...I've seen the female Pandaren design. While it's better than I expected, she's still too skinny. Is it too much to make a female Pandaren look more like a Panda first and a dwarf second?
Monday, March 19, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
On That New Pandaren Silhouette...
When I saw the female Pandaren Silhouette, this is what I thought of:
Yeah, Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow.
If you're going to have male Pandaren that look a helluva lot like, well, pudgy pandas, why on earth would you create a female Pandaren that looks like she's been on The Biggest Loser? Don't give me the "we have to make females look significantly different than males" crap, either. Therazane alone defeats that concept.
To me, making female Pandaren "skinny Pandas with J Lo hips" signifies a lack of imagination. Another way of looking at it is to consider the female Pandaren as a female Human base that has been "Panda-ized", instead of going from a real honest-to-god Panda and building a recognizable female from that.
Think of Therazane; she broke the mold for female bosses and (semi) faction leaders completely, and Blizz could have built on that by going in a more unique direction. But with the female Pandaren silhouette, it looks like Blizz played it safe and sexy because it sells.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Monday Musings
Let's get this out of the way now: I'm a PC gamer.
That said, the appeal of a console for gaming right now is pretty strong, but not because of what you'd think.
There are a lot of good, new games that I'm interested in but I've not pulled the trigger on because of the system requirements. My aging PC still meets the minimum system requirements, but I know from two decades of gaming experience that those minimum requirements are just about worthless. So, instead of paying for the game itself, I'd also have to pay for some significant upgrades to my system.
With a console, I wouldn't have to do that. Yes, that means I wouldn't be able to play a lot of the games I currently own as they aren't made for the console, but it also means that I don't have to pay for hardware upgrades every couple of years.
***
Speaking of hardware upgrades, WoW's older graphics engine might actually work in it's favor for a while.
As newer MMOs with more sophisticated graphics are released, you need more horsepower to run those games seamlessly. For gamers such as myself, who are reluctant to shell out cash for the hardware just to play one or two games, it's a cheaper option to simply remain with WoW.
I doubt we're going to see much impact by that, but I know that one significant deterrent from me playing TOR are the system requirements. My PC struggles when you get all 40 people wailing on Drek or Vann in AV, and there have been a few times where I've actually gotten kicked out of the game in AQ40 when there's been too much activity on screen. Now, throw in the nicer but more processor intensive graphics of the latest MMOs, and you get the idea.
***
Given the instant popularity of Healers Have to Die, you'd think that Healers would be higher on the priority list in a BG. Or at the very least, CC them or something to keep them from assisting in the BG.
But nooo....
I can't tell you how many times I've been in a BG lately where people have had to spell out "KILL THE HEALERS" in BG chat. You know, it's one thing if there are four enemy healers in Warsong Gulch and they're all focusing on the flag carrier, but it's quite another if there's just one Holy Spec Pally out there spamming Holy Light.
It's as if everyone in the BG is expecting someone else to do it, so they get the glory of offing the FC.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
One-a-Day Plus Something or Other
After spending much of the Cataclysm expansion playing BGs, I've recently returned to my questing roots.
Sure, I've squeaked in BGs, but I've been recently cruising through Azeroth, working on that Alliance Loremaster for Tomakan. I figure he'll have it by the end of the NCAA Tournament, when most of the people at work seemingly disappear into the ether and I can take a few days of vacation. (Okay, I'm not going to take vacation days just to play WoW, but it is something to chill out with.)
Horde Loremaster Quintalan has been operating in semi-retirement, occasionally dropping in to Silvermoon or Eversong Woods to stroll the area. There's always some smart-ass lowbie toon who thinks it's funny to challenge Q to a duel if he's on Sunstrider Isle, but I always refuse those requests. I've been tempted to send him into AV, but right now he's content to relax and fish for a while.
In Q's absence, Neve has taken over the Horde toon mantle for the time being and has been running both Firelands and Quel'Danas dailies to keep herself busy. I'm not exactly sure why I decided to start both at the same time, but a mage's teleport ability is invaluable for handling this task.
Comparing the two sets of dailies has been very educational, even though Neve can sleepwalk through the Q'D dailies given the level imbalance. In fact, the two sets of dailies have demonstrated the evolution in daily design over the lifetime of WoW.
The Quel'Danas dailies came at the end of BC and featured one big element found in some of the more vexing pre-Cata Vanilla questlines: trooping all over the Continent just to kill or collect something. Does anyone remember the questline that the ghost in front of Stratholme sent you on? First you had to collect stuff to assemble the ghost detector in order to contact him, then he sent you on quests all over Azeroth (and several times into BRD) to assemble what you needed to defeat the monster in question. Finally, after crisscrossing Azeroth numerous times you were able to complete the quest chain and return to the capital city for your reward. While about half of the Quel'Danas dailies were in Q'D proper, the rest sent you all over Outland to collect and/or fight things.
Most people who come to Quel'Danas these days see the sunny location and the numerous dailies to choose from, but it wasn't always the case. Q'D as released was a rainy beachhead that only changed as enough dailies on a server were completed. The Shattered Sun gradually retook the island, more dailies opened up, and skies cleared. It was a great idea in theory, but in practice what happened was that on some servers people were in such a rush to unlock more content that they blew through the daily requirements and unlocked everything in record time.
The next major set of dailies, for the Call of the Crusade patch in Wrath, improved on things a bit by removing the world trigger for a change in the dailies. Instead, the player progression unlocked the next level of dailies, and the player could move at their own pace. The variety of locations you could be sent to was reduced to a more manageable level, with the implication that you could do the dailies and then go about your raiding (or whatever). The trouble was that the same 5-8 quests got monotonous after a short while, and each time you tried to become a champion for another race in your faction you had to go do this all over again.
Blizzard apparently learned from these issues when they designed the dailies for the Firelands, because they brought back the world effect changes, but tried to keep the character oriented approach. Firelands utilizes phasing to separate out the world event changes, from the growth of the tree at Malfurion's Breach to the addition of different quest types in an effort to prevent stagnation. This allows the dailies to take place in a more limited locale, reducing the monotony of travel time and increasing the amount of in-game activity.
Variety? Check.
World altering events? Check.
Small locale? Check.
Time length? Um.....
I've discovered that the Firelands dailies take a lot of time --and I do mean a lot-- when compared to their predecessors. Even though you can one-shot mobs in Quel'Danas, you still take about 10-20 seconds fighting monsters in Firelands on average. You'd also have to consider that Firelands is still active as a quest hub, so there are enough other players there that your way from one location to another isn't hindered by having to mow down excessive mobs. Quel'Danas probably would take about 10 minutes longer if I were at-level, but that still doesn't take as long as the 45 minutes for me to clear all of the Firelands dailies, and I haven't even unlocked everything yet. Blizzard didn't eliminate the time factor, they just tweaked it so that you had to do more dailies at once for fewer days overall.
The current state of dailies rewards persistence, not skill or gear level. While persistence in and of itself isn't a bad thing, too many people who don't value persistence at the level required of the Firelands felt obligated to run those dailies to get the rewards at the end, and people don't like being forced into anything.
Most people who come to Quel'Danas these days see the sunny location and the numerous dailies to choose from, but it wasn't always the case. Q'D as released was a rainy beachhead that only changed as enough dailies on a server were completed. The Shattered Sun gradually retook the island, more dailies opened up, and skies cleared. It was a great idea in theory, but in practice what happened was that on some servers people were in such a rush to unlock more content that they blew through the daily requirements and unlocked everything in record time.
The next major set of dailies, for the Call of the Crusade patch in Wrath, improved on things a bit by removing the world trigger for a change in the dailies. Instead, the player progression unlocked the next level of dailies, and the player could move at their own pace. The variety of locations you could be sent to was reduced to a more manageable level, with the implication that you could do the dailies and then go about your raiding (or whatever). The trouble was that the same 5-8 quests got monotonous after a short while, and each time you tried to become a champion for another race in your faction you had to go do this all over again.
Blizzard apparently learned from these issues when they designed the dailies for the Firelands, because they brought back the world effect changes, but tried to keep the character oriented approach. Firelands utilizes phasing to separate out the world event changes, from the growth of the tree at Malfurion's Breach to the addition of different quest types in an effort to prevent stagnation. This allows the dailies to take place in a more limited locale, reducing the monotony of travel time and increasing the amount of in-game activity.
Variety? Check.
World altering events? Check.
Small locale? Check.
Time length? Um.....
I've discovered that the Firelands dailies take a lot of time --and I do mean a lot-- when compared to their predecessors. Even though you can one-shot mobs in Quel'Danas, you still take about 10-20 seconds fighting monsters in Firelands on average. You'd also have to consider that Firelands is still active as a quest hub, so there are enough other players there that your way from one location to another isn't hindered by having to mow down excessive mobs. Quel'Danas probably would take about 10 minutes longer if I were at-level, but that still doesn't take as long as the 45 minutes for me to clear all of the Firelands dailies, and I haven't even unlocked everything yet. Blizzard didn't eliminate the time factor, they just tweaked it so that you had to do more dailies at once for fewer days overall.
The current state of dailies rewards persistence, not skill or gear level. While persistence in and of itself isn't a bad thing, too many people who don't value persistence at the level required of the Firelands felt obligated to run those dailies to get the rewards at the end, and people don't like being forced into anything.
Monday, February 20, 2012
What's That About Wrestling With a Pig Again?
Most of the time my battleground chat is restricted to announcements. You know the sort:
"3 inc TP"
"3 to Farm, no 4"
"SHB is secure; need 1-2 more for def"
That's what you see in BG chat, anyway. I might be shooting the bull with people while holding down a location, but I never stick that in BG chat. I figure there's no reason why I should clutter up the channel further when nerd ragers are doing that all the time.
Well, last week in an IoC run I broke my rule.
I was on Neve, which must mean something, but I'm not sure what.
Things were not going well for the Horde in this run. While our D had taken out the glaives early, the Alliance's D inside the keep was doing a good job of preventing us from breaking through. I was staying put at the Workshop, waiting to escort the siege engine once it became available.
Ding! One siege engine rolled out into place.
There was nobody around to drive it.
"Need someone to take engine."
"Got an engine ready to go."
Finally a Pally (unfortunately) came riding up, hopped in, and began driving toward the Alliance keep.
We'd all been going to the East Gate, but this guy drove straight to the Main Gate instead.
"East Gate! East Gate!" I said, then said it again when he started to go to the West Gate.
He pulled the engine out and rotated it toward the East Gate just as the announcement that the Alliance had broken through popped up. I knew we had a chance if our D could hold just a bit longer, but we needed speed and firepower.
The Pally then started wiggling the engine as if he were dancing. "Don't I have a hot body?" he yelled.
I gritted my teeth. "And no brains," I typed as I was dumping all my CDs trying to distract the Alliance defenders.
"Nevelanthana is either a guy or a really ugly bitch!"
Another guy piped up. "Why don't you STFU and drive the damn engine!"
"You're just jealous of my abs!"
Thankfully, the Alliance slew Agmar a half a minute later, so I didn't have to see his idiotic comments any further.
You know how I've mentioned in the past that if you're a newbie to BGs that AV is an ideal starter because one person isn't going to make that much of a difference? Well, I've noticed something the past month or so in AV that kind of disproves that assertion.
Whether it's due to sloppy play or some other issue, I've notice that the majority of runs are almost completely of the zerg variety --where the pull starts with two towers/bunkers down-- with almost nobody playing any sort of defense. In a pure sprint, you're totally dependent upon things such as Crusader Aura, and that nobody on the other side is setting up any sort of defense.
You can see where this is going, can't you?
If you've got all your CC available, you can hide out in TP or IWB and do just enough to throw the other side off schedule so that your side can pull first. The last AV run I won on Neve I did just that, hiding out in TP alone, and when the Alliance stormed up the tower I cast Invisibility, drawing them in, and then unloaded with every CD I had. In a tight area with three mirror images of myself as well as a water elemental, chaos ruled. Sure, I went down after about a half a minute, but it was just enough of a nudge to throw the Alliance off schedule so we won.
I'm not very proud of that, given that I prefer the turtles, but I'll take the victory.
Free Hint: If you're a stealthie, dismiss your companion.
I was on Tomakan in AB, holding down the Lumber Mill, when I saw a Perky Pug walk by.
"What the--" I began when a Rogue materialized and began slashing me.
Thankfully, he was an undergeared Rogue, but once I realized what was going on, I kept close tabs on the location of that Pug. Sure enough, he was lurking out there, waiting for the two of us to drop our guard. Twice he tried to get the drop on us, but that pug gave us enough warning to lay down some AoE of our own.
"3 inc TP"
"3 to Farm, no 4"
"SHB is secure; need 1-2 more for def"
That's what you see in BG chat, anyway. I might be shooting the bull with people while holding down a location, but I never stick that in BG chat. I figure there's no reason why I should clutter up the channel further when nerd ragers are doing that all the time.
Well, last week in an IoC run I broke my rule.
I was on Neve, which must mean something, but I'm not sure what.
Things were not going well for the Horde in this run. While our D had taken out the glaives early, the Alliance's D inside the keep was doing a good job of preventing us from breaking through. I was staying put at the Workshop, waiting to escort the siege engine once it became available.
Ding! One siege engine rolled out into place.
There was nobody around to drive it.
"Need someone to take engine."
"Got an engine ready to go."
Finally a Pally (unfortunately) came riding up, hopped in, and began driving toward the Alliance keep.
We'd all been going to the East Gate, but this guy drove straight to the Main Gate instead.
"East Gate! East Gate!" I said, then said it again when he started to go to the West Gate.
He pulled the engine out and rotated it toward the East Gate just as the announcement that the Alliance had broken through popped up. I knew we had a chance if our D could hold just a bit longer, but we needed speed and firepower.
The Pally then started wiggling the engine as if he were dancing. "Don't I have a hot body?" he yelled.
I gritted my teeth. "And no brains," I typed as I was dumping all my CDs trying to distract the Alliance defenders.
"Nevelanthana is either a guy or a really ugly bitch!"
Another guy piped up. "Why don't you STFU and drive the damn engine!"
"You're just jealous of my abs!"
Thankfully, the Alliance slew Agmar a half a minute later, so I didn't have to see his idiotic comments any further.
***
You know how I've mentioned in the past that if you're a newbie to BGs that AV is an ideal starter because one person isn't going to make that much of a difference? Well, I've noticed something the past month or so in AV that kind of disproves that assertion.
Whether it's due to sloppy play or some other issue, I've notice that the majority of runs are almost completely of the zerg variety --where the pull starts with two towers/bunkers down-- with almost nobody playing any sort of defense. In a pure sprint, you're totally dependent upon things such as Crusader Aura, and that nobody on the other side is setting up any sort of defense.
You can see where this is going, can't you?
If you've got all your CC available, you can hide out in TP or IWB and do just enough to throw the other side off schedule so that your side can pull first. The last AV run I won on Neve I did just that, hiding out in TP alone, and when the Alliance stormed up the tower I cast Invisibility, drawing them in, and then unloaded with every CD I had. In a tight area with three mirror images of myself as well as a water elemental, chaos ruled. Sure, I went down after about a half a minute, but it was just enough of a nudge to throw the Alliance off schedule so we won.
I'm not very proud of that, given that I prefer the turtles, but I'll take the victory.
***
Free Hint: If you're a stealthie, dismiss your companion.
I was on Tomakan in AB, holding down the Lumber Mill, when I saw a Perky Pug walk by.
"What the--" I began when a Rogue materialized and began slashing me.
Thankfully, he was an undergeared Rogue, but once I realized what was going on, I kept close tabs on the location of that Pug. Sure enough, he was lurking out there, waiting for the two of us to drop our guard. Twice he tried to get the drop on us, but that pug gave us enough warning to lay down some AoE of our own.
Monday, February 13, 2012
How do Cross-MMO Guilds Work?
The advent of TOR and the subsequent creation or TOR branches of WoW guilds has gotten me to thinking. How much to the WoW guilds share with their TOR counterparts?
If you want to use Venn diagrams then so be it:
Just what is inside that intersecting area? Web sites? Vent/Mumble? Just a spot on a guild’s forums? Nothing at all?
The thing I can see is that --even with the best of intentions—the two guilds will grow separate over time. Members may join for one MMO but have no inclination to join the other. Perhaps a guild may have a rule that only their WoW members are allowed to join the TOR guild, but that will create a subgroup within the larger WoW guild that may eventually seek independence from the larger organization.
If both groups are large enough, does it make sense to maintain a single Vent/Mumble server or subdivide into two separate servers? If you’re recruiting for your TOR guild, is it really smart to just have a single section on your guild’s Forums for TOR, or should you create an independent website? (Or something in between?)
I’d imagine that the answers are a whole lot of “it depends”, but I’m curious as to how this little social experiment pans out.
(Side Note: I'm trying to track down the source of a potential issue with the blog. At least one blog reader has informed me that some browsers are showing some of the words without spacing between them. Instead of "this and that" they read "thisandthat" instead. If you see that issue, let me know so I have a better idea how to fix it.)
If you want to use Venn diagrams then so be it:
The thing I can see is that --even with the best of intentions—the two guilds will grow separate over time. Members may join for one MMO but have no inclination to join the other. Perhaps a guild may have a rule that only their WoW members are allowed to join the TOR guild, but that will create a subgroup within the larger WoW guild that may eventually seek independence from the larger organization.
If both groups are large enough, does it make sense to maintain a single Vent/Mumble server or subdivide into two separate servers? If you’re recruiting for your TOR guild, is it really smart to just have a single section on your guild’s Forums for TOR, or should you create an independent website? (Or something in between?)
I’d imagine that the answers are a whole lot of “it depends”, but I’m curious as to how this little social experiment pans out.
(Side Note: I'm trying to track down the source of a potential issue with the blog. At least one blog reader has informed me that some browsers are showing some of the words without spacing between them. Instead of "this and that" they read "thisandthat" instead. If you see that issue, let me know so I have a better idea how to fix it.)
Monday, February 6, 2012
The F2P Field is Getting Crowded
Not only is the original EQ going F2P, but Rift is following Blizzard's lead and releasing a Rift Lite, wherein the first 20 toon Levels are free.
To quote that German guy on Laugh-In: Velly interestink!
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