tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post6436634403576494404..comments2024-03-18T19:38:53.390-04:00Comments on Parallel Context: What Do You Want on Your Tombstone?Redbeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-3495380198677902312022-08-16T04:36:27.355-04:002022-08-16T04:36:27.355-04:00Gartner doesn't really matter at my pay grade ...Gartner doesn't really matter at my pay grade but https://www.thoughtworks.com/en-us/radar is actually not too bad if you're looking for up and coming tech and in the past has matched our developer view a lot better. I'm 90% on your viewpoint as being wary of making a trend by following some "thought leaders", but just as a reference it's cool, even if it just makes you look at a bunch of new things or have heard the name if it pops up again.Nogamarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03703565537132612133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-83203958908478981222022-08-15T09:54:08.825-04:002022-08-15T09:54:08.825-04:00Yeah, having been on the receiving end of that bac...Yeah, having been on the receiving end of that back in the day in Retail, it's never a fun thing to get picked on in BGs. In PvE group content, you're simply not picked. Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-54431065639060392842022-08-15T09:50:08.010-04:002022-08-15T09:50:08.010-04:00I consider those queries to be really "What c...I consider those queries to be really "What class should I play so I can get into raids?" However, I try to take those queries at face value, since if I wanted to play the "what to raid with" game, I'd turn into an amateur psychologist.Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-84280955836802590872022-08-15T05:13:04.513-04:002022-08-15T05:13:04.513-04:00It's definitely interesting how these things c...It's definitely interesting how these things can self-reinforce. I remember finding it particularly noticeable while PvPing in SWTOR, because it's one thing to say "class X is the weakest right now according to the numbers" but it's quite another when everyone goes "get on the X, they suck right now" at the start of the match, resulting in that one person getting piled on while everyone else is free to fight without disruption. Doesn't take a genius to see what kind of outcomes that will lead to...Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-10100351484462409812022-08-15T02:54:53.482-04:002022-08-15T02:54:53.482-04:00"I try to say to people "do what you wan..."I try to say to people "do what you want to do" when metaphorical questions like "what should I play" or "what spec should I play" comes up"<br /><br />These questions get asked ALL THE TIME in general chat in popular mmorpgs and someone always says what you said there. For years, I used to be the one who said it. The problem is, no-one who's likely to find that an acceptable answer is ever going to ask the question in the first place. Everyone who feels that way already does what they want to do as the default. Just in asking the question, people are announcing they don't have that confidence in themselves.<br /><br />These days, if I answer at all, I just say something specific, if I say anything at all. I've found at work, when customers ask for recommendations, it's not what you suggest that matters but how definitively you suggest it. Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-32500171690138598602022-08-14T23:35:19.398-04:002022-08-14T23:35:19.398-04:00I think that there's also the matter of just w...I think that there's also the matter of just what does progression mean? How hardcore do you want to be, and does the raid want to be? If there's wiggle room, then enjoy it. If there isn't, then it was your choice to go and raid with them with all that entails. But if the raid starts out as one thing and then mutates into something else --and I now have had that experience firsthand-- then a decision as to be made. <br /><br />I've avoided the "internets" as the blame for everything, because in the end the people who control the game the most --the development staff and their leadership-- have to look themselves in the face and acknowledge that is how they wanted the game to be. If they wanted to change it, they could. But given that Elitist Jerks (the guild) like Ion are now on the dev staff, we know how that turned out. <br /><br />They didn't have to put in flying in the Old World; there was no need to do it. But since Blizz did it, they have to deal with the consequences. I remember those GC posts, and I also remember a lot of "don't you dare take flying away from us!" in Trade Chat. Once you give something like flying to people it becomes an expectation.<br /><br />And to be fair, it isn't the sharing of experiences itself that is the issue, it is the same as with GearScore back in the day: it may have been a third party tool to determine the iLevel of someone's gear, but people used it as a gatekeeping device to find people to raid with. The data was there, and it simply just <i>is</i>; how you use it is up to you. <br /><br />Now, there are things that Blizz has completely under their control that have nothing to do with how the game was implemented that could control a lot of the usage of the meta/data crunching: the rollout timeline. I personally believe that the acceleration of the TBC Classic timeline from the pace in Phase 1 and Phase 2 to where it changed into --shaving 4-5 months off of the original TBC timeline-- pushed raid teams into moving faster and faster than they wanted to, and contributed to burnout among teams that then had the ripple effect of a constant need for replacement raiders and then subsequent the migration to megaservers to find those raiders. It wasn't a gearing or mechanics issue at all that caused all that, but a social one. <br /><br />In the end it comes down to people, which is why I try to say to people "do what you want to do" when metaphorical questions like "what should I play" or "what spec should I play" comes up. In the end, you have to live with yourself. And yeah, I can talk a good game, but I'm just me. I've been much happier not doing the progression raiding routine than during it, especially in TBC. I enjoyed it in Classic until the last few months of Naxx, when all the pressure to finally kill Kel'Thuzad before TBC Classic's prepatch hit hard. We were practically the only guild left on Myz that was still pushing hard to finish Naxx; most of the other guilds in our level of competency had dropped out of raiding Naxx.Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-76789771037212638512022-08-14T22:48:54.632-04:002022-08-14T22:48:54.632-04:00I've always seen the choice of choosing to go ...I've always seen the choice of choosing to go along with the common wisdom, or not. I don't get the pressure some feel to conform.<br /><br />Well, I do, but it's not a decision made in a vacuum.<br /><br />If you're not embedded in, say, a raiding guild that wants to, um, progress, then do your own thing. Wear your pants backwards. Who cares?<br /><br />But if you're part of a team that is trying to get somewhere, and there exists a blueprint for an effective way to contribute to that cause, which somebody has been kind enough to research on your behalf, then it behooves you to use it. Because you made a choice, and that choice was to be part of this team, and thus not let them down.<br /><br />Now, nobody says there is no wiggle room to find the path less followed. I encourage this in all things. But not doing that and waving vaguely at, say, WoWHead as the reason why is kinda puzzling. <br /><br />This isn't even about data crunching. Before we had datamining on the regular on WoWHead, we had sites like Noxxic and Icy Veins (actually still do) which used more performative methods to come up with recommendations. I mean, sure, draw the line on either side of "sims" as the Line That Must Not Be Crossed, I guess.<br /><br />Seriously, though, eventually this lands on "You know what ruins the game? THE INTERNET!!!! Bunch of effing nerds sharing experiences with each other? Where's the fun in that? Back before the internet we'd stumble around blindly until we fell off a cliff, AND WE LIKED IT!"<br /><br />This pretty much lands like "Flying ruined everything!" from ol Ghosty. To which I reply, "No, your inability to design zones that account for flying as part of the deal ruined everything." <br /><br />In that same vein, the sharing of experience is not the problem here, it's that the game was designed so that sharing of data ruins it.<br /><br />Ha ha, fat chance that'll happen.Grimmtoothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14384688484347073287noreply@blogger.com