Episode 35: Nerd Tutorial Gift Giving Guide

Topic: Gift Giving Guide

With the holidays coming up shortly, and the big chance to buy gifts, we wanted to offer some idea and advice when shopping for your fellow nerds.  Some of this will be relevant to some, while others, maybe less so, but the intent is to give a direction to those shopping for their beloved, and professional, nerds.

Knowing your Nerd

Buying a great present for a nerd can be difficult some times, but the most important thing to know when buying is to understand what the nerd is in to or would like.  Research and talking with your nerd will be a major hurtle to figure out what would be an ideal gift.  If you want to be secretive about it, you might want to try to couch the request as a gift someone else, a cousin, colleague, or something like that.  The better you know the nerd, the easier it will be to pick a present out.



Basic/Necessities


Subscriptions

• Netflix
• Hulu
• Crunchyroll
• Subscriptions 

Gift Cards

• Amazon
• ThinkGeek
• Card Kingdom
• Local Stores
• Game Currency 

Loot Boxes

• https://bensbargains.com/thecheckout/guides/20-awesome-subscription-boxes-like-loot-crate/

Indulgence

Game Systems


Playstation 4

• Lots of Games, aiming more toward Japanese culture
• Great graphics
• Playstation VR
• Potential 4k systems/games

Xbox One

• Lots of Games, more geared toward American/western
• Good Multimedia tools/Services
• Great Graphics

Nintendo Switch

• Good Game Library, heavy on First Party Support
• Portable
• Aimed toward family friendly
• Good for multiplay/local 

Clothing/Accessories

• Shirts are easy to get, no nerd will turn down a shirt usually.  Try to find stuff they’ll want to wear all the time, or great for special occasions.  Even better if they can camouflage it at work! 

Game/Computer Hardware

• Aim to get them Games they don’t already have if possible.  Better to buy closer to the date you’re giving the gift as they may not have it at that point.
• If getting electronics, aim to get high end or biggest bang for buck.  Computer parts/hardware can age poorly over the years, so aiming for better early on will mean it lasts longer. 

Collections

• Nerds enjoy their collections, so if you’re able to add to it, all the better.  Knowing your nerd will help a lot here.   

Tickets

• If you have local convention or events happening, tickets are a great option.  Wrestling is all the time, usually 2-3 times a year.  There is often a touring orchestra that does video game or pop-culture music.  If you have a local convention, buying their pass for the convention can also work well too.   

Specialty


Etsy / Craft

• If you’re looking for a one of a kind, never seen before item, this might be where you look.  Etsy has lots of great makers and ideas to give you the most unique gift.

Memorabilia

• Personal to them. 

Time

• As we discussed, sometimes, your time with a nerd can be more than enough.  Finding something there in to and joining it, or simply giving them a chance to talk about their nerdy passions might be worth it.

Episode 34: World of Warcraft Review/Play

Topic: World of Warcraft

This week, we're trying something different. Because it's a Video Game, and the magic of technology allowed us, we recorded the whole Episode on film! Okay not real film, but still, we recorded the adventure of Mom learning and trying to play World of Warcraft. Come find out how we did.

We're uploading the video to Youtube as well, so while the podcast might be a bit misleading if you don't see what we're doing, for those who can't watch us play, you can atleast listen to us play.

Episode 33: World of Warcraft Tutorial

Topic: World of Warcraft

This week, we start the process of learning about one of my favorite games of the last decade, and Mom gets to come and journey with me on it.  We’re learning about World of Warcraft, and while we can’t talk about everything, we’ll certainly give you a good idea of what it’s all about!

Tutorial

MMORPG – Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game

Developed and Created by Blizzard Entertainment, now Activision Blizzard Interactive.

Based on previous MMOs, like Runescape, Ultima Online, Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, and many other game.

Personal Favorite were Phantasy Star Online and Ragnarok Online

Blizzard knows how to distill the core, fun elements of a game, rebuild it in their own image and what is fun about it, and then paint a rich narrative over the entire game to bring it to life.

Blizzard is well known for their Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo franchises.

A good studio that puts out quality games.

History

Beginning development in 1999-2000 around the same time as development on Warcraft 3.

Elements from Warcraft 3 helped shape the story, character, world, and races of the upcoming World of Warcraft.

Announced in 2001, released in late fall of 2004.  Immediate success based of studio’s previous work and franchise of Warcraft a few years earlier.

The game was a worldwide success, and quickly became the most popular and largest game in history. 

Additional expansion are released every two years to provide new mechanics, character classes and/or races, new locations to visit, and new stories/lore.

Vanilla/Classic (2004)

Initial incarnation of the game. 

Story takes place on Azeroth, a fictional, fantasy world with two major factions trying to bide for control over the world:

The Alliance(Humans, Dwarfs, Gnomes, & Night Elves)

The Horde (Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, &Undead(Forsaken))

Each control major areas of two continents and war against each other in an eternal struggle. 

Original story focused on a Dragon lord trying to come to power.

Blood gods of the Trolls seeking to corrupt the world.

Ancient bugs awakening from their slumber.

And the Undead returning to finish the job.

Classic versions of the original game were recently released in August of 2019 to allow players to play the original version of the game.

The Burning Crusade (2006)

Set in the world of Outland, the former home of Orcs.

Alliance recruits the Dranaei.

Horde recruits the Blood Elves.

Story has us fighting against the Burning Legion, the universal evil bad guys set on destroying all life.

Eventually to fight a big bad named Illidan

Introduction of Flying in game

Wrath of the Lich King (2008)

Set on the continent of Northrend

Introduced a new player class (Death Knights) for all races

Story follows forcing trying to subdue the big bad Lich King from Warcraft 3

Marked what many feel is the high point of the game.

12 Million Subscribers high.

Cataclysm (2010)

Revamped the 1-60 game world, drastically altering the landscape of the game to allow flying and new game effects.

Alliance recruits the Worgen.

Horde recruit a faction of Goblins

Some class/race combinations rebalanced for more options.

Story follows heroes trying to stop the dragon ‘Deathwing’ from destroying the world.  He’s the one that caused the world to sunder, otherwise known in game as ‘The Cataclysm’.

New world also introduced a more dynamic story that would begin to play out over multiple expansions and lead in to the next one over time.

Mists of Pandaria (2012)

Set in the land of Pandaria, a place hidden in mist until the Cataclysm revealed it.

Alliance and Horde recruit Panderians,

New class known as the monk introduced.

Story follows the Alliance and Horde bring war to a new place that hadn’t seen it and causing a mess. Eventually capped off with the Leader of the Horde trying to start a genocide of his own faction and his eventual downturn.

Warlords of Draenor (2014)

Returned to Outland before it became Outland, and even went back in time.

Introduction of Garrisons as a major feature.

Story followed form warchief going back in time to before the orcs were corrupted, and trying to build the Horde he always wish it would be.  We would stop the new horde from advancing in to our world and taking it over.

Game quickly begins to slow down, with the game being less than well received and considered lackluster.  Entire raid content/patch was dropped.

Legion (2016)

Set in the Broken Isle, a lost location where the Burning Legion has returned thanks to Gul’dan from last expansion being sent to our world.

Introduced the Demon Hunters to the game.

Revamp of all Classes and specs to create dynamic, individual game play, and Order Halls.

Story follows us trying to stop the burning Legion of returning and putting an end to their campaign once and for all.

Many people happy about this expansion and considered a new high point.

Battle for Azeroth (2018)

Current expansion.

Set on islands of Kul Tiras and Zandalar, forgotten lands in wow lore.

We recruit new allied races to assist:

Alliance gets Light Forged Dranaei, Void Elves, Dark Iron Dwarfs, Mechagon Gnomes, and Kul Tirans

Horde get High Mountain Tauren, Nightborne, Mag’har Orcs, Vulpera, and Zandalari Trolls.

Story initially starts as a continuation of the Horde vs Alliance, but quickly find the new WarchiefSylvanas trying to kill everyone for a secret agenda.

Continued on success of Legion in story and gameplay.

Shadowlands (2020)

New expansion set in the land of the dead. 

Revamp of Order Halls and revamp of character abilities.

Changing leveling process back to 60 cap level, making each expansion the 10-50 experience.

Story revolves around Sylvanas opening up a portal/hole to the shadowlands, but for unknown reasons.

Planned for 3^rd quarter of 2020.

Classes: 

Warriors – Heavy Plate soldiers, good at all weapons, great at tanking.

Paladins – Holy Warriors, can do close combat, plus tanking, and Healing.

Death Knights – Unholy knights, good at tanking, but channeling unholy skills to do damage

Shamans – Nature warriors that call upon the raw elements to attack and heal.

Hunters – Similar to rangers, good with all long range combat

Rogues – Typical thief, can hide in stealth and strike enemies with ease.

Druids – Shape-shifter that rely on nature magic to transform in to either healers,  tanks, melee or ranged damage

Monks – Barehanded warriors who are drunk tanks, quick melee fighters, or mystical healers.

Demon Hunters – Similar to Illidan, these are warriors infused with demonic energy that can also be tanks

Mage – Typical wizard channeling the fire, ice, or arcane magic

Warlocks – Dark wizards that use fel and shadow to summon demons to do their bidding.

Priests – Holy wizards that excel at healing, but have an unholy damage.

Things to do in game:

Leveling/Alts – Common is to level your character until max level, or start a new character and level up all over again

Dungeons – 5 man groups tackling various smaller issues, usually relating/theming to current events/expansion

Raids – 10-25 man groups tackling bigger dungeons, almost always related to the current events/story

Player Vs Player – various areas, themed objectives, and open world fights between the Horde and Alliance. 

Pet Battles – Introduced in Cataclysm, think Pokemon with your in game pets

Dailies – series of objectives that can be completed daily for various rewards

Transmog – Hunting Gear or looks from various sources/objectives

Role Playing – Popular amongst roleplay servers, allowing character to act out stories with their characters.

Getting Started:

1) Server
The easiest way to get started is to first ask any friends who are playing first. World of Warcraft has over a Hundred different servers(also known as realms) to play on, and if you aren't on the one with your friends, you can't play with them easily, and depending on your investment, moving a character to another server can be costly.  

If you don't have any friends playing World of Warcraft, there are two major type of servers, Normal and RP(Roleplay) servers.  The difference between the two is RP servers tend to have people roleplaying as their characters, vs Normal focuses more on gameplay like PvP or Raiding.

2) Faction
If you plan on playing with your friends, also figure out the faction.  Alliance and Horde can't interact outside of trying to kill each other typically, much less even talk to each other. So if you play Horde but your friends play Alliance, it will only make it more difficult to play with others.

3) Race/Class
Once you figure out what server you want to be on, you next want to figure out what class or race you want to play.  Not all Races can be certain classes, and not all classes can be any race, so figuring out what you want to play is important.  While each race has some minor perks here and there, the class is really what stands out.

Some people really want to play a Gnome or Troll, so if you decide on the Race first, then pick a class available to them.  Otherwise, pick a Class and see what race you'd like to be.  

Always choose what you feel comfortable with.  The game give you the option to try a character ahead of time at high level, so you'll get a feel for what the character will play like and look like beforehand.  This way it's only a little bit of investment to see if you like how it plays or not.

4) Personalize
Once you've picked your class and race, you can personalize your character with various hair, skin, and face options, with more choices for horns, tattoos, beards, jewelry and more depending on the race or class.  Look at you character from behind, because it's what you'll look at the most in the game.

Finally, Pick a name.  Your name can be just about anything, assuming it hasn't been taken already.  You can always pick at random using the random name generator, but you can personalize it to yourself if necessary.  

5) Enter the World!

Play or Learn more about:
World of Warcraft Website

Episode 32: Magic: The Gathering Review

Topic: Magic: The Gathering

We disappeared at the end of last week, planning on playing some games of magic.  We did that and mom did some additional research of her own, and found a wealth of knowledge is out there for anyone interested in learning about the game and wanting to play it.  It’s amazing how much is out there, but it’s Time to hear my mom’s thoughts and questions in this review episode.

Review:

Magic: The Gathering
https://magic.wizards.com/en


Magic: The Gathering Arena
https://magic.wizards.com/en/mtgarena

Level One
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/level-one/level-one-full-course-2015-10-05

Magic: The Gathering

https://www.youtube.com/user/wizardsmtg

Card Kingdom
https://www.cardkingdom.com/

Tolarian Community College
https://www.youtube.com/user/tolariancommunity

Loading Ready Run MTG
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCicNMfc3PGR1H2yPOxFJrLA