One of the biggest issues and controversies in WoW at the moment is the comparisons between gear.
Is the PvP gear 'welfare epics'? Should all new drops go to tanks/main healers in the first place in a raid? Is the arena rating limitations on S4 arena gear making the 'below 1700' not worth going arena? etc etc.
I think I have the embryo of an idea to solve this.
Let's first explain with arena gear.
With the coming season 4 lots of the gear demands a specific rating, and already there have been a discussion about it killing of the non hardcore arena teams.
First I thought - that’s easily solved. Why not get like 5 different versions of the shoulders which demands specific ratings? Like: none, 1500, 1700, 1900, 2100. This will make it possible for every arena player to slowly achieve better gear according to accomplishment.
And to not make it cost too much, get rid of earned arena points (not rating) and say that chest takes 4 weeks of playing a minimum 10 matches/week to be able to buy. And shoulders 8 weeks.
Here we have options of needing to work toward specific pieces. Like say that each week earns you a merit point which can be put in towards the 4 needed for chest. (A bit like a talent tree where the full tree make you able to wear that piece. Maybe should come with the option of respeccs.) Gettig 'attuned' to wear shoulders makes u able to upgrade to better rating shoulders without putting in the weeks again. A bit of a two way improvement avenue. Rating wise or slot wise.
New arena gear
What will be the result? Well. We would get arena players which all can work toward new gear in two ways. Either by improving their rating or to week by week work towards ability to wear a specific gear slot. More intervals makes it easier to actually get up on the ladder in comparison to now where its a huge difference if u can get the S4 set or not. This would make skill more important but keeping the gear advancement element of play.
But what about PvE then?
Yeah that’s another thing - or is it really? Why not get rid of the old drop system. Let everyone earn PvE rating by downing bosses and clearing instances.
This rating would then make you eligible to buy new gear, much like the arena system.
Wait a minute! Why not grind ZF then to get the best gear!?
Well thats easily solved too. Each boss is wort a number of points, say 60 points for Omor the Unscarred. Say that first time you get 60 points and then we have diminishing returns for him like cutting it to a third each time. 2nd=20, 3rd=7, 4th=3 etc. This to a max of like double the original value for him 120 points. Then you cant grind Omorr any more.
Then we can get phat loot by going in with a good group. Twink runs FTW!
Sure. But if we then add this system with a negative multiplier according to the PvE score of all the individuals in the group/raid? So doing Omorr the Unscarred with a group of BT raiders will diminish the PvE-points gained a lot. That will actually make it worth the time to do the instances with like levelled people.
Ok. I'll save up my points and buy the phattest axe in Azeroth already at lvl 60
Well, you wont. The system will work like the arena system above. The total points make you able to buy better gear. But they will not go away. They are a rating and not spendable points.
What do we get then for PvE?
Players get gear according to accomplishment. There is still a grinding component in there. And there is a motivator for taking on content made for your level.
This will make it meaningless to do Kara badge runs or easy heroics.
There is one drawback though. The thrill of seeing what that boss will drop today. Nothing is as thrilling like seeing that nifty helm drop and checking it out with a ctrl-click.
OK. Suggestion time is over. Please comment if you made it all through =)
torsdag 24 april 2008
onsdag 16 april 2008
Is levelling the wrong path?
MMORPG is all about getting better and doing cooler stuff. No problem with that. But I do wonder - is levelling actually the right thing?
Ok, I really liked to level up my first WoW-charachter, my paladin Gawain, to lvl 60. And then I levelled up my warrior to level 70. 1-60 was boooring but done with the 60 to 70 span to look forward to.
Then I tried to level up a warlock to 70 on a different server (this was actually my very first char that got abandoned at lvl 42 for my paladin). I managed to get the lock to 62 before interest faded completely. Same with trying to level up the pally just to be able to heal in the end game. He's stuck at 65-ish.
Not that I don't wanna play them in 70 instances. But it was too much of a boring one man job to get the bastards to 70. Doing the 1-60 span was better since with dedicated playing following a levelling guide it was kinda neat just to ding twice an evening. The lock was levelled after the "fast levelling patch" so he was even easier. And maybe because paladins are one of the slowest classes to level, fury warrior and affliction lock was pure dps fun in different aspects.
Reason for 10 new levels
But back to the point. New level caps are made for two reasons. One of them is that reaching the new cap is time needed to play (play time = income for Blizzard) and the other that everybody is at square one after reaching the new cap. All old gear needs to be replaced, factions worked at etc which needs more play time. And also since the slate is wiped clean we are all on equal footing Newbies and Hardcore raiders which makes it possible to become a hardcore raider for a former newbie.
Ok, that settled.
Blizzard wants us to play more. But levelling of alts is just made by some. Most people tend to leave them midlevel in my experience. If we played with many characters we would probably play more. Maybe it should only be needed to level one char and the rest would follow? Or will that mean we will only see hunters farm their way up to lvl 70 and then become different classes that don't know how to play their class?
More gaming = more fun = more money
All I know is that I would play more if I didn't need to level my alts. Especially since the problem with my warrior was that I reached what I call the "content-cap" (it is reaching the cap of content that you may experience due to different circumstances like game time, guild progress etc). I didn't have enough game time to do Karazhan on a regular basis and doing heroics over and over wasn't that fun. But I wouldn't mind healing through Shadow Labs if my pally had been lvl 70.
I don’t have the solution for the problem but I feel like it needs to be addressed. This is maybe a way towards a problem I noticed a while back with mates playing but not able to enjoy it fully because of different levels of progress. That might become a later post.
Ok, I really liked to level up my first WoW-charachter, my paladin Gawain, to lvl 60. And then I levelled up my warrior to level 70. 1-60 was boooring but done with the 60 to 70 span to look forward to.
Then I tried to level up a warlock to 70 on a different server (this was actually my very first char that got abandoned at lvl 42 for my paladin). I managed to get the lock to 62 before interest faded completely. Same with trying to level up the pally just to be able to heal in the end game. He's stuck at 65-ish.
Not that I don't wanna play them in 70 instances. But it was too much of a boring one man job to get the bastards to 70. Doing the 1-60 span was better since with dedicated playing following a levelling guide it was kinda neat just to ding twice an evening. The lock was levelled after the "fast levelling patch" so he was even easier. And maybe because paladins are one of the slowest classes to level, fury warrior and affliction lock was pure dps fun in different aspects.
Reason for 10 new levels
But back to the point. New level caps are made for two reasons. One of them is that reaching the new cap is time needed to play (play time = income for Blizzard) and the other that everybody is at square one after reaching the new cap. All old gear needs to be replaced, factions worked at etc which needs more play time. And also since the slate is wiped clean we are all on equal footing Newbies and Hardcore raiders which makes it possible to become a hardcore raider for a former newbie.
Ok, that settled.
Blizzard wants us to play more. But levelling of alts is just made by some. Most people tend to leave them midlevel in my experience. If we played with many characters we would probably play more. Maybe it should only be needed to level one char and the rest would follow? Or will that mean we will only see hunters farm their way up to lvl 70 and then become different classes that don't know how to play their class?
More gaming = more fun = more money
All I know is that I would play more if I didn't need to level my alts. Especially since the problem with my warrior was that I reached what I call the "content-cap" (it is reaching the cap of content that you may experience due to different circumstances like game time, guild progress etc). I didn't have enough game time to do Karazhan on a regular basis and doing heroics over and over wasn't that fun. But I wouldn't mind healing through Shadow Labs if my pally had been lvl 70.
I don’t have the solution for the problem but I feel like it needs to be addressed. This is maybe a way towards a problem I noticed a while back with mates playing but not able to enjoy it fully because of different levels of progress. That might become a later post.
tisdag 15 april 2008
PvP - a rush of blood to the head
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.
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.
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...
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