I try to keep this blog on topic, focusing my insights about human nature to what I experience playing wow & not what I go through in my real life. But this little instance run that I had last night was just such a funny rl moment that I had to post it.
My wife & I are busy professionals & our work week schedules are not always in sync. I tend to have steady hours (albeit long) & predictable patterns, while she has travel, friends that need to be visited & family to have coffee with. We do try to spend more time on weekends together, but this is usually 1 part chores & then 1 part exhaustion. Date nights have in earnest become few & far between. I'm to blame for this as much as my wife. As I try to tell my SAT students, your parents appear dull & boring to you not because they are inherently that way, but because the obligations of adulthood made them that way.
But I want to say though that my wife is l77t and it's because she has an ability that is a prized in raiding. She can call the raid. Last night was her night out & we went to see Mamma Mia comp'd. She was excited to see it regardless of the reviews (or strategy guides) if you will. But when we sat down & the movie started she realized that the film stunk. Like a good raid leader she did try to make the best of it. & like a good raid leader when we reached a point where we had hit the brick wall of wipes (or in the case of this movie Mr. Pierce Bronsan signing "S.O.S") and she called the event. We then left & she apologized for making me going to see that stinker of a movie.
This is big, I mean there are a lot of reasons I love my wife, but this ability to concede that what she wanted to see was a bad movie & that she was sorry for making me sit through that schlock fest. Many women lack this ability, but she has it
Just wanted the world to know
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Hot Summer Day & No Lich King Invite!
The Beta started Friday morning. Like many addicts I awaited my fix that let me into Northerend, and as for Sunday afternoon it hasn't shown up. I know I'm one of many but I want my key now!!!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
A Memo To Blizzard
As I write this my Tauren Druid sits a mere 60K from level 58 & the glory that is the outlands. While on one hand I feel a certain joy of reaching my accomplishment that I set out to do back in the beginning of June I also feel a certain malaise about returning back to the expansion zones that I fled @ the end of May. This feeling came over me around level 55 as I reached the dead zones.
What I mean by dead zones is the end game zones that are no longer populated by any players. Whether it's the Eastern Plaugelands, Western Plaugelands, Winterspring, Burning Steppes, or Silithus. Players go here just long enough to do their quest level their toon & jump through the Dark Portal. This also extends to the various old world end game dungeons that are never run anymore. And I put this blame squarely on Blizzard.
When the Burning Crusade was launched back in January 2007, Penny Arcade made a joke (and a funny t-shirt) that said "Green is the new purple." This gear reset was a flood that evened out the playing field and allowed WOW to continue to grow, gain market share, & keep it's player base. While some old school players bemoaned that their hard won gear from MC\ZG\AQ20\40 & Naxx was devalued, for many players who couldn't invest the time into the old world raids this was a boon of titanic proportions. I was amongst that crowd that felt the same. I came to Outland on Neren. Creamed my pants over the gear & never paid attn the the complaints of the old schoolers.
But now I can see their issues were valid. I've compared gear from level 56 old world drops & level 58 outland drops and they are more powerful by a factor of 3. Which if I was an old schooler who had put in hours & hours only to be swept aside by outland gear I'd be pissed to.
Therefore I have the following suggestions
1.) Create a gradual gear curve from 45-58 that doesn't cause the gear angst issue.
2.) Create new dungeon quests that link outland to the old dungeons (consortium rep, orcs looking for gear in UBRS etc.)
3.) Make going to outland an attunement. (we need brave souls to go forward) nothing impossible, but something that feels earned.
If you implement this as future expansions are released you will not have players leave due to gear resets
Regards
Neren\Greathoof
What I mean by dead zones is the end game zones that are no longer populated by any players. Whether it's the Eastern Plaugelands, Western Plaugelands, Winterspring, Burning Steppes, or Silithus. Players go here just long enough to do their quest level their toon & jump through the Dark Portal. This also extends to the various old world end game dungeons that are never run anymore. And I put this blame squarely on Blizzard.
When the Burning Crusade was launched back in January 2007, Penny Arcade made a joke (and a funny t-shirt) that said "Green is the new purple." This gear reset was a flood that evened out the playing field and allowed WOW to continue to grow, gain market share, & keep it's player base. While some old school players bemoaned that their hard won gear from MC\ZG\AQ20\40 & Naxx was devalued, for many players who couldn't invest the time into the old world raids this was a boon of titanic proportions. I was amongst that crowd that felt the same. I came to Outland on Neren. Creamed my pants over the gear & never paid attn the the complaints of the old schoolers.
But now I can see their issues were valid. I've compared gear from level 56 old world drops & level 58 outland drops and they are more powerful by a factor of 3. Which if I was an old schooler who had put in hours & hours only to be swept aside by outland gear I'd be pissed to.
Therefore I have the following suggestions
1.) Create a gradual gear curve from 45-58 that doesn't cause the gear angst issue.
2.) Create new dungeon quests that link outland to the old dungeons (consortium rep, orcs looking for gear in UBRS etc.)
3.) Make going to outland an attunement. (we need brave souls to go forward) nothing impossible, but something that feels earned.
If you implement this as future expansions are released you will not have players leave due to gear resets
Regards
Neren\Greathoof
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
On Leveling...Part 2
My first post covered some of my thoughts on leveling Greathoof. (Yes I'm outing my horde toon) I know I have alliance friends who read this so if you see me wave & say Hi! There were some other items that I didn't cover that still needed to be put to the digital page.
Item #1
New Players: Believe it or not new players are still out there. I've encountered some on my leveling journey. I thought them to be myth, but several indicators alerted me to their newbie status.
1.) No Omen. By far the biggest indicator of a new player is whether omen is loaded or not. All the end gamers w alt's have it loaded. The 2nd indicator is if they don't know what Omen is.
2.) Where to quest: Again a reliable indicator of level is do they know where to quest & where not to go. Granted I had to shake off my cobwebs but I remembered that feralas is for level 30-40, shimmering flats for 35-40, Stranglehorn vale covers 30-45 etc. etc.
3.) Threat: again something I discovered as I learned feral tanking. Players with alt's know about threat, new players however don't understand the math behind it.
4.) Gear: This one screams new player vs. alt\new server transfer. New players have gear that's a mis-mosh. End gamers\New on Server have gear that's built with bc in mind. That is to say. I will level up but as I do I will get the best possible gear that is available.
Item #2
Patch 2.4.3: In Patch 2.3 Blizzard upped the xp from quests by 30%. This was designed to allow end game players to level characters quicker than before. The feedback was this was not a great a boost as intended because of travel time from quest to quest. With Patch 2.4.3 the level that you acquire your mount will be lowered to 30 & the cost of the training will be lowered to 35 gold (without faction discounts.)
Now at first I viewed this as blasphemy, as sacrilege. But I came to my senses & understood that things change & this is a good thing. This will allow players to get through those large zones that usually are reserved for the level 30-40 players.
That concluded on Leveling...Part 2
Monday, June 30, 2008
On Leveling Pt 1.
As I've posted previously after the dissolution of Utopia on Fenris, I became depressed and disillusioned with my NE Druid Neren. I was stuck in a rut due my spec & my lack of options that it left me with raid progression. I also had reached a point where guild drama had made coming home & playing wow not fun, but as much of a chore as work. Luckilly I had rolled a tauren druid & transferred a trust fund of gold over to the horde side of the fence.
That was around Memorial Day, it's now almost 4th of july. I think since then I've logged onto the alliance side maybe three times since those events occured.
Over the last couple days I've been mulling over some thoughts I've had while Leveling. Since I didn't have an end game toon on the horde side, The experience has been close to what it was like when I leveled Neren. which is to say I don't have the feeling of juggling my time between my main character & my alt. Regardless though I've done it before so I have the blessing of experience.
Here are my thoughts.
1.) Smell the flowers: Blizzard has stated that WOW is about the journey. You start out a level 1 noob & end up a level 70 L337 toon w phat lewtz. The point is that while your on this journey smell the flowers, explore the world, see what's out there.
2.) Blues vs. Greens: This was something I forgot, and I think a lot of end gamers lose when they're spending all their time in raid dungeons. Old world gear is on a different scale than outland gear. Blues last a long time compared to their outland counterparts. If any Blizzard Developers read this blog, I would recommend that the gear be tuned so that moving to outland is a smoother process.
3.) Quest rewards: Again another item I noticed that may be in the works with the developers. The old world quest reward system is built for a game universe where the players don't have access to large sums of gold. The rewards for completing kill x trolls etc. were designed so that a player who's broke could get by on quest rewards.
Now we have a game universe where players have access to large sums of gold, and the majority of low level character are in fact end game players who are leveling an alt, so this enviroment renders the system broken. I find that overwhelmingly the gear I get is sold within a couple of minutes.
From where I see it there are two options.
1.) create a system where players are 'taxed' for transferring gold to lower level characters.
2.) update the reward system so that players have more than one choice with gear rewards.
This concludes part 1 of 'On Leveling'
That was around Memorial Day, it's now almost 4th of july. I think since then I've logged onto the alliance side maybe three times since those events occured.
Over the last couple days I've been mulling over some thoughts I've had while Leveling. Since I didn't have an end game toon on the horde side, The experience has been close to what it was like when I leveled Neren. which is to say I don't have the feeling of juggling my time between my main character & my alt. Regardless though I've done it before so I have the blessing of experience.
Here are my thoughts.
1.) Smell the flowers: Blizzard has stated that WOW is about the journey. You start out a level 1 noob & end up a level 70 L337 toon w phat lewtz. The point is that while your on this journey smell the flowers, explore the world, see what's out there.
2.) Blues vs. Greens: This was something I forgot, and I think a lot of end gamers lose when they're spending all their time in raid dungeons. Old world gear is on a different scale than outland gear. Blues last a long time compared to their outland counterparts. If any Blizzard Developers read this blog, I would recommend that the gear be tuned so that moving to outland is a smoother process.
3.) Quest rewards: Again another item I noticed that may be in the works with the developers. The old world quest reward system is built for a game universe where the players don't have access to large sums of gold. The rewards for completing kill x trolls etc. were designed so that a player who's broke could get by on quest rewards.
Now we have a game universe where players have access to large sums of gold, and the majority of low level character are in fact end game players who are leveling an alt, so this enviroment renders the system broken. I find that overwhelmingly the gear I get is sold within a couple of minutes.
From where I see it there are two options.
1.) create a system where players are 'taxed' for transferring gold to lower level characters.
2.) update the reward system so that players have more than one choice with gear rewards.
This concludes part 1 of 'On Leveling'
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
WOTLK Lust
As I've posted before my summer project is to level a tauren druid. But I know in my heart that my main toon is calling to me every day a little bit more & more. So it's a lil struggle, keeping my sights on my goal & resisting the urge to login as Neren.
On the flipside. WOTLK is coming out shortly, & I'm lusting for the changes to the moonkin spec. Yet I also am resenting it. What made me level moonkin was two things
1.) Seeing a moonkin druid for the first time
2.) Not doing any theorycraft research & realizing I could've leveled as feral & switched.
Now with the talent changes in WOTLK Balance will be a viable spec to level which makes me actually annoyed. Ok I'll confess resent the changes. Which now makes me face something I don't like elitism in Wow (or in the real world.) because now I can see the argument.
On the flipside. WOTLK is coming out shortly, & I'm lusting for the changes to the moonkin spec. Yet I also am resenting it. What made me level moonkin was two things
1.) Seeing a moonkin druid for the first time
2.) Not doing any theorycraft research & realizing I could've leveled as feral & switched.
Now with the talent changes in WOTLK Balance will be a viable spec to level which makes me actually annoyed. Ok I'll confess resent the changes. Which now makes me face something I don't like elitism in Wow (or in the real world.) because now I can see the argument.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Thoughts on Leveling
My tauren druid is almost level 24, total time played is less than 1 game day. This is still stunning to me, because I remember leveling balance pre-bc & I can't remember how many times I died. Not to say I haven't died leveling Greathoof, but not like I did leveling Neren.
I understand that Blizzard makes a leveling spec for each class, and that at level 40 you can move into your desired spec to learn how to play it. But it just annoys me a little bit. Esp after leveling Peda to 50 as an Ele Shaman. It wasn't hard & it was a lot more fun than Enhancement.
Feral though is interesting, The problem I see is that you have to gear properly. There's a sudden switch @ 20 to Cat Form, which means you need Agility gear & Tanking Gear.
Personally I like bear form better but still leveling is leveling...
I understand that Blizzard makes a leveling spec for each class, and that at level 40 you can move into your desired spec to learn how to play it. But it just annoys me a little bit. Esp after leveling Peda to 50 as an Ele Shaman. It wasn't hard & it was a lot more fun than Enhancement.
Feral though is interesting, The problem I see is that you have to gear properly. There's a sudden switch @ 20 to Cat Form, which means you need Agility gear & Tanking Gear.
Personally I like bear form better but still leveling is leveling...
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