Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

New Cheerful Ghost Site Design Is Now Live!

Welcome to the new and improved Cheerful Ghost! Jon was looking for a more modern theme for the site, and I was happy to do it, partly because I had seen some things over the years that could be improved, and partly because I needed a client for one of my classes.

This has been an amazingly fun project, probably the most fun I’ve had on a site design yet. I’m very familiar with the site so I was able to envision ways to make some things work more smoothly, and design things to not get in the way of the reader. My chief goals were to modernize the site styles and make it look less like a Bootstrap theme.

Jon’s goals for the redesign were (again) to modernize the site... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/18/2016 at 01:41am

Thanks for working on this Travis, I really enjoy how everything looks. It's a nice improvement and something I appreciate you taking the time to do.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/18/2016 at 01:44am

You're very welcome! As I said, it was a blast. I'd definitely do it again :D

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/18/2016 at 02:01am

Whoa! That was unexpected. It looks cool. Good job! I'm going to miss the blue colors, though. LOL

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/18/2016 at 02:03am

Yeah, the old design was burned into my brain too Greg! Goodbye old friend!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/18/2016 at 02:04am

There are all kinds of new blues here Greg! :D

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/18/2016 at 02:20am

It's super sexy, you guys! Nice job :D

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/18/2016 at 02:31am

This looks great! Super job Travis :)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/18/2016 at 02:44am

Thanks! :)

rettisawesome wrote on 05/18/2016 at 07:08am

Nice. I'm totally digging the new design.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/18/2016 at 04:49pm

Looks great! Good work Travis!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/18/2016 at 06:39pm

Thanks rett and Will!

hardeyez wrote on 05/19/2016 at 05:42pm

New design looks great!! (and I agree it will take some time to get used to the desaturated background compared to the old bright blue, but change is good).

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/20/2016 at 02:25am

I see the logo at the top left is a drop down menu now. That's cool and organized. I've been so used to refreshing the site by clicking on that logo, so that's how I noticed. It may be an extra click from what I was doing before, but I can also click my browser's refresh button.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/20/2016 at 04:15am

I like that it's organized too but I don't love it's two clicks to get home or refresh.

Travis can we make the Ghost take people back to home and clicking the Cheerful Ghost drop down is the dropdown? That may make that a bit better for people.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/20/2016 at 03:44pm

Yeah that's easily done.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/21/2016 at 04:40pm

Greg-- the ghos is now a link home, the menu is triggered by the text only now.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/21/2016 at 09:07pm

Thanks! I was ok with the change. I was just making the observation that the logo was a drop down menu.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/21/2016 at 10:02pm

I wanted that change, it was annoying otherwise. Maybe just for me.

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Terraria Celebrates it's 5th Birthday with Patch 1.3.1 Coming May 22nd

"In celebration of Terraria's 5th birthday we are pleased to announce the release date for 1.3.1, an update for PC that focuses on wiring mechanics and controller support."

Terraria 1.3 is coming this month featuring a bunch of new stuff including Logic gates, hardhats, yellow wire, coveyor belts, new pressure plates, official controller support, a new campfire, many new statues that spawn mobs, a new block that changes water color and more. The new campfires and controller support look well worth the price of admission alone and with all things Terraria I can't want to try it out.

http://terraria.gamepedia.com/Campfire

... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 05/17/2016 at 02:40am

Oh come on, Doom, Far Harbor, and now a new Terraria update? I don't have that many hours!

Travis Admin wrote on 05/17/2016 at 02:41am

Also what are the deets on campfires? I haven't read anything about that yet and the sources don't have anything.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/17/2016 at 03:33am

Never mind, found it: https://twitter.com/Cennxx/status/702878946094944257

Here's a full list of known changes: http://terraria.gamepedia.com/Upcoming_features

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/17/2016 at 03:42am

> Oh come on, Doom, Far Harbor, and now a new Terraria update? I don't have that many hours!

LOL I have Ark, FFX/X-2 Remaster, Far Harbor, and the last Witcher 3 DLC....trust me, I feel your pain, Travis.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/17/2016 at 04:24am

Yeah, the source lists the kinds of new campfires but not what they do.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/17/2016 at 02:32pm

Jon-- the gamepedia article only lists the kinds of campfires currently in the game. Cursed, demon, frozen, ichor, etc... those are currently there.

The new campfire in 1.3.1 is a skull campfire which you can see in the twitter update from Cennxx

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/17/2016 at 08:35pm

Ah, thanks for the clarification Travis!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/17/2016 at 11:57pm

@Travis Ready for another server? :)

Travis Admin wrote on 05/18/2016 at 01:26am

Not in 5 days! :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/18/2016 at 01:44am

I think I might have time in December... which is what I say every December but I think I could make time for one then

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Moments Like These....

Pic says it all lol.

Pally was at 30 health when I passed my last turn. He attacked my refreshment vendor taking him to 27... then drew the final piece if the combo (PS, the 2nd Power Overwheling was off of dark peddler, this is a Reno C'Thun combo deck lol

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/17/2016 at 05:03pm

This is awesome. I still have many classic legendaries to collect and Leroy Jenkins is one of them.

You also had a pretty good hand too even with this incredible burst condition.

JaBo Post Author wrote on 05/19/2016 at 05:33am

Finally!!

http://i.imgur.com/LR6IKy9.jpg

JaBo Post Author wrote on 05/19/2016 at 05:35am

I need to find my old post from last August-ish that shared my levels of each class and wins. Shaman was the last one, followed by warlock.

I really don't like shaman lol

JaBo Post Author wrote on 05/19/2016 at 05:59am

For the record, my wins are sitting at:

Warrior - 288
Shaman - 169
Rogue - 175
Paladin - 238
Hunter - 373
Druid - 349
Warlock - 159
Mage - 239
Priest - 500+ (who knows)

Says I have 3266 total wins... but I don't know all what is added up to get that. If only the class wins, then that leaves 1,276 wins for Priest, and I did think it might be 1000, so what's another 276 lol.

Still only an 11 win arena run (can't get that 12 cap) with 1643 total wins in arena.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/19/2016 at 06:42am

Nice. I finally hit rank 12 today. I've never done better so I am feeling pretty good. It's with a fun mid range Hunter deck:

JaBo Post Author wrote on 05/21/2016 at 05:26am

I saw you at rank 12 or 13. That's great man! It takes some good effort to get there. I have a struggle to get too much lower (or higher depending).

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/21/2016 at 03:11pm

Yeah, I am focusing on how to play around certain kinds of class cards. It's got me a few times where my board gets wiped but I totally played into it. I have to mentally remind myself, this could be coming how do we play to that.

JaBo Post Author wrote on 05/23/2016 at 10:32pm

Yeah for sure. Like always be prepared for a brawl. If you control the board, don't flood it. The best T8 play can sometimes be to just attack, use power, pass. I miss Loatheb for that very thing. Was great to throw him out and know they can't flame strike next turn.

JaBo Post Author wrote on 05/23/2016 at 10:33pm

I realized what my most missed card is when I played priest finally... Light bomb... Nothing like it

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/24/2016 at 03:25am

I am glad light bomb is out TBH. Priest has lots of removal options.

But yeah, i've been getting more comfortable with a power pass. When I saw people do it I was surprised but it makes sense to work with what you have or pass in some situations.

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Spent Sunday Praising Yogg at The Taco House - My First Local Hearthstone Tournament

So this might not come as a surprise to anyone that reads Cheerful Ghost regularly but I enjoy a good game of Hearthstone every now and again. For quite some time i've seen that there is a regular Hearthstone gathering at The Original Taco House off Powell and I finally made it out for my first event. I'll set the mood with the Taco House bracket rules below...

"Single Elimination Conquest Format. Up to 24 people may enter. First come, first served. Each player will create four decks of unique classes. At the start of each best of five series, each player will inform their opponent of the four classes that they have brought. The opposing player will choose one of the... Read All So this might not come as a surprise to anyone that reads Cheerful Ghost regularly but I enjoy a good game of Hearthstone every now and again. For quite some time i've seen that there is a regular Hearthstone gathering at The Original Taco House off Powell and I finally made it out for my first event. I'll set the mood with the Taco House bracket rules below...

"Single Elimination Conquest Format. Up to 24 people may enter. First come, first served. Each player will create four decks of unique classes. At the start of each best of five series, each player will inform their opponent of the four classes that they have brought. The opposing player will choose one of the four decks that will be banned from play. The players will proceed with standard Conquest rules with their three remaining decks."

Needless to say the couple days before the event I was nervous. Will I totally shit the bed and lose my ass off? I wasn't sure but I played quite a few ladder matches to prepare and tried honing my four decks with a friend*. With it being my first event I also decided to keep my expectations manageable in that I simply wanted to walk away with one game win. As it turns out I did win a single game and considering my free-to-pleb status was happy with how it all turned out.

My first bracket was a buy, which basically means I wasn't paired with anyone and I moved to the second tier automagically. If you don't have a certain amount of participants people will buy up to the next bracket. My first proper bracket match went well and I won with my Warrior. The person I was paired with was great so getting a win was something I didn't expect. The second match I won with my Shaman and then lost the third match with my Rogue. I proceeded to lose the next match and then took the bracket with a final win. Totally unexpected and very happily I took a bathroom break while I collected all my nerves for the next match up.

In the third bracket I didn't fair as well but was happy to have an exceptionally fun moment where my Warrior brawled while I had Sylvanas to steal their fully shielded Tirion Fordring. That epic play didn't seal the match as they handily stomped me for the win. The remaining games of that bracket were also lost sealing the day with a showing I am really proud of.

I couldn't have played a tournament at a more fun venue as The Taco House as it was my favorite haunt when I lived over in SE Portland. Having such an awesome community at an event was really incredible and if you are on the fence about heading down to the Taco House I can say everyone was friendly and accommodating. I plan on hitting up another event and if you are in the neighborhood and want to toss down a few cards with some very good players in Portland I recommend you check it out.

https://www.facebook.com/OTHSEPowell/

* I want to thank Bina for helping me focus things down to my better decks for the tournament.

Is It Faster To Roll In Ocarina of Time?

I've always wondered this and each time I've played Ocarina of Time it sure seemed like it. Jack from Red Letter Media finally settles the question.

All You Need To Know About Pinball Machines Featuring Metal Jesus and PDX Pinball Wizard Chuck Van Pelt

Metal Jesus is a retro video game collector I follow on YouTube and I wanted to feature his latest video on Pinball machines. This video is special in that it features Chuck, a local Portland pinball collector and retro game vendor involved in the Portland Retro Game Expo. This year I won a raffle for the Arcade Cabinet Zero Point and Chuck was the one that delivered it to my house, which was really cool of him.

If you are looking to learn more about the different version of Pinball machines over the years and some of the more popular tables you need to check this video out.

One of The Most Fun Tavern Brawls To Date - Hearthstone Dailies For Ghosts: ep. 12 Top 2 Brawl

In this episode of Hearthstone Dailies for Ghost we play Tavern Brawl and the Top 2 scenario. This is an especially crazy episode in that this brawl is so unique it created a ton of really fun winning scenario's. Check the video for some fun 2 card decks you can try. Let me know some of your fun moments from the brawl in the comments!

Boogie Is Here To Educate Us On Valve's HTC Vive VR Experience

I've tried Oculus VR and Google Cardboard and both experiences are pretty amazing. Due to Valve's choices in design and approach to VR I am very interested in getting my hands on the Vive but I haven't had the opportunity yet. If you are interested in seeing it in action, YouTuber Boogie has a first impressions video that makes me want to try out the Vive even more than before.

You mean I can play with Balloons but I don't have to get out of my chair or do it in real life or ever go outside again? SOLD!

#lifewrecked

Some sarcasm aside, this does look very interesting and I look forward to trying it out.

Minecraft Everywhere, With Super Mario on The Wii U!

"On May 17, the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack comes to Minecraft: Wii U Edition as a free game update. After downloading the update, players who own the Minecraft: Wii U Edition digital game, which launched last December, will have immediate access to new skins, a Super Mario-themed pre-made world and a set of Super Mario-themed music and item textures."

If you were looking for one of the coolest Minecraft updates it might be coming to the Wii U. The Super Mario Mash-Up Pack is going to add a ton of really incredible Mario themed gear in Minecraft making this version pretty compelling. I imagine you can get similar stuff on the PC with mods but this comes for free and... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/13/2016 at 07:50pm

Nice! I got Minecraft for the Wii U for my son a while ago.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/14/2016 at 06:41pm

Neat. Let me know how the new DLC plays when it drops.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/21/2016 at 06:59am

I'm glad you posted this to let me know about it. I'm also glad I saw this post again a while ago, which reminded me about it. I loaded the game so I could get it for Vinny, but I didn't see this DLC listed. I went to the Nintendo eStore to find it, it wasn't there either. The game did tell me that updated data was downloaded, but that's about it. I finally figured out out to access it. If you choose to create a new world, you'll see the Mash-Up Pack in the options. I didn't play around with it, but I told Vinny about it. So, I don't have my own experience to share with you, just my initial impression of looking at the screen every now and then and hearing it while Vinny played it. The blocks do look like a mix between Mario and Minecraft, which should be expected. I think it looks kind of cool. At one point it looked like Vinny was in the Nether, which looked a lot like a place where you'd expect to see one of Bowser's castles. Although I recognized some music from Mario 64, some of it sounded kind of like a carnival, which I didn't really like. I may play around with it some time or watch Vinny play it some more. Anyway, I just thought I'd share my initial impression with you, since you asked.

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There Is No Limit To Civilization Sequels - Civilization VI Is Coming In October!

Firaxis released the trailer for it's upcoming turn based strategy mega franchise Civilization VI. Voiced by Sean Bean this trailer shows off a look at the best parts of history and teases some of the new game. It's light on details and heavy on fluff and if film history is our guide somewhere in this game Sean Bean will die. Firaxis has stated that new features are coming to the game, but again nothing terribly concrete right now.

"Civilization VI offers new ways to interact with your world, expand your empire across the map, advance your culture, and compete against history’s greatest leaders to build a civilization that will stand the test of time."

Are you... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 05/13/2016 at 04:53am

We will be old and gray, with young whippersnappers abound, while we rot away in a wheelchair, and Civ 25 will be released. It'll never stop.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/13/2016 at 04:55am

Also yeah, Civ V is pretty great. This will do super well.

I assume Sean Bean voices every major historical figure that had a famous death.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/13/2016 at 05:10am

> We will be old and gray, with young whippersnappers abound, while we rot away in a wheelchair, and Civ 25 will be released. It'll never stop.

I don't think i'd want it any other way either.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/13/2016 at 05:11am

> I assume Sean Bean voices every major historical figure that had a famous death.

Can't wait for Sean Bean's Lincoln movie.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/13/2016 at 05:43am

Oh also: https://twitter.com/CivGame/status/730440440437055490

Even better!

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/13/2016 at 01:12pm

The updates to the mechanics that they've mentioned so far sound interesting, and one in particular - unit embedding - long overdue. Gone are they days of "one unit per tile." Now you won't have to dance around settlers as they are mobilized in unprotected territory. They can simply hitch a ride with an offensive or defensive unit, and get the protection they've always deserved.

Dynamic diplomacy sounds really interesting, too. Diplomacy tactics will be as primitive as your civilization is, with more advanced strategies opening up as you advance through the ages. Neat! Also curious about that enhanced multiplayer. Single session scenarios, both competitive and cooperative. The screenshots remind me more of what they were doing with Civ Revolution for the consoles. I hope they don't drift back too far in that direction.

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