Decoding Dragons

And now for something completely different

I’ve not been able to post partly because the response to the monster post has been somewhat overwhelming. I’ve learned quite a lot, I’ve been told things I already knew a lot, as if I should be surprised that the ‘world is dominated by men and therefore they are going to market to men because that is what sells.’*

Also the idea that I go around looking for things to be offended by is kinda old. I don’t do that. I spend most of my time playing and ignoring the nekkid elf on the mail box. However I’m also observant and if I notice something and want to talk about it, I will.

Pewter in Beta

I was going to do videos! And fabulous screenshot posts! And analysis of how well Unleashed Weapon functions! And then the Sexism post kind of got a lot of attention and I started playing Beta to have fun. So far I have arsed around in the Goblin and Worgen starter areas, and levelled my main to 81 in Vashj’ir. I am not good with flying sims in general, and swimming in Azeroth has always been a headache, but I think Blizzard have done a fabulous job with Vashj’ir. The underwater mount doesn’t feel awkward, and the depths and heights don’t feel too bewildering. The initial starting sub-zone has some really fun quests, although I can see some gamers who have better reflexes than me being bored to tears IF they aren’t engaged by the storyline or entranced by the underwater fantasy land that Blizz have created.

So far I am not enjoying the Lava Surge mechanic. It comes into it’s own on mobs that live longer, but spending all my time watching for that proc and trying to keep track of Flame Shock and Unleash Elements with the base UI is kind of not that fun while questing. I find myself wasting those procs, and the timing of Unleash Elements I shall have to reserve judgement on until I actually get into a dungeon. I also wonder whether my gear is really….correct because even with totems my spells feel underpowered. I’ve deliberated started replacing some of my gear with greens in order to get some Mastery Rating, but I might just switch back to my purples.

Temporary Short Cuts

I did make the mistake of going to Vashj’ir and then hearthing out. If you have a 310% mount you can fly back to the zone from the mainland, but as an Alliance character I can’t find any easy teleports (that work, and continue to work after you’ve been to the zone for the first time) and the flightpath that connects the zone to Ironforge seems to be only one way. I’ve now moved on the Mount Hyjal, although I’m facing the same issue. I guess I might actually have to take a portal from Darnassus and travel there in a more traditional way! It’s funny, with the changes to levelling and LFD I’ve gotten so used to instant travel that the idea of getting to a zone the old fashioned way because I left to train seems strange and alien. My Vanilla self is probably cackling loudly somewhere.

Creepy Clones vs Irreverent Nasty

I started the Worgen and Goblin starter areas. Of the two, the Goblins were light hearted and silly but I don’t really care about them at all. They’re nasty and ruthless, and literally everything is a bad pun or a joke, so they are nasty, ruthless and trivial and I just don’t care about them enough to want to know what happens. Of course, my Goblin is only level 5 at the moment, but I just didn’t find myself sucked into the story in the same way that Vashj’ir sucks me in. This is not to say that the Goblin zone and story isn’t appealling, it just doesn’t appeal to me personally in the same way that the Worgen zone des.

The Worgen starting area is beautiful. I love the atmosphere, and I can’t wait to see the polished, live version. As a zone it feels much more linear so far – the Goblin starter zone definitely has a dynamic feeling to it, while the Worgen Zone is much more like a graphic novel or a movie. I like the British accents, except for the female voice actor who sounds very Dick Van Dyke – the mockney accent is very grating and I ended up paying attention to her voice instead of what she was saying. It sounded wrong. Currently you can’t change the look of your worgen, so every player character is a bald male with a beard, and once they start congregating it definitely starts to look like Attack of the Creepy Clones.

I think both starting zones are a lot of fun, and they definitely put the old world zones to shame. This worries me, because I know a few people who trial the game via Vanilla. My experiences in the Dwarven starting zone were very lacklustre (although better than the ‘live’ version) and it’s these original races that new players will initially start with, rather than Draenei, Blood Elves, Goblins or Worgen. I think if Blizzard wants to retain more players from the trial, they need to put much more work into making these original race zones compelling (please note that I haven’t played with the other revised starting zones yet.)

So why no beta videos Pewter?

Uh. I kind got distracted.

worms inna cup

What. I HAD to make a gif out of it. It’s from the Worgen starting zone. I was innocently questing, trying to find a child and tell her to run to her mother, and I turned around and there was a giant pot of worms that twitched in fascinating ways.

* And as if it should come as a surprise to me that the Worgen female jokes are funny because they are puns on being a dog! If you can’t see that part of the humour in them is misogynist I don’t really know what else I can say about that (and no this is not the right post to tell me I’m wrong.)

And now for something completely different was published on August 9th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the Meta-blog, Warcraft category. There are currently 17 comments on this article so far.

Cataclysm Spoiler Song

There may be spoilers ahead
But while there’s new maps and murlocs and crabs and necromance
Let’s face the spoilers and dance

Before the Faceless have fled
Before Blizz clamps down and while we still have the chance
Let’s face the spoilers and dance

Soon we’ll be without the leak, mourning the lack of data mining
There may be QQ to shed
So while there’s new maps and murlocs and crabs and necromance
Let’s face the spoilers and dance

This is why I never write parodies.  At any rate, I will be giving clear spoiler labels when I discuss the ‘leaks’ posted over at MMO Champion

Cataclysm Spoiler Song was published on May 6th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Meta-blog, Warcraft category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Cataclysm Raiding — I have more than 10 friends

I am currently an officer of a 25 man raiding guild. We are having the inevitable struggles with being missing around 3-5 people as the summer draws in. In fact we’re taking a break for a week to give the officers chance to de-stress. It doesn’t help that I am on an enforced raid break due to RL.

ANYWAY

The changes to 10/25 man lockouts were announced last night, and I ended up with a couple of thoughts running through my mind. I’m not panicking or predicting doom and gloom. I also suspect there will be some changes to the system before it goes live.

  1. People have more than 10 friends
  2. Benefits for the casual player
  3. The rise of the alt
  4. Being on Backup won’t suck quite as much

People have more than 10 friends

When the announcement first happened, I didn’t have time to read the whole thing, so I ruminated on the basics as I left work for the day. I tried to imagine our guild pairing down to 10 man raiding. It would certainly be so intimate, but how could I chose who to have in the raiding teams? I would have to chose between raiding with people. I’m good friends with my guild leader, but with 14 players of ranged DPS characters in the guild, getting a spot in his raid would be difficult.

It would also mean I would miss out on raiding with K, D, A, E and a lot of other mysterious initials.

Yes, 25 man raids are more difficult to organise. Blizzard have a difficult task ahead of them, making 25 mans ‘worthwhile’ without reducing 10 mans to badge farms and time fillers for 25 man raiders.  I suspect, at the end of the day, there will be some slight edge for raiding 25man, and much of it will come down to whether you can give up raiding regularly with the 15 people who wouldn’t be in your 10 man.

If you don’t enjoy 25 man raiding then you shouldn’t be ‘forced’ into it because it is the supposed nadir of progression, difficulty and gear.

Benefits for the casual player

I can’t tell you how happy this made me. I won’t have to run the sodding 10 mans on my main in order to gear up quicker. Running ICC in 10 and 25 was somewhat soul destroying for me. I don’t enjoy 10 mans so much, because I go in there ‘overgeared’, they aren’t a challenge – they’re a chore. This is exacerbated by the amount of drama trying to fit 25-35 people into 2x10man ICC per week and still have a team pushing towards a 10 man. I am flat out tired of ICC10 drama.

The casual player with the hardcore mindset can do 10 mans now, without worrying about access to the shiniest purples. Blizzard doesn’t have to spend so much time on balancing the gear, so it can spend those resources elsewhere! The additional changes – different instances, more varied ‘mid length’ content means that the raids won’t seem unbelievably long (Naxx) or stupidly boringly short and trashless (toc). The casual 25 man raider can do 25 mans, without having to find another night in their week for 10 man.

The Rise of the Alt

I can get a character to 85, and take it along to 10 mans for fun and relaxation without screwing my main out of loot. This does beg the question of how to handle loot distribution in a DKP system when the loot tables are the same from 10 and 25, but I don’t particularly care about that right now. I can have a second character, and raid on it without being questioned over not paying full attention to my main.

This also means that 25 mans will have a bigger pool of ‘characters’ to draw from in order to balance raids. No 25 man tank signed up? No problem, the 10man tank is just as well geared and can take over for a week. The 25 man tank can do it in 10 man this week. Short a healer? No problem, one of the overbooked DPS can switch to their 10man healer.

Yes. I realise that creates it’s own problems for 10man progression. It is just an example of the sort of flexibility it gives you. I tend to be a one character girl. I have an alt at 80, but she is my old main. She was abandoned in T7 gear and some how I never have the time, money or energy to enchant and gem her ICC5 gear.

Being on Backup won’t suck too much.

I can see a new raid pattern emerging. 10 mans will be run the night before reset. 25 mans will be run throughout the rest of the week. If your main character doesn’t get saved to the 25 man, you’ll still get a chance at the tastiest loot that week in the end of week 10 man. Having these separate lockouts enables the 25 man raiders to run with a larger raiding pool, without leaving backups with completely no options. You can organise a 10 man run for your leftover 5-8 people, ensuring that they don’t get left behind on loot.

Or not. Again there are issues with that. 1 night only for what will be relatively more difficult content could screw with a guild’s 10 man progression. Plus the ‘main’ will have to compete with pure 10 man characters for spots. If 10 mans are earlier in the week, then you lose the backup because they’ll be locked out. Right now, at least, they can run 10 mans for emblems and gear without losing their potential for the weekly 25 man.

In conclusion

This change will knock down perceptions of 10 man as easy mode. Personally I enjoy 25 man raiding – 15 or 20 man would be perfect for me but that is not going to happen. I think we will see 10 man raiding grow in popularity, and 25 man will be left to those who really enjoy the larger team atmosphere.

Cataclysm Raiding — I have more than 10 friends was published on April 27th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , , , under the Warcraft category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.