As you might have noticed I have been playing mostly Lotro for som time now. The other day I had a bit of Lotro fatigue and decided to have a look at the new continent from patch 2.4. (Whats it called Sunwell?)
Well, my first impression was that it was a ton of daily quests in a concentrated area and not much more. Then I experienced the PvP aspect of WoW that Lotro totally lacks.
It was me, an undead rouge and an adrenaline overload...
God what a rush PvP is sometimes. The adrenaline makes your fingers shake... I really need to convince some of my old WoW companions to come back to play some arena again.
tisdag 15 april 2008
fredag 11 april 2008
WotLK - the death of WoW?
I have this nagging feeling that expansions in WoW is slowly killing the game. I'll try to explain:
When playing the original WoW, pre Burning Crusade, we all knew that 60 was the level cap and reaching that would make it possible to go into the raid instances. Gear upgrade was slow.
Then BC landed. In a couple of days (hours for some) they had exchanged every last piece of equipment to Outland greens. All work pre-BC was more or less for naught - if you look at the game gear wise. The good experiences lingered though (I still remember taking down Onyxia and meeting Ragnaros)
In Outland we where going for 70 asap. We all knew that instance loot in Hellfire Citadel or Coilfang was just a step on the way. Many even didn't enter the mid 60 instances before trying heroics (which is a huge mistake as all know who tried heroics with someone that hasn't done the regular).
For me, a medium fast leveller, I reached 70 and made all of the instances, but no raid content, before the news of WotLK released.
A friend of mine had grinded for money a lot to be able to make his tailor set (Frozen shadoweave). He got a bit pissed. "Why the hell did I do all this work when in a couple of months it will be all for nothing?" he asked me.
The only good answer I could come up with was: "But you must be playing for now also!?"
Investing in WoW
Somewhere here I got a bit concerned. If we should be inspired to try to get better and better equipment we need to feel the investment (of time) is worth the outcome (of gear) in accordance to its longevity (time to update making it obsolete).
I think this might be more of a problem for casual gamers. If playing time is scarse (like mine) and I have 12 months before next expansion makes gear outdated I don't want to put 6 of these months into getting ok gear for early raid content. The investment doesn't pay off enough.
Then we have the arena season gear and the discussion of welfare epics which makes it even more complicated. (For those not into this discussion it is about that the Season 1 gear is available for honor, which makes grinding Alterac Valley the best way to get great gear. For dps the S1 gear is on par with heroics/Karazhan gear).
Time over execution
Now it might feel like I am whining about my gear not being good enough and it takes too long time to get it. Well I am ;) No not really. The thing I think is the problem here is that WoW is extremely concentrated on gear improvement. All the avenues on getting good gear is more or less about the time you invest in the game. This might seem offensive to say, but I don’t mean that all are unskilled that have good gear - but admit that you met your fair share of real asshats with really great gear? =)
Maybe this is a better way to put it. Playing little but good gets you ok gear. Playing a lot but quite badly gets you better gear.
Since this is a tanking blog mostly I just ask you to remember all the times in a PuG with some real stupid party/raid member that you more or less ask not to mess things up and are glad if he’s on auto shot (yeah I'm talking to you huntard =) ).
Conclusion?
Hrmm, I got a bit sidetracked here. But my point is: Since WoW is such a gear improvement orientated game, too short intervals between making that earned gear obsolete (welfare epics or new level caps) makes it less interesting to play the game.
If the focus could shift towards skill this wouldn’t be that much of a problem.
One thing to take into account is the difference between vertical vs. horizontal advancement in a game. Vertical is things orientated on getting you onwards, horizontal is stuff that improves the experince on your actual level without increasing the ability to progress. Vertical orientated games are more addicitive (new fixes/gear) and WoW is one of them.
When playing the original WoW, pre Burning Crusade, we all knew that 60 was the level cap and reaching that would make it possible to go into the raid instances. Gear upgrade was slow.
Then BC landed. In a couple of days (hours for some) they had exchanged every last piece of equipment to Outland greens. All work pre-BC was more or less for naught - if you look at the game gear wise. The good experiences lingered though (I still remember taking down Onyxia and meeting Ragnaros)
In Outland we where going for 70 asap. We all knew that instance loot in Hellfire Citadel or Coilfang was just a step on the way. Many even didn't enter the mid 60 instances before trying heroics (which is a huge mistake as all know who tried heroics with someone that hasn't done the regular).
For me, a medium fast leveller, I reached 70 and made all of the instances, but no raid content, before the news of WotLK released.
A friend of mine had grinded for money a lot to be able to make his tailor set (Frozen shadoweave). He got a bit pissed. "Why the hell did I do all this work when in a couple of months it will be all for nothing?" he asked me.
The only good answer I could come up with was: "But you must be playing for now also!?"
Investing in WoW
Somewhere here I got a bit concerned. If we should be inspired to try to get better and better equipment we need to feel the investment (of time) is worth the outcome (of gear) in accordance to its longevity (time to update making it obsolete).
I think this might be more of a problem for casual gamers. If playing time is scarse (like mine) and I have 12 months before next expansion makes gear outdated I don't want to put 6 of these months into getting ok gear for early raid content. The investment doesn't pay off enough.
Then we have the arena season gear and the discussion of welfare epics which makes it even more complicated. (For those not into this discussion it is about that the Season 1 gear is available for honor, which makes grinding Alterac Valley the best way to get great gear. For dps the S1 gear is on par with heroics/Karazhan gear).
Time over execution
Now it might feel like I am whining about my gear not being good enough and it takes too long time to get it. Well I am ;) No not really. The thing I think is the problem here is that WoW is extremely concentrated on gear improvement. All the avenues on getting good gear is more or less about the time you invest in the game. This might seem offensive to say, but I don’t mean that all are unskilled that have good gear - but admit that you met your fair share of real asshats with really great gear? =)
Maybe this is a better way to put it. Playing little but good gets you ok gear. Playing a lot but quite badly gets you better gear.
Since this is a tanking blog mostly I just ask you to remember all the times in a PuG with some real stupid party/raid member that you more or less ask not to mess things up and are glad if he’s on auto shot (yeah I'm talking to you huntard =) ).
Conclusion?
Hrmm, I got a bit sidetracked here. But my point is: Since WoW is such a gear improvement orientated game, too short intervals between making that earned gear obsolete (welfare epics or new level caps) makes it less interesting to play the game.
If the focus could shift towards skill this wouldn’t be that much of a problem.
One thing to take into account is the difference between vertical vs. horizontal advancement in a game. Vertical is things orientated on getting you onwards, horizontal is stuff that improves the experince on your actual level without increasing the ability to progress. Vertical orientated games are more addicitive (new fixes/gear) and WoW is one of them.
tisdag 25 mars 2008
The ring runner
Have been playing Lotro mostly the last couple of weeks. Logged in to WoW to level an alt a bit more. Oh what a drag. Especially since I realized that warrior is the thing for me.
Warriors really have the best of two worlds: survivability and melee dps. Even if specced arms/fury we are tough as nails. And being able to dish out huge damage while specced right is nice - the best part is tanking.
When choosing a class in Lotro I was heavily into going Guardian (like a prot warrior) but since my best friend already rolled one I started a Champion instead (dps warrior). My luck was really with me on this choice since it has occurred to me by reading forums etc that Champions are more than viable tanks in ordinary instances. And that you need to dps tank to keep aggro!
This is really sweet. Not only is my role to be the one up front taking the attention of the mobs - but I can wield two swords at the same time!
Reached lvl 30 yesterday (that's when you get the tanking stance called Glory) so I am all eager to try some serious tanking soon.
Oh, by the way. My friend is going to contact the Guardian Union for class stealing and unauthorized tanking ;)
Warriors really have the best of two worlds: survivability and melee dps. Even if specced arms/fury we are tough as nails. And being able to dish out huge damage while specced right is nice - the best part is tanking.
When choosing a class in Lotro I was heavily into going Guardian (like a prot warrior) but since my best friend already rolled one I started a Champion instead (dps warrior). My luck was really with me on this choice since it has occurred to me by reading forums etc that Champions are more than viable tanks in ordinary instances. And that you need to dps tank to keep aggro!
This is really sweet. Not only is my role to be the one up front taking the attention of the mobs - but I can wield two swords at the same time!
Reached lvl 30 yesterday (that's when you get the tanking stance called Glory) so I am all eager to try some serious tanking soon.
Oh, by the way. My friend is going to contact the Guardian Union for class stealing and unauthorized tanking ;)
tisdag 11 mars 2008
The infidelity of DaddyGamer, part II
My second affair has made me spellbound. That’s why I haven’t written for so long. This fling is less calculating than I have been used to for a long time. Not as flashy as my main relationship but instead more down to earth and good looking in it's own way. I have been asked about deciding looks and clothes a lot more than used to. This do make me feel like not hanging out with a harlot or hobo in multicoloured garb. But the importance of a ring was mentioned almost from the start...
Well. Not as good description as my first affair. As you may have concluded it's Lord of the Rings - Shadows of Angmar that I am talking about.
It is very similar to WoW. Levelling to 50 is done by quests and monster kills. But the quests give much more experience than grinding mobs. A mob of the same level might give about 100 xp (at lvl 25) while completing a quest at the same level will give somewhere around 1200 xp.
Another nice thing is that there is something called Deeds. Different deeds are possible to accomplish according to zone, class and race. For example killing 25 wolves in Bree-land might give you the possibility to use the title "Wolf slayer" (I made this one up - but you get the drift). And after finishing killing wolves on the basic level of the deed you can start on getting the advanced benefit like the trait Valour +1.
Traits are given for accomplishing deeds and they add up. So it is possible to get Valour 4 for example. Each rank of a trait will give you more bonuses. And you can only equip a certain amount of traits according to your level. There are also class and race traits.
About the looks. Chainmail look like chainmail. Leather like leather. No lightning ridden wolves heads on your shoulder pads as in WoW. At lvl 20 you are allowed to equip gear for only visual purposes also. You get two extra copies of the character screen in which it's possible to equip gear and make them show but not count for bonuses. It's still the gear on your ordinary character screen that will give you equipment bonuses.
This is a nice feature. Makes it possible to custom your looks a lot more. But you will never look as sinister or kick-ass as in WoW since Lotro is low fantasy.
In the same time the looks in Lotro are more real. You get the feeling that you are moving in the world of Tolkien. The first time I saw Weathertop trough the mists I had to stop and look in awe.
Another thing that is kind of nice to is that since it is not the no.1 MMORPG out there, no number crunchers have gotten the proper threat rotation etc right yet. Although I hugely appreciate them in WoW this do make playing in Lotro a newer more open experience. There is no right or wrong. I've heard no discussions about the proper spec or right gear yet.
The biggest boon is actually that most of my IRL friends started playing it too. All online games are social games foremost. That is what makes them nice.
And it seems that Lotro attracts a more mature crowd too. That is real nice. Not heard any leet talk yet.
Well. Not as good description as my first affair. As you may have concluded it's Lord of the Rings - Shadows of Angmar that I am talking about.
It is very similar to WoW. Levelling to 50 is done by quests and monster kills. But the quests give much more experience than grinding mobs. A mob of the same level might give about 100 xp (at lvl 25) while completing a quest at the same level will give somewhere around 1200 xp.
Another nice thing is that there is something called Deeds. Different deeds are possible to accomplish according to zone, class and race. For example killing 25 wolves in Bree-land might give you the possibility to use the title "Wolf slayer" (I made this one up - but you get the drift). And after finishing killing wolves on the basic level of the deed you can start on getting the advanced benefit like the trait Valour +1.
Traits are given for accomplishing deeds and they add up. So it is possible to get Valour 4 for example. Each rank of a trait will give you more bonuses. And you can only equip a certain amount of traits according to your level. There are also class and race traits.
About the looks. Chainmail look like chainmail. Leather like leather. No lightning ridden wolves heads on your shoulder pads as in WoW. At lvl 20 you are allowed to equip gear for only visual purposes also. You get two extra copies of the character screen in which it's possible to equip gear and make them show but not count for bonuses. It's still the gear on your ordinary character screen that will give you equipment bonuses.
This is a nice feature. Makes it possible to custom your looks a lot more. But you will never look as sinister or kick-ass as in WoW since Lotro is low fantasy.
In the same time the looks in Lotro are more real. You get the feeling that you are moving in the world of Tolkien. The first time I saw Weathertop trough the mists I had to stop and look in awe.
Another thing that is kind of nice to is that since it is not the no.1 MMORPG out there, no number crunchers have gotten the proper threat rotation etc right yet. Although I hugely appreciate them in WoW this do make playing in Lotro a newer more open experience. There is no right or wrong. I've heard no discussions about the proper spec or right gear yet.
The biggest boon is actually that most of my IRL friends started playing it too. All online games are social games foremost. That is what makes them nice.
And it seems that Lotro attracts a more mature crowd too. That is real nice. Not heard any leet talk yet.
tisdag 26 februari 2008
The infidelity of DaddyGamer, part I
I have to admit it. I have an affair on the side, or two actually. But one has ended. I will tell you about this ended brief affair of mine today...
Her name is Eve. She lured me with sweet talks about that the first two was for free, the first two weeks that is. She dazzled me with her awesome looks, love for freedom and that I didn’t have to commit myself to her all the time. She would go on making me happy even if we didn’t meet for a couple of days. Eventually we broke up after the two weeks. The freedom was a bit much, her huge size frightened me and my friends didn't like her that much.
Her full name is EVE Online if you haven’t guessed yet. It is an awesome game. The graphics are terrific and the scale of things is even better. If you think Ragnaros is big in Molten Core then you haven’t had close contact with a titan class ship in EVE while in a small cruiser yourself. The scales are like flying an X-wing over a Star destroyer. It feels like a landscape on it's own.
Another scale thing that is nice is that there is no shard realms - none. A weekend there is about 30 k online at the same time! This is closer to virtual reality than any other online game I've played in. It does come with some issues. The rookie chat channel is flowing almost to quick to read for example...
I have heard about clashes of Corporations (the guilds) in the scale of hundreds of ships on each side. From cruiser- to titan-class.
That brings me to the PvP side. The game is focused around PvP. For better or for worse everything is player driven. The AH is really good and is a combination of vendor and AH. The need for friends is big if you want to fight - but you could be a miner as well and trying to stay away from others. Or why not a hauler? There is a market for transporting stuff since banks are not linked. If you store something in a station it stays there. And since some players are pirates out for a good loot (yes you can loot each other) you need to protect your stuff.
And the greatest thing is the no grinding issue. You will train skills in real-time. Logged on or not. There is no classes either so you can theoretically master all aspects. But since there are so many of them that is only theoretical. Now some will say: Hey that means it impossible to beat someone that has played longer. But since many/most skills are non combat oriented you may meet an very experienced miner in combat.
Well it did end. Since it is player oriented and none of my friends played it wasn’t that fun. And it is a big learning curve in the start. I didn’t get in far enough to get caught.
So that affair has ended. Next time I will tell you about my still ongoing affair...
Her name is Eve. She lured me with sweet talks about that the first two was for free, the first two weeks that is. She dazzled me with her awesome looks, love for freedom and that I didn’t have to commit myself to her all the time. She would go on making me happy even if we didn’t meet for a couple of days. Eventually we broke up after the two weeks. The freedom was a bit much, her huge size frightened me and my friends didn't like her that much.
Her full name is EVE Online if you haven’t guessed yet. It is an awesome game. The graphics are terrific and the scale of things is even better. If you think Ragnaros is big in Molten Core then you haven’t had close contact with a titan class ship in EVE while in a small cruiser yourself. The scales are like flying an X-wing over a Star destroyer. It feels like a landscape on it's own.
Another scale thing that is nice is that there is no shard realms - none. A weekend there is about 30 k online at the same time! This is closer to virtual reality than any other online game I've played in. It does come with some issues. The rookie chat channel is flowing almost to quick to read for example...
I have heard about clashes of Corporations (the guilds) in the scale of hundreds of ships on each side. From cruiser- to titan-class.
That brings me to the PvP side. The game is focused around PvP. For better or for worse everything is player driven. The AH is really good and is a combination of vendor and AH. The need for friends is big if you want to fight - but you could be a miner as well and trying to stay away from others. Or why not a hauler? There is a market for transporting stuff since banks are not linked. If you store something in a station it stays there. And since some players are pirates out for a good loot (yes you can loot each other) you need to protect your stuff.
And the greatest thing is the no grinding issue. You will train skills in real-time. Logged on or not. There is no classes either so you can theoretically master all aspects. But since there are so many of them that is only theoretical. Now some will say: Hey that means it impossible to beat someone that has played longer. But since many/most skills are non combat oriented you may meet an very experienced miner in combat.
Well it did end. Since it is player oriented and none of my friends played it wasn’t that fun. And it is a big learning curve in the start. I didn’t get in far enough to get caught.
So that affair has ended. Next time I will tell you about my still ongoing affair...
torsdag 14 februari 2008
Running on empty
After browsing my favourite blogs abot WoW I realize we share the same problem. Most of us are running on empty. Motivation is low, game time declines and old groups are torn apart due to ppl leaving the game.
One of my most trusted friends, which have I have played arena with a lot, have decided not to prolong his subscription. Another haven’t logged in for 3 weeks.
My warrior is stuck pre-Kara. My lock is loitering in Honor hold. And my paladin have taken a nap in Terrokar forest.
I feel I ought to level the lock and pally before WotLK arrives. But the levels between 60 and 70 are hard work. And somewhere in the back of my head I think "Maybe they will extend the 'easy leveling' to a 20-70 span after the expansion?"
Maybe the best thing is to take a break until expansion arrives so I won’t get fed up on WoW? :(
One of my most trusted friends, which have I have played arena with a lot, have decided not to prolong his subscription. Another haven’t logged in for 3 weeks.
My warrior is stuck pre-Kara. My lock is loitering in Honor hold. And my paladin have taken a nap in Terrokar forest.
I feel I ought to level the lock and pally before WotLK arrives. But the levels between 60 and 70 are hard work. And somewhere in the back of my head I think "Maybe they will extend the 'easy leveling' to a 20-70 span after the expansion?"
Maybe the best thing is to take a break until expansion arrives so I won’t get fed up on WoW? :(
onsdag 23 januari 2008
Revive the heroics!
Heroics are a half assed attempt of keeping the same instances alive longer. Why not going for a more story related/accurate version of the heroics. Why are they harder? Why the same exact mobs?
Probably (I'm no designer) the hardest part wit the places are the layout and that kind of graphics. So keep that. The other must be the skins and movement of the mobs/bosses. So keep that too. The third must be placement so they chain pull properly etc and are at the right level of challenge. That needs to change.
Take Blood furnace for instance. That is a place where they have corrupted orcs to fel orcs and tapped the blood of Magtheridon to do so. Last boss is Kelidan the breaker - a warlock.
Lets make heroic BF like this: Since the heroes (that’s us ;D ) cleared the place the remnants of Kelidans soul has reshaped into an unstable dimensional rift and is spawning demons all through the place. Make first boss w skin of Omor (from ramp) and some new abilities. Place demons all over the place and make it feel new. Etc.
In my mind that wouldn’t make it that hard to get done - and give completely new content. Just jacking up the health and damage of everyone seems like a cheap solution.
Let the Belfs invade the empty Slave pens, make Nagas push into Mana tombs, let the demons take over Shadow labs. And why not revive the old continent instances in the same fashion? Let the beasts and monsters from Outland transgress the portal as well as us. Fel orcs would love BRD in my mind. Let the Belfs of Tempest keep ally with the Scarlet crusade.
What would you like to see?
Probably (I'm no designer) the hardest part wit the places are the layout and that kind of graphics. So keep that. The other must be the skins and movement of the mobs/bosses. So keep that too. The third must be placement so they chain pull properly etc and are at the right level of challenge. That needs to change.
Take Blood furnace for instance. That is a place where they have corrupted orcs to fel orcs and tapped the blood of Magtheridon to do so. Last boss is Kelidan the breaker - a warlock.
Lets make heroic BF like this: Since the heroes (that’s us ;D ) cleared the place the remnants of Kelidans soul has reshaped into an unstable dimensional rift and is spawning demons all through the place. Make first boss w skin of Omor (from ramp) and some new abilities. Place demons all over the place and make it feel new. Etc.
In my mind that wouldn’t make it that hard to get done - and give completely new content. Just jacking up the health and damage of everyone seems like a cheap solution.
Let the Belfs invade the empty Slave pens, make Nagas push into Mana tombs, let the demons take over Shadow labs. And why not revive the old continent instances in the same fashion? Let the beasts and monsters from Outland transgress the portal as well as us. Fel orcs would love BRD in my mind. Let the Belfs of Tempest keep ally with the Scarlet crusade.
What would you like to see?
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