tundra: Hello, my name is Guy. I'm a philosophy graduate student living in Israel, where I was born and raised. I've spent three years as a medic, been on the workforce for a while as IT/QA, but took time off to focus on my studies. I'm a self-proclaimed "uber-geek", in that I participate in all of the geeky pursuits, from fantasy and sci-fi novels (I own well over a thousand books in my room alone), comics, video games, board games, card games, you name it.

With video games, I tend to go slowly, making sure I complete every single side-quest. As my favourite genre is RPGs, it means I take quite some time to finish games, if I do, and often reach the main quest over-leveled.

I love cats, and besides two house-cats, I also feed and take care of about 9 "semi-strays", as I call their situation right now. They're a handful, but I love 'em. Also, I probably have one of the more eclectic music tastes out there, just ask Deadset.

tundra: I enjoy playing various games, and have been a competitive Magic: the Gathering player for many years (I'm not one currently). As a wargamer, I've played Warmachine and Hordes, and while I was never one of the best painters, I do enjoy the satisfaction one feels after spending several hours painting a unit or a large scale scaly beast.

I sometimes engage in pen and paper RPG design, either my own or commenting on friends' designs, and used to have a blog dedicated to RPG theory.

These days I maintain a blog revolving around media analysis, mostly anime, where I spend an inordinate amount of time and words on things that interest me in shows and films, or breaking down the more interesting things happening in a single episode. I usually watch around 20-40 anime episodes a week, and can spend up to 3 hours on a single 20 minute episode's write-up, for extreme cases. It's not always easy to juggle all of my various hobbies, so I usually cycle which one I spend more focus on at any given time.

tundra: My introduction to the Diablo franchise came at a cousin's house, where I played Diablo 1. Not more than several hours, because at some point I had to go home. By the time Diablo 2 had come out I played Warcraft 2 and its expansion, and Starcraft, and I knew I'm going to get Diablo 2 as soon as it comes out, which I did. I've played without the expansion, solo, offline, for most of my Diablo 2 career, only getting LoD quite late. Though Barbarian was my first love, it was bone Necromancer I ended up loving the most, and then switched to the Druid with the expansion.

As a general gamer? I've been hard to pry from video games wherever I could find them, be it the first computer games I've been given when I was 3-4 years old (The Lemmings were probably my first serious video game, in first grade), or be it at neighbours' houses. Third grade was my introduction to tabletop roleplaying games with Dungeons and Dragons (0ed, which was actually still played and sold here). Fourth grade saw me introduced to TCGs, first with Doom Troopers and then Magic: the Gathering (this was back in 1996. I feel old whenever I talk to people about "new" sets), and me diving into more serious video games also coincided with the analog games, be it serious Sierra or Lucas Arts quests, Warcraft 2 and Command and Conquer, Quake 2, etc.

While the details might have changed some since, there hasn't been a time I hadn't been playing games, of some form or another, since.

tundra: Polaris by Ben Lehman is a story-game (table-top RPG) I love for its innovative and even poetic design. Playing a character, or storytelling aspects that present its opposition, in a beautifully tragic setting, that you will fall, and fail, is a given; the question is how.

Journey, for the PS3 for telling an emotional story that you construct yourself in a short amount of time.
Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment still haven't been budged from my favourite RPG spot, and I don't see it happening any time soon. I loved trying various configurations, and spending the time to not just do them, but do them right.

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma is my anime fighting game of choice. I love the fluidity of the characters and fights, and how many options one has, without the more static nature or less combo-nature (at least in terms of leading from one move to another) of most other games in the genre.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, I just have fond memories of the hundreds of hours I spent with it. My introduction to strategy-RPG games, which is one of my favourite genres.

tundra: To some degree or another, I play all classes and reached at least GR 35 with them during last season. I wanted to hit GR 40 with them all at the very least, but decided to focus more on pushing with the classes I enjoy more. Aside from Crusader, Monk is the other class I play the most of, and have been doing extensive testing on since patch 2.1.2 hit, as the class was quite changed.

I find changing builds, or even classes, is the best way to avoid burning out on a class, or the game, so I make sure to mix things up semi-regularly.

tundra: Afraid not. I tend to go about these things solo, or with the help of a few people, but nothing as structured as a clan.

tundra: Just before the season ended and I was busy alternating between climbing the leaderboards and testing the monk changes after patch 2.1.2 hit, I dismissed my Templar follower in order to test alternating hands for Exploding Palm damage on Normal, so I'd have less numbers to be distracted by. Then I went into GR 44, without my follower. It hurt.

tundra: I was around paragon 60 or so, trudging around in Expert or Master difficulty, and a Rainbow Portal opens. This was about my 4th one, and while having my first Whimsydale visit might have been a close contender, in this specific one there was my first piñata, and in it, my first 2.1.0-2.1.1 Furnace (I ended up having 5). I then proceeded to go to Torment 1 to obtain my Ramaladni's gift, I thought I'd get one quickly and then go back to the lower difficulties. Well, to make a long story short, I was T4-ready and had at least 100 more hours into the game before my first gift, if not even more. But still, getting my first Furnace, an uber-rare item? Endorphins everywhere.

tundra: After my experience with the beta, it wasn't until last September when I returned to Diablo 3, and purchased the game alongside the expansion. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the Crusader being "new" didn't have something to do with it. But it was also a combination of liking the more "melee" mindset in Diablo-verse, with the very Warhammer 40k Space Marine feel the Crusader promotional art gave. That, and the promise of being able to wield a two-handed weapon alongside a shield sounded OP, and we all like to be OP in our video games.

tundra: I like a combination. I like smacking things in melee, it feels satisfying. But given the way the vermin you fight in the game (and especially those bees, damn bees) tend to run away from you, it just feels better, from a gameplay perspective, to have skills that can deliver judgment from afar, so you won't have to chase annoying creatures. I think that's one of the reasons I like Condemn with the Vacuum rune so much – there is no escape.

tundra: It's a toss-up between Condemn: Vacuum, for saving me the hassle of running after stragglers, while killing everything around me (and allowing you to keep progressing in higher GRs while killing things) and Fist of the Heavens, specifically the Fissure rune. I have fond memories of using this skill as I was climbing up the difficulties, and the way you call down the lightning, and the ability to fill an entire screen with bolts, while actually requiring you to pay some attention to proper placement just felt right.

tundra: Condemn. It's smooth to play. I'd love to be able to do well with Stampede, but its often-frustrating gameplay and incompatibility with groups make it a poorer fit.

I did have plans to test the Roland's build extensively, but seeing as Roland's is changed on the PTR, I decided to wait with that for patch 2.2.

tundra: One thing for the greater good of the class? Passives. A choice that is never the right choice is a "false choice". False choices are worse than not being given a choice at all, as you either make the right call, or are "duped". Too many passives for Crusaders are useless, not just for current builds, but in ways that require the game systems to be redesigned to be made worthwhile, specifically Thorns and Blocking. Travis Day last Blizzcon discussed some of the issues with Thorns, not just from why it wouldn't be made better, but why it doesn't feel good even with high numbers (monsters not attacking you often enough). Blocking is problematic for the same reasons, alongside improper scaling.

I want to be given more options, and I used to perform many gear-checks for Crusaders, and people would quite often choose the "wrong passives", not for their build, but for any build. This also makes farming a usable Hellfire amulet even harder than it already is.

I'm going to sin by being somewhat more selfish with another request. Allow Condemn to be mashed and cast whenever it's off cooldown, just like Stampede, or the Monk spenders, or any class's generators. I made a Condemn calculator that allows me to see how much DPS is lost when people try to cast it "on time" (16% for single target), or just mash the button (30% for single target), and the figures are even higher in AoE. The build reaches weaker than it should due to an artificial limitation that doesn't prove any form of mastery, and that's unfortunate.

tundra: DPS is easier to come by than CDR. Get CDR. Also, it's sad to say so, but one-handed weapons just aren't worth it, and much of their equivalency in terms of DPS comes from attack speed, which is worth less than sheet-DPS would have you believe.

tundra: Somehow, in all my hundreds of hours of playing seasonal Crusader (roughly 400), I never obtained a Frydehr's Wrath (or Unrelenting Phalanx) with natural crit chance or CDR. I'd like one, so I could have one with both. This would allow me to switch out the Leoric's Crown and Ring of Royal Grandeur for a Stone of Jordan if I get one with CDR, or in patch 2.2, to make use of my Focus and Restraints, which I've kept good versions of, being an incorrigible hoarder.

tundra: "Bad Luck for you, friend." – The ever so slightly haughty tone of the Crusader. I'd like to note here that the female Crusader voice is my favourite PC voice in the game. There's just something about it, where the Crusader playing experience just wouldn't be the same without it, and whenever I play another class, I miss my Crusader's lines.

tundra: I would pick Fist of the Heavens, because no matter which rune you choose, the skill tends to look and feel awesome from a fantasy point of view, and couples solid trash-clear with various runes with considerable single-target damage via the pillar itself. The set would probably revolve around boosting the trash-clearing capabilities, either by increasing the damage per target hit (which also rewards proper placement), or by refunding resource cost per enemy hit. The other side would deal with what happens once you dealt away with the trash, by massively boosting the damage and/or reducing the cost when only a single target is hit by the skill, in a similar fashion to the Shield Bash bracers scheduled to arrive with patch 2.2.

tundra: SwedEwoken#2811.

tundra: What change to the game system, or alternately, to the user interface, would you like to see?

tundra: I tend to switch out Slash for Smite: Reaping, just as I do for high GRs. Since I don't have Unity equipped in group play, reflect damage and electrify can hurt, and the healing from Smite: Reaping allows me to tank it without using Indestructible.