I like to play videogames quite a bit. Contrary to popular belief though, I do not often go absolutely crazy over a game. There have been a few titles recently that have made me forget about things like eating and sleeping though. Warcraft 3 is one of those games. When I am awake I am playing it, when I am asleep I am dreaming about it. Even right now as I type this post I am thinking about how I could improve my NE build order. When I do take a break to eat something I eat it in front of the computer while reading message boards for NE strategy. Not since the lord God almighty himself sent us REZ have I been this totally consumed by a game.
I mentioned in an earlier update that I disliked playing on Battle.net because I got beaten so bad and so consistently. Well that has changed recently. Oh I still get beat, but I have discovered that I learn a lot more when playing against human opponents than I do when just playing the computer. I have gotten quite a bit of mail from people asking me for some of the hints and tips that I have been sent. Well the biggest one is to play against other people, and when they beat you save the replay. Watch what they did. What is their build order? How could you have beaten them? Did you rush with huntresses only to have them beat you with air units? In that case you need to switch things up as soon as you see that first gargoyle. Make Dryads like they were going out of style and watch his flying abominations drop like undead flies. There are also plenty of places to download replays of players who actually know what they are doing. I was sent a series of replays that showed a player named Rooks absolutely dominating his opposition with the Night Elves. I learned more in just five minutes of watching him play than I could have in a month reading strategy guides or playing the computer. I learned simple things that I just never realized I could do, like setting the rally marker for your ancients of war on your hero and then keeping him mobile. So my advice to you if you really want to get better at this game is watch people who are already good at it. You will be surprised how fast you improve.
I have one last thing not about Warcraft 3. I have never heard of this site before but they have some bad ass new screen shots of Clone Wars. I got a chance to talk with a couple of the guys working on this title at E3 and they showed me some really cool stuff. I talked about it at length after E3 so I will spare you my fan boy ramblings here, but seeing these new shots has got me excited all over again.
Don't be surprised if you see Monkey or Batjew on here a little later talking about Warcraft 3 and Battle.net. We saw some pretty crazy shit last night and If I know those guys they are gonna wanna talk about it.
-Gabe out
