VIDEO GAMES: My Thoughts on World of Warcraft 5,4

A Nightmare month after the death of the fan in my HP Pavilion G6 (less than a year old apparently this fault is pretty well documented on the Internet) and I’m still waiting for it to be fixed though that is down to the fact that I just got paid not any fault with the repair shop. To say I’m a little twitchy about being away from WoW would be understated it has though given me time to do some reading and clear up some misconceptions I had.

The first thing that I sorted out was the Connected Realms feature which I and a lot of others thought that would be launching with 5.4 but that is not the case it actually will be launched AFTER 5.4 with no real timeline on that. I would put Connected Realms as one of the top 5 ranked features that I was looking to. I always tend to stay away from the changes to spells and stuff as that really only matters after the launch.

I am looking forward to the catch up stuff for the legendary as to be honest those initial drop rates of Sigils were KILLING me something like 7 weeks of LFR without getting the 10 and 10. Before the fan died I was 17 and 9 so hopefully it should be over soon once I get my laptop back.

One thing I hope that the Connected Realm thing might deal with is the ridiculous ilvl requirements that we get on the trade channels 515ilvl for a heroic scenario, that is pretty much the level of current Normal gear and so over the top it was ridiculous. I was running HC scenario with ilvl 480 with no problems and I was hardly being boosted by the other two. Some of the lesser run scenarios can be a problem because they are just plain weird but they are certainly not DPS checks.

Anyway I can’t finish this WoW post without remarking on the awesomeness of that 5.4 trailer, it was definitely worth waiting for and went someway to reigniting my passion for WoW though that was probably aided by the fact that I haven’t been able to play for more than a month.

Questions For You:

11.       Do you like the idea of Connected Realms or not?

22.       What size of realm are you on?

33.       Does the Legendary chain feel grindy or too RNG?

Answers in the comments. Much appreciated.

FILM REVIEW: Man of Tai Chi

Man of Tai Chi is a 2013 martial arts film starring Tiger Hu Chen, Keanu Reeves and Karen Mok and directed by Keanu Reeves. It was released on the 5^th of July 2013 in China.

PLOT

A young martial artist's unparalleled Tai Chi skills land him in a highly lucrative underworld fight club.

WHY I WATCHED

Keanu Reeves as a director you got to at least give it a try right? There has been a lot of hype about another of Keanu’s films but this one came out first and is more my speed as I prefer unarmed combat to swords, although swords are beautiful pieces of arts.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I was really surprised by Man of Tai Chi and that surprise was pleasant. This was a nostalgic trip back to those awesome Hong Kong made films that used to play late night when I was a youngster. Those martial arts films are so different from what we get today which in my opinion are lacking and an attempt to go mainstream by combining it with other genres.

Man of Tai Chi is a barebones martial arts offering and just shuts up and gets on with it. There is only a hint of a possible future romance and nothing to detract from the story which is of a man who has come to a crossroads in his life and must choose which path to take.

The fights are excellent and pretty much stay away from the curse of modern day action films which is wire work. I only noticed the use of them in a couple of fights and fortunately it only irked me for an instant. In general the fights are expertly choreographed and feature excellent martial arts instead of just the usual brawling.

I can’t review this without talking about Keanu Reeves, I don’t know much about making films so I can’t comment on his directing other than to say I enjoyed the film. He also has a role in the film though which is something I can talk about. Donaka Mark is a seriously dark guy and his tendency to spout weird one-liners manages to work with Keanu’s unique delivery, trust me when I say he comes across as plenty sinister enough. Special mention has to go to Donaka’s 2^nd in command that came close to stealing the show away from Tiger, the man has a face stonier than Mt. Everest but I found myself staring at him even when he’s in the background of a scene.

If the story of a man battling his darker nature and solid martial arts action sounds like your idea of a fun evening then Man of Tai Chi is right up your alley. Also Hollywood take note, no panoramic views, super slo-mo or CG and this still works 50% than half the martial arts based films they are making right now.