Adrian Faulkner's Blog, page 31
November 26, 2020
Maldraxxus – The Climb #642
Maldraxxus is the zone Ive been least looking forward to. It suffers a bit with middle-zone syndrome, where the excitement of launch has worn off, the big story beats are either behind or ahead, and the grind starts to set in.
For the main Im levelling, Maldraxxus could have been a good RP choice. Theyre a Death Knight and this place oozes Scourge aesthetic. Except, I dislike that aesthetic. Western Plaguelands never really captivated me as a player, and this...
November 25, 2020
Bastion – The Climb #641
One of the things Ive realised from doing all the thumbnails for my various Warcraft-related The Climb blog posts, is that Azeroth is dark. Even the light areas.
Yes, there might be a lot of colour, but its all toned down.So, as a result, my first reaction to Bastion is just how light it is.
This zone is Blizzards take on Azeroth Heaven. There are lots of clouds, light colours, and of course angels. We go there because, the creatures that came from the...
November 24, 2020
Into The Shadowlands – The Climb #640
And were off! At 11pm, the quest popped up and we were into the Maw!
During previous launches Ive tried to race to the new max level. Thats meant playing through the night and skipping a lot of the quest text.
Its resulted in me missing a lot, but Ive had to weight that up against getting behind and not being ready when various endgame material unlocks.
This launch is a little different. I have so many alts I want to level that its a long term project. This...
November 23, 2020
Staycation Azeroth – The Climb #639
Youd think that playing a game solidly for a couple of weeks was pretty simple. But one of the things I love about a Warcraft expansion launch is the amount of prep it takes. It helps build the anticipation, and makes for any expansion launch to be an event.
Ive always taken time off for expansion launches. Ill play through the night, sometimes trying to reach max level as quickly as possible. Sometimes just to play the game. Then over the following days Ill...
November 22, 2020
Pokemon Go Magmar Community Day – The Climb #638
Today was Magmar Community Day in Pokemon Go. Im in at an interesting point with the game currently. Im not playing it as heavily as I once did, and thats not just because Im playing loads of Warcraft instead.
I originally started playing it as a way to get a friend out their house. Id played it a bit at launch but had given up after a month/ Coming back to it the game had improved and I had a lot of fun going around, meeting up with other players and taking...
November 21, 2020
2021 Plans – The Climb #637
I think I know what Im writing in January.
Of course, I still have this current NaNoWriMo novel I need to finish before then. But I figure buy first or second week of December I should be burnt out a little with World of Warcraft and I can finish it off.
I think Ill wait until then when Ill have a better idea of my pace of writing before I start planning. I need to outline the 2021 novel, I need to have space between outlining and writing.
Part of me wonders if...
November 20, 2020
Pre-Patch Prep – The Climb #636
Look, I know I should be giving you some writing content, especially with NaNoWriMo going on, but whilst things are ticking along, theres nothing really interesting to say. Theres no insights, no bouts of super-productivity or major blocks. At best, Im wondering whether my chapter structure needs to be a bit more self-contained but Im still working out the question to myself so Im in no position to even start discussing it, let alone answer it.
And yes, Im...
November 19, 2020
Warcraft Wednesday: Icecrown Edition – The Climb #635
So I’ve spent close to a year preparing and the time is almost here. Shadowlands launches next week, and I’m beyond excited. I’m already planning to change my sleep schedule so I can play through the night upon launch.
My plans for Shadowlands are simple. I want to take a couple of mains through the entire experience so I can play new end-level content and get ready for raiding. But I also want to have all the professions and for that reason, I want to take a who...
November 18, 2020
Playing With Fire By Writing To Market – The Climb #634
Writing is a funny old business. When you start you learn all these ‘rules’.
They tell you that you have to write every day. They say that there are no writing rules. They say not to write for market.
But as you dive deeper you find it’s much more nuanced. Many professional authors will tell you that they don’t write religiously every day, or even read heavily in the genre any more. You learn that there are elements of craft. And you learn that the market decrees...
November 17, 2020
How I’m Starting To Form Writing Plans For 2021 – The Climb #633
I’ve started to think about next year. Specifically, I’m thinking about what writing projects I could get done next year.
There’s a number of factors I need to consider.
Every project has at least 3 stages: outline, first draft and edit / redraft.
I shouldn’t immediately go to the next stage of a project (i.e. a first draft of a novel cannot follow an outline of the same novel)
It probably makes sense that I don’t follow one stage with the same stage in a different p...
