Tom and The Dings!

(Tom and the Dings should be my next band name . . .) You blink your eyes and a month has gone by since your last post. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?!

I just wanted to catch you up a bit on my gaming life here and let you know I'm all good . . . I didn't die in a turkey explosion over Thanksgiginv. :)

So, let's talk gaming shall we? We shall! First up . . . Star Wars The Old Republic.

Several weeks back someone from the Marketing team said, let's all play Star Wars together! And surprisingly five of us were like . . . I'm in! Well, it didn't work out so good.  Half of us subscribed and half of us didn't, and the disparity in levels caused most to fizzle out and stop playing after a couple of weeks.

I kept playing since I had never really given the game a fair handshake. I mean, I had tried the game, got a few quests into the tutorial, sent a child off to his death as a sith, and said . . . nope nope nope . . . I'm done. It disturbed me, and I didn't want anything to do with the game.

This time I played a good guy making good guy choices, and my experience was much different. This here is Pokétom the level 65 (max level) Smuggler (Scoundrel sub-class) and his wookie companion, Bowdaar. He's a rogue with a heart of gold ala Han Solo. ;)

Oh, he's a joy and a pleasure to look at, my friends. *whistles* Strangely enough he's not wearing his banana pants anymore. (Thank you to my friends who showed up to watch me play SWTOR a few weeks ago over Twitch. The joke is in the link. ;))

Now, as with most MMOs, the "real game" starts when you hit max level, but I'm not heavily invested enough and don't really have the time to build my gear profile and raid and all that, so . . . I'm officially unsubscribed.

I enjoyed my time playing Pokétom to max level, and it was an entertaining story. There were plenty of opportunities for me to make light and dark choices, but I'm definitely a light side of the force type of guy. Between my time in SWTOR and rewatching all the old Star Wars, I will be sufficiently hyped for December 18th when the force awakens and all that. YESH!

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Next, I have to talk about Rise and Destroy! I beat level 60!

Wootah! I had so much fun playing Rise and Destroy. I'm still playing it to collect gold and power up my monsters. I was more than happy to provide a couple of play through videos for a couple of my Twitter followers. I don't think I'd spoil all the levels for everyone, and there's more than one way to finish a level, but in case you'd like to check the game out . . . here you go:

I pretty much have to play this game on Bluestacks unfortunately. A few people at my work tell me that's cheating, but listen . . . I can't even play the game on my iPhone 4S. This game is optimized for play on larger and more powerful devices, and I don't have one. I would prefer to play this game on a tablet, but Santa has a long wish list from me and I don't think an iPad is in my near future. ;)

As far as cheap tablet emulators go, I've been pretty happy with my Bluestacks experience.  Good stuff as far as I'm concerned.

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Finally, let's talk Wizard101!

I'm late to the party here, but Polaris has released and that means Thomas Lionblood's progression to level 110 can begin again. Last night, Thomas Lionblood with the assistance of my Russian buddy, Boris the OP Storm wizard (and his Glowbugs), hit level 101 in Wizard101!

Per standard Wizard101 play, I'd blade up Boris, feint the boss a few times  . . and BOOM! Zdravstvuyte to the damage, and do svidaniya to the enemies.

I also got a chance to spend some time as our lady Morganthe.

I loved those fights in the Chamber of the Mind! Those were extremely fun, and I loved playing as Morganthe.  Gotta say, my ninja pig healing pet was a super star for me in that final fight. :) Go LADY DEXTER!

I'll be joining you all in Polaris as soon as I can. :)

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Hope you're all doing well and having fun with what you're doing. Drop me a note in the comments below and let me know what you've been playing lately and how things are going for you.

Happy Dueling!

Favorite Monster in Rise and Destroy?

Hey all! I got a great question over Twitter yesterday from the one and only Paige Moonshade.

"Which is your favorite monster on Rise and Destroy?"

So, first . . . yes! Rise & Destroy is out there now available for download WORLDWIDE! Today is the official announcement day (as far as the press release is concerned). I'm super psyched for everyone to get to play this now. It's a tough game, but also a lot of fun. Have some patience and determination and I'm sure you'll make it to the end.

Most everyone else at work is farther along than me right now, so the answer is a bit more complicated . . . because out of the monsters that are currently in my inventory (which is only Trevor Wrecks, Frankie Forearms, and Manny Leggs), I would have to go with . . . TREVOR WRECKS!

I think there's a reason they put him as the first monster in the game . . . versatile, all around good T-Rex monster thing, right?! His roar and breath attack are a good combo that gives him some distance. I'm all about ranged attacks.  (You just have to do some extra clicking sometimes to turn off his breath attack sooner than it naturally expires.) Overall, Trevor Wrecks is my guy for wrecking the humans!

HOWEVER, being as I am also the dude responsible for creating all the vines of the Monsters you see on Rise and Destroy's Vine page (we have special commands for unlocking all the monsters and levels in a special version of the game), I have had a chance to play all of the monsters. Hmm, I think stylistically, I'm going to give all the awards to SHARBERUS!


A shark poodle that evolves into a three-headed shark poodle?  And that hair??! Guys . . . that's the definition of winning for me! I can't wait to get her in the live game.

Anyway, I hope you all have a chance to play Rise and Destroy this week and check it out. It's a great game that's completely different, yet still has that KingsIsle touch. :) Good times are ahead for KingsIsle's mobile team in 2015-2016.

Happy Dueling!