Sunday 9/28/2025 Post: Packer Tie Cowboys

 The Packers went from Super Bowl favorites after weeks one and two; to being the favorite punching bag for /r/NFCMemeWar .  Last week it was an embarassing loss to the Browns after an unthinkable series of events.  Fast forward a week, and while not a loss, another series of unthinkable events lead to a tie with the Cowboys.  The game was a long slog and full of back and forth so was good football to watch, but for a Packers fan it was pure stress.  Below is a picture of my wife taking me to bed last night after the game.

 

New World Aeternum: Tower of Calomel

 A preview of New World's new Outpost Rush (OPR) map, Tower of Calomel, started this week, and after several matches I have some feedback to share. Read on to learn more about this spooky map and its good and not-so-good features.

Dark and spooky!

  First, the theme is on point for a release that is coming out around Halloween. The map is cast in darkness and takes place around the crumbling facade of an old castle. The outer area is full of fountains and gardens. A web of caves snakes underneath, delivering players to different points of interest. The central capture point lies in the castle itself, where a broken staircase leads to an even more broken second floor. Players can look out at the surrounding area from multiple vantage points in the castle. It's a cool-looking map.

A look at the central castle and surrounding area.  The map is much darker than the light in this picture would make you believe.

 With the cool looks comes a lot of clutter, though. There is a lot of uneven terrain where rubble is strewn about or blocks and pillars get in the way of traversal. I found myself constantly getting caught up on objects that blended into the background but protruded enough to stop me. I've missed countless attacks where my target was slightly elevated on a stone or a stairway, or an invisible section of a set piece blocked a ranged attack. I think a pass through the map to reduce both visual and physical clutter would help.

 Optimization wasn't great either, with my frame rate tanking into the 40s/50s for most of the matches. It's worse inside tight indoor areas and better in the outdoor areas. Still playable and with no issues from network latency, so it just seems tied to graphical performance. I am sure this will be ironed out, and this is part of the reason they do preview events for new maps. We had the same issue with Coral Divide when it was previewed, and it was fixed up pretty well by the time it fully launched.

 The map layout is confusing at first, but the more I played the more comfortable I was with it. It is similar to the Coral Divide map, where there are many avenues to move around in, yet you almost always end up at a choke point. With that said, I can see the map being challenging for more casual players, and I think the layout has definitely caused some players to get lost and miss out on contributing to the match. There are some choke-point areas near the spawns, so I've seen a good bit of spawn camping in lopsided matches. If they do a pass to clean up clutter, I think they can also do some work to create more varied paths out of spawn.

Jump pad on the right.  Another look at the map.

 Jump pads have also been introduced to OPR; previously, they were only used on the capture the flag maps. Players can hold the jump button down on a pad and be vaulted in a specific direction. Most often this is to jump over a gap or to go up a level vertically. They are not required, as many areas have other means of traversal to the same spots.

 The jump pads were fun at first, but I am not sure I like them. They are inconsistent, and numerous times the pad never activated and I fell into a gap, or the direction/length of the jump differed from my expectation based on prior interactions. Even if the consistency issue was ironed out, there are other aspects I dislike about the pads. They lead to wonky combat scenarios, with players using the pads as a form of dodge instead of their intended traversal mechanism. Credit to the players who can use them to shake and bake in a fight, but for my taste I'd prefer they weren't there. New World combat is already full of dodges and speed; there doesn't need to be more.

 One thing I really like about the layout is how the gathering nodes are positioned. Trees are next to the side outposts and are clustered together—no more epic journeys across the map to get a pile of wood for building gates and tents. Similarly, the ore is concentrated in the caverns below the castle in close proximity. A quick trip into the catacombs nets a large pile. The closer positioning means faster gathering, which means faster upgrades. If you are a player, like me, who fancies building up the outpost defenses, you don't feel like you have to avoid the entire match to do so. I spent a good bit of time in my matches building up the outposts and at the same time still getting into the fights.

 As far as balance goes, the matches I've been in spanned the gamut—from one-sided stomps (1000 to 13 in one bad example) all the way to nail-biters (1000–997, one of the closest matches I've ever been in). As it's a new map, it's hard to judge what factors into a team’s success, as many players are still adapting, but it does feel like the map layout lends itself to players getting distracted from the control points and strung along in fights elsewhere. Not fighting on the points is a sure way to lose them. This is nothing unique to this map, though, so it's hard to say for sure.

Holy cow that was a nail biter 1000-997!  And I made 4th over all on my team (blue)!

 Some early feedback I read worried the map favored range over melee. While there are sniping positions, such as the second story above the main capture point and the ledges around the castle, there are plenty of places for melee to shine. In my heavy flamethrower build, which is effectively melee range, I rarely felt like I was just a sitting duck for pot shots. I had plenty of cover to navigate around, and I could push ranged players without feeling like it was just empty space between us. Yes, there are certain times where matches got sideways and camping sets in, which is why I mentioned earlier some adjustments to the spawn areas and how players flow into the map from them would help.

 Overall, I like the map. I like the theme and the many nooks and crannies to explore while looking for a fight. I would like to see some cleanup of the visual and ground clutter, and I think a swipe at adjustments to the spawn areas would help. I'd also like to see the jump pads reduced so there are fewer overall, but I am fine if they remain as is. I am looking forward to this map making the regular rotation.

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness and em dashes (—) are the AI.   

ARC Raiders Hype Level Over 9000

 ARC Raiders is available to pre-order.  Along with the announcement is a ARC Raiders is available to pre-order.  Along with the announcement is a game trailer.  The music.  The sounds. The visuals.  chefs kiss  

 I cannot wait for this game to come out in October!  A "server slam" test version of the game will be available Oct 17-19 for anyone interested to try before you buy.

Monday Screenshots: Some New World Action

 I am getting back into New World again with the hype building for the upcoming Nighthaven update in Season 10.  So of course I had to nab some new screenshots to go with it!

The starting area of the new 3v3 arena map.  Theme is on point!

Indestructable1 and heartlessgamer; back together and terrorizing 3v3s

And we've still got!

Some passerbys stopped to dance a jig while I played a song.

The gator seems displeased I missed my note here while playing him a song.

Oh we definitely still have it (thanks to a healer).

A nice reward on the PvP track; it's been a while since I unlocked a new PvP artifact!  I don't even have the azoth salt to buy it!

Random shot from clearing a corrupted portal.

All praise the Hippo mount!  My favorite mount skin.

 

Sunday 9/21/2025 Post: Packers Embarassed by the Browns

 The Green Bay freaking Packers were embarrassed by the Cleveland freaking Browns today. The Packers lost in truly embarrassing fashion. The team should be forced to walk back to Green Bay, it was so bad. There were so many chances to finish out the game, but once again Green Bay's inability to properly manage the game or make plays when needed reared its ugly head. To top it off, as is tradition in losing in dumb ways as the Packers, special teams were special once again (how the hell does the special teams coach still have a job after this many game-losing screw-ups over the last few years!).

 Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

Howling Good New World Aeternum News!

 There is exciting news out for New World Aeternum today with their announcement of the "Nighthaven" update, coming with Season 10 on October 13th! A new zone, a new raid, new procedural dungeons, increased gear score, new perk customization for gear, new set bonuses for items, the return of a gear-upgrading system, and even more changes than I can list right now. It is a massive update and has me excited!

 It is no mystery that New World is my favorite MMO and that my main complaint has been a lack of fresh content to enjoy and goals to work toward. This update brings a massive influx of not only new content but also changes that reset the starting line on goals. It's awesome to see us getting both content and rewards progression in the same update!

Let's dive into some of the updates:

 There is a new zone, Nighthaven, and a level increase from 65 to 70. The zone will be werewolf- and vampire-inspired, which fits very well with much of the Lost aesthetic already in the game. The "vampire hunter" look has been a notable fashion possibility since New World launched. There is mention of werewolf creatures, which should mean new enemy types to fight (I honestly can't remember the last time we got a new enemy type).

 The storyline that ended in the Elysian Wilds will continue with a new arc in the new zone, and I am assuming this will carry players to level 70. It is good to have new levels to go with the content, but I hope there is a bit more investment required than what level 60–65 offered. Many players leveled to 65 in just a matter of hours after the release of Rise of the Angry Earth.

 A new game mode is also being introduced: Catacombs. This is the procedurally generated dungeon experience that was hinted at previously. Catacombs will challenge groups of up to 3 players with procedurally generated expeditions that continue to ratchet up the challenge level the longer players survive. The farther players make it, the greater the reward. I like that it will be 3 players and not require full 5-player groups. Three has always felt like a sweet spot for the game. I also like that, in order to get the rewards, one of the group members must exit successfully, which should lead to fun decisions on when to give up and escape—and who will make the run for it. As a tank, I suspect it won’t be me jetting for the exit.

 A new raid, Isle of Night, is being added. This will be good for those players that enjoy raids. Personally, I’ve never done the first 10-man raid, Hive of Gorgons, so I’m not sure if I’ll jump in here. It’s not ruled out, as I have access to organized groups that run content, but raids just aren’t usually how I like to spend my in-game time. Though, as we’ll see with the progression updates, I may need to make some time for this raid.

 Which brings us to a ton of progression changes for the endgame. Gear score is increasing to a max of 800 (up from the current 725). Along with that comes the concept of set bonuses for certain gear obtained from endgame content like raids. Mix and match the set bonuses to get even stronger results from your gear. Additionally, perk charms and gear will let us change out not only the gem slot but also the other perk slots. Many of those charms will be crafted, keeping crafters relevant. A new perk type, infix, will also be available, similar to what makes current artifacts unique with their perks. Oh, and perks have gone through a hefty overhaul, so expect an entirely new approach to builds in the game!

 If that wasn’t enough, they are also adding back a version of the umbral system where gear can be upgraded from 700 GS to 800 GS. Multiple changes were made to (hopefully) make the system better. The currency is now in a wallet instead of an inventory item, with a limit of 1,000 so they can’t be hoarded as in the previous system. This should encourage players to spend them! I know I was guilty as sin of not spending my hoard of umbrals in the last version. The rate at which they can be earned will be time-gated, which is disappointing but an understandable design decision to slow progression and even it out among the player base.

 Tucked away in the notes about progression and gear is that they are doing away with attributes on gear. All attribute points will now be granted as players level up to max level. Gone are the days of getting an amazing armor piece for your greatsword build only for it to have a +FOC attribute bonus making it worthless. This will also allow them to tie attributes to the gear set feature, so now when changing gear sets it will also change your attributes. Nice!

 Also included is another new Outpost Rush map called The Tower. It was literally years from launch until we recently got the Coral Divide map, and now we are getting yet another! It’s almost like Amazon Games is listening to all the player demand for more maps for one of its best game modes! The map will be available during a preview weekend event later in September.

 The best part of all of this? It’s a free seasonal update. New World continues to deliver amazing value with some of the friendliest monetization in the entire MMO genre. Buy the box, play, and get great updates like Nighthaven for free!

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness and em dashes (—) are the AI.   

Thursday 9/11/2025 Post: Packers Command the Commanders... to lose.

 In back-to-back weeks, the Green Bay Packers have dominated their opponents. Last week it was the Lions, and this week it was the Commanders—both of which were playoff teams last season. The question for Packers fans: how long does this last?

 

Sunday 9/7/2025 Post: Packers beat Lions

 What a way to kick off the season! Go Pack Go!

 

August 2025 In Review

 August has come and gone and so has Blaugust 2025.  I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve for Blaugust so let's take a look back at the August that was.

The Blog

Blogger recorded visits for July: 326,819

In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target:  31 (to meet the Blaugust goal of once a day)
• Posted: 17
• Difference: -14
• I fell off the Blaugust horse early and never got back on it.  My Blaugust plans to talk about blogging and blogging platforms never materialized. I'll get a Blaugust recap out here in the next few days.
•  Search Trends
• Search trends changed in June and that trend continued in July:
• "battlefield secure boot" "secure boot required battlefield" - Secure Boot being required to play the Battlefield 6 beta was a hot topic and I shared my own experience in a post which netted the most Google clicks of any posts this month.
•  "deadlock invite pending" - this search skyrocketed around the time of the Deadlock update (which I posted about here).  Honestly surprised Valve has continued with the invite system for the open test; seems like at this point they'd be better off just letting anyone try that wants to.
• "arc raiders countdown" - this actually trended way, way down this month which is expected as we are at the midpoint between Tech Test 2 hype and the October release date for ARC Raiders. 
• In "things I observed in search console":
• Image searches for "minecraft mountain base" is my top result for images.  It's neat to see many years later that my Minecraft adventure from 2010 (15 years ago!) is hopefully inspiring new builders.  The post: Minecraft Mountain Base
• "bf2042 iwo jima" netted a small number of  visits which was nice to see as BF2042 enjoyed a resurgence in interest thanks to Battlefield 6.  The new Iwo Jima map has been a blast to play in 2042.

What I Played

 My friends and I have been sticking with Dune Awakening, but honestly, it’s pushing me to the edge of rage quitting more often than not. The combat is rough, and PvP ends up being a frustrating mess. Losing in PvP can set you back hours of progress, especially if your opponents decide to thumper your thopter — sending it to a worm and deleting it permanently.

 Normally, I wouldn’t mind setbacks like that, but the combat feels so bad that I never feel like I have a fair chance. Ground fights are plagued with stagger locks that stop you from dodging, activating skills, or even moving. Then you add in tactics like players gliding in silently on a thopter, pocketing it mid-air, and dropping right behind you… it just leaves you feeling powerless. More often than not, you have to resign yourself to being ganked repeatedly, even when you’re actively looking for a fight.

 So yes, I’m still begrudgingly playing Dune Awakening with my friends, but the PvP endgame just isn’t fun. There’s only so much building and gathering I can do to distract myself from that.

 Later in August, I jumped on the No Man’s Sky bandwagon after the Voyagers update. I’ve been really enjoying my early exploration of the galaxy. There’s something refreshing about a game with so many possibilities. The fact that I can take off in my ship from a planet, fly into space, head to another world, and never hit a loading screen still amazes me. Add in space stations, the anomaly, space pirates, and more than I can list, and it’s clear this game is going to steal a serious chunk of my gaming time. And I haven’t even touched on the multiplayer yet!

 On top of that, my sons and I have been continuing our Minecraft adventures. I need to get us set up on a realm, especially after we lost progress when a local save reset on us. It’s also tough that our current setup isn’t persistent, so if we’re not all playing at the same time, no one can move the world forward. A realm would solve most of that and make our sessions much smoother.

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

 August 2024 was a wonderful Blaugust experience and my wrap up can be read here.

 Also in August of 2024 we got a first look at Dune Awakening's gameplay.   It was clear in the video that combat wasn't going to be great and sure enough a year later and combat isn't great.  I guess it's a positive that the initial video look we got back then was what the actual game turned out to be.

 August of 2024 also brought us Deadlock's initial beta test.  This was the hottest game since sliced bread at the time.  A year later and the game has pretty much dropped in interest and is still in a test phase.  Player activity is down from hundreds of thousands peak players to just tens of thousands.  It's possible the game peaked before ever making it to release.

5 Years Ago

 In August of 2020 we were enjoying the Crowfall Beta. At the time I thought this was the next big game for me.  I was going to lose hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to it. Fast forward to today and Crowfall has already been shut down.  But the Crowfall Beta does hold a special place in my nonexistent heart because it was through the beta community that I found out about this other game called New World and little did I know at the time but New World would be the game where I lost thousands of hours (4,000+ and counting!).

10 Years Ago

 August of 2015 existed in the time of no blogging for me.

15 Years Ago

 August of 2010 was marked by my purchase of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.  15 years later and he has delivered five books in this amazing series!  Now if only George RR Martin could deliver at such a pace.

 Another interesting post and article to look back on was this one: MMO Developers: Read this, learn from it .  Now 15 years later I'd of expected more MMOs to have been developed around the single server design.  And while we have mega servers in many MMOs we really haven't gotten another single server MMO like EVE Online.

20 Years Ago

 In August of 2005 I was complaining about Alterac Valley in World of Warcraft and how it needed to be rebuilt.  I really miss those days.  Alterac Valley was such a fun experience at the time and I dearly miss those simpler days where I had hours and hours to devote to a singe map game mode and write such long winded change requests for it!

 Speaking of WoW battleground design suggestions I also suggested they should be cross server.  At the time it was a foreign thought to have cross server activities. Fast forward to modern MMOs and it's hearsay if they launch without cross server capabilities.  Oh how times change!

 I made a Battlefield 2 video and uploaded it to Google Video.  Sadly it's been lost to history at this point as I didn't opt to migrate it to YouTube.  Not even the Wayback Machine has a copy of the video even though it did archive the page at one point.  Another sign of "oh how times change"!  Note: it is possible I have a copy on my old hard drives sitting on the shelves; I just haven't spent the time to dig through them.

 

Some Random Friday Thoughts

 

Credit: ChatGPT generating an image to go with the blog post.

 It's been a tough work week and I've found myself juggling trying to play four different games: New World Aeternum, Dune Awakening, Battlefield 2042, and as of yesterday No Man's Sky.  On top of that I've gotten back to keeping on top of updates for other games: NASCAR 25, ARC Raiders, Battlefield 6, Ashes of Creation and Star Citizen to name a few.  And then my youngest son is starting into his first year of kid's activities of which I always volunteer.  All of that to say things are busy and blogging is on the bottom of the stack.  But it's Friday and I just have some thoughts to throw out there.

Magic the Gathering Arena

I tend to always catch various Magic the Gathering posts, specifically about Arena, on Reddit and get myself tangled up in the comments.  I really do miss playing this game but the financial commitment was something I couldn't keep up with (and it's even worse now with the pace of sets being released).  But I still miss it.  I still want to log in and cook up a deck or two; maybe throw down in Brawl (Arena's version of commander).  No action I am taking here; just sharing the thought out loud.

NASCAR

 I've gotten myself into NASCAR again lately.  I sort of take a pass at the sport once every five or so years.  I grew up in the Earnhardt days and still to this day find his legacy and story fascinating (seriously; I watched the recent Earnhardt documentary multiple times now).  The racing career of his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and now what Jr does to represent the sport is equally fascinating.  I have also always dabbled in racing games; more of the Wreckfests of the genre than NASCAR games but there is a promising NASCAR 25 game coming out this year from the iRacing devs that seems promising.  I am probably going all out for it with steering wheel and pedals.

ARC Raiders

 Holy freaking heck do I want this game to be here already.  That's all I wanted to share.

No Man's Sky

 I will likely have more posts on this but it is shaping up very nice to be a filler game for me between now and ARC Raiders releasing.  New World Aeternum is the loser here as time for that game is going to No Man's Sky for now.  No Man's Sky is just scratching the right itch.  It also helped that I felt like my $24 spent on the game was a direct donation to HelloGames work on Light No Fire which I can't wait for more information on!

Ashes of Creation

 This game occupies way too much of my thought cycles.  I want the game to be everything that I think it will be but also want it to dull the edge on the potential toxic aspects like always on PvP and the idea of "red" player killers.  Just give us a good MMO and cut the toxic gameplay aspects.  Players cannot freaking help themselves these days so it will never go the way that is expected.

New World Aeternum

 The current loser in the game of "what will heartlessgamer play today".  Still waiting for the big news of Season 10's changes but as that lines up close to when ARC Raiders will land it's hard to know where I am going to be with gaming time.  Also Dune Awakening isn't letting up as my friends and I are still pulling some fun out of that game (even if it feels like pulling teeth most of the time... Drak and Moist would know what I mean... and Drak and Moist you know who you are and who I am and why I am saying this).