Rush Playing Rock Band
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Digg thisThe Push to 70: Week 2
I spent much of the past week and a half pushing Sandmoose (my Blood Elf hunter) to level 59 and then farming Thorium from Un'Goro Crater to get my mining up. I did not want to head into Outland without first making sure my mining was up to level. My other profession is skinning which hit 300 back in my early fifties. Anyway, I finally hit that last Thorium node -- ooze-covered no less -- to push my mining skill up to the magical 300 number.
Then it was 10 minutes of travel, 10 minutes in the auction house, 15 more minutes of travel and I was through the Dark Portal. Ah, entering Hellfire Peninsula is an awesome experience. I've done it once before with my Night Elf warrior but it was just as thrilling the second time around. It seems that so far the Horde quests are very similar to the Alliance quests which is perfectly fine by me. I like familiarity.
I'm about 90% of the way to level 60 at which point two things will happen. I'll get my epic land mount and leveling will get much slower. I'm going to start having to think more strategically about battles too as it seems I'm always fighting multiple mobs at once. Perhaps I should put some points into the survival tree.
Then it was 10 minutes of travel, 10 minutes in the auction house, 15 more minutes of travel and I was through the Dark Portal. Ah, entering Hellfire Peninsula is an awesome experience. I've done it once before with my Night Elf warrior but it was just as thrilling the second time around. It seems that so far the Horde quests are very similar to the Alliance quests which is perfectly fine by me. I like familiarity.
I'm about 90% of the way to level 60 at which point two things will happen. I'll get my epic land mount and leveling will get much slower. I'm going to start having to think more strategically about battles too as it seems I'm always fighting multiple mobs at once. Perhaps I should put some points into the survival tree.
WoW Achievements
I'm catching up on listing to recent episodes of The Instance podcast since I've been on "vacation" for the month of June. In Episode 110 they mention the possibility of X360-like achievements for the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion. That little bit of information originated from a post on deathknight.info.
Looking at some of the achievements in the screenshots it's obvious the Blizzard guys have been inspired by many of the types of achievements developers put into Xbox 360 games. There's no word on possible rewards but it would be nice it if you can get cosmetic upgrades at certain point levels.
What would be really cool is to have somewhere on the armory where every single quest you have completed is listed on a page linked to from your character's sheet.
How 'bout calculating a "completion percentage" for Zones and Instances? That may be near impossible considering the ever changing nature of MMOs but it would be nice to go somewhere and see something like "Silithus: Completed 8 out of 15 quests".
UPDATE: It's officially official now.
Looking at some of the achievements in the screenshots it's obvious the Blizzard guys have been inspired by many of the types of achievements developers put into Xbox 360 games. There's no word on possible rewards but it would be nice it if you can get cosmetic upgrades at certain point levels.
What would be really cool is to have somewhere on the armory where every single quest you have completed is listed on a page linked to from your character's sheet.
How 'bout calculating a "completion percentage" for Zones and Instances? That may be near impossible considering the ever changing nature of MMOs but it would be nice to go somewhere and see something like "Silithus: Completed 8 out of 15 quests".
UPDATE: It's officially official now.
Words of Tyler
Tyler is my 5 year-old son.
Tyler (to Mommy): "Daddy had an emergency. He made something appear on the Internet."
That's what Tyler told my wife after I created a test event and had it show up on GameSpot's front page for a brief period of time. So for anyone wondering what "Luton's Test Event" was, that was my bad.
Moral: Five year-old's tell all to everybody. He's probably going to repeat that little bit of information to family, friends and strangers for the next week or so.
Tyler (to Mommy): "Daddy had an emergency. He made something appear on the Internet."
That's what Tyler told my wife after I created a test event and had it show up on GameSpot's front page for a brief period of time. So for anyone wondering what "Luton's Test Event" was, that was my bad.
Moral: Five year-old's tell all to everybody. He's probably going to repeat that little bit of information to family, friends and strangers for the next week or so.
Too Awesome
So Rock Band 2 will be able to use all the original Rock Band songs in addition to all the downloadable content?! And world tour mode will be playable over the internet?! If this all works out Rock Band 2 will definitely be my game of the year.
Recent Reviews
There's both good and bad points about this album. First the good.
It sounds great. The production quality the best of any Rush album since 1993's <em>Counterparts</em>. I don't really count <em>Feedback</em> as a proper album as it was all covers.
Three instrumentals! The first one is over five minutes and has some interesting parts to it but doesn't have the melodic hooks of some of their past instrumentals. The second is an acoustic guitar piece by Alex Lifeson. Very nice. The third is a short piece that sounds very aggresive, edgy and dark. One of my favorite tracks from the album.
Alex plays the blues. In a Rush song? Yep, honest to goodness blues solos in "The Way the Wind Blows". The majority of the song is typical Rush fare but those two solos were certainly different than anything we've heard from Rush before.
However, when it comes to the regular songs on the album they seem just a little too regular. I hear them and I think, "Ya, that's good. It's a Rush song all right". One of things I've always respected about Rush is their lack of formula. Maybe in this mature stage of their career they've found a style of writing they like and are sticking to it.
That's not to say it's bad. A mediocre Rush song is light years better than anyone else's mediocre songs. That's why I gave this four stars. I guess I'm just waiting for another five star album like <em>Counterparts</em> where every song blew me away.
It sounds great. The production quality the best of any Rush album since 1993's <em>Counterparts</em>. I don't really count <em>Feedback</em> as a proper album as it was all covers.
Three instrumentals! The first one is over five minutes and has some interesting parts to it but doesn't have the melodic hooks of some of their past instrumentals. The second is an acoustic guitar piece by Alex Lifeson. Very nice. The third is a short piece that sounds very aggresive, edgy and dark. One of my favorite tracks from the album.
Alex plays the blues. In a Rush song? Yep, honest to goodness blues solos in "The Way the Wind Blows". The majority of the song is typical Rush fare but those two solos were certainly different than anything we've heard from Rush before.
However, when it comes to the regular songs on the album they seem just a little too regular. I hear them and I think, "Ya, that's good. It's a Rush song all right". One of things I've always respected about Rush is their lack of formula. Maybe in this mature stage of their career they've found a style of writing they like and are sticking to it.
That's not to say it's bad. A mediocre Rush song is light years better than anyone else's mediocre songs. That's why I gave this four stars. I guess I'm just waiting for another five star album like <em>Counterparts</em> where every song blew me away.
posted May 22, 2007 at 02:28:37 PM
So I've only heard one song. Freya, which was included in Guitar Hero 2. But a damn good song it is.
posted February 6, 2007 at 11:33:04 AM
I haven't been this excited for a metal band in a long time. I couldn't be happier they gave up the screaming vocals in favor of more Hetfield-like yelling. I can actually understand most of the words now. The song writing is top-notch and the instrumental The Crusade is sure to become a classic.
posted November 10, 2006 at 03:20:59 PM
