EPT
Hello all, it's been a while since I posted on TL. If you lurk in any other section other than the strategy forum, you probably don't know me well, but otherwise, I've made quite a few contributions to strategy over the past year or two, including several of my SC2 Notes as well as a handful of TL Strategy guides. I also mod with the heart of a cuddly bunny and the awareness of a hungry cat.
Around November I disappeared from the strategy section entirely and posted a handful of blogs about Heroes of the Storm during alpha. For a little while, I had switched almost entirely to Heroes and planned to play it seriously and start up a strategy team there. However, due to a depressive episode and frustration with teammates (something I hadn't REALLY experienced in SC2), I was unable to keep playing it seriously, and dropped out entirely from both Heroes of the Storm and SC2. I uninstalled both games and quit the associated Skype chats I was in. I had decided I was done, and I really just didn't want to come back for any reason.
(As a sidenote, I really do appreciate the time I spent playing Heroes of the Storm; it was quite a privilege to play in such a small community in the alpha and meet successful professional players like Zuna and Dreadnaught. I learned a lot about mobas in a short amount of time and really got to participate in the very early stages of a developing game.)
From here, I went on to become "the casual gamer". I dabbled in several games, both competitive and non-competitive. Among others, I played around with Orion: Dino Horde, League of Legends, Strife, Smite, and a few single player games like Devil May Cry, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Outlast, the Amnesia games, and a fairly new indie game called Among the Sleep. It has been beyond relaxing to come home and play games stress-free without the feeling that I need to improve or somehow catch up to other players.
However, I'm competitive at the core and enjoy learning and mastering things (hence, why I loved and played SC2 in the first place). Most recently, I've latched onto League of Legends, which I feel has a particularly high skillcap and is also relatively basic and fun. I know there is some kind of Dota vs. League war going on, but all I can say is that I enjoy playing League more. Like a boss, I'm Bronze 1, and I will never get promoted because Riot likes to make me sad; however, I'm not taking it entirely serious, so this doesn't bother me. I mostly play bot lane, either support or ADC, and my favorite champions to play are Annie, Morgana, and Sivir, in that order. I also love me some Volibear and Corki
. I've learned quite a bit from watching professional games, and although my allies sometimes make me want to ram my face into brick walls, it's a lot less frustrating than when I played SC2 or Heroes of the Storm because I have room to grow and learn.During the months leading up to LotV beta release, Zeromus has been continually prodding me and asking whether I'll come back for LotV. I have continually, over and over again, refused this offer.
However, just a few days ago, I began thinking of my experience in the Heroes of the Storm alpha and the things I learned from it, as well as my own articles from the Heart of the Swarm beta (the selfsame articles that not only got me recognized on TL.net but also started my quasi-writing career), and I thought I might give it a chance. SO, I'm back to moderate the forums again, and I will be editing all of TL Strat's stuff again (which was my main role back in summer 2014 anyway), and even perhaps write a game design article or two. I'm not completely sure I actually want to start playing SC2 again, but if LotV proves to be as exciting and interesting as we've hoped it to be, I might just give it a chance.
Until then, I thank everyone who has supported me in the past and enjoyed my writing, and I hope to do some better service to them over the next couple of months. For now, enjoy the beta, and look forward to many many discussions on unit design, economy, and possible meta changes
.EDIT: Also, here is Scuba, my new favorite cat of all time: http://i.imgur.com/IEX9Xro.jpg
