Mortal Kombat 11 - Kombat League Seasons So Far : Part One - Seasons 6 - 8

KOMBAT LEAGUE SEASONS SO FAR

PART ONE: SEASONS 6 - 8

Hello again,

In this second part I discuss my own experiences and thoughts on Kombat League seasons 6 - 8.

SEASON 6 - Season of Konquest (December 2019 / January 2020)

Season of Konquest focussed on players earning black and gold skin types for Outworld characters. Geras being the odd one out, but this was mostly for Outworld characters. Personally, I feel they should have replaced Geras with either Baraka or Shao Khan as he sticks out like a saw thumb in this Outworld themed season.

Again when I saw the ladder and the board for this season I wasn't at all surprised to see Geras at the top. There is an on going theme with kombat league where the character skin I want the least or least interested in happens to be at the top of the ladder.

I wasn't overly impressed by this season if I'm being honest, apart of me didn't feel as motivated or keen to want to play or win any of the rewards there were on offer, which is why I think I performed to the bear minimum to get the Kotal Kahn skin. All the other skins I just wasn't that bothered with.

Due to lack of motivation and commitment I only won two skins and achieved my lowest score to date having just scraped through to Champion level.

Looking back on it, I wish I was that more motivated and performed better. But like most people I have a full time job and just do not have the time to be sitting on my console playing kombat league. The players that do well are the ones that have more time on their hands and spend hours and hours of time perfecting, practicing, and working on their craft.

SEASON 7 - The Season of Death (January / February 2020)

Season 7 has to be my favourite skin set so far, as it allows players to play for revenant skins of characters players like Jax, Cassie, Johnny Cage, Sonya all characters that we thought about and imagined as revenants had now become a possibility and if anything for me marked as a big encouragement to play with characters I don't normally play with.

I think for me, the season missed a trick by not having Sub Zero revenant skin. That would have been really cool. Johnny Cage is all well and good but the sun glasses cover up the red eyes. I like to see the red eyes.

Just like with Season 3 this season offers another roles reversed scenario which plays on the imagination of the player. Out of all of these revenant skins my least favourite was Sonya and would you believe it Sonya was at the top. I really wanted Jax. I wanted Jax's revenant skin the most out of this set and was really surprised to see how easy it would be for me to get it.

I didn't have any major strategy, I just wanted to get higher than Champion rank or go that little bit extra than I had done before to show to myself a testament to want to do better, to improve at the game whilst climbing the ranks at the same time and with consistency I earned the rank of Master.


SEASON 8 - Season of Greed (January / February 2020)

After Season 7, I thought Season 8 was a bit of a let down when I first saw these skins. We have a gold and white colour scheme going on, two out of four character it doesn't really suit. Noob is a dark character so gold and white doesn't suit him and I'm just not that keen on the gold and white for Sub Zero either. It doesn't sit well with me.

Other characters like Shang Tsung, Kano, or even Kollector would have benefited more from a gold and white skin I feel. For a season that's called 'Season of Greed' greed is very much what those three listed characters are about, all of which are greedy for different things.

I liked Shao Kahn the most and wondered why has it taken so long for us to see a kombat league skin set for this character, but better late than never. Jade's skin I liked and was pleased to see that she was at the bottom of the ladder, and extremely grateful that you didn't have to achieve god ranks to get Shao Kahn's skin set. Which comes back to a matter of fortune for me that the character skin I'm least interested in is at the top of the ladder so there is no desire for me to even attempt to touch the top three ranks.

As for the bonus rewards, I thought they were quite cool what was on offer and I managed to get what I could, again like with season six there wasn't that spark of motivation or interest for me to want to play on or achieve anything higher than what I had to to get what I wanted out of this season, so all in all this was a bit of a disappointment.


That concludes this second part, join me next time for Part Three when I discuss seasons 9 - 11.

Mortal Kombat 11 - Kombat League Seasons So Far : Part One - Seasons 1 - 5

KOMBAT LEAGUE SEASONS SO FAR

PART ONE: SEASONS 1 - 5

Hi everyone.

So Kombat League has proven to be a major event for all players of Mortal Kombat and provides the opportunity for players to compete in a series of ranked matches to win kombat league points, the more points you earn the higher you climb through the nine ranks and the higher you climb, the more rewards you own as an incentive to play on.

With season 11 coming to an end soon and two new kombat league seasons on the way I thought I would take a look back through the past seasons that have come and gone and reveal some thoughts behind what I thought of that particular season, initial thoughts behind the skins and rewards you could earn and a general overview of the season itself.

So let's get started.

SEASON 1 - The Season of Blood (June / July 2019)

Unfortunately for me, I didn't participate in this season because I had no idea behind the concept of what Kombat league was or how to play it so I didn't have an experience of playing this season.

As you can see the skins that were up for grabs were black and red skin sets for Kitana, Scorpion, Skarlet and Erron Black.

Scorpion was the reward for completing all the season challenges, Kitana was the reward for playing a match, Skarlet was Champion and above, Erron Black was Demi God and above. It's a pity I didn't play this season as there was some pretty nice pieces of exclusive gear up for grabs like the Noob Saibot head and Kabal's blood stained hook swords.

As for the skins themselves I do like the red and black / white and black skins colour scheme its very reminiscent to Assassin's Creed I feel, especially Scorpion. Out of all the skins the one I'm least interested in getting would be Erron Black, simply because I'm not sure that the red/black colour scheme works well with that costume.

SEASON 2 - Season of Time (July/August 2019)

This was the second season to be released, and my first thoughts when I saw the time skins were that were we going to get an opportunity to earn time skins for any character, turns out I was wrong it's just for the selected four characters.

This seems a bit of a shame because one fault I think with kombat league is players play for character skins for characters that I don't suit that skin, I can think of other characters that would be better with a time skin such as Kabal or Jax. Its something I think happens often, characters get picked that don't suit that skin type which makes me not want to get that skin for them.

Having seen the time skins, Raiden's is the one I like the most.

I didn't play this season, so I didn't earn any of the rewards being offered.

There was a Baraka mask I missed out on and would have got if I played a match. Oh well.

So just to talk you through it, The Season of Time allows players to win skins for Erron Black, Jacqui Briggs, Kollector, and Raiden.

Erron Black was your reward for completing all the season's challenges, Kollector was your reward for playing a set, Raiden was Champion and above, Jacqui Briggs was Demi God and above.

Out of all the skins, Jacqui's is my least favourite, so it doesn't bother me so much to see her skin at the top of the ladder.

SEASON 3 - Revenants Reborn (August / September 2019)

Now this season for me is very interesting as it allows players to have a roles reversed scenario.

It was characters who are revenants in the game, in their revenant costumes but in human form.

All four skins look really cool and I remember being excited to this released, I still hadn't quite got my head round the concept of Kombat League by this point and only played one set, which of course meant I got the Jade skin at the end of the season.

I played as Noob Saibot and I think I lost the set as far as I can remember, at Apprentice stage you still win points whether you win or lose the set so there's nothing to worry about at such an early stage.

It's a shame I think, as if I was a bit more persistent I could have done well this season and won the Kitana and Kung Loa skins as well, I don't think I would have got Liu Kang as he was a bit too high up for me. Demi God is the rank most players aim for because it means at the end of the season you earn all of the seasons skins. I have ambitions to reach the god ranks at the top but still haven't managed it yet.

That being said, some interesting rewards and gear pieces were up for grabs this season which can be won along with the skin set based on the rank level you are at.

I like the idea behind doing the roles revered, I just feel I didn't understand Kombat League enough to  play on. If I had I would have got a higher score, higher rank, and won more of the things on offer.

Kitana was your reward for completing all the seasons challenges, Jade was Apprentice level and above, Kung Loa was champion and above, Liu Kang was Demi God and above.

SEASON 4 - The Season of Chaos (September / October 2019)

This I think was the first Kombat League season I played properly.

It was a fun, enjoyable and interesting experience. I didn't want to aim high, and I didn't have many expectations I just thought, play and see how you do.

I remember wanting the Sub Zero skin from this set as it resembled the closest thing to a revenant Sub Zero skin and Noob's skin looked nice, Frost was character I don't play with and don't like very much, and same with Cassie Cage so they were the two I wasn't that bothered about getting.

So I was pleased that I didn't have to work too hard to get the skins I wanted from this season as Noob Saibot was Apprentice level and above, Frost was champion and above, Cassie was God level, and to get Sub Zero you had to complete all the season's challenges.

This was the season I started to get a firm grasp on what Kombat League was about, I didn't have a technique or a strategy behind my game play like other players did, I just played as I would usually play offline and later would adapt my game play based on the reactions and actions of my opponent.

I finished this season at Champion rank which for me wasn't bad, not for my first season, but was determined to do better in Kombat League seasons to follow.

SEASON 5 - The Season of Sorcery (October / November 2019)

This was the season where players would earn Quan Chi style versions of characters.

Skins were up for grabs for Baraka, Kano, Kabal, and Cetrion. Three of which I felt suited these skins sets well and I remember really wanting that Kano skin and was determined to work hard to make sure I got it.

As a Kabal player I remember wanting the Kabal skin and so was overjoyed to see that all I had to do to get his skin was play a set win or lose I would get a new Kabal skin, Baraka was the reward for completing all the season's challenges and Cetrion being a god herself was at the top in God ranks.

God ranks to me seemed like an untouchable territory for me and that my place in the ranks was between Warrior and Champion, as my skill developed I started to achieve a much higher score than last season and did better this season compared to last.

I finished at Champion rank again, but to me that was okay because at least it meant I got that Kano skin. This is when the competitive spirit kicks in and you want to do whatever you can to win matches.

It's a complex thing, each time you play you're playing to try and get better at the game whilst climbing the ranks at the same time. I got the three out of four skins I wanted that season so was pretty content with how I did as a whole.


This concludes Part One of this series of Kombat League blogs - next time I will cover Seasons 6 - 8.

COMING UP on The Sunday Showcase Podcast

COMING UP ON THE SUNDAY SHOWCASE PODCAST

Episode:  12/12 *LAST IN THE SERIES*

Broadcast Date: Sunday 21st June 2020

Time: After 12pm

Published: Wednesday 24th June 2020

It's the last Sunday Showcase podcast with Dan Bury before the Summer holidays.

There's guests, chat, and a lot of fun!

Two live from Lockdown interviews - Father Richard Watson talks to Dan about life and St Saviours church in this lockdown period and Katie Masson from St Albans Music duo Katie Plus Juan chats about her new music and art work.

There's also Tips for Monday, and Sunday Shoutouts from the listeners.

A vibrant mix of great guests and chat. Download & Listen from Radio Verulam. 

Keep a look out on the Radio Verulam website. 

Crash is Back! - Crash Bandicoot 4! October 2020

Hey everyone.

Welcome to another blog post where I have another exciting announcement or rather Playstation have another exciting announcement. 

After a long wait, it's been confirmed that Crash Bandicoot 4 is confirmed and will be released on October 2nd 2020, and not only that they have released a trailer showcasing some of the cool and exciting things we can expect in the new game. 

All our favourite characters are back including Crash, Coco, Aku Aku, Dr Cortex, Dr N Gin and some new characters in the form of masked spirits. I'm sure more will be revealed later, but I hope to see Tiny in this game as Tiny is my favourite Crash character.

And not just that, you can play as multiple characters throughout the game giving players the opportunity to play with Crash, Coco, and Cortex and possibly more characters depending on the free style opportunities this new game may or may not have to offer.

From the looks of things there seems to be a story behind it in that Crash has trapped Cortex back in time and Cortex decides to take his revenge on Crash and Coco and it's up to Crash and Coco to stop their nemesis once again. 

As someone who grew up playing Crash Bandicoot, it is very exciting to see a new expansion of this franchise. The trailer showed lots of cool and interesting things which left a lot to the imagination of the player but it's also enticed us in to want to know more of what's to come later on.

The game isn't due to be out until October but it will certainly provide a nice alternative to playing something other than the Mortal Kombat and Injustice games. 

The design of the characters are interesting, the Crash characters have had many a redesign over the years, though I'm not overly keen on the design for Cortex in this new game I'm sure it will grow on me and I will get to like it more. At least its better than the Crash of the Titans design which was awful.

Cortex still seems to be up to his old tricks and devilish panto style ways of evil and there's lots of humour that goes with this, there's one instance in the trailer where Crash and Coco are asked how many times they have defeated Cortex and Coco replies "About three" to which the reply is "seems like more". No matter how hard Cortex tries Crash always beats him. Can Cortex finally beat his nemesis this time?

In regards to the story, there seems to be a lot of time jumping involved which could mean blasts from the past being included in this game. Maybe we will get to see some character bosses from the early games such as Koala Kong, Pinstripe, The Komodo Brothers,  characters that were only used once and have appeared again as bonus characters in the Crash Bandicoot racing games.

A Crash 4 is a very welcome edition, I'm still hoping for a remaster of Crash Bash sometime in the near future as Crash Bash is the absolute best Crash game of them all and I'd love to see that remastered for the PS4 and Xbox.

But for now, Crash 4 is coming to PS4 and Xbox this October!

My top tips on how to do well in Kombat League in Mortal Kombat 11!

Hi everyone.

I hope you've had a nice weekend, and a good start to the new week. I certainly have, this morning I reached 'Master' rank in Kombat League. The new online season for Mortal Kombat started just last week where all players start at the bottom of the board as an apprentice and compete to climb up the ranks to be at the best rank they want to be at.

Many players always strive to get at least Grand Master, but aim high to reach one of the top three God ranks - Demi God, God, and Elder God.

In this little blog post today, I'm going to share with you some of my top tips on how you can aim high and achieve your goals and targets in Kombat League.

An important thing to remember is Kombat League is just a game, and although some players can trigger frustration and anger, it isn't worth getting cross over. You'll have good days and bad days playing Kombat League, at the end of the day it's a contest and every contest in competitive.

It's the drive and the player's desire to win that motivates them to play on, on a good day you get a buzz out of winning whereas on a bad day you feel so fed up with it you want to stop playing all together.

An example of this is, last Sunday was a really bad day for me, I lost most of my matches and was spammed a lot by players who just played very cheaply just to get the win and a few extra points. It can be incredibly frustrating and annoying but it's important to not take it personally. With every match there has to be a winner and a loser.

I would say if you want to do well in Kombat League -

Be Persistent - It's important on any day to have perseverance with what you're doing, however good or bad you or the other player is playing. It's the motivation that drives you forward and up the ranks, and keep going. Take some time to practice in a training session or in a tower match, and practice makes absolute perfect.

Be Patient - Some people who play Kombat League are not nice people and they don't play fairly or by the rules, they have tactics and spam you with the same moves which take away most of your health bar. It's important to have patience and block their moves if you can and wait for a chance to escape and strike them down.

Get Lucky - This isn't something anyone can teach you, you just have to hope that your opponent will mess up or does something that provides opportunity for you to strike and punish them for their mistake. I have won so many matches based on luck and chance. I think without the luck, you don't have much of a chance of reaching anything above Grand Master rank.

Skill - Skill comes with it too, how you are as a player and how you like to play, skill is what will defeat your opponent. One fighters knowledge of a character's fighting technique. And pick the right character, every character in Mortal Kombat is deadly, just be aware of their strengths and how you can use those strengths to your advantage over your opponent. Pick a character or characters you feel absolutely comfortable playing.

Ultimately it'll be the skill, the luck, and the perseverance that will get you places.

Apprentice to Master in a week is an achievement in itself, I'm hoping to reach Demi God by the end of the season.

COMING UP on The Sunday Showcase Podcast THIS SUNDAY

COMING UP ON THE SUNDAY SHOWCASE PODCAST

Episode:  11/12

Broadcast Date: Sunday 14th June 2020

Time: After 12pm

Published: Monday 8th June 2020

The Sunday Showcase podcast with Dan Bury continues...

Jass Patel is back and reveals Tomoka's plans for online tasting sessions, latest gin and spirits events during lockdown, and answers some quick fire questions in another live from lockdown interview. 

There's also Tips for Monday, and Sunday Shoutouts, and ways to treat Dad this Father's Day. 

A vibrant mix of great guests and chat. Download & Listen from Radio Verulam. 

Keep a look out on the Radio Verulam website. 

Mortal Kombat 11 - New Videos coming in July

MORTAL KOMBAT 11

NEW VIDEOS FROM JULY 2020

With the excitement of Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath expansion pack being released and a shed load of new content becoming available to players, now is a good time to be a Mortal Kombat fan.

Speaking from experience, I have loved the Aftermath expansion story mode and really enjoyed playing it and I've been having a lot of fun with Robocop, Fujin, and Sheeva they are by far three of the most exciting and enjoyable characters I think I have played from any DLC so far from Mortal Kombat and Injustice games put together. 

So today's post is about new gameplay content coming to my channel from July.

I hope you all enjoyed Batch 4 of Character Towers. They seem to be very well received so thank you to everyone who has stuck with me and watched those. 

What can be expected? - New Character Towers which will be Batch 5, and story mode gameplay of me playing the MK11 story both Parts 1 and 2. Batch 5 contains gameplay from the three new character included in the Aftermath expansion pack, it may also involve some other surprises you may not be expecting. 

New character towers will be uploaded every Saturday in July with Story content to follow on after that.

Batch 5 Character List:

1. Sonya Blade -  Saturday 4th July

2. Fourth of July Tower Challenge in Towers of Time - Saturday 4th July

3. Fujin - Saturday 11th July

4. Robocop Tower & Robocop vs The Terminator - Saturday 18th July

5. Sheeva - Saturday 25th July

6. Shang Tsung - Saturday 1st August 

7. Kung Lao - Saturday 8th August 

8. Liu Kang - Saturday 15th August

9. Scorpion - Saturday 22nd August

10. Johnny Cage - Saturday 29th August

Story Mode from September 2020.

This will see gameplay videos through until the autumn of this year. So I hope you enjoy the new content that's to come. 

London Film & Comic Con 2020 Post Poned until 20 - 22nd November

Hey everyone.

Showmasters have announced today on their social media that due to coronavirus and social distancing restrictions still being in place, they've decided to push back this year's comic con convention which due to take place at the end of July to the 20th - 22nd of November.

This announcement comes as no surprise because until there is a vaccine or social distancing restrictions are lifted, any events that involve large public gatherings aren't going to be happening. It just isn't possible. It's the same reason why theatre's can't re-open or music concerts and festivals can't take place, they simply will not be able to maintain a high enough capacity to be able to make the event worthwhile.

The team at showmasters are feeling optimistic for November and hope that they will be able to do what they hoped for in the summer a little later, but with a second wave of coronavirus predicted to hit around September time I wonder if they should be feeling so optimistic.

Thousands of people attend these events every year, and although Kensington Olympia is a big building it's not that big to maintain social distancing to a satisfactory level, not with the amount of people that attend these events in their thousands. How exactly are people supposed to keep their distance and avoid crowds?

There's also a matter of hygiene, people / staff at the stalls dealing and handling cash, food and drink stalls will have to keep to social distancing restrictions of only allowing no more than three people at one time, fortunately most of these things are take away only so it shouldn't cause too much of an issue. The ques for the toilet are going to be ludicrous.

Guests attending who have booked a photo shoot probably won't get a handshake or a hug with some of their favourite stars and probably won't be allowed to stand too close to them. Autograph ques will likely be longer.

Things could change by then of course, and November is a little while away yet.

I'm not convinced from what was said today and weighing up with the current statistics and the facts of coronavirus that this years event will be as safe and as good to attend as previous years. If this was the plan all along why didn't they just announce this sooner. That being said, this is the news that has been said and we're just going to have to take it as it is.

See the full announcement here. >> Full Announcement

Mortal Kombat 11: The Season of Order Has Begun

Hi everyone.

So in most recent news of Mortal Kombat 11, Aftermath was released last week and was outstanding. I'll be doing a full review of Aftermath later on in the week but today I'd like to talk about something most recently up to date.

In Kombat League, where players can compete in a series of fights online to win exclusive rewards and skins the new season has started today which is 'The Season of Order' which includes four new skins for: Jax, Jacqui Briggs, D'Vorah, and Baraka.

Every player starts at the bottom as an Apprentice but has the opportunity to climb up the ladder and gain more and more rewards.

There are additional rewards players can earn depending on which rank they are, and by completing the list of requirements on the bottom right hand side.

The way the rewards work is to get the Jax skin all you need to do is play one kombat league match and that will make you an apprentice and you've got the Jax skin,  D'Vorah's skin you can earn by getting to Champion or above, and Baraka is at the top by achieving Demi God or above.

The higher you are up the ladder, the more rewards you will earn at the end of the season.

Jacqui's skin can be obtained by completing all five of the tasks on the list of challenges at the bottom right hand side.

Kombat League Season 11 - The Season of Order is now live in Mortal Kombat 11 to compete in and is available until Tuesday 30th June 2020.

I hope you all enjoy the new season, and hope to see a few friendships in my kombat league journey.

Coming Up on the Sunday Showcase Podcast - OVO Theatre LIVE!

COMING UP ON THE SUNDAY SHOWCASE PODCAST

Episode:  10/12

Broadcast Date: Sunday 7th June 2020

Time: After 12pm

Published: Friday 29th May 2020

The Sunday podcast continues with a special guest.

Adam Nichols from OVO Theare talks to Dan Bury about a new performance of Twelfth Night Live. With Tips for Monday, and Sunday Shoutouts to follow as well.

A vibrant mix of great guests and chat. From Radio Verulam. 

Keep a look out on the Radio Verulam website.