Halo MCC Bugs, Rage, and Tips

Like everyone else, I am raging over the poor launch of 343's latest Halo, which is essentially recycled content, but is behaving more like garbage.


Here are some of my issues with MCC:


1. NO BUNDLES!
Let me state that there was no reason to buy an Xbox1 prior to the launch of Halo MCC. It had basically the same games as a PC or PS4 and less power hardware wise. Also it was more expensive than a PS4 due to Microshaft forcing the kinect sensor on people who would never use it. Therefore, I decided to wait until Halo came out and I would buy an Xbox1 then. I figured Microsoft, or some retailer, would surely create a Halo MCC bundle, or at least bundle the game with a console much like the Assassin's Creed bundle. Unfortunately no bundle came by launch and I was forced to buy the AC bundle.


2. Matchmaking broken
This one is quite obvious. Matchmaking is simply broken. Very few people wanted to buy this game just to play the campaigns they already beat a dozen times. They wanted to exerience the best console multiplayer of all time in 1080p with dedicated servers. I was VERY excited about this fact and when the game launched, I was so dissapointed. You can't form a party and you can't find a game. You spend 1-2 hours trying to get into a party and into a game. Once you succeed it splits up the party members, people drop out, or the game locks up. Also, every game I've managed to get in had uneven teams. The game prefers 6vs2 over 4vs4, wtf? I also noticed that the game won't wait to fill up, it will essentially start with the minimum players required. In the past each playlist had a set number of players (i.e. slayer was always 4vs4 and BtB was always 8vs8). Now slayer starts with 6 players and BtB seems to always be 10 players.


3. 343's track record
343 has now put out two buggy games with bad launches. For me Halo 4 died out in a month. I was just sick of the CoD copy game with horrible maps, bad lag, team killing without penalties, and uneven teams. Halo MCC just seems to be following suit and it shows how great Bungie was as a developer compared to Microsoft's own studio. Putting out buggy games and fixing them a few weeks later seems to be their go to strategy to save on quality and testing. The game is basically an alpha/beta the first 2-3 weeks of launch. They may as well call it that and just give early access to people who pre-order and want to play a buggy game for a while.
On top of all that 343 knew they had a buggy game and released it anyway at full price. The other thing is their lack of PR on the subject. No public apologies or statements about the issues. I had to research the internet and found a twitter post about them working 24/7 to fix issues. No patch after a week and still no word on exactly what day it will come.


4. Broken achievements
This is not as big of an issue for me, but there are achievement whores out there who simply love to farm every achievement in a game. I don't have the time or patience for that personally. I just want to get in and de-stress with a couple hours of multiplayer after work. However, for those who play for achievements, the rage is real. How do you create achievements and not give credit for them? The only playable aspect of the game currently is the campaign, yet you can't get some of its achievements. That means you have to go back and play the campaigns yet again if you want the achievements. That's just bad!


Ok now that I've raged a little here's a quick little tip for getting into a game with your friends. Each person should get into a slayer or big team queue, if it says "in lobby" and "searching for player" in each empty player slot then you're set. Now press your xbox controller middle button to go to your dashboard. From there you want to snap your party to your game. Then hover over the "invite party to game" button. Once your game starts to populate you want to quickly invite your friends. The hope is that they join before the game fills up. This was THE ONLY way I could play with my friends and let me say that 10% of the time it works every time. Most of the time the games fill up too fast and you're stuck playing alone or just quitting the game entirely and restarting your search.

Diablo 3 Post 2.1 Wizard Builds

Here I'll mention the wizard build that most people are using, with some slight variations.

1. Wizard: There's currently only one legit build for the Wizard with some minor variations among players. The Firebirds set.

Armor:
-Firebirds helm, shoulders, pants, boots, and source (can use breastplate and/or gloves if you get a good roll or don't have a cindercoat or magefists).
Make sure the head, breastplate, and pants are all socketed. Put a perfect diamond in the head for cooldown reduction and perfect topazes in the breastplate and pants for increased intelligence. Also make sure to roll Hydra/Blizzard Damage where you can (or meteor damage if you choose meteor over Hydra).
-Witching hour or Hellcat belt
-Strongarm bracers
-Magefist gloves
-Cindercoat chest

Weapon:
-Ideally you'll want a furnace with a good damage roll and socketed. Attack speed isn't necessary on wizard as blizzard, hydra, blackhole, and meteor aren't affected much by attack speed. Therefore, you'll want a good maximus or furnace will do. In the interim any high damage 2 handed weapon will work or if you're rolling with a hydra build like me, the serpent's sparker wand will work well as it gives you 2 hydras instead of one.

-Jewelry can also vary. As described before a ring of royal grandeur is necessary so you can replace chest/gloves with magefists and cindercoat. You'll want at least 2 out of 3 jewelry pieces to have sockets because you'll want to use enforcer (if you use hydras) and bane of the trapped gems for increased hydra damage (yes hydras count as pets and when you use blackhole the bane of the trapped will trigger).
If you have 3 sockets I've seen variations in the 3rd gem used. The poison one is good, lightning one is ok, and the bane of the powerful is good for any gameplay other than high grifts.

Skills:
- Hydra mammoth
- Blizzard apocalypse
- Blackhole blazar
- Teleport safe passage
- Magic Weapon force weapon
- Energy armor either prismatic armor or force armor

Traits:
-Blur (for survival in higher grifts, can be replaced with conflagration, audacity, or glass cannon for all other gameplay)
-Evocation (you'll want the cooldown reduction for blackhole and meteor if you use it)
-Illusionist (for survival in higher grifts, can be replaced with conflagration, audacity, or glass cannon for all other gameplay)
-Unstable Anomaly (for survival in higher grifts, can be replaced with conflagration, audacity, or glass cannon for all other gameplay)

Diablo 3 Post 2.1 Demon Hunter Build

I have to admit, when Diablo 3 first launched I was one of the Diablo 2 fanboys who was very excited for D3 to finally come out. However, like most others, I was incredibly disappointed. Once my account was hacked and I lost everything I decided to quit D3 for a while. Then Reaper of Souls came out. I bought that game and started a new account and must say the game dramatically improved, but still had some room to improve beyond that. With the 2.1 patch I think Blizzard is heading in the right direction and the fact that they are listening to feedback and tweeking things as they go is awesome. The game is finally getting the love it deserves from its developer and players. Now onto my builds for every class, starting with Demon Hunter.

1. Demon Hunter: There's currently only one build for the Demon Hunter with some minor variations among players. The Marauders set. To make this work you will want to only wear 5 Marauders items and a Ring of Royal Grandeur (which you can obtain from Act I bounties).

Armor:
-Marauders helm, shoulders, breastplate, pants, and boots.
Make sure the head, breastplate, and pants are all socketed. Put a perfect diamond in the head for cooldown reduction and perfect emeralds in the breastplate and pants for increased dexterity. Also make sure to roll Sentry Damage on shoulders and Breastplate while rolling multishot or elemental arrow damage on helm and boots.
-Witching hour belt
-Strongarm bracers
-Tasker and theo gloves.
You'll want attack speed, crit chance/dmg, and dex on all 3 of these if possible.

-Bombadier Rucksack
Your offhand will be the bombadier rucksack with crit chance, sentry damage, dex, and attack speed.

-Your weapon will vary greatly. The only one handed crossbow worthwhile for this build is a good calamity. Otherwise you'll want a high damage bow or 2 handed crossbow with attack speed and socket with perfect emerald in it. If you're using a specific element with your attacks, such as cold, then the associated bow/crossbow with 20% elemental dmg on it is worthwhile. (i.e. etrayu bow for cold arrow builds). Personally I'm using a windforce for the extra knockbacks.

-Jewelry can also vary. As described before a ring of royal grandeur is necessary so you can replace marauders gloves with tasker and theo gloves. You'll want at least 2 out of 3 jewelry pieces to have sockets because you'll want to use enforcer and bane of the trapped gems for increased turret damage (yes turrets count as pets and when you use a knockback or cold arrow the bane of the trapped will trigger which is the best gem for DH). If you have 3 sockets I've seen variations in the 3rd gem used. The poison one isn't bad, lightning one is ok, and the swiftness/attack spd one is good if you need the extra attack speed.

Skills:
- Multishot arsenal
-Cluster Arrow maelstrom
-Elemental Arrow immolation arrow
For a missiles build I tried to use all skills with missiles on them. This means multishot arsenal and cluster arrow maelstrom. My 3rd skill is elemental arrow immolation since my gear has fire skills % damage on them. Your multishot and elemental arrow will be firing almost non-stop from your turrets.

Traits:
-Ballistics
-Cull of the weak
-Steady Aim
-Awareness (for survival in higher grifts, can be replaced with custom engineering for all other gameplay)

Guild Wars 2 Key Farming

UPDATE 2023: You can only create 1 new character per week with this method but it's still worth doing. Note: having books of knowledge in your vault speeds this up tremendously as you need to be level 10 to do the story missions.

The key facts to remember are to be Human and to choose the Commoner story line. Everything after that doesn't matter much.

Class Choice: I have tried most variants of all classes and learned that a short bow ranger is the quickest for me to get through the story with. I can get a key in ~20 minutes with this build.
I also had some success with long bow warrior and staff guardian. Staff ele is also decent but you can die quickly if you aren't good.

Gear: This will only matter to those who bought the special edition of the game. You get a hero's band ring and a golem banker to start with on all new characters, which is perfect for key farming. You get the additional +2 to all stats and the ability to open up your bank to access gear and consumables.
For my short bow ranger build I only bought the level 1 coat, pants, and boots. You can also buy shoulders and a head gear if you want to kill faster. Additionally I bought a condition damage short bow with minor sigils of agony and fire. Condition damage is very strong at the beginning of the game. You can also use power stats if you'd like but power is greatly reduced when you get into the level 6-10 story missions and start hitting glancing blows on a lot of your shots.

Walkthrough:
To start off with you will be placed in Shaemoor. Do not talk to the green asterisks like you are supposed to. Instead follow the arrows on my map below. Run down the hill, through the watermelon fields, down into the river, and up the hill. If the giant hands haven't spawned then you will need to run across the bridge into the garrison to spawn the champion centaur.

After killing the starter boss you will be placed in a house in Shaemoor. Immediately exit the cut scene and accept your reward. Run out the door and talk to the map guide person. Immediately exit out and follow the giant green arrow on your map across the bridge. Be sure to get the first waypoint across that bridge unlocked then head to the farm on the right where you will feed cows, water plants, and kill wurms to get your first heart done.

Upon completion of the heart read and delete the mail you got. Then waypoint to your home instance in Divinity's Reach. Run straight to the bar to talk to your friend and exit the cut scene immediately. Kill all of Big Nosed Ted's henchmen downstairs. Utilize your Stalker pet's F2 skill for 5 stacks of might whenever possible. You will quickly kill everyone with this much might. When you head up stairs following after Ted and Jake, be sure to shoot Ted while he's still yellow. This will skip his little cut scene and also allow him and Jake to damage each other. Once all the bandits are taken care of head down stairs and get your reward. You should then take the power gloves for your reward and equip them.

Your next mission is desperate medicine. Waypoint back out to Queensdale next to the Lieutenant and talk to him. Then run to the farm and pickup some hay on your way to the bandit caves. This helps you get swiftness every few seconds on your way to the caves. Once in the caves again utilize your pet's F2 skill for might whenever possible. Kill the first 2 guards and run straight to the Moa's. Kick the King Moa's butt and watch them run. Wait a couple seconds then follow them as most the bandits in your way should follow them as well. Head straight for the ramp on your right in the next room and go up. You can one shot the few bandit recruits who spawn, then take care of Jake and his body guards. Grab your medicine from the supplies and finish off Jake. Waypoint back to the Lieutenant to tell him your news then waypoint back to your home instance in Divinity's Reach.

Now you will be on the undercover mission. Waypoint back to Shaemoor and run along the cliff's, through the cemetery, and to the bandit hideout. Once in you will have to take down 1 guard and take his clothes. Then enter the hideout. Once inside run straight and drop down next to Johnny. Talk to him first then run across the water and kill the drakes. Take the fuses from the box and go to Blaize. After talking to Blaze you can then kill the final rifle wielding woman to end this mission. Head back to your home instance waypoint in Divinity's and go to Logan's office. Make sure to grab the waypoint by Logan's office on your way in. Once you talk to Logan be sure to take the Orphanage!

Now head back to your home instance and go to the orphanage which is on your right as you enter the mission. Do not take down the door. Instead target the 4 bandits directly in front of you inside the orphanage behind the wagon. You can shoot through the walls and take them down 1 at a time. Utilize your pet's F2 skill for your stacks of might. This is the longest part of all missions as Blaize clears conditions and has a lot of health and you will be a few levels below them. Once you kill these 4 bandits then you can take down the wall and take out the next group of 4. Remember you can shoot through walls so be sure to take advantage of that to avoid taking any damage. After you kill them you can head upstairs and finish off Ted. Then run straight to the hospital on the other side of the instance so you can talk to the Lieutenant as soon as the cut scene pops up.

The final part of the story missions will be heading back to Logan's office. Talk to him and the countess then head downstairs into the far jail cell. You should hide behind the bars for a while and pop out and shoot every once in a while to get tags for loot. You basically do no damage and take tons of damage at this point so staying alive is "key" here. The sword illusions will do all the damage you need. Once finished you'll get your key. You can use your golem banker to deposit your key and gear and be on your way. If you don't have a golem then you will need to press the swords button at the top of your screen and enter the mists. Once in the mists you can run to the Lion's Arch portal straight ahead and access your bank in LA to deposit the key.

After you have your key you can delete your character and start over. Like I said it's about 3 keys per hour for me. The point of the keys is to unlock black lion chests which will yield tonics, boosters, hair and makeup kits, dyes, mini pets, and black lion claim tickets.

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls Loot, Gold, & XP Farms

Warning, some or all of these farms have been nerfed as a result of Blizzard’s drive to force players to play through the content instead of farming loot.

Act I Cathedral: Start a Torment VI campaign mode game at the Sword of the Stranger start. Waypoint to the Cathedral Gardens. ~50% of the time there is a chest just above the waypoint. Next waypoint to cathedral level 3. ~50% of the time there’s a chest next to this waypoint. ~10% of the time there are 2 chests. Then waypoint to the Royal Crypts. You can run through smashing all pots, ignore any skeletons that may pop up. ~20% of the time a chest spawns in this area; however, the pots have a chance to drop items and gold so they are worth smashing. Once you get to where the Mad King yells at you for bringing the warmth of life into his tomb you can quit out and do it all over again.

Act I Defiled Crypts: Start a Torment VI Adventure mode game. Waypoint to the Forsaken Cemetery. Since this is Torment VI make sure you’re spec’d for survivability and movement skills so you can quickly run through these tombs and not die. Each tomb has 1-3 chests in it and one tomb will have the Jars of Souls or Matriarch’s Bones events. These events can easily be initiated and then you run and hide until they are over and then grab your loot that spawns when they end. The events also give decent gold/xp per run.

Act III Heart of Sin & Core of Arreat: This used to be lucrative when running through and opening all chests on Torment VI. However, the drop rate of these chests was greatly reduced and it’s far more rewarding to clear these areas by killing all mobs. There are several elite packs and the chance of cursed chests and treasure goblins. At the very least try clearing these maps on Torment I or II.

Act V Abandoned Siege Camp: Start a Torment VI campaign mode game and choose the Siege Runes subquest under the Battlefields of Eternity main quest. This area has virtually no enemies and 2-4 guaranteed chests, plus corpses, and destructible vases. Make sure to clear it all the way from the Abandoned Siege Camp waypoint back to the long staircase into the camp. Rinse and repeat.

Act V Pandemonium Level 2: This is a little more difficult to do on T6 with the narrow pathways, the stunning gates, and mobs everywhere that can 1-2 shot you. However, it seems that the drop rate in this area is the best in the game as I’ve gotten multiple really good legendaries and crafting materials from vases and chests here. If you can’t survive on T6 then drop to T1. The drop rate is only slightly reduced. I even received a legendary wizard source on Normal in this area.

Rift Farms: Blizzard claims they increased rift drop rates. However, it seems that elite packs only seem to drop 1 rare each time I kill them. I typically get 1 legendary per rift run no matter if it’s on normal or T1. The difference is the rift guardian drops more blood shards on higher difficulties and blood shards can be used to gamble on gear back in camp. Therefore, tearing through rifts quickly on Normal/Hard/Expert for the blood shards is far more rewarding in my opinion.

Power Leveling: The best and easiest way to power level requires one good dps character to carry you through. The lower level character must create a Torment VI Adventure mode game and do all the bounties. The lvl 70 character can then one shot everything up until you reach level 50 which will take less than an hour. This is when things start getting harder. I recommend going down to Torment V around lvl 50-55 to make it go quickly. Around lvl 60 you’ll need to drop to Torment II or III depending on your DPS. The last 5 levels are the hardest to get. I typically get about a level worth of xp per each Act of bounties cleared on Torment I.

Event Farms for Gold/XP: If you need to level on your own then there are some events in higher torments that will give decent XP and gold rewards.

Spyglass: The easiest one is the Spyglass event at Rakkis Crossing in Act 3. Simply start an Adventure Mode game and port to Rakkis Crossing. 25% of the time there will be a guy at the bottom of the stairs just NE of the waypoint. You click him, run up the tower and click the commander, then quit before you die. Most lvl 60 and above characters have the skills necessary to do this event without dying.

Clear the Hellrift: If you have a lot of DPS then there is a bounty that spawns 25% of the time in Act 3 where you need to clear the hell rift. If you get the kill Sledge or Hammermash bounties then it’s not worth doing as killing either one of these in T5-T6 takes too long. Simply waypoint to the first rift. Run through to the rift level 2 and make sure you have the DPS to clear about 50 white mobs. There are also chests in this area and the chance for a cursed chest event. If the event spawns the hammer fists then run away. They have too much health to kill in 30 seconds. However, sometimes the event spawns 10 white weak mobs who you can easily kill for the bonus xp. I only recommend this run for lvl 70 chars who are geared and are simply seeking quick gold.

For me the most fun and decent rewards come with doing Adventure Mode on Torment I. It can go reasonably fast with a geared character and still drops pretty decent loot. You can probably get 2-3 legendaries per hour without much effort and you’ll get decent gold/xp. There are also special legendaries that are tied to each specific Act’s Horadric Cache that you receive as a reward for completing all bounties in an Act. Act IV appears to have most of these legendaries tied to it so it is the Act worth farming the most for bounties.

Seahawks are Superbowl XLVIII Champs! Can They Repeat for XLVIV?

First off I couldn't make any post season NFL posts as I did not want to jinx any chances of the Seahawks getting to and winning the super bowl. As someone who has lived in WA his entire life and never seen a world champion in this state (WNBA doesn't really count) it's been an awesome ride.
Last season when the Seahawks had the breakdown against Atlanta I made a post about what they needed to do in the off season to get back to the playoffs. It seems either John Schneider and Pete Caroll read my post or it was an obvious prediction haha. They got the pass rushing DE I asked for, in fact they got 2. They approached the need for a DT and OLB. They even signed a huge play making WR, even though he was injured all year. I couldn't have asked for or predicted a better off season than that. Unfortunately injuries did plague the offense and defense from time to time this year, as it does to every NFL team, but the Seahawks "next man up" mentality prevailed.
Everyone predicted a Broncos/Seahawks super bowl but nobody predicted the outcome. An absolute blowout by the Seahawks who were playing like they were in Century Link Field in Seattle. The noise in New Jersey made Peyton struggle with his typical pre-snap adjustments and his "Omaha" snap count that he uses to draw players off sides. Additionally, Peyton had never seen a defensive line or secondary like the Seahawks provide. The coverage is tight and the pass rush and run defense are relentless. The Seahawks are young, agile, and fast at every position. Additionally, the Seahawks rotate in a new defensive line almost every play, keeping players fresh and making it hard on the O-line to block for Peyton. We did see a lot of ducks being thrown from the pocket as well. Peyton's passes seemed weak, wobbly, and inaccurate. As someone who has a lot of admiration and respect for Peyton as he has carried my fantasy team two years in a row, I can't help but notice as the season wore on he really seemed to lose his edge. Is it fatigue and old age? Is it the colder weather? I'm not sure. Hopefully he comes back because it's fun to watch him on offense and I'd rather see Eli leave the league before Peyton does.

Now that Super Bowl XLVIV is over the only thing left is the off season. The draft, training camp, and pre season will come in 2014 and the Seahawks will have some decisions to make to stay competitive and also keep their salary down. Here are a few positions I'd like to be addressed...

1. WR: Again I think the Seahawks need to draft a decent WR or trade for someone who is decent. As much as people love Golden Tate, I am not his biggest fan. Too often he tries to do too much and it has cost the Seahawks. He also had a case of the drops from time to time. I was fine with it because he was on a rookie contract and wasn't a true WR1; however, I'd like to see Baldwin and Kearse start over Tate. For that I think the Seahawks should let Tate hit the free agent market and not sign him to a big deal. Additionally, Rice is the 2nd highest paid WR behind Harvin. Rice hasn't done much for Seattle since coming here. He gets injured and rarely makes the big plays he's supposed to make. With Harvin in the lineup there's no room for Rice. I say that Seattle should cut Rice to make room for the salary cap.

2. DE: Again the Seahawks will need to approach the defensive end position. Clemons makes a lot and Bennett's contract is up. I would be fine with Seattle keeping either player but not both. If they can't keep Bennett for the amount they are paying him now, then they can let him go join his brother in Chicago. If they can keep Bennett to a longer term deal then Clemons may be getting cut to make room for salary caps in the future as all the rookie contracts start to end on bigger name players.

3. DT: Yet again Seattle has to look at the DT position. They rotated guys in and out at DT all season, but some key contracts will be up soon. Seattle will have to determine if they can afford to keep all their good DT's long term or let some go. McDaniel's contract is up and if he asks for too much, he may not be a Seahawk again next season and that spot will need filling.

4. Offensive Line: The Seahawks had injuries and issues all year on the O-line. Giacomini's contract is up and they must re-sign him as nobody was able to do as good of a job at RT as him this season on the team. Additionally, the team is paying a little too much for the LG position. They tried 3 players there this year with some success and some failure. It seemed that Carpenter's blocking has gotten worse and he's also prone to injury. Bowie did an ok job filling in for the Carpenter/McQuistan combo, but it was in a game where the Saints had zero pass rush. Bowie is awful at tackle but he may end up being Seattle's Guard of the future. Rotating McQuistan and Bowie may be their best bet. Sweezy was solid all year at RG and should remain there next season.

5. Tight End: Seattle may lose Zach Miller in the off season but it's just speculation at this point. While Willson is a great receiving TE due to his speed and athleticism, his blocking skills have been subpar. In fact Seattle used Bailey quite a bit in blocking situations later in the season. Miller is versatile as he was a good blocker and receiver. He also did great with onside kicks. If the Seahawks retain Tom Cable then they will most likely keep Miller as he's been Cable's go to TE for years.

Predictions for Next Season:
Once again the NFC West will be the best division in football. The Niners and Seahawks will be heated rivals yet again and will most likely go 1-1 against each other in the regular season splitting home games. However, everyone forgets how well the Cardinals and Rams played down the stretch. Both teams beat playoff bound teams late in the season and the Cardinals barely missed the playoffs. It wouldn't be crazy to think that the Cardinals, Niners, and Seahawks will all make the playoffs next season. Especially since the game is in Arizona. Additionally it's the 49th super bowl which adds a little flavor to the 49ers. The Seahawks will have a tough conference schedule but they should be up to the task again. The other NFC teams who will make some noise will be the Packers, Panthers and Saints yet again. The Saints had an awful team this year and still were top 5 on both sides of the ball this season. They just didn't have the weapons that they had in the past. I expect them to go get some more play makers on offense and defense this off season. Additionally, Ron Rivera has the Panthers playing lights out defense and as we all know, defense wins championships. The Packers will have Rodgers back from injury playing full time. When he went down they really lost their rhythm on offense, even though their defense still played pretty solid.

In the AFC it seems the Patriots will never go away. Belichick is too good at coaching young talent. He will win his division. Additionally, expect the Broncos to return IF Peyton Manning doesn't retire. I also expect Andrew Luck to rally the Colts back to the playoffs. He's too good, and lucky, not to. He's driven them to the playoffs in his first 2 years so he'll only get better. He'll also get some offensive weapons back as he had to make up for subpar running by Richardson and a few receivers who couldn't catch, such as Heyward-Bay, after Wayne went down. The Bengals will yet again make the playoffs. They keep getting more talent each season and despite their best efforts to not make the playoffs, the AFC still lets them in. I expect them to return once again, but I don't expect them to go past the first or second round. After that it's anyone's guess. The Dolphins may attempt another good season, but the scandal of Incognito is hanging over this team still. The Texans may also turn things around with a new coach as their defense is still decent and they still have arguably the best WR/RB combo in the league. They'll need to resolve their QB situation and also adapt to the new style of the new head coach.

ESPN Needs New Writers

Let's take a close look at some of the good, bad, and ugly ESPN has hired recently to cover the NFL. First the good. Terry Blount, Mike Sando, and Greg Garber.
Then the bad and ugly. Jeffri Chadiha, John Clayton, and Ashley Fox.


While some may not agree on Terry or John, I've read enough of both of their articles to form my own opinion. I have very high standards for just about everything in life. I'm my biggest critic and I'm also everyone else's biggest critic. To me something that is "good" is most likely "phenomenal" to someone else. However, when it comes to the largest and most popular sports network in the world, my expectations on who they hire are quite high. Just like I'd expect an airplane manufacturer to hire the best possible people to design and build safe aircraft that don't fall from the sky. Unfortunately, like all big corporations, ESPN has hired a mixture of good and bad employees. It is truly up to them to listen to their fans and make a judgment call themselves on who gets the raises/promotions and who gets fired/demoted. I truly hope ESPN is paying attention to who is good and bad.


First up on my list is Terry Blount. He was hired to cover my home team in the NFL so of course this may seem biased. However, his articles are always nicely written. He uses a good mixture of vocab, and yet he is simple enough for most Americans to read and understand. What I love most about him is his opinions and presentation of facts are rarely biased. He seems to cover all Seahawks related news from the point of view of all fans. This helps give him a less biased and more respectable view of the Seahawks. You don't see him claiming they will dominate every team in the league. His predictions for their games are based on facts and he is typically dead on. He won't say they will get blown out or will blow someone out. He always expects close defensive struggles. Other ESPN reporters will blurt out non-fact based opinions that are usually way off and have no place in an official ESPN article. Those types of writers remind me of the ESPN/Facebook commenters on each article. Terry Blount was a great hire by ESPN and I'm glad he covers the Seahawks. He gets close to the organization, players, and coaches. He is constantly writing articles about on the field and off the field news. He will analyze practices, games, give injury updates, and even write about what a player does in their free time and how they think and feel as a person, not just a player. This personal touch really makes his articles about my favorite team all that more interesting as he gets to see a side of the team that no fan does. He also pumps out articles at an alarming rate so you know he's dedicated to his work and loves doing it.


Second on my list is Mike Sando. This may also seem a bit biased as he is all about statistical analysis and spreadsheets (which I also love) and we share a common home state as well. Mike writes a lot of insider articles which upsets me because I am not willing to pay extra to look at stats and opinions I can find elsewhere on the internet. However, he always lets the data do the talking via Excel spreadsheets and pivot tables. For this I respect him, his opinions, and his articles. Opinions based on numbers, facts, and mathematical calculations are the best and I'm glad ESPN found him and hired him. His statistical analysis intrigues me and I hope he can apply it to other sports like basketball and horse racing. It'd be interesting to see if his analysis could result in picking the NCAA basketball tournament correctly or the winners of the Triple Crown Races. As someone who has attempted to analyze both of those things, I can certainly say it is quite difficult. I've had success and failure in my methods, as has Mike. Hopefully his articles can become less insider and more available to the public because his data is always interesting to see.


Third on my good list is Greg Garber. Much like Terry, Greg is not very biased in a lot of his posts. He does have opinions like all other human beings, but he doesn't write emotional non-fact based mush in his official ESPN articles. Instead he covers things from well known stories and highlights, to things people may not be talking about, such as off the field good deeds or issues. He also likes to speak in "what if's" just so he can describe as many points of view of a sport as possible. Greg seems to be immersed in the NFL and tennis with his writing. Some good articles would involve what a team would be like if their star players were switched or how an unknown tennis player is the future of the sport. He tends to focus on things people don't really notice or pay attention to. He even has an interesting article on ex-offensive linemen losing weight so they can live longer/healthier lives.


Now onto the bad. I think we can all agree that Jeffri Chadiha is a joke. In fact a lot of comments I see about him call him an "affirmative action hire." Racism aside, he really has proven that his emotional fed opinions and uninteresting articles have no place in the top sports network of ESPN. He will write a strong opinion about something being a bad decision, or how one team is better than others, only to change his mind or not admit to his mistakes later on. Notably most of his opinions or predictions are not fact based at all. My best example of this would be Pete Carroll coming to the Seahawks. In 2010 he wrote this article: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=chadiha_jeffri&id=4816051 where he basically rips Carroll, USC, and Seattle a new one. Not only was he incredibly wrong, hindsight is 20/20, but he is still set in his ways. His latest article about Super Bowl 48, http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/10322280/broncos-savoring-being-team-destiny-2013-nfl-playoffs, basically makes Seattle look like a little league team about to play a real team and how Manning and the Broncos will dominate the Seahawks because it's "destiny." Like everyone else who realizes the #1 defense vs the #1 offense will be an interesting, and most likely close matchup, he is just too proud to realize his opinions are incorrect. Instead of actually analyzing the game like a true columnist should, he just blindly picks a team because he believes it's their destiny to win. Even if Manning does win, it most likely will not be a blowout and it won't be because of destiny.
Not only has he been wrong about the Seahawks recently, but during this post season he even picked Green Bay to go far in the playoffs with the return of Aaron Rodgers, http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10197528/rodgers-makes-packers-dangerous-opponents, and claimed that the Niners could win it all after they beat Rodgers and the Packers. He also believed the Bengals would have been playing the Broncos in the AFC title game. None of these teams made the super bowl and now he's shifted his allegiance to Peyton and the Broncos.
The guy is inconsistent and his articles are pretty much awful to read for any sports fan. You can tell by all the negative feedback on his articles' comments that a majority of readers believe his writing has no place on ESPN.com.


Next on my bad list is Jon Clayton. I really do appreciate some of his articles and his insight on tv, but a lot of his writing is just not that interesting or clever. He seems to do a lot of opinion based articles or copy and paste type articles that you could find anywhere. However, as a guy who has been in the NFL and MLB media industry for a long time, he has certain connections and inside access that gives him a huge advantage over other reporters. However, as he ages and nears retirement I think he will lose this edge and be overtaken by some of the less experienced, but more talented writers at ESPN.
He does do some interesting Q&A articles where he'll respond to fan mail of his choosing and those are the best articles of his that I enjoy. Mostly because it's unique.


Now the bad and the WORST! Ashley Fox is by far the worst sports writer I have ever encountered. She has a horrible reputation and it's a shame. I know plenty of people who could write better sports articles than her, and a lot of them don't even watch sports that much. This is how bad Ashley is at her job. How she's still employed is beyond me. Much like Jeffri, her comments are all negative. Her articles are seldom accurate and full of typos. It's almost like nobody even proofreads her articles. In fact, even her ridiculous tweets should get her kicked off of ESPN. http://www.spinitreacts.com/2013/01/the-worst-of-espns-ashley-fox-this-nfl.html.
I have literally seen an article where she copied and pasted most of her information, only to forget to change some names and information around. She wrote an article on Marshawn that was edited several times by ESPN in order to be more accurate and to fix lots of typos. At the original posting she put the names of the 49ers offensive linemen as Lynch's blockers (yes this is in fact true and you can read about it in the comments at the bottom of the article to see just how horrible this article was when it was originally published and then fixed by her editor). http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10304802/marshawn-lynch-seattle-seahawks-top-challenge-san-francisco-49ers-nfc-championship-game.
Additionally, she is highly biased to her hometown team, the Eagles. However, like a lot of Eagle fans, she was not a fan of hiring Chip Kelly. She highly criticized him and thought he would fail. She even stayed the course halfway through the season with this incredibly inaccurate opinion of her team's head coach. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9914482/chip-kelly-success-philadelphia-stagnated-coaching-miscues-qb-instability. Much like Jeffri thought Pete Carroll would fail, Ashley thought Chip would be mediocre at best. At the end of the season Ashley then wrote an article about how Chip Kelly is excellent and a perfect fit for Philadelphia. She just can't seem to keep her opinions straight. Additionally, she picked her hometown team to go far in the playoffs, http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10214379/healthy-explosive-eagles-tough-playoff-draw-first-year-kelly, but when they lost to the Saints she suddenly believed that the Saints were the new super bowl threat because they finally won a road game. http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/10245932/sean-payton-drew-brees-make-new-orleans-saints-threat. She did not take into account that the Seahawks are dominant at home and had already beaten the Saints a month earlier. She is wrong 90+% of the time and does not seem to want to admit it.
Why would ESPN allow such an inconsistent and unintelligent writer stay employed? It's making their company look terrible to the public and it's an outrage to others who would be much better writers, but were overlooked by this terrible writer.

Top Video Game Releases of 2014

Time to do a post of a different flavor, a nerdy one. Let's list out some of the most hyped games coming out this year so people know what to expect and pre-order. I've personally played a couple of these too.

1. Titanfall (Xbox/PC 3/11/2014)
I've already pre-ordered this game on PC. I decided to play it on PC as I do not wish to purchase an xbox one or PS4 and the graphics will be better. Also the gameplay should be much smoother with a mouse and keyboard. I got a chance to play the Xbox version of this game at Pax Prime and it didn't disappoint. It's a cross between Call of Duty and Mech Warrior with some crazy jumping and building climbing thrown in as well. I like the FPS aspect of the game. The double jump and building climbing make it a more 3 dimensional fight, something Call of Duty lacks. However, the mechs are fairly OP. It'll be nice if they enable an "infantry only" mode in the game so that people can enjoy the FPS more so than the vehicles.

2. Elder Scrolls Online (PS4/Xbox/PC/MAC 4/4/2014)
I also got this game on pre-order as I'm a fan of a lot of RPG's. I've sunk a ton of hours into Guild Wars 2 and dabbled with The Old Republic. I saw this game at Pax Prime as well and I can only describe it as an Elder Scrolls game that you can play with your friends, which is what everyone's always wanted. I personally hate gaming solo but gaming with friends is fun. You can party up and explore the world and quest together. There are also dungeons and a massive PVP area.

3. The Division (PS4/Xbox/PC End of 2014)
I have yet to see or play this game but the reviews and gameplay trailers look very nice. If I can talk some friends into buying it with me later this year then I'd love to give it a try. It seems like a 3rd person survival game in post apocalyptic America.





4. Destiny (PS4/Xbox 9/9/2014)
As a Halo fanboy I was really excited for Bungie's next project after 343 took over and practically ruined Halo by making it too much like CoD. Once I heard Bungie was making an RPG FPS type game I got really excited because I love both genres and have always wanted a great game that would mix the two styles. Unfortunately Bungie has disappointed me as I do not wish to buy an Xbox One or PS4 and they do not plan to release the game on PC. I believe their "always on" game is meant for PC, but alas they just won't listen. I don't see this game doing well long term as it probably can't compete with the console gamers who prefer CoD and Halo, among other things.


5. WildStar (PC Mid 2014)
I saw this game played at Pax Prime as well and I wasn't a fan. It's very cartoony and less serious than most video games. It reminded me of an MMO with sonic the hedgehog because the graphics are that cartoony. However, people are raving about this game so I expect it to sell quite a bit. I'd personally rather play ESO and possibly more GW2 if they ever decide to put out an expansion.

6. Thief (PS4/Xbox/PC 2/25/2014)
I have yet to see anything on this game other than advertisements but I will say that I was addicted to the older school Thief game on PC as a kid. I memorized the maps and the patrols of the guards. I knew where to hide in the shadows, when to run, and when to fight. The game will be a lot like sneaking around in any Elder Scrolls game though so I could see this getting boring fast.

WSU Football Bowl Game Letdown

It's no surprise to anyone out there, especially Coug fans, that the result of the Gildan New Mexico Bowl against Colorado State has only added fuel to the "Coug'd it" term. However, when it comes to end of game clock management an "air raid" offense just isn't the thing any team wants to utilize. This is the one area where Mike Leach seems to fail dramatically since he believes that throwing for first downs is a better idea than running out the clock. Any football fan, player, or coach would tell you he's dead wrong though. We all know at the end of the game that the team with the lead is going to run the ball 2-3 times during their last series on offense. Some teams even take a knee to avoid fumbling.
Let's recap this game. It was a lot of offense and not much defense on either side of the ball. WSU has an interception prone QB. The Cougs built a 22 point lead at one point in the 2nd half but the defense seemed to allow the Colorado State football team back in the game. Unfortunately for the Cougs the desire to keep the air raid style offense going in the 4th quarter was a huge mistake. Leach should've used one of his lead backs to run the clock, burn the Rams' timeouts, and fly home a winner.
After blowing the 22 point lead and then the 15 point lead trying to pass for first downs but only stopping the clock and not scoring; WSU still had a chance to win with 2 minutes to go. They had the ball and an 8 point lead, with the Rams having zero timeouts. At this point everyone is thinking the game is over. Even taking 3 knees would have been a decent option. However, the turnover prone QB Halliday opted to audible into a QB sneak, something he rarely ever does because he is not a good ball carrier at all. This was the first fatal mistake. He then fumbled and nearly turned it over. Luckily for him the replay showed he was down and the call was reversed. Now everyone is thinking crisis averted, there's no way WSU will turn it over again. WRONG! After bad clock management Leach realized he needed to run the clock so he brought in the short yardage back who is third on the depth chart and had zero carries all game. Why bring in the 3rd string back when you have 2 capable backs who rarely fumble ahead of him? Nobody quite knows. However, any running back should be able to take the handoff, put 2 hands on the ball, and go down as soon as they are hit to protect themselves from getting stripped. Also, any smart coach would certainly remind the RB they just put in to do so, along with his teammates. With this the 3rd stringer RB in, WSU has 25 seconds on the play clock that they could let tick down to about the 1 1/2 minute mark. Instead Halliday immediately calls for the snap and hands it off. The RB is immediately stripped and loses the fumble, this time upheld by replay. WSU just gave the Rams the ball with less than 2 minutes to go, no timeouts, and an 8 point deficit to overcome. Surely the defense can make one final stand to protect this victory. At the very least cover all out routes and deep threats. However, the wrong defense was called or the defense was too tired to cover anyone. They immediately gave up a touchdown in no time at all. Ok now the Rams have to score on a 2 point conversion, something that statistically is still in WSU's favor. Unfortunately, the Cougs let them have the 2 point conversion as well. Ok now the game is tied, less than 30 seconds to go, and the Rams are kicking off deep (no onside kicks). This tells everyone they want to go to OT and WSU should have agreed that going to OT was the best option after the collapse meltdown. However, WSU did the exact wrong thing, they tried for a kick return in lieu of taking a knee when fielding the kick. The kick return then resulted in yet another fumble (that's right, 3 offensive plays in a row where the ball hit the ground). The Rams recovered and kicked a game winning field goal as time expired. WSU just finished the most epic Coug'd it moment of all time. It's almost as if Leach had a hefty bet against himself in Vegas and threw the game on purpose. There's no other reason to explain how WSU lost a 22 point lead so quickly in a game they had won.

A message for everyone out there. When it comes to clock management with a lead, always ere on the side of caution. Taking a knee with 2 minutes to go, the other team having no timeouts, and not snapping the ball with time on the play clock is the best option to preserve an end of game lead. In WSU's case they would have had a 4th down with a few seconds on the clock. A simple punt or a QB running back a few yards until time expired would have both been decent options in that case. The game would have ended in WSU's favor.