We’re now half way through 2021. This has been a weird one. With this milestone, it does have me thinking about how I can plan out my time better to make the most out of this second half.
I’ve been keeping busy these last couple months, there is actually a lot I would like to share, but it’s all over the place. So I’ll split up those topics through July (hopefully I make good on this).
In my free time, there’s been a lot of Diablo play (I and III), and researching/learning some new technical concepts. I’ve been checking out Apollo GraphQL for API considerations. I’ve also been spending some time getting familiar with Ansible for server configuration.
Diablo III – Season 23
Season 23 began for Diablo 3 and I’ve been playing through it on PC and Switch. This is actually the first season I’ve played on PC in a while, I really like playing on the Switch because it’s portable.
I decided this time around I wanted to complete the season as a whole, and I was able to accomplish that on PC. I’m pretty close on Switch
I discovered some helpful resources to figure out good builds. Icy Veins has a section for Diablo 3 and there’s also Maxroll (I really like their UI). I’ve also been catching info from the Rhykker YouTube channel.
I started with a Wizard meteor build on Switch, unfortunately that build is retired. I didn’t know that until later (I’ve moved over to Firebird Mirror Image). Spectral blade is one of my favorite skills ❤.
On PC, I went with a whirlwind-rend Barbarian and then leveled up an Akkhan Bombardment Crusader (I preferred their shield bash/glare kit, but bombardment was hands down more DPS).
I also rolled some hardcore characters. My Demon Hunter is still alive, but I’ve started a second character in case they keel over. The hardcore experience is fun.
COVID
For the last couple months vaccinations for COVID have been opening for other people that didn’t qualify before, including my wife and myself. So we finally got vaccinated. It’s a relief to have that done with.
The mask mandate has also been lifted in my area, though I still wear mine, given there have been mutations of the virus found.
GraphQL
I’ve been tinkering with GraphQL and Apollo to see where it can be appropriately used and dispel some its magic. (Github source)
I was interested in how Apollo knew how to query the MySQL database. I found this was through a combination of a node ORM (Sequelize) and GraphQL resolvers.
I’m looking forward to looking into federation and authentication.
Music Pick
Dogma Resistance by Riot became my soundtrack to leveling my characters in Diablo III. The album as a whole is fun to listen to, there’s a nice variation of style and mood. (From what I’ve seen on Reddit, there’s a lot of fans of this album too)
Link Picks
Half-Life 2 Remade Assets (Source Tweet)
Google I/O 2021 – What’s new for the web platform