My main role is that of tank, specifically protection warrior. I levelled up as one, took a secondary spec as Arms as that was the least loved PvE spec there was in warrior specs and stuck with it.
4.0.1 brought many changes with it. Most meaningful for me was the fact that the button mashing and responsiveness of the action buttons was replaced with skill queues and much slower paced, cooldown based gamestyle. I'm still fighting to be patient enough to wait for the skills to be ready, and usually end up banging the same skill twice due to queuing.
The whole issue I have with the current, slowed down action system is that of learning the new pace of play. In addition to this the AoE threat generation of protection warriors was lowered to almost non-existing, meaning that in multi-mob pull the over effective ranged DPS will steal one or more mobs from the tank even in the best case scenario. The only guidance I can give is to let them have it, as in 5 man heroics the DPS will kill any normal mob fast enough to survive the onslaught. The tanks responsibility in multi-mob pulls is to protect the healer nowadays, instead of protecting the whole group as it was before the 4.0.1.
With single target threat there is no such thing as aggro problem. Really. Shield Slam and Revenge take care of the needed aggro and if you take care and push that Heroic Strike there as your rage dump, you will fly high above even the most aggressive ranged DPS there is.
Mainly because of that sluggish feel to the protection play I have recently been playing as Arms dps. Granted, my DPS gear is lousy, mainly quest blues and a couple of lv200 purples to shine it with, but still there is some nice DPS to give in the encounters. Seldom I sit at the bottom of the DPS meter after a heroic, just above the healer (that happens, too, but then the rest of the group is in tier10+ and even the tank delivers outrageous 5k+ damage). On the average the DPS goes in the range of 3.3-3.5k depending on the heroic: the more there are multi-mob pulls, the lower it goes as there are not too many area DPS options open for us. On the other hand, in single target boss fights I can easily go above 4k as the Execute still brings in nice crits when the mob is below 25% of it's health.
And as Arms I very seldom see the sluggish feel take away the fun from the play.
Arms as a tree is a peculiar one. You have distinct separation of PvE and PvP talents in the tree, some of which are not at all useful in the other role. I can see several of the talents I passed work extremely effectively in PvP, but have no use in PvE encounters. Then again, either way, the build is very, very easy to come up with, even without any EJ originating number crunching.
Strenght is still the main stat to go for, as long as you take care of the cap values in Hit, Crit and Haste, in that order. For hit the cap is 263, still, and anything above that is a waste (Correction: The current hit cap for melee is 8% which equals 246 hit rating. That 263 was the base before 4.0.1., adjusted by talents.). I think the cap for Crit is around 70%, so as much as you can muster is best and the same with haste. As long as you keep strength a the primary focus on gemming, you should be doing great, really.
At least that's been my philosophy, and so far it has served me well.
All in all, even though I've seen Fury warrior in 5 man heroic delivering above 11k DPS, I can say that Arms is a valid, but not as shining DPS spec. Like before, Arms will not rule the DPS meters, but will deliver without a fail.
The overall impression of these warrior specs for me is that the slower pace requires a lot of practise and slowing down properly requires that your computer can handle the game at reasonable frame rate during the combat. The queuing will ruin your day if you lag, but as a plate wearer, the result shouldn't be catastrophic unless the boss hits unexpectedly hard.
Warriors are definitely the crop of the earth: not necessarily the best of all classes for their selected roles, but best in what they do, and most definitely the steadiest and sturdiest of them all. We are the cannonfodder and the ones who stand last: not something any other class can say.
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Showing posts with label warrior. Show all posts
Showing posts with label warrior. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Monday, December 14, 2009
Hits and blunders (YAWP)
LFD is a wonderfull tool, which connects total strangers across the battleground to fight either select or -more often- completely random Wrath of the Lich King dungeon. It works like a clockwork, is simple, fast and very entertaining, most of the time.
And with that prelude I'm off to my weekend.
All well and fine in the world of Azeroth. I met both exceptionally working groups as well as one or two obnoxiously intolerable dps divas, mainly from the DK persuasion: I wonder if DK's have somehow replaced the most obnoxious group of all times -that being the Huntards- as the most self-centered players in the game? Then again, lets not let the few rotten apples to spoil the whole basket: there were also excellent DK's with whom I ran the Random Dungeons. Too bad they were guildies, but what can you expect? :P
The total anonymity of the LFD tool is yet to surface, for people are very polite and nice to each other. Only in few of the random groups I found people eager to chat, the most vocal was this one mage who's main phrase was "gogogogogo" after any and all encounters. But then again, that run through Drak'Tharon was very smooth and fast.
There are few annoying things about the LFD tool, too. The first, which started to pick me the first time I ran it, is the fact that a) you can be 'denied' from a group before it launches and b) of someone declines the group invite for a reason or another the whole group is returned to the queue. The first one I cannot explain because I haven't tried to be a leader yet, but the second is annoying example on how dumb the piece of program is. It makes a selection from the set population, but cannot make a reserve list from which to amend if any of the individuals rejects the invitation. Probably this can -and hopefully will- be tweaked in latter versions.
One nice thing, though, for the DPS classes over there. As I grouped with a guildie, a DK, we got a random group running within seconds. So in a way he was riding along with me being a tank and in constant need from the system. All in all, it pays to stick with a tank in this sense, too. As we found out, we saved each other's butts more than once, and the groups we ran from wipe more than once. Imagine that tank and DPS save the day after a triggerhappy paladin -the healer- decides to tank a miniboss and few adds... It was fun and furious and all the cooldowns were used, but we prevailed. And were the only ones alive when the dust settled.
The only thing that didn't go as well as I thought was the finale of the weekend, in which I decided to go with guildies into the IC hc 5mans chain. Forge of Souls was a blast and went so fast I didn't even know what happened. Really, I had to ask before we entered the portal to Pit of Saron what just happened. I was just keeping the mobs and bosses on me and trying to keep them hitting me, mostly without a problem. Old rules of not standing in anything and avoiding the blasts applied, FoS was surprisingly easy. For the group, that is.
Pit of Saron was something else, though. At least for me, as I have this problem with moving and tanking at the same time. Add to that multiple mobs and I'm having really hard time.
Forgemaster Garfrost was already somewhat hard on us, as the healer got eaten alive by the cold stacking on him on the first try. This was the first wipe in the whole run, but not the last... sadly.
Ick was the second, and I'm not sure as of yet, why. Maybe it was me, not moving the boss enough to help the dps to be in a spot without the toxic sludge, or something, because on the second run it went smoothly. The ramp up to the passageway proved to be problematic. My computer had frozen earlier due to some UI issue, but now I got DC'd. Luckily before a pull, but never the less. Something's wrong with my 'puter, as this wasn't the first nor the last case of freezes and odd behaviour. But up we went to the Scourgelord Tyrannus.
Which was the wipefest. First pull: I didn't know what hit me, but it hit well over 17k overkill. Second pull: it hit even faster and harder. Third pull: my screen froze just as Tyrannus jumped off of his mount. I came back to witness a wipe.
So. It left a very sour taste in my mouth.
Things to be happy about. New shiny shoulders for Laiskajaakko: it cost 45 Triumphs, but was worth it. Pupunen left Outlands and is now capable of Cold Weather Flight in Northrend: she'll next start running the random dungeons, too.
To do: find a good DPS gear set for Laiskajaakko's Arms build. He's lacking a decent dps set for runs in which the tank is better, which are usually guild runs. But it would be nice to see the instances from the dps point of view and to see how other tanks do the job, especially in the instances I have trouble with mobs.
All in all, a good solid weekend of fun.
How about yours?
And with that prelude I'm off to my weekend.
All well and fine in the world of Azeroth. I met both exceptionally working groups as well as one or two obnoxiously intolerable dps divas, mainly from the DK persuasion: I wonder if DK's have somehow replaced the most obnoxious group of all times -that being the Huntards- as the most self-centered players in the game? Then again, lets not let the few rotten apples to spoil the whole basket: there were also excellent DK's with whom I ran the Random Dungeons. Too bad they were guildies, but what can you expect? :P
The total anonymity of the LFD tool is yet to surface, for people are very polite and nice to each other. Only in few of the random groups I found people eager to chat, the most vocal was this one mage who's main phrase was "gogogogogo" after any and all encounters. But then again, that run through Drak'Tharon was very smooth and fast.
There are few annoying things about the LFD tool, too. The first, which started to pick me the first time I ran it, is the fact that a) you can be 'denied' from a group before it launches and b) of someone declines the group invite for a reason or another the whole group is returned to the queue. The first one I cannot explain because I haven't tried to be a leader yet, but the second is annoying example on how dumb the piece of program is. It makes a selection from the set population, but cannot make a reserve list from which to amend if any of the individuals rejects the invitation. Probably this can -and hopefully will- be tweaked in latter versions.
One nice thing, though, for the DPS classes over there. As I grouped with a guildie, a DK, we got a random group running within seconds. So in a way he was riding along with me being a tank and in constant need from the system. All in all, it pays to stick with a tank in this sense, too. As we found out, we saved each other's butts more than once, and the groups we ran from wipe more than once. Imagine that tank and DPS save the day after a triggerhappy paladin -the healer- decides to tank a miniboss and few adds... It was fun and furious and all the cooldowns were used, but we prevailed. And were the only ones alive when the dust settled.
The only thing that didn't go as well as I thought was the finale of the weekend, in which I decided to go with guildies into the IC hc 5mans chain. Forge of Souls was a blast and went so fast I didn't even know what happened. Really, I had to ask before we entered the portal to Pit of Saron what just happened. I was just keeping the mobs and bosses on me and trying to keep them hitting me, mostly without a problem. Old rules of not standing in anything and avoiding the blasts applied, FoS was surprisingly easy. For the group, that is.
Pit of Saron was something else, though. At least for me, as I have this problem with moving and tanking at the same time. Add to that multiple mobs and I'm having really hard time.
Forgemaster Garfrost was already somewhat hard on us, as the healer got eaten alive by the cold stacking on him on the first try. This was the first wipe in the whole run, but not the last... sadly.
Ick was the second, and I'm not sure as of yet, why. Maybe it was me, not moving the boss enough to help the dps to be in a spot without the toxic sludge, or something, because on the second run it went smoothly. The ramp up to the passageway proved to be problematic. My computer had frozen earlier due to some UI issue, but now I got DC'd. Luckily before a pull, but never the less. Something's wrong with my 'puter, as this wasn't the first nor the last case of freezes and odd behaviour. But up we went to the Scourgelord Tyrannus.
Which was the wipefest. First pull: I didn't know what hit me, but it hit well over 17k overkill. Second pull: it hit even faster and harder. Third pull: my screen froze just as Tyrannus jumped off of his mount. I came back to witness a wipe.
So. It left a very sour taste in my mouth.
Things to be happy about. New shiny shoulders for Laiskajaakko: it cost 45 Triumphs, but was worth it. Pupunen left Outlands and is now capable of Cold Weather Flight in Northrend: she'll next start running the random dungeons, too.
To do: find a good DPS gear set for Laiskajaakko's Arms build. He's lacking a decent dps set for runs in which the tank is better, which are usually guild runs. But it would be nice to see the instances from the dps point of view and to see how other tanks do the job, especially in the instances I have trouble with mobs.
All in all, a good solid weekend of fun.
How about yours?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The world has run out of tanks
As a matter of fact, the quote was "Jesus Christ, the world has run out of tanks!", and it was from Dalaran /trade channel on Sunday. It was one of those instances I almost responded that "no, the ones available just are not good enough for you", but decided to silence myself.
The next two lines came almost immediately after the first one. "LF 1 tank 1 healer TOC10 normal. Must have gear, experience and DBM.", and last "Tank LF guild doing lots of HC's".
I had to rub my eyes and post these to the guild channel. Caused a silence for a while, only a lol to the first one.
Jesus Christ, the world has run out of tanks!
LF 1 tank 1 healer TOC10 normal. Must have gear, experience and DBM
Tank LF guild doing lots of HC's
What a combination showing the appreciation for tanks. Out of tanks I just commented about: the ones who are available in /trade or LFG tool are not geared enough to cut the need of the 'free market'. The LF TOC10 shows the reason why: the requirements for the free tanks are high (free market tank for TOC10 man? Sure). And the third is the desperation of such a tank to get good enough gear to enter either raiding or fulfill the free market requirements.
And because no tank is masochist enough to be only a freebooter, they are most certainly in a guild and doing their best in a controlled environment rather than PUGging the free market dailies or requests.
Like it's been commented all over the blogosphere, the most crucial parts of a 5 man group are the healer and tank: if the healer is inadequate, the tank will die, causing a wipe. If the tank is inadequate, the healer will die, causing a wipe. But what brings imbalance to this is the fact that not all tanks or dps are equal: hybrids can ease the pain of the healer if they want to, healing whenever the urgency calls. Druids and paladins can do it for themselves and others, DK's to themselves. So the crucial part of a party is the tank, and the worst cards are in the hand of the warrior tank.
Warrior tank is a damage sucking toolbox of interrupt utilities. Enraged regeneration is a once in a fight cooldown heal which is actually the panic button when everything else fails. Warrior tanks cannot heal others, they are best in sucking the damage and staying put.
So why the heck is it so hard for a warrior tank to come up with a group? Because the first question that you encounter is "What is your def?" or "How much HP?". And if they are below what is considered good, you're out and some other class get's the spot due to their other abilities. As if the HP matters if your def is too low...
People are so fixed with the idea that a tank must have 540 def at the cap. It's not so: 535 is the cap in heroics, in normal even this is too much! And the progression is normal 5 man, heroic 5 man, others, I think. Now ToC 5 has ruined the progression and everyone and their cousins are 'farming ToC' and even to the normal 5 man Trial of the Champion they request def cap!
Players at the cap have confused the actual requirements for the game with the requirements of the highest level of the game, raiding. Due to the fact that people are always seeking the route of least resistance, they are looking for the easy way to the best gear.
Example: Laiskajaakko has tanked ToC5, successfully. In one group the healer somehow 'forgot' to heal, or was himself inadequately geared and the group wiped. Who was to blame? The tank as he didn't have proper gems (mind you, I had all +STA gems then and 512 def, no problem). The next wipe with inadequate heals: The tank was lacking aggro (generated steady (!) 3.5k all the time, the first dps came around 1.5k...) and so on. I left the group after the Black Knight fell and didn't get a single piece of gear. Maybe some experience on dealing with poor PUG's but that's all.
That was just the tip of an iceberg: Gundrak. Normal instance, first pull. Laiskajaakko was the only capped toon in, charged to the first three snakes. In comes the hunter's pet -bear- and pulls two of the three. Being on aggressive, this bear starts to follow the retreating mobs and pulls several adds. Which I get to keep from the squishies.
Wipe.
The result of the wtf round was that even though the hunter's pet pulled the aggro, it was tank who's fault the wipe was. Round two. The hunter enters the instance and his pet aggroes immedieately. Tanks fault.
I quit the group there.
Tanks are always to blame. Is it any wonder there are no tanks to run instances out of the guild runs?
Guild run: good clean run with everyone looking for their own performance and how to proceed best. No name calling, no bickering, all good advice and learning for the newcomer. And in 5-mans, both normal and heroic, a clean pass even with a slacker like me. No wipes, no regrets.
Would you change that to the PUG abuse?
The next two lines came almost immediately after the first one. "LF 1 tank 1 healer TOC10 normal. Must have gear, experience and DBM.", and last "Tank LF guild doing lots of HC's".
I had to rub my eyes and post these to the guild channel. Caused a silence for a while, only a lol to the first one.
Jesus Christ, the world has run out of tanks!
LF 1 tank 1 healer TOC10 normal. Must have gear, experience and DBM
Tank LF guild doing lots of HC's
What a combination showing the appreciation for tanks. Out of tanks I just commented about: the ones who are available in /trade or LFG tool are not geared enough to cut the need of the 'free market'. The LF TOC10 shows the reason why: the requirements for the free tanks are high (free market tank for TOC10 man? Sure). And the third is the desperation of such a tank to get good enough gear to enter either raiding or fulfill the free market requirements.
And because no tank is masochist enough to be only a freebooter, they are most certainly in a guild and doing their best in a controlled environment rather than PUGging the free market dailies or requests.
Like it's been commented all over the blogosphere, the most crucial parts of a 5 man group are the healer and tank: if the healer is inadequate, the tank will die, causing a wipe. If the tank is inadequate, the healer will die, causing a wipe. But what brings imbalance to this is the fact that not all tanks or dps are equal: hybrids can ease the pain of the healer if they want to, healing whenever the urgency calls. Druids and paladins can do it for themselves and others, DK's to themselves. So the crucial part of a party is the tank, and the worst cards are in the hand of the warrior tank.
Warrior tank is a damage sucking toolbox of interrupt utilities. Enraged regeneration is a once in a fight cooldown heal which is actually the panic button when everything else fails. Warrior tanks cannot heal others, they are best in sucking the damage and staying put.
So why the heck is it so hard for a warrior tank to come up with a group? Because the first question that you encounter is "What is your def?" or "How much HP?". And if they are below what is considered good, you're out and some other class get's the spot due to their other abilities. As if the HP matters if your def is too low...
People are so fixed with the idea that a tank must have 540 def at the cap. It's not so: 535 is the cap in heroics, in normal even this is too much! And the progression is normal 5 man, heroic 5 man, others, I think. Now ToC 5 has ruined the progression and everyone and their cousins are 'farming ToC' and even to the normal 5 man Trial of the Champion they request def cap!
Players at the cap have confused the actual requirements for the game with the requirements of the highest level of the game, raiding. Due to the fact that people are always seeking the route of least resistance, they are looking for the easy way to the best gear.
Example: Laiskajaakko has tanked ToC5, successfully. In one group the healer somehow 'forgot' to heal, or was himself inadequately geared and the group wiped. Who was to blame? The tank as he didn't have proper gems (mind you, I had all +STA gems then and 512 def, no problem). The next wipe with inadequate heals: The tank was lacking aggro (generated steady (!) 3.5k all the time, the first dps came around 1.5k...) and so on. I left the group after the Black Knight fell and didn't get a single piece of gear. Maybe some experience on dealing with poor PUG's but that's all.
That was just the tip of an iceberg: Gundrak. Normal instance, first pull. Laiskajaakko was the only capped toon in, charged to the first three snakes. In comes the hunter's pet -bear- and pulls two of the three. Being on aggressive, this bear starts to follow the retreating mobs and pulls several adds. Which I get to keep from the squishies.
Wipe.
The result of the wtf round was that even though the hunter's pet pulled the aggro, it was tank who's fault the wipe was. Round two. The hunter enters the instance and his pet aggroes immedieately. Tanks fault.
I quit the group there.
Tanks are always to blame. Is it any wonder there are no tanks to run instances out of the guild runs?
Guild run: good clean run with everyone looking for their own performance and how to proceed best. No name calling, no bickering, all good advice and learning for the newcomer. And in 5-mans, both normal and heroic, a clean pass even with a slacker like me. No wipes, no regrets.
Would you change that to the PUG abuse?
Sunday, October 26, 2008
When expectations are not met
Title actually describes the varied reactions of people towards the WoW zombie infestation and 'Invasion' world event. Tobold wrote about it in a pretty nice way, and the comments on that post really show how different views people have on this.
I'm mixed. When I entered today with my Horde lv62 druid to run through the Halloween event quests, zombies and zombified players ruined the fun. Then again, when I entered the game with my lv16 Alliance warlock, I had the time of my life. And in Friday I had a blast running Stockades as a zombie with my lv45 warrior and my brother. Absolutely hilarious session with loads of 'BRRRAAIIINS'-shouting and fury.
This difference in experience got me thinking the reason.
It's all about expectations. About the activity you are about to engage with. About the fun you are about to experience. About the entertainment. If these expectations are not met, but are altered in a way the player cannot change, the reality doesn't conform with the expectations and most probably the overall experience is ruined. If you go to a movie to see a light comedy and end up watching Coen brothers' "Fargo", I bet you are not going to be very happy. Fargo is a great movie, but it isn't exactly light comedy.
I loved to play as zombie on my lv16 toon, because there were other people engaging in the similar activity. It was a bliss, and I could easily get away from it. My expectations were different with my horde toon. I expected to be able to do the Halloween quests -for the achievements, I admit- but was denied of the fun. With the Ally warrior I expected to be running as a zombie and eating brains, and it was hilarious.
This can be taken a step further. Players are like any consumers in that they are ready to tell different things in surveys than what they really want. AoC was marketed as a completely different experience than WoW, and players were jumping in joy. In the end, it proved to be too different, causing the game to be next to abandoned (yea, yea, nevermind the technical issues etc. It's a simplifying example, ok?). War didn't even try to change the mechanics, but made the change in the way the game was played. And was very much easier to digest.
We are slaves to our expectations. When they are not met in full, we feel cheated.
But I also came into a conclusion with the world event. I just love the unexpectedness of them. Nevermind the fact that the Invasion is in fact aimed for the bored level capped people: I couldn't touch the Lich Kings stormtroopers with the Druid (well, I could but not solo). Never the less, I had fun with the fact that everything had to be taken as it came.
I'm off to see if I can contribute in the Ally side. CHARGE!!!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Recent activities
First of all, I have been surprised that I have been linked to... and quoted by someone like Zubon from KillTenRats. That in itself is a merit, but let's not settle for that.
What I've been up to? Nothing good, sadly. Ran a half a marathon in the weekend, where my only aim was to run the whole distance of 21 km. Well, I did, and now I'm trying to cope with the sore and stiff muscles. Which are slowly getting better, thank you.
Haven't been on WoW, except for a couple of WSG's with my gnome-lock. I surprised myself of being in the middle of the roster in each of the battles, being only lv14 among the lv19 twinkies. I think I should be really proud of myself, being the PvP hater that I am. I still do not quite understand why should I bother, as all the stuff I can purchase with the tokens are available only at lv60? Will that limit be set higher at the dawn of WotLK?
Most probably we'll be having a brotherly questing tonight, or tomorrow. Maybe I will get some ideas from that for new posts. Though I have some on my memory stick, I haven't been able to finalise them for publishing. Maybe later...
Instead I have been spending my few online minutes in some other ventures. Got invited to the Beta of Freaky Creatures. Because it's Beta under NDA, I'm not saying anything about it. The other things I'm involved with are browser based games Molehill Empire and The West. First of which lets loose your inner gardener and some garden gnomes, while the second is a brand new browser MMO set in... well, Wild West.
The West is still in development and it's getting new features all the time. It has the same sort of idea as Star Wars Combine (damn you Werit for inducing this on me!) in the use of time, that jobs really take time in real and there is only so much you can do in 24 hours. The central focus of the game is the founding and building of a city, which is populated with players. This brings up the social aspect, as there are four character classes available: Adventurers, Dueler, Workeres and Soldiers, all which have crucial skills to benefit the city. In a general sense, you have to have players who deal with construction, others for resources and some for protection. It seems promising, but let's see what happens when the game matures.
So far I have been having fun in The West.
Otherwise the time flies, especially as the real life keeps the speed up.
But like Jack wrote: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...", there has to be games and fun every now and then.
Every day. Azeroth, here we come. *grin*
What I've been up to? Nothing good, sadly. Ran a half a marathon in the weekend, where my only aim was to run the whole distance of 21 km. Well, I did, and now I'm trying to cope with the sore and stiff muscles. Which are slowly getting better, thank you.
Haven't been on WoW, except for a couple of WSG's with my gnome-lock. I surprised myself of being in the middle of the roster in each of the battles, being only lv14 among the lv19 twinkies. I think I should be really proud of myself, being the PvP hater that I am. I still do not quite understand why should I bother, as all the stuff I can purchase with the tokens are available only at lv60? Will that limit be set higher at the dawn of WotLK?
Most probably we'll be having a brotherly questing tonight, or tomorrow. Maybe I will get some ideas from that for new posts. Though I have some on my memory stick, I haven't been able to finalise them for publishing. Maybe later...
Instead I have been spending my few online minutes in some other ventures. Got invited to the Beta of Freaky Creatures. Because it's Beta under NDA, I'm not saying anything about it. The other things I'm involved with are browser based games Molehill Empire and The West. First of which lets loose your inner gardener and some garden gnomes, while the second is a brand new browser MMO set in... well, Wild West.
The West is still in development and it's getting new features all the time. It has the same sort of idea as Star Wars Combine (damn you Werit for inducing this on me!) in the use of time, that jobs really take time in real and there is only so much you can do in 24 hours. The central focus of the game is the founding and building of a city, which is populated with players. This brings up the social aspect, as there are four character classes available: Adventurers, Dueler, Workeres and Soldiers, all which have crucial skills to benefit the city. In a general sense, you have to have players who deal with construction, others for resources and some for protection. It seems promising, but let's see what happens when the game matures.
So far I have been having fun in The West.
Otherwise the time flies, especially as the real life keeps the speed up.
But like Jack wrote: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...", there has to be games and fun every now and then.
Every day. Azeroth, here we come. *grin*
Friday, October 3, 2008
Role in MMO
Role in MMO
I would much rather write about player character’s role in MMORPG, but it has come obvious from several instances – not least from my earlier posts – that the RPG part of the current MMO’s is non-existing. They are MMO games, almost having “stress on the games”. But I have started to wonder about the role a typical player wants her/his character to be, and the recent blog entries on WAR have given me more ground to this.
Up until late I have been advocating my ‘perfect MMO’, which would have quests and NPC interaction which would affect the outcome of the character’s personal development. Multiple choice interaction, in which your decisions would change the outcome of the ‘discussion’. Railroaded quests in which your input would change the outcome of the quest, even turn the quest the other way around (Save the princess – encounter the princesses mother – kill the questgiver – be crowned as king). Well, railroaded would be too strongly put, but you get the idea.
Now however I have come to the conclusion that it’s all depending on the participation and role which the player wants to take. I’m a sucker for stories with strong hero’s and anti-hero’s. And as a human assumption I have thought that so are others, too. But the recent WAR outrage has started to make me doubt this assumption.
In EQ2 and WoW (which I have played), the player is lead to believe that the character is bound for great deeds and is the hero: the quests are posed to the character as the main hero and protagonist, the praise is given to the particular character for accomplishing a deed and so on. The player gets the zest that ‘I am The Hero of this story’ and starts to act like one. That is the assumption of the game developer at least in the Old World content. The content driven part of the game.
If there was an all and out war in WoW, each and every player participating the foray would depict a hero in the legend. At least that’s how I would depict the incident. And because of that it’s impossible to launch all the player characters out against the Scourge, for example, because there would be no armies to command. Like Heroes usually do.
In WAR (which I haven’t played so far), where the war is everywhere, the presumption is completely different: the characters are soldiers fighting for their faction. And this is where it becomes a different bowl of porridge. The players assume their role as warriors for a cause, and are not in fact expecting to be the heroes or the protagonists of the great storyline. Of course there are the PQ’s and Lairs and all, but as far as I have understood, the original position of the character is that of a warrior.
And it seems that a good lot of the players prefer to be fighting as footsoldiers against other footsoldiers in a large army instead of competing to grow up as a hero.
All this being said, I doubt that the player enjoying the status of a soldier would enjoy my perfect MMORPG. It would be too much to ask for a person preferring to be ordered and fighting to take the position of a hero in training and make decisions that would later on prove that s/he might not be suitable to be the warrior, but a healer instead.
Roles and role models are difficult. What is your role and who is your role model?
That is a tricky question, I think.
I would much rather write about player character’s role in MMORPG, but it has come obvious from several instances – not least from my earlier posts – that the RPG part of the current MMO’s is non-existing. They are MMO games, almost having “stress on the games”. But I have started to wonder about the role a typical player wants her/his character to be, and the recent blog entries on WAR have given me more ground to this.
Up until late I have been advocating my ‘perfect MMO’, which would have quests and NPC interaction which would affect the outcome of the character’s personal development. Multiple choice interaction, in which your decisions would change the outcome of the ‘discussion’. Railroaded quests in which your input would change the outcome of the quest, even turn the quest the other way around (Save the princess – encounter the princesses mother – kill the questgiver – be crowned as king). Well, railroaded would be too strongly put, but you get the idea.
Now however I have come to the conclusion that it’s all depending on the participation and role which the player wants to take. I’m a sucker for stories with strong hero’s and anti-hero’s. And as a human assumption I have thought that so are others, too. But the recent WAR outrage has started to make me doubt this assumption.
In EQ2 and WoW (which I have played), the player is lead to believe that the character is bound for great deeds and is the hero: the quests are posed to the character as the main hero and protagonist, the praise is given to the particular character for accomplishing a deed and so on. The player gets the zest that ‘I am The Hero of this story’ and starts to act like one. That is the assumption of the game developer at least in the Old World content. The content driven part of the game.
If there was an all and out war in WoW, each and every player participating the foray would depict a hero in the legend. At least that’s how I would depict the incident. And because of that it’s impossible to launch all the player characters out against the Scourge, for example, because there would be no armies to command. Like Heroes usually do.
In WAR (which I haven’t played so far), where the war is everywhere, the presumption is completely different: the characters are soldiers fighting for their faction. And this is where it becomes a different bowl of porridge. The players assume their role as warriors for a cause, and are not in fact expecting to be the heroes or the protagonists of the great storyline. Of course there are the PQ’s and Lairs and all, but as far as I have understood, the original position of the character is that of a warrior.
And it seems that a good lot of the players prefer to be fighting as footsoldiers against other footsoldiers in a large army instead of competing to grow up as a hero.
All this being said, I doubt that the player enjoying the status of a soldier would enjoy my perfect MMORPG. It would be too much to ask for a person preferring to be ordered and fighting to take the position of a hero in training and make decisions that would later on prove that s/he might not be suitable to be the warrior, but a healer instead.
Roles and role models are difficult. What is your role and who is your role model?
That is a tricky question, I think.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Matured out MMO
I'm not sure if the title describes the content best, but that's what comes to my mind on my yesterday evening's roamings in WoW.
I finally got around and joined a 'newbie guild'. So far I have been avoiding guilds like a plague, because I know I commit to them till the end. In Horde side I have been in three guilds so far: first one was temporary till the second one was formed. Second one died out. Third one is on another server and is still keeping me as a member even though it's been over seven months since I have actually played my horde characters.
Horde guilds have been mature. Both in real member age and in the mentality. Set for a job.
Now on the Alliance side I have been in one earlier. It was closed down as the GM moved to another server. Well, boo-hoo, there was no activity in the guild anyhow. So I was more than cautious when I was presented with the current Guild. Newcomer oriented; low level entries preferred; guidance, instances and boosts scheduled; and so on.
After first hours I was sold.
The GM really is practicing what he's preaching. The members are -especially the higher level ones- helping each other out. And the instance runs, both boosts and normal, are really scheduled, but that's not excluding the spontaneous ones. Which means that with over 80 characters in the guild already, there is no real need for PUG's as there is always some people around to run instances with.
Of course the level range is more difficult to accomodate.
But. There is always the 'but'. In this case it's the enormous drive of the newcomers to push through the content to the 'end game'. I ended up helping a lv12 to complete a quest which has the level recommendation of 18. Well, I got a quest for reputation done while at it, but it made me feel bad. Another newcomer to the game insisted, really, that I should give him money so he could repair his gear and continue playing. And later insisted that I should help him to do the same quest as the other one.
No manners.
This only shows to me that the publicity of the end game content being the game has paid out. People coming to the game for the first time are rushing through the content to see what the fuzz is about, not understanding that the fuzz was originally about the content they are neglecting!
I'm afraid that WotLK will be a sad occasion for WoW as we know it, both game and lore wise.
Then again, I had some real fun in the game yesterday, roaming around Loch Modan and Wetlands with my lv40 warrior. I know, I know, not much of a challenge, but I really got into the role of explorer and mentor. I helped at least three or four players to achieve their goals while just being around, I chatted at /guild about levelling and helping people and over all, I was enjoying the helping part more than the playing itself. Which consisted mainly killing dozens of Ogres at the north-eastern corner of Loch Modan area. I'm missing that one crushed crystal from the ogres to complete that 'last mission' in Loch Modan...
I'm camping over by the caves, so I'm ready right away I login.
Ram mount, here I come!
I finally got around and joined a 'newbie guild'. So far I have been avoiding guilds like a plague, because I know I commit to them till the end. In Horde side I have been in three guilds so far: first one was temporary till the second one was formed. Second one died out. Third one is on another server and is still keeping me as a member even though it's been over seven months since I have actually played my horde characters.
Horde guilds have been mature. Both in real member age and in the mentality. Set for a job.
Now on the Alliance side I have been in one earlier. It was closed down as the GM moved to another server. Well, boo-hoo, there was no activity in the guild anyhow. So I was more than cautious when I was presented with the current Guild. Newcomer oriented; low level entries preferred; guidance, instances and boosts scheduled; and so on.
After first hours I was sold.
The GM really is practicing what he's preaching. The members are -especially the higher level ones- helping each other out. And the instance runs, both boosts and normal, are really scheduled, but that's not excluding the spontaneous ones. Which means that with over 80 characters in the guild already, there is no real need for PUG's as there is always some people around to run instances with.
Of course the level range is more difficult to accomodate.
But. There is always the 'but'. In this case it's the enormous drive of the newcomers to push through the content to the 'end game'. I ended up helping a lv12 to complete a quest which has the level recommendation of 18. Well, I got a quest for reputation done while at it, but it made me feel bad. Another newcomer to the game insisted, really, that I should give him money so he could repair his gear and continue playing. And later insisted that I should help him to do the same quest as the other one.
No manners.
This only shows to me that the publicity of the end game content being the game has paid out. People coming to the game for the first time are rushing through the content to see what the fuzz is about, not understanding that the fuzz was originally about the content they are neglecting!
I'm afraid that WotLK will be a sad occasion for WoW as we know it, both game and lore wise.
Then again, I had some real fun in the game yesterday, roaming around Loch Modan and Wetlands with my lv40 warrior. I know, I know, not much of a challenge, but I really got into the role of explorer and mentor. I helped at least three or four players to achieve their goals while just being around, I chatted at /guild about levelling and helping people and over all, I was enjoying the helping part more than the playing itself. Which consisted mainly killing dozens of Ogres at the north-eastern corner of Loch Modan area. I'm missing that one crushed crystal from the ogres to complete that 'last mission' in Loch Modan...
I'm camping over by the caves, so I'm ready right away I login.
Ram mount, here I come!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Ding 40
I want a Ram. For my warrior, naturally. Which is a question of reputation, as Laiskajaakko is a human warrior, and Ram's are Dwarves' mounts.
So I have been playing in the starting zone of the dwarves for the last few days, and I've progressed in Reputation instead of experience. I don't see too much difference in the two, except that the progress in experience seems a bit more tangible because of the new skills coming closer all the time.
But with Reputation the rewards are in the end, not on the road.
Anyhow, I had some real fun plunging through the sub-lv10 quests with the bulldozer, roaming through the same content I had worked so hard with my warlock in training earlier. And because of the lower risk I did take a good explorative look around Loch Modan - an area I have earlier just skipped because I hadn't found any relevant quests in there.
To my surprise the quests and stories were very good, evolving from nothing to some really interesting 'plots'! I don't know how I have missed all the fun in the area: maybe it had just felt like a place in between the adventures and I had just went for the Wetlands.
But now those quests are done. For my warrior at least, and it's time to enter the Wetlands for more reputation. Of course, there is Uldaman waiting just around the corner in Badlands, where I already visited and finally dinged 40. What a feeling to get Plate trained at last, knowing that the real tanking period has started.
Maybe I could solo the Cyclonian finally?
So I have been playing in the starting zone of the dwarves for the last few days, and I've progressed in Reputation instead of experience. I don't see too much difference in the two, except that the progress in experience seems a bit more tangible because of the new skills coming closer all the time.
But with Reputation the rewards are in the end, not on the road.
Anyhow, I had some real fun plunging through the sub-lv10 quests with the bulldozer, roaming through the same content I had worked so hard with my warlock in training earlier. And because of the lower risk I did take a good explorative look around Loch Modan - an area I have earlier just skipped because I hadn't found any relevant quests in there.
To my surprise the quests and stories were very good, evolving from nothing to some really interesting 'plots'! I don't know how I have missed all the fun in the area: maybe it had just felt like a place in between the adventures and I had just went for the Wetlands.
But now those quests are done. For my warrior at least, and it's time to enter the Wetlands for more reputation. Of course, there is Uldaman waiting just around the corner in Badlands, where I already visited and finally dinged 40. What a feeling to get Plate trained at last, knowing that the real tanking period has started.
Maybe I could solo the Cyclonian finally?
Monday, September 22, 2008
I survived the party
Ah... Back in reality. My brother had his batchelor party on friday and the rest of the weekend went in getting fit for the real life. Not because of the party but because of the lack of sleep.
Anyhow, as there was nothing scheduled I made a new alt for myself and my son: a gnome warlock. Something I haven't played yet in both race and class. Race because I'm horde person, I resent the whole alliance cuteness. My immersion in fantasy games starts from selecting the least humanlike, well, humanoid race. Meaning that there is nigh on the ally side.
Warlock. Let's say that I have so far liked the damage dealing capabilities and now as I finally got the Voidwalker, it really shows. But... being just a mage with a personal tank is so boring. I got myself playing it to lv13 and I just had to switch to my warrior. It was too boring hitting the sequence and watching that the Void just kept pounding.
So I switched from one boredom to another: Cyclonian quest chain. The Burning, Thundering and Cresting Charms. Drop rate abysmal. Respawn decent. Travelling involved.
At least it was the last part of the chain, as I had already conquered the Stranglethorn and had done there quests two-three levels above me. During the Cyclonian so far I have gained 6 levels, travelled far and wide and the more I think of it, I have started to believe that this class quest line is grinding and boring because of that only to make certain that the warrior player really knows what is his place later on in the game. Take the pounding and smile.
I'm not smiling yet, as the worst part is coming: downing the Cyclonian itself. I've done that once earlier with my Horde warrior, who is pure protection. Lovely Tauren lady, I just loved to play her as she has the Warstomp racial. Real lifesaver once in a while, which I'm missing with this puny human. But I've scheduled Cyclonian to a time when my personal healer is online: he'll keep me alive and going as the darn Elemental keeps pounding.
It's great to have personal aides around, now isn't it?
Anyhow, as there was nothing scheduled I made a new alt for myself and my son: a gnome warlock. Something I haven't played yet in both race and class. Race because I'm horde person, I resent the whole alliance cuteness. My immersion in fantasy games starts from selecting the least humanlike, well, humanoid race. Meaning that there is nigh on the ally side.
Warlock. Let's say that I have so far liked the damage dealing capabilities and now as I finally got the Voidwalker, it really shows. But... being just a mage with a personal tank is so boring. I got myself playing it to lv13 and I just had to switch to my warrior. It was too boring hitting the sequence and watching that the Void just kept pounding.
So I switched from one boredom to another: Cyclonian quest chain. The Burning, Thundering and Cresting Charms. Drop rate abysmal. Respawn decent. Travelling involved.
At least it was the last part of the chain, as I had already conquered the Stranglethorn and had done there quests two-three levels above me. During the Cyclonian so far I have gained 6 levels, travelled far and wide and the more I think of it, I have started to believe that this class quest line is grinding and boring because of that only to make certain that the warrior player really knows what is his place later on in the game. Take the pounding and smile.
I'm not smiling yet, as the worst part is coming: downing the Cyclonian itself. I've done that once earlier with my Horde warrior, who is pure protection. Lovely Tauren lady, I just loved to play her as she has the Warstomp racial. Real lifesaver once in a while, which I'm missing with this puny human. But I've scheduled Cyclonian to a time when my personal healer is online: he'll keep me alive and going as the darn Elemental keeps pounding.
It's great to have personal aides around, now isn't it?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
When information mounts
There comes a time when information about a certain issue builds up to a point that a lot of previous knowledge is needed to understand a single piece of it. Hmm. That sentence turns my mind into a knot, but let me explain.
My brother, the Rogue, is the least experienced of us three in WoW. He has been soloing his Rogue up and got into the instances with us. Well, not for the first time or anything. But the nice part of this is the fact that almost all that he knows about the game comes from his experience in the game. Not from a guild nor a guild forum. Not from a class site or Thottbot. But from the game.
He was so dumbfounded when he saw the Priest's and the Warrior's gear for the first time. The few blues from DM (at that time) and select few greens from quests. He had gear that was green at the most with few pieces of white in the mix.
He did what any of us would have done. He started looking for more information, sacrificing his precious playing time for the search for the Truth. About Rogues.
We went through DM together, and he got a nice upgrade. From the Stockades another, even though we didn't find the rare mob inside. This was the time I had this small bell ringing at the back of my head. He had found some information, but he took it all for granted. Everything was in the game, all the time, no matter what. If a site X said it was there, it must have been in there.
The next day I got an email: he had found the dagger he wanted. The Widowmaker. Easy world drop from Qiraji Major He'al-ie. At least thats what he read from the Net.
It made me frown. Sure, 3.28% drop rate would be great grinding in Thousand Needles, but how to tell him that the mob was a rare one even when it was alive before the Gates of Ahn-Qiraji were opened?
And that's what I mean about too much information about a subject may cause the one searching for one specific thing to lose the conception of the whole. Especially in constantly evolving MMO's like WoW, where today's big item is tomorrow's trash.
Oh, yes, we settled the issue and will continue our adventures in the Old World next week. We're having his batchelor party tomorrow, so no games this weekend.
If we're lucky.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Questing for... what?
Next entry I will write beforehand and only paste here.
Ok. Everyone is so pepped up with the WAR launch, that it's almost sickening. Blogosphere is full of posts about WAR, about not to write on WAR and about how the launch is feeling somehow anti-climatic. Blame it on the long beta or whatever. I'm not in it, but I'm never the less fed up with the whole ruckus. Admitted, I'm a bit jealous, too.
Instead I played WoW again during the weekend. Soloing again to catch up my brothers, whose toons are around lv40 at the moment. My arms/prot warrior is 'only' at lv 36 at the moment, plunging through the warrior quest Cyclonian for The Axe. And doing a lot of quest along the main Cyclonian-requisite route. I'm quite well versed with Stranglethorn now, almost passed all Nesingwary's questlines in my search of the Troll Tusks for the Cyclonian. Thankfully that is almost filled up and it's time to head to the Arathi Highlands.
Where I'll do the same: hoard the quests from all around and do them alongside the elemental slaughter.
What I noticed, however, is the fact that the questlines seem to be a) longer and b) more rewarding and c) advancing the toon faster in the level range 26-33. The questlines in Duskwood are fabulously rewarding - XP-wise - compared to the ones in Stranglethorn at 32-36. The Duskwallow Marsh seems to continue the long lines and high rewards style better, but the warrior quests do not even touch that area, making it something to worry after the lv40 questline for the warrior.
Which obviously leaves me in a bad levelling position, as I'm closing the Duskwallow level cap. Need to find another place to advance, though the quests will be easier and possibly faster to go through.
Now that I have written that down and read it again, I'm amazed and appalled. Why? Because I, former next-to-fanatic tabletop roleplayer, lover of immersion and stories and adventuring exitement, am talking in terms of power levelling and faster advancement. With this particular toon I have made it my aim to read the quest descriptions as well as possible and I have loved the winding stories contained within the quest structure. However, in Stranglethorn I noticed that I just skipped everything. First time ever I noticed that the 'been there, done that' mentality is setting in. After all, I have done those quests twice with my horde toons in the past two years I have been playing the game. And honestly speaking, Stranglethorn is quite stale as whole.
I can say honestly, that I have read the quest descriptions almost every time, always. I find it insulting to the game developers, writers and creative people to whom I pay my 12€/month that I would abuse the content by just rushing it through. However I understand fully the players who have played from the beginning, that the content gets stale after the third levelling to the cap. For me the question however is, what is the game about?
Is it to rush to the cap and grind the end game instances? Or is it the story of the character growing from zero to hero? Or is it something else?
WoW doesn't have a kind of continuity for a character: the quests are repetitive and they are the same to every toon in the game. What I would like to see in a future game would be the influence of your playing to the quests and affiliations. More role to the playing. EQ2 has something like this, but it's still in it's infancy. WoW has the reputation system, but it's not really worked to the max.
Make me a Call of Cthulhu rpg in which your actions will decide whether you end your days in an asylum or die in a horrible ritual for the Old Ones or are the one to conduct such a ritual. Make a game in which our decisions make the progress of the game different.
That'd be something to quest for.
Ok. Everyone is so pepped up with the WAR launch, that it's almost sickening. Blogosphere is full of posts about WAR, about not to write on WAR and about how the launch is feeling somehow anti-climatic. Blame it on the long beta or whatever. I'm not in it, but I'm never the less fed up with the whole ruckus. Admitted, I'm a bit jealous, too.
Instead I played WoW again during the weekend. Soloing again to catch up my brothers, whose toons are around lv40 at the moment. My arms/prot warrior is 'only' at lv 36 at the moment, plunging through the warrior quest Cyclonian for The Axe. And doing a lot of quest along the main Cyclonian-requisite route. I'm quite well versed with Stranglethorn now, almost passed all Nesingwary's questlines in my search of the Troll Tusks for the Cyclonian. Thankfully that is almost filled up and it's time to head to the Arathi Highlands.
Where I'll do the same: hoard the quests from all around and do them alongside the elemental slaughter.
What I noticed, however, is the fact that the questlines seem to be a) longer and b) more rewarding and c) advancing the toon faster in the level range 26-33. The questlines in Duskwood are fabulously rewarding - XP-wise - compared to the ones in Stranglethorn at 32-36. The Duskwallow Marsh seems to continue the long lines and high rewards style better, but the warrior quests do not even touch that area, making it something to worry after the lv40 questline for the warrior.
Which obviously leaves me in a bad levelling position, as I'm closing the Duskwallow level cap. Need to find another place to advance, though the quests will be easier and possibly faster to go through.
Now that I have written that down and read it again, I'm amazed and appalled. Why? Because I, former next-to-fanatic tabletop roleplayer, lover of immersion and stories and adventuring exitement, am talking in terms of power levelling and faster advancement. With this particular toon I have made it my aim to read the quest descriptions as well as possible and I have loved the winding stories contained within the quest structure. However, in Stranglethorn I noticed that I just skipped everything. First time ever I noticed that the 'been there, done that' mentality is setting in. After all, I have done those quests twice with my horde toons in the past two years I have been playing the game. And honestly speaking, Stranglethorn is quite stale as whole.
I can say honestly, that I have read the quest descriptions almost every time, always. I find it insulting to the game developers, writers and creative people to whom I pay my 12€/month that I would abuse the content by just rushing it through. However I understand fully the players who have played from the beginning, that the content gets stale after the third levelling to the cap. For me the question however is, what is the game about?
Is it to rush to the cap and grind the end game instances? Or is it the story of the character growing from zero to hero? Or is it something else?
WoW doesn't have a kind of continuity for a character: the quests are repetitive and they are the same to every toon in the game. What I would like to see in a future game would be the influence of your playing to the quests and affiliations. More role to the playing. EQ2 has something like this, but it's still in it's infancy. WoW has the reputation system, but it's not really worked to the max.
Make me a Call of Cthulhu rpg in which your actions will decide whether you end your days in an asylum or die in a horrible ritual for the Old Ones or are the one to conduct such a ritual. Make a game in which our decisions make the progress of the game different.
That'd be something to quest for.
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