Joe's Stream.

May 20, 2018.

Earlier this morning off-stream I decided to go ahead and take the plunge and fight Kitava on my ranger. I defeated him, but like on my marauder it took many many tries. :[

Kitava fight

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For the evening stream I just ran various maps on my ranger, and also did one of those Eternal Laby trials as well, while a couple of people hung out and chatted (I've been getting these lately. I must be doing something right. :D Plus, props to them for having diverse musical tastes, none of them left when I was playing polka music, FWIW polka > auto-tune music).

So far I'm liking this end-game, more variety than D3 and D2. Now I got even less reason to play one of my new characters. Like I said on my previous post I'll probably keep doing end-game stuff until I get burnt, then switch to one of my newer characters. So, that's what's on the agenda now.

Okay, and here's the records I played today:

Thin Lizzy - Self-Titled Debut
Frankie Yankovic (no relation to Weird Al Yankovic) and his Yanks - Polka Time!
Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds
The Clash - Self-Titled Debut
Jigs on the Green (Irish music)

Okay, gonna call it good for today. Tired and hungry, even though I ate and slept. <:\
And like before I might be on later around 4-4:30am to stream some Pinball Arcade if I can stay awake long enough to do so. Until then, take care and thanks for watching/reading. Always appreciated, never anticipated. ;]

"Joe's Stream" Playing vinyls and my ranger (and/or my marauder as well).
My Patreon page.
My Youtube Channel.
May 21, 2018.

Earlier today I made a commentary video - something I haven't done in a very long time - on Tencent's investment in GGG, a subject that made me go "uh-oh". Hope you likey:

About Tencent's Investment in GGG.

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So, for the evening stream I just mostly played my ranger, running maps and stuff. Did a merciless Laby run too, but like always I only get as far as the second Izaro battle when I get one-shot by something. I also pulled my shadow out of the mothballs, and worked on Act 2 some. Nothing like having access to a bunch of uniques acquired from my other characters beforehand, like:



So the way it's looking right now I'll probably run dailies and maybe a map or two on my ranger, then switch over to my shadow and start progressing through the storyline. Good session otherwise today. Had a couple people hanging out as well, always good.

But anyways, here's the vinyls I played today:

Heart - Little Queen
Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician
The Beatles - White Album
Herb Albert's Tijuana Brass - Whipped Cream & Other Delights

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for reading/watching, and I might be streaming tomorrow morning-ish if I'm awake at the time. But until then, take care. ;]

"Joe's Stream" Spinning records while my running maps with my ranger/marauder (may play others if mood hits).
My Patreon page.
My Youtube Channel.
May 22, 2018.

This morning I worked on my shadow, trying to rush through the storyline. I started in early Act 2, and made it as far as having to kill Piety in the Lunaris Temple in Act 3, so I thought I did pretty good. And for tonight's stream I'll probably continue on that.

"Joe's Stream" Working on my shadow class. Going vinyl-less this time.

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Five-and-a-half-hour stream today. I believe that's a new record for me!

But anyway, I made some great progress on my shadow today. I started in late Act 3 and got as far as Act 5, where you have to go kill Avarius. Gettin' there!

I also ran The Labyrinth as well and got a new ascendancy, which was:



And tomorrow I'll most certainly keep going on the questline, as I'm making some good headway. Of course having uniques (most of it from map farming) certainly helps lol:



And for the records I played today they were:

Pink Floyd - Ummagumma
Jethro Tull - Stand Up
The Residents - Eskimo
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Turk Murphy - Barrelhouse Jazz

And that's a wrap. Gonna veg out for a bit and probably get a nap in as well. I might stream later, but we'll see. Until then though, take care and thanks for watching/reading. And have a good night/day. ;]

"Joe's Stream" Playing records and rushing the storyline on my shadow.
May 23, 2018.

This morning I made some major changes to my ranger and shadow class. I'll start with shadow.

When I first started playing this game I had bookmarked the passive tree for when planning my route (for lack of a better word). Come to find out later that the one you pull up here in the forums is the more up-to-date version, and the one I had was an old version. So after looking at that I saw that the assassin now has poison nodes, like my pathfinder ranger, so therefore out with the old (trickster) and in with the new:



Also, I found out recently that you can back out of your ascendancy by "only" paying 5 respec points per ascendancy point you currently have invested and running The Labyrinth once again. And for my ranger I wanted something different, as a flask-based playstyle was wearing thin. And as I tend to like to use Onslaught, especially in the early going,:



And after testing both out, they're both good to go (although I didn't record my shadow's Avarius battle, due to embarrassment after dying numerous times from PEBCAK and poor preparation). Especially my ranger. GOOD GOD MAN!

The Sulfur Vents boss fight

Izaro fights

Okay, gotta cut it off here as I got stuff to do today. I should be on to stream this evening though around 6:30 pm-ish. Take care. ;]

"Joe's Stream" Working on logistical stuff on shadow and possibly ranger. No vinyl this time.
Last edited by Joe__Schmoe on May 23, 2018, 9:37:13 AM
May 23, 2018, 6:30ish pm.

Wow! People came by today (at least 5), more than I've seen in a while. Always appreciated. :D

I played my ranger today, as well as my shadow a little bit towards the end of my stream. I just did some map running and worked on my hideout a little bit, trying to spread out all my masters and crafting tables so they're not all clustered up in one area. And I also tried running The (merciless) Labyrinth, but hell. This time I didn't even get past the first Izaro battle. So much for that. :\

Various map boss fights.

So, for next session, probably more ranger, with maybe an extra class played a little bit or something. Basically, I don't really foresee consistently playing anyone except my ranger now. Her speed is addictive, if hard to control.

But, thus endeth the session. And here's all the vinyls I played today:

Boz Scaggs - Silk Degrees
Jethro Tull - Benefit
Metallica - Kill' Em All
The Residents - Meet The Residents
Motorhead - Self-Titled Debut

So, alrighty. Gonna call it a night. And until next week (end of my vacation, I go back to work next Thursday) I should be streaming something sometime around 4-4:30 am, US Central time. Until then, take care and thanks for reading/watching. Always appreciated, never anticipated. ;]

"Joe's Stream" Record playing and slaying with my (new raider) ranger. So much for leveling my shadow. :\
My Patreon page.
My Youtube Channel.
May 24, 2018.

Today I was just being Farmer Joe, running various maps and running the Laby a few times. Got a helluva drop too during a map run:



But otherwise not much else going on. I took out my Decoy Totem and replaced it with Ancestral Warchief and added Blind Supports to both the totem and my golem. Big time help right there, things running more smoothly now since my Warchief has no cooldown (Decoy's is 4 seconds) and actually contributes DPS and Blindness ie. I can melee longer.

The Pen & The Springs boss fights.

And with that, here's the records I played this session:

The White Stripes - Self-Titled Debut
Jethro Tull - This Was
Metallica - Live at Winnipeg, '86
Frank Zappa - We're Only in it for the Money
The Moody Blues - In Search of the Lost Chord

Aaaaand that's a wrap. Gonna have to call it a night. Just gonna veg out and probably get a nap in as well. I might stream later if I happen to be awake, but until then, thanks for reading/watching, and see ya next time. ;]

"Joe's Stream" Playing vinyl and Path of Exile. Running maps (ranger) and possibly other stuff too.
My Patreon page.
My Youtube Channel.
May 25, 2018.

This morning off-stream I switched up my ranger a bit. She no longer uses Viper Strike. She now uses Prismatic Wild Strike. It's still in its experimental stage though, I probably still have some kinks to iron out. So far I like it, although I think it might be a bit graphics-heavy at times. lol

The Beach map run, what there is of it.

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And on the evening stream I just continued running maps and a few Laby runs. Came across one helluva an item though, perfectly suited for my current build:



Heck, I've even had to abandon a couple of maps for one reason or another. Or others I ran out of portals. This is one heck of an end-game! Diablo 3 was just routine rift running and Diablo 2 was too bug-ridden for me to go beyond maybe early Hell difficulty. GGG got it right!

Spinner of False Hope fight, the only one I was able to record. :\

So, a good session today. A few people stopped by and hung out and everything, a good time. And here's the records I played:

Suicide - Self-Titled Debut
Richard Pryor - ... is it something I said?
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Heart - Dreamboat Annie
Bill Cosby - 200 M.P.H.

Time to call it a night. Not too sure about streaming later, as I didn't get diddly-squat for sleep today, but you never know. But otherwise, thanks for watching/reading. And I'll see ya next time. Have a good day/night. ;]

"Joe's Stream" Records and my ranger. Running maps and Labys.
My Patreon page.
My Youtube Channel.
May 26, 2018. Very long blog post incoming!

This morning I played my ranger some more and I went ahead and went back from Wild Strike to Viper Strike. The novelty wore off. Why?:

• Nostalgia. I actually started kinda missing the 'ol Viper Strike, an ability I used since I first started playing ranger. Suddenly switching to Wild Strike for no other reason than whimsy, after a while, didn't feel right. So, back I went.

• Wild Strike is too easy to shut down. Too many monsters have a resistance to at least one of the elements (god help you if you get ones that resist all 3). Fights take longer when that happens. At least with poison, the only monsters that really resist it (the "Resists Chaos" mod) are bosses, some uniques, and few special monsters here and there, and that's about it.

• Too graphics-intensive at times. On numerous occasions my comp lags and starts getting blurry when there's a lot of elemental animation going on, kinda like my marauder and his Ground Slam. Much less of an issue with Viper Strike, less taxing on my comp.

"Joe's Stream" Runnin' 'round with my ranger, but no records.

Well, good news and bad news. Good news, I finally beat the Merciless Labyrinth! Bad news, I didn't record it, thinking I wouldn't even have gotten past it, so why bother? Whoops! All I got as proof was a screenshot of my ascendancy tree:



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Very late stream today. ~90° in my bedroom makes it very difficult for me to get any sleep. And one of my apartment neighbors was playing their booming stereo system loud, which doesn't make things any easier either. >.<

Otherwise, for the evening stream: Yep, you guessed it. Ranger! I just worked on maps and a (Merciless) Laby run, in which this time I recorded the last encounter (I didn't expect to get past the previous two).

Izaro fight

Excavation map bosses fight

Strand map bosses fight

I also did a Trial of Ascendancy (Eternal) while map running too. Three down, three more to go. A rather eventful day today!

And so, that's that. And here are the vinyl albums I played:

Metallica - Ride the Lightning
GWAR - Scumdogs of the Universe
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Jethro Tull - Aqualung (side one)

Okay, gonna do it for me. Gonna veg and probably nap some. Not sure about streaming later. Like yesterday I'm short on sleep, so I might be sleeping in instead. Otherwise, thanks for watching/reading. Always appreciated! And have a good night/day. ;]

"Joe's Stream" Playing records while doing some ranger runnin'.
My Patreon page.
My Youtube Channel.
Last edited by Joe__Schmoe on May 27, 2018, 2:56:56 AM
May 27, 2018.

This morning, off-stream, I just ran a couple of maps on my marauder. Like my ranger, I switched out the Decoy Totem for the Ancestral Warchief, finding it makes things go more smoothly.

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This evening's stream was the same as yesterday's, running various maps on my ranger.

Barrows and Burial Chambers boss fights, the ones I could actually record

I now have the long-term goal of switching my duelist's ascendancy from champion to gladiator, and possibly switching my ranger back from raider to pathfinder as well (I'm still on the fence about this, as I like both ascendancies).

And here's what I played today:

Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Frank Zappa - Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
Rush - Caress of Steel
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
Vangelis - Earth

Alrighty, that's it for me. Probably going to be vegging and napping, just like yesterday. And not too sure about me streaming later on, lack of sleep and all (hard to sleep when it's 85-90° in here). But aside from that, thanks for reading/watching, and have a great night/day. Take care. ;]

"Joe's Stream" Playing some vinyl while runnin' with my raidin' ranger [SSF SC].
My Patreon page.
My Youtube Channel.
May 28, 2018.

Did an early morning stream today, if only to have something to export to YouTube, something I haven't done in a long time. Stream highlights:

• Tried running the Spider Lair map, but got my butt handed to me by the boss. :[

• Tried out Flicker Strike. Great ability. But after a while, the novelty wore off. Mainly due to all the screen shakes, too disorienting. I really don't wanna be a milkshake lol. Not to mention it only really works when you can kill stuff in one or two hits, otherwise I have to load up Frenzy just to stay fully charged. Not really worth it then.

• Blood Rage on the other hand is now part of my repertoire! I thought the life loss was a lot worse than it actually is. It's a slow drain, and can easily be gained back. But extra speed and leech and frenzys, always good!

Well, that's it for the morning session. See ya tonight! ;]

"Joe's Stream" More running stuff with my ranger [SSF SC]. No vinyl this time.

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Thunderstorm brewing when I started streaming, but I won't let something like a potential power outage stop me! Especially when I've already gone through game crashes and computer restarts, nothing I'm not used to. :|

Otherwise I just kept on doing those maps, including a couple of new ones:

Underground Sea and Bazaar boss fights

And I've FINALLY upgraded my weapon, the one I wanted for so long. Now I can do bleed damage!:



So now the passive tree paradigm has shifted. Probably after I've gotten some more max life nodes I'll be working towards here:



Maybe even go for Crimson Dance, but that one is WAY too far away for me.

But aside from all that, a good session overall. People dropped by and everything, always wonderful!

And here's all the vinyls I played this session:

Metallica - Master of Puppets
Butthole Surfers - Independent Worm Saloon
Paul Simon - Graceland
Kiss - Self-Titled Debut
Bill Justis - Plays 12 More Big Instrumental Hits

Oakey dokey, that's a wrap! Thanks for watching/reading, and take care. ;]

"Joe's Stream" Spinning the vinyls and doing some map and Laby running [SSF SC].
My Patreon page.
My Youtube Channel.
Last edited by Joe__Schmoe on May 29, 2018, 2:50:55 AM

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