...I'z busy right now.
Will post soon, but real life has been beating me with a clue stick.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
PvP "Hybrids"
The thing that I do find most intriguing is the concept of the kinda-sorta PvEish version of BGs. Imagine the PvPish zones in Grizzly Hills, and instead of a loosely connected set of dailies, convert them into an "event", and that's what you'll get in this new PvP hybrid.
In practice, I'm not sure how well this will work, and whether phasing will do the job as needed. Think of Tol Barad, and how that has dropped off like a rock.
I was thinking about this, and how the smarter thing that Blizz could do would be to create a PvP option where --if selected-- you'd buff up the non-Boss NPCs in Alterac Valley and add NPCs as needed in the other moderate to large BGs. That way the NPCs wouldn't be a pushover, and you could theoretically turn AV back into the epic battle of old.
In practice, I'm not sure how well this will work, and whether phasing will do the job as needed. Think of Tol Barad, and how that has dropped off like a rock.
I was thinking about this, and how the smarter thing that Blizz could do would be to create a PvP option where --if selected-- you'd buff up the non-Boss NPCs in Alterac Valley and add NPCs as needed in the other moderate to large BGs. That way the NPCs wouldn't be a pushover, and you could theoretically turn AV back into the epic battle of old.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Mists of Pandaria = PvP Land and Other Musings
The title is my first opinion in a nutshell.
If you don't like PvP, I suspect that you're not going to like this upcoming expansion quite so much. PvP has been carrying the Alliance v. Horde conflict for quite a while now, and I don't expect that to change.
When the stated goal of an expansion is the conflict with the opposing faction, PvP will become more important, and possibly more important than raids.
The racials of a Pandaren are very interesting from a PvP standpoint too:
If we complained about Outland being out of date before, I guess we ain't seen nothing yet.
Outland will now be more out of date than the Old World would have been when Cata dropped. Northrend almost as bad, and the Old World will be filled with Deathwing references.
In case nobody was noticing, Inner Peace means that Pandaren will rocket through the leveling system. Add a few heirlooms, guild perks, and....
My previous post about "quests-on-rails" and the effect of making the leveling secondary is going to be even more pronounced in the upcoming expansion. When Blizz explicitly mentions that they're focusing more on max-level content for this expansion, then you know that leveling has taken a back seat to the WoW experience.
WoW Pokemon? Are you kidding me?
Is Blizzard losing subs to Wizard 101 or something?
If there's something that's going to land on the cutting room floor before the game goes gold, I expect this will be the one to get the axe.
If you don't like PvP, I suspect that you're not going to like this upcoming expansion quite so much. PvP has been carrying the Alliance v. Horde conflict for quite a while now, and I don't expect that to change.
When the stated goal of an expansion is the conflict with the opposing faction, PvP will become more important, and possibly more important than raids.
The racials of a Pandaren are very interesting from a PvP standpoint too:
- Bouncy: reduces fall damage by half.
- Inner peace: double rested XP.
- Gourmond: +15 to cooking.
- Epicurean: double stats to food buffs.
- Quaking Palm (from the live stream): Puts a target to sleep for three seconds.
***
If we complained about Outland being out of date before, I guess we ain't seen nothing yet.
Outland will now be more out of date than the Old World would have been when Cata dropped. Northrend almost as bad, and the Old World will be filled with Deathwing references.
***
In case nobody was noticing, Inner Peace means that Pandaren will rocket through the leveling system. Add a few heirlooms, guild perks, and....
***
My previous post about "quests-on-rails" and the effect of making the leveling secondary is going to be even more pronounced in the upcoming expansion. When Blizz explicitly mentions that they're focusing more on max-level content for this expansion, then you know that leveling has taken a back seat to the WoW experience.
***
WoW Pokemon? Are you kidding me?
Is Blizzard losing subs to Wizard 101 or something?
If there's something that's going to land on the cutting room floor before the game goes gold, I expect this will be the one to get the axe.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
A Changing Quest Design Philosophy
As I've previously documented, I've played around with a few other
MMOs in addition to WoW. Certainly WoW takes up the majority of my
time, but I do like to putz around when the mood takes me. While I've
tinkered a little bit with Rift, my experiences are primarily with Lord
of the Rings Online and Age of Conan. Those two and WoW form the bulk
of my MMO experience, and what I've noticed is that the quest emphasis
on WoW has evolved in a direction that seems, well, more Diablo-like
than anything else.
I've read on several occasions that you'll be able to finish Diablo III playing solo. Yes, you can bring your friends along for the ride, but on the normal setting you should be able to beat the game all by your lonesome. Now, take a look at how WoW's quest lines changed from pre to post Cata. Sure, there was a lot --a lot!-- of meandering quest lines that got cleaned up, but think about what also changed: any requirements for teaming up.
The last vestiges of group quests are found in the Outland and Northrend zones (including the BC racial starting areas). The new post-Cata quest chains are all on rails, too: you have to do them in sequence, no exceptions. This means you zip right along, heading straight up to L60. Things get a wee bit diverted in Outland and Northrend with the lack of updates to those areas, but the L85 Express kicks right back into gear once you hit the Cata zones.
The first few times you level up to L85, that's not a big issue. You can quest, you can run instances, you can run BGs. You can even heavily incorporate herb gathering and mining into your leveling experience if you feel like it. But after a while, you start to get tired of seeing the same zone in the same order again and again and again. Yes, the phasing is cool, and you do have a visible impact on the world. And yes, the quests-on-rails is a consequence of that design decision. However, a side effect of it is the lack of group play when you're out questing in Azeroth.
Let's think about this for a moment.
I'll give Blizz the benefit of the doubt in that I'm sure they wanted to tell a good story that couldn't be told without a complete revamp of the Old World, but the law of unintended consequences has re-emphasized that all the action is at max level. Being out in the field is a solo affair, and unless you play in a PvP realm, there's not a lot of interaction going on in Azeroth.
Now look, I know quite well you can turn off XP and goof around as much as you want. But I have tried to slow down advancement on a few of my toons while still collecting XP, and unless you spend your time in zones far below your class, it's almost impossible to not level up while questing. And fairly rapidly, at that.
A side effect of Blizz's current quest design philosophy is that it is so jarring to move from Azeroth to Outland and Northrend, where the quest-on-rails simply doesn't exist. That's why the upcoming adjustments in leveling in Northrend became so necessary: they were the brake on the L85 Express.
However, never has this design philosophy been so evident as when you leave WoW and enter another MMO.
LOTRO is a lot like 'old style WoW': there are mostly solo quests out there, and you can do them in any order you want (within reason, naturally). You're not locked in all the time. LOTRO also doesn't have a bunch of small quests as part of a large chain, either; it's all one long quest, but it's broken into sections without having to subdivide into mini-quests. There are some group quests as well: people hook up for those quests, and they're done ala pre-Cata WoW. The leveling is at a more sedate pace, which matches the tone of the MMO. Sure, people will want to play WoW because they loved the story found in the books and Warcraft I-III, but not as many as you might think. In LOTRO, however, the story is the primary draw, and Turbine knows it. If you spread out the pace of leveling you can immerse yourself more fully into Middle Earth, and you can be more social with friends. End level raiding isn't their primary design emphasis.
Now Age of Conan... That is a horse of a different color.
AoC does have a neat little trick called offline leveling that allows you to level more rapidly once you're past L30, which is perfect for those who choose to accelerate their movement to max level. But if you choose to level using questing, you're in for a surprise.
Once you get past the Tortage starter area, the number of group quests really goes up. Sure, you have a lot of individual quests to work on, but AoC practically pushes you into group cooperation with the way the zones are designed. The Cimmerian area Connall's Valley has the Vanir deployed more like an instance than anything else, and their movements are a lot more detailed than I've seen in WoW. As I've commented before on the AI, enemies are far more sensitive to nearby attacks and use real tactics to give themselves the best possible advantage. For some quests it becomes absolutely necessary to work in a group, even if the quest itself isn't flagged as a group quest.
With AoC the focus is not only on creating a more demanding quest line, but one that encourages group cooperation. AoC shares a similarity with LOTRO in that the journey is important enough to encourage immersion, but the approach to get people involved in the journey is different. The net result, however, is that both MMOs slow down leveling; their devs don't focus the MMOs to getting the player to max level as quickly as possible.
This upcoming week, we'll hear about the new WoW expansion from Blizzcon --and if you don't think we'll hear something, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you-- and I wonder what Blizz will do to counteract the heavily story-laden Star Wars: The Old Republic juggernaut. Will they orient themselves even more toward end-game raiding, or will they go off the quests-on-rails and change their quest focus again? I guess we'll find out soon.
I've read on several occasions that you'll be able to finish Diablo III playing solo. Yes, you can bring your friends along for the ride, but on the normal setting you should be able to beat the game all by your lonesome. Now, take a look at how WoW's quest lines changed from pre to post Cata. Sure, there was a lot --a lot!-- of meandering quest lines that got cleaned up, but think about what also changed: any requirements for teaming up.
The last vestiges of group quests are found in the Outland and Northrend zones (including the BC racial starting areas). The new post-Cata quest chains are all on rails, too: you have to do them in sequence, no exceptions. This means you zip right along, heading straight up to L60. Things get a wee bit diverted in Outland and Northrend with the lack of updates to those areas, but the L85 Express kicks right back into gear once you hit the Cata zones.
The first few times you level up to L85, that's not a big issue. You can quest, you can run instances, you can run BGs. You can even heavily incorporate herb gathering and mining into your leveling experience if you feel like it. But after a while, you start to get tired of seeing the same zone in the same order again and again and again. Yes, the phasing is cool, and you do have a visible impact on the world. And yes, the quests-on-rails is a consequence of that design decision. However, a side effect of it is the lack of group play when you're out questing in Azeroth.
Let's think about this for a moment.
- A design that emphasizes --and encourages-- solo play until you get to max level.
- Due to the speed of leveling, the emphasis isn't simply on playability, but on how quick you can get to max level.
- The quests-on-rails environment is all about telling the story --the same story-- which is completely locked in to this expansion. This means that if Blizz were to create another expansion that had an impact in the two main continents of Azeroth, this entire environment would have to be redone, the story rewritten.
I'll give Blizz the benefit of the doubt in that I'm sure they wanted to tell a good story that couldn't be told without a complete revamp of the Old World, but the law of unintended consequences has re-emphasized that all the action is at max level. Being out in the field is a solo affair, and unless you play in a PvP realm, there's not a lot of interaction going on in Azeroth.
Now look, I know quite well you can turn off XP and goof around as much as you want. But I have tried to slow down advancement on a few of my toons while still collecting XP, and unless you spend your time in zones far below your class, it's almost impossible to not level up while questing. And fairly rapidly, at that.
A side effect of Blizz's current quest design philosophy is that it is so jarring to move from Azeroth to Outland and Northrend, where the quest-on-rails simply doesn't exist. That's why the upcoming adjustments in leveling in Northrend became so necessary: they were the brake on the L85 Express.
However, never has this design philosophy been so evident as when you leave WoW and enter another MMO.
LOTRO is a lot like 'old style WoW': there are mostly solo quests out there, and you can do them in any order you want (within reason, naturally). You're not locked in all the time. LOTRO also doesn't have a bunch of small quests as part of a large chain, either; it's all one long quest, but it's broken into sections without having to subdivide into mini-quests. There are some group quests as well: people hook up for those quests, and they're done ala pre-Cata WoW. The leveling is at a more sedate pace, which matches the tone of the MMO. Sure, people will want to play WoW because they loved the story found in the books and Warcraft I-III, but not as many as you might think. In LOTRO, however, the story is the primary draw, and Turbine knows it. If you spread out the pace of leveling you can immerse yourself more fully into Middle Earth, and you can be more social with friends. End level raiding isn't their primary design emphasis.
Now Age of Conan... That is a horse of a different color.
AoC does have a neat little trick called offline leveling that allows you to level more rapidly once you're past L30, which is perfect for those who choose to accelerate their movement to max level. But if you choose to level using questing, you're in for a surprise.
Once you get past the Tortage starter area, the number of group quests really goes up. Sure, you have a lot of individual quests to work on, but AoC practically pushes you into group cooperation with the way the zones are designed. The Cimmerian area Connall's Valley has the Vanir deployed more like an instance than anything else, and their movements are a lot more detailed than I've seen in WoW. As I've commented before on the AI, enemies are far more sensitive to nearby attacks and use real tactics to give themselves the best possible advantage. For some quests it becomes absolutely necessary to work in a group, even if the quest itself isn't flagged as a group quest.
With AoC the focus is not only on creating a more demanding quest line, but one that encourages group cooperation. AoC shares a similarity with LOTRO in that the journey is important enough to encourage immersion, but the approach to get people involved in the journey is different. The net result, however, is that both MMOs slow down leveling; their devs don't focus the MMOs to getting the player to max level as quickly as possible.
This upcoming week, we'll hear about the new WoW expansion from Blizzcon --and if you don't think we'll hear something, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you-- and I wonder what Blizz will do to counteract the heavily story-laden Star Wars: The Old Republic juggernaut. Will they orient themselves even more toward end-game raiding, or will they go off the quests-on-rails and change their quest focus again? I guess we'll find out soon.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Dancing With Myself
The inspiration for this post came from my perusal of the Badlands this morning, when I came across a Worgen Warrior off in a corner near Lethlor Canyon (not to be confused with the other Worgen who was doing the same Rhea's Egg questline as I was).
This particular Warrior simply decided to start dancing. Just for the hell of it.
I've been playing for a little over two years and I've seen some strange things, but this isn't what you'd expect to find at 5 AM.
Then again, is there ever a good time to be seeing strange stuff in WoW?
Like the guy who had his attacks set up via a macro so that he starts by yelling "Go go Power Rangers go go!" (I've come across him twice via LFD back when I was on Stormscale.)
Or the Goblin with the name of Snookie --yes, in honor of that Snookie-- that would shout every minute or so: "Where's the beach?"
Compared to this stuff, I'm kind of an ol' fuddy duddy. (And get offa my lawn, too!) But you know, one of these days...
Like maybe I'll create a Hunter with a pet named Scooby just so I can yell in the Halls of Reflection "Zoinks!!! Run, Scoob!!"
Or maybe that Hunter will go around with a gun, saying "Say hello to my little friend!"
Or I'll level a Rogue so I can quote lines from the Barenaked Ladies' song "The Ninjas" in a BG.
This particular Warrior simply decided to start dancing. Just for the hell of it.
I've been playing for a little over two years and I've seen some strange things, but this isn't what you'd expect to find at 5 AM.
Then again, is there ever a good time to be seeing strange stuff in WoW?
Like the guy who had his attacks set up via a macro so that he starts by yelling "Go go Power Rangers go go!" (I've come across him twice via LFD back when I was on Stormscale.)
Or the Goblin with the name of Snookie --yes, in honor of that Snookie-- that would shout every minute or so: "Where's the beach?"
Compared to this stuff, I'm kind of an ol' fuddy duddy. (And get offa my lawn, too!) But you know, one of these days...
Like maybe I'll create a Hunter with a pet named Scooby just so I can yell in the Halls of Reflection "Zoinks!!! Run, Scoob!!"
Or maybe that Hunter will go around with a gun, saying "Say hello to my little friend!"
Or I'll level a Rogue so I can quote lines from the Barenaked Ladies' song "The Ninjas" in a BG.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Not Exactly Feeling the Love
I've been watching the class changes in the 4.3 PTR, and I'm less than thrilled. The three class/specs that I play --Ret Pally, Frost Mage, and Affliction Warlock-- have either got a big ol' batch of nothing (Frost and Aff) or a slight mix of buffs and nerfs, ending up in an overall nerf (Ret). (Druids have been hit by a nerf bat too, now that I think about it.)
What's enjoying the spotlight these days? Holy Spec Pallys, for one. Fire Mages, for another. Destro Warlocks. Warriors. Shamans. Holy and Disco Priests. Hunters and DKs got a smattering of love, too.
It's still way early, but it's not looking so good at the moment.
Well, at least Rogues don't have anything new.
EtA: OH! The most important thing (at least for me) in the PTR is that the Alterac Blitz achievement will no longer be needed to get the Master of Alterac Valley meta-achievement. I just don't see how one team can get the Blitz if you've got two groups of 40, especially since it takes a couple of minutes to go from one end of the BG to the other.
What's enjoying the spotlight these days? Holy Spec Pallys, for one. Fire Mages, for another. Destro Warlocks. Warriors. Shamans. Holy and Disco Priests. Hunters and DKs got a smattering of love, too.
It's still way early, but it's not looking so good at the moment.
Well, at least Rogues don't have anything new.
EtA: OH! The most important thing (at least for me) in the PTR is that the Alterac Blitz achievement will no longer be needed to get the Master of Alterac Valley meta-achievement. I just don't see how one team can get the Blitz if you've got two groups of 40, especially since it takes a couple of minutes to go from one end of the BG to the other.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Guardian Cubs and Gaming the System
Given the imminent release of the Guardian Cub in the Blizz store, does that mean that the Guardian Mount (aka the glowing sheepdog) wasn't so annoying as the Sparkle Pony? After all, you'd think that there would be a market for the Blizzard version of My Little Pony as a pet.
I've seen enough of the brouhaha concerning the saleability of the pet on the AH, I have to ask just what the big deal is. It's just a pet; it's not raid tier gear. Having one won't imbalance the game any more than someone paying for a faction change just to sell pets cross faction. Either way, the money will indirectly go for gold. Why don't you hear a hue and cry over that?
Yes, I do get the slippery slope argument, and how blatant the "money for gold" aspect is. (And so is selling a copy of the Collectors' Edition of the game on eBay just to access the exclusive pet, but I digress.) But as minor as this is, gaming the system is nothing new to WoW.
There are always methods to game a system. The WoW gold farmers are one method; faction changes are another. Automated auction software that has more in common with day trader software is a third. Automated leveling software, which sells prospective buyers on "the game only really starts at max level", is another.
But in the end, what all these methods do is to get a player to a point in time, whether it's with a pet, or gold, or gear. A pet is strictly vanity, but gold and gear are a different matter. Whether they obtain it by cheating or not, the player is then expected to actually do something with their gear. Or their gold. Or their newly minted L85. Just amassing the stuff doesn't mean a lot in WoW terms, because flashing bling and a few silver will get you an apple from the fruit vendor in Shattrath's Lower City.
Failed pugs and raids are littered with people who didn't know how to play their class in that environment.* If you gamed the system to get into Firelands raiding, your (lack of) skill will be on display for all to see. I've been in too many 5-mans wherein poor undergeared me out DPSed toons with the latest gear found on the AH for me to think that gear = skill, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
Besides, who really cares when you flaunt your dubiously obtained gear?* After all, vanity gear is just around the corner, and people aren't going to care if you've got T20 gear on you because people will be too busy outfitting themselves in T2 gear instead. I mean, there will be people who will raid wearing a wedding dress, I can guarantee it.
If after all that you're expecting me to say some platitude about how someone who games the system is only hurting themselves, well, I'm not. Because that's not true. People get their accounts hacked in the name of keeping gold farmers' coffers full. Raids, BGs, and 5-mans fail because of these shenanigans. Just because you can game the system doesn't mean you should.
But in the end, the Guardian Cub controversy is a tempest in a teapot which is distracting from the more insidious methods of gaming the system. Stop worrying about the Cub, because that's not where the action will be.
*This is different from people who leveled their way to L85 and then tried to get into instances/raids/BGs. For starters, they know a bit about the mechanics, just not how to play a toon in a group format. The person who let a leveling service take care of their toon from 1-85 missed out on a lot of critical lessons on how a toon's abilities work. And believe me, it shows; we all can spot the DPS who keeps Righteous Fury on when playing.
**Remember people showing off their e-peen and their proto drakes perched on the Dal fountain? Do you remember their names? I sure don't, and I doubt no more than a few people do.
I've seen enough of the brouhaha concerning the saleability of the pet on the AH, I have to ask just what the big deal is. It's just a pet; it's not raid tier gear. Having one won't imbalance the game any more than someone paying for a faction change just to sell pets cross faction. Either way, the money will indirectly go for gold. Why don't you hear a hue and cry over that?
Yes, I do get the slippery slope argument, and how blatant the "money for gold" aspect is. (And so is selling a copy of the Collectors' Edition of the game on eBay just to access the exclusive pet, but I digress.) But as minor as this is, gaming the system is nothing new to WoW.
There are always methods to game a system. The WoW gold farmers are one method; faction changes are another. Automated auction software that has more in common with day trader software is a third. Automated leveling software, which sells prospective buyers on "the game only really starts at max level", is another.
But in the end, what all these methods do is to get a player to a point in time, whether it's with a pet, or gold, or gear. A pet is strictly vanity, but gold and gear are a different matter. Whether they obtain it by cheating or not, the player is then expected to actually do something with their gear. Or their gold. Or their newly minted L85. Just amassing the stuff doesn't mean a lot in WoW terms, because flashing bling and a few silver will get you an apple from the fruit vendor in Shattrath's Lower City.
Failed pugs and raids are littered with people who didn't know how to play their class in that environment.* If you gamed the system to get into Firelands raiding, your (lack of) skill will be on display for all to see. I've been in too many 5-mans wherein poor undergeared me out DPSed toons with the latest gear found on the AH for me to think that gear = skill, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
Besides, who really cares when you flaunt your dubiously obtained gear?* After all, vanity gear is just around the corner, and people aren't going to care if you've got T20 gear on you because people will be too busy outfitting themselves in T2 gear instead. I mean, there will be people who will raid wearing a wedding dress, I can guarantee it.
If after all that you're expecting me to say some platitude about how someone who games the system is only hurting themselves, well, I'm not. Because that's not true. People get their accounts hacked in the name of keeping gold farmers' coffers full. Raids, BGs, and 5-mans fail because of these shenanigans. Just because you can game the system doesn't mean you should.
But in the end, the Guardian Cub controversy is a tempest in a teapot which is distracting from the more insidious methods of gaming the system. Stop worrying about the Cub, because that's not where the action will be.
*This is different from people who leveled their way to L85 and then tried to get into instances/raids/BGs. For starters, they know a bit about the mechanics, just not how to play a toon in a group format. The person who let a leveling service take care of their toon from 1-85 missed out on a lot of critical lessons on how a toon's abilities work. And believe me, it shows; we all can spot the DPS who keeps Righteous Fury on when playing.
**Remember people showing off their e-peen and their proto drakes perched on the Dal fountain? Do you remember their names? I sure don't, and I doubt no more than a few people do.
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