March 2025 in Review

 Yes it is April 18th and I am just getting to recapping March here on the blog (note: the publish date will reflect 4/1 as to avoid upsetting my OCD).  Motivation has been scarce lately so you get what you get when I give it!

The Blog

Blogger stats for March: 28,632 (note: below graph includes Apr dates)

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 0
• Posted: 6
• Difference: +6 (Have been doing other stuff than gaming or blogging so 6 is a win)
•  Search Trends
• "new world PvP server" continues from Feb to drive traffic to the blog.  I am playing on the PvP server but haven't shared any thoughts yet.  Still my post about the servers before they launched is where many folks land from the ole' Google.
•  Searches around my flamethrower build for New World continue to drive traffic to the Frigid Inferno build page
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continues to stay strong driving traffic to my post Best Battlefield!?
  

What I Played

For March I had very little in the "played" category.  I did play some New World but nothing serious.  Sort of just checking the trading post and doing weekly objectives.  By end of month I was not playing any games including New World.

I did play a few games of Magic the Gathering with my oldest son using precon decks we have sitting around.  That was enjoyable.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

March 2024 saw my short lived attempt to figure out what the deal with Path of Exile was.  It didn't catch me and the experiment was short lived.

Also in March, the New World developers let us know there would not be an expansion in 2024 but there would be a "big announcement" in June.  We all know how that went...

 Ashes of Creation was previewing their Commissions system.

5 Years Ago

March 2020 featured no blog posts.

10 Years Ago

March 2015 featured no blog posts.

15 Years Ago

In March of 2010 Bioware's boss was flat-out lying about the success of Warhammer Online; "Right now it's [a] really profitable business unit within my group.".  That was followed with rumors that Bioware proper was going to be more involved with Mythic (both part of EA at the time).  Years later we know how that turned out...

My gmail was hacked...

And last but not least I was playing a lot of Battlefield Bad Company 2 in March 2010.  It remains one of my favorite Battlefield games to this day!  Scroll through the full month of posts to see my various BFBC2 posts.

 20 Years Ago

I started blogging in 2005 but not until May so come back in May for the big 2 0 extravaganza.

 

Working to catalog all of my past characters

 Just dropping a post to reference my page: "The Many Characters of Heartlessgamer"

 I am going to attempt to catalog all of my characters in any game I put significant time into.  Goal is to "remember" characters from the past 25+ years of gaming and include server and class/race information as I am able to recollect.

February 25 In Review

February 2025 is already done!?

The Blog

Blogger stats for Feb: 40,187 (note: below graph includes March dates)

In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 0
• Posted: 3
• Difference: +3 (I was really demotivated in Feb so the fact I got 3 posts out is a win)
•  Search Trends
• "once human end game" (and its variations) along with "once human lea research lab" popped up this month and there was increased traffic to my August 2024 post: End Game Thoughts On Once Human: Finished LEA Research Labs
  
• "new world inferno build", "inferno build new world", "new world flamethrower build" keep on trucking as folks continue looking for builds for the Inferno artifact.  My out of date but mostly still relevant Frigid Inferno Build is where they often land.
• "new world PvP server" also caught some traffic directing 
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continues with my post Best Battlefield!?
  

What I Played

For Feb it was ... wait for it... New World.  Shocker! I still love this game and still play almost daily.  The big change for this month was that a long lost acquaintance and a chance encounter in 3v3 arenas convinced me to try out the Season 7 PvP servers.  The selling point to get me to jump is that he could get me leveled up to 65 "in 5 minutes".  True to his word I was basically leveled to 65 in a few minutes thanks to being able to turn logs into ethereal dust which crafts into animus that you get 2,500 XP for opening.  So a few minutes at the crafting station and hundreds of clicks opening animus and I was 65.

There is also drop on death PvP gear that is easy to obtain (easy to lose as well) so I was geared up in no time (and then promptly ungeared with my first open world death).  And while I was max level with gear there were still some annoyances I had to deal with such as leveling my faction up to max level which requires me to finish the main story quest to access a specific zone. I am still working my way through that and enjoy the frequent open world PvP skirmishes since everyone is flagged and there is always the chance they are loaded with PvP drop-on-death gear! 

I also jumped into the Anvil Empires early access test and that game simply isn't ready for much serious testing consideration.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

Feb of 2024 brought us Enshrouded and I enjoyed my time digging around that world.

My beloved Green Bay Packers once again exited the NFL Playoffs with a loss to the dreaded San Francisco 49ers.  Boo!

I was also in my very early stages of playing around with AI image generators.  Its a bit crazy to look back over the last year and see how much AI has changed.  I really need to take some time to share more of my AI dabbling.  There is some cool stuff out there.

5 Years Ago

Feb 2020 featured no blog posts.

10 Years Ago

Feb 2015 I felt obligated to post and so I did.

15 Years Ago

In Feb of 2010 I was playing Allods Online open beta and then had my launch reaction and then promptly started arguing about its plans for a cash shop.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was a hot game heading our way in Feb 2010 and still ranks as one of my favorite Battlefield games.  I spent time comparing it to Battlefield 2, talking about SecuROM DRM, and 

Some of us bloggers also challenged ourselves to try and make believe that Warhammer Online wasn't shutting down or going into maintenance mode.  Oops.

 Oh and I started the idea of posting regular monthly look back posts with my first "What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying" post that looked at the month prior of Jan 2010.  I must have had more free time back then; I played a lot more games.

 20 Years Ago

I started blogging in 2005 but not until May so come back in May for the big 2 0 extravaganza.

 

January 2025 In Review

The first month of 2025 has come and gone; lets take a look back.

The Blog

Blogger stats for Jan: 21,700

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 22 (weekdays minus holiday)
  
• Posted: 9
• Difference: -13 (motivation, lack there of)
  
•  Search Trends
• "new world inferno build", "inferno build new world", "new world flamethrower build" have been gaining momentum since New World Aeternum (NWA) launched thanks to my build post: Frigid Inferno Build.
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continues with my post Best Battlefield!?
  

What I Played

For Jan it was more New World.  I just can't stop playing.  I enjoy the game and play almost daily.  I cycle through the same activities: play the in-game market, queue up for 3v3 arenas, and then queue for Outpost Rush.  Once a week I venture off into the FFA PvP zone for my golden coconut.  Some call it boring and repetitive; I call it just plain fun.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

January of 2024 brought us Enshrouded and I enjoyed my time digging around that world.

My beloved Green Bay Packers once again exited the NFL Playoffs with a loss to the dreaded San Francisco 49ers.  Boo!

I was also in my very early stages of playing around with AI image generators.  Its a bit crazy to look back over the last year and see how much AI has changed.  I really need to take some time to share more of my AI dabbling.  There is some cool stuff out there.

5 Years Ago

In January of 2020 I was putzing around with a mono black devotion deck in Magic the Gathering: Arena.  If memory serves me it wasn't exactly competitive but it caught some folks off guard every once and a while as its a nonstandard way to win a game.

10 Years Ago

In January 2015 we received the announcement about Guild Wars 2's Heart of Thorns expansion which was the first expansion for the game and piqued my interest.

15 Years Ago

In January of 2010 we were beta testing Allods Online.  I am sure my younger self thought it surely would be the World of Warcraft killer (narrator: it wasn't).

Star Trek Online was entering open beta as well. 

And we were all enjoying Avatar in movie theaters.  I really didn't want to like the movie but had to admit it was a fun movie.

 20 Years Ago

I started blogging in 2005 but not until May so come back in May for the big 2 0 extravaganza.

 

Dec 2024 in review!

December 2024 is in the books so let's take a look back at the blog over that month.

The Blog

Blogger stats for Dec: 23,527 visits

 

Note: this is the last 30 days graph as of 1/2 so off by a day or two

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 15 (weekdays minus holiday weeks/vacation)
  
• Posted: 10
  
• Difference: -5 (took some time off blogging just because)
  
•  Search Trends
• "new world inferno build", "inferno build new world", "new world flamethrower build" have been gaining momentum since New World Aeternum (NWA) launched thanks to my build post: Frigid Inferno Build. I need to take this rise in the search rankings as a sign that I need to update the build for all the changes with NWA (though it mostly stayed the same).
• "new world roadmap 2024", "new world 2024 roadmap", "new world road map 2024" dropped off the search radar this month which is not surprising as we enter 2025. This reminds me I still haven't posted about the "living roadmap" the New World developers gave us.
  
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" is proving it has a long run as it proceeds to drive traffic to Best Battlefield!? but that may be ending soon as I found this note on my Google Search Console today.
• 
  
  
  
  
• "deadlock invite not showing up", "not getting deadlock invite", and other Deadlock invite related searches keep driving traffic.   I am amazed they still have an invite system for the game's test version with how much trouble it causes and how steep of a player count drop off the game has experienced.
  
• Last, but not least, was "quitting throne and liberty" which directs folks to, no surprise, my post on "Why I quit Throne and Liberty"
  

What I Played

For December I was back in New World smashing  faces in 3v3 arenas and outpost rush matches.  I've also spent some time hitting the winter event to get some of the rewards I've not gotten in the past (skins; gotta collect 'em all).

Marvel Rivals was a surprise hit this month for me and I've put in a good number of hours.  I really enjoy the game.  I am not sure its a long term game as hero shooters wear me out and there is not enough with Marvel Rivals to separate itself from that trend, but for December it was a big hit in my playtime.

I gave Brighter Shores a few minutes of my time and this Monday Screenshots post is all you are going to get out of it.

I also took a moment to try out Deltaforce and if you told me I was playing Battlefield 2042 I'd of believed you.  It is a literal clone of the game to the point the UIs look almost identical.  I was going to make a post about this but it is not worth the time and effort.  I do find it sort of crazy how the community is giving Deltaforce a pass

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

December 2023 marked a momentous "gamer dad" moment for me as we gifted my oldest son his very own gaming PC components and I got to watch him put it together.

The Finals surprise launched and I recorded my first win.

Groundhog Day had me thinking about modern storytelling in video games.

5 Years Ago

Dec 2019 was in the 'not a lot of blogging' era and nothing comes to mind.

10 Years Ago

In Dec of 2014 the biggest event recorded was that I upgraded my GPU.

15 Years Ago

In Dec of 2009 Borderlands (the original) was the hot game and I wrote this review.

I also decided to go back to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) and give it 10 more days of my time.  You can check out my "10 Days of WAR" posts by starting here.  To no surprise I was done playing the game, again, after the 10 day experiment.

 20 19 Years Ago

Technically I have 21 named years on my sidebar (since I am posting this in 2025), but mathematically December 2005 was only 19 years ago.

In Dec 2005 we were speculating the Draenei were the next race coming to to World of Warcraft which eventually turned out to be true. 

Oh and I became somewhat of an early viral celebrity with an article I wrote for the Gamergod (now defunct) website discussing why MTV was doing a better job at games journalism than actual games media.  I was mentioned in a GU Comic (now defunct) about it (which I used the wayback machine to go nab a copy of to include here and in the original post).  You can also use the wayback machine to read the forum thread for the comic.

"a guy" = me

Heartlessgamer Rap

Who knows what the future of AI will look like, but for now, I am having a lot of fun exploring creative possibilities that were once beyond my personal talents, resources, and time. One such pursuit is music creation.

An AI generated image of an old(er) video game blogger creating music.
Sort of not at all what I look like.  I prefer my jeans NOT ripped.

Back in the day, I dabbled in electronic music (over 20 years ago!) and was a fan of the MTV Music Maker—a sort of video game for wannabe musicians. I even had a Napster chat channel where I shared my electronic music, though those early creations have been lost to time. Recently, I've started experimenting with Suno and AI-generated music, reigniting that old creative spark.

After some trial and error and watching YouTube tutorials on the best practices of song prompt writing, I've developed an AI-collaborative approach to lyric writing. The process is a partnership between my creativity and an AI assist. I contribute the core ideas and overall structure, while the AI helps refine the lyrics, ensuring proper length and rhyming.

The collaboration isn't always smooth. The AI sometimes changes key pieces of text—for instance, replacing "Keyboard mouse" with alternative phrases even though "keyboard mouse" is a key lyric considering I am a PC gamer.

These unexpected shifts can lead to more interesting results. When I got stuck, the AI came in with clever solutions. A perfect example is the line "every post he writes erupts," which the AI suggested when I was struggling to incorporate blogging into a verse.

Rhyming has been particularly fascinating. The AI's skill at creating unexpected rhymes—like "alien sand"—has been a delightful surprise. Of course, there are moments when I simply insist on keeping certain lyrics, rhyme or no rhyme, maintaining my bit of control over the process.

The song I lyrics I ended up with:

[Verse] 

HeartlessGamer plays all night long
Virtual worlds where he feels strong
Pixelated lands where he belongs
Chasing dreams with epic songs 

[Verse 2] 

Blogging tales of heroes grand
Defeating foes with just one hand
From dungeons deep to alien sand
He conquers all with a fearless stand

[Chorus] 

HeartlessGamer is his name
In the digital realm he stakes his claim
No heart to lose no love to tame
In pixels and code he’s got the fame

[Verse 3]

Keyboard mouse like a knight’s sword
From level one to final boss
Strategic plays no room for loss
He’s the legend and the lore

[Verse 4] 

Loading screens and power-ups
Collecting lives and winning cups
Every post he writes erupts
With cheers from fans they fill his cups

[Chorus]

HeartlessGamer is his name
In the digital realm he stakes his claim
No heart to lose no love to tame
In pixels and code he’s got the fame 

Lyrics in hand it was a lot of trial and error with different music styles and combinations.  What resulted was a few different versions of the song.  Personally I have a wide ranging music taste.  You can catch me listening to everything from Lean On Me by Bill Withers to Mad World from the Donnie Darko movie to my teenage years dominated by music from Korn.  I tried to mix many of those genres and musical styles into the prompting, but ultimately the style that worked out best was rap and electro-pop.

The two song outputs worth sharing are:

• HeartlessGamer Rap
• HeartlessGamer Plays All Night Long

November 2024 In Review

 November 2024 has come and gone and with it I'm a year older and wiser as I celebrated another birthday that puts me somewhere in my mid-40s.

The Blog

 Blogger provided number (last 30 days graph so a bit off a full month): 18,200

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 16 (weekdays minus vacation)
  
• Posted: 14
  
• Difference: -2 (the election results deflated my mood for a few days)
  
•  Search Trends
• "new world roadmap 2024", "new world 2024 roadmap", "new world road map 2024" continues to be the top driver of traffic even while I was on hiatus playing Throne and Liberty.  Of course we already had the 2024 road map and recently got the "whats next" update (which I need to post about still)
  
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" is proving it has a long run as it proceeds to drive traffic to Best Battlefield!?
• "throne and liberty daily checklist" also creeped up the list for a short run in November but dropped out fast
• "ashes of creation pirate software" also blipped driving some traffic to my post going over the video between Pirate Software and Stephen Sharif 

What I Played

 November started out strong with a lot of Throne and Liberty, but the game wore on me and I found myself less and less interested in the progression system which kept me from logging in.  By the end of the month I had given up on the game entirely.

 Which meant I had a hole in my MMO play space and to fill it I leaped back in New World.  It is honestly the better MMO of the two games and I'm enjoying my time back in New World far more than I was enjoying my time in Throne and Liberty.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

Nov 2023 was dominated by New World posts

• New World Economy
• Brutal Road Map Update for New World
• New World Arena
• Rethinking New World's Progression
• and plenty more during that month
  

5 Years Ago

Nov 2019 was in the 'not a lot of blogging' era and nothing comes to mind.

10 Years Ago

In Nov of 2014 we got the first teaser trailer for The Force Awakens.  Oh the promise!  The excitement! Can we go back and pretend none of the other sequel movies happened?

And I was playing ArcheAge at the time.

15 Years Ago

In Nov of 2009 the rumors began to swirl about the imminent shutdown of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as the grim reaper that is EA began to cut staff at EA Mythic.  I miss WAR.  I think it had a chance to be a better game than it turned out to be.

We also got our hands on Left 4 Dead 2 which I still revisit from time to time all these years later. There is nothing better than playing as the zombies in that game!

I was also celebrating World of Warcraft and Firefox hitting their 5 year anniversaries.  I swear this was just yesterday though... but 15 years... 15 years ago... that means we've had both of them for 20 years now!

Oh and WTF (What the Favre)!

 20 19 Years Ago

 Technically I have 20 named years on my sidebar, but mathematically 2005 is only 19 years ago.

 In Nov of 2005 I was posting about the keys to the World of Warcraft's auction house; a pastime in every MMORPG I've ever played.  The online market and economy is one thing that sets these games apart in my book.

Star Wars Galaxies' ill-fated New Game Experience (NGE) was getting the proper drubbing it deserved.  No more tears, or words, shall be shed in remembrance of this event.

October 2024 In Review

 October 2024 is in the books!

The Blog

 Blogger provided number (last 30 days graph so a bit off a full month): 19,800

 Note: this is missing the first few days of October where there was a spike in traffic visiting my Hurricane Helene posts.  You can see it falling off on the left side.

 

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 0
  
• Posted: 24
  
• Difference: +24!  With the hurricane havoc every post was a win!
  
•  Search Trends
• "new world roadmap 2024" remains the top result that drops folks onto the blog
  
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continue to drive traffic as well to Best Battlefield!?

What I Played

 October started with no gaming due to the hurricane causing power and internet outages, but towards the middle of the month I was able to get going with Throne and Liberty and that has consumed most of my gaming time.  I have two level 50 characters now and am working to max out my main's gear.

 I did spend a little bit of time in New World as well.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

 Last year in October 2023 we got a chance to play The Finals beta and I ended up really enjoying it.  It didn't hold me long term but my oldest son is addicted and plays every day.  He is pretty good at it too.  Every once and a while I hop back on to play with him.

 We also got the "mind blowing" Star Citizen video.  A year later I am not sure anyone can say the game is any closer to what that video promises.

 Oh and New World's expansion, Rise of the Angry Earth, launched.  It brought mounts, level 65, level 700 GS, and a bunch of changes to the game.  It was light on content and staying power, but feature wise it was great.

5 Years Ago

  Oct 2019 was in the 'not a lot of blogging' era and nothing comes to mind.

10 Years Ago

 In October of 2014 I was getting a chance to play Archage for the first time.  I honestly couldn't remember the game all that well so it was good to re-read my initial impressions post.  My... uhhh... younger self does come through in the post.

15 Years Ago

 Setting a milestone and trend that continues to this day in October of 2009 World of Warcraft launched cross-realm (aka cross-server) dungeons and thus ended the idea that you were limited to the server you joined in an MMORPG.

 For fantasy readers: we received the first Wheel of Time book co-authored by Brandon Sanderson.

 We also got the Left 4 Dead 2 trailer; one of my favorite game trailers of all time!

 20 19 Years Ago

 Technically I have 20 named years on my sidebar, but mathematically 2005 is only 19 years ago.

 In Oct of 2005 we had hints that Diablo 3 may become an MMORPG.  Oh how wrong we were!

 We all celebrated Raph Koster starting his blog in 2005!  And he is still at it today which is pretty cool as I've gotten the chance to catch up with him over Discord as he works on his new project, Stars Reach!

 Oh and I got banned from the World of Warcraft forums for posting a picture of a magazine article.  A magazine I physically had in my hands.  Ironically this ban stands to this day!

August 2024 in review

 August (or should I say Blaugust) 2024 has ended so lets take a look back.

The Blog

 Blogger provided number (last 30 days graph so a bit off a full month): 30,300

 This is up about 1,000 from July.  I do not know what the big spike was in late August as I could not zero in any posts that had that much traffic.

 

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 31 (Blaugust Rainbow Award level)
  
• Posted: 32
• Difference: +1 because I can't let a reward go unclaimed!
  
•  Search Trends
• "new world roadmap 2024" surged to the top spot this month.  Ironically it appears so often that I created a post for those exact terms with the 2024 roadmap which is just continuing to gain traction.
  
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" still all are near the top but not the top dog anymore: Best Battlefield!?
• Once Human searches filled out the third spot with searchers looking for more details around the season resets.  This makes sense as the first launch servers recent changed over.  Unfortunately searchers will find nothing of value on the blog as I've not gone through myself or commented about the actual mechanics of the resets... yet!
  

What I Played

 Once Human dominated my August playtime as I made it to level 50 and set up my Frost Vortex build.  I also built a proper base finally (it looks like an airplane hanger).  I posted about none of these accomplishments because I had other ideas for Blaugust posts that took up my blogging time.  I have had to take a break from gaming for the past week due to real life stuff (trip, work, kids stuff) so I have yet to transition from my first scenario into a new one (likely moving to a PVE hard mode server with some folks on Sept 8th).

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

 August 2023 brought my introduction to Blaugust (check my Blaugust 2023 tagged posts) and I jammed the month full of posts.

 The most notable game launch was Starfield (early access started late Aug) and it's hard for me to believe that was already a year ago.  Too bad that game landed like a dud, but they finally added vehicles a year later so I guess I should fix my old post.

5 Years Ago

  Aug 2019 was in the 'no blogging' era and nothing comes to mind.

10 Years Ago

 In Aug of 2014 I was not blogging regularly but I was thinking about it as evidenced by: Long time, no post.  My nonexistent heart was warmed by all the commenters that stopped by though!  6 comments; probably the most of any post in the last 10 years... ha!

15 Years Ago

 August of 2009 was the month I became a father and my life was forever changed.  That kid is now 15 and about to start learning to drive.  He may, and this is a BIG may, also be better at video games than me now.  Speaking of comment counts; this post garnered 40+ which was heartwarming but it also shows how much commenting on blogs has died off over the years.  I'd have a crazy smile on my face if a post these days hit 10 comments; let alone 40+!

 Also some loser named Brett Farve (don't you dare spell check me) signed with the Minnesota Vikings in August of 09.

 20 19 Years Ago

 Technically I have 20 named years on my sidebar, but mathematically 2005 is only 19 years ago.

 In Aug of 2005 I was posting on Google Videos (before this thing called YouTube).  Sadly I think the video "CS:S video released - Two of the gReatest things eveR" and "Battlefield 2 Video - Lets go!" are lost to history as I am not sure I have copies anywhere and they did not make its way to YouTube when that took over for Google Video.  It is crazy to think had I just stuck with videos in that early era I could have been a YouTube content creator instead of annoying my team at work about getting stuff done. 

 With that said; one video from that Google Videos era did get saved to YouTube.  A World of Warcraft video I made while playing with the guild behind the Taverncast podcast: The Pod People invade Westfall.flv

Blaugust 2024: That's a wrap folks!

 Another Blaugust has come to an end.  Let's check in to see how I did:

 Posts: 31 - one a day!  Hooray!

 What about blaugchievements (we know this is the real reason I participate in Blaugust!)

• Reading the Manual – Read the introductory blog post with the rules of the event.     Joining the Cause – Sign-Up for Blaugust.
• Completed
   
• Recruit a Friend – Convince another blogger to participate in Blaugust.
• Failed; I have no friends
   
• Spreading the Madness – Promote Blaugust on your blog or through your social media of choice.
• Completed as the toots on Mastodon and posts on Blue Sky account for
   
• Friend of Wumpus – Join the Blaugust Discord.
• Completed
   
• Sharing is Caring – Post your content in the “Share Your Content” Channel.
• Completed; who doesn't love a judgement free zone to spam drop blog links
   
• Forum of Friends – Take part in a discussion on the “Post Discussion” Channel.
• Completed
   
• The Pet Tax – Post a picture of an animal friend on the “Stuff and Things” Channel or create a blog post about them.
• Failed
   
• Friend Like Me – Answer a question posted on the Blagust Discord or help out a new blogger.
• Failed
   
• Shared Thoughts – Comment on a blog post from another Blaugust participant.
• Completed; I made my rounds this year!
   
• Federation of Bloggers – Sign up for a Fediverse account and follow the official Blaugust account.
• Completed
   
• Getting Inspired – Write a blog post inspired by a post from another Blaugust participant.
• Completed; see my post about Inventory Management
   
• Pickup Group – Play a game or take part in an activity with one or more Blaugust participants.
• Failed
   
• Hot Topics – Write a blog post based on the Blaugust Prompt List.
• Completed; see my post about a quote
   
•  Welcome Wagon – Write a blog post based on the first week’s theme of Welcoming Folks to Blaugust.
• Completed; see my First Post of Blaugust
   
• Introduce Yourself – Write a blog post based on the second week’s theme of Introducing Yourself.
• Completed; see my post about fishing
   
• Creative Appreciation – Write a blog post based on the third week’s theme Appreciating the works of some Creative or Company.
• Completed; see 1, 2, 3
   
• Staying Motivated – Write a blog post based on the fourth week’s theme of how you have managed to Stay Motivated.
• Completed; see my post on staying motivated about MMORPGs
   
• Lessons Learned – Write a blog post based on the fifth week’s theme explaining some of the Lessons you have Learned through Blaugust.
• Completed
   
• Going Platinum – Complete All of the Blaugchievements for Blaugust 2024.
• Failed... :(
   

Blaugust 2024: Staying Motivated

 Ever had the itch to reply to someone online after seeing them post about an accomplishment?  Not a reply to say "good job", but an itch to comment on what they accomplished.  An itch to provide that feedback that is burning a hole in the back of your mind.  An itch that the original poster had no intent for you to scratch in a reply because they were never soliciting your feedback?  Turn that itch into motivation.

 It is "Staying Motivated" week for Blaugust 2024.

Staying Motivated Week (August 18th – August 24th) – As we get towards the end of the event, the activity can often trail off a bit. The goal of this week is to share some of your own tips surrounding how you keep motivated and stay focused on creating content. If you are new to the event, you might share some of the things that have helped you stay engaged during Blaugust.

 Over on Mastodon, Evan Prodromou tooted a thread that rang true for me and is excellent advice.  It fits right in the theme of staying motivated as it is an excellent way to source ideas for your blog.  Ideas that you have a keen interest in sharing because it already came to your fingertips but instead of firing it off into the void of social media you drop it on your blog for safekeeping.

 So next time that itch to tell someone they were did something slightly less efficient than you did strikes turn that into a blog post.  Make the blog-o-sphere better.  Feed those large language models with your own training data.

 Be like heartlessgamer!  One of the main driving factors that caused me to start blogging was lamenting lost forum posts as forums I frequented were getting shut down and posts deleted.  Starting a blog was my way to control my own posts and to contribute to the ecosystem of the Internet.  That same thread still motivates me today.

July 2024 In Review

 Blaugust 2024 is here which means July 2024 is over! Let's take a look at what happened on the blog in July.

The Blog

 Blogger provided number (last 30 days graph so a bit off a full month): 29,200 visits

 This is up about 7,000 from June and there was a spike around 7/5 while I was out of town.  I did not dig into the spike.

 

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 18 (week days minus days I was on my trip)
  
• Posted: 22
• Difference: +4 Woohoo! Lots of good topics to talk about and playing a new game, Once Human, kept the ideas flowing.
  
•  Search Trends
• "throne and liberty beta review", "throne and liberty impressions", and "throne and liberty open beta review" flew to the top this month with lots of Google searchers finding my initial impressions post and then after beta review post.  Look at that mountain in the chart!
• 
  

  

  Look at that mountain in the chart all driven by Throne and Liberty searches.
  

  
  
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continue to be towards the top still thanks to this post: Best Battlefield!?
• Then another new search trend is cropping up around the game Once Human (see What I Played).  Lots of folks (me included) are searching for information about how seasons and season resets will work.  Here are the most common search terms:
  
  • once human 6 week reset
  • once human seasons
  • once human season reset
  • once human resets
  • once human seasonal wipe
• And for New World searches... well they dropped all the way to page 2 of the results!  It's all Once Human and T&L here baby!
  

What I Played

 For the first month in close to two years the answer for "what I played" is NOT New World.  I basically quit New World cold turkey after coming back from my trip.  I do drop in to reset some long duration trading post listings and to keep my "days since last login" fresh on the company board but that is it. I have not actually "played" the game since June.

 What I have played though is a lot of Once Human (all tagged posts).  I really like the game even though it has tons of issues and is death marching towards a seasonal model that is going to piss a lot of players off with how the server locking has gone.  We'll see if it has staying power after July.

 I also took the opportunity to try out the Throne and Liberty global beta and I shared my thoughts.  I wasn't hooked enough to say for sure I am playing at launch but having broken the New World grip on my gaming time it is entirely possible I give it a go in Sept.  It will be free 2 play so not much risk.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

 In July 2023 I was prepping for my first Blaugust!  

 Season 2 of New World was in full swing and I was posting my daily checklist which was a long standing driver of traffic to the blog as it was picked up on the New World subreddit.  Sort of makes me sad to look back and see how positive we were on New World and just a year later and its doom and gloom.

5 Years Ago

  July 2019 was in the 'no blogging' era and nothing comes to mind.

10 Years Ago

 In July of 2014 I was also not blogging regularly so had no entries.

15 Years Ago

  July of 2009 had us talking about the infamous Darkfall review debacle and eventually we got the real Kieron Gillen Darkfall re-review to talk about.  To be honest the original review was fair.  Darkfall was a turd of a game.  Personally I liked my May 2009 take by taking Kieron's review of The Path and treating it like it was for Darkfall.

 I was also enamored with Battlefield Heroes through the month of July. It still holds a spot in my "best battlefield" list.  Sad that it closed so soon after launching.  It was Fortnite-like before Fortnite!

 20 19 Years Ago

 Technically I have 20 named years on my sidebar, but mathematically 2005 is only 19 years ago.

 In July of 2005 it was a mix of Battlefield 2 posts and posts complaining about World of Warcraft.  Hmmm... that seems familiar.

First Post of Blaugust: Heartlessgamer

 Welcome to Blaugust 2024!  This year many bloggers are participating in the “First Post of Blaugust” initiative. The idea is that for my very first Blaugust post this year I should take a bit of time and introduce myself and the blog.  As Tipa so quoted on my post yesterday "Once more into the breach, and damned be he who first cries "Hold! Enough!""

 First I think it is worth looking back at Blaugust 2023 (my first year doing Blaugust) and my "about me" posts on where the blog came from and how I became the gamer I am today.

• My Gaming History
• A masterpiece of a blog post and probably the most digging I've done in my memory banks in a very, very long time.
  
• So It Begins Again
• A look back at the decision close to 20 years ago to start a blog about MMOs (and other games)

 In explaining who I am and why I have this blog I always go back to my first blog post and pull forward this quote. 

This blog has officially started. It has been a process of thought pulling at my mind for a while. I play these games we call MMORPGs, but I don't even know if "play" is the correct word to describe it anymore. I live and breath these games. They are more than an escape from my mediocre life. Fun is no longer the driving factor. Social interaction with like minded nerds and geeks; people whom live through their in game characters as though it was version 2.0 of themselves.

 As I said last year this statement holds true all these years later and if you want nothing more than to know about the who and why of Heartlessgamer that is it.

 There is of course the personal side out in the real world as well which I tend not to share too much about but Blaugust is good a time as any to share some more about the real me:

• I am in my early 40s
• I have a family and two kids (14 and 5)
• I grew up next to Green Bay WI which is evident by the Packers posts on this blog
  
• I am retired from the military (6 years active, 14 years reserves)
• I am in senior management at a privately owned telecom company
• My other big hobby other than games is gardening
  

Blaugust 2024 is almost upon us

 July 31st means we are one day away from every bloggers favorite month: Blaugust!  Blaugust 2024 is about to get kicked off.

 The format and week by week playbook is mostly the same as last year.  I plan to participate daily and looking to achieve Rainbow Diamond Award level by hitting the 31 or more posts in the 31 days of August.  Check back tomorrow for my “First Post of Blaugust” (The idea is that for your very first Blaugust post you take a bit of time and introduce yourself and your blog.)

 Weekly topics if you are interested:

• Welcome to Blaugust Week (August 1st – August 3rd) – The idea behind this week is to give a specific time to be actively talking about Blaugust and welcoming new members to the fold. This could also count as promoting Blaugust for the “Spreading the Madness” achievement. The hope is that drumming up some heavy activity of talking about the event might allow us to pick up a few more stragglers.

• Introduce Yourself Week (August 4th – August 10th) – The idea behind this week is to have some structured time around getting to know the other bloggers. I realize that those of us who are veteran bloggers might have already written half a dozen introduction posts by now, but it is a great time to share anything interesting you might have in your arsenal.

• Creator Appreciation Week (August 11th – August 17h) – Developer Appreciation Week or the D.A.W. was an event that took place in the blogging community independent from Blaugust but eventually died out. The more modern idea is to show appreciation for the things and creators that we love. This could be authors, musicians, developers, artists, or even other bloggers, with the focus being on sharing something that we love so that maybe others might appreciate it as well.

• Staying Motivated Week (August 18th – August 24th) – As we get towards the end of the event, the activity can often trail off a bit. The goal of this week is to share some of your own tips surrounding how you keep motivated and stay focused on creating content. If you are new to the event, you might share some of the things that have helped you stay engaged during Blaugust.

• Lessons Learned Week (August 25th – August 31st) – This week is a reminder that the goal of Blaugust is to refresh the content creators out there for the coming year, and not to burn them out in the process. Some folks are going to cross the finish line and immediately go dormant and others will want to process their thoughts about the proceedings. This space is reserved as a bit of a cooldown lap so that you can share your own experiences.

May 2024 In Review

May has come and gone.  Here is a look back (late delivery due to vacation).

The Blog

 I still owe a larger post about my findings with "spam" abuse of my GA4 (Google Analytics) tags that made me realize most of my traffic tracked to my blog was not real.  With that said let me present two numbers for blog traffic in May.

 First; the Blogger provided number (last 30 days graph / May count over the top)

 Second; my much filtered Google Analytics number.

 Those pictures tell two very different stories.  16k+ visits according to Blogger but only 875 per Google Analytics after I apply traffic source filters to get rid of spammers abusing GA4 tags.

 So May saw between 875 and 16,000+ visits to the blog. I'll pretend the latter is correct because... reasons.

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 15 (at least one per week day; except vacation)
  
• Posted:17
• Difference: +2
• Woohoo!  Back on track this Month
•  Search Trends
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" blew up this month directing folks to my post: Best Battlefield!?
• New World dominates the rest of the search queries across Bing and Google.  This month the champ was "new world roadmap 2024" which makes sense as May was the original timeframe for the 2024 roadmap to be provided (that has now been pushed to June 7th for the big news)
  

What I Played

 New World continues as my main game.  I spent a lot of time in 3v3 arenas (100+ wins this season).  With vacation I won't be able to make top 10 though on the leaderboard but hoping my main playing partner makes it in (he has a shot at #1).

 I also spent some time in Jedi: Fallen Order.  I really like the visuals and Star Wars story of the game, but the "on rails" corridor levels totally ruin the feeling.  That is why I am looking forward to Star Wars: Outlaws to give me an open world experience.

 Fallout fever died off as I gave up Fallout 3 (the game is too dated at this point for my tastes) and I didn't bother to grab Fallout 4/76/NV/whatever.

 I was accepted to the Combat Champions playtest but didn't get a chance to play due to vacation.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

 In May 2023 we got the first news of Amazon Game Studios (developers of my beloved New World) were starting working on a Lord of the Rings MMO.  In kind we began digging New World's grave.

5 Years Ago

 May 2019 I was looking at Magic the Gathering and reminiscing about the guild I helped run for a while: Casualties of War!

10 Years Ago

 In May of 2014 I was running around Guild Wars 2 and decided to document where traits could be obtained.  How much that game has changed!

15 Years Ago

  May of 2009 was a busy month on the blog and in retrospect some important things happened.

• Shadowbane wasn't quite yet dead: https://www.heartlessgamer.com/2009/05/not-gone-yet.html
• I reviewed Darkfall... by stealing a reviewer's review of another game: https://www.heartlessgamer.com/2009/05/darkfall-lost-review-made-possible.html
• Free Realms hit 2 million players (crazy for the time): https://www.heartlessgamer.com/2009/05/free-realms-hits-2-million-none-could.html
• Warhammer Online was undoing dumb designs: https://www.heartlessgamer.com/2009/05/mythic-checks-another-item-off-wars.html
• The irony is not lost on me all these years later that New World also had to eventually remove the idea of "wards" on gear for the same reason as WAR... wards made any gear without ward pointless.  Time is a flat circle or something.
  

 20 19 Years Ago

 Technically I have 20 named years on my sidebar, but mathematically 2005 is only 19 years ago.

 In May of 2005 I started a blog so I had that going for me :)

April 2024 In Review

 Taking some inspiration from The Ancient Gaming Noob (TAGN for short) I wanted to start up month-in-review posts.

Microsoft Designer / prompt "an image to represent a blog post summarizing the month of april"

The Blog

 I will likely write a bigger post about this but I had a "surprise" after researching recent random traffic spikes.  The findings are best explained in this summary which guided me through blocking spammers that are abusing Google Analytics GA4 tags.  Needless to say my bubble was deflated as 90% of the traffic to my blog has just been spam and not real traffic (which explains why I see so few comments).  So where I was thinking I had 1,000 visits a day I really just have 100 (and that may still be high).  

 Anyone using Google Analytics should read that article and take the actions to block the spammers and build reports to review your historical traffic without that traffic counted.  I did parts of this through April so won't have a full picture quite yet and will share more on traffic stats in future monthly updates.

 In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 22 (at least one per week day)
  
• Posted: 16
• Difference: -6
• Why the miss?  Work.  It's been busy so spare time has been gaming instead of blogging.  Fortunately clearing up here for May to get back on track.
•  Search Trends
• "new world ultimate trophy" is the main search driver to the blog and then hundreds of other New World search terms after that (daily checklist, season 5 artifacts, upgrade named gear - just to name a few)
  
• "call of the wild the angler multiplayer" is the big non-New World driver anytime that game seems to have a hiccup with this multiplayer features.
  

What I Played

 New World continues to dominate my time even though there isn't much new to do in the game.  My main focus has been on 3v3 arenas and the Springtide Bloom event.  The spring event, while bugged, was a good "do it and chill".  The bug let you get rewards faster so I was able to get all skins and rewards from the event with less effort than expected.   For 3v3 arenas I peaked into the top 10 for wins briefly for Season 5 and am back to 12th.  My main playing partner hit #1 though so that was cool to see; though both of us lack the time to stay on the top for the full season.  We'll still give it a go though.

 Fallout fever caught me as it has so many others and I gave Fallout 3 a couple hours of attention, but will admit it fell off almost immediately in favor of New World.

 I also got time with the Pax Dei Wilderness Alpha and spent several hours there.  The game has a good bit to improve but there is a little glimpse of promise of game there.

Years Ago

 One thing I wanted to steal from TAGNs is his look back over the last twenty years (we're getting old!).  My look back will mostly be from my blog history but a real life event may pop in here or there.

1 Year Ago

 April 2023 brought us Season 1 in New World and Rabbits Revenge (which due to patch delays we did NOT get in 2024).

5 Years Ago

 April 2019 caught me in my drought of blogging so had no posts, but my youngest son was also just turning 3 months old at the time so I was plenty busy.

10 Years Ago

 April of 2014 was all about the MEGASERVERS coming to Guild Wars 2.  Ten years later and we still have MMOs thinking they can launch with single servers.  How I wish New World had a megaserver model!

15 Years Ago

  April of 2009 I was looking at the news about A Dance With Dragons being delayed and fifteen years later, while we did get Dance, we have NOT gotten the next book in the series!  But GRRM is not my bitch so I'll leave it at that (if you get this comment you get it).

 20 19 Years Ago

 Technically I have 20 named years on my sidebar, but mathematically 2005 is only 19 years ago.  And April of 2005 I was not yet blogging, but that was all about to change as I started in May 2005!  Which means I was thinking about it in April!

Spike in blog traffic!

 Big spike in blog traffic this morning!  Not sure why these 3 posts or why analytics says the biggest spike in visitors is from Poland but I'm open to be entertained to see where this goes (or get some sort of explanation it's not real like Google has done in the past).

The hypocrisy of posting on a blog in 2024

 Create a post on X (or whatever social media of choice) and share it on a site like a video game's forums and it's cool.  But create content on your own blog you've run for 19+ years to share and you are just a bottom sucker of the Internet.  Just blogging things.

So... about the ad spam on the blog

Step 3: Profit?

 I have not had a payout from Google Adsense since 2014.  That is because I stopped running ads on the blog all those years ago.  Out of curiosity after hearing about what others were making with similar traffic I wanted to test the waters again.  Here are the results from a month-ish of auto ads!

 First, I want to apologize to any visitors that felt the ads were over the top.  I did opt to use Google's "auto ads" that, to be honest, pukes ads all over the page.  I did verify with my own ad blockers that this was not skirting common ad blocks so if you block ads you were seeing the nice clean site that existed before.  If you didn't block ads... well... sorry.

 For context of how much traffic the blog sees; the blog enjoys about 600-1000 visitors a day.  New posts usually hit anywhere from 50 to 100 views in the first day.  My top performing search areas from Google and Bing are around the game New World.  For the month (and a couple days) the auto ads were on we hit 30,000 visits.  A normal month of traffic.

 Before we get to the "how much did I earn" let's look at some things I learned

• Auto ads ruins page experience.  It causes longer loading times and increased bounce rate (i.e. visitors exiting the site as soon as it opens).
• 
  
  
  
  
• It may have reduced visits to new posts.  I can't prove this conclusively but new posts FEEL LIKE they had fewer visits their first day than I am used to.
• Even with ads spamming the page my visitors don't click on them.  There were only a few clicks over the entire month across hundreds of thousands of ad impressions.

 So the real question: how much did I make?  The answer: $1.  I rounded down because does it really matter it was $1.47 and not just $1?  For the level of invasion the ads had it was simply not worth it.  I will also not see that dollar anytime soon because the minimum payout is $100.

 What's next?  I am actually going to keep ads on but use static placement in areas that are not obtrusive.  I will re-evaluate after a month.

Some AI Blog Banners!

 Playing around with Bing's AI generated images; prompt "heartlessgamer blog banner". Results below.  What do you think?