Tonight I ran Shadowfang Keep on my Hunter in an attempt to get the mats for the Hunter Quest Crossbow. After waiting a while we finally got a group together, and the Healer turned out to be surprisingly chatty. I don't mind that. Likewise if folks want to do a silent Run, that's okay, too. Get in, get the job done, get the fuck out. As long as everyone knows their role, if folks want to chat, or not, I'm good either way.
Except this particular Healer mentioned she was not only new to WoW but it was her first Instance. Just like that our Group was missing a Tank. We had a Cat Druid who switched to Bear so we went in and took down the Trash. Then the Healer asked why was the Druid a Bear.
"Because if he wasn't a Bear we'd all be dead." I replied.
The queue hadn't found us a Tank so we moved on and the Bear rushed the first Boss. We actually succeeded in bringing him down and despite being new to Healing I thought our newbie Healer did just fine. Just after the Boss died we got a replacement Tank, who was puzzled as to why our DPS Druid was in Bear form. I made the mistake of complimenting our Healer on how good she was doing for a first time Healer, and just like that our replacement Tank went AWOL. Oops.
We moved into the courtyard, cleared it, then wiped in the kitchen. As we ran back in the Healer DC'd, a Kick Vote prompt came up, and now we were three DPS LF Tank & Healer. I declined to choose a role, deciding I'd rather wait for a brand new group. And I imitated our first two Tanks by dropping out.
Rather than sit on my arse in Stormwind I got out and ran a few quests and it didn't take long before I was in a new group. This time we had a female Dwarf who, like our Healer, confessed that she was new to Tanking. At least she had close to 1,000 HP and she appeared to know what to do to hold Aggro so the Run was fairly uneventful, right up until the final Boss, Lord Godfrey. Caster extraordinaire, definitely not someone to be taken lightly.
Attempt #1 = my bad. Open with Serpent Sting to get my Pet attacking, followed by Aimed Shot. Steady Shot + Steady Shot for Improved Steady Shot. Arcane Shot. Arcane Shot and...why is the Boss targeting me? Oh yeah. MQoSRDPS is not a good thing when paired with a new Tank who has not established major Threat.
Attempt #2 = Noob Tank mistake. Note to future Tanks: do not begin a Boss encounter while your Healer is still running back from a Wipe.
Attempt #3 = Warlock Mistake. Note to Warlocks: do not bring a Voidwalker to a Boss fight.
The Party explained to the Warlock that Voidwalker is for Tanking and he's asked to summon Imp or "The Demon Lady with the Whip". Warlock doesn't respond. Warlock summons Voidwalker. I ask Warlock to summon Imp. Warlock still doesn't respond. Healer says he thinks Warlock is a Bot. I Vote to Kick Warlock for being a Bot. LOLs ensue in Party Chat and the Vote passes. Warlock is replaced with a Shadow Priest seriously decked out in Heirloom Gear. Cool. DPS should not be a problem. This time Lord Godfrey is going down.
The Tank states that this is going to be the final attempt because she needs to get to bed. The SPriest is informed that we've been getting our butt kicked by the final Boss so if he can help with Heals (if that's possible) to please do so. And with that the Tank runs up the stairs to the Boss's platform and begins the encounter. I wait. The Tank runs down the stairs to get under Boss's platform.
Note to future Tanks doing SFK: just jump off the platform, do not take the stairs back down.
The Boss makes it halfway down the stairs before stopping to cast. That's good enough for me and I begin my rotation. The Boss actually summons little guys. Being Ranged DPS I'm suddenly cognizant of just how many little guys he can summon. Wow! There's a lot of them! I start picking them off then resume DPSing the Boss...who summons more little guys. Again I target them and they die pretty quickly this time. Someone else must be killing them too.
And then the Tank dies. And I draw Aggro. Of course I do. The Boss runs toward me and when he's halfway up the stairs to my position I jump off. It's Kite time. If you read my Kwazimoto vs the Demon story then you know this is my game. I hit the stairs on the other side and head up to the Boss's platform. The Boss takes the long way back down the first set of stairs and I'm hammering him with everything I've got as he crosses back over. I'm hoping my fellow DPSers are doing the same. They must be because his health is definitely dropping. Somewhen during all of this he summoned more little guys, and they may be little but there's a lot of them and they sure are scary when you know they're gunning for you.
The Boss crosses the floor, flanked by his little army, and heads back up his stairs toward me. Just before he gets to me I leap off his platform, hit the floor, and head back over to the first set of the stairs. Once again the Boss takes the long way back down while I'm running away and jump shotting like a mad Hunter about to die.
This is a first for me. Normally I'm holding my breath and silently cheering on my party members as I watch this kind of thing from the floor where I died due to some Noob mistake (or a careless or slow-on-the-button Healer) but this time I'm in the middle of it and I don't. Die, that is. The Boss does, though. It was crazy fun.
Yes, we might have wiped a few times but it wasn't as frustrating as you might think. It may not be End Game Raiding where you play Simon Says while trying to beat the Boss's Enrage Timer but it was still a lot of fun. In the end I got the mats I needed for my new Crossbow and my Tooltip DPS went up by about 5 points while my actual DPS got a 10-point boost. And when it's all said and done, isn't that what Raiding is all about? Tiny little Stat increases? So what if it's Level 20 Raiding :D
Showing posts with label Warcraft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warcraft. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Facebook, WoW, and RealID
"Facebook is the only (big) place where people interact, play games and spend time by their real name, not behind some avatar..." - Okrane S. commenter on Spink's Blog
Except for many of those 'games', Zynga's games in particular, you need at least 501 friends WHO ALSO PLAY if you want to be 'successful' in them.
In Mafia Wars, if you don't have 501+ people in your Gang, you're guaranteed to get attacked by other players. Having 501 (or more) doesn't mean you won't be attacked either, but having less than 501 means you certainly will.
So you have two choices:
You can spam the message boards asking hundreds of people to add you as a Friend while you also add as many new 'Friends' as you can;
Or you create a second Games-only account where you don't use your real name or picture;
I did the first but slowly grew frustrated at having my wall filled with countless messages from all the games all these Friends-I-hadn't-met were playing. The final straw came when my brother-in-law posted a status update commenting on his broken foot, I asked what had happened, he said he'd crashed his car a week ago...and hadn't I seen his status update?
No. I hadn't. Because my FB Wall had been filled with the random crap of countless strangers. (In my defense I do live in another country, 8,000 miles away.)
So I pruned my Friends List and went the second route, creating a Games-only FB account using a fake name and picture, and started over.
With the speed at which you can level to Cap in WoW these days then Epic-out your character via the LFD Tool, starting over is not the set back many might think. Sure, there's the $100+ to purchase WoW, BC, & LK all over again, but by starting over and using prepaid Game Cards you can give yourself a brand new name, which seems to be the concern of many. So that's one way to bypass RealID.
While creating a fake FB account (and likewise a fake WoW account) may be against their Terms of Use (if they even have one, and I can't be stuffed looking), there are thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of people with Game-only accounts, accounts created by people who didn't use their real name and/or picture. For the most part it's easy to tell if it's a Games-only account, especially if their profile pic is a centerfold, or a graphic from Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc. In my case, I trawled a random guy's pic off the 'net, gave him a name, and even created a fake profile/history for him. What's really funny (not 'Ha Ha' funny) is he gets well wishers posting on his Wall on his 'birthday'. But he doesn't exist. He's just an avatar. My avatar. My avatar which I use to play Facebook games.
That's what Facebook and Blizzard need to understand: Many, many, MANY people do NOT want to use their real name when playing computer games, and their reasons for doing so are numerous, varied, and quite often valid.
RealID has set the 'net ablaze. Many are angry about it, some blasé, and some creative types have produced humorous responses (dryly ironic, but amusing nonetheless).
I liken this to those who say, "If you have nothing to hide, why can't the police come in and search your house? I'd let them search my house if they wanted to."
Fine. Let them search your house then, because even though I have nothing to hide, that doesn't mean I'm prepared to let the police poke around in my private belongings. I value my privacy, thank you very much, so I'll share what I choose to share and when given the choice, I'll keep private what I'd prefer remain private.
This is why I enabled Parental Controls on my account last night and deactivated RealID, or I would have, if it wasn't already unchecked once I got in.
By coincidence my 6-month sub expired yesterday and my Mum is coming to visit for several weeks next month so when I renewed WoW last night, rather than buying another 6-month block at $12.99/month, I just bought 1 month at $14.99. I don't intend to play during August so why pay for it? Sure, July cost me $2 more but I'll save $13 in August so by that reasoning I'm $11 ahead. I need to cancel that 1-month recurring Sub before August because I don't want to continue paying $15/month so when I cancel it, in protest against RealID, I intend to state it as the reason why I'm doing so. Who knows, with LOTRO apparently going free-to-play in a couple of months, maybe I won't even renew WoW after Mum leaves.
And in the meantime? I still have both Mario Galaxy games to complete, along with Zelda: Twilight Princess, Muramasa, Sky Crawlers, Zack & Wiki...the list goes on. So many unbeaten Nintendo games. I'm getting slack in my old age ;)
Except for many of those 'games', Zynga's games in particular, you need at least 501 friends WHO ALSO PLAY if you want to be 'successful' in them.
In Mafia Wars, if you don't have 501+ people in your Gang, you're guaranteed to get attacked by other players. Having 501 (or more) doesn't mean you won't be attacked either, but having less than 501 means you certainly will.
So you have two choices:
You can spam the message boards asking hundreds of people to add you as a Friend while you also add as many new 'Friends' as you can;
Or you create a second Games-only account where you don't use your real name or picture;
I did the first but slowly grew frustrated at having my wall filled with countless messages from all the games all these Friends-I-hadn't-met were playing. The final straw came when my brother-in-law posted a status update commenting on his broken foot, I asked what had happened, he said he'd crashed his car a week ago...and hadn't I seen his status update?
No. I hadn't. Because my FB Wall had been filled with the random crap of countless strangers. (In my defense I do live in another country, 8,000 miles away.)
So I pruned my Friends List and went the second route, creating a Games-only FB account using a fake name and picture, and started over.
With the speed at which you can level to Cap in WoW these days then Epic-out your character via the LFD Tool, starting over is not the set back many might think. Sure, there's the $100+ to purchase WoW, BC, & LK all over again, but by starting over and using prepaid Game Cards you can give yourself a brand new name, which seems to be the concern of many. So that's one way to bypass RealID.
While creating a fake FB account (and likewise a fake WoW account) may be against their Terms of Use (if they even have one, and I can't be stuffed looking), there are thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of people with Game-only accounts, accounts created by people who didn't use their real name and/or picture. For the most part it's easy to tell if it's a Games-only account, especially if their profile pic is a centerfold, or a graphic from Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc. In my case, I trawled a random guy's pic off the 'net, gave him a name, and even created a fake profile/history for him. What's really funny (not 'Ha Ha' funny) is he gets well wishers posting on his Wall on his 'birthday'. But he doesn't exist. He's just an avatar. My avatar. My avatar which I use to play Facebook games.
That's what Facebook and Blizzard need to understand: Many, many, MANY people do NOT want to use their real name when playing computer games, and their reasons for doing so are numerous, varied, and quite often valid.
RealID has set the 'net ablaze. Many are angry about it, some blasé, and some creative types have produced humorous responses (dryly ironic, but amusing nonetheless).
I liken this to those who say, "If you have nothing to hide, why can't the police come in and search your house? I'd let them search my house if they wanted to."
Fine. Let them search your house then, because even though I have nothing to hide, that doesn't mean I'm prepared to let the police poke around in my private belongings. I value my privacy, thank you very much, so I'll share what I choose to share and when given the choice, I'll keep private what I'd prefer remain private.
This is why I enabled Parental Controls on my account last night and deactivated RealID, or I would have, if it wasn't already unchecked once I got in.
By coincidence my 6-month sub expired yesterday and my Mum is coming to visit for several weeks next month so when I renewed WoW last night, rather than buying another 6-month block at $12.99/month, I just bought 1 month at $14.99. I don't intend to play during August so why pay for it? Sure, July cost me $2 more but I'll save $13 in August so by that reasoning I'm $11 ahead. I need to cancel that 1-month recurring Sub before August because I don't want to continue paying $15/month so when I cancel it, in protest against RealID, I intend to state it as the reason why I'm doing so. Who knows, with LOTRO apparently going free-to-play in a couple of months, maybe I won't even renew WoW after Mum leaves.
And in the meantime? I still have both Mario Galaxy games to complete, along with Zelda: Twilight Princess, Muramasa, Sky Crawlers, Zack & Wiki...the list goes on. So many unbeaten Nintendo games. I'm getting slack in my old age ;)
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
A Raiding/Loot Grind alternative
It's already been partially implemented in the form of Badges & Reward gear, and this topic has sort of been done to death anyway, but could Loot distribution as described below work? Would it be feasible?
Forget backpacks to carry around gear. Give us a "wardrobe" with multiple outfit slots. Diablo II did this to a small degree in allowing you to "equip" two sets of weapons, i.e., two 1-handed weapons and one 2-handed weapon, that you could switch between with a single key press. Now change this up and allow a character to equip multiple sets of armor, i.e, a Healer could carry DPS gear AND Healing gear (although +Spell Power is negating this to some degree), a Warrior could carry Tank Gear and DPS gear, a Pally could carry Healing gear, Tank gear, AND DPS gear, etc. All kept in their multiple Wardrobe Tabs, all ready to be switched in & out at the press of a button. We can switch weapons mid-fight, so why not allow us to change armor as well?
Tank goes down, the DPS Pally switches gear and takes his place, while if the Healer gets taken out, the DPS Druid can switch gear and take over. If a fight requires both a Tank and an Off-Tank, when the Off-Tank's target goes down he can switch gear and help out with DPS, or vice versa.
"OMG!" You say. "Are you crazy? We spend enough time Raiding for our gear as it is, and sometimes we never get our full set before the Guild advances. And you're advocating something like this? Forget you!"
Hold on a second. Hear me out. That's where the change to Loot Distribution kicks in. If you've got a 20-man Raid then defeating a Raid Boss takes a coordinated effort by all 20 of you. Sure, maybe one or two of you are tapping 1-2-1-2-1-2 while watching NCIS or House or Simpsons' reruns, but in most cases you will not bring the Boss down unless everyone is pitching in and helping out. So, why not reward everyone who's there when the Boss goes down?
If you help defeat the Boss you get rewarded, it's that simple.
If you're part of a raid that defeats a Boss you get presented with your own personal Loot screen with a choice of 3-4 randomly chosen, class-specific items. They might be weapons or armor or accessories (rings, necklaces, etc) but they'll be specific to your class and you don't have to spend DKP for them, or /roll, or watch the Night Elf ninja your rifle because "Agi & AP? Rogue-weapon! LOL!"
Being random loot it's possible that if you run the Instance multiple times, or there's multiple Bosses, that you may be presented with items you already have, but that's just the luck of the roll (or the unluck as the case may be). But at least you wouldn't spend hours during the week preparing for the Raid, farming Mats, making Pots, etc, then spend a couple of hours on Raid night downing the Bosses only to see all the Loot go to everyone else. Of course you're happy for your Guildmates, but man it sucks to put in all that time during the week only to turn up on Raid night and not a single Drop goes your way. This would change that.
Welfare Epics? Hardly. You were there, you contributed, you get rewarded. How is that Welfare? Are they Welfare Epics when your new Guildmates run low level Raids on off-nights to gear you up? You may not be contributing as much DPS as everyone else, and just maybe they could do this without you, but you're still contributing, you're still present when the Boss goes down, so you still get rewarded.
Of course being Raids and to avoid the system being exploited Raid Lockouts would need to be implemented with the Instances being reset & unlocked every Sunday night/Monday morning (or following routine maintenance if it's a regular, weekly occurrence), so there would be no constant rerunning of an Instance to Gear everyone up. If your Guild beats the Instance and defeats all the Bosses then SOP means you wait a week before you can go back for more Gear. And if your Guild is still getting their act together and you spend 3 hours downing just one Boss? At least everyone will have something to show for it, so next time the run might go a little smoother because now everyone is a little more powerful, instead of just a couple of players getting upgrades.
Would this work? Would this make Raiding a little more enjoyable? Or would it still foster a forum war between the hardcore Raiders and the perceived Welfare-Epic recipients? Some people just need something to complain about or someone to pick on or they're not happy. There's no pleasing everyone, so why not try to please as many people as possible?
Forget backpacks to carry around gear. Give us a "wardrobe" with multiple outfit slots. Diablo II did this to a small degree in allowing you to "equip" two sets of weapons, i.e., two 1-handed weapons and one 2-handed weapon, that you could switch between with a single key press. Now change this up and allow a character to equip multiple sets of armor, i.e, a Healer could carry DPS gear AND Healing gear (although +Spell Power is negating this to some degree), a Warrior could carry Tank Gear and DPS gear, a Pally could carry Healing gear, Tank gear, AND DPS gear, etc. All kept in their multiple Wardrobe Tabs, all ready to be switched in & out at the press of a button. We can switch weapons mid-fight, so why not allow us to change armor as well?
Tank goes down, the DPS Pally switches gear and takes his place, while if the Healer gets taken out, the DPS Druid can switch gear and take over. If a fight requires both a Tank and an Off-Tank, when the Off-Tank's target goes down he can switch gear and help out with DPS, or vice versa.
"OMG!" You say. "Are you crazy? We spend enough time Raiding for our gear as it is, and sometimes we never get our full set before the Guild advances. And you're advocating something like this? Forget you!"
Hold on a second. Hear me out. That's where the change to Loot Distribution kicks in. If you've got a 20-man Raid then defeating a Raid Boss takes a coordinated effort by all 20 of you. Sure, maybe one or two of you are tapping 1-2-1-2-1-2 while watching NCIS or House or Simpsons' reruns, but in most cases you will not bring the Boss down unless everyone is pitching in and helping out. So, why not reward everyone who's there when the Boss goes down?
If you help defeat the Boss you get rewarded, it's that simple.
If you're part of a raid that defeats a Boss you get presented with your own personal Loot screen with a choice of 3-4 randomly chosen, class-specific items. They might be weapons or armor or accessories (rings, necklaces, etc) but they'll be specific to your class and you don't have to spend DKP for them, or /roll, or watch the Night Elf ninja your rifle because "Agi & AP? Rogue-weapon! LOL!"
Being random loot it's possible that if you run the Instance multiple times, or there's multiple Bosses, that you may be presented with items you already have, but that's just the luck of the roll (or the unluck as the case may be). But at least you wouldn't spend hours during the week preparing for the Raid, farming Mats, making Pots, etc, then spend a couple of hours on Raid night downing the Bosses only to see all the Loot go to everyone else. Of course you're happy for your Guildmates, but man it sucks to put in all that time during the week only to turn up on Raid night and not a single Drop goes your way. This would change that.
Welfare Epics? Hardly. You were there, you contributed, you get rewarded. How is that Welfare? Are they Welfare Epics when your new Guildmates run low level Raids on off-nights to gear you up? You may not be contributing as much DPS as everyone else, and just maybe they could do this without you, but you're still contributing, you're still present when the Boss goes down, so you still get rewarded.
Of course being Raids and to avoid the system being exploited Raid Lockouts would need to be implemented with the Instances being reset & unlocked every Sunday night/Monday morning (or following routine maintenance if it's a regular, weekly occurrence), so there would be no constant rerunning of an Instance to Gear everyone up. If your Guild beats the Instance and defeats all the Bosses then SOP means you wait a week before you can go back for more Gear. And if your Guild is still getting their act together and you spend 3 hours downing just one Boss? At least everyone will have something to show for it, so next time the run might go a little smoother because now everyone is a little more powerful, instead of just a couple of players getting upgrades.
Would this work? Would this make Raiding a little more enjoyable? Or would it still foster a forum war between the hardcore Raiders and the perceived Welfare-Epic recipients? Some people just need something to complain about or someone to pick on or they're not happy. There's no pleasing everyone, so why not try to please as many people as possible?
Friday, March 06, 2009
Screenshot Meme
Someone out there tagged me (I can't remember who) and as I really only took Screenshots for the World of Warcraft, and because there's still a few kicking around on my hard drive, what I'll actually do is throw up some of the (IMO) more amusing or interesting ones.
This is not Kwazimoto, and it's also not Cyboarg, although it is a Dwarf Hunter of mine with his pet Boar. I noticed while sitting down on this boat that my Pig forgot all about the concept of personal space, so I used that to my advantage and deliberately set up this shot. I'm sure those of you who play Horde think it's a considerable improvement ;)
The culmination of almost a year's in-game work saw a level 63 Kwazimoto finally acquire Rhok'delar. I killed all the Demons bar Klinfran while still a pre-BC 60, and almost gave up on him and Rhok, and then I performed the Kite of my life.
Just one level later I replaced the level 60 Epic Hunter Bow with a common Blue obtainable to any player (not just elite Hunters) bored enough to slaughter countless beasties.
One of the last 60 Epics I replaced was the Dragonstalker's Helm. It was proof that I'd been there when the dragon known as Onyxia had been defeated. With me is the real Cyboarg, who prompted quite a few players to send me complimentary whispers about my awesome pet :)
Just as a long-time Guildmate finished running my Gnome Warrior through Razorfen Downs a GM whispered me. He told me my Warrior's name was in violation of Blizzard's naming policy, that he was about to log me out, and that I'd have to rename my Warrior before I could play him again. Sure enough within seconds I was kicked out of the game, and when I tried to log back in on Knuttjob this is the screen I saw.
I found my fun in WoW where ever I could. In this shot, although it wasn't necessary for effective combat, I felt compelled to balance Knuttjob on the top rail of the fence as he fought his considerably taller skeletal foe.
I used to have a lot of fun in WoW with my niece. Often we'd play Hide & Seek where one of us would hide within a previously agreed upon area, then the other would try to find us. I discovered that by lying down in this particular corner, Zerka (as he'd later become known, after the forced name change) actually buried his head in the ground.
When my niece eventually found my upside down Gnome she felt compelled to nail him with a snowball.
Dismayed over the collapse of the Guild to which I'd belonged for over three years, I fled the Alliance and rolled Horde. One of my former Guildmates followed me and together we leveled up a Warrior and a Rogue. We stopped leveling (briefly) at 29 to engage in some semi-twinked PvP and this is the result of one of our matches. Of the two of us, my Guildie (& former Arena partner) was always the better player, so when this Match Summary popped up at the end of one (very) successful WSG match I knew I had to take a screenshot. The three players above me (Keeljah) were seriously Twinked out; Keelmeh, the player immediately below me, is my Guildie. Not only did I finish higher than Keelmeh but I was one of just two Horde players in that match who did not die.
When my old video card died I splurged and picked up a GeForce 8800GT, and one of the first things I did with it was boot up WoW and hit the "Max All Graphics" Macro. This Macro maxes out the graphics even more than allowed using the in-game Video Options silders. This was the "after" screenshot, and the FPS of 43.7 is down from 110.
That's all folks. I think I'm a little late jumping on this screenshot meme bandwagon, so I'm not going to tag anyone else because anyone who wanted to do it most likely has already.
This is not Kwazimoto, and it's also not Cyboarg, although it is a Dwarf Hunter of mine with his pet Boar. I noticed while sitting down on this boat that my Pig forgot all about the concept of personal space, so I used that to my advantage and deliberately set up this shot. I'm sure those of you who play Horde think it's a considerable improvement ;)
The culmination of almost a year's in-game work saw a level 63 Kwazimoto finally acquire Rhok'delar. I killed all the Demons bar Klinfran while still a pre-BC 60, and almost gave up on him and Rhok, and then I performed the Kite of my life.
Just one level later I replaced the level 60 Epic Hunter Bow with a common Blue obtainable to any player (not just elite Hunters) bored enough to slaughter countless beasties.
One of the last 60 Epics I replaced was the Dragonstalker's Helm. It was proof that I'd been there when the dragon known as Onyxia had been defeated. With me is the real Cyboarg, who prompted quite a few players to send me complimentary whispers about my awesome pet :)
Just as a long-time Guildmate finished running my Gnome Warrior through Razorfen Downs a GM whispered me. He told me my Warrior's name was in violation of Blizzard's naming policy, that he was about to log me out, and that I'd have to rename my Warrior before I could play him again. Sure enough within seconds I was kicked out of the game, and when I tried to log back in on Knuttjob this is the screen I saw.
I found my fun in WoW where ever I could. In this shot, although it wasn't necessary for effective combat, I felt compelled to balance Knuttjob on the top rail of the fence as he fought his considerably taller skeletal foe.
I used to have a lot of fun in WoW with my niece. Often we'd play Hide & Seek where one of us would hide within a previously agreed upon area, then the other would try to find us. I discovered that by lying down in this particular corner, Zerka (as he'd later become known, after the forced name change) actually buried his head in the ground.
When my niece eventually found my upside down Gnome she felt compelled to nail him with a snowball.
Dismayed over the collapse of the Guild to which I'd belonged for over three years, I fled the Alliance and rolled Horde. One of my former Guildmates followed me and together we leveled up a Warrior and a Rogue. We stopped leveling (briefly) at 29 to engage in some semi-twinked PvP and this is the result of one of our matches. Of the two of us, my Guildie (& former Arena partner) was always the better player, so when this Match Summary popped up at the end of one (very) successful WSG match I knew I had to take a screenshot. The three players above me (Keeljah) were seriously Twinked out; Keelmeh, the player immediately below me, is my Guildie. Not only did I finish higher than Keelmeh but I was one of just two Horde players in that match who did not die.
When my old video card died I splurged and picked up a GeForce 8800GT, and one of the first things I did with it was boot up WoW and hit the "Max All Graphics" Macro. This Macro maxes out the graphics even more than allowed using the in-game Video Options silders. This was the "after" screenshot, and the FPS of 43.7 is down from 110.
That's all folks. I think I'm a little late jumping on this screenshot meme bandwagon, so I'm not going to tag anyone else because anyone who wanted to do it most likely has already.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Becoming the Hunter
A post/story from Pike about her Hunter finding the Raptor she'd set free so long ago prompted me to write this fictional piece about my own Hunter, a Dwarf named Kwazimoto, as he learns the basic skills of the Hunter class, then sets out to find the animal that would become his lifelong companion.
As in Kwazimoto and the Demon, I've used actual names and places from the World of Warcraft to create this story of how Kwazimoto became a Hunter.
* * *
The young Dwarf seemed proud of himself as he trotted up the hill towards Grif Wildheart. The old Hunter looked down at his latest student who, like many of those that had preceded him, now had an Ice Bear cub hot on his heels.
Although just a cub the Ice Bear was still big enough and strong enough to be capable of dispatching a young Dwarf, like the very one which led it to the old Hunter, but the dazed look in the bear’s eyes told Grif it didn't fully understand what had happened to it, or what compelled it to follow the young Hunter who, although half its size, had somehow bent it to his will.
In any Pack there can be only one Alpha, Grif mused to himself, although most folks will look at a pack and say, 'There's the Alpha Male, and his mate, the Alpha Female.' But truth is only one of them is the Alpha. If the Alpha is the Male then the Female is not a true Alpha, for like the rest of the pack she too must bow to the Male, and if the Female is the Alpha, then the Male must submit to her as does the rest of the pack.
Prior to sending his student out, Grif had passed on these words of wisdom: The secret to Taming a Beast is that in each pack there can be only one Alpha. You must challenge the Beast, and stand firm against its attacks. If you stand firm long enough then the Beast has no choice but to concede victory to you. But you must stand firm! The Beast must be made to see that its attacks are futile, for you are stronger, because you are Alpha.
With the dazed Ice Bear cub in tow Grif could see that this young Dwarf...What was his name again? Kawasaki? Kozimodo? Kwazimoto! That was it. This Kwazimoto (strange name for a Dwarf) he had what it took to be a Hunter. He was an Alpha, and the Ice Bear behind him was testament to that.
"Ye've done well, Kwazimoto," said Grif. "Ye've proved yer have a way with animals, and ye've tamed the three beasties just as I asked yer to. Yer well on yer way to becoming a Hunter, but afore you go rushing off, Taming Beast willy nilly, stop by Ironforge first. Ye'll be lookin' to speak to Belia Thundergranite. If she's not in the Military Ward, she'll probably be talking shop with Bretta Goldfury. Actually, it wouldn't hurt for ye to get to know Bretta, either. I've a feeling you'll be wanting to stop by and visit Ms. Goldfury most every time yer in Ironforge." Grif winked at the young and confused Dwarf, before continuing. "Very popular lady with the Hunters, she is. Now, off you go. NO! NOT YOU, YOUNG CUB!"
Grif's voice changed so suddenly, became so powerful, and so commanding, that Kwazi stopped dead in his tracks, as did the Ice Bear cub, which was the real target of Grif's order.
"Yah!" Grif yelled, and both Dwarf and Bear looked up at him in astonishment.
"Gwan! Giddouttaheah!" Grif clapped his hands and the sharp sound was like a peal of thunder to the two mesmerized creatures, and they both took off as fast as their legs could carry them. While the Bear galloped south into the hills, the young Dwarf bolted north out of Kharanos towards Ironforge, Belia Thundergranite, and his next lesson on the road to becoming a Hunter.
* * *
"So ye see, young man," said Belia, "because yer the Alpha, yer companion relies on you. He looks up to you not just for leadership, but for life. He relies on you for food, shelter, and protection. And if yer not going to look after yer animal companion, I've just wasted the better part of three hours with ye, so ye might as well just head on over there to him *snort* and become a warrior." Belia blew through her nose as she shrugged and looked in the direction of Kelv Sternhammer. "How about it? Ye want to mingle with the likes of him? Or do ye want to be a Hunter? Now go! I've taught ye all ye need to know...for now."
* * *
Kwazi sat just outside Steelgrill's Depot, looking down on the Steam Tanks. Although a light snow was falling on him the warm body curled up next to the dwarf kept him quite warm, and his hand absently stroked the Snow Wolf's fur. The Wolf was the third beast Kwazi had befriended this day, but it, like the Bear and the Snow Leopard before it, just didn't feel right. He enjoyed having the animals beside him; he could feel the call of the wild. He knew he was destined to be a Hunter, not a muscle bound oaf of a Warrior, but he needed to find the right animal for him. Kwazi needed his kindred spirit.
"Go, boy!" he ordered the Wolf, and it looked up at him, confused. The Wolf also enjoyed being with the Dwarf, its new Alpha, and the sense of belonging it got from being with the Dwarf gave it a feeling of security it hadn't known while living in the foothills of Dun Morogh. And now its Alpha wanted to send it away? The Wolf looked to where Kwazimoto was pointing and at that instant, a white rabbit burst out of a snow bank and bounded away.
"Go!" Kwazi repeated, and the Wolf's predator instincts took over and it leaped to its feet and began loping after the rabbit. Kwazi watched the chase for several seconds, until both animals disappeared among the swirling snow drifts, then he climbed to his feet and strode off in the opposite direction. Before too long the dark shape of the Kharanos Inn loomed into view, and Kwazi's belly rumbled.
“Time for a big bowl of rabbit stew,” he said to himself, “and maybe a pint or three of Thunder Ale.”
Perhaps his friend Jarven would be in, he could use the company. Perhaps? Kwazi, chuckled to himself. When was Jarven not in the Kharanos Inn? Why, he practically lived off the Inn's Thunder Ale.
Sure enough, Kwazi entered the Inn and a smile creased his face as he heard Jarven's booming voice ring out, "Hey there, Belm! Give me a mug of Thunder Ale, and one for my good friend...Kwazimoto?"
"Better make that two, Belm," laughed Kwazi. "You know how Jarven loves his Thunder Ale."
The two friends sat down at a table in front of the fire, clinked mugs, and Kwazi took a long pull. "Ah, that sure does hit the spot," he said. He lowered his mug to see Jarven pushing another one his way, while looking at Kwazi's half full mug with disgust.
"Come on! Drink up, man!" said Jarven, as he raised his own second mug of Thunder Ale. Kwazi took another long pull, slammed his empty mug down on the table, and heard Jarven call for two more mugs.
"Slow down, Jarven," said Kwazi, "I've not even touched my second mug yet."
"Aye, yer gettin' slow in yer old age, Kwazi." said his friend.
Kwazi gasped. "Old? Who are you calling old? You've got two seasons on me, you old coot!"
"Ha ha, it's good to see you again, Kwazi," laughed Jarven. "So, what brings you back to Kharanos? I didn’t expect to see you for at least another ten-day."
Kwazi explained his morning's actions to his friend. How he'd tamed several beasts but none of them had seemed quite right for him.
"Now this!" stated Jarven. "This sounds like a problem I can help you with! There's no problem too big, or too small, that cannot be solved by a liberal application of more Thunder Ale!" Jarven positively bellowed the last three words, and Belm rushed over to keep his best customer happy.
"Belm," said Kwazi, "bring me a bowl of stew, and some cornbread while you're at it."
"Bah! Stew and cornbread?" snorted Jarven. "What do ya want to go filling your belly with that stuff for, when there's still plenty more Thunder Ale."
Ignoring Jarven, Kwazi continued, "And Belm? A couple of plates of those Boar Ribs, too."
"Now those I can appreciate!" said Jarven. "There's nothing better than me brother's famous Beer Basted Boar Ribs, except maybe..."
Kwazi joined Jarven in finishing his sentence, "...more Thunder Ale!"
The two friends laughed then settled in for an afternoon of eating and drinking, while outside the storm picked up, adding even more snow to the almost constant layer of white powder covering the ground, for in this part of the country it almost always seemed to be snowing, regardless of the time of year.
* * *
It was late into the evening when Kwazi signaled Belm. "I think I'm going to be needing a bed for the night," he said. He smiled at Jarven, who lay asleep with his head on the table, surrounded by dozens of empty, foam-covered mugs. "You'll be paying for that lot in the morning," he said as he stood. The room spun, and he almost sat straight back down again. "Woah! As I will be too!" he added, catching the edge of the table and hanging on for dear life. When the room had stopped spinning Kwazi wobbled off through the kitchen and downstairs, to where a soft bed and a warm fire waited for him.
And with his Hunter lessons still fresh in his mind, is it any surprise that Kwazi's dreams were filled with countless Beasts, all clamoring for his attention? All except one, that is.
As the beasts of his dream pushed around him and fought with each other, one magnificent animal sat back from the rest. And while all the other animals growled and yipped and howled and roared and tried to catch his eye, the one beast that had Kwazi’s undivided attention ignored him, as it licked a huge orange paw and brushed it over one black and orange ear. Then switching paws it washed the other ear. And all the while it ignored the Hunter.
The other animals fell silent, then, as is the way of dreams when you pay them no mind, they vanished. Not with a pop, or a bang, or in a flash of smoke; they simply ceased to be. And then there was just the Hunter, and the Tiger, which stopped washing itself to stare at Kwazi for several, very long seconds, before dismissing him and resuming its bath.
A loud roar from behind the Hunter finally accomplished what he could not. Something behind Kwazi finally had the Tiger's attention.
"Just a dream, just a dream, just a dream," Kwazi told himself, as he tried to will himself awake. But he remained in his dream land. As he stared at the Tiger in front of him he felt the very warm, almost moist air of something breathing down the back of his neck. Literally down. Whatever was behind the Dwarf was tall enough that its hot breath was coming from at least a full foot above his head.
A second roar from behind Kwazi coated the back and top of his head with warm spittle. "What's...behind me...Tiger?" muttered Kwazi. The Tiger looked at Kwazi, then looked up behind him, and from the look in its eyes Kwazi figured whatever was behind him was big. Really big. He reached for his rifle but his dream self appeared to have misplaced it.
And then the Tiger leaped.
Kwazi ducked as the Tiger flew over his head and crashed into the something behind him, which let out more roars. Higher pitched “I'm in pain!” roars. Kwazi turned to discover the ‘something’ was a Raptor. His Tiger had the lizard by the throat, preventing it from bringing its own fearsome jaws into play, but the claws from both animals still raked at each other, and fur and leathery hide was shredded and running with blood.
Kwazi took a step back then raised his rifle to his shoulder. He didn’t ask where it had come from, this was a dream, and these things just are. Pulling his rifle in tight he looked down the barrel, waiting for his shot. The fight in front of him was chaotic and brutal, as both animals twisted and turned trying to gain the upper hand. Despite the blood covering their bodies the Tiger’s black and orange coloring stood out against the iridescent purple sheen of the Raptor, and it was the purple Kwazi needed to focus on.
Not the orange, focus on the purple. That’s where your shot is, he told himself. And then, after several long, agonizing seconds, there it was. For a heartbeat he had a clear shot, but that was all the time he needed. His rifle roared, flame belched from the muzzle, and black smoke obliterated both beasts, and when it finally cleared the Tiger was sitting there, alone, again ignoring Kwazi as it calmly and methodically washed itself.
* * *
Kwazi opened his eyes and sat up. The fire in his room had died down, but the room was still warm. He yawned and stretched and looked around. Some time during the night Jarven had found his way downstairs and into the other bed. Kwazi’s internal clock told him it was early, that the sun was not yet up although dawn was not far away.
As he quietly dressed he thought about the animal in his dream. A Tiger? It was a magnificent beast, and you never saw any of them this far north. Down south, though. In the jungles on the other side of Duskwood, now there be Tigers. But the tigers of Stranglethorn were huge beasts, and Kwazi was just a young Hunter with a lot to learn; he was not yet ready to venture into the Vale.
The only other place Kwazi knew where such tigers could be found was even further away than Stranglethorn. Across the ocean, the Echo Isles off the coast of Durotar was home to a small pride of Tigers. With their island being so small, and with such limited food supply, the tigers of Echo Isles were not as big as their Stranglethorn cousins; they’d be perfect for a young Hunter with the heart of a Tiger.
Kwazi muttered to himself, “I guess it’s time to see Kalimdor, see how the other half lives. Let’s see now. Boat from Menethil Harbor, come down through the Elfs’ lands and into the Barrens. Head down to Ratchet, then slip up the coast to the Echo Isles. Couldn’t be any easier, even if I were a Rogue.”
“Whazzat? Say sumppin?” Jarven mumbled.
“Go back to sleep, old friend. I’ll be seein’ ya later.”
“Hey. Who you callin’ old?” Jarven muttered, even as he rolled over and resumed snoring.
Kwazi slipped quietly from the room and out of the Inn, and headed east, towards the North Gate Pass, to Loch Modan, the Wetlands, and Menethil Harbor, where he’d catch the ship that would take him far from his homeland, and into the wild, Horde-controlled lands of Kalimdor.
Maybe I’ll stop off at Darnassus first, he mused to himself. See what all the fuss is over these Night Elf women. And all over some silly dance they do.
(Click here for part II)
As in Kwazimoto and the Demon, I've used actual names and places from the World of Warcraft to create this story of how Kwazimoto became a Hunter.
* * *
The young Dwarf seemed proud of himself as he trotted up the hill towards Grif Wildheart. The old Hunter looked down at his latest student who, like many of those that had preceded him, now had an Ice Bear cub hot on his heels.
Although just a cub the Ice Bear was still big enough and strong enough to be capable of dispatching a young Dwarf, like the very one which led it to the old Hunter, but the dazed look in the bear’s eyes told Grif it didn't fully understand what had happened to it, or what compelled it to follow the young Hunter who, although half its size, had somehow bent it to his will.
In any Pack there can be only one Alpha, Grif mused to himself, although most folks will look at a pack and say, 'There's the Alpha Male, and his mate, the Alpha Female.' But truth is only one of them is the Alpha. If the Alpha is the Male then the Female is not a true Alpha, for like the rest of the pack she too must bow to the Male, and if the Female is the Alpha, then the Male must submit to her as does the rest of the pack.
Prior to sending his student out, Grif had passed on these words of wisdom: The secret to Taming a Beast is that in each pack there can be only one Alpha. You must challenge the Beast, and stand firm against its attacks. If you stand firm long enough then the Beast has no choice but to concede victory to you. But you must stand firm! The Beast must be made to see that its attacks are futile, for you are stronger, because you are Alpha.
With the dazed Ice Bear cub in tow Grif could see that this young Dwarf...What was his name again? Kawasaki? Kozimodo? Kwazimoto! That was it. This Kwazimoto (strange name for a Dwarf) he had what it took to be a Hunter. He was an Alpha, and the Ice Bear behind him was testament to that.
"Ye've done well, Kwazimoto," said Grif. "Ye've proved yer have a way with animals, and ye've tamed the three beasties just as I asked yer to. Yer well on yer way to becoming a Hunter, but afore you go rushing off, Taming Beast willy nilly, stop by Ironforge first. Ye'll be lookin' to speak to Belia Thundergranite. If she's not in the Military Ward, she'll probably be talking shop with Bretta Goldfury. Actually, it wouldn't hurt for ye to get to know Bretta, either. I've a feeling you'll be wanting to stop by and visit Ms. Goldfury most every time yer in Ironforge." Grif winked at the young and confused Dwarf, before continuing. "Very popular lady with the Hunters, she is. Now, off you go. NO! NOT YOU, YOUNG CUB!"
Grif's voice changed so suddenly, became so powerful, and so commanding, that Kwazi stopped dead in his tracks, as did the Ice Bear cub, which was the real target of Grif's order.
"Yah!" Grif yelled, and both Dwarf and Bear looked up at him in astonishment.
"Gwan! Giddouttaheah!" Grif clapped his hands and the sharp sound was like a peal of thunder to the two mesmerized creatures, and they both took off as fast as their legs could carry them. While the Bear galloped south into the hills, the young Dwarf bolted north out of Kharanos towards Ironforge, Belia Thundergranite, and his next lesson on the road to becoming a Hunter.
* * *
"So ye see, young man," said Belia, "because yer the Alpha, yer companion relies on you. He looks up to you not just for leadership, but for life. He relies on you for food, shelter, and protection. And if yer not going to look after yer animal companion, I've just wasted the better part of three hours with ye, so ye might as well just head on over there to him *snort* and become a warrior." Belia blew through her nose as she shrugged and looked in the direction of Kelv Sternhammer. "How about it? Ye want to mingle with the likes of him? Or do ye want to be a Hunter? Now go! I've taught ye all ye need to know...for now."
* * *
Kwazi sat just outside Steelgrill's Depot, looking down on the Steam Tanks. Although a light snow was falling on him the warm body curled up next to the dwarf kept him quite warm, and his hand absently stroked the Snow Wolf's fur. The Wolf was the third beast Kwazi had befriended this day, but it, like the Bear and the Snow Leopard before it, just didn't feel right. He enjoyed having the animals beside him; he could feel the call of the wild. He knew he was destined to be a Hunter, not a muscle bound oaf of a Warrior, but he needed to find the right animal for him. Kwazi needed his kindred spirit.
"Go, boy!" he ordered the Wolf, and it looked up at him, confused. The Wolf also enjoyed being with the Dwarf, its new Alpha, and the sense of belonging it got from being with the Dwarf gave it a feeling of security it hadn't known while living in the foothills of Dun Morogh. And now its Alpha wanted to send it away? The Wolf looked to where Kwazimoto was pointing and at that instant, a white rabbit burst out of a snow bank and bounded away.
"Go!" Kwazi repeated, and the Wolf's predator instincts took over and it leaped to its feet and began loping after the rabbit. Kwazi watched the chase for several seconds, until both animals disappeared among the swirling snow drifts, then he climbed to his feet and strode off in the opposite direction. Before too long the dark shape of the Kharanos Inn loomed into view, and Kwazi's belly rumbled.
“Time for a big bowl of rabbit stew,” he said to himself, “and maybe a pint or three of Thunder Ale.”
Perhaps his friend Jarven would be in, he could use the company. Perhaps? Kwazi, chuckled to himself. When was Jarven not in the Kharanos Inn? Why, he practically lived off the Inn's Thunder Ale.
Sure enough, Kwazi entered the Inn and a smile creased his face as he heard Jarven's booming voice ring out, "Hey there, Belm! Give me a mug of Thunder Ale, and one for my good friend...Kwazimoto?"
"Better make that two, Belm," laughed Kwazi. "You know how Jarven loves his Thunder Ale."
The two friends sat down at a table in front of the fire, clinked mugs, and Kwazi took a long pull. "Ah, that sure does hit the spot," he said. He lowered his mug to see Jarven pushing another one his way, while looking at Kwazi's half full mug with disgust.
"Come on! Drink up, man!" said Jarven, as he raised his own second mug of Thunder Ale. Kwazi took another long pull, slammed his empty mug down on the table, and heard Jarven call for two more mugs.
"Slow down, Jarven," said Kwazi, "I've not even touched my second mug yet."
"Aye, yer gettin' slow in yer old age, Kwazi." said his friend.
Kwazi gasped. "Old? Who are you calling old? You've got two seasons on me, you old coot!"
"Ha ha, it's good to see you again, Kwazi," laughed Jarven. "So, what brings you back to Kharanos? I didn’t expect to see you for at least another ten-day."
Kwazi explained his morning's actions to his friend. How he'd tamed several beasts but none of them had seemed quite right for him.
"Now this!" stated Jarven. "This sounds like a problem I can help you with! There's no problem too big, or too small, that cannot be solved by a liberal application of more Thunder Ale!" Jarven positively bellowed the last three words, and Belm rushed over to keep his best customer happy.
"Belm," said Kwazi, "bring me a bowl of stew, and some cornbread while you're at it."
"Bah! Stew and cornbread?" snorted Jarven. "What do ya want to go filling your belly with that stuff for, when there's still plenty more Thunder Ale."
Ignoring Jarven, Kwazi continued, "And Belm? A couple of plates of those Boar Ribs, too."
"Now those I can appreciate!" said Jarven. "There's nothing better than me brother's famous Beer Basted Boar Ribs, except maybe..."
Kwazi joined Jarven in finishing his sentence, "...more Thunder Ale!"
The two friends laughed then settled in for an afternoon of eating and drinking, while outside the storm picked up, adding even more snow to the almost constant layer of white powder covering the ground, for in this part of the country it almost always seemed to be snowing, regardless of the time of year.
* * *
It was late into the evening when Kwazi signaled Belm. "I think I'm going to be needing a bed for the night," he said. He smiled at Jarven, who lay asleep with his head on the table, surrounded by dozens of empty, foam-covered mugs. "You'll be paying for that lot in the morning," he said as he stood. The room spun, and he almost sat straight back down again. "Woah! As I will be too!" he added, catching the edge of the table and hanging on for dear life. When the room had stopped spinning Kwazi wobbled off through the kitchen and downstairs, to where a soft bed and a warm fire waited for him.
And with his Hunter lessons still fresh in his mind, is it any surprise that Kwazi's dreams were filled with countless Beasts, all clamoring for his attention? All except one, that is.
As the beasts of his dream pushed around him and fought with each other, one magnificent animal sat back from the rest. And while all the other animals growled and yipped and howled and roared and tried to catch his eye, the one beast that had Kwazi’s undivided attention ignored him, as it licked a huge orange paw and brushed it over one black and orange ear. Then switching paws it washed the other ear. And all the while it ignored the Hunter.
The other animals fell silent, then, as is the way of dreams when you pay them no mind, they vanished. Not with a pop, or a bang, or in a flash of smoke; they simply ceased to be. And then there was just the Hunter, and the Tiger, which stopped washing itself to stare at Kwazi for several, very long seconds, before dismissing him and resuming its bath.
A loud roar from behind the Hunter finally accomplished what he could not. Something behind Kwazi finally had the Tiger's attention.
"Just a dream, just a dream, just a dream," Kwazi told himself, as he tried to will himself awake. But he remained in his dream land. As he stared at the Tiger in front of him he felt the very warm, almost moist air of something breathing down the back of his neck. Literally down. Whatever was behind the Dwarf was tall enough that its hot breath was coming from at least a full foot above his head.
A second roar from behind Kwazi coated the back and top of his head with warm spittle. "What's...behind me...Tiger?" muttered Kwazi. The Tiger looked at Kwazi, then looked up behind him, and from the look in its eyes Kwazi figured whatever was behind him was big. Really big. He reached for his rifle but his dream self appeared to have misplaced it.
And then the Tiger leaped.
Kwazi ducked as the Tiger flew over his head and crashed into the something behind him, which let out more roars. Higher pitched “I'm in pain!” roars. Kwazi turned to discover the ‘something’ was a Raptor. His Tiger had the lizard by the throat, preventing it from bringing its own fearsome jaws into play, but the claws from both animals still raked at each other, and fur and leathery hide was shredded and running with blood.
Kwazi took a step back then raised his rifle to his shoulder. He didn’t ask where it had come from, this was a dream, and these things just are. Pulling his rifle in tight he looked down the barrel, waiting for his shot. The fight in front of him was chaotic and brutal, as both animals twisted and turned trying to gain the upper hand. Despite the blood covering their bodies the Tiger’s black and orange coloring stood out against the iridescent purple sheen of the Raptor, and it was the purple Kwazi needed to focus on.
Not the orange, focus on the purple. That’s where your shot is, he told himself. And then, after several long, agonizing seconds, there it was. For a heartbeat he had a clear shot, but that was all the time he needed. His rifle roared, flame belched from the muzzle, and black smoke obliterated both beasts, and when it finally cleared the Tiger was sitting there, alone, again ignoring Kwazi as it calmly and methodically washed itself.
* * *
Kwazi opened his eyes and sat up. The fire in his room had died down, but the room was still warm. He yawned and stretched and looked around. Some time during the night Jarven had found his way downstairs and into the other bed. Kwazi’s internal clock told him it was early, that the sun was not yet up although dawn was not far away.
As he quietly dressed he thought about the animal in his dream. A Tiger? It was a magnificent beast, and you never saw any of them this far north. Down south, though. In the jungles on the other side of Duskwood, now there be Tigers. But the tigers of Stranglethorn were huge beasts, and Kwazi was just a young Hunter with a lot to learn; he was not yet ready to venture into the Vale.
The only other place Kwazi knew where such tigers could be found was even further away than Stranglethorn. Across the ocean, the Echo Isles off the coast of Durotar was home to a small pride of Tigers. With their island being so small, and with such limited food supply, the tigers of Echo Isles were not as big as their Stranglethorn cousins; they’d be perfect for a young Hunter with the heart of a Tiger.
Kwazi muttered to himself, “I guess it’s time to see Kalimdor, see how the other half lives. Let’s see now. Boat from Menethil Harbor, come down through the Elfs’ lands and into the Barrens. Head down to Ratchet, then slip up the coast to the Echo Isles. Couldn’t be any easier, even if I were a Rogue.”
“Whazzat? Say sumppin?” Jarven mumbled.
“Go back to sleep, old friend. I’ll be seein’ ya later.”
“Hey. Who you callin’ old?” Jarven muttered, even as he rolled over and resumed snoring.
Kwazi slipped quietly from the room and out of the Inn, and headed east, towards the North Gate Pass, to Loch Modan, the Wetlands, and Menethil Harbor, where he’d catch the ship that would take him far from his homeland, and into the wild, Horde-controlled lands of Kalimdor.
Maybe I’ll stop off at Darnassus first, he mused to himself. See what all the fuss is over these Night Elf women. And all over some silly dance they do.
(Click here for part II)
Thursday, December 11, 2008
They play how much, now?
According to GigaOM, in Q2/2006 Blizzard made $30,000,000 from their 5,000,000 Chinese subscribers who, GigaOM quotes (but from where I'm not sure), pay approx. US4¢/hr to play.
$30m per quarter means $10m/month (on average).
$10m / 4¢ (per hour) = 250,000,000 hours.
250m hours / 5m players = 50 hours.
So on average, each Chinese player plays WoW for...just 50 hours per month?
Oddly enough, that really isn't much.
When I used to play, I could easily play for 2-3 hours every weeknight, plus the same (or more) on weekends. I'd be up early on weekends and get in a good couple of hours before Liz would be up, and then sometimes get in another hour or two after that as well. We'd go out somewhere for the afternoon/evening, get home, and I could easily put in another couple of hours before bed.
2-3 hours per weeknight + 12 hours per weekend (both days) = 22-25 hours per week.
4 weeks + 3/4 'extra' days per month = 100+ hours of WoW per month.
So I played twice as much as the average Chinese player, and I was just a casual-hardcore player.
True hardcore players would put in even more time, possibly as much as 150 hours per month. Raiding on multiple weeknights (4 hours per) would easily jack your monthly hours up that high.
I know what you're saying. What about Chinese Gold Farmers. They're on 24/7 (except Tuesdays). Allowing downtime for Tuesdays, let's say 29 days per month, at 24 hours per day, = approx. 700 hours. So one Chinese Gold Farmer = approx. 14 recreational players.
Unless...all of the Chinese players are Gold Farmers. How ironic would that be.
Assuming the average Chinese player is on for 50 hours, and the average Chinese Gold Farmers is on for 700 hours, given that there is 5,000,000 of them and together they play for a combined 250,000,000 hours, I'm sure there's a quadratic formula that would let you work out the ratio of Players to Farmers. I'm good with Maths, but I can't be stuffed working it out.
Anyone want to take a shot at it?
$30m per quarter means $10m/month (on average).
$10m / 4¢ (per hour) = 250,000,000 hours.
250m hours / 5m players = 50 hours.
So on average, each Chinese player plays WoW for...just 50 hours per month?
Oddly enough, that really isn't much.
When I used to play, I could easily play for 2-3 hours every weeknight, plus the same (or more) on weekends. I'd be up early on weekends and get in a good couple of hours before Liz would be up, and then sometimes get in another hour or two after that as well. We'd go out somewhere for the afternoon/evening, get home, and I could easily put in another couple of hours before bed.
2-3 hours per weeknight + 12 hours per weekend (both days) = 22-25 hours per week.
4 weeks + 3/4 'extra' days per month = 100+ hours of WoW per month.
So I played twice as much as the average Chinese player, and I was just a casual-hardcore player.
True hardcore players would put in even more time, possibly as much as 150 hours per month. Raiding on multiple weeknights (4 hours per) would easily jack your monthly hours up that high.
I know what you're saying. What about Chinese Gold Farmers. They're on 24/7 (except Tuesdays). Allowing downtime for Tuesdays, let's say 29 days per month, at 24 hours per day, = approx. 700 hours. So one Chinese Gold Farmer = approx. 14 recreational players.
Unless...all of the Chinese players are Gold Farmers. How ironic would that be.
Assuming the average Chinese player is on for 50 hours, and the average Chinese Gold Farmers is on for 700 hours, given that there is 5,000,000 of them and together they play for a combined 250,000,000 hours, I'm sure there's a quadratic formula that would let you work out the ratio of Players to Farmers. I'm good with Maths, but I can't be stuffed working it out.
Anyone want to take a shot at it?
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Shaking up WoW
A couple of WoW's Wrath quests have got people in a bit of a tiz lately, such as one which asks you to torture an NPC to extract information from them. Somehow some people find this quest morally repugnant.
Never mind that to get this far their toon has probably already committed numerous acts that are equally disturbing, and which together far outweigh one simple act of torture.
At least on the Alliance side, most players will:
Kill numerous sentient humanoids to collect their eyes to make a stew.
Kill numerous sentient humanoids for kelp, just so two youngsters can defy their parents and hang out together.
Slaughter wildlife by the thousands, in some cases for nothing but their paws, legs, or liver. "Go! Kill some pigs, and bring back their livers so I can make a few pies."
In some cases wildlife are slaughtered, literally by the hundreds, for no reason at all, other than to impress a couple of people. Yes, Nesingwary, I'm looking at you!
Almost all Alliance will be offered a quest to kill a man who helped rebuild Stormwind and who was then cheated and wronged by the Stormwind Nobles. Most Alliance will accept a contract to kill this honorable man, who refused the Nobles' bribes and who turned down a cushy government job because he was loyal to his men, men who were not brigands but common laborers and stonemasons. Most Alliance will take this quest and do everything they can to kill this man, one Edwin VanCleef, and they won't think twice about what they're doing.
How is it acceptable to kill a man whose crime was to speak out against injustice, but torturing someone for information is really, really not okay?
Seriously, it's not like the choices you make affect anything.
Kill a named Quest Mob, in 5 minutes he'll pop right back up. Mine that Node, half an hour later, another Node will spring up in its place.
In most cases, WoW is a very static world.
The in-game choices you make don't make a shred of difference, or at least any effects from the choice you make disappears after 5-10 minutes.
The only choices that really affect anything are the very first two you make: Do you choose Alliance or Horde, and what class? Pretty much any other choice you make is irrelevant.
In Shattrath you'll be able to choose between Scryer and Aldor, but if you make the wrong choice (for your craft) then it just takes a little bit of work to undo that choice. It's not a huge, game breaking decision. It might take an investment of time & gold on your behalf to undo your choice, but it can be reversed.
But, what if there was a choice to be made in-game which couldn't be reversed.
Take the Torture quest that's getting everyone up in arms. What if you strolled up to a camp with two Quest Givers and when you talk to the first one he says, "Psst. We've got a guy tied up in bushes. Go back there, smack him around a bit, and see if you can't get some information out of him."
I'm sorry, you want me to do what? Beat up a helpless guy? I don't think so.
So you click Decline then talk to the second Quest Giver. He says, "Psst. They've got a guy tied up in the bushes back there. Go get some food & wine from the Innkeeper, untie the guy and lead him up into the hills, then give him the food & wine and see if he'll open up to you."
Interesting. You've got two quests which seem to have the same goal in mind; Interrogate a prisoner for information. But in the first quest you'll use violence to extract the information, whereas the second quest has you be a little more subtle.
If you'd accepted the first guy's quest, the quest marker would have disappeared from second guy, and instead of offering you the subterfuge quest he now might say, "A man who thinks he's about to die will say anything to save his life. How can you trust information gained through torture?"
A smart cookie might make the connection between the two quest givers, then abandon the Torture quest to see what the second Quest Giver had to say.
And now you're presented with a moral choice, a very real choice. You no longer have a choice between doing or not doing a quest; now you have a choice between torturing someone for information, or befriending them to gain the same.
Imagine if this was how you chose between Aldor and Scryer, with your choice affecting who will talk to you in the future, what quests you can get, and even what City you will eventually call home at 80. Imagine if making a choice one way or the other gives you some sort of communication device which allows you to communicate in a channel specifically reserved for just the Torturers, or just the Spies...regardless of faction. Yes, suddenly Alliance and Horde could communicate with each other, but only those who'd chosen to torture the prisoner could communicate with each other, while only those who'd chosen to free and befriend the prisoner could communicate with each other.
Imagine Horde and Alliance being able to group up, together, to do lvl 80 Instances? And why not? With BC's introduction of Dranei Shamans and Bloodelf Paladins, the factions are practically the same now anyway.
Imagine if there were decisions to make in the World of Warcraft that really mattered, decisions with irreversible consequences.
If you think people are upset over the Torture quest now, just imagine the screaming, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth if players/toons were held accountable for their in-game decisions ;)
Never mind that to get this far their toon has probably already committed numerous acts that are equally disturbing, and which together far outweigh one simple act of torture.
At least on the Alliance side, most players will:
Kill numerous sentient humanoids to collect their eyes to make a stew.
Kill numerous sentient humanoids for kelp, just so two youngsters can defy their parents and hang out together.
Slaughter wildlife by the thousands, in some cases for nothing but their paws, legs, or liver. "Go! Kill some pigs, and bring back their livers so I can make a few pies."
In some cases wildlife are slaughtered, literally by the hundreds, for no reason at all, other than to impress a couple of people. Yes, Nesingwary, I'm looking at you!
Almost all Alliance will be offered a quest to kill a man who helped rebuild Stormwind and who was then cheated and wronged by the Stormwind Nobles. Most Alliance will accept a contract to kill this honorable man, who refused the Nobles' bribes and who turned down a cushy government job because he was loyal to his men, men who were not brigands but common laborers and stonemasons. Most Alliance will take this quest and do everything they can to kill this man, one Edwin VanCleef, and they won't think twice about what they're doing.
How is it acceptable to kill a man whose crime was to speak out against injustice, but torturing someone for information is really, really not okay?
Seriously, it's not like the choices you make affect anything.
Kill a named Quest Mob, in 5 minutes he'll pop right back up. Mine that Node, half an hour later, another Node will spring up in its place.
In most cases, WoW is a very static world.
The in-game choices you make don't make a shred of difference, or at least any effects from the choice you make disappears after 5-10 minutes.
The only choices that really affect anything are the very first two you make: Do you choose Alliance or Horde, and what class? Pretty much any other choice you make is irrelevant.
In Shattrath you'll be able to choose between Scryer and Aldor, but if you make the wrong choice (for your craft) then it just takes a little bit of work to undo that choice. It's not a huge, game breaking decision. It might take an investment of time & gold on your behalf to undo your choice, but it can be reversed.
But, what if there was a choice to be made in-game which couldn't be reversed.
Take the Torture quest that's getting everyone up in arms. What if you strolled up to a camp with two Quest Givers and when you talk to the first one he says, "Psst. We've got a guy tied up in bushes. Go back there, smack him around a bit, and see if you can't get some information out of him."
I'm sorry, you want me to do what? Beat up a helpless guy? I don't think so.
So you click Decline then talk to the second Quest Giver. He says, "Psst. They've got a guy tied up in the bushes back there. Go get some food & wine from the Innkeeper, untie the guy and lead him up into the hills, then give him the food & wine and see if he'll open up to you."
Interesting. You've got two quests which seem to have the same goal in mind; Interrogate a prisoner for information. But in the first quest you'll use violence to extract the information, whereas the second quest has you be a little more subtle.
If you'd accepted the first guy's quest, the quest marker would have disappeared from second guy, and instead of offering you the subterfuge quest he now might say, "A man who thinks he's about to die will say anything to save his life. How can you trust information gained through torture?"
A smart cookie might make the connection between the two quest givers, then abandon the Torture quest to see what the second Quest Giver had to say.
And now you're presented with a moral choice, a very real choice. You no longer have a choice between doing or not doing a quest; now you have a choice between torturing someone for information, or befriending them to gain the same.
Imagine if this was how you chose between Aldor and Scryer, with your choice affecting who will talk to you in the future, what quests you can get, and even what City you will eventually call home at 80. Imagine if making a choice one way or the other gives you some sort of communication device which allows you to communicate in a channel specifically reserved for just the Torturers, or just the Spies...regardless of faction. Yes, suddenly Alliance and Horde could communicate with each other, but only those who'd chosen to torture the prisoner could communicate with each other, while only those who'd chosen to free and befriend the prisoner could communicate with each other.
Imagine Horde and Alliance being able to group up, together, to do lvl 80 Instances? And why not? With BC's introduction of Dranei Shamans and Bloodelf Paladins, the factions are practically the same now anyway.
Imagine if there were decisions to make in the World of Warcraft that really mattered, decisions with irreversible consequences.
If you think people are upset over the Torture quest now, just imagine the screaming, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth if players/toons were held accountable for their in-game decisions ;)
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Improving WSG
It occurs to me that by posting these ideas, I'm actually screwing Blizzard (and WoW players) out of possible improvements. Blizzard probably can't implement my ideas even if they did like them and wanted to, without actually buying them from me. Yes, I've put them out here in the public domain, but the ideas remain mine, and if I don't post "Blizzard, you've got carte blanche to use my ideas" then they can't use them for fear of me suing them. And if Blizzard can't use my ideas, it means the players lose out, too (assuming my ideas really are that good ;)
So how do we fix WSG? Well, what's the biggest problem with WSG?
It takes too long, right? Your team gets 2 Flag Caps and what happens? Everyone on the other team falls back to their base and now you've got a turtle. How can we fix this?
We could implement a Timer...but a Timer can actually negatively affect two evenly matched teams who are fighting an ebb & flow battle. Where Flags are constantly being picked up, huge fights are being fought mid-field, Flags are being dropped and returned, or dropped & picked up again, or returned and...someone hiding in your Base picks it up again! These are the fun WSGs where players are trying to support each other, they're actively PvPing, nobody is trying to Turtle or just let the other team lose, and everyone is having a blast. Then 15 minutes later...Bam! Everyone finds themself dumped back in front of their Battlemaster. Talk about Coitus Interruptus!
So while a Timer might be a good idea when you're up 2 & 0 and the other team is Turtling and try as you might you can't get their Flag out of their Base, but for a game where that's not happening? Where it's just two evenly matched teams thrusting, repelling, counter thrusting. Then a Timer literally is Couitus Interruptus.
If we look at the other BGs they all have Timers of a sort. Okay, it's actually a Counter.
AB - every few seconds the two Teams get points based on how many Bases they hold. First Team to 2000 points wins.
EOTS - every second the two Teams get points based on how many Bases they hold, with Flag Caps awarding more Points the more Bases you hold. First to 2000 wins.
AV - Both Teams start with 600 points. You win by reducing your opponent's Points to zero, by defeating their General (instant win), taking enemy-held Keeps & Towers, killing their Captain, or just killing opposing players (1 pt each).
WSG is (currently) the only BG that does not use a Counter/Timer. Get three Flag Caps and you win. That's it. If that takes you 10 minutes, or an hour, or half a day, it ain't over 'til one of the teams has scored 3 points.
But what if the game was played to 150 points, and a Flag Cap was worth 50 points?
That doesn't sound much different than it's current scoring system, right? But if we incorporate part of the AV Counter system, and for every HK your team gets you score 1 point, now it becomes a little more interesting.
Now if two teams are evenly matched, and they're fighting mid-field tooth & nail but neither team is giving up any ground. Flags are getting picked up, dropped, returned, then picked up again. Players are fighting and dying, then rezzing and running back in, but neither team's Flag Runner can break through. With each death the counter slowly ticks up. Now you need to win by attrition, and if one Team turtles, the team on the outside can either send players to the roof to rain death down upon those below with AOE attacks, DOTs, etc, and slowly kill them one by one. Now you don't need to get their Flag, it's enough to know that with every death they incur, your Team moves one step closer to Victory.
Would this work? Would you like to see a counter like this incorporated into WSG? Are Blizzard likely to do anything like this?
Not now, at least not unless I write: If there is anyone out there who could use this idea to compliment one of their games, you are more than welcome to it. Now it might get incorporated, assuming anyone from Blizzard reads the ramblings of the Famous Wizard 101 Blogger ;)
So how do we fix WSG? Well, what's the biggest problem with WSG?
It takes too long, right? Your team gets 2 Flag Caps and what happens? Everyone on the other team falls back to their base and now you've got a turtle. How can we fix this?
We could implement a Timer...but a Timer can actually negatively affect two evenly matched teams who are fighting an ebb & flow battle. Where Flags are constantly being picked up, huge fights are being fought mid-field, Flags are being dropped and returned, or dropped & picked up again, or returned and...someone hiding in your Base picks it up again! These are the fun WSGs where players are trying to support each other, they're actively PvPing, nobody is trying to Turtle or just let the other team lose, and everyone is having a blast. Then 15 minutes later...Bam! Everyone finds themself dumped back in front of their Battlemaster. Talk about Coitus Interruptus!
So while a Timer might be a good idea when you're up 2 & 0 and the other team is Turtling and try as you might you can't get their Flag out of their Base, but for a game where that's not happening? Where it's just two evenly matched teams thrusting, repelling, counter thrusting. Then a Timer literally is Couitus Interruptus.
If we look at the other BGs they all have Timers of a sort. Okay, it's actually a Counter.
AB - every few seconds the two Teams get points based on how many Bases they hold. First Team to 2000 points wins.
EOTS - every second the two Teams get points based on how many Bases they hold, with Flag Caps awarding more Points the more Bases you hold. First to 2000 wins.
AV - Both Teams start with 600 points. You win by reducing your opponent's Points to zero, by defeating their General (instant win), taking enemy-held Keeps & Towers, killing their Captain, or just killing opposing players (1 pt each).
WSG is (currently) the only BG that does not use a Counter/Timer. Get three Flag Caps and you win. That's it. If that takes you 10 minutes, or an hour, or half a day, it ain't over 'til one of the teams has scored 3 points.
But what if the game was played to 150 points, and a Flag Cap was worth 50 points?
That doesn't sound much different than it's current scoring system, right? But if we incorporate part of the AV Counter system, and for every HK your team gets you score 1 point, now it becomes a little more interesting.
Now if two teams are evenly matched, and they're fighting mid-field tooth & nail but neither team is giving up any ground. Flags are getting picked up, dropped, returned, then picked up again. Players are fighting and dying, then rezzing and running back in, but neither team's Flag Runner can break through. With each death the counter slowly ticks up. Now you need to win by attrition, and if one Team turtles, the team on the outside can either send players to the roof to rain death down upon those below with AOE attacks, DOTs, etc, and slowly kill them one by one. Now you don't need to get their Flag, it's enough to know that with every death they incur, your Team moves one step closer to Victory.
Would this work? Would you like to see a counter like this incorporated into WSG? Are Blizzard likely to do anything like this?
Not now, at least not unless I write: If there is anyone out there who could use this idea to compliment one of their games, you are more than welcome to it. Now it might get incorporated, assuming anyone from Blizzard reads the ramblings of the Famous Wizard 101 Blogger ;)
Friday, September 26, 2008
Taunting in PvP
Blizzard totally dropped the ball on this, making up some ridiculous excuse about not wanting players to lose control of their characters.
Then what the fuck are Fear and Sap and Polymorph? What are Seduce, Banish, Wyvern Sting, and Mind Control? They're all means by which players totally and completely lose all control of their character.
A thumping great Tauren Warrior standing almost 10-feet tall and weighing over 500 pounds wades into Melee and roars a challenge. Are you seriously trying to tell me nobody is going to turn and look at him? Bullshit! You know almost every head is going to swivel in his direction. And when he picks your face out of all those in the crowd, stares you down, then points at you bellowing "You! You're next!" Are you seriously telling me you're going to ignore him?
Blizzard's outrageous statement about Taunts not being in PvP as a "player control" issue is pure bullshit. They either don't want to do it and are afraid of the backlash, as if it's not okay to be forced to target another player for 10 seconds, but it's okay for a Priest to Mind Control a Hunter then have him kill his own Pet, or...Blizzard can't do it. Maybe that's the real reason. Their programmers literally cannot implement Taunting into the PvP game.
Taunting should exist in PvP, and there's absolutely no logical reason for it not to. The only reason it's not in the game is because Blizzard have an ulterior motive for not implementing it, or they physically cannot do it. Claiming Taunting causes Loss of Player Control and they want to avoid that is just a bald-faced lie.
Then what the fuck are Fear and Sap and Polymorph? What are Seduce, Banish, Wyvern Sting, and Mind Control? They're all means by which players totally and completely lose all control of their character.A thumping great Tauren Warrior standing almost 10-feet tall and weighing over 500 pounds wades into Melee and roars a challenge. Are you seriously trying to tell me nobody is going to turn and look at him? Bullshit! You know almost every head is going to swivel in his direction. And when he picks your face out of all those in the crowd, stares you down, then points at you bellowing "You! You're next!" Are you seriously telling me you're going to ignore him?
Blizzard's outrageous statement about Taunts not being in PvP as a "player control" issue is pure bullshit. They either don't want to do it and are afraid of the backlash, as if it's not okay to be forced to target another player for 10 seconds, but it's okay for a Priest to Mind Control a Hunter then have him kill his own Pet, or...Blizzard can't do it. Maybe that's the real reason. Their programmers literally cannot implement Taunting into the PvP game.
Taunting should exist in PvP, and there's absolutely no logical reason for it not to. The only reason it's not in the game is because Blizzard have an ulterior motive for not implementing it, or they physically cannot do it. Claiming Taunting causes Loss of Player Control and they want to avoid that is just a bald-faced lie.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Fixing WoW's BGs
How often does this happen?
You zone into a WoW BG and the first message you see is:
"Just let them win. It's faster Honor."
Or this:
"Everyone report Lolimafk as AFK!"
You check the Map and Lolimafk, and several other players, are still in the cave, even though AV started 5 minutes ago. The battle ends with your General being defeated and you look at the Map. Lolimafk, and several others, are still in the cave.
WAR is being touted as the next best thing in PvP/RvR, but already some people are not happy with its apparent bias towards team work. Combat in WAR is slower than in WoW. In WOW a Rogue pops out of Stealth, Ambushing you or Stunlocking you, and for several seconds you can do nothing, then you die. That doesn't happen in WAR. Combat lasts a lot longer (or appears to). Players cannot tie up an opponent and prevent them from not just moving but fighting back, until death do us part. In WAR, Combat lasts long enough that other players have a chance to react. Friends (& foes) have a chance to help out with Heals or damaging attacks of their own. Players in WAR need to work together if they want to succeed. In one on one encounters, you might take down your opponent, but just because you got the drop on him doesn't necessarily mean you'll be victorious.
What does this mean for WoW?
It means the people who enjoy PvP/RvR but who enjoy playing as a group are going to love WAR, meanwhile Lolimafk and his buddies are still AFKing in the caves in AV. The players who used to be out in the fields trying to win while cursing Lol under their breath? They're playing WAR. And the players with less Lols & AFKers on their team, they're more likely to win, because they're more likely to play as a team.
How can Blizzard encourage people to play as a Team?
By changing the way their BG rewards system works, by doing something that would be very unpopular, but it would only be unpopular with Lolimafk and a handful of other players.
Get rid of Honor. You don't need it. Or at least get rid of it as a PvP currency. The only PvP currency should be PvP Badges won from the BGs. And speaking of winning them...you need to win to win them.
Fuck the losers. Fuck the AFKers. If you don't play the BGs properly, if you just sit in the cave thinking you can AFK Honor Farm all evening, you've got another think coming.
Think you can just let your team lose because it's "faster honor". THERE IS NO HONOR!
If you want those really cool PvP Epics then you've got to work for them. There is no second place prize. Second place is just the first loser.
You can't AFK in the cave any more because it won't get you any Honor. Your Team won't win without your help, either, and if your Team doesn't win you won't get any Badges. If you're off by yourself doing your own thing (whether that's AFK or Fishing), you're not playing as part of the team, and if you're not part of the team, you've just decreased your team's chances of winning, which means you're less likely to get the Badges you need.
Would this work? I think it would. Would it be popular? I know it wouldn't. And that's why Blizzard won't do it.
But unless someone has a better idea, it's the best idea I know of to get rid of the AFK Honor Farmers and promote teamwork in the BGs. Sure, the AFK Honor Farmers will become AFK Badge Farmers, but Badges will take a lot longer to earn when your team keeps losing because you were AFK instead of helping out.
And finally, make the AFK Reporting system actually do something. Does anyone still believe reporting someone AFK works?
Change the AFK reporting system so if enough people report Lolimafk as AFK during a BG, it gives him an AFK debuff similar to the already existing /AFK Coward Debuff. You're an AFK Farmer, so no joining a BG queue for 15 minutes. And if Lol receives this AFK debuff enough times in a 24 hour period, it prevents him from signing up for any BG for 24 hours. And at the end of the week if Lol has received sufficient AFK debuffs, he cannot join any BG for 7 days, on any of his characters.
As I said, not popular. But AFK Honor Farmers aren't popular either, so what does it matter? We're not trying to make friends, we're trying to solve a problem, and the people who aren't likely to be happy with this solution are probably part of the problem. And if we get rid of them, we've solved the problem.
You zone into a WoW BG and the first message you see is:
"Just let them win. It's faster Honor."
Or this:
"Everyone report Lolimafk as AFK!"
You check the Map and Lolimafk, and several other players, are still in the cave, even though AV started 5 minutes ago. The battle ends with your General being defeated and you look at the Map. Lolimafk, and several others, are still in the cave.
WAR is being touted as the next best thing in PvP/RvR, but already some people are not happy with its apparent bias towards team work. Combat in WAR is slower than in WoW. In WOW a Rogue pops out of Stealth, Ambushing you or Stunlocking you, and for several seconds you can do nothing, then you die. That doesn't happen in WAR. Combat lasts a lot longer (or appears to). Players cannot tie up an opponent and prevent them from not just moving but fighting back, until death do us part. In WAR, Combat lasts long enough that other players have a chance to react. Friends (& foes) have a chance to help out with Heals or damaging attacks of their own. Players in WAR need to work together if they want to succeed. In one on one encounters, you might take down your opponent, but just because you got the drop on him doesn't necessarily mean you'll be victorious.
What does this mean for WoW?
It means the people who enjoy PvP/RvR but who enjoy playing as a group are going to love WAR, meanwhile Lolimafk and his buddies are still AFKing in the caves in AV. The players who used to be out in the fields trying to win while cursing Lol under their breath? They're playing WAR. And the players with less Lols & AFKers on their team, they're more likely to win, because they're more likely to play as a team.
How can Blizzard encourage people to play as a Team?
By changing the way their BG rewards system works, by doing something that would be very unpopular, but it would only be unpopular with Lolimafk and a handful of other players.
Get rid of Honor. You don't need it. Or at least get rid of it as a PvP currency. The only PvP currency should be PvP Badges won from the BGs. And speaking of winning them...you need to win to win them.
Fuck the losers. Fuck the AFKers. If you don't play the BGs properly, if you just sit in the cave thinking you can AFK Honor Farm all evening, you've got another think coming.
Think you can just let your team lose because it's "faster honor". THERE IS NO HONOR!
If you want those really cool PvP Epics then you've got to work for them. There is no second place prize. Second place is just the first loser.
You can't AFK in the cave any more because it won't get you any Honor. Your Team won't win without your help, either, and if your Team doesn't win you won't get any Badges. If you're off by yourself doing your own thing (whether that's AFK or Fishing), you're not playing as part of the team, and if you're not part of the team, you've just decreased your team's chances of winning, which means you're less likely to get the Badges you need.
Would this work? I think it would. Would it be popular? I know it wouldn't. And that's why Blizzard won't do it.
But unless someone has a better idea, it's the best idea I know of to get rid of the AFK Honor Farmers and promote teamwork in the BGs. Sure, the AFK Honor Farmers will become AFK Badge Farmers, but Badges will take a lot longer to earn when your team keeps losing because you were AFK instead of helping out.
And finally, make the AFK Reporting system actually do something. Does anyone still believe reporting someone AFK works?
Change the AFK reporting system so if enough people report Lolimafk as AFK during a BG, it gives him an AFK debuff similar to the already existing /AFK Coward Debuff. You're an AFK Farmer, so no joining a BG queue for 15 minutes. And if Lol receives this AFK debuff enough times in a 24 hour period, it prevents him from signing up for any BG for 24 hours. And at the end of the week if Lol has received sufficient AFK debuffs, he cannot join any BG for 7 days, on any of his characters.
As I said, not popular. But AFK Honor Farmers aren't popular either, so what does it matter? We're not trying to make friends, we're trying to solve a problem, and the people who aren't likely to be happy with this solution are probably part of the problem. And if we get rid of them, we've solved the problem.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Engineers!!! Let's RIDE!!!
The buzz from the 'Net and WoWInsider is that at 80, Engineers can make motorbikes. Wrath's lvl 80 Mount does not fly or go faster, it allows you to carry passenger/s, ergo, the Engineers motorbike comes with a sidecar:
This is the Alliance version. Apparently the Horde version comes in Red! Oh, yeah!
Now I just need to get one of my Horde Toons to 70, then power level Engineering :P
I'm looking at this Bike, which carries passengers, and I'm thinking this could totally change WoW's BGs. Think Mounted Combat!!!
The following BG Ideas are pure speculations.
Pair up with someone and join the queue as a Group (pair) and assign a Driver and, by default, a Passenger.
In the vehicle-only BGs there is no Dismounting and all the Battles are unforgiving; you can only die one death, just like in the Arenas. When your vehicle is destroyed it's Game Over for you & your partner.
The Driver: As the Driver you have complete control of the vehicle. You're responsible for the safety of you and your passenger, who's just along for the ride. You can use spells and abilities, but using any spells/abilities with a Cast Time will make you lose control of the vehicle while the Spell is being Cast. Only by using Instant Cast spells can you remain in complete control of the vehicle.
The Passenger: You have absolutely no control over the vehicle. You're at the whim of your Driver. You are free to use/cast any Spells/Abilities, including those with Cast Timers, without penalty. Keep in mind that if you're targeting one vehicle but your Driver is focused on another, your Target may very well move out of Range of your spell before it's cast. Coordination between Driver and Passenger is crucial. As well as Spells & Abilities, you may also Melee or Auto-attack other vehicles if they're close enough. The Driver may also perform Melee attacks, and may do so without losing control of the vehicle.
The Vehicle: Spells and Attacks target & affect the Vehicle ONLY. They do not affect the Driver or Passenger, and thus Driver/Passenger Resilience or Spell/Magic Resists are irrelevant in vehicle-to-vehicle combat. The Armor and "Health" of the vehicle is the combined Armor and Health of the Driver and Passenger, plus a bonus for being a Vehicle. These are the only Character Stats that affect Vehicles.
Now let's look at the (imaginary) Battlegrounds.
The first Vehicle-specific BG is little more than a coliseum. An open (albeit enclosed) arena with a few obstacles here, some ramps and hills there, but mostly nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. It's a very simple Arena-type BG with just one strategy: Kill or Be Killed. When vehicles are destroyed they explode, but will remain in the BG as a smoking wreck (potentially providing cover) until the battle is over.
The Driver and Passenger of the last remaining vehicle receives 100 Vehicle Points. Everyone (inc. the Winning Team) gets 10 points for each vehicle to which they did 51% or more damage, and 10 points for each vehicle on which they delivered the KB. VPs are just like Honor and Arena Points, and can only be used to purchase Vehicle-specific Trinkets, such as:
"Armor Plating - Equip: Increase Vehicle Armor by 25%."
or
"NO2 - Use: Increase Vehicle speed by 50% for 10 seconds (1 min cooldown). *WARNING - Vehicle steering is disabled during use!*"
Just as the current Arenas allow Teams of 2v2, 3v3, etc, the Vehicle Arenas also allow Teams to form up and battle each other. In Arena-type battles Victory VPs are divided among the winning team, so the members of a winning 2v2 would only get 50 VPs each, a 3v3 Team would get 33 VPs each, and a 4v4 would receive 25 VPs each. There would be no bonus VPs for Damage done and vehicle KBs.
As well as the Arena-type BGs, there would also be race tracks where Vehicles attempt to complete a designated number of laps while simultaneously destroying each other and attempting to avoid being destroyed. Collision detection between vehicles would exist during these races, thus destroyed vehicles coming to rest in the middle of the track would present obstacles to be avoided on future laps.
One track would be a typical Nascar oval track. The second would be a simple Indy Car street track. And the dastardly third would be a Figure of Eight where vehicles must avoid each other at the intersection in the middle of the track. Collision detection would make the Figure of Eight track very interesting indeed >:)
Even if Blizzard don't do any BGs like these, it will still be awesome to have motorbike mounts in WoW :)
Expect the price of the Mats needed to power level Engineering to skyrocket once the first motorbikes appear around Shattrath. I just hope they're not some insanely, hard-to-get PvP reward. If they're a 450 Engineering Recipe I'd be more than happy to spend 10,000 gold getting there :P
This is the Alliance version. Apparently the Horde version comes in Red! Oh, yeah!
Now I just need to get one of my Horde Toons to 70, then power level Engineering :P
I'm looking at this Bike, which carries passengers, and I'm thinking this could totally change WoW's BGs. Think Mounted Combat!!!
The following BG Ideas are pure speculations.
Pair up with someone and join the queue as a Group (pair) and assign a Driver and, by default, a Passenger.
In the vehicle-only BGs there is no Dismounting and all the Battles are unforgiving; you can only die one death, just like in the Arenas. When your vehicle is destroyed it's Game Over for you & your partner.
The Driver: As the Driver you have complete control of the vehicle. You're responsible for the safety of you and your passenger, who's just along for the ride. You can use spells and abilities, but using any spells/abilities with a Cast Time will make you lose control of the vehicle while the Spell is being Cast. Only by using Instant Cast spells can you remain in complete control of the vehicle.
The Passenger: You have absolutely no control over the vehicle. You're at the whim of your Driver. You are free to use/cast any Spells/Abilities, including those with Cast Timers, without penalty. Keep in mind that if you're targeting one vehicle but your Driver is focused on another, your Target may very well move out of Range of your spell before it's cast. Coordination between Driver and Passenger is crucial. As well as Spells & Abilities, you may also Melee or Auto-attack other vehicles if they're close enough. The Driver may also perform Melee attacks, and may do so without losing control of the vehicle.
The Vehicle: Spells and Attacks target & affect the Vehicle ONLY. They do not affect the Driver or Passenger, and thus Driver/Passenger Resilience or Spell/Magic Resists are irrelevant in vehicle-to-vehicle combat. The Armor and "Health" of the vehicle is the combined Armor and Health of the Driver and Passenger, plus a bonus for being a Vehicle. These are the only Character Stats that affect Vehicles.
Now let's look at the (imaginary) Battlegrounds.
The first Vehicle-specific BG is little more than a coliseum. An open (albeit enclosed) arena with a few obstacles here, some ramps and hills there, but mostly nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. It's a very simple Arena-type BG with just one strategy: Kill or Be Killed. When vehicles are destroyed they explode, but will remain in the BG as a smoking wreck (potentially providing cover) until the battle is over.
The Driver and Passenger of the last remaining vehicle receives 100 Vehicle Points. Everyone (inc. the Winning Team) gets 10 points for each vehicle to which they did 51% or more damage, and 10 points for each vehicle on which they delivered the KB. VPs are just like Honor and Arena Points, and can only be used to purchase Vehicle-specific Trinkets, such as:
"Armor Plating - Equip: Increase Vehicle Armor by 25%."
or
"NO2 - Use: Increase Vehicle speed by 50% for 10 seconds (1 min cooldown). *WARNING - Vehicle steering is disabled during use!*"
Just as the current Arenas allow Teams of 2v2, 3v3, etc, the Vehicle Arenas also allow Teams to form up and battle each other. In Arena-type battles Victory VPs are divided among the winning team, so the members of a winning 2v2 would only get 50 VPs each, a 3v3 Team would get 33 VPs each, and a 4v4 would receive 25 VPs each. There would be no bonus VPs for Damage done and vehicle KBs.
As well as the Arena-type BGs, there would also be race tracks where Vehicles attempt to complete a designated number of laps while simultaneously destroying each other and attempting to avoid being destroyed. Collision detection between vehicles would exist during these races, thus destroyed vehicles coming to rest in the middle of the track would present obstacles to be avoided on future laps.
One track would be a typical Nascar oval track. The second would be a simple Indy Car street track. And the dastardly third would be a Figure of Eight where vehicles must avoid each other at the intersection in the middle of the track. Collision detection would make the Figure of Eight track very interesting indeed >:)
Even if Blizzard don't do any BGs like these, it will still be awesome to have motorbike mounts in WoW :)
Expect the price of the Mats needed to power level Engineering to skyrocket once the first motorbikes appear around Shattrath. I just hope they're not some insanely, hard-to-get PvP reward. If they're a 450 Engineering Recipe I'd be more than happy to spend 10,000 gold getting there :P
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Hunters rejoice (too soon?)
The Hunter community is ecstatic with the WoW Forum posting by a Blue that many are interpreting to mean WoW:Wrath will increase the Stable slot size, allowing Hunters to have more than just a couple of Pets.
The Forum Thread can be viewed here, look for Ghostcrawler's post. It looks like this:
Exactly what is Ghostcrawler saying there? Earlier in that thread he posted a single-word reply, saying "Okay", which had everyone tripping all over themselves.
Excuse me, but "okay" does not necessarily mean the same as "Yes, we'll do this".
"Okay" means "I hear what you're saying." It means "I understand."
GC then posts, "There are 2 additional slots in the stable."
His reply contains another paragraph but it's irrelevant and deals with a change to the summoning of Pets.
"There are 2 additional slots in the stable."
For some reason, everyone who read that interpreted it to mean, "We're adding 2 slots to the stable."
I'm a little more pessimistic (sometimes) and I read it as it's written, "There are 2 additional slots in the stable." And there are. You go to the Stablemaster and check out your Stable, and there's 2 slots. So you can have your current Pet, and you can keep 2 more in the additional Pet slots in the stable.
Maybe I'm a little jaded after playing for three years, but personally I think if Blizzard were going to increase the number of Stable Slots they'd have done it a long time ago.
Why include something like that in the expansion? Because it will give Hunters a reason to buy it? I doubt it. Most Hunters currently playing are going to buy the expansion anyway. There's absolutely no reason for them to code that in just to increase sales by a tiny amount.
There's an old gamer saying that I think is very appropriate in this situation.
"More stable slots? Screenshot, or it didn't happen!"
Ghostcrawler's post on the Forum is inadequate. I'll believe Hunters have more Stable slots when I see that change go live, but I probably won't see it. By that time I suspect I'll be playing Diablo 3 with my son.
*EDIT - A screenshot from BRK has shown Hunters will get 5 Stable Slots in Wrath. Rejoice!
The Forum Thread can be viewed here, look for Ghostcrawler's post. It looks like this:
Exactly what is Ghostcrawler saying there? Earlier in that thread he posted a single-word reply, saying "Okay", which had everyone tripping all over themselves.
Excuse me, but "okay" does not necessarily mean the same as "Yes, we'll do this".
"Okay" means "I hear what you're saying." It means "I understand."
GC then posts, "There are 2 additional slots in the stable."
His reply contains another paragraph but it's irrelevant and deals with a change to the summoning of Pets.
"There are 2 additional slots in the stable."
For some reason, everyone who read that interpreted it to mean, "We're adding 2 slots to the stable."
I'm a little more pessimistic (sometimes) and I read it as it's written, "There are 2 additional slots in the stable." And there are. You go to the Stablemaster and check out your Stable, and there's 2 slots. So you can have your current Pet, and you can keep 2 more in the additional Pet slots in the stable.
Maybe I'm a little jaded after playing for three years, but personally I think if Blizzard were going to increase the number of Stable Slots they'd have done it a long time ago.
Why include something like that in the expansion? Because it will give Hunters a reason to buy it? I doubt it. Most Hunters currently playing are going to buy the expansion anyway. There's absolutely no reason for them to code that in just to increase sales by a tiny amount.
There's an old gamer saying that I think is very appropriate in this situation.
"More stable slots? Screenshot, or it didn't happen!"
Ghostcrawler's post on the Forum is inadequate. I'll believe Hunters have more Stable slots when I see that change go live, but I probably won't see it. By that time I suspect I'll be playing Diablo 3 with my son.
*EDIT - A screenshot from BRK has shown Hunters will get 5 Stable Slots in Wrath. Rejoice!
Monday, July 28, 2008
OC Fair: Cooler, cheaper, even more fun.
Funnest? What the **** kind of word is that? It's as bad as ****!!!
We've been to the LA County Fair and the OC Fair several times over the past few years, and while it may be treason for us to admit it, Liz and I greatly prefer the OC Fair.
The LA County Fair. Kinder? Simpler? Funner? I don't think so.
Hotter. More expensive. Dustier. Yeah, that's more like it.
We rocked up to the OC Fair a little after noon on Friday, shortly after the gates opened. Liz asked the Attendant for Preferred Parking and he said we didn't need it. So we paid $5 for General Parking and parked right next to the Preferred Parking section, which would have cost us $5 more if we'd insisted on paying for it. Parking at the LA County Fair? $10 for General, and $15 for Preferred.
Admission was $24 for all four of us (+$5 for the Bunny if she'd been 5 y/old). For the LA County Fair it would have cost us $36 just to walk in the gate, and $48 if we'd had to pay for the Bunny, plus $15 for Preferred, which we would have paid for.
OC Fair vs LA Fair = $29 vs $51
Round One to OC Fair (2 parents + 2 kids = $34 vs $63 = Ouch!)
Temperature in Costa Mesa in late July? Mid to high 70s. Pleasantly warm.
Temperature in Pomona in early September? High 80s to low 90s. Hot and sticky.
Round Two to OC Fair
The assortment of rides are the same, as it's the same crew at each Fair, but at $1 per ride (for Friday when we went, I have a clever wife who plans these things) versus the $2 or more at LA County Fair. Fuhgeddaboudit!
Round 3 and a unanimous decision to the Orange County Fair!!!
Now in its last week for 2008.
* * *
Saturday after in-laws picked up the kids we just bummed around the house. Liz thought about rearranging the upstairs to accommodate a fourth PC (the Bunny is frequently kicking me off mine so she can visit Noggin.com) and finally realized what a logistical nightmare it was. Despite the fact that I was going to get a big screen TV out of it (as in 45" big) I made Liz see just how much rearranging would need to happen to accomplish what she had in mind. Finally she settled for clearing off the desk in JE's room then went online to pick out a new PC for him.
I was complimenting Fry's but after visiting their own and Best Buy's websites Liz found a good price on a full system at Best Buy, which included a printer and a 17" wide-sceen LCD. Not just your run of the mill LCD but a wide-screen. Oooh! The sale ended midnight Saturday so Liz bought it online as an in-store pickup item, the plan being for me to pick it up the next morning.
Sunday morning I was browsing Best Buy's website when I saw my video card was on sale. Newegg have them cheaper, but there's shipping to factor in, compared to the No Interest plan (for using BB Credit Card) and the points from their Reward Zone, so it wasn't hard to convince Liz to let me Buy It Now! So when I picked up the boy's new PC I also got my new video card. Then I spent an hour or so getting everything set up in his room, including making sure Vista was working okay. We wanted the boy to be able to just sit down and turn on his PC and start doing his thing.
Liz attempted to install Age of Empires:Asian Dynasty (one of his favorite games) but she kept getting an error that aborted the install procedure, and she was getting a little pissed off with Vista (ok, even more pissed off than usual. She's not a fan of Vista). She went back to her PC to research AoE & Vista Installation Errors and thought she found the problem. Meanwhile I played with Vista for a few minutes and worked out how to turn off the annoying permissions thing that Vista has turned on by default.
"Hi, it's me, Vista. I know you double-clicked the Install icon on the CD that you just inserted, but I wanted to let you know that the program you're trying run is trying to run, and I just had to ask, do you want me to Allow it to run?"
Yes, if you don't turn that Alert off in the User Settings (I can't remember exactly where I found it, but it wasn't hard to find or turn off) Vista will quite literally ask you every single time you try to run a program if you want to allow that program to run.
With Age of Empires being a Microsoft game I called the MS Games helpline, only to find out they're closed on Sundays, then I looked at the box and discovered the problem.
"Dear!" I called out. "This is the Asian Dynasty expansion! Where's the actual Age of Empires game?"
(It's a good thing MS Games is closed on Sundays :P)
We started to install AoE and Liz started to get a little hot under the collar (again) when AoE informed her it wasn't compatible with Vista. Fortunately AoE lets you continue with the Install (as it bloody well should) so I told Liz to click Continue. I didn't care if AoE wouldn't run under Vista, I just needed it on JE's PC so Asian Dynasty would detect it and complete its own install procedure, which it did. And it looks really sweet at 1440x900 on a widesceen.
*Insert Homer Simpson drooling sound here*
Then I spent another half hour trying to get the Wireless Network card set up, to no avail. So the boy's PC is not on the network and doesn't yet have internet access. I gave up on his PC and settled down to installing my new video card and after a couple of teething problems had it up and running and damn! It looks good! Well, that card itself looks good, but I'd forgotten how good WoW could look with the graphics cranked up. And with 80+ FPS running around Org, no less. Very, very nice.
Afterwards we all got together for dinner to celebrate one of Liz's aunty's 80th birthday. By the time the festivities were over it was past 10pm by the time we got home, and very late by the time the kids were in bed.
* * *
After the kids were in bed I got in a couple more hours of WoW. (Yes, I'm running on less than 4 hours of sleep, but that's somewhat normal for me.) WoW looks so much better with the graphics maxed out like the designers intended :)
I've been leveling a Blood Elf Priest lately (I got my Mage to 61 and figured I'd park him and accrue some rested XP) and I've been having a lot of fun with the Priest, even in a Healer capacity. Healing is usually a very stressful "ZOMG! We wiped! Stupid Priest! L2Healz!" experience but I've got a bit more experience under my belt now than when I last played a Priest. I've also written a couple of Macros to help me out and found one or two tricks that make Healing (at least at a lower level) somewhat easier.
Earlier Sunday I ran Ragefire Chasm with a Rogue and a Warrior. The Rogue was 15, I was 22, and the Warrior was 29. This was actually a good break back into Healing because it reduced the number of Health Bars I needed to watch to three (inc. my own). We cleared almost the entire Instance, and had just one Boss to kill (with a few Mobs between him and us) when the Warrior said "Got to go" and began Hearthing.
I watched incredulous and sure enough, he finished the Hearth and bailed on us. I looked at the Mobs between us and Bazza, the final boss. At most we had a three pull. The Rogue had Sap, I figured we had a decent chance of doing this. So did the Rogue, so we did. It helped that even though the Mobs were Elites, they were 6 levels lower than me. PW:Shield helped, too, as well the wicked Gravestone Scepter Wand for mucho DPS. I ended up Tanking (& Healing :) because I did so much more initial damage than the Rogue that it was impossible for him to pull Aggro off me, or hold it if he had it. We took down Bazza then parted ways.
Later in a cave in Ashenvale I hooked up with a Warlock for an Escort Quest. Right at the end of the quest we got ambushed by several Furbolg, and amazingly we pulled through. I was OOM, down to double-digit HP, and had to quaff a potion just to stay alive, but stay alive we did. Those are the best times, where you're challenged far beyond your normal safe zone, but you still pull through. Those are the moments that really make this game fun.
If I keep playing a Healer I need to steel myself though, it's going to get even tougher until I hit 70...unless I solo all the way. But apparently End-Game Healing is actually easy. We'll see :)
We've been to the LA County Fair and the OC Fair several times over the past few years, and while it may be treason for us to admit it, Liz and I greatly prefer the OC Fair.
The LA County Fair. Kinder? Simpler? Funner? I don't think so.
Hotter. More expensive. Dustier. Yeah, that's more like it.
We rocked up to the OC Fair a little after noon on Friday, shortly after the gates opened. Liz asked the Attendant for Preferred Parking and he said we didn't need it. So we paid $5 for General Parking and parked right next to the Preferred Parking section, which would have cost us $5 more if we'd insisted on paying for it. Parking at the LA County Fair? $10 for General, and $15 for Preferred.
Admission was $24 for all four of us (+$5 for the Bunny if she'd been 5 y/old). For the LA County Fair it would have cost us $36 just to walk in the gate, and $48 if we'd had to pay for the Bunny, plus $15 for Preferred, which we would have paid for.
OC Fair vs LA Fair = $29 vs $51
Round One to OC Fair (2 parents + 2 kids = $34 vs $63 = Ouch!)
Temperature in Costa Mesa in late July? Mid to high 70s. Pleasantly warm.
Temperature in Pomona in early September? High 80s to low 90s. Hot and sticky.
Round Two to OC Fair
The assortment of rides are the same, as it's the same crew at each Fair, but at $1 per ride (for Friday when we went, I have a clever wife who plans these things) versus the $2 or more at LA County Fair. Fuhgeddaboudit!
Round 3 and a unanimous decision to the Orange County Fair!!!
Now in its last week for 2008.
* * *
Saturday after in-laws picked up the kids we just bummed around the house. Liz thought about rearranging the upstairs to accommodate a fourth PC (the Bunny is frequently kicking me off mine so she can visit Noggin.com) and finally realized what a logistical nightmare it was. Despite the fact that I was going to get a big screen TV out of it (as in 45" big) I made Liz see just how much rearranging would need to happen to accomplish what she had in mind. Finally she settled for clearing off the desk in JE's room then went online to pick out a new PC for him.
I was complimenting Fry's but after visiting their own and Best Buy's websites Liz found a good price on a full system at Best Buy, which included a printer and a 17" wide-sceen LCD. Not just your run of the mill LCD but a wide-screen. Oooh! The sale ended midnight Saturday so Liz bought it online as an in-store pickup item, the plan being for me to pick it up the next morning.
Sunday morning I was browsing Best Buy's website when I saw my video card was on sale. Newegg have them cheaper, but there's shipping to factor in, compared to the No Interest plan (for using BB Credit Card) and the points from their Reward Zone, so it wasn't hard to convince Liz to let me Buy It Now! So when I picked up the boy's new PC I also got my new video card. Then I spent an hour or so getting everything set up in his room, including making sure Vista was working okay. We wanted the boy to be able to just sit down and turn on his PC and start doing his thing.
Liz attempted to install Age of Empires:Asian Dynasty (one of his favorite games) but she kept getting an error that aborted the install procedure, and she was getting a little pissed off with Vista (ok, even more pissed off than usual. She's not a fan of Vista). She went back to her PC to research AoE & Vista Installation Errors and thought she found the problem. Meanwhile I played with Vista for a few minutes and worked out how to turn off the annoying permissions thing that Vista has turned on by default.
"Hi, it's me, Vista. I know you double-clicked the Install icon on the CD that you just inserted, but I wanted to let you know that the program you're trying run is trying to run, and I just had to ask, do you want me to Allow it to run?"
Yes, if you don't turn that Alert off in the User Settings (I can't remember exactly where I found it, but it wasn't hard to find or turn off) Vista will quite literally ask you every single time you try to run a program if you want to allow that program to run.
With Age of Empires being a Microsoft game I called the MS Games helpline, only to find out they're closed on Sundays, then I looked at the box and discovered the problem.
"Dear!" I called out. "This is the Asian Dynasty expansion! Where's the actual Age of Empires game?"
(It's a good thing MS Games is closed on Sundays :P)
We started to install AoE and Liz started to get a little hot under the collar (again) when AoE informed her it wasn't compatible with Vista. Fortunately AoE lets you continue with the Install (as it bloody well should) so I told Liz to click Continue. I didn't care if AoE wouldn't run under Vista, I just needed it on JE's PC so Asian Dynasty would detect it and complete its own install procedure, which it did. And it looks really sweet at 1440x900 on a widesceen.
*Insert Homer Simpson drooling sound here*
Then I spent another half hour trying to get the Wireless Network card set up, to no avail. So the boy's PC is not on the network and doesn't yet have internet access. I gave up on his PC and settled down to installing my new video card and after a couple of teething problems had it up and running and damn! It looks good! Well, that card itself looks good, but I'd forgotten how good WoW could look with the graphics cranked up. And with 80+ FPS running around Org, no less. Very, very nice.
Afterwards we all got together for dinner to celebrate one of Liz's aunty's 80th birthday. By the time the festivities were over it was past 10pm by the time we got home, and very late by the time the kids were in bed.
* * *
After the kids were in bed I got in a couple more hours of WoW. (Yes, I'm running on less than 4 hours of sleep, but that's somewhat normal for me.) WoW looks so much better with the graphics maxed out like the designers intended :)
I've been leveling a Blood Elf Priest lately (I got my Mage to 61 and figured I'd park him and accrue some rested XP) and I've been having a lot of fun with the Priest, even in a Healer capacity. Healing is usually a very stressful "ZOMG! We wiped! Stupid Priest! L2Healz!" experience but I've got a bit more experience under my belt now than when I last played a Priest. I've also written a couple of Macros to help me out and found one or two tricks that make Healing (at least at a lower level) somewhat easier.
Earlier Sunday I ran Ragefire Chasm with a Rogue and a Warrior. The Rogue was 15, I was 22, and the Warrior was 29. This was actually a good break back into Healing because it reduced the number of Health Bars I needed to watch to three (inc. my own). We cleared almost the entire Instance, and had just one Boss to kill (with a few Mobs between him and us) when the Warrior said "Got to go" and began Hearthing.
I watched incredulous and sure enough, he finished the Hearth and bailed on us. I looked at the Mobs between us and Bazza, the final boss. At most we had a three pull. The Rogue had Sap, I figured we had a decent chance of doing this. So did the Rogue, so we did. It helped that even though the Mobs were Elites, they were 6 levels lower than me. PW:Shield helped, too, as well the wicked Gravestone Scepter Wand for mucho DPS. I ended up Tanking (& Healing :) because I did so much more initial damage than the Rogue that it was impossible for him to pull Aggro off me, or hold it if he had it. We took down Bazza then parted ways.
Later in a cave in Ashenvale I hooked up with a Warlock for an Escort Quest. Right at the end of the quest we got ambushed by several Furbolg, and amazingly we pulled through. I was OOM, down to double-digit HP, and had to quaff a potion just to stay alive, but stay alive we did. Those are the best times, where you're challenged far beyond your normal safe zone, but you still pull through. Those are the moments that really make this game fun.
If I keep playing a Healer I need to steel myself though, it's going to get even tougher until I hit 70...unless I solo all the way. But apparently End-Game Healing is actually easy. We'll see :)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A new way of questing
The current questing system in most MMOs goes a little like this:
You walk into town and look around and there's usually a visual clue or a sign, perhaps a golden exclamation mark over certain NPC's heads, which says, "Talk to me! I've got a quest!"
So you talk to these specially marked people, click through the page of dialog, then note the objective. "Kill 10 Rats. Ok. Got it." Then you hit Accept and off you go to kill your 10 Rats.
While this system can be very helpful in reducing your downtime, it's not very immersive.
I'd actually like to see a game where not one person has a sign over their head. I want to mouse over everyone and see a Dialog balloon for every, single NPC. I want to be able to talk to every single person in town, if I choose, and they'll all have something to say to me. Sure, not all of them will have a quest, that's asking a bit too much. Some of them might even just say, "Hi, Cap'n. How's it going? Sorry I can't stop to talk. Got to get these cows milked."
But other NPCs might lead into more detailed dialog, as Gordo mentions on his Blog. And these conversations could allude to a potential quest, or even have the quest giver flat out say he needs your help.
Instead of a "Quest Log", I'd like to see a Notes Log, or Journal, where every conversation you have with someone of note would be summarized and recorded. A farmer milking cows is not important to warrant a Note, but a drunk whose son was killed by Bandits certainly would be, and this may result in a Note in your Journal along these lines:
"Spoke to Jenkins in Goldshire. He says his son was recently killed by bandits."
There's no blatantly obvious Objective with this Note. No sign of an "Avenge Jenkins' son by killing 10 Bandits" sort of thing. Just a note that you spoke to Jenkins and discovered his son was killed by bandits.
What you do with the information you get from Jenkins is entirely up to you. But now that you have that Note in your Journal, speaking to Farmer Jed might elicit more than just "Can't stop. Cows to milk."
Farmer Jed now says, "I saw you talkin' to Jenkins earlier. Damn shame about his boy, damn shame. He was a good lad. Blast those bandits, and blast them good fer nothin' Stormwind soldiers. We told 'em them bandits was gettin' bolder. Even told 'em they was camped out by the Fargodeep Mine. They didn't do nothin'. They just hang out at the Northshire Abbey, drinkin' the wine. Bah! Look at the time! These cows won't milk themselves! Excuse me, Cap'n."
Again, no blatant quest objective. No Accept or Decline button. Just an option to say Goodbye and end the conversation.
But if you look in your Journal you'll see the Note for Jenkins has been updated:
"Spoke to Jenkins, in Goldshire, whose son was killed by bandits.
Farmer Jed says the Bandit camp is near the Fargodeep Mine."
Still no objective. Still no "Kill 10 Bandits" quest. But just a little bit of reading comprehension tells you that maybe you should check out the Fargodeep Mine, so you do. If you're not sure where the Fargodeep Mine is, now that Jed's mentioned it, if you talked to him again or to one of the other townsfolk you'll have the option to ask about the Mine and get directions.
So you make your way to the Mine and there are the Bandits and they're naturally not too happy to see you. Several of them attack you but you successfully defend yourself and dispatch all but one of them. As the last Bandit's health gets to 10% (just as an example, it could be when the second-to-last Bandit is killed) your Auto-Attack turns off and the Bandit becomes immune to your attacks. He also stops attacking you (phew!) and instead of an "Attack" icon when you mouse over him you get a Dialog box.
A Dialog box?
So you click and Talk to the Bandit.
"I'm sorry," he says. "Please don't kill me!"
Had you been out here just grinding on the Bandits and not spoken to Jenkins, this wouldn't have happened, instead the Bandits would have all fought to the death. But you've got a Note in your Journal that you spoke to Jenkins, so this scene plays out instead. If you were grouped with someone doing this quest, and you'd spoken to Jenkins but they had not, this scene would have still played out.
"Please don't kill me!" says the Bandit, and the Dialog box provides you with two choices: Interrogate the Bandit, or Finish him!
Clicking "Finish him" puts you back into Combat where the Bandit is quickly dispatched. Searching his body you find An Interesting Dagger, which if you examine will discover it has the letter J carved into the hilt. Checking your Journal you see the reference to Jenkins and the Bandits has again been updated. Now it states that you encountered and slew several Bandits at the Fargodeep Mine, and you found an interesting dagger with a J on the hilt. If you return to old man Jenkins and talk to him you'll have the option to show him the Interesting Dagger. Doing so will "complete" the quest you didn't realize you were on, rewarding you with some XP and the Dagger, which Jenkins returns to you. Spoils of war and all that.
"Now if you'll excuse me," old man Jenkins says, "I'd like to be left alone. Goodbye."
And your Journal gets updated in a manner which shows that this particular story has been completed.
That's if you go the blood thirsty "Show No Mercy!" route.
Clicking "Interrogate the Bandit", however, opens up more dialog (which I can't be bothered creating) but you basically reveal that you're there because of Jenkins and his dead son. The Bandit confesses that he killed Jenkins' son and says if you spare him, he'll turn himself in. Now you have the choice of killing him, or letting him go. Killing him results in the above situation occurring with you finding the Interesting Dagger, blah blah blah. Sparing his life will result in the Bandit running off towards Town. The next time you're in Town the Stormwind Guard stationed there will tell you that Jenkins' son's killer has turned himself in. He'll offer you a reward, which in the interest of fairness will be a monetary amount equivalent to the vendor value of The Interesting Dagger that you didn't get because you didn't kill the Bandit. This will complete the Interrogation side of the quest you didn't know you were on, or maybe you did ;)
Whenever possible, this is how I'd like quests to be done. No looking around for golden exclamation marks. Just talk to everyone. And if a quest appears vague or lacks information, talk to other people. Some NPCs will have quests, of sorts, and some NPCs will offer additional information to help you complete those quests.
If you're a Skinner or Miner (for example), talking to an Armorer or Weaponsmith might result in a response like "Sorry, Cap'n. I'm a little flustered right now. I've got a big order from the Guard and I'm running low on supplies."
Looking in your Journal you see a note stating the local Armorer (or Weaponsmith) is running low on supplies, and perhaps you can be of assistance.
If you hit the forest now and kill some critters and skin them, or go Mining for Ore, your Journal will get updated to reflect this.
"The Goldshire Armorer is having trouble filling a big order. I've got some animal skins he could use, but I think he'll need more."
So you gather more mats and your Journal updates itself, until it reads:
"The Goldshire Armorer is having trouble filling a big order. I think I've got enough animal skins to help him out."
When you return to him you get the same message, "Big order, low on supplies." but now there's an option to offer him the Skins, and doing so naturally completes the quest.
Sure, some people would still just click through every NPC's Dialog then look in their Journal to see what's there, what needs to be done, etc, but with this system the objectives will not always be clearly spelled out for you. It requires reading comprehension.
A quest system like this would help to promote immersion within your gaming world, and really make you feel a part of what's going on. Unfortunately it may not be that popular, because most of today's Instant Gratification Gamers just want to know what to kill, and how many.
Rats? Okay. 10 of them? Consider it done.
Really. How much fun is that?
You walk into town and look around and there's usually a visual clue or a sign, perhaps a golden exclamation mark over certain NPC's heads, which says, "Talk to me! I've got a quest!"
So you talk to these specially marked people, click through the page of dialog, then note the objective. "Kill 10 Rats. Ok. Got it." Then you hit Accept and off you go to kill your 10 Rats.
While this system can be very helpful in reducing your downtime, it's not very immersive.
I'd actually like to see a game where not one person has a sign over their head. I want to mouse over everyone and see a Dialog balloon for every, single NPC. I want to be able to talk to every single person in town, if I choose, and they'll all have something to say to me. Sure, not all of them will have a quest, that's asking a bit too much. Some of them might even just say, "Hi, Cap'n. How's it going? Sorry I can't stop to talk. Got to get these cows milked."
But other NPCs might lead into more detailed dialog, as Gordo mentions on his Blog. And these conversations could allude to a potential quest, or even have the quest giver flat out say he needs your help.
Instead of a "Quest Log", I'd like to see a Notes Log, or Journal, where every conversation you have with someone of note would be summarized and recorded. A farmer milking cows is not important to warrant a Note, but a drunk whose son was killed by Bandits certainly would be, and this may result in a Note in your Journal along these lines:
"Spoke to Jenkins in Goldshire. He says his son was recently killed by bandits."
There's no blatantly obvious Objective with this Note. No sign of an "Avenge Jenkins' son by killing 10 Bandits" sort of thing. Just a note that you spoke to Jenkins and discovered his son was killed by bandits.
What you do with the information you get from Jenkins is entirely up to you. But now that you have that Note in your Journal, speaking to Farmer Jed might elicit more than just "Can't stop. Cows to milk."
Farmer Jed now says, "I saw you talkin' to Jenkins earlier. Damn shame about his boy, damn shame. He was a good lad. Blast those bandits, and blast them good fer nothin' Stormwind soldiers. We told 'em them bandits was gettin' bolder. Even told 'em they was camped out by the Fargodeep Mine. They didn't do nothin'. They just hang out at the Northshire Abbey, drinkin' the wine. Bah! Look at the time! These cows won't milk themselves! Excuse me, Cap'n."
Again, no blatant quest objective. No Accept or Decline button. Just an option to say Goodbye and end the conversation.
But if you look in your Journal you'll see the Note for Jenkins has been updated:
"Spoke to Jenkins, in Goldshire, whose son was killed by bandits.
Farmer Jed says the Bandit camp is near the Fargodeep Mine."
Still no objective. Still no "Kill 10 Bandits" quest. But just a little bit of reading comprehension tells you that maybe you should check out the Fargodeep Mine, so you do. If you're not sure where the Fargodeep Mine is, now that Jed's mentioned it, if you talked to him again or to one of the other townsfolk you'll have the option to ask about the Mine and get directions.
So you make your way to the Mine and there are the Bandits and they're naturally not too happy to see you. Several of them attack you but you successfully defend yourself and dispatch all but one of them. As the last Bandit's health gets to 10% (just as an example, it could be when the second-to-last Bandit is killed) your Auto-Attack turns off and the Bandit becomes immune to your attacks. He also stops attacking you (phew!) and instead of an "Attack" icon when you mouse over him you get a Dialog box.
A Dialog box?
So you click and Talk to the Bandit.
"I'm sorry," he says. "Please don't kill me!"
Had you been out here just grinding on the Bandits and not spoken to Jenkins, this wouldn't have happened, instead the Bandits would have all fought to the death. But you've got a Note in your Journal that you spoke to Jenkins, so this scene plays out instead. If you were grouped with someone doing this quest, and you'd spoken to Jenkins but they had not, this scene would have still played out.
"Please don't kill me!" says the Bandit, and the Dialog box provides you with two choices: Interrogate the Bandit, or Finish him!
Clicking "Finish him" puts you back into Combat where the Bandit is quickly dispatched. Searching his body you find An Interesting Dagger, which if you examine will discover it has the letter J carved into the hilt. Checking your Journal you see the reference to Jenkins and the Bandits has again been updated. Now it states that you encountered and slew several Bandits at the Fargodeep Mine, and you found an interesting dagger with a J on the hilt. If you return to old man Jenkins and talk to him you'll have the option to show him the Interesting Dagger. Doing so will "complete" the quest you didn't realize you were on, rewarding you with some XP and the Dagger, which Jenkins returns to you. Spoils of war and all that.
"Now if you'll excuse me," old man Jenkins says, "I'd like to be left alone. Goodbye."
And your Journal gets updated in a manner which shows that this particular story has been completed.
That's if you go the blood thirsty "Show No Mercy!" route.
Clicking "Interrogate the Bandit", however, opens up more dialog (which I can't be bothered creating) but you basically reveal that you're there because of Jenkins and his dead son. The Bandit confesses that he killed Jenkins' son and says if you spare him, he'll turn himself in. Now you have the choice of killing him, or letting him go. Killing him results in the above situation occurring with you finding the Interesting Dagger, blah blah blah. Sparing his life will result in the Bandit running off towards Town. The next time you're in Town the Stormwind Guard stationed there will tell you that Jenkins' son's killer has turned himself in. He'll offer you a reward, which in the interest of fairness will be a monetary amount equivalent to the vendor value of The Interesting Dagger that you didn't get because you didn't kill the Bandit. This will complete the Interrogation side of the quest you didn't know you were on, or maybe you did ;)
Whenever possible, this is how I'd like quests to be done. No looking around for golden exclamation marks. Just talk to everyone. And if a quest appears vague or lacks information, talk to other people. Some NPCs will have quests, of sorts, and some NPCs will offer additional information to help you complete those quests.
If you're a Skinner or Miner (for example), talking to an Armorer or Weaponsmith might result in a response like "Sorry, Cap'n. I'm a little flustered right now. I've got a big order from the Guard and I'm running low on supplies."
Looking in your Journal you see a note stating the local Armorer (or Weaponsmith) is running low on supplies, and perhaps you can be of assistance.
If you hit the forest now and kill some critters and skin them, or go Mining for Ore, your Journal will get updated to reflect this.
"The Goldshire Armorer is having trouble filling a big order. I've got some animal skins he could use, but I think he'll need more."
So you gather more mats and your Journal updates itself, until it reads:
"The Goldshire Armorer is having trouble filling a big order. I think I've got enough animal skins to help him out."
When you return to him you get the same message, "Big order, low on supplies." but now there's an option to offer him the Skins, and doing so naturally completes the quest.
Sure, some people would still just click through every NPC's Dialog then look in their Journal to see what's there, what needs to be done, etc, but with this system the objectives will not always be clearly spelled out for you. It requires reading comprehension.
A quest system like this would help to promote immersion within your gaming world, and really make you feel a part of what's going on. Unfortunately it may not be that popular, because most of today's Instant Gratification Gamers just want to know what to kill, and how many.
Rats? Okay. 10 of them? Consider it done.
Really. How much fun is that?
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Bartle, WoW, and immersiveness
Richard Bartle (read more on him at Wiki) has drawn a lot of ire lately for comments he made re: the current state of MMOs, specifically one grossly misinterpreted statement that WoW = WHO, or vice versa. I'm not jumping on that bandwagon because so many people already have.
Now either Richard, or someone doing a darn good job of posing as him, is also responding to these threads, and reading what he had to say has opened my eyes a little more to the current state of WoW.
If you recall the screen caps on my earlier post where my video card died, WoW can look amazing if you turn on/up all the graphical options.
But that's just the frosting on the cake. How does it taste?
For a game where I've determined you do little more than a variant of 5 common tasks (Kill 10 Rats; Collect 10 Rat Skulls; Escort someone passed the Rats; Kill the Rat King; or deliver a letter/run an errand) WoW can really suck you in.
As a player, you and I you look around the World of Warcraft and we're blown away by the visuals, by how good the game looks.
As a designer, Richard Bartle can also appreciate the work that went into making the game look as good as it does, but, as a designer, he can also spot the shortcomings.
It's like if we went to a magic show with David Copperfield. I don't mean we went to watch DC perform, I mean we went with him; he sat in the audience with us. Now while we're mesmerized by the on-stage magician's tricks and left wondering how he did what he did, DC is watching and enjoying (or not) the magician's performance for how well he did his job. DC will notice the sleight-of-hand tricks that misdirect the rest of us. He'll see the magician palm the object that to us magically disappeared. If the magician does his job well, DC might even enjoy the show. But if the magician performs poorly, well, I'm not even a professionally trained singer, but I can carry a tune and when someone sings a little off key or misses a note or they do something that's a little off, I can tell, and it interferes with my enjoyment of their performance. So imagine DC watching an alleged professional magician totally balls up his performance. I'm not saying Blizzard screwed up WoW, what I am saying is that they did a fantastic job, but they could have done even better.
When RB and I both did the same thing in-game, that being swim around the entire Eastern Kingdoms continent, we noticed different things. While I was blown away by the coral reefs, the ship wrecks, etc. RB noticed other things, like the absence of fish in some areas. If you swim along a desolate coastline in WoW, such as around the Eastern Kingdoms, in some areas there are absolutely no fish at all. This is because the designers didn't see the need to develop that particular stretch of coastline so they didn't put any fish there, but real fish would have swam there anyway. That they didn't swim there tells RB that every single fish in WoW is placed by hand. Ok, by computer, but their placement is not a random occurrence. The program has spots where fish are meant to be, and if you go outside those areas you won't see any fish because the program was not told to put any there. And RB notices that.
His mention of this has opened my eyes to other, similar, immersion-breaking inconsistencies within WoW.
WoW's local fauna consists of predators and critters. Critters are level 1 passive Mobs such as rats, rabbits, sheep, cows, deer, etc. Predators are your more aggressive Mobs, and are the ones you usually get asked to kill for quests. In WoW, a casual observer will notice a predator leave its path to kill a small critter, such as a rabbit, then return to its path. RB and other designers see this, and see something more. What reason does the predator have to kill the critter? It doesn't eat the critter and it shouldn't feel threatened by it, so why attack it and kill it? The reason is WoW's designers put that particular sequence in there in order to increase the feeling of playing in a real world. But they left out the consumption of the critter and there are very few non-human predators on this planet which kill for reasons other than food.
There are many, similar inconsistencies to this in other areas, such as the Horde's Warsong Lumber Camp in Ashenvale. When you enter the camp you will see armed guards protecting the workers, but from what? It's surely not the Wolves and Spiders wandering around, because in some cases a wolf will wander right past a guard or a worker, and everyone just continues on with their business. Then you enter the scene. The guards and workers ignore you, for as a member of the Horde you're just like them, but as you walk through the camp you get attacked by a Wolf, the very same wolf that just brushed up against a worker! This makes absolutely no sense from an immersion point of view. This is supposed to be a wild animal, it was walking right passed a worker that it had no interest in, but it was more than willing to attack you. If it's going to attack you it should attack the workers and guards. You could argue that when the Horde moved in the guards beat the wolves into submission, but in that case they should either be tame beasts and not attack a member of the same faction, or they should be wild but timid animals afraid to go near the Lumber Mill and its aggressive guards. And why when the Wolf attacks you do the guards not rush to your defense?
In Stranglethorn Vale a Troll Mob can safely walk alongside the crocolisk-filled river, but when you try the same thing the crocs attack. This is the exact same situation as in the Warsong Lumber Mill. Two completely unrelated Mobs ignoring each other but either, or both, is more than willing to attack the player. If the Crocolisk is feeling threatened by the player, or is supposed to be protecting its territory, it should likewise feel threatened by the Troll Mob, but it does not. If it's supposed to be hungry (the primary reason predators attack) then why didn't it attack the Troll Mob, who at a lower level should appear much easier prey to the Croc than yourself.
This is certainly not game breaking for me, in fact for me these things now add even more to the game. Now I'm paying more attention and trying to spot these inconsistencies. Sort of like Easter Eggs in your DVDs, or goofs or glitches, like seeing an actor take a big swig from his beer just before the shot changes, and when the camera returns to him his beer glass is still full. We all find our fun somewhere.
Now either Richard, or someone doing a darn good job of posing as him, is also responding to these threads, and reading what he had to say has opened my eyes a little more to the current state of WoW.
If you recall the screen caps on my earlier post where my video card died, WoW can look amazing if you turn on/up all the graphical options.
But that's just the frosting on the cake. How does it taste?
For a game where I've determined you do little more than a variant of 5 common tasks (Kill 10 Rats; Collect 10 Rat Skulls; Escort someone passed the Rats; Kill the Rat King; or deliver a letter/run an errand) WoW can really suck you in.
As a player, you and I you look around the World of Warcraft and we're blown away by the visuals, by how good the game looks.
As a designer, Richard Bartle can also appreciate the work that went into making the game look as good as it does, but, as a designer, he can also spot the shortcomings.
It's like if we went to a magic show with David Copperfield. I don't mean we went to watch DC perform, I mean we went with him; he sat in the audience with us. Now while we're mesmerized by the on-stage magician's tricks and left wondering how he did what he did, DC is watching and enjoying (or not) the magician's performance for how well he did his job. DC will notice the sleight-of-hand tricks that misdirect the rest of us. He'll see the magician palm the object that to us magically disappeared. If the magician does his job well, DC might even enjoy the show. But if the magician performs poorly, well, I'm not even a professionally trained singer, but I can carry a tune and when someone sings a little off key or misses a note or they do something that's a little off, I can tell, and it interferes with my enjoyment of their performance. So imagine DC watching an alleged professional magician totally balls up his performance. I'm not saying Blizzard screwed up WoW, what I am saying is that they did a fantastic job, but they could have done even better.
When RB and I both did the same thing in-game, that being swim around the entire Eastern Kingdoms continent, we noticed different things. While I was blown away by the coral reefs, the ship wrecks, etc. RB noticed other things, like the absence of fish in some areas. If you swim along a desolate coastline in WoW, such as around the Eastern Kingdoms, in some areas there are absolutely no fish at all. This is because the designers didn't see the need to develop that particular stretch of coastline so they didn't put any fish there, but real fish would have swam there anyway. That they didn't swim there tells RB that every single fish in WoW is placed by hand. Ok, by computer, but their placement is not a random occurrence. The program has spots where fish are meant to be, and if you go outside those areas you won't see any fish because the program was not told to put any there. And RB notices that.
His mention of this has opened my eyes to other, similar, immersion-breaking inconsistencies within WoW.
WoW's local fauna consists of predators and critters. Critters are level 1 passive Mobs such as rats, rabbits, sheep, cows, deer, etc. Predators are your more aggressive Mobs, and are the ones you usually get asked to kill for quests. In WoW, a casual observer will notice a predator leave its path to kill a small critter, such as a rabbit, then return to its path. RB and other designers see this, and see something more. What reason does the predator have to kill the critter? It doesn't eat the critter and it shouldn't feel threatened by it, so why attack it and kill it? The reason is WoW's designers put that particular sequence in there in order to increase the feeling of playing in a real world. But they left out the consumption of the critter and there are very few non-human predators on this planet which kill for reasons other than food.
There are many, similar inconsistencies to this in other areas, such as the Horde's Warsong Lumber Camp in Ashenvale. When you enter the camp you will see armed guards protecting the workers, but from what? It's surely not the Wolves and Spiders wandering around, because in some cases a wolf will wander right past a guard or a worker, and everyone just continues on with their business. Then you enter the scene. The guards and workers ignore you, for as a member of the Horde you're just like them, but as you walk through the camp you get attacked by a Wolf, the very same wolf that just brushed up against a worker! This makes absolutely no sense from an immersion point of view. This is supposed to be a wild animal, it was walking right passed a worker that it had no interest in, but it was more than willing to attack you. If it's going to attack you it should attack the workers and guards. You could argue that when the Horde moved in the guards beat the wolves into submission, but in that case they should either be tame beasts and not attack a member of the same faction, or they should be wild but timid animals afraid to go near the Lumber Mill and its aggressive guards. And why when the Wolf attacks you do the guards not rush to your defense?
In Stranglethorn Vale a Troll Mob can safely walk alongside the crocolisk-filled river, but when you try the same thing the crocs attack. This is the exact same situation as in the Warsong Lumber Mill. Two completely unrelated Mobs ignoring each other but either, or both, is more than willing to attack the player. If the Crocolisk is feeling threatened by the player, or is supposed to be protecting its territory, it should likewise feel threatened by the Troll Mob, but it does not. If it's supposed to be hungry (the primary reason predators attack) then why didn't it attack the Troll Mob, who at a lower level should appear much easier prey to the Croc than yourself.
This is certainly not game breaking for me, in fact for me these things now add even more to the game. Now I'm paying more attention and trying to spot these inconsistencies. Sort of like Easter Eggs in your DVDs, or goofs or glitches, like seeing an actor take a big swig from his beer just before the shot changes, and when the camera returns to him his beer glass is still full. We all find our fun somewhere.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Trash Talk = Poor Sportsmanship
I don't get the BGs sometimes. People will /spit /rude /lol you when they kill you, as if there was some personal vendetta between the two of you.
Or you kill someone so they come back for revenge and you kill them again, so they grab 3 friends, come back & destroy you, then /spit /lol on you as you get crushed into the dirt.
If I have a really good fight with another player and it's obvious I've been outclassed and am about to die, I will try to get off a /bow or /salute before I take a dirt nap, unless I see them /lol at me first, then forget it. Respect is a two-way street.
In Hellfire Peninsula while working on the PvP quests I once died to a Tauren Druid, several times. But I kept coming back and trying again. The final fight between us went on for quite some time as I kited him around the Tower, Freeze Trapping him (when it was up) to get some distance, Bandaging when I could, and it was a long, drawn out affair that still eventually resulted in my death. After that final death I let my PvP Flag wear off, Rez'd, and /saluted the Druid and he /saluted me right back. Through the limited communication offered by simple emotes we gave each other the respect we felt the other deserved. Then he did a /scare emote, and I'm not sure if it was meant to imply that I was scared of him (for waiting out my PvP flag while dead), but the emote came out that he was scared of me. I laughed and returned the /scared emote right back at him. Hell yeah, you scare me. You're a damn good player who knows his class! Well played, sir!
/spit? /rude?
Hell NO! This was a more-than-worthy opponent who'd earned my respect.
I recall one of the FPS games (either Unreal Tournament or Quake Arena) allowed you to taunt a fallen foe. When killing another player's avatar isn't enough, there's always post-mortem ridicule; it's Trash Talking to the extreme.
At my former place of employment we used to have a Foosball Table. I was pretty good at it and was one of the top players in the office. There was only one guy who was better than me, and it wasn't that he was a better player because we were about evenly matched. What he was better at, in fact what he did that gave him the edge, as did most of the other Foosball Players (with the exception of yours truly) was Trash Talked during the game. I hate Trash Talk, and it probably showed, and it did what my opponent intended; It got in my head, threw me off my game, and helped my opponent win.
I've posted before on what I consider poor sportsmanship: Pitchers deliberately walking a known power hitter; Quarterbacks taking a knee to run down the clock; Deliberately fouling a player because he can't shoot Free Throws. It's all within the rules, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's fair. Outplay the other team, yes, but to use the rules to deny your opponent any chance of winning? How can that be fair? And if it's not fair, it's poor sportsmanship.
JE has finally finished his second season of baseball. The difference between T-Ball and Prep Baseball is amazing, and horrific. T-Ball was all about having fun. Prep Baseball was supposed to be, too, and for the most part it was. The kids would cheer each other on, some teams would cheer louder, our kids were less enthusiastic than most. The kids on one team in particular would cheer loudly for their batters, right from the start of the innings, and they wouldn't let up until the 3rd Out. It was then, when they took to the field, that it got ugly; that's when they'd stop cheering for each other and start heckling our batters.
These were 7 and 8-year old kids, ridiculing each other; behavior which seemed not only tolerated by their coach, but encouraged. When the ugliness starts that early it gets deep inside and takes root, and the chances of dislodging it later are very slim.
I spoke to our Head Coach about it, saying I understood it was part of the game, but how I didn't agree with it. I said that as Assistant Coach I didn't think it was my part to say anything to the other team's Coach, but perhaps if he, as our Head Coach, could speak to them...
Coach looked at me and smiled sadly, and informed me that the other team's Coach was the man in charge of our League.
I see. Kind of nothing we can do then, is there. We continued with the game, and the other team continued heckling our kids. Very sad.
You can argue that the kids are only going to encounter this later anyway, so why not get them used to it at an early age, but I ask why should they have to encounter it later. Why does there need to be Trash Talk? Your argument is it's a skill/technique that lets you get inside your opponent's head and throw him off his game. I'd argue that insulting someone (or their mom) is not skillful, it's just rude and disrespectful. It takes no skill and shows a distinct lack of class.
If we stopped our little ones from trash talking and moved on up the ranks, cutting it out where ever we encountered it, then eventually there would be no trash talking, and we'd just have two teams relying on their skills and teamwork to defeat the other. We do everything we can to encourage our youngsters to participate in sports. We tell them it's not if they win or lose, we just want them to have fun. Meanwhile there are other parents who think "Cheat to win" is a perfectly good slogan. But this is not war, or a matter of life & death, where I wouldn't hesitate to shoot you in the back or run over you with a Tank; this is Baseball. It's a sport, and the natural compliment to sport is good sportsmanship. Unfortunately it looks like that baby got thrown out with the bath water.
Or you kill someone so they come back for revenge and you kill them again, so they grab 3 friends, come back & destroy you, then /spit /lol on you as you get crushed into the dirt.
If I have a really good fight with another player and it's obvious I've been outclassed and am about to die, I will try to get off a /bow or /salute before I take a dirt nap, unless I see them /lol at me first, then forget it. Respect is a two-way street.
In Hellfire Peninsula while working on the PvP quests I once died to a Tauren Druid, several times. But I kept coming back and trying again. The final fight between us went on for quite some time as I kited him around the Tower, Freeze Trapping him (when it was up) to get some distance, Bandaging when I could, and it was a long, drawn out affair that still eventually resulted in my death. After that final death I let my PvP Flag wear off, Rez'd, and /saluted the Druid and he /saluted me right back. Through the limited communication offered by simple emotes we gave each other the respect we felt the other deserved. Then he did a /scare emote, and I'm not sure if it was meant to imply that I was scared of him (for waiting out my PvP flag while dead), but the emote came out that he was scared of me. I laughed and returned the /scared emote right back at him. Hell yeah, you scare me. You're a damn good player who knows his class! Well played, sir!
/spit? /rude?
Hell NO! This was a more-than-worthy opponent who'd earned my respect.
I recall one of the FPS games (either Unreal Tournament or Quake Arena) allowed you to taunt a fallen foe. When killing another player's avatar isn't enough, there's always post-mortem ridicule; it's Trash Talking to the extreme.
At my former place of employment we used to have a Foosball Table. I was pretty good at it and was one of the top players in the office. There was only one guy who was better than me, and it wasn't that he was a better player because we were about evenly matched. What he was better at, in fact what he did that gave him the edge, as did most of the other Foosball Players (with the exception of yours truly) was Trash Talked during the game. I hate Trash Talk, and it probably showed, and it did what my opponent intended; It got in my head, threw me off my game, and helped my opponent win.
I've posted before on what I consider poor sportsmanship: Pitchers deliberately walking a known power hitter; Quarterbacks taking a knee to run down the clock; Deliberately fouling a player because he can't shoot Free Throws. It's all within the rules, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's fair. Outplay the other team, yes, but to use the rules to deny your opponent any chance of winning? How can that be fair? And if it's not fair, it's poor sportsmanship.
JE has finally finished his second season of baseball. The difference between T-Ball and Prep Baseball is amazing, and horrific. T-Ball was all about having fun. Prep Baseball was supposed to be, too, and for the most part it was. The kids would cheer each other on, some teams would cheer louder, our kids were less enthusiastic than most. The kids on one team in particular would cheer loudly for their batters, right from the start of the innings, and they wouldn't let up until the 3rd Out. It was then, when they took to the field, that it got ugly; that's when they'd stop cheering for each other and start heckling our batters.
These were 7 and 8-year old kids, ridiculing each other; behavior which seemed not only tolerated by their coach, but encouraged. When the ugliness starts that early it gets deep inside and takes root, and the chances of dislodging it later are very slim.
I spoke to our Head Coach about it, saying I understood it was part of the game, but how I didn't agree with it. I said that as Assistant Coach I didn't think it was my part to say anything to the other team's Coach, but perhaps if he, as our Head Coach, could speak to them...
Coach looked at me and smiled sadly, and informed me that the other team's Coach was the man in charge of our League.
I see. Kind of nothing we can do then, is there. We continued with the game, and the other team continued heckling our kids. Very sad.
You can argue that the kids are only going to encounter this later anyway, so why not get them used to it at an early age, but I ask why should they have to encounter it later. Why does there need to be Trash Talk? Your argument is it's a skill/technique that lets you get inside your opponent's head and throw him off his game. I'd argue that insulting someone (or their mom) is not skillful, it's just rude and disrespectful. It takes no skill and shows a distinct lack of class.
If we stopped our little ones from trash talking and moved on up the ranks, cutting it out where ever we encountered it, then eventually there would be no trash talking, and we'd just have two teams relying on their skills and teamwork to defeat the other. We do everything we can to encourage our youngsters to participate in sports. We tell them it's not if they win or lose, we just want them to have fun. Meanwhile there are other parents who think "Cheat to win" is a perfectly good slogan. But this is not war, or a matter of life & death, where I wouldn't hesitate to shoot you in the back or run over you with a Tank; this is Baseball. It's a sport, and the natural compliment to sport is good sportsmanship. Unfortunately it looks like that baby got thrown out with the bath water.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Most ridiculous quest...ever!
There are some ridiculous quests in WoW but I think I've got the winner here with: The Kurken is Lurkin'.
On Azuremyst Isle, the Dranei starting area, Furbolg High Chief Stillpine sends you into Stillpine Hold to search for clues as to why the Wildkin have turned on the Furbolg, their former allies, and driven them from their home.
Deep within the hold you find a large, blood red crystal guarded by the Kurkin, a two-headed Cerberus-like beast. Slaying the Kurkin you examine the Blood Crystal, completing the Chief's quest and getting a second quest to report back to him.
When you get back outside the hold and give your report to High Chief Stillpine you notice that one of the Chief's Lieutenants, Kurz the Revelator, now has a quest for you, so you head over to Kurz to find out what he wants you to do.
And what he wants you to do is what you've just done. Kill the Kurkin and bring him its hide.
* * * * *
You: You do realize that in order to complete the Chief's quest I had to kill the Kurkin, right?
Kurz: Yes, but I need you to kill it again.
You: But, I just killed it.
Kurz: But I need you to kill it and bring back its hide!
You: I see. So, why didn't you ask me to kill the Kurkin and bring back its hide before I went into the cave for the Chief?
Kurz: Because you had to explore the cave for the Chief and examine the crystal before I could send you into the cave to kill the Kurkin.
You: But the Kurkin was guarding the crystal! There was no way to examine the crystal without slaying the beast! And now, you want me to go back into the cave, and kill the Kurkin, again?
Kurz: Yes.
You: Son of a bitch!
Kurz: . . .
You (sighing): I'll be right back.
* * * * *
The quest line really is that ridiculous. You get a quest to enter a cave and examine a crystal hidden deep inside, but to examine the crystal you have to kill the Mob guarding it. There is a quest to kill the Mob, but you can't get that quest without doing the prerequisite quest, which is to examine the crystal. So before you can get the quest to kill the Kurkin, you have to kill the Kurkin.
I think it might have been one of WAR's podcasts where the designer was talking about intuitive quests. The opposite of an intuitive quest would be one where you fight your way through a dozen wolves to get to a besieged quest giver, who tells you "The wolves are a real problem around here. Could you kill 10 of them for me?"
You: Did you not notice that I killed a dozen wolves just to get to you?
Him: Yes, but they didn't count; I hadn't given you the quest. I need you to kill 10 more.
You (sighing): I'll be right back.
In Elwynn Forest there are Kobolds which drop Candles and Gold Dust, but the only time they drop those Candles and Gold Dust are when you're on the quests to gather them. Of course it could be argued that they do drop them but you don't collect them, and I say, "Why the hell not???" We pick up all their other useless crap. Why can't they drop the quest items when you're not on the quest? You're out killing Kobolds filling your packs with crap, and when you head back into town a villager says, "Ha-hey! I see you've got a bunch of Kobold candles there! I'll give you 50 silver pieces for all those candles."
And you go, "Wha? Huh? I mean, sure. Here's your 10 candles. Thanks a lot."
Or you're out killing wolves, and with wolves being wolves, you've gone and filled your packs with wolf tails, or pelts, or whatever. You head into town and one of the locals says "Ha-hey! I'll give you 25 silver for those wolf tails!"
You quickly check the vendor price...10 wolf tails, 50-copper each, he's offering 25 silver, five times market value. "Sure! Here's your wolf parts!" Ka-ching. Silver, and XP to boot! Bonus!
Apparently this is how quests used to be (pre-WoW), and what tended to happen was people would go out, kill a ton of Mobs and collect their sticky bits, then do some research on Teh Interwebz and see if any NPCs were willing to reward players for collecting Goblin scrotums. Ha-hey! Here's a guy who'll pay a shiny gold piece for a dozen scrotums! Awesome!
So instead of players seeking out quests to do then going out and slaying a bunch of Mobs, they'd do all their killing first, fill their packs with monster bits, then see if anyone would be willing to reward them. In both cases players would get rewarded for doing the same thing; Killing goblins and collecting their scrotums. But in one scenario we can't collect goblin scrotums until Ima Pervert tells us he wants them and then we collect just enough for Ima and no more, while in the other more logical scenario we collect goblin scrotums (don't ask me why. I don't know. I don't want to know!) until we have scrotums coming out our ears and our packs are full of them then we head into the nearest town where we find every man and his dog wants a goblin scrotum or two. Perhaps to make a handy coin purse or some other kitschy souvenir for the visiting tourists. Who knows? I already said I didn't.
What I do know is that it doesn't make sense for Mobs to only drop Quest items when you're on the quest to collect those items.
And it really doesn't make sense to send me into a cave to kill a Mob when I've just come out of that very same cave covered in that exact mob's blood. That makes no sense at all.
On Azuremyst Isle, the Dranei starting area, Furbolg High Chief Stillpine sends you into Stillpine Hold to search for clues as to why the Wildkin have turned on the Furbolg, their former allies, and driven them from their home.
Deep within the hold you find a large, blood red crystal guarded by the Kurkin, a two-headed Cerberus-like beast. Slaying the Kurkin you examine the Blood Crystal, completing the Chief's quest and getting a second quest to report back to him.
When you get back outside the hold and give your report to High Chief Stillpine you notice that one of the Chief's Lieutenants, Kurz the Revelator, now has a quest for you, so you head over to Kurz to find out what he wants you to do.
And what he wants you to do is what you've just done. Kill the Kurkin and bring him its hide.
* * * * *
You: You do realize that in order to complete the Chief's quest I had to kill the Kurkin, right?
Kurz: Yes, but I need you to kill it again.
You: But, I just killed it.
Kurz: But I need you to kill it and bring back its hide!
You: I see. So, why didn't you ask me to kill the Kurkin and bring back its hide before I went into the cave for the Chief?
Kurz: Because you had to explore the cave for the Chief and examine the crystal before I could send you into the cave to kill the Kurkin.
You: But the Kurkin was guarding the crystal! There was no way to examine the crystal without slaying the beast! And now, you want me to go back into the cave, and kill the Kurkin, again?
Kurz: Yes.
You: Son of a bitch!
Kurz: . . .
You (sighing): I'll be right back.
* * * * *
The quest line really is that ridiculous. You get a quest to enter a cave and examine a crystal hidden deep inside, but to examine the crystal you have to kill the Mob guarding it. There is a quest to kill the Mob, but you can't get that quest without doing the prerequisite quest, which is to examine the crystal. So before you can get the quest to kill the Kurkin, you have to kill the Kurkin.
I think it might have been one of WAR's podcasts where the designer was talking about intuitive quests. The opposite of an intuitive quest would be one where you fight your way through a dozen wolves to get to a besieged quest giver, who tells you "The wolves are a real problem around here. Could you kill 10 of them for me?"
You: Did you not notice that I killed a dozen wolves just to get to you?
Him: Yes, but they didn't count; I hadn't given you the quest. I need you to kill 10 more.
You (sighing): I'll be right back.
In Elwynn Forest there are Kobolds which drop Candles and Gold Dust, but the only time they drop those Candles and Gold Dust are when you're on the quests to gather them. Of course it could be argued that they do drop them but you don't collect them, and I say, "Why the hell not???" We pick up all their other useless crap. Why can't they drop the quest items when you're not on the quest? You're out killing Kobolds filling your packs with crap, and when you head back into town a villager says, "Ha-hey! I see you've got a bunch of Kobold candles there! I'll give you 50 silver pieces for all those candles."
And you go, "Wha? Huh? I mean, sure. Here's your 10 candles. Thanks a lot."
Or you're out killing wolves, and with wolves being wolves, you've gone and filled your packs with wolf tails, or pelts, or whatever. You head into town and one of the locals says "Ha-hey! I'll give you 25 silver for those wolf tails!"
You quickly check the vendor price...10 wolf tails, 50-copper each, he's offering 25 silver, five times market value. "Sure! Here's your wolf parts!" Ka-ching. Silver, and XP to boot! Bonus!
Apparently this is how quests used to be (pre-WoW), and what tended to happen was people would go out, kill a ton of Mobs and collect their sticky bits, then do some research on Teh Interwebz and see if any NPCs were willing to reward players for collecting Goblin scrotums. Ha-hey! Here's a guy who'll pay a shiny gold piece for a dozen scrotums! Awesome!
So instead of players seeking out quests to do then going out and slaying a bunch of Mobs, they'd do all their killing first, fill their packs with monster bits, then see if anyone would be willing to reward them. In both cases players would get rewarded for doing the same thing; Killing goblins and collecting their scrotums. But in one scenario we can't collect goblin scrotums until Ima Pervert tells us he wants them and then we collect just enough for Ima and no more, while in the other more logical scenario we collect goblin scrotums (don't ask me why. I don't know. I don't want to know!) until we have scrotums coming out our ears and our packs are full of them then we head into the nearest town where we find every man and his dog wants a goblin scrotum or two. Perhaps to make a handy coin purse or some other kitschy souvenir for the visiting tourists. Who knows? I already said I didn't.
What I do know is that it doesn't make sense for Mobs to only drop Quest items when you're on the quest to collect those items.
And it really doesn't make sense to send me into a cave to kill a Mob when I've just come out of that very same cave covered in that exact mob's blood. That makes no sense at all.
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