, since I wanted to defeat all bosses solo. Nevermind, Aldrich is one of the hardest bosses so far. It seems that from this point (even from Pontiff - 9th boss) there will be no more easy bosses. In DS2 middle bosses were hard - when I didn't gain much power yet, but here bosses become gradually stronger, despite all your upgrades.

          I think for casters this boss might be easy, but for melee - since it teleports to opposite end to giant room and spraying you with magic from there - it is hard. I died at least 4 times due to his overwhelming barrage ability - the only solution - is run, until it exhausts.

          Reminds me of ... hmm, Nashandra?

#darksouls3 #aldrich

Pontiff Sulyvahn (#9)

Boss: Pontiff Sulyvahn (#9)
My level: 70
Number of tries: 4
Difficulty: 4/5

          Soothing light of the moon softly shines over the great cathedral as I for the first time set my foot on quiet streets of Irithyll of Boreal Valley.

          Such a beautiful zone, beautiful and in the same time dangerous. Tall ghostly knights pose serious danger, I died more then ten times before I made it to the boss. But again, Irithyll is beautiful, city of gothic architecture in the moonlight, just check these screenshots:

          As I like to play the game solo - to defeat bosses without any help, I've tried my usual tactic - Dark Sword + shield. But Pontiff was not so easy to be taken down. Moreover so far it is the most serious enemy I've encountered. He is swift, and almost never rests after attack, it is hard to outrun him and recover stamina, hard to block. On top of above, there is another thing - the boss created his twin with low HP. Two Pontiffs at once, I didnt think it is possible to beat at first, very hard.

          This time my shield became ineffective, so I changed my outfit to be able to roll without delay. Only 4 tries does not mean the boss was easy, just it is me who was lucky :)

          And I don't remember anyone that looked like Pontiff - he is way too fast ... On the other thought - maybe, The Lost Sinner? Yeah, probably, almost as deadly as she :)

#darksouls3 #pontiffsulyvahn

Old Demon King (#8)

Boss: Old Demon King (#8)
My level: 62
Number of tries: 1
Difficulty: 1/5
          When I saw his mace I was like: "Darn, I'm in trouble." :) In fact - very easy boss. Well known tactic - "stay at leg@hit" works perfectly here.
          Smelter Demon #2 :)

#darksouls3 #olddemonking

High Lord Wolnir (#7)

Boss: High Lord Wolnir (#7)
My level: 59
Number of tries: 3
Difficulty: 1,5/5

          After first try: "Darn, he is so hard!" After 3rd try: "He is so easy." :) Once I've noticed he loses 1\3 HP when his bracer breaks fight became quite trivial. Wolnir hits hard, that is true, but he is VERY slow - you can run to him, run away from him, and run to him again, maybe even score several hits. He has a lot of HP - thats why I thought the boss hard, but his bracers are breaking so fast, thus killing the boss like in a minute.

          By the way, it seems that after certain point the game become quite easy. I've changed my sword to Dark Sword which is much easier to upgrade. My sword is +5 now, when Irithyll Blade was only +2 (Twinkling Titanite is hard to find). Also it seems my level is high for this zone - I didnt encounter any difficult places in Catacombs, though died a lot due to stupid reasons, like holes or skeleton balls :)

          Reminds me of ... I even dunno ...Old Iron King?

#darksouls3 #wolnir #highlordwolnir

Abyss Watchers (#6)

Boss: Abyss Watchers (#6)
My level: 53
Number of tries: 9
Difficulty: 3,5/5

          Second really difficult boss after Cursed Tree. VERY fast, first enemy I've encountered who can outpace my Irithyll Sword. Hit hard, if both of them attacks you at once = wipe. Almost impossible to run from them, since they can charge. The only way defeat them is to avoid their attack until they will try to kill each other, then you can score several hits from the back. Even then their slash attacks can catch you.

          Bun then comes the second phase! When he is alone and there is no one to with with except you. Even more fast, dangerous and deadly! 8 times I tried to win - at least 3 or 4 times I made it through phase 1, but his fiery slashes in p2 finished me quickly. Once I've changed my weapon to heavy Greataxe I made it from the first try :)

          Reminds me of - guess what? :) Ruin Sentinels of course :)

#darksouls3 #abysswatchers

Deacons of the Deep (#5)

Boss: Deacons of the Deep (#5)
My level: 44
Number of tries: 3
Difficulty: 2/5

          Another quite hard boss. I wasted about 3 minutes before I understood what I have to do with this encounter. My first thought was - hey, this is Prowling Magus and Congregation #2! Second thought was - no, it is more like Skeleton Lords :) With a smile on my face I run and killed dozen of Deacons ... and to my surprise boss havent lose even one HP :) Deacons are weak, they die fast, but they are many - if you got stunned - probably you die aswell from non-stopping hits. And again second phase! Again, harder than first! Boss even can be healed by his minions! Big column in the center of the hall helps a lot - you can run away from Deacons, use estus and rush back to the crowd :) Actually after the fight I realized it wasnt difficult - probably because my level was quite high, also I had very good sword. Oh, yes, about my sword! It is "Irithyll blade" - drom from icy monster below the church (entrance to Path of Suffering) - its fast, does not require much stamina (I can score 6 hits in row) and have quite high damage added with frost.

          And a few words about level itself. Even not the level, but the game as a whole. At least for now I really enjoy DS3. They were able to keep the game difficulty and dark atmosphere as it was in DS2. Graphics is awesome, I can see my cape flowing, I can see every bone in skeletons when they move, I almost feel heat on my face when I'm trying to avoid another fireball :)

#darksouls3 #deaconsofthedeep

Crystal Sage (#4)

Boss: Crystal Sage (#4)
My level: 39
Number of tries: 4
Difficulty: 2/5
          I didn't think it is the boss to be honest - there was no fog, just another room. I thought it is just another caster, I've met before. Only after I noticed his enormous large hat I realized this one is a boss :) This fight could be quite hard if not for the fact the boss can be staggered that simplifies fight a lot. My strategy was to rush to him and hit until my stamina runs dry.
          He smashed me with his magic when I first encountered him, imagine my surprise when I saw he had second phase when he splits! One wrong move - and you become stunned by cloud of magic missiles and die. Thankfully, Sage does not have much HP. Overall - fight of medium difficulty.
          From this point I also will write about of boss resemblance from DS2. Because this boss reminded me of Flexile Sentury :) Doesnt look like the same, huh? :) But somehow I thought exactly of Flexile Sentury - maybe because of music, or maybe because both bosses were 4th in my order of encountering.
          p.s. I must say this linear progression is not to my liking. 4th boss - all in the end of the level. Remember how many paths Majula had? I wish the same for Firelink Shrine.
          p.p.s. Forgot to add - I really like trash how trash mobs are made in DS3 - they are plenty and hard. Those giant scorpions really kick @ss!

#crystalsage #darksouls3

Curse-Rotted Greatwood (#3)

Boss: Curse-Rotted Greatwood (#3)
My level: 35
Number of tries: 8
Difficulty: 3,5/5

          Yes! Hard boss! This immense tree could not even be comapared to The Last Giant - this one is bigger, stronger and has two phases! Really hard - I could not even imagine there will be second phase, since first was hard enough.

          Boss is immune to damage except several spots - those eggs, or tumors I dunno ... bwah, disgusting :) And this giant white hand sprouted from the trunk - woah, even more disgusting :)

          My strategy was ... there wasnt any strategy actually - I had no idea how I can hit the boss and avoid being hit in the same time. Boss' attack range is very big, when I tried to hit him - even if I scored a hit I could not avoid his smash. In the same time small enemies keep assaulting you, making things even more difficult. Second phase is easier than first, since there are no adds, but when I came into second phase it was always with only few estus charges left. On my 8th try I barely made it. Thankfully the way to the boss is short :)

#darksouls3 #curserottengreatwood

Vordt of Boreal Valley (#2)

Boss: Vordt of Boreal Valley (#2)
My level: 24
Number of tries: 2
Difficulty: 1,5/5

          Man, this is more and more awesome! This music! You can really feel you are fighting the battle of your life! Though this freezing beast might add some chill to your assertiveness! By the way I still didn't understoon is it a beast or a man? Woman in chapel calls it "a dog", but it has hands. Clearly not a human, but seems some kind of werewolf. Beware of his charge :)

          Added later: Two bosses so far, both quite simple. Fat knight not long before boss was even harder. Lothric Knight with blue cape and red eyes was definitely harder. Also, Vordt could be easily dealt with using familiar strategy "stay near the leg and hit". I do not complain, I just felt some familiar sense that I have seen it somewhere already - somewhere in DS2. I hope next bosses will require more strategy.

#darksouls3 #vordt #lothric

WoW: Legion Beta

          Several more screenshots:

 

 

          DH starting quest chain is very well done! Many drawbacks to TBC and WoD events. And look at those halls - its amazing! Huge quiet chambers where your hear only the echo of your footsteps. This really looks like ancient prison with its denizens held here for milleniums.

         

          Remember Lord of the Rings The Return of the King movie? Remember the episode when burst of light shooted from ... err, I dont remember from where actually, but if you saw the movie, you should definitely remember this episode :)

 

          My first artifact weapon! Twinblades! :) Man, I dreamed about owning this since Vanilla. I played my rogue and drooled over Azshara NPC's twinblades - finally, after 12 years I have pair of mine )))

 

          Several bugs are still here :)

 

          This is DH's class order halls. From MMO-Champion you must be familiar with this "new" feature. In truth this is revamped Garrisons - I didn't find much difference so far - same follower system. But anyway to be on flying demon ship is very cool :)