And, like probably every other WoW guild out there, people are drying up at a phenomenal rate.

I’m left to wonder, is the only thing that can steal playtime away from WoW, another Blizzard game? Well, to be fair you see this quite often when a new, quality triple A game on the PC is released. Usually it’s a Bioware game stealing some of the thunder – Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age… this time, it’s a Blizzard game, and Starcraft 2 is, with little doubt in my mind, going to cause a pretty sharp drop in WoW players online concurrently for quite some time. Depending how many of them embrace online play, the drop may be more permanent and significant.

The biggest threat, then, to World of Warcraft seems to me won’t necessarily be another MMO, but simply another quality multiplayer PC game. And very specifically, Diablo 3. D3 will offer much of the simple pick up and play co-operative gameplay that WoW offers in it’s current badge-farming heroic intancing, which I’d guess makes up a good bulk of what people do in the game at the level cap. Sure raiding happens too, but is it the real focus of WoW gamers? Most of us spend more time gearing for raids than actually raiding. And, sure, PVP is a fun enough distraction, but BG’s are something to do in short bursts, and arenas are the domain of a very small minority of WoW’s subscriber base.

Personally I think Starcraft 2 might offer superior PVP multiplayer gameplay within a ‘massive’ environment, and Diablo3 will scratch the itch that the other half has, in co-operative dungeon crawling. As much as Blizzard mentions it doesn’t see SC2 and D3 as competition to WoW… I really think they are.

How does starcraft 2 itself play, I might hear you ask. My initial impressions are highly favourable. This game exudes polish in a quantity I don’t think I have seen before. The closest would be to liken it to Mass Effect 2 in terms of sheer quality of design. The engine itself is spectacular, the gameplay is classic Starcraft, and the higher focus on exposition and storyline between missions is superb. Hard to say if this is the best game ever, I don’t think it’s perfect, but it’s damn near. If you have a PC, this is simply a must buy, whether you’re an RTS fan or not so much.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Starcraft 2 and WoW : Blizzard is it’s own worst enemy

• Torchlight 2: LAN’ers rejoice
• Real names on Blizzard Forums
• Cryptic + Next D&D Game =
• Weekend of Gaming: StarCraft 2 Edition
• Trailers: Do they cause more harm than good?
• StarCraft 2′s Campaign is amazing
• Blizzard regains it’s sanity
• StarCraft 2′s Custom Map community is justifiably frustrated
• What a tool he was
• There’s WoW but then there’s WoW

And so it is that I put down my blogging pen, too, in anticipation of something new.

WoW-specific blogging will resume it’s regular programming soon enough. Till then, enjoy the twilight days of the Lich King’s last stand, and I’ll keep on inking my idle thoughts on the genre and gaming in general. Personally, I think I’ll be more or less leaving Azeroth itself in it’s current incarnation to the die-hards and focus on some much needed Real Life.

‘Till we meet again,

Adieu

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

It always ends with a whimper

• I tanked the Lich King!
• There’s Always That One Guy
• KINGSLAYER!
• Paladin Healing is oldschool (and an update on our ICC smackdown)
• Slow few days
• Almost back in action
• WoW’s 3.3.5 Patch
• Lots of Cataclysm Info – Lots of Changes
• How many Mythic devs does it take to make an expansion?
• WAR News Day 4

First off, each tree is being pruned down to 31 points deep rather than 51. It’s basically 2 tiers less. Second, we’re getting about half as many talent points total, so where we get 71 right now, we’ll probably only have points in the 30′s to play with by the time we ding 85.

At first this sounds like a massive nerf and simplification, but the reasoning behind it is that we spend so many talent points on must-have junk-talents like +1 to hit here and +1 to crit there, that most of those 71 talent points are being spent on boring talents. This makes a hell of a lot of sense. I know I drop otherwise awesome, fun and flavourful talents like Lichborne to instead pick up something dreary like one percent to dodge. Ho hum.

It will be farm more fun to be able to focus on grabbing ‘unnecessary’ talents like Mark of Blood or Blood Worms than minmaxing cookiecutter builds focused purely on stats. Especially the DK class, which loses out on a lot of versatility in the way cookiecutter builds spec in order to maximize dps or eh/threat. And it’s versatility that was supposed to be this class’s strong point. Something we had to sacrifice in trying to keep up with all the other classes. We lose out on so many ‘toys’ that are baked into other classes, and it’ll be refreshing to be able to haul out something super cool like Hungering Cold in a dungeon or raid instead of sinking that 1 point into getting 5/5 Black Ice.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

31 point trees are win

• Anyone following Rift: Planes of Telara?
• WoW class overhaul brings big changes to the lower level gameplay
• Game Watch: Worms Reloaded and Elemental War of Magic
• News from the Front 6/11
• Revisiting a Galaxy far, far away
• Hurrik
• Black Orc update – middle of tier 2
• Almost back in action
• Catching up on some Rift info
• Must.. stay… on… target.. Doh.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25968987278&sid=1

Hello everyone,

I’d like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We’ve been constantly monitoring the feedback you’ve given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we’ve decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

It’s important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.

I want to make sure it’s clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you’ll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.

In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/mission.html ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard’s success from the beginning.

Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Blizzard regains it’s sanity

• Real names on Blizzard Forums
• StarCraft 2′s Custom Map community is justifiably frustrated
• Starcraft 2 and WoW : Blizzard is it’s own worst enemy
• WoW’s 3.3.5 Patch
• RealDumb
• I Hope Mythic Are Never This Stupid
• Trailers: Do they cause more harm than good?
• Transition Update – 7/8/2010
• Weekend of Gaming: StarCraft 2 Edition
• Movin’ on up

Thinking back the privacy brouhaha around Facebook earlier last month, is this merely coincidence?

Facebook have gone from being kinda cool and open, to being thought of as scumbags and criminals.

Do you think you can survive the same, ActiBlizzard? Do you really think you’re bigger than your community, your customers?

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Facebookfail

• Yep, ‘Social Gaming’ Still a Fad.
• Real names on Blizzard Forums
• Actually something to add, now I’ve had a little ponder
• Ruby Sanctum thoughts and Cataclysm NDA down= *Drool*
• The next try
• Guild Wars 2 Trailer blows minds but…
• EverQuest II Extended
• Lots of Cataclysm Info – Lots of Changes
• Clone Wars Adventures “Open Beta” still has a NDA
• FFXIV’s Pricing Model

Like about 95% of the rest of the WoW populace who’ve commented about this, I think it’s a really, really bad idea.

For one, I think ActivisionBlizzard have allowed themselves to become a victim of their own hubris. Sure, WoW is the most popular MMO in the world. But is it really the game that everyone plays? The game for the masses? I’m not quite so sure really. I still think the bulk of the WoW playing populace are, well, seasoned gamers. There may be a lot of people for whom WoW is there first ever game but I think that number is pretty slim, and always will be. WoW is astill a pretty hardcore experience. There’s a lot fo grinding, and raiding is still severely complicated. This isn’t Farmville, Kotick. No matter how much you want it to be.

And that means that most of WoW’s populace are probably at least somewhat tech savvy internet veterans, and they value their privacy. Furthermore, consider the people who use your forums. Chances are they do so right now exactly because these forums allow them a modicum of anonymity. And while this can be used for nefarious purposes – trolling, flamewars, etc – anonymity is also great at getting valuable, intelligent people to come out of their shells. To stick their neck out.

Will they be sticking theirs out after this change goes through? Odds are, no. Will flaming and trolling still happen? Odds are, yes. Anonymity may turn otherwise normal people into trolls, but here’s the thing : Real trolls don’t care. Real trolls troll because, well, they have shitty personalities. That’s just baked in. Casting aside the veil of internet secrecy isn’t going to change that.

I haven’t come this close to cancelling my ‘subsrciption (ie not buying any more game cards) in a while. It’s not even so much about the forums, since I rarely post there, and could probably get by never visiting them ever again. The problem is, it highlights a disregard for the wishes of it’s clientele that appears to have been growing within Blizzard, suspiciously ever since the Activision merger.

So I won’t lie. I would quit right now if it weren’t for the contacts I’ve built up within the game. And Blizzard knows that. Hence RealID in the first place. But here’s the thing – you can’t copyright someone else’s name. And once I have my cadre, my crew, its’ actually quite easy to walk away, and take them with me.

Especially if they feel the same way I do.

And I’m betting right now that most of them are.

You’ve just crossed a terrible threshold, Blizzard. Like Arthas, in your blind zeal pursuing one single goal, you’ve lost sight of what really mattered in the first place. And you have, in the process, become the enemy.
What hubris. What irony.

There’s no coming back from that.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

RealDumb

• Real names on Blizzard Forums
• Blizzard regains it’s sanity
• I Hope Mythic Are Never This Stupid
• Double RP/Against All Odds Weekend
• Starcraft 2 and WoW : Blizzard is it’s own worst enemy
• So 1.3.6 Arrived And I Was Initially Uninspired
• Against all Odds Video
• News from the Front 7/9
• We’re moving..
• June’s Producer Letter

Well, our ultra-casual guild is still working on Arthas 10man. It’s slow going as usual. People are burning out like the wickermen doused in high-octane.  Still soldiering along though, hoping to get Kingslayer for myself and a bump up the ladder for the guild. Been doing a fair bit of tanking in ICC actually, particularly on Arthas himself. Short factoid of the day, we are awesome offtanks for this encounter. Being able to simply drop that Death and decay at Arthas’ feet and pick up all those ghouls is quite something. After seeing our warriors and even paladins struggle with this aspect of the fight, I was somewhat chuffed at being able to handle it so easily. Score 1 DK tanks, woot.

I’m back to being Unholy. Frost was a fun experiment but it was becoming a little too bipolar. Either you’re doing incredible tank-n-spank dps, or you’re doing mediocre mobile dps. Unholy shines in both roles, so I chose to go with what I enjoyed most, was comfortable with and with what happened to offer the most overall raid utility. Warlocks are rare like hens teeth but shamans, a dime a dozen. Getting one of the resto or elementals to drop Windfury is far easier than getting a lock to keep that Curse of Whatever up all the time and on all the mobs.

Specifically, I’m 0/17/54 specced, and running around 700-ish armor penetration (gemmed all for strength mind you) with Shadow’s Edge and Deathbringer’s Will (woot!). Oddly enough, simming with AskMrRobot gave me a better sustained DPS score than a blood subspec, where everyone on teh forums and even EJ said otherwise. Huh. Interesting. So much for conventional wisdom. Frost subspec really seems to scale better in virtually every way and with virtually every stat weight.

In other news my warrior is coming along nicely, and I really do enjoy tanking the lowbie instances with him.  One thing I did realise is that Wrath of the Lich Kings’ content really isnt all that easy. We’re just horribly overgeared for it. Even with a good chunk of heirlooms, running easy (ie UK, Nexus) normal pug 5mans at level 70 can be nerve-wracking. When I hit 80 and start tanking heroics in noob gear I forsee many deaths in my scrub warriors’ future. I think if it weren’t for all the overgeared dps and healers out there that will no doubt carry me along, I’d be quite intimidated at the prospect.

Can you guys remember back to early Wrath, and chainwiping on Skadi in Utgarde Pinnacle, among others? When tanks running around in 25k HP gear was quite a lot, and healers actually went oom now and then? Crazy times eh? Also, it was fun. I realised that challenging 5man content is a breath of fresh air this late in the game, and the only way I’m getting some is to reroll. I hope to hell Cataclysm brings back some of that. It will be a real drag to have all us ICC geared clowns blitz through the early endgame content in a couple of weeks.

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Unholy. My Go-to spec.

• KINGSLAYER!
• Paladin Healing is oldschool (and an update on our ICC smackdown)
• FFXIV Benchmark has done me a favor.
• PVP Rage Post
• Mythic EU Servers UP!
• Guild Wars: What I like about it.
• WoW: An update.
• Hurrik
• I tanked the Lich King!
• It always ends with a whimper

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Dark Knights

None Found

The 2 biggies in my book were The Old Republic, which had a sweet new CGI rendered trailer, and Warhammer 40K. Specifically 40K, which now has a title : Dark Millenium, and showed some actual gameplay footage, unlike ToR. 40K looks very WoW-ish. Very, very WoWish. But release date? Sometine 2013. That’s a long, long way off. It’s unlikely we’ll be quittin WoW anytime soon. The Old Republic is arriving a little sooner, somewhere in the second quarter next year at most optimistic estimate. But, I’m wondering if it’s going to be the game that kills WoW. Having looked at some actual gameplay footage? The game looks a little…well…dated.

Of course I’ll be giving the game a shot when it releases. I mean c’mon! It’s Star Wars! I love Star Wars. I’m a Star Wars slut. But, if WAR taught me anything, being a fan of the IP doesn’t matter if the game isn’t fun and compelling. 40K’s gameplay, what little was shown of it, looked compelling. ToR’s…..doesn’t.

Either way, lots to look forward to.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

E3 highlights

• Trailers: Do they cause more harm than good?
• Guild Wars 2 Trailer blows minds but…
• Firefall’s Debut: The Good and the Bad
• Age of Empires Online
• SWTOR looking decent now
• Clone Wars Adventures Impressions
• K&G’s E3 2010: Nintendo Press Conference Commentary
• Who had the best E3: Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony?
• K&G E3 2010: Sony’s Press Conference Commentary
• K&G’s E3 2010: Microsoft’s Conference Commentary

I’m not sure why this is. I think, sometimes, it’s a case of competitiveness gone one step too far. Or an offhand joke that rubbed some guy off the wrong way resulting in a lifelong vendetta.

We like to joke around on vent/teamspeak, on guild chat and in our guild forums but the reality is, there are a lot of people out there who take things the wrong way. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

I’m not very ‘chatty’ much these days, primarily as a result of this. My one weakness is forum trolling, primarily because I’m left with a fair amount of free time in the day as a result of my job. Ingame, I’m too busy doing stuff like raiding or farming to get too involved in guild politics, but I can’t help find myself becoming embroiled in the stuff on the guild’s forums. I wish I could just walk away instead.

I’m really looking forward to 10 man raiding in Cataclysm. I don’t think I’ll raid any 25man content, and it’s not because 10man is easier (it’s not, really) or simpler to organise. It’s because I’ll have more of an opportunity to pick who I play with, and hopefully avoid those difficult personalities.

Although it seems that, even in 10man raiding, you can’t help but get into some kind of rivalry with That One Guy.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

There’s Always That One Guy

• Lots of Cataclysm Info – Lots of Changes
• What is “free” in LotRO F2P?
• Guild Wars 2 Trailer blows minds but…
• Starcraft 2 and WoW : Blizzard is it’s own worst enemy
• Blizzard regains it’s sanity
• It always ends with a whimper
• Transition Update – 7/8/2010
• There’s WoW but then there’s WoW
• RealDumb
• LotRO’s Cash Shop affects gameplay directly and indirectly

Like how we can’t win Wintergrasp on our realm due to the 2.5:1 lead in numbers Alliance has over Horde.
Like how a hunter, yesterday, basically killed me in under 3 seconds, with me running 1300 resilience.
Like how retarded Horde has become, at least on the EU side and in my Battlegroup. Some days winning a single BG for the daily random becomes basically outright impossible. I don’t know why this is, but it seems that, over time, the influx of essentially terrible players has increased within the Horde. It used to be that Horde was the ‘hardcore’ faction, where all the PVPers rolled their toons. Since the introduction of Blood Elves – not coincidentally the most populous Blood Elf race in the entire game – the overall quality of the average Horde pug team in a BG has simply plummeted, to where we’re a joke faction now. To hwere I’m honestly contemplating rolling an Alliance alt for the first time in my WoW life.

I think my short PVP kick has ended, again. I crafted my Shadow’s Edge, respecced back to PVE tank&dps, and gave up bothering on my DK. Going to retire my frost mage, as well. After the past few weeks of trying to make a go at PVP and repeatedly smashing into seemingly insurmountable walls… no more. I’ll work on my warrior alt a bit while I wait for Cataclysm, because the past few weeks has, again, reminded me why I ragequit WoW for WAR last year during my PVP kick.

PVP in this game is a twitchy abortive mess of burst damage and indestructible healers that can never oom. If it wasn’t for the raid experience, I honestly don’t think I’d have lasted anywhere enarly as long as I have. If WoW had relied on PVP for it’s endgame, it wouldn’t have lasted a year.

I miss the days when we were all still relatively new to this game, when we were still figuring a lot out, when there was room for error and not every single person was running around in badge epics  and honor welfare loot obliterating each other in microseconds. Cataclysm can’t come soon enough. We’ve been stuck in this expansion for far too long now. 6 months of 1 raid?

Ugh. Seriously, the next big mmo, the one that kills WoW, only needs one real thing to beat it.

Regular. Content. Updates.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

PVP Rage Post

• Zalazane’s Fall and my WoW status
• 31 point trees are win
• Unholy. My Go-to spec.
• So I Get A Weeks Holiday
• There’s Always That One Guy
• Lots of Cataclysm Info – Lots of Changes
• Just a saying?
• It always ends with a whimper
• Ruby Sanctum thoughts and Cataclysm NDA down= *Drool*
• Big post of rambling before going AFK

The question on everyone’s mind is, will this make it more popular. As probably the second most popular fantasy DIKU MMORPG, removing the pay to play barrier to entry immediately makes it look like LotrO might suddenly bust out in a big way and steal some major market share from the Blizzard Behemoth.

But, having played a bit of LotrO before it was free, I don’t think it’ll happen. Why?

• It’s a gigantic pain in the butt to download, patch and create an account. Turbine/Warner needs to work on this. Warcraft is far simpler to get up and running and playing, creating a new account is quick and easy and downloading the trial is a cinch, although it’s still a huge download. WoW has ‘Trial’ DVD’s for sale for a couple bucks in many major stores which helps alleviate this, and its’ also quite easy to get a copy from a friend, as easy as simply copying the folder over to your PC. Can you do this with LotrO? I don’t know. As fast as the ‘net is in most first world homes, there are still large numbers of people out there who don’t have access to fast, cheap internet.
• I’m not sure of the existing LotrO community will welcome a horde of new, immature, young and/or annoying/selfish breed of gamer. New players might feel a little overwhelmed. The game also doesn’t quite reward people as instantly as WoW does. I’m not sure it’ll keep newbies interests long enough.
• It lacks WoW’s stylization. Make no mistake the game world is beautiful, but character and set design follows a more ‘realistic’ look, as opposed to WoW’s ‘cartoony’ design. Fact is, cartoony works. It scratches the childlike part of our brain, the one fascinated by bright colours and overemphasized caricaturistic design. In some ways, the game feels ‘wooden’, down to the way your character walks and interacts with the world.
• Paying a subscription actually isn’t that big a deal. Most gamers have money to burn. What matters is how easy it is to pay. Getting a subscription set up in WoW is a piece of cake, better yet game cards are available on almost any gaming store shelf. Accessibility is, in my opinion, far more important than getting a free ride.
• It doesn’t offer the variety that WoW does. WoW has solo pve, small group pve, instanced large group/raid pve, small group arena/gladiatorial instanced pvp, large group instanced pvp, and world pvp. LotrO on the other hand mostly offers solo and small group pve.
• Lastly, does it have as much staying power? Does it have that same ‘one more quest, one more dungeon run for one more piece of loot or emblem’ that WoW does? Does it dangle that carrot? From what I can see, LotrO attracts more of the roleplayer and explorer and less of the powergamer and ‘munchkin’, to use a term I picked up today. The thing is, powergamers and hardcore epeen players tend to attract casuals. For better or worse, Gearscore mentality in WoW enforces a ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ feeling within WoW, a gravy train of trying to impress others that we all invariably end up boarding. Because that’s human nature. WoW is huge because it’s not really all that much like Dungeons and Dragons. It’s a lot more like Facebook, or in fact a lot more like Real Life.

Ultimately I think LotrO will attract a number of additional people, but I don’t see it upsetting the resident gorilla’s perch at the top.  WoW creates this desire to be the best, to have the best gear, to be the highest rated arena player, to be in a top guild. It’s a competitive game. LotrO, on the other hand, is a friendlier, more co-operative game. And when it comes down to it, we’re all sharks, we’re all looking out for number one. It’s a dog eat dog world…of warcraft.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Will Free To Play LotrO Kill WoW?

• What is “free” in LotRO F2P?
• SWTOR looking decent now
• StarCraft 2′s Custom Map community is justifiably frustrated
• What do D&D Online and Babies”R”Us have in common?
• Clone Wars Adventures Impressions
• Age of Empires Online
• You… Shall Not… Pay! *
• Guild Wars 2 Trailer blows minds but…
• Starcraft 2 and WoW : Blizzard is it’s own worst enemy
• EverQuest Next …. *prays*

• In fact, BioWare isn’t afraid to ruffle the feathers of competing MMOs by claiming that they sacrifice fun, story and interesting content while training players to rush through it all to the end game. Despite studios and players resisting change, Lead Writer Daniel Erickson claims that it’s time for MMOs to challenge traditional conventions and return to their RPG roots: “The thing that has been a challenge for us on Old Republic is that people tried to convince us these limitations were canon – that they were to be respected, you know? That you could not, in fact, put interesting bits in an MMO because that was now sacrilege.”

I think that’s absolutely right. We forget that when World of Warcraft launched, it was in fact a pretty damn grindy, slow game. It took me months of dedicated playing to get to level 60. Which only changed somewhat recently. And I think, were Blizzard to release another MMO today, it would start off just as grindy.

See, a slow ‘grind’ to cap is actually fine (as long as it’s not too punishing, the trick is making early content compelling enough and keeping progression slow but steady rather than hitting a ‘wall’). That’s where we learned all about WoW. That’s when we read quest text, and where every block of XP was precious, every new green item upgrade exciting, every new instance a breath of fresh air. When doing a few quests a night was an accomplishment rather than merely a source of income or necessary reputation. When the game was new, the grind was fine. So to fear grind in your MMO and make it too easy to rush to the level cap only to find no content (I’m looking at you, Champions Online) is a surefire way to ruin the long term aspirations and potential of your game.

Instead, look at heirlooms in WoW, and consider something similar for ToR. The first time you play the game should be magical, and exciting, and fun. Months of learning, exploring, discovering. But by the third or fourth play through, it starts getting old. So you could help smooth things along for players on their fourth or fifth character by utilising something like Account Bound heirlooms, XP pots only purchasable at the level cap, etc.

At any rate I’m looking forward to meaningful story in an MMO again. WoW definitely has story, people tend to make that mistake. It’s just that we’ve seen this story all too many times already. As any WoW fan about Culling of Stratholme pre-’shortcut’. Story’s important and grinding and pacing are useful tools to prolonging the content and value of the game. Just don’t focus on them to the exclusion of everything else (I’m looking at you, Aion).

P.S this post heralds the beginning of my hype and coverage of The Old Republic, which I’m hoping will be the MMO to finally shake me of my WoW fixation. Boy am I looking forward to playing my Sith Warrior, Darth Skurmish!

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Start Slow. Why ToR has the right of it.

• What is “free” in LotRO F2P?
• You… Shall Not… Pay! *
• Playing KOTOR makes we want SWTOR even more
• Blorc update, almost there…
• E3 highlights
• Trailers: Do they cause more harm than good?
• Mass Effect 2 DLC
• SWTOR looking decent now
• Why you should be playing Fallen Earth and not WoW
• Unholy. My Go-to spec.

You know, there might be an element of truth in that.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Raiding Defined

• You… Shall Not… Pay! *
• Starcraft 2 and WoW : Blizzard is it’s own worst enemy
• There’s Always That One Guy
• There’s WoW but then there’s WoW
• GOA to Mythic, some rambling thoughts
• Playing KOTOR makes we want SWTOR even more
• I tanked the Lich King!
• EverQuest Next …. *prays*
• Anyone following Rift: Planes of Telara?
• Actually something to add, now I’ve had a little ponder

After 4, nearly 5 years of doing this I’ve realised I only really excel at dps. Every time I pick up this role, I do well. I do decent numbers, I do what I’m told, I don’t die in fire. Healing never really gelled, and tanking, while fun, has always been more of a side project.

It’s with this final realisation that I decide to choose to walk into Cataclysm as pure DPS. Sure there’s a glut of us, sure the lack of flexibility and options is sometimes paralysing, sure 15 minute queue times is going to be a tough nut to crack. But on the good side it’s only one set of gear to work towards as opposed to two or even three, and it’ll give me a lot more free time to do other things.

I was really, strongly considering picking up the tanking role for Cataclysm. Demand will, as always, be fierce. Or even perhaps giving healing a shot again. But in a small moment of self-realisation the other night, I realised I’m a competitive person. And the only real way to be competitive in PVE, is to be DPS. I like being at the top of the charts, and living with hybrid tax is punishing. I no longer want to be hovering around the number 2 or 3 spot. It was with a bit of chagrin that I realised, had i stuck with my mage rather than picking up my DK again, that #1 spot could very likley have been mine today.

Ah, well. Better to realise your true calling late than never. Now the choice, for Cataclysm, hovers between Rogue? Or Hunter. Hmmm.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Square Peg Round Hole

• Paladin Healing is oldschool (and an update on our ICC smackdown)
• Hurrik
• PVP Rage Post
• Damage done or damage dumb?
• WoW: A return.
• Unholy. My Go-to spec.
• Guarding Etiquette?
• Pull Ones Finger Out Of Ones Arse
• Another day another ding
• I tanked the Lich King!

Some guy called Wolfshead (who I’d never heard of before) ragequits WoW, blames Blizzard for the so called poor state of the industry, and results in the same old tired debate popping about how WoW/Blizzard is the devil/saviour of us all.

At first, I was a little incensed by his remarks. Then I realised I was in the exact same boat when I ragequit WoW about a year ago. I chose to blame it and it’s developers for all the ills, and chose an inferior game to use as some sort of example of how to do things properly.

Except I was wrong. So very, utterly wrong. It took me a few months to realise this, but at least I did.

See the thing is, MMO’s used to be for the hardcore. But regular Joe Average doesn’t want a sandbox. He wants a playground. He doesn’t want to build his own castles, he wants to play on the swings and the jungle gym. WoW has a lot of different swings, seesaws, roundabouts, you name it. And they’re very pretty and colourful and well made and they work very, very well. It even has a bit of a sandbox stuck away there in the corner if you really want to. It’s not all that big, but it’s there.

But every now and then you get the one kid at the playground, let’s call him Jimmy, who doesn’t want to play on the swings and the seesaw, and wants to make his own sandcastle.

And that’s fine. But it’s frackin retarded for Jimmy to stand in the centre of the playground stamping his petulant little foot down and screaming at the top of his lungs demanding the removal of all those swings and seesaws, to be replaced by one giant sandbox. That’s merely the angry tirade of a child who didn’t get the exact present he wanted for Christmas, and really shouldn’t be taken seriously by anyone.

Jimmy, maybe it’s time to realise the playground just isn’t for you. Might I suggest a trip to the beach?

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Wolfshead ragequits WoW, Internet head asplodes

• StarCraft 2′s Custom Map community is justifiably frustrated
• Starcraft 2 and WoW : Blizzard is it’s own worst enemy
• Not all MMO’s have to be McMMO’s
• What am I doing? What are you doing?
• StarCraft 2′s Campaign is amazing
• There’s Always That One Guy
• EverQuest Next …. *prays*
• Brainafk
• I Hope Mythic Are Never This Stupid
• Blizzard regains it’s sanity

It certainly took this sabbatical from trying to PVP as a DK to realise just how incredibly huge the rift is between certain classes in general PVP is. My mage in Frost spec is simply leagues ahead. I hadn’t played the class in months, pvp gear all hateful and deadly and I do amazingly well in BG’s, well enough to *gasp* consider arena. Hell, I come back to the class and am greeted with buffs rather than nerfs, like Frostfire Bolt being usable with Brain Freeze. Since when did frost mages need pvp buffs? I wish I’d got that memo months ago!

With my DK, every BG feels hollow, frustrating and unfulfilling. Every encounter seemingly regardless of class is the same. Run after guy spamming chains hoping to catch him, and if I do, hit him with Scourge Strike that hits for a whopping 1K. Absolute, total fail. It doesn’t get much better in Arena’s, where DK’s are pretty much bottom of the overall presentation. This has been the case for such a long time now that we aren’t even upset about it. That’s just how it is. Ho hum, DK’s suck at pvp, oh well. What a crock. Obviously Blizzard couldn’t be arsed about fixing DK’s for PVP before Cataclysm, so it’s probably time to realise that it’s an uphill battle and move on.

I still think it’s a great PVE class, both DPS wise and for tanking, but Blizzard needs to really do something about it’s PVP potential if they care at all about it’s viability in PVP. I’ve long believed that a class’s ability to PVP effectively would influence it’s PVE popularity, and with DK numbers appearing to drop daily, it looks more and more like by the time Cataclysm rolls around, this class will be nigh extinct.

Maybe that’s a good thing. Often in WoW’s history, a class needs to nearly die off before Blizzard admit’s they screwed the pooch. And boy did they do that with this class.

My DK will be sidelined, to be used exclusively for raiding for the time being. I love him to pieces and have so many hopes for buffs in future patches and, certainly, looking forward to what Cataclysm heralds for us. But right here, right now? Time to realise, we are Blizzard’s least favourite child. If those buffs don’t materialise in the near future or for Cataclysm, we’re gonna need an insurance policy.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

DK’s and PVP: We are teh bads

• PVP Rage Post
• Unholy. My Go-to spec.
• There’s Always That One Guy
• It always ends with a whimper
• Zalazane’s Fall and my WoW status
• RealDumb
• Lots of Cataclysm Info – Lots of Changes
• WoW class overhaul brings big changes to the lower level gameplay
• It’s a funny old time to be a WAR blogger
• Blizzard regains it’s sanity

Marrowgar? Nope

Deathwhisper. Kinda, but I’ve had zero problems so far

Gunship. Nope. If you’re going over, you’re on Brann. If you’re staying, you only really need to tank the Sergeant.

Saurfang. Nope.

Festergut. Nope.

Rotface. Nope.

Putricide. Nope.

Blood Princes. Nope.

Blood Queen. Nope.

Valithria. Not really. Just as long as you DnD the worms after the abom goes down. The frost mage simply needs to be mindfreezed, and the blazing skeleton’s Blast Wave can’t be tanked, neither can the suppressors or that other thing that needs to be kited by ranged. So even though there are a lot of adds running around sometimes, you don’t really need to be AoE tanking them.

Sindragosa. Nope.

Lich King. I dunno, haven’t tanked this. I suspect for the offtank, tanking those ghouls in Phase 1, but if DPS is doing it right they won’t even need much aggro since offloading that disease onto them is the proper way to do it. Dunno bout the rest of the fight.

In a nutshell, ICC requires no real AoE tanking whatsoever. It’s pretty safe to say you don’t need 2XT10 and/or the DnD Glyph as a raiding tank, then. So why do so many people out there say that these two elements are vital? For trash? Just let the pally or warrior do it. Is trash really serious business? Are people really so worried about raid trash and running heroics that they’ll blow precious Frost Emblems on 2xT10? Naw, man. Naw. Buy the nonset plate instead. Get that trinket, it’s godly. Buy the cloak, the 264 chest/belt/etc and patch it up with some 245 gear. As a tank, focus on single target threat and survivability. A few dead dps who can’t control their aggro isn’t a train smash. A dead tank on the other hand, is a wipe.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

To go 2xT10 for tanking or not?

• Unholy. My Go-to spec.
• PVP Rage Post
• 31 point trees are win
• Damage done or damage dumb?
• Starcraft 2 and WoW : Blizzard is it’s own worst enemy
• There’s Always That One Guy
• Lots of Cataclysm Info – Lots of Changes
• Global Agenda can still be more than a flash in the pan
• It always ends with a whimper
• FFXIV Benchmark has done me a favor.

It’s a tough time to be playing WoW now. After the slew of alpha leaks I feel like the last thing I want to do is grind away at Wrath of the Lich King. So much colour has mysteriously drained out of the game lately in the wake of Cataclysm foreboding. The new expansion looks so pretty and colourful in comparison. So much change, so much new stuff to look forward to. But right here, right now, it’s just more ICC. Ho hum.

The best way to deal with the doldrums is to roll an alt, and I see a lot of folks in my guild doing that lately, moreso than usual. I can’t bring myself to do it, though, since I actually like my main. The alternatives are to try out new things. Have done a lot of BG’s and bought some decent pvp gear. Have put together a decent tank set and tanked stuff. Have changed specs around over and over. Still I find myself getting bored at the game and logging out earlier, merely doing my daily dungeon run and jewelcrafting quest, maybe the daily BG. The only nights I spend more than an hour online now are raid nights.

Whichever way you look at it, progression content is drying up rapidly. Ruby Sanctum might tide us over for a bit I suppose, but I’m not terribly excited about it.

I think it’s safe to say, Wrath of the Lich King has reached it’s sell by date. Arthas has been soundly defeated by a good number of guilds (not my guild yet, sadly), people everywhere are running around in full Tier 10, and all in all Blizzard have certainly succeeded in making an endgame more or less accessible to almost everyone.

Which has wrought something of a shorter shelflife.  Compared to BC’s Black Temple, Hyjal and Sunwell, ICC’s 4 month run so far feels as though it’s been decidedly short. Looking back at Burning Crusade, in fact, I feel somewhat shortchanged. I miss all those huge, challenging raids, raids that lasted and were relevant right to the very end of it’s days. Today, nobody goes back to Naxx or Ulduar to gear up.

And that’s sad. Wrath would easily have had another year of life in it’s already tired old bones if Naxxramas and Ulduar remained relevant.

I hope Blizzard learns something of a lesson in this. Content shouldn’t be so quickly discarded, and I hope that in Cataclysm, they give us good reason to go back to the ‘starter’ raids more often much like how we keep doing heroics every day today. The weekly raid system of today has been, I feel, something of a failure because there’s no push to actually clear them, just to get to the first or second boss. Vault of Archavon on the other hand has been a success, and it’s mostly a simple case of adding new content to that raid in the form of a new boss with each new major content patch. Why not do the same with the regular raids?

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

The Doldrums

• Lots of Cataclysm Info – Lots of Changes
• Zalazane’s Fall and my WoW status
• Paladin Healing is oldschool (and an update on our ICC smackdown)
• There’s Always That One Guy
• Unholy. My Go-to spec.
• There’s WoW but then there’s WoW
• It always ends with a whimper
• Ruby Sanctum thoughts and Cataclysm NDA down= *Drool*
• PVP Rage Post
• WoW’s 3.3.5 Patch

My trial through WAR resulted in my belief that sandbox PVP is a miniscule niche, and won’t ever really realistically be able to evolve beyond that, probably due to human nature.

Oh, we like the idea of war, of noble battle and glorious victory. But in reality, once embroiled in it ourselves, it’s not so great actually. Especially when we’re on the losing team.

Basically it boils down to the difference between war and sport. Sport has rules in place. Time limits, set objectives, limited team sizes, etc.  And loss in sport isn’t quite so final. There’s always the next game to redeem yourself. Always hope.

War doesn’t work that way, though. You do whatever you can to win. Nothing is sacred. There is no honour in it. You crush the other mercilessly, or are crushed, period. And if you’re the one whose lost, that’s pretty much it. Game Over. Forever.

In short, sport is fun.

War isn’t.

Half the reason WAR died wasn’t even so much the crappy engine or graphics or boring design, it was simply a case of, Order gets completely dominated, lose all hope, and they stop playing, and when they stop playing Destruction gets bored waiting around doing nothing and stops playing, and suddenly nobody’s playing. That’s a recipe for fail right there, ladies. How the hell you didn’t anticipate this evades me, Mythic.

EVE is something of an anomoly, but even so I suspect it’s because even it isn’t truly sandbox, not with high/lowsec space and Concorde and whatnot. Remove those elements, turn the game into one big nullsec sandbox and it would probably implode in a month.

Either that or, perhaps, given enough time we are able to collectively create order out of chaos. Most MMO’s, though, won’t last the six years -give or take a year- it may take for that to happen.

And that’s why, for all the complaining that exists around it, arena and bg’s in WoW are a billion times more fun, more fair and more populous than any PVP MMO game out there. There are more people playing the random BG of the day or in arena’s right now than the entire population of Darkfall.

I don’t think unstructured, free for all sandbox pvp will ever make it into the mainstream. We as a species just aren’t wired that way.

War is hell.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

War Is Hell. Why PVP mmo’s never quite make it.

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