So, Children's Week came and went, and for the most part I think it went by largely unnoticed. Aside from the first few days where Battlegrounds were overrun with orphans -- a truly disturbing thought if you stop to think about it -- most people pretty much completed the Children's Week meta-Achievement on the first day. In theory, this was one of those holidays that had the potential to screw players over with Daily Chores, which required players to complete a daily quest every day for five consecutive days. That would've meant that anyone unable to log on for 24 hours would have to wait until the next year to complete the Achievement. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), the Achievement bugged out and players were able to complete it in one day.
Admittedly, as much as I disliked the design principle of the School of Hard Knocks -- I still think it didn't give a good impression of the Battlegrounds to new players -- a lot of people got the Achievement within a day or two. By mid-week, it was back to normal again. Which meant that in my Battlegroup, Horde weren't playing Alterac Valley again. If there was anything good about the School of Hard Knocks, virtually every Battleground started with even numbers every time. Never mind that most of them were recklessly endangering their wards and couldn't care less about winning, but even numbers are always a good start!
Anyway, how did Children's Week go for you guys? Did you get everything you wanted? Pets? Items? Did you complete the Achievement? Was it difficult, easy, or not even worth bothering with? Share your thoughts on what is arguably the most lackluster yearly event yet. I mean, where were the orphans in Northrend? Surely it wouldn't have been too hard to make quests for little Wolvar or maybe Frenzyheart and Oracle children, would it? Maybe next year?
Friday, May 08, 2009
So much for Children's Week
WoW Article: Locke
Do you ever get the feeling that WoW is like some sort of purgatory? That you're trapped in an endless loop of hellish deviations intent on consuming the very soul from which all things good and pure spring forth from? That this game is indeed nothing but the true game which ends all games, and like Sisyphus or John Locke you'll be stuck pushing the boulder up the hill towards a higher level for the rest of your life?And with, let's throw a little social philosophy in your faces.
Adoisin commented...
"I hate people telling me how to change my spec and how to play. I'm a mage who puts out between 2-3k dps, depending on how bad my lag may be at the time. Sure, I may not have the cookie cutter spec. But it's my game, I am paying for it, and I will play how I want. Want me to change? Fine. Start paying my fee and you can tell me how to play."
That's a very common feeling amongst players. I've heard that often while I was running my raiding guild, especially from new recruits. The best way I can go about explaining to people why we want them to change their spec, and why we are okay with asking is this:
Think of WoW as a social game above all else. Killing monsters, doing DPS, tanking, and healing are all learned behaviors that become easy after repetition, just like anything else in life. Handling boss strategies, leveling characters, and everything else in the game is nothing a well developed AI couldn't do. So what's special about the game? The game is a social game in which the real challenge lies in communicating and cooperating with other people in order to accomplish a common goal. In this regards there is no difference between WoW and any other cooperative team sport, like Baseball or Football (insert obligatory lol @ packers here).
As part of this social game, you sign a social contract with other players when you join up with them in a guild. This social contract is a metaphysical conception that basically says you all agree to play by and act under certain guidelines. For some guilds, those guidelines might mean no swearing in gchat and being really nice to everyone. For other guilds, those guidelines might mean speccing the way your class officer wants, showing up 15 minutes before raids, and farming 300g a day for consumables.
I've ran or been an officer in both types of guilds. Either one, the casual or the hard core guild, is a lot of fun for those members that enjoy the results of the social contract. And if a member doesn't enjoy those results, or thinks the guidelines set out by the social contract are making him have a bad time, then the member is free to leave and find another guild.
What it comes down to, is if you don't like the players or officers telling you to respec, then find another group that doesn't have those rules. It's not your fault that you don't like the guild's rules, and it's not the guild's fault or the fault of the other people that they want to enforce those rules. It's just a different style of socially playing the game.
And with 12 million people playing WoW, there are definitely some that agree with you no matter what you think. Find them and you'll be quite happy!
Seanfury asked...
"Will the Bone Witch's Fate Runes be usable in Icecrown Citadel?"
My guess is yes. They'll probably act just like the old flasks out in Blade's Edge Mountain. Although a disclaimer here is important in that we don't know for sure yet.
Endless asked...
"Did anybody in the EU get the free day they promised us? Looking into that tread, I'm not the only one who expected a free day and got ogre poo instead."
Check your transaction / billing history and see if you were credited a day yet. If you weren't, then Blizzard probably hasn't gotten to your account yet. It would be very bad of Blizzard to forget about giving out a promised free day.
Matthew asked...
"I'm a new level 80 warrior and when I open my character sheet and look at my damage, it's shown as red. All my other stats are green. Any idea what this means, and how I can fix it?"
If you're in defensive stance your damage will be reduced, and that reduction is highlighted in red via the character window. If you change to arms or zerker stance, it'll go back to green. You could also be specd into Titan's Grip.
Two Bosses Enter: Drakos the Interrogator vs. Salramm the Fleshcrafter
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches. This season's bosses come from the five-man instances of Wrath of the Lich King.
This week's Two Bosses Enter deathmatch definitely's got that boom, boom, pow. Now, we know you're not fond of The Oculus. We do know. Nonetheless, we're asking you to set aside your prejudices and consider this week's explosive contestants on their own merit: Drakos the Interrogator of The Oculus versus Salramm the Fleshcrafter of The Culling of Stratholme.
Let's review the ground rules: Assume that these foes share similar levels, health pools, damage output and are fighting on neutral territory. Don't get caught up in game mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Focus your debate on the three S's -- Style, Story and Scale – and consider the flavor each villain brings to bear. What do you think would happen during this battle? Leave your comment explaining what happens, and cast your vote for who you think blows up who.
Drakos the InterrogatorThe prisoners shall not go free. The word of Malygos is law!
Drakos the Interrogator, a Dragonkin, is the first boss met by visitors to The Oculus. He is best known to his enemies for the randomly cruising bombs he summons during battle.
- Thundering Stomp
- Magic Pull
- Summon Bombs Summons several bombs that wander randomly for a few seconds, then explode for Arcane damage.
How will Drakos choose to Stomp, Pull and summon bombs to explode Salramm and his ghouls? Read more about Drakos the Interrogator's combat style and review insights from players who've fought him.
Salramm the FleshcrafterYou are too late, champion of Lordaeron. The dead shall have their day.
Salramm the Fleshcrafter, the second boss found in The Culling of Stratholme, is a Human Necromancer. He, too, is known for his explosive summons – in this case, ghouls.
How will Salramm's Ghouls fare against Drakos' bombs? Read more about Salramm the Fleshcrafter's battle style, and review insights from players who've fought him.
The smackdown
The usual rules apply: assume that the opponents share similar levels, health pools and damage output. They are fighting in neutral territory. Can you come up with a convincing scenario in the comments that will sway other readers to vote for your victor of choice?
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Disappointment with the patch 3.1 game world
The last few days I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out why I'm not particularly enjoying Patch 3.1 when I'm doing something besides raiding Ulduar. I should be enjoying it! When I first checked it out on the PTR, I was extremely excited about it. The Argent Tournament especially. The whole jousting deal, the Arthurian themes, the potential for story progression, the whole thing. It looked great! Unfortunately... I'm finding it pretty boring.
The Argent Tournament feels lifeless. Completely and utterly lifeless. I say it all of the time, but patch 2.4 was my favorite patch of World of Warcraft thus far, no contest. Patch 2.4 brought me more joy than even the Wrath launch. Not only did it have content for absolutely every aspect of the game, but it also actually changed the world. Storylines progressed in an in-your-face way. Sure, patch 3.1 moved the Ulduar and Yogg-Saron story forward, but would you know it if you didn't read fansites or watch the patch 3.1 cinematic? What's different? What indicator is there that something new is happening in the Storm Peaks?
When the Sunwell Plateau war effort began, Shattrath very significantly changed. You arrived in the city and you knew something was going on. There was a crisis, and some of the prime forces of the world (at the time) had to come together to stop it. Sure, patch 2.4 and patch 3.1 came at different points in their respective expansions' development cycles, and that allows patch 2.4 to do more with the world than patch 3.1 would, but that doesn't excuse the lack of life in 3.1 at all.
The Horde and the Alliance have decided against joining the Ulduar war effort in any official capacity, but that certainly doesn't mean that nobody at all knows what's happening in Ulduar. The Kirin Tor is definitely interested in what's happening, yet Dalaran remains stagnant. Jaina Proudmoore has apparently taken a personal interest in the crisis, but you don't see her in Northrend. Once you enter Ulduar it's made very obvious that there are parties that care and they're pooling their resources to pull off the impossible, but there aren't even hints that anything is happening out in the world.
The Argent Tournament is a little better, but not much. You get a letter in the mail letting you know the event has started, but there's still very little happening outside of the daily quests. There are no event promoters, no recruiters, nobody really talking about what's going on. When you go to the Tournament, you get a distinct impression that there's some sort of festival going on, some celebration. There are banners and flags and all of the races are flying their colors in elaborate tents. It's exhilarating!
Then your mount touches down on the ground and you slowly realize that there's nothing happening here. There are NPCs on mounts idling by their flags and nothing else is going on. The only notable flavor text in the entire place is a goblin trying to sell you the medieval equivalent of a t-shirt. You can say, "But Alex, the coliseum is still being built!" Yep. You sure can say that. I would tell you that's no excuse for a part of the world being lifeless. Have you ever walked/driven past a construction site before? Unless they've been abandoned, they're absolutely full of activity. This should be much the same.
So this is a whole lot of complaining about brand new content without a lot of constructive suggestions, isn't it. Good news! I have some suggestions, too!
Ulduar
Like I said, the Ulduar war effort would be a pretty big deal, even if the Horde and the Alliance haven't officially thrown their lot in with Dalaran here. At the end of the day, just about every adventurer in Northrend retreats to Dalaran for some rest and would hear about something happening. The Horde and Alliance may not be interested in Ulduar, but the Kirin Tor definitely is. Problem is, Dalaran doesn't display that. You wouldn't know something is going on in Ulduar. So what would I do?
- The most obvious thing to do is use the Dalaran Magi that act as city guards to fill the role of the Commoners that crop up in capital cities such as Stormwind and Orgrimmar during world events. The Mages must talk about something, they're all standing in pairs! What are they talking about? Did someone's family member go into Ulduar? Are they getting ready to go to Ulduar?
- When you enter Ulduar itself, you see that they've pulled in a number of mercenary groups to bulk up their forces. Bring some of those mercenaries into Dalaran. Are they working out their contract with Kirin Tor officials? Are they being noisy, disruptive jerks in the various inns and bars?
- Put more activity directly outside of Ulduar. The righteous (and not so righteous) forces of Azeroth are mobilizing to stop Yogg-Saron. Set up some of the activity going on inside of the raid zone... outside. Battle-Mages rushing about, engineers repairing vehicles. Nothing of supreme importance, but Ulduar should not look pristine when there's a war going on. Anything to indicate that all Hell is about to break loose inside of that building would be good.
- Put Jaina in the Violet Citadel temporarily with relevant flavor text. Technically she's a part of the Alliance, but when has that stopped Jaina from doing what she thinks is right?
Not all of these things are required, certainly, but some of it would help the feeling of 'nothing is actually happening.' Doing too much of this has another danger, too. If you shift over to the other extreme, it can lead to everything blurring together and being a crowded, spammy mess. Putting mercenary activity in Dalaran would mean needing to lower the number of something else. Load times are bad enough in Dalaran. There's a balance that needs to be found.
Lowering the number of generic Mage NPCs and replacing them with mercenaries waiting to have their contracts finalized would make a fair amount of sense, actually. Those missing Mages are off to war, and those mercs are waiting for Rhonin's pen to hit paper.
Warhammer, at launch, was definitely on the too much freaking dialogue end of the activity spectrum. Let me tell ya, The Inevitable City is one of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring cities I've ever seen in an MMO, but when a group of NPCs go through their conversation eight times in five minutes, it's too much, too frequently. I got sick of the city pretty quick exclusively because of that. Yeah, you want players to be able to catch that dialogue, but if it happens too often it's just an annoyance. There's a middleground there somewhere, and I think both WoW and WAR are missing it.
The Argent Tournament
Again, as mentioned earlier, the Argent Tournament may not be in full swing yet since the coliseum is still under construction, but that doesn't mean nothing should be happening there. That's just silly. So what would I do?
- Recruiters! The Argent Crusade wants to bring capable warriors from far and wide to compete at the Tournament and help them against the Scourge. They really oughta send out some feelers. A mass-mailing is such a copout! I'd love to see some Argent Tourney promoters out in the non-Dalaran capital cities. Obviously Dalaran knows it's happening, those guys are already in Northrend. Send a few guys to Stormwind, or Undercity, or Orgrimmar. For extra drama, send some Human Crusaders to Orgrimmar and some Forsaken or Orc Crusaders to Stormwind. Sweet, sweet animosity.
- This is the quietest construction site I've ever seen. Where are the explosions? The angry foreman? The random stone blocks falling off of scaffolding followed by a comedic 'oops'? So much wasted potential.
- The event needs star power. Are there any big names planning to take part in the tournament? There's a ton of opportunity here to pit some lore figures up against each other in a friendly (yet competitive) way. Tirion Fordring vs. Darion Mograine on horseback, anyone? Make these star power duels only happen every few hours, and you can even make a big show of it. NPCs would run to watch, and guess what? Players would, too. If this only happens a few times a day, people would go out of their way to watch, and they wouldn't mind their dailies being interrupted for a few minutes for it.
Again, there's a balance to be found between too much going on and not enough going on. If a disruptive thing like two of the current Northrend heroes going head to head happened too frequently, it would become meaningless and honestly rather annoying. If it were truly an event like the Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftains performing in Shattrath, people would flock together to watch it and cheer on their favorite characters.
Conclusion
Patch 3.1 has lots of cool content, but it is utterly lifeless. In my opinion, Blizzard has set the bar for the story progressing within the game itself so high starting with patch 2.4 and through Wrath of the Lich King's initial release that they can't really afford to slip back into the days where the world was utterly stagnant. The game world needs to continue reflecting current events, and those current events need character. Without character, what is the Argent Tournament? Just another generic quest hub with yet more daily quests. Oh boy.
It's certainly a possibility that Blizzard had these ideas in mind and simply didn't have the time to implement them given the fact that patch 3.1 had already taken so long to produce, but it's still sad to see something with such potential fall so short (in my mind, at least.) I also understand that the teams working on this event were probably the same people working on updating things like Noblegarden, and there's only so much a team can do in a day (or even many days) so there's that to consider. Still, I can't help but feel a little love and care would have made this patch's new content incredibly immersing instead of just ho-hum.
One Boss Leaves: It's Herald Volazj by a landslide
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches. This season's bosses come from the five-man instances of Wrath of the Lich King.
The results of this week's Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves deathmatch didn't show much insanity – just plenty of old-fashioned whuppin', as Herald Volazj laid the smack down on Novos the Summoner in a reader poll landslide.
Zeplar pled the case for Novos: "Insanity is really not that hard a phase, considering Novos doesn't have a tree healer messing him up. So I'll have to give this to Novos.
"Remember, though, that the really hard part about Volazj (at least before we got all epixed and stuff) was the trash guys just before him. Those things hit hard. To add to that, I think Volazj will win the vote because he's harder for players -- but if we are really considering him being against Novos, you have to remember Novos doesn't have a healer during Insanity."
But skreeran put his finger on why Herald Volazj walked away with this victory. "He won't win because he's harder. He will will because the Great Old Ones are beyond mortal comprehension.
"Phng'lui mwgl'naf Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."
WoW Video:The Avenger trailer
Selserene tipped me off to this really cool little video. This is the Avenger trailer by Dtbn. The full movie is probably going to be released sometime in late summer, and is described by the author as being "action packed."
I love to see action-oriented machinima, and if this trailer is any kind of indication, I think Dtbn will be able to deliver. I think it does a great job of setting up quick pathos for the main character, and then conveys stylized, interesting conflict. The use of bullet-time slow-motion and dynamic framing makes the action compelling and interesting, even if we know most of the character movements are based on in-game emotes.
While it is a trailer, and not all trailers turn into full movies, I hope Dtbn follows through. It looks promising, and I'm excited for it.
Jarod Shadowsong, the biggest hero you've never heard of
Call me a lore noob (and that's fine, Alex will heartily agree with you), but like Loregy.com suspected, I had never before heard of Jarod Shadowsong. We pretty much all know about his sister Maeiv, thanks to her little tirade against Illidan and the big part that played in the last expansion. But Jarod might be Azeroth's biggest unsung hero. And considering that all of the rumors point to the next expansion diving into the Maelstrom and/or the Emerald Dream, not to mention an eventual showdown with Sargeras, he could also play a very important part in Azeroth's future.
Jarod led the charge in the War of the Ancients, a huge battle thousands of years ago in Azeroth's past that culminated in Jarod's taking full command of the Kaldorei Resistance, a one-on-one battle with Archimonde (players have faced him, too), and eventually the collapse of the Well of Eternity. An event that led directly to, you guessed it, the creation of the Maelstrom. See how it's all coming together?
Loregy has more speculation: just like during Jarod's time, the Horde and Alliance are growing apart, and if Sargeras decides to bite back after what happened in the Burning Crusade, we'll need a leader to combine the troops. Thrall and Wrynn are each powerful leaders in their own right, but Jarod is the big daddy of generals. And if big trouble goes down in the next expansion, he could be the key to saving the world again. And the guy doesn't even have a picture on WoWWiki!
WoW Article: Defining "PuGgable"
Alan over on WoW LJ has a great question: just what is PuGgable? Lots of people are talking about Naxx and Vault of Archavon and Obsidian Sanctum as PuGable, or able to be taken down by a pickup group, but just where does the line get drawn? Is 25-man Naxx able to be killed by a PuG? Sarth with three drakes? Ulduar?
Most of the 10-man instances are generally easy enough to be dropped by a pickup group, in my experience, though probably not for the achievements. A well-geared PuG can roll right through Naxx or VoA without any problems at all. But when you start getting into the achievements (Sarth with drakes) or the higher content (Eye of Eternity is tough unless everyone in there is experienced), then things get a little shady. Which is why lots of PuG leaders will be checking gear and achievements -- they'd rather take along someone who's already done the content than worry about pulling newbies through. Services and reputations can help that a little bit too -- a good friends list can come in very handy for PuGging even hard content.
And I'd say Ulduar is not PuGgable, yet, for a number of reasons. First of all, it's brand new, which means that most pickup folks won't know the fights, and that leads to wipes and only about one or two bosses down. Plus, since it is so new, every raid reset counts, and guilds don't want their raiders using up their resets when there's a guild run later in the week (of course that's not an issue for Naxx, which most guilds have on farm anyway). Though as more people gear up and more guilds make progress in Ulduar, you have to think there'll be PuGs in there as well
Acronymification, FWIW
I won't say Adam was right, but I also won't say he was wrong. Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle and Heroic CoT: Stratholme are the two dungeons that taught me the most about tanking. Teaching myself to remember to use my own cooldowns and mitigation abilities, learning how to pace a group and keep them moving, relearning how to handle different types of mobs. They were a challenge, oh yes, but that's why I learned so much from them. Easier heroics like Violet Hold didn't teach me to do much because you basically nap through the thing. Then again, I am sort of a 'trial by fire' kind of guy. I need to die a few times to figure out whether I'm capable of something or not.
CallMeIrd asked..
"Are they going to change or remove the School of Hard Knocks achievements? It's pretty much impossible for a lot of players to achieve."
I seriously doubt it. Why do I doubt it? Because it's not impossible at all. It's marginally more difficult than the other Children's Week achievements and it's pretty poorly designed, but impossible? Never. That's like saying Hail To The King is impossible. It isn't. Why would it be?
My big pet peeve about School of Hard Knocks is knowing that the achievement (besides Alterac Valley) is easiest to get if you simply play the Battlegrounds as intended. Let them run their course, and you'll probably get a flag cap (or whatever you need) before the match is over. Just go with the flow of battle, be a quick clicker, and you've got it. When everyone is obsessing over the flags, the battleground goes sour and nobody gets their achievement. Don't obsess over the achievement objectives. Play the battlegrounds right. Alterac Valley is the only exception, because holy crap that one was poorly thought out.
This thing usually takes no more than 3-4 hours for most people. That definitely does not strike me as worthy of being removed from a meta.
Quickshiv asked...
"If you see a player with a horrible spec (at level 80) what should you do? I don't mean in raid or even group just running around some times I will inspect someone to see what gear they have if I don't recognize it. If their spec is very bad should I comment in a nice way or just let them go on about their business."
If they're just someone I spotted in the auction house or out in the world at random? Someone I've never grouped with, and don't need to group with? I don't say anything. I don't know them, and they don't know me. I can be as polite as possible and there's a pretty good chance they'll be offended, because I'm basically that stranger that walked up to them on the street to tell them their shirt is ugly. The best you're going to get is a sarcastic, 'Thanks.' The worst you're going to get is a punch in the face.
Sure, once in a blue moon you'll find someone that's appreciative, but I like to avoid alienating dozens of people in between those rare few.
Now, if you feel absolutely compelled to discuss it with someone, what I would probably do is ask if they have any experience with X build, or if they've tried it. By opening a conversation with "X and Y talents are bad" you're going to piss someone off. If you ask someone if they've tried Z talent yet, there's a good chance they'll be less irritated at the unsolicited conversation. They'll say yes or no, and you can strike up discussion from there.
Merlista asked...
"How do you politely bow-out of a group request while not implying the door is closed for later? Its rare I can guarantee uninterrupted time of 3 minutes or more but when I can I really enjoy grouping. Of course I don't join unless I'm virtually guaranteed uninterrupted time. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Its an annoying mouthful "Sorry, can't guarantee my time right now, look me up later?"...Perhaps there's an acronym I haven't learned yet. Thanks!"
I usually just say something like: Appreciate the invite, but I have some stuff going on RL and am going AFK a lot. If you're still around later though, I'd be happy to help!
Which would be ATIBIHSSGORLAAGAFKALIYSALTIBHTH
WoW Guide: Potion tips for the uninitiated
You could say that only the highest level raiders are going to be that worried about making sure that they have every single buff they can have, but even as a casual raider, I've found a lot of use in buffing as many ways as possible. Unlike the really epic guys (who use food, potions, and elixirs to beef up their already awesome gear), I tend to use potions and food to cover my weaknesses. For instance, I don't have as much +hit on my gear as I should have, so I specifically carry around hit food at all times, and I can see the results in my DPS. Even if you don't have the best gear, using the right potions and food buffs at the right times can help you drop bosses and win fights you normally wouldn't.
Of course, that seems obvious to min-maxers, but many raiders with less experience don't realize how much of a difference the right pots and food can make on the raiding game. Lots of these buffs are cheap to buy (and even cheaper to farm if you've got the professions), so if you're raiding with regularity, definitely take a look at your stats and see if you can't throw a few temp buffs in the mix.
Mountain Dew Game Fuel website revealed, counting down
We announced Mountain Dew Game Fuel quite awhile ago now, but it wasn't until recently that we've seen the official Game Fuel website. As you can see in the picture above, when you visit the site you're greeted with a countdown. The countdown says you can 'start earning tokens' when the countdown hits 0, which I assume means we'll be able to get our grubby nerd hands on the soda itself in just under 9 days. Unless they have some odd, magical way of gaining tokens beyond buying and drinking Game Fuel.
Players with any interest in PC gaming or WoW swag at all will be pretty impressed with who they have on board for the prizes they'll supposedly be giving away every 15 minutes. J!NX handles most of the official WoW clothing, and Alienware... well, I've never actually used an Alienware product, but at least their stuff looks cool. That's a good thing, right?
So far there's no evidence of those battle bots we saw being attached to the Game Fuel at all on that website, but there's that whole convoluted saying that's become so cliche over the years. The absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence. We don't see it yet, but we may yet see it.
BlizzCon ticket FAQ
Interesting information includes:
- You should make a Battle.net account ahead of time, and make sure the payment information on it is up-to-date.
- If there are enough people on the site trying to buy tickets (and trust me, there will be), there will be a queue to join.
- Once in the queue, you'll get an ETA for how long until you can get your tickets. Do not close or refresh the window. If tickets sell out before you get to the front of the line, they'll let you know.
- When you get to the front of the queue, you have 15 minutes to buy your tickets before you get booted and have to join the queue again.
- You don't need to give attendee information until after finishing the ticket purchase.
They also note that this queue system will remain in place for future Blizzard items "whenever a certain number of people are making purchases simultaneously," so get used to it - you'll almost certainly be seeing it when StarCraft II and Diablo III come out.
WoWMatrix responds to Curse and WoW Interface
I thought the whole Curse and WoW Interface vs WoWMatrix scuffle was over, but the people at WoWMatrix have just fired back an "FAQ" giving their side of the story. I put FAQ in quotes because I'm not sure these are frequently asked questions so much as questions Matrix frequently wants to answer, but that's OK. I like the format.
Here is the situation as they put it: The Matrix people are respecting Curse/WI's demands that they quit using Curse/WI bandwidth, so as of now you can only get addons through WM that are hosted on the WM servers. They are hosting addons on their servers that the authors asked to be hosted there, or that are distributed under a free license (such as the GPL) that allows such re-hosting.
And now it starts to get contentious. Curse and WoW Interface claimed that WM was almost completely unresponsive to any kind of communication they tried to make, which is what forced them to take the drastic measures they took. WM, on the other hand, claim that Curse refused to negotiate and instead just tried to buy Matrix outright, whereas WM was trying to compensate for bandwidth, figure out how to use less bandwidth, and show Curse ads.
Basically, WM's side of the story is that they tried everything they could to work with WoW Interface and Curse in order to provide a single solution that was best for the user community - to quote them directly, "both Curse and WoWInterface are more concerned about their own profits than working with us to help better serve the gaming community."
This is, again, directly contradictory to what the Curse/WoWI release said, which is that Matrix showed very little interest in working with them, making only a token lowball offer to compensate for bandwidth, and just wanted to go on leeching, basically. Obviously at least one side is misrepresenting facts, although it's impossible to say which one.
On a final note, if you want to help the WoWMatrix folks, they encourage you to submit any addons that you want added that are under a free license, so that's one thing you can do to build their database.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
WoW Video: Inventing Swear Words 5
Inventing Swear Words has been one of my favorite Oxhorn machinima series. Its lighthearted, playful nature won me over early, and the unmistakable pokes at WoW culture frequently made me laugh. It's been a year since the release of Inventing Swear Words 4, when Mortuus and Lacy got married.
In this final chapter, the team has an epic plan to finally force their new swear words on the entire World of Warcraft. It's got all of the cameos you'd want out of the final chapter of a saga, a great resolution, and the same fun music you'd expect from Oxhorn. Mr. Horn does assure us the characters will be back in other works, which makes me happy. I love those guys.
Tips for Rogues in 2v2
Because of my high ratings in Season 5, we were instantly matched against 2000+ players in our very first games. While 2000 isn't quite 'Gladiator' status yet, we were definitely playing teams with some experience under their belts. I had a great time playing, as it was my first set of arena games since the end of Season 5. Mage & Rogue is a comp with some very potent synergy, and a fast-paced playstyle that brings out the best in our class.
When I first started Season 5, I was playing with a Holy Paladin partner. Our goal was to run the opposing team out of mana while using our defensive cooldowns to prolong a match. What a switch when playing Mage & Rogue! Most of our fights are over in 60 seconds or less, unless something has gone terribly wrong. This bursty style of play seems to favor quick damage over all else, but in reality it's not about the damage.
Crowd Control:
Rogues in 2v2 are defined completely by their ability to effectively crowd control one target for long periods of time. Between Sap, Gouge, Kidney Shot, and Blind, our CC capabilities are the best amongst any of the classes. The key to playing any successful Rogue combo is to coordinate CC with your partner, and to execute on those CC opportunities.
Against a traditional DPS and healer combo, there are two approaches to CC. One method is to CC the DPS class, which will allow you easy access to the healer without being "peeled" by the DPS. The alternative is to CC the healer, which gives you the ability to kill the DPS class before they are able to be healed. Which you choose to use depends greatly on the partner you are playing with, along with the enemy composition.
Trying to CC a Death Knight's healer and kill the DK is a mistake in most cases, as the DK will be able to use defensive cooldowns to survive your enslaught. However, if you are able to crowd control a Rogue's healer, they are typically able to be killed in just a few seconds of focus fire. Similarly, it may not be the best approach to try CC'ing a Druid if you have a Mage partner, as the Druid is immune to most of the Mage's CC and will be able to easily trinket out of your Blind (as they are also immune to our Sap in tree form). Knowing who is vulnerable to which of your CCs is a key ingredient in using your cooldowns wisely.
Tunnel Vision:
One symptom of a novice Rogue in the arena is the tendency to "tunnel vision" a particular target. This refers to the idea of focusing solely on the target you're DPS'ing, while ignoring your partner as well as your opponent's partner. This will cause you to lose opportunities to CC the enemy or assist your partner, as well as possibly forgetting to watch your own health meter. I suggest playing a few skirmish games for fun, and practicing simply watching the health, mana, and cast bars of both teams. Don't worry too much about your particular target, simply do your best to "watch the field" and see how you do.
Focus Macros:
A great way to get away from the idea of tunnel vision is to start making use of a few Focus macros. These take advantage of a new "target frame" of sorts. Basically, you choose your Focus target by selecting any NPC/player and typing /focus. This will bring up a new unit frame window for that NPC, which is similar to your target window. You can then write macros that will automatically cast spells on your Focus target, without ever needing to switch from your current target. Here's a sample formula:
/cast [target=focus] Blind
This will automatically Blind whoever is in your Focus target window. I find that Focusing the healer/caster of any given team is the most efficient, as they are typically the class you will find yourself Blinding or Kicking or anything else you choose to bind to a macro. By using these macros, you'll get yourself used to watching two targets at once, and observing the situation with a bird's eye view.
Clutch Plays:
The defining trait of any great Rogue is the ability to make a quick call and a great move with miraculous reaction times. Seeing a healer casting a spell, knowing that the healer's PvP trinket is on cooldown, and knowing that your partner is in a position to assist with a kill of the DPS, and using your Focus macro to Blind the target mid-cast: key plays like these are what set us apart. In order to truly excel in the arena, quick reaction times to CC and interrupt your opponents are vital. There was a time where the mark of Rogue excellence was "kicking a Fel Dom", which was simply a spell with a 0.5s cast time.
Watching your own abilities and actions are not enough in a PvP environment. If you're spending time looking for a button to click (which you shouldn't be) or worrying about which of your abilities are on cooldown, you're wasting time that could be used to monitor your opponents actions. This sort of "full court" observation is the most crucial skill to develop and exploit. Playing a lot of skirmishes and simply observing is a great way to learn these talents.
Wintergrasp lag a big issue after patch 3.1
So yes, we're more or less out of luck -- as long as Wintergrasp is extremely popular (and even Zarhym remembers the naysayers before the release with a smirk), there will always be a certain amount of lag in there. There are a few good suggestions floating around the comments thread -- one is that Wintergrasp should always be conquerable, which seems like it would keep down on the flood of people, though of course there'd be other issues if that were implemented.
At this point, Wintergrasp lag may just be something we have to live with. Eventually, you have to think the population will drop back down, and then those of us still in there will enjoy lag-free battles again. But Blizzard has taken on quite a goal trying to do non-instanced PvP full of vehicles and towers without any lag at all.
WoW Addon: SmartBuff
Buff smart: use SmartBuff. This addon is pretty comprehensive and crazy configurable, and is designed to facilitate and partially automate the buffing process. Here's how it works:
- Check off which buffs you want to keep up, on what classes, main hand/off hand (if applicable), and when you want it to remind you (in combat, out of combat, 10 seconds remaining, etc).
- Under the specified conditions, SmartBuff will put a reminder up on your screen (also configurable, of course) telling you who needs what buffs.
- Now simply click the SmartBuff button, or scroll your scroll wheel (if you have that option set), and the necessary buffs will magically be applied for you!
It doesn't get much easier than that. SB also supports setting up profiles, for PvP vs. raids vs. parties, for instance.
I do have a few minor gripes about SmartBuff. It would be nice if it could recognize when I was on a vehicle, and stop bugging me for buffs under those conditions. Sure, "/sb toggle" isn't hard (turns the mod off/on), but then I have to remember to toggle it back on, and remembering to buff is the reason I have SB in the first place. It doesn't do a very good job of recognizing when you've manually re-applied a buff, as I often do with Inner Fire when I have a spare moment. It also used to frequently double-buff for buffs that just recently went raid-wide (like Prayer of Shadow Protection), though that seems to be fixed in the latest version.
That's another good thing about SB: It's under constant development. The author is very responsive to bugs and feature requests, and I've never seen big issues stay around for long. New revisions are usually made pretty quickly in response to patches changing things.
There's more to the mod than I've talked about here, but basically: if you want it to be easier for you to buff, or if you're always forgetting buffs, give SmartBuff a spin. I think you'll like it.
A million Chinese gold farmers
Very intriguing. News of the report actually came from Kevin Werbach, who, as we've reported, is not only a WoW player but acted as the FCC's transition co-chair for the Obama administration. He's doing research for a talk he's giving soon in Philadelphia called "All I really need to know I learned in World of Warcraft." And we also hear he's set to be on an upcoming episode of How I WoW, so stay tuned for that.
As for Chinese wow gold farmers, no matter what the numbers actually are, it's clearly a huge industry, and one that is almost invisible even in the modern global economy. It's hard to believe that they really are going through $10 billion a year, but there's no question, from what we've seen of the farms and brokerages that have been studied, that there are huge numbers of people supporting the flow of virtual gold.
The Daily Quest: Of Titans and Moonkin
- Lorecrafted asks an important question: What came first, the Titans or the egg? Wait, I meant Old Gods. Titans or Old Gods.
- World of Matticus's Sydera takes a close look at healing through Freya in Ulduar. As always, a great resource for healers of all flavors.
- Sacred Duty is making the most out of Mining in Icecrown, and they're willing to show you how, too!
- The Druid Team goes where many have hoped someone would've gone before: Balance Druid spell rotations.
Give Bloodlust to Rogues
The idea behind "Bring the player, not the class" is that raid stacking shouldn't be as big of a deal as it was during, oh, say, Sunwell. For each buff and debuff, we have a few different classes that can provide it, so raid leaders don't have to go too far out of their way to get good coverage.
However, what single buff was the biggest factor causing guilds to stack a particular class in Sunwell? Ten points if you said "Bloodlust/Heroism." And that is, irritatingly enough, one of the few remaining buffs that no other class has; if you want Bloodlust, you need a shaman, period.
They have toned down its stackability - at the moment, one shaman is sufficient to provide Bloodlust to the entire raid whenever possible, and adding more shamans doesn't help you get more Bloodlusty. However, why is this still a shaman-only property? Bloodlust is arguably the most significant buff in the game when you're up against an enrage timer. Why require shamans, and only shamans, in that situation?
My proposal is to give Bloodlust to Rogues as well. Although Tricks of the Trade has helped, Rogues are still pretty low on the spectrum of raid utility. They're also one of the least played classes right now, according to both my personal experience and the Warcraft Realms census, which has Rogue as the single least-played class at 80. Let's give raid leaders a reason to bring our stabby friends, while cutting down on the "no shaman? we're screwed" factor. Who's with me?
