It's Saturday, March 21 and I'm feeling a little exhausted this morning. It's 55 degrees and raining outside so that may play into my sleepy mood. Yesterday I felt so energetic and lively but today I may elect to pick up some extra hours of sleep. I'm going to solo slash later in the morning or afternoon, and make a push to level 50 on my latest climb. I may even play Ladder Slasher from my tablet while in bed, but I don't necessarily trust that method as much because my fingers are too big and I don't always have pinpoint control and accuracy. It's a nice option to have though. I can probably amass some kills and gain a few levels while relaxing from bed. Just like I do with Diablo 3 on the Nintendo Switch. The handheld mode is undeniably brilliant. There's just no substitute for gaming while in comfort.

I played Heroes of the Storm all night long and it's a lot of fun to play every single hero in the game. There's a lot of heroes on the roster that I haven't unlocked yet so it's a nice treat to have no restrictions. I must've played Chen the most. I won six straight games and locked down the MVP award twice with Chen. He's a bruiser hero from the World of Warcraft universe. His primary abilities are Flying Kick (Q), Keg Smash (W) and Stagger (E). His trait is Fortifying Brew (chugs his keg, gaining brew and shields) and he has two heroic abilities named Wandering Keg and Storm, Earth, Fire. My favorite heroic ability is Wandering Keg because I can roll around inside an unstoppable barrel with 70% increased Movement Speed and 25 Armor, dealing 59 damage to enemies in the way and knocking them back. Lasts for 5 seconds. It's just an awesome and fun ability to use and it can change the momentum of any battle.

Somehow and someway I may find time to log into Diablo 3 on the PC later today. I'm still trying to find a full Marauder set for my Season 20 Demon Hunter. Once I put the full set bonuses together the rest of my time should be easy peasy. I'll be able to knock out all of my objectives and also the Marauder set dungeon is the second easiest in the game. Only the Barbarian's Immortal King's dungeon is easier. The Marauder set dungeon just requires a little more awareness and timing, but you can usually master it on your first try.

I hope everybody enjoys the weekend. Make it a fun Saturday at home. Stay healthy and safe. Thank you for your time and I'll see you in the Nexus.

I just want to wish everybody a blessed Sunday. Hopefully you're feeling healthy and are keeping a positive mindset as each and every day gracefully passes during these tough times. I've been at home almost every day for the past two weeks. It's been difficult to say the least but I find a lot of joy in the simple things. Once I had learned and accepted that there's a lot of beauty and happiness through my daily imperfections, and that I'll never be perfect or want anything more than to breathe and be healthy, everything else and all the difficult things no longer mattered to me or caused me stress. I'm having more fun than ever and all the anxiety has disappeared.

I've been playing a lot of Heroes of the Storm and Ladder Slasher lately. It's definitely a balancing act and I'm trying to find a way to maximize my playing time with both games because I like to play as much as I can. I also sneaked in a couple rift runs on Diablo 3 with my Demon Hunter. I'm trying to find the Marauder set which ironically isn't as easy as it seems when you only play the game casually. I try to set realistic and short-term goals for myself on Ladder Slasher. For example, I'm going to try and hit level 60 by Sunday Night. Nothing too outlandish and unrealistic. Every climb as a solo slasher is fun in its own way as long as I don't try to overplay my hand and make things impossible. There's always a method to my madness. I walk that fine line between absolute brilliance and despicable foolishness far too often.

Thanks to every hero being free right now on Heroes of the Storm I've been learning how to play Chen and Qhira quite a bit. I briefly discussed Chen on yesterday's blog so I'll dive into Qhira's exceptional and thrilling playstyle. Qhira is a melee assassin, known as the Realmless Bounty Hunter, from the Nexus universe. Her primary abilities are Carnage (Q), Blood Rage (W) and Revolving Sweep (E). She has a trait called Grappling Hook which is super fun to use if you can time it right. Her heroic abilities are Unrelenting Strikes and Final Strike.

When I play Qhira what I like to do is dive into the middle lane and clean up the enemy minions (capture a mercenary camp or two) and soak up experience as often as I can. I'll then tame the enemy heroes with my powerful sword (basic attacks) as I use all three of my primary abilities in combination with my sword attacks. I especially love revolving sweep and grappling hook, which can be used during the sweep, because I can always grab a hold of an enemy hero before they get away from me. As Qhira levels up you can choose to make your basic attacks more powerful which is what I tend to do. I love swinging that majestic sword around and it can dish out nice damage later in the game. It's an elegant weapon in the hands of the beautiful Qhira. In my first game with her I had 12 kills, 5 assists, 1 death (I had unwisely overextended) and I still won the MVP award.

That's a lot of excitement for just past 3 a.m. here. I had a long night gaming away. I'm going to sleep soon. Maybe, hopefully, probably. Peace!

I've been feeling the Monday blues on March 23, 2020. I had a rough night's sleep and kept waking up every other hour it seemed like. A slow start to this beautiful morning but it's absolutely gorgeous outside. 70 degrees without a cloud in the sky after it had rained for the past couple of days. I wish I could go see a new movie at the cinema or make a trip to the local steak house for lunch on a wonderful day like this. At the very least I'll go outside for a few minutes just to walk around the block a few times. I do have to get my mail today so I'll put on my mask and gloves. Making sure nobody is anywhere near me. I have an old baseball glove and a baseball that I dusted off while cleaning the garage. I'll also go to the backyard and throw up the ball high in the air and catch it. That will be my exercise for the week.

On Heroes of the Storm I started playing the character Artanis for the first time. Nicknamed Hierarch of the Daelaam, he's a melee bruiser hero from the StarCraft universe. His primary abilities are Blade Dash (Q), Twin Blades (W) and Phase Prism (E). He has the trait Shield Overload (375 shield gained for 5 seconds while below 75 % health), and his heroic abilities are Suppression Pulse and Purifier Beam. My initial impressions are that he's a fun hero to play and I enjoy melee characters. His dashing and charging attacks make him mobile and strategic. I can fire a phase prism that deals 66 damage to the first hero that I hit while swapping positions with them. That's extremely useful when I'm overextending and trying to kill an enemy hero near a structure and tower. I've got to play him a lot more to become good but I've won my first three matches with him. No MVP awards though.

I'm also at that delicate position of trying to finish off another exciting climb on Ladder Slasher. Level 65 to 71. The hardest levels for a solo slasher like me. Especially when I only use a decent level 30 armor and the enemies can pack a powerful punch against my Barbarian. I'm still feeling a little drowsy this morning with my eyes trying to shut down on me. I shouldn't really risk dying while I'm not fully aware and awake. Usually I do my best solo slashing during the late night hours and into the early morning. 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. is when I'm usually solo slashing like a determined champion.

Have an amazing day everybody! Thanks for your time and continue to stay safe but have fun when you can. Enjoy your life, be happy and stay strong.

I've been having so much fun playing Ladder Slasher that I completely lost track of time. As a solo slasher I earn every kill and it's very rewarding to keep pushing myself to new heights. It's like me against the world and all I have is precious time to comfort myself through all the various challenges. I've got nothing to prove but it feels like an endless competition that I'll never win, but I continue to set new individual goals that I can achieve. My next goal is to attempt another MasterQuest and eventually reach 20,000 kills with 0 deaths. I surpassed both 14,000 and 15,000 kills during my recent climb. That's going to take me a while to hit a smooth 20K but I did progress from level 1 to 42, as I type this, on my newest climb. That was after I compiled seven total guild points earlier in the night. I'm very proud of my Ladder Slasher achievements because I did it all by myself and starting from scratch.

Playing every hero for free on Heroes of the Storm has been a cool experience, and I can still do that until April 2nd, but I'm ready to get back to what I'm actually very good at. Playing my top 10 to 15 heroes that I can dominate with and amass an endless amount of MVP awards and victories. I'm going to play a lot of games with Cassia, Xul, Rexxar, Varian, The Butcher, Diablo, Kerrigan, Valla, Sonya, Li-Ming and Zarya during the next couple of days and weeks. I continue to achieve all my daily quests which is fantastic. I'll have a lot of in-game gold saved up by the summertime. As well as shards and gems. Saving up my resources was my main goal on Heroes of the Storm and all it takes is time to add up. I started from the very bottom of the ocean's abyss and I'm working my way to the top of that earthly mountain like a true champion. Anytime that I feel motivated and hungry that is when I passionately display my best work. Sometimes I need to be knocked down to get back up stronger than ever before!

I'm going to retire from Diablo 3 on the PC. I'll still play it on the Nintendo Switch, but I decided that I'm going to play more Diablo 2 as I anticipate the 10-year anniversary of Diablo 2 classic in another three months. I'd like to reach Hell difficulty on a new Summon Druid and start to save up perfect gems like I used to do many years ago. It's just going to be a side project for fun though. I'm not going to take things too seriously with D2 like I used to, otherwise I'd be playing it 24-7 just to be at the top of the Hardcore Druid Ladder on US East like I was for many seasons. I doubt I'll be able to play Diablo 2 all that much because I'm having too much fun playing Ladder Slasher and Heroes of the Storm. I literally solo slash all night long and into the early morning hours. It's pretty remarkable. I may even try to solo slash from bed on my tablet but I don't trust myself with that yet. I don't want to suffer even one death on my beautiful Barbarian named Sorsha.

It's Tuesday morning and I feel as great as I've felt in over two weeks. I feel healthy again but I'm still in quarantine. God bless and take care everybody!

We finally made it to Wednesday, March 25, 2020. It's another hump day and I've been enjoying some relaxing time on the recliner as I watch some movies. I made some microwave popcorn and pretending I'm at the local cinema enjoying a new film. Some days you just have to put the games aside and enjoy other things. Being in quarantine as much as I have it's been difficult to stay mentally sharp and physically fit, but every now and then I go outside and toss a baseball up in the air and catch it with my glove. It's about all I can really do right now. On the plus side I've been putting my unlimited cooking skills to good use and all those amazing hours watching Gordon Ramsay on YouTube have paid off. It feels good to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner every day rather than picking something up from a fast-food place. Before the coronavirus I would eat out almost daily if not twice a day.

Varian, the high King of the Alliance, is a bruiser hero from the World of Warcraft universe. His trait is Heroic Strike and his three primary abilities are Lion's Fang (Q), Parry (W) and Charge (E). He has three heroic abilities that are Taunt, Colossus Smash and Twin Blades of Fury. Varian has become one of my favorite heroes to play on Heroes of the Storm. Partly because he's very easy to play and has a nice hack-and-slash playstyle with fast attacks depending on the build that you select for him. It almost feels like an action RPG and not a MOBA when I play him. My favorite Varian guide is the popular "Twin Blades of Fury" build which becomes more powerful once you complete the High King's Quest (level 1). You basically have to hit 50 heroes, participate in 5 takedowns (kills or assists) and gather 20 regeneration globes. At level 20 he can further enhance that build with Frenzy, which will trigger Twin Blades of Fury to increases Heroic Strike damage by an additional 25%, and Basic Attacks increase his Movement Speed by an additional 10%.

I'm going to win eight games in a row with Varian later this afternoon as I complete the daily quest of playing 8 games for 800 gold. I plan to log into Ladder Slasher later tonight after I was going at it pretty hard in recent days. I believe I had reached level 55 on my current climb before I decided to take a small break to focus on other games. So if I can pace myself and make a push to level 60 later on that would be ideal. Honestly, I almost have to force myself to log out of Ladder Slasher sometimes because it's such a fun and addicting game! I can easily lose track of time when I'm in the middle of another thrilling climb.

As a solo slasher the intensity is multiplied because you've got to be fully aware at all times. You can't be carried and there are no shortcuts like when you play in a group. So if I'm not at my absolute best while playing I can suffer an untimely death which is what I want to avoid at all costs on my beautiful Barbarian named Sorsha. I'd like to try and play mobile Ladder Slasher from my tablet so I can sneak in a few levels while in bed or resting on the recliner, but only if I can do so safely and without sacrificing my flawless approach. The stellar way that I play likely requires a keyboard and mouse.

It's the middle of the week. I hope you're all feeling healthy and staying happy the best you can. Thanks for your time and I'll see you in the Nexus.

It's Thursday, March 26 and it's another amazing day outside. A perfect 70 degrees this morning and I just want to play some basketball at the park in beautiful weather like this. I watched the 2018 movie "Johnny English Strikes Again" featuring Rowan Atkinson and it's one of the best movies I've seen recently. It made me laugh quite a bit and I wasn't expecting much going into it. Hopefully I can find another good action comedy that's as good as that one. I've been watching so many movies and TV series to fill the void of having no sports, but at some point I'm feeling some withdrawals and I'm begging for some live competition again.

I'm going to play Cassia, the Amazon Warmatron, on Heroes of the Storm today. I haven't played her in a while but she's my most played hero at nearly 500 games. Cassia is a ranged assassin from the iconic Diablo universe. In fact, I've played her since Diablo 2 classic back in the summer of 2000. It's almost the 20-year anniversary for Cassia and Diablo 2. Cassia possesses the trait Avoidance which makes her quite the tank while running around unmounted. She can negate 40 % of the basic attacks from enemy heroes. She has three primary abilities: Lightning Fury (Q), Blinding Light (W) and Fend (E). Her two heroic abilities are Ball Lightning and Valkyrie.

For me personally, I enjoy Cassia's Fend build. It's a good way to rack up a lot of kills, assists and MVP awards which is usually what I'm after every match besides the victory. There are many talents (skills) that enhance Fend to legendary status as you level up, including Impale (level 7), Lunging Strike (level 13) and Penetrate (level 16). If you end up reaching level 20 during your match you can select Titan's Revenge, which allows your basic attacks to ignore all armor and increases your basic attack range. By then you should be a killing machine if you're playing Cassia the right way with the super fun Fend build. You can go with a Lightning Fury build but I love Fend a lot more for some reason. If I were playing Diablo 2 I'd definitely choose Lightning Fury over Fend but on Heroes of the Storm I just feel that Fend is a lot more exciting to play.

The Valkyrie is the perfect compliment to Fend because it can stun and pull towards you the first enemy that you hit. It's a good way to make sure a nearly killed enemy doesn't escape from you. Always try to kill the closest enemies that are within melee range with your Fend, and use Valkyrie at the the end of your sequence to finish off an enemy that is trying to run away from your kill shot. Use the level 1 talent called Charged Strikes to empower your basic attacks. It's especially useful against enemy heroes and minions early in the game while your Fend isn't as strong yet. One day I plan to reach the maximum level with Cassia as I play a gazillion games with her, but that would require a lot of time investment on my part and I wouldn't be able to play any other games as often.

I'm making today a Heroes of the Storm day but I plan to continue my current solo climb on Ladder Slasher. I'm chasing greatness. Let's go!

It's March 27, 2020 and thank God it's Friday! I'm excited for another weekend of watching TV and playing some video games after I catch up on some much needed rest. I watched two movies last night. Scream 4 (2011) and Underworld: Awakening (2012). Kate Beckinsale was absolutely remarkable playing the role of the iconic death dealer and vampire elder, Selene. I've seen a lot movies lately and it's fun to catch up on various films from different years. I'll probably watch some more movies later today. Maybe I'll binge watch a random TV series that I haven't seen yet.

On Heroes of the Storm I've been playing all of my favorite heroes just to keep a steady flow of victories and MVP awards coming my way. The last match I lost was with Mephisto not long after unlocking him for 10,000 gold. I don't regret permanently adding him to my roster, but he'll take some time for me to learn and master. The funny thing is I prefer killing Mephisto more than playing him. Today I'm going to play some games with the reliable Rexxar and perhaps the relentless Sonya.

Sonya, the Wandering Barbarian, is a bruiser hero from the Diablo universe. She's been my favorite Diablo 3 character and I'll definitely create her the first time that I log into Diablo 4. On Heroes of the Storm the skillful Sonya is one of my favorite melee heroes. She can actually be considered a tank as well as a bruiser depending on which build you use. Her trait is Fury and her three primary abilities are Ancient Spear (Q), Seismic Slam (W) and Whirlwind (E). Her two heroic abilities are Leap and Wrath of the Berserker. I enjoy her Whirlwind which is pretty lethal late in the game with all her buffs, talents and used like poetry in motion when combined with Wrath of the Berserker. It's a pretty fun and straightforward playstyle. It doesn't require a lot of thinking just good timing. I love her dual-wielding swords and even her basic attacks pack a nice punch. I like to use a level 1 talent called War Paint which allows her basic attacks to heal for 30 % of the damage dealt. It will save you early in games and allow you and your team to level up faster if you enjoy soaking the lanes for experience like I do.

I'm also going to play some Ladder Slasher today. I'm nearing the end of another completed run from level 1 to 71. I'm solo slashing my way to new individual heights. I have so much fun solo slashing I can't express how rewarding it feels. I didn't even think I'd get this far or play past one or two climbs but I keep pushing myself to do more. I may even find some time to play some Diablo 2 on the side (hardcore this time), as well as some Diablo 3 on the Nintendo Switch. I'll see how today goes. I do have to run some errands like picking up the mail and throwing out the trash. I have a mask and some gloves so hopefully I'll be alright. I wish things felt normal but I can't be afraid to live my life.

Have a relaxing Friday and enjoy the weekend everybody. Stay healthy and safe. Tough times never last but tough people do. Take care and see you soon.

Somebody PM'd me earlier in the evening and asked why I wasn't blogging anymore. I apologize for being inactive but I just haven't felt very energized lately. I've been sleeping and relaxing more often, but I still try to play Heroes of the Storm on a daily basis. I have 12,000 gold, 2,500 shards and 151 gems saved up. When the next Greek God inspired event starts (rumored to be our new spring event), I'll probably spend my saved up resources on a really good item or two. Currently all heroes are still free to play. That was extended from April 2 to April 13. I think the Heroes of the Storm team is trying to tide us over until the new event goes live on the PTR.

I believe my most played hero, Cassia the Amazon, is going to have a cool skin coming out. Inspired by the iconic Zeus and Medusa, she'll be sporting a glowing thunderbolt javelin with Medusa's shield. There will also be some amazing new Greek inspired mounts during the next event. Something like that seems so awesome that I already know I'm going to spend all my gold and shards on the first day. I may have to purchase some more in-game gems. At least $20 dollars worth if not $50. I haven't spent any money on Heroes of the Storm in nearly a year because there hasn't been an epic event in a long time. Finally, we're going to get one soon!

I've been pretty much playing Heroes of the Storm and a little Diablo 2 hardcore ladder this week. I started up a new Summon Druid on US East hardcore ladder just for fun. Just to see if I can shake off the rust. I soloed from level 1 to 50 in my own password games. It felt natural and easy for me. I wouldn't want to guarantee that I'll play the new Diablo 2 ladder season in late June - coinciding with the Diablo 2 classic 20-year anniversary - but I certainly wouldn't rule it out. Stay awhile and listen! Diablo 2 will always be a part of my DNA.

I still want to play Ladder Slasher more often in the future, but I recently started playing a Samurai for the first time. She seems fun and interesting, but I don't really have a good sword to use and I miss bashing the enemies with my beautiful Barbarian. Sorsha the Samurai doesn't quite have the powerful punch that Sorsha the Barbarian had with her sweet enhanced effect warhammers. So that sort of spoiled my excitement and I haven't played in a few days. I don't know if I have the patience to finish a climb on a Samurai with awful weapon choices. I'd be solo slashing for hours and hours just to gain a couple levels. That type of difficult grind will wear me out in no time.

But yeah guys, I've been watching some movies, TV series and playing some video games. Trying to stay healthy and not feel as sick as I have at times. Pretty boring life I've got at the moment. I even started a new Demon Hunter named Eve on the Nintendo Switch. The Barbarian and Demon Hunter classes are actually better played on the switch than the PC. But all the other classes, at least from my own experiences, play better on the PC. The Necromancer, in particular, does not play very well with the Nintendo Switch controls.

Anyway, God bless you all! Stay healthy and safe. Be happy and enjoy your lives. Hopefully I'll be around from time to time. Peace out my friends.

One week into the new Diablo 2 ladder reset and I decided that it's stressing me out and causing me some unnecessary anxiety. It was all for fun and nothing else, but it's not a relentless grind that I really want to keep up with for hours and hours a day like I did in my younger days. I'd rather invest my time into watching Netflix and playing the Nintendo Switch on the recliner or in bed. Gaming and relaxing at the same time are important to me as I age. If that makes any sense at all.

I had played both hardcore ladder on US East and also softcore ladder on US West. Am I simply washed up and just too old to be playing Diablo 2 after 20 years? Perhaps, but I went so hard at it in recent days like I was a teenager again. But in the end I felt that my health was at risk doing it the way I was doing it. Thank you to those kind souls that reached out to me and offered some help whether it was in the form of rushing or hooking me up with some items. I didn't take any items after all, as I was trying to do it myself, but I appreciate it very much. I hope when Diablo IV comes out that I'll still have some energy to play it well. I don't want to be carried. I'd rather pull my own weight. No pun intended.

It's mid June and I just want to get back to enjoying some Heroes of the Storm and Ladder Slasher. I had created a new male Barbarian on Ladder Slasher, named MachineGunKelly, after my previous one had died. I had earned my fun guild "Harley's Playhouse" 10 guild points before I took a two-month hiatus from Ladder Slasher. It annoyed me that my beautiful Sorsha had died. I feel ashamed and embarrassed when I die on Ladder Slasher that I'll just delete the character and remake them. I don't want to be reminded that I died when I look at my Ladder Slasher stats on the top left of my profile.

Anyway, I'm thankful to be blogging again. I didn't want this blog to become inactive after three months. It's been a little over two months. I'll try my best to keep this blog from being closed due to inactivity even if it's not a daily or weekly blog. There's still no sports for me to discuss. I've just been feeling under the weather for a couple days. I must've slept all afternoon today. Trying to stay strong and not stress about anything anymore. I enjoyed some Lasagna for dinner and watched the original Footloose movie on AMC. Kevin Bacon, baby! I met him one time and I still have a "Stir of Echoes" poster that he signed for me while he was in Houston promoting that movie back in September of 1999.