Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Can It Be Done?

In the middle of all the Blizzard lawsuit controversy, the TBC Classic Fire Festival event is in full swing.

The Fire Festival was delayed by a month, mainly because TBC Classic dropped June 1st*, but since it showed up now I took advantage of it to play around with Card. 

She already had 4 bars' worth of XP from farming Felcloth --yes, Felcloth and Mooncloth still sell on the AH-- so when I saw a couple of quests registering an entire bar of XP, I decided I was going to have her do all the quests that she can in the Old World, just to see how much XP she could get.

This should give you an idea.

This has inspired me to do something with Card I'd never have considered even a week ago: to find out just how far I can level a toon in the Old World without having set foot in Outland. 

My first instinct is that as a practical matter, I could probably hit L64 or L65 given all of the quests remaining in max-level zones such as Silithus. However, the mobs in Silithus reach up to L58-L59, so it's conceivable with enough grinding I could possibly get Cardwyn to L68 by the time Wrath Classic drops, and she could just go straight to Northrend without having set foot in Outland at all.

Now that's a challenge I'd be interested in. 

Before anybody asks why, my response is "Why not? I have no desire to overdo it or get spellcloth factories going or raiding with a ton of toons. I want to just screw around in game rather than get caught up in the Meta, and this is just one way of doing that."

***

And given the news that Phase 2 is now in the Public Test Realm, the rumor that Phase 2 will drop in mid-August is starting to sound more and more likely.

Which gives me heartburn.

Maybe it's time someone finally told Blizz what's what:

Blizz, stop this rushing to get the Phases out. Just because the Top 5 guilds on each server have been clearing since Week One doesn't mean you have to feed the beast and encourage the Meta any further. There are still plenty of guilds out there that aren't even close to getting properly geared up, much less downing all of the Phase One bosses, and if you ratchet up the arms race I believe you're more likely to have people simply jump ship from Classic into something else rather than push harder. It is not the Classic Community's fault that Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands have proven to be duds, so artificially trying to keep subscriptions up by pumping out the content faster than necessary only serves to exacerbate the problems that exist in TBC Classic. 

And given the disproportionate rate healing gear has been dropping relative to everything else --it's pervasive enough on Myz-US that it's practically its own meme-- I doubt that most average raiding guilds will be truly ready for a Phase 2 release in mid-August. Oh, and let's talk about the elephant in the room: the mitigation gear needed for Phase 2. Auction House prices will spike once news of an impending Phase 2 drop is on the way, and guilds will be hard pressed to get ready in time.

Blizz, don't give me the BS that people don't have to start raiding SSC and The Eye when Phase 2 drops. You know as well as I that your player base is conditioned to jump after the latest and greatest, and pretending otherwise is being disingenuous (at least).

My concern, Blizz, is that if you push too hard, enough people will vote with their wallets and jump to another MMO instead of WoW Classic. And if a Top 5 guild moves on, so what? There are a lot fewer of them than there are the "filthy casuals", so maybe slowing things down a touch isn't necessarily a bad idea. And extra month or two between phases isn't a bad thing, as it allows the majority of the server population to see the content without feeling like they're missing out. 

Okay, Blizzard isn't going to read this blog; I'm quite aware of that. But perhaps it's cathartic to get my opinion out there, because I doubt that Blizz is going to listen to people anyway. If anything, they listen to only a few people, typically those that share their own viewpoint on the game. That makes a certain amount of sense, as a more casual player isn't going to write a "Dear Blizz" post, in spite of there being far more of them than the hardcore raiders. Oh well. It was worth a try.

***

I do have one piece of sad news to report: WoW YouTuber MadSeasonShow is leaving WoW behind. Yes, both Retail and Classic. 

His second last video, provided below, makes it plain it was made prior to the A-B lawsuit being filed by the State of California. He outlines why he is leaving, and provided an ending video that... well... hit kind of hard.





*That's the official reason, but I'd have honestly preferred to have gotten it over with back in June because the lure of easy gold would have thrown a monkey wrench into the Meta.

8 comments:

  1. I have one BC ready character, went through the Dark Portal on day one, and he is currently level 68. And I decided this time, that's fine. I am having a good time getting there in my own good time and if that means I can't ever raid what's current, I'd be fine with that.

    I have put a fair amount of thought into the allegations they are going through. From reading - admittedly not everything out there, but a sampling - it seems to me that there are a lot of really good people at Blizzard who want to do the right thing and force their management to do so as well. Unsubbing at this point would disadvantage them, for many of whom this is their dream job and they have fortunately never encountered or perpetrated any harassment.

    I hope this lawsuit, and further actions, root out anyone who is guilty. I've come to believe, though, that covering up this kind of behavior happens almost everywhere, and the fact that we are surprised by it just indicates that coverups are more often successful than not. That sounds more cynical that I usually am, but literally every time something like this comes up, we find out that those in charge knew and failed. That tells me that covering up of this kind of crime is strongly human nature. It must always be fought, but can be expected to be ubiquitous.

    All that to say that I don't think Blizzard is necessarily worse than many or most large organizations in that regard, and boycotting them, absent an ongoing and callous disregard, would hurt more good people than punish bad ones. I hope (and here is my optimism asserting itself) going through this process may produce a better company than most out there.

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  2. Archey, I'm glad that you're doing things your way on the expac. That is the best outcome of all, to be honest.

    As for the lawsuit, I also suspect that your cynical take, that it happens everywhere and is more successfully hidden than not, is probably the right take. And from what I've seen, the knowledge that people in charge knew and failed is far more common that I'd ever want.

    But at the same time, I can't be as optimistic as you are. I'd like to think that Blizz will come out of this a better company, but I think that in the end it's still a matter of the dollar: if it makes monetary sense to do so, they'll clean their act up. The Blitzchung controversy showed that their fealty is toward the dollars flowing from China, so I have no exact idea how this one will pan out.

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  3. Red, I have to ask you...please...stop taking things directly from my head. That is EXACTLY the letter I'd write.

    Bill

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    1. At least I'm not alone in thinking this, Bill. Drives me bananas, it does.

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  4. Last night my last toon, the lonely mage, hit level 58. Immediately went through the Dark Portal to grab the Staff and then right back up to starting Western Plaguelands. Killing the flayers in the graveyard, there was a level 53 prot paladin gathering a bunch. I threw a blizzard at the group and gave him Int. We grouped for a bit, told him I'm just grabbing quest mobs, I won't interfere with his grinding xp for long. A few pulls later, I thank him for the group and head out. He asked me why I wasn't in Outland. "More fun this way" was my response. His was 'holy shit, someone else who feels the way I do, I'm going to take this guy as far as I can in Vanilla before I go through to Outlands".

    We're out there Red, just gotta find us :D

    Bill

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  5. Oh, I like that for Card. It was so nice to get Classic it would be nice to not wear it out right away. Yikes, Wrath is coming that soon? but, but BC just got here. Well, it seems that way to me.

    TotA

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    1. I imagine Wrath Classic will come out in 2023, so I've got plenty of time. Card will be a "chillin'" toon, unless she suddenly needs to go to Outland for something.

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