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Diary

Finally Upgraded to a Meshed Router Network – Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8)

When I moved into this current home thereabout five years ago, mesh routers were expensive. And I opted to set up my home network with two routers. One was set up as a router and another one as an access point. With dual-band, I ended up with 4 SSID, which was a nightmare to connect. It also made my Sono connectivity kind of wonky as I had to connect all my Sono devices – Playbar, Sub, two SL One, and Roam – onto the same network and kind of defeated the purpose of a router/access point setup. I should have opted for a mesh router network solution when all SSID collapsed into one!

Paired, from the factory.

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For the Geeks My YouTube

Diablo 4 Early Access First Impression – It’s World of Diablo

In this blog post, I would like to share with you my first impression of Diablo 4. And at the backdrop of this video, I have recorded a recent legion event at World Tier 2 difficulty. It took my character a long walk on foot to reach the very southern end of the map. But it was fun nonetheless.

In a nutshell, does Diablo 4 Early Access meet my expectation? I would say yes. Does it worth its price tag? I still think that Diablo 4 is a very expensive game. But it also has a lot more content compared to its previous iteration released 11 years ago. Compare to recent AAA game launches, I would say Diablo 4 is very stable. I have not encountered any bugs or problems logging into the game. 99.99% of the time, the game runs smoothly. Except for some rare stuttering perhaps due to other players joining the area online.

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Game Reviews

Warhammer: Chaosbane – A Review

Surprisingly, in the universe of Warhammer, there aren’t many real-time action isometric or 2.5D role-playing games. There is Inquisitor and there is Chaosbane. To summarize, Chaosbane released in 2019 is a casual aRPG, very accessible to players who are new to this genre, and very easy to pick up. Just that, you shouldn’t expect Chaosbane to be on par with other mainstream aRPG such as Diablo 3. The storytelling is basic. Voice acting has its hits and misses. Maps and enemy types are limited. But what I really like is the multi-stage boss fight that is epic and fair. The combat is fluid. Last, but not the least, you wouldn’t need to invest a lot of time to progress well in this game.

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Diary

When Thunder Rolls at Five

C moved out about a week ago. The exact date was April 21, a Friday. There is no good or bad timing. I had a one-week medical leave and was there almost full-time through the process. During that week, I was counting all the remaining moments with Bailey. Because Bailey would be moving out as well.

A picture of Bailey taken on that Friday late afternoon, home alone, just he and me. He probably didn’t know that I wouldn’t be moving out with him.

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Diary For the Geeks

My Prism+ X270 Pro 27″ 165Hz WQHD 1500R Curved Gaming Monitor

In a strange way, while I don’t blog on a regular basis, I have never missed an update on my gaming monitors. This traces back all the way to 2004. To recap:

2004 / $1,000 / 17″ Samsung / Resolution unknown
2007 / $550 / 22″ Samsung / 1980 x 1200
2011 / $310 / 24″ Samsung / 1980 x 1080
2023 / $379 / 27″ Prism+ / 2560 x 1440

Back in 2007, I have upgraded my gaming monitor and 16 years ago, my then-monitor had a larger screen then my CRT TV! I had some interactions with Samsung service centre and not unlike my recent encounter with Prism+, I had a 1:1 exchange. My latest monitor is one from Prism+ replacing my 12 years old gaming monitor.

On the left, my 27″ Prism+ curved gaming monitor. On the right, my Lenovo Legion 5 pro 2022 model.
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Diary

I Had An Accident And Visited Singapore General Hospital Twice

What bothers me most is not one day I am fine, another day I end up with a scar on my brow. What bothers me most is that I do not recall how it happened.

I was on a bicycle in the early Saturday morning. I must have been cycling pretty fast because when I collected my bicycle from the security guards who cared for me before the ambulance arrived, it was in the lowest gear (or was I really cycling fast at the moment of the accident?). The bicycle looks okay. In fact, while my face took the most hit, my body besides a few minor scratches with a bit of soreness was okay too.

But how?

If I were to fall off at a high speed, I would have ended up with some nasty scratches on my exposed arms and legs. According to eyewitnesses, I hit a pillar. But how? Wouldn’t the bicycle take the first hit? Wouldn’t I have hit my back while falling down? I was wearing a helmet. How would my eye get hit so badly?

I said I was being assaulted. But no one believes me.

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J Pop Music Reviews

Love Psychedelico’s New Live Recording is Truly Phenomenal – Live Tour 2022 “A revolution” at Showa Women’s University Hitomi Memorial Hall 2022/11/23

I am not a big live recording fan (classical music is an exception). I prefer studio recording whereby all the tracks are perfectly recorded and mastered. A great live recording requires every band member to do well and the song rendition should offer something different, something better than studio recording (otherwise, why bother?). Live Tour 2022 “A revolution” at Showa Women’s University Hitomi Memorial Hall 2022/11/23 ticks all the boxes for me. Before writing this blog entry, I was thinking hard about what other live albums I like. I can only come up with one. Pink Floyd’s Pulse (Live).

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Game Reviews

Diablo 4 Open Beta Early Access – An Afterthought with Concern and Hope

How time flies is an understatement. A little over 11 years ago, I have participated in the Diablo 3 beta. Last weekend, I played the open beta early access. I would like to share with you my afterthought. The beta weekend has its ups and downs. I will address my concerns first and end this on a good note with things that I like.

My beloved Sorceror
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Game Reviews

World of Warcraft Dragonflight – A Casual Review

In this blog post, I would like to share with you my casual rating on the various aspects of Dragonflight based on my initial month of playing the game. After all, I have to pay US$14.99 a month to continue playing. So one month is a good time to evaluate the expansion. And as I said, I am a casual player. Our views may vary. And if you are into watching a video review instead, below is the clip.

Now, 28 hours of gameplay on the latest expansion Dragonflight is not considered as long for a huge MMORPG like World of Warcraft. Previously, I have sunk in more than six thousand hours playing up to Cataclysm in the year 2010. I have left the game for around 10 years but I have made a promise in the past that I would return to WoW when Blizzard releases a new class and a new race. Dragonflight has Dracthyr – a new dragon race that offers one new class, the Evoker. Hence, I am back!

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My Hobbies

Ultimate Escalation – How Long More?

Update: Due to feedback from the players, the developer has substantially increased the boss spawn rate. So it should be a lot easier now. The Emperor protects!

If you are playing Warhammer Inquisitor as I do, you probably would wonder how long it would take to complete season 6. To answer that question, I would look at probably the lengthiest objective to complete, which is Ultimate Escalation.

Ultimate Escalation requires us to take down all 10 unique seasonal bosses. Each seasonal mission requires escalation points to generate and escalation points culminate as we take down Harbingers. Each seasonal mission we generate has a 15% chance to spawn a seasonal boss of a random type. Depending on how fast you can fill up the escalation bar – which in my case is somewhere between 30 mins to 1 hour including the actual gameplay, inventory management, screen loading time, etc., you can work out an estimation on how long more to go.

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