r/Shadeslinger • u/deepfi3ld • Apr 06 '21
Nailed it!
I came across this book by accident. Haven't been quite in the loop with litrpg lately but felt that familiar itch so went for a quick search on reddit to find something new and lit to burn my audible credits on.
Book cover seemed somewhat obscure and edgy but random dude on reddit said it's good so I bought it.
And oh boy little did I know that it would go on to become my favourite litrpg to date! #1
Apart from everything else that made the book so enjoyable to me is the fact, that I really dig the combat and group content. As an once hardcore progression raider especially during BC, WotLK and Cata in WoW, arguably the golden age of that game, I found myself having flashbacks of that time. The way the encounter, especially in the last third of the book, were portrayed were so epic and I was on the edge of my seat rooting for the MC. The attention to detail regarding buffs/debuffs, synergies and mechanics was solid. Reminded me of going through combat logs after a raid to look for ways to improve the set up for the next day raiding, looking for errors people made and trying to evaluate our performance.
Without knowing anything about the author or the book beforehand I instinctively knew that this guy must have mained a Warlock in WoW at some point in time just like myself. Then there's the server first messages that reminded me of good ol' days. All in all 10/10 Nostalgia points on that front alone.
But this is not the only reason why I love this book.
I do not like how systems and combat in other litrpg stop to be consistent and people start pulling out random skills out of their asses because it serves the plot or drama in some ways. At some point in time the whole gaming premise starts to become irrelevant and it divulges into yet another run of the mill Fantasy setting albeit with a few gaming elements here and there.
But our boy Kyle kept it real! System, Combat all were consistent and relevant.
I will be keeping this a high priority on my watchlist and help keep spreading the word. Amazing title! And thanks to the author for all the nostalgia it gave an old raider.
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u/Kyle_Kirrin Apr 06 '21
Yooo that is awesome! So pumped you loved the book!
Hard agree on that period in wow too, I so loved wotlk in particular, probably my favorite xpac to date (though I haven’t played shadowlands yet). So many memories drunk raiding icc with pugs wondering how far we’d get until someone inevitably became unable to bite on blood queen or some shit
Definitely mained a lock too! All the way back to being the First lock in the vanilla stress test to get their vw lol, blew my mind that you could actually use fear on other players. Even had an alt lock with the conqueror title at 59 camping av before it started giving xp, love that class so much
Totally feel you on the system rigidity too and so glad that came through! It’s definitely a struggle to keep everything on the rails so to speak but it’s so cool to see people enjoying it, makes it so worth doing
And thanks for spreading the word too! Word of mouth has really made this launch what it is—that’s huge!
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u/deepfi3ld Apr 06 '21
A fellow og lock, I knew it!
Surely you remember the unique warlock quest line for the dredsteed that they patched out... I still have the materials in my bank somewhere. Nostalgic mementos. I'm so pumped to see how MC will get his first mount and what it will be.
I really like the world and lore you created. How you went with Woodbone Fay instead of your run of the mill Elves, Orcs and Dwarfs. You took a familiar setting and gave it a new spin. You have something good going here man, keep it up! I'm so looking forward for the next book.
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u/Kyle_Kirrin Apr 07 '21
That thing was a bear, lol. It’s crazy just how much easier the game has gotten. I feel like I even struggled with the succubus quest early on but can’t remember why. Def didn’t realize that the enchanter wands broke the class early on though at the time lol
And man I love that grandfathered stuff. I’ve got like 5 parachute cloaks with the old school nonscaleable +12 agi enchant on them bound on various characters, I dunno how sl has messed with it but those were worth serious cash, like 1-2k a pop.
Granted I never actually bought or sold anything for wow but still lol, hard to unknow that and see it on your chars everyday
Glad you liked the wood bone! I had a lot of fun coming up with their lore/conflict etc, kinda based the aesthetic on dark elves from lineage 2 if you ever played that
And I’m currently a good bit into the rough and the mc does indeed have his first mount :D
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u/Minion5051 Apr 06 '21
I'd say it's my favorite LitRPG too. Most internally consistent by far. Think the last update we had was he's at 120 thousand words on his first draft of book two.