Thursday (5 July) - Small Town Fireworks

Thursday (5 July) - Small Town Fireworks

In the San Diego County area there were at least five large fireworks displays for the 4th of July. The biggest, on the San Diego Bay, went off with a bang much larger than expected. That was because, somehow, the fireworks team managed to accidentally set off ALL of the fireworks on three of the four barges, at the same time. It was quite an impressive display, but the expected thirty minute show was over within five minutes.

The fireworks in Diablo are a little like that. A lot of grinding through paths already traveled to get to a few big bangs. For some reason I am still playing this game. In large part, I think it has to do with Happy's influence. I get a kick out of playing the Auction House for bargains and improved gear. Normally, I buy lower priced gear via the buyout option. Lately, though, I've been engaging in some bidding wars with other players. I was after a great set of shoulder gear, but I didn't want to pay more than 25k gold for it. I actually bid up the item to 29k. But I was again outbid with under a minute left and I let it go. No matter, gear on the AH changes pretty quickly, so it won't be long until Barbed gets an upgrade. Of course, after loading up on new gear I then want to go test out that new gear.

Barbed has gotten a bit jaded, however. I no longer care about dying. If an encounter goes bad, I don't bother trying to escape, as there's no penalty other than a little gold to repair gear. Most mobs, even high level ones, can be returned to after dying and they will still show the damage done to them before I died. That's very convenient.

Barbedwire reached level 54 last night. He is still in Hell level, well short of his third shot at Diablo, although I expect I will play enough to eventually get him there, as well as to the max level of 60.

Wild's guild has been advertising for a healer to run Dragon Soul. I think it's for the weekend raid (group 3), but Wild is out of touch now and I'm not sure. I have a hard time understanding why anyone still bothers to raid that place. Wild still gets in game for crafting things for Lao and Happy, and still runs into guild leader Bd on occasion. He's as busy as ever and always tells Wild how much the guild misses him, but doesn't ask why Wild hasn't returned. Wild is still listed on the guild raid calendar for all three raids, so Wild could sign up any time I felt like it. I'm pretty sure I will give the expansion, Mists of Pandaria, a try when it rolls out, primarily to get the immediate gear upgrades that come with leveling from 85 to 90. Perhaps that will suck Wild further into the game. But maybe not. Adding to the above, the Message of the Day in the guild was "Despite recent developments, we are still raiding and playing!" I wonder what that was/is about.

By the way, Blizzard is now offering the full set of World of Warcraft for $30. That's ten dollars each for the Warchest (original game plus Burning Crusade expansion), Wrath of the Lich King expansion, and Cataclysm expansion. I think I paid close to $200 for all of that . . .