Now that the Real ID fiasco is over, we can all breath a collective sigh of relief, and I can get this post out on time, rather than needing to delay it while I write another post about whether I will continue to play the game after the news of the Real ID change (the answer now is a resounding yes). A week ago, I went over lessons to learn from the various heroic dungeons of Wrath of the Lich King, and two things became clear to me: I noticed that everything I had written was negative and critical, and my commenters pointed out that the post was mostly me complaining about elements of heroics that I didn't like. Well, this week, I hope to change at least one of those, as I'll be going over more positive lessons to learn from Wrath's heroic dungeons, elements that Blizzard should emulate when they design Cataclysm's heroics. Whether this will be constructive positive criticism or just me gushing about game elements I like, you be the judge. (I would put a smiley face here if I didn't have the integrity to not use smiley faces in the main body of my posts.)
Pit of Saron, Forge of Souls, and Utgarde Keep
As much as I criticized about the amount of trash in Pit of Saron, it contains what are without a doubt my favorite boss fights in Wrath of the Lich; a shorter version would have been my favorite heroic of the expansion, bar none. As I said in my post "My Warcraft Year in Review", I love the boss fights in Pit of Saron (and Forge of Souls, to a lesser extent) because they require proactive movement. I was pretty disappointed by the encounters in Trial of the Champion because they were just damage and healing races. In fact, they were pretty much tank-and-spanks. I enjoyed fighting Eardic the Pure the most out of all of the bosses in Trial of the Champion because you actually need to move in that fight. The FoS and PoS fights all involve movement, and if you move correctly, the fights are not all that difficult. Sure, they do require a pretty high level of gear, but then again, The Frozen halls is like the Ulduar of the 5-man world, in terms of skill and gear required.
Still, you may say, other fights in other heroics also require movement, so what makes Pit of Saron and Forge of Souls special? What makes them special is that the movement involved is proactive, not reactive. There's little satisfaction in moving out of an area spell when a boss casts it out of nowhere, such as the Maiden of Grief's Storm of Grief; it's more of a nuisance than anything, especially since those spells don't do much damage (they can't, since you need time to move out of them without dying instantly), and thus moving out of them doesn't seem so urgent. However, when a boss is about to cast a spell or use an ability, and you move to avoid it, or you just move to avoid something before it happens, rather than because of something that just happened, you avoided that damage outright. Your skill and foreknowledge just made the fight easier, and that makes it much more satisfying.
In a similar vein to the fights in Pit of Saron, Ingvar the Plunderer is probably one of my favorite bosses from the first ten heroics of Wrath because the fight necessitated hiding behind the columns when he used his Smash or Dark Smash ability (granted, few people seem to do that these days, but I still do it, if only for nostalgia's sake). This was fun for me for the same reasons the fights in Pit of Saron are fun; it was proactive movement that was satisfying, rather than reactive movement that was annoyance.
Halls of Stone and Halls of Lightning
Remember when I said that grandiosity in 5-man design was to be avoided? I would like to clarify that when I said that, I only meant that grandiosity is to be avoided in the layout of the instance, in terms of the ground we need to walk on. When it comes to the art design, I love grandiosity, and the Halls of Ulduar are a great example of that grandiosity in action. I don't think any instances wowed me as much when I first stepped through their doors as these two. In fact, my first foray into the Halls of Stone was lamentably short because the tank was a speed runner, and while I did appreciate the fast emblems, I ended up walking through the now-cleared instance on my own, just to admire the artwork inside (I didn't do the same for Halls of Lightning because the my first run though that instance was slower and more methodical, giving me time to admire the artwork.) It's hard to say what made me like those two dungeons as much as I did, but the lines of un-animated earthen below your feet when you first enter Halls of Lightning and the paintings in Halls of Stone stand out in my memory.
The Violet Hold
I know we can't give The Violet Hold credit for this particular element which I am about to discuss--that credit goes to Black Morass was back in Burning Crusade--but we can give The Violet Hold credit for keeping the tradition of the gauntlet-type dungeon going. I enjoy the rush of needing to run from portal to portal as new enemies appear, of needing to know when to use Dash and when to save it, and of knowing where I'll have to go if I can't get there on time so I don't lose control of the mobs. I especially like the fact that even as our gear gets better, this particular element of the instance does not change or get any easier, keeping Violet Hold interesting.
Now, with all that said, I think it would have been a wise design choice for Blizzard to make the amount of time between when a portal appears and when the enemies spawn from it vary based on how far apart the last portal and the current portal are. When a portal spawns on the far right, I know that if another portal spawns on the upper left side, on the second level, I'll need to use Dash to get there in time without the monsters parting ways and mayhem ensuing. And if Dash is on its cooldown, then I have to hope I can get close enough before they spawn to use Feral Charge. Meanwhile, when two portals spawn close to each other, we rush to the second portal and twiddle our thumbs waiting for the monsters to come out. This inconsistency is a relatively minor flaw, but if it disappears in Cataclysm's equivalent to Violet Hold (which I hope they add), then I'll be a happy Druid.
What elements would you have added to this list? Were any of the elements I mentioned things you didn't like about Wrath's heroics.
Showing posts with label the Frozen Halls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Frozen Halls. Show all posts
Monday, July 12, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Lessons to learn from Wrath's heroics, Part 1
Warning: This post contains two instances of PG-13 language (for those outside of the US, that means vulgar language that is fine for most teens, but may be inappropriate for younger children). Hide your infants and tweens.
With the Cataclysm beta starting and the Ruby Sanctum finally released, it's safe to say that Wrath of the Lich King is coming to a close as an expansion. Thus it's a good time to look back and reflect, to reflect on both mistakes and good decisions made. It is with that lens that I look at heroics today. Heroics will probably play a big roll in Cataclysm, as they did in Wrath of the Lich King, and though Blizzard seems to be designing their expansion to get more of those people who spend most of their time running heroics into raids, heroics are not to be ignored. They will be the first foray into group content for quite a few players, and they deserve a good amount of design attention for that reason. So, let's look back at what Wrath's heroics can teach us:
Forge of Souls/Pit of Saron/Nexus
Now, everyone loves a little bit of grandiosity from time to time, but these heroics show that in high doses, it isn't a good thing. Each of these heroics has its own unique issue with grandiosity. Forge of Souls is too big for the number of enemies it has. The long walks between packs of trash kills the suspense for me while I'm in there. Pit of Saron simply has an absurdly large amount of trash, especially between the Krick and Ick encounter and Scourgelord Tyrannus. Nexus suffers from a similar problem, although the instance itself is really just huge for a heroic. Sure, it gives five emblems, but I'd rather work harder for more emblems per instance than work longer. Put simply, heroics are not raids, and do not need to match them in scale and size.
Trial of the Champion
I don't really enjoy the bosses in Trial of the Champion all that much. With the exception of Eadric the Pure, who is the one boss in that instance whom I enjoy fighting, all of the other bosses have abilities that cause high damage, but can't be mitigated in any way. That instance simply expects you to heal through that damage, with no way for skilled players to avoid it (again, with the exception of Eadric). Not only is that lazy instance design, but it also makes the heroic unengaging and annoying when players don't out-gear it and simply boring when they do.
Oculus
Oh Oculus; how I love thee, and yet how the playerbase does not. If any instance is rife with lessons to be learned about the design of heroics, it is this poor sap.
Let's start with the good points... er, point. Flying in an instance has been one of my dreams since I first bought Flight Form. I longed for an instance where flying was an integral part of its execution, where you would fly from platform to platform on your own flying mounts. I guess you can see that Oculus didn't fit this vision very well. Not only were we unable to fly around on our own mounts, but the instance was so unintuitive designed that trying to get anywhere was a nightmare. Flying in an instance can work, but the instances need to be designed so that the path you take through them is more intuitive than it was in Oculus.
And about those mounts. Let's get one thing straight; I enjoy vehicular combat, but only during quests (where the vehicle in question is simple to operate and often grossly overpowered) and PvP (where there is plenty of room for trial and error to get used to the vehicle). In Oculus, none of these luxuries were given to us players: the drakes were hardly overpowered, complex to maneuver and fight with, and mistakes lead to death, which is par for the course in PvP, but a huge inconvenience in PvE. Vehicles in an instance can be a good thing, but they need to either be simple, or there needs to be a way for players to get used to them, something like the daily Aces High! and how it related to the Malygos encounter.
Forge of Souls
I have one gripe specific to the Forge of Souls, a gripe relating to those packs of casters who don't like to move when they are aggro-ed. They are far apart from each other, too far apart for a tank's AoE attacks to hit them all, and there is no way to set up an LoS pull to bring them closer together. This creates a very difficult situation for us tanks, and I implore Blizzard, when they design trash packs with casters, that they add one of the following elements to those packs: the casters actually move, they are placed close together, or there be a way to LoS pull them.
Halls of Reflection
While I'm discussing specific gripes with specific trash enemies in specific instances, allow me to discuss the gauntlet in the beginning of Halls of Reflection. Now, I have no problem with trash that is actually difficult; it makes what is normally a boring part of the instance more interesting. And I have no problem with trash that required crown control; it's my understanding that we'll be seeing more of that in Cataclysm, so we may as well just accept it. And I have no problem with gauntlet type events where enemies spawn automatically; Violet Hold and Black Morass were two of my favorite heroics back when they were a challenge. Each of these distinct elements, I have no problem with individually, or even in pairs. However, put all three together, and you have a clusterfuck of epic proportions.
"Clusterfuck" really is the best was to describe the trash in Halls of Reflection. When I looked up the definition of that word to make sure I was using it correctly, I found this: "Its more precise usage describes a particular kind of Catch-22, in which multiple complicated problems mutually interfere with each other's solution." That describes the trash in Halls of Reflection perfectly: the enemies do a lot of damage and have many abilities that make fighting them a royal pain, so crowd control is necessary. However, crowd control is difficult to pull off because the enemies spawn sporadically thanks to their gauntlet-style setup, so pulls and the crowd control used to make them manageable can't be planned out beforehand. In short, it's a mess, a huge mess.
So, for future reference: difficult trash that requires crowd control? Fine, just give us the time we need to mark the enemies and set up the pull. Difficult trash in a gauntlet-style event? Fine, just don't require us to use crowd control. Trash that requires crowd control in a gauntlet-style event? We'll begrudgingly accept it; just don't give it insanely high damage, so we actually have time to get it under control
I know that most of the things on this list were things that I felt Wrath's heroics did wrong, so next week, I'll be going over what certain heroics did right and what is worthy of being copied by Cataclysm's heroics. Until then, what heroics will you be happy to leave behind when Cataclysm launches, and why?
With the Cataclysm beta starting and the Ruby Sanctum finally released, it's safe to say that Wrath of the Lich King is coming to a close as an expansion. Thus it's a good time to look back and reflect, to reflect on both mistakes and good decisions made. It is with that lens that I look at heroics today. Heroics will probably play a big roll in Cataclysm, as they did in Wrath of the Lich King, and though Blizzard seems to be designing their expansion to get more of those people who spend most of their time running heroics into raids, heroics are not to be ignored. They will be the first foray into group content for quite a few players, and they deserve a good amount of design attention for that reason. So, let's look back at what Wrath's heroics can teach us:
Forge of Souls/Pit of Saron/Nexus
Now, everyone loves a little bit of grandiosity from time to time, but these heroics show that in high doses, it isn't a good thing. Each of these heroics has its own unique issue with grandiosity. Forge of Souls is too big for the number of enemies it has. The long walks between packs of trash kills the suspense for me while I'm in there. Pit of Saron simply has an absurdly large amount of trash, especially between the Krick and Ick encounter and Scourgelord Tyrannus. Nexus suffers from a similar problem, although the instance itself is really just huge for a heroic. Sure, it gives five emblems, but I'd rather work harder for more emblems per instance than work longer. Put simply, heroics are not raids, and do not need to match them in scale and size.
Trial of the Champion
I don't really enjoy the bosses in Trial of the Champion all that much. With the exception of Eadric the Pure, who is the one boss in that instance whom I enjoy fighting, all of the other bosses have abilities that cause high damage, but can't be mitigated in any way. That instance simply expects you to heal through that damage, with no way for skilled players to avoid it (again, with the exception of Eadric). Not only is that lazy instance design, but it also makes the heroic unengaging and annoying when players don't out-gear it and simply boring when they do.
Oculus
Oh Oculus; how I love thee, and yet how the playerbase does not. If any instance is rife with lessons to be learned about the design of heroics, it is this poor sap.
Let's start with the good points... er, point. Flying in an instance has been one of my dreams since I first bought Flight Form. I longed for an instance where flying was an integral part of its execution, where you would fly from platform to platform on your own flying mounts. I guess you can see that Oculus didn't fit this vision very well. Not only were we unable to fly around on our own mounts, but the instance was so unintuitive designed that trying to get anywhere was a nightmare. Flying in an instance can work, but the instances need to be designed so that the path you take through them is more intuitive than it was in Oculus.
And about those mounts. Let's get one thing straight; I enjoy vehicular combat, but only during quests (where the vehicle in question is simple to operate and often grossly overpowered) and PvP (where there is plenty of room for trial and error to get used to the vehicle). In Oculus, none of these luxuries were given to us players: the drakes were hardly overpowered, complex to maneuver and fight with, and mistakes lead to death, which is par for the course in PvP, but a huge inconvenience in PvE. Vehicles in an instance can be a good thing, but they need to either be simple, or there needs to be a way for players to get used to them, something like the daily Aces High! and how it related to the Malygos encounter.
Forge of Souls
I have one gripe specific to the Forge of Souls, a gripe relating to those packs of casters who don't like to move when they are aggro-ed. They are far apart from each other, too far apart for a tank's AoE attacks to hit them all, and there is no way to set up an LoS pull to bring them closer together. This creates a very difficult situation for us tanks, and I implore Blizzard, when they design trash packs with casters, that they add one of the following elements to those packs: the casters actually move, they are placed close together, or there be a way to LoS pull them.
Halls of Reflection
While I'm discussing specific gripes with specific trash enemies in specific instances, allow me to discuss the gauntlet in the beginning of Halls of Reflection. Now, I have no problem with trash that is actually difficult; it makes what is normally a boring part of the instance more interesting. And I have no problem with trash that required crown control; it's my understanding that we'll be seeing more of that in Cataclysm, so we may as well just accept it. And I have no problem with gauntlet type events where enemies spawn automatically; Violet Hold and Black Morass were two of my favorite heroics back when they were a challenge. Each of these distinct elements, I have no problem with individually, or even in pairs. However, put all three together, and you have a clusterfuck of epic proportions.
"Clusterfuck" really is the best was to describe the trash in Halls of Reflection. When I looked up the definition of that word to make sure I was using it correctly, I found this: "Its more precise usage describes a particular kind of Catch-22, in which multiple complicated problems mutually interfere with each other's solution." That describes the trash in Halls of Reflection perfectly: the enemies do a lot of damage and have many abilities that make fighting them a royal pain, so crowd control is necessary. However, crowd control is difficult to pull off because the enemies spawn sporadically thanks to their gauntlet-style setup, so pulls and the crowd control used to make them manageable can't be planned out beforehand. In short, it's a mess, a huge mess.
So, for future reference: difficult trash that requires crowd control? Fine, just give us the time we need to mark the enemies and set up the pull. Difficult trash in a gauntlet-style event? Fine, just don't require us to use crowd control. Trash that requires crowd control in a gauntlet-style event? We'll begrudgingly accept it; just don't give it insanely high damage, so we actually have time to get it under control
I know that most of the things on this list were things that I felt Wrath's heroics did wrong, so next week, I'll be going over what certain heroics did right and what is worthy of being copied by Cataclysm's heroics. Until then, what heroics will you be happy to leave behind when Cataclysm launches, and why?
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Do we deserve extensive previews of upcoming content?
As we all know, there was a huge leak of information off of the alpha test that got the whole community in a frenzy. There's something not quite right about the situation, though. The alpha is under a non-disclosure agreement, as I discussed earlier, so this should be the kind of thing that Blizzard would want to prevent. As a company with the resources they have (12 million subscribers times $15 a month equals 6 million dollar A DAY to spend on this game), if Blizzard really wanted to prevent these kinds of leaks from happening, they could. For that reason, some people (such as those who commented on WoW.com's post The Failure of Secrecy: The alpha, leaks, and the WoW community, the post that inspired me to write this one) suspect that Blizzard either approved of the leak, or at least were happy it happened. As commenter CrimsonEyedDeath said, "...it's good for them, in a way. Not that there was a massive leak, but that millions of people are so bloody excited for the next bit of WoW that they're F5ing sites like WoW.com/MMO-champion/etc over and over and over again. I'm pretty sure there's at least some people who have went out and pre-ordered Cata off these screens/info alone."
But whether or not Blizzard sanctioned the leak is not what I'm here to ponder; I think we'll know in time whether they did or not. No, what I am here to ponder is the very phenomenon that created this leak in the first place: the players' desire for information on upcoming content. For the past two expansions, I remember reading up on previews of the upcoming content eagerly, but something changed over the course of Wrath of the Lich King. When the data-mined audio files from The Frozen Halls came out, I listed to them, and they were awesome. But there was an unintended consequence of doing so; when I finally worked my way into the Halls of Reflection, the story that unfolded before me was not so amazing as it should have been. Because I knew what was coming, I was much less blown away by it, and I'll even go so far as to say that it was less fun because of what I knew going in.
That experience made me look at spoilers in a new way, a way that affects how I look Cataclysm spoilers today. Now, to be honest, I don't have much self control when it comes to heading the "spoilers ahead" warnings I see anywhere, but with a leak this massive, for once, I held myself back. Though I did pour over the new talent trees, new profession recipes, and other things, I abstained from looking at the screenshots of the zones. That's one of the things I look forward to the most about new content: just seeing it, and I refused to spoil that for myself.
But I digress. There's a difference between giving someone a taste to leave them wanting more and giving them the appetizer long before the meal, and I think this leak crossed that line. And the players? They ate that appetizer greedily. The real question is, do we deserve it?
The time between the final patch before an expansion and the next expansion definitely represents a lull in the game. With no new content coming out, players are restless, especially when they know that amazing things are just around the corner. Of course, Blizzard is doing a much better job this time around trying to keep us interested. We have the Ruby Sanctum coming in patch 3.3.5, as well as Operation Gnomeragon and the retake of Echo Isles in what will probably be patch 3.9. That's better than what little we got to tide us over between Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King (which, if I remember correctly, was only the zombie infestation, something that ruined the game for me). Considering the amount of time between now and when Cataclysm will come out, that may not be enough to completely hold our interests, but it's certainly better than nothing.
Of course, the lull is an unfortunate necessity; Blizzard does need to focus on developing the expansion, after all, and they can't give us content at their usual rate if they need to focus on developing content for the next expansion. As such, we reach the point where the current expansion has taught us to expect content to be released at a certain rate, but Blizzard is unable to deliver it to us at that rate while they develop the next expansion. Sure, they have certain elements to keep us playing the game long after the content has become stale, but when we know new content is coming, those elements just don't work as well, and players lose interest. That's a problem for Blizzard, for if people stop paying their monthly subscription fee, they lose money to spend on developing new content, and if they can't develop new content, then players lose interest and stop paying their subscription fee. It's a cycle that Blizzard can't allow to happen.
But how can they keep our interest if they can't develop new content? One might say that keeping us up-to-date on how Cataclysm's development is coming along is one way, but that won't keep our interest in the game itself alive. Their current plans for a post-Icecrown Citadel raid and two pre-Cataclysm world events seem to be on the right track, but it's clearly not enough to satiate player's desires for information on Cataclysm.
But is the problem that Blizzard isn't doing enough to keep players interested, or are we, the players, the problem? As I said in my post Por que, NDA?, and as we have seen with the frenzy of discussion that the latest Cataclysm leaks have generated, players tend to overreact to information that comes out about upcoming content, especially when we don't have the full story, and that creates a headache for Blizzard in trying to placate the community while still focusing on developing content. Frankly, I don't envy Blizzard for the job they have trying to convince players that they know what they are doing and that there is plenty of time to change things that do go awry.
However, this frenzy happened because the community grew restless with the lack of Cataclysm information coming out. We went through a pretty long drought of information after Blizzcon, and it was probably that long period of little information that lead to the players so eagerly looking for alpha spoilers. I'm sure Blizzard had their reasons for keeping further Cataclysm information under wraps, but it was keeping that info under wraps that lead to the leak being so eagerly received.
Perhaps the best thing Blizzard can do for now (and in the future as they develop future expansion packs) is to release a constant trickle of little tidbits of information about Cataclysm. The Cataclysm screenshot of the day (which they currently have going on their websites) is a good example of a way to give players a taste of things to come without spoiling the whole feast with appetizers (metaphorically speaking). It also has the added benefit of not giving players as much to complain about on the forums as releasing information on talents and spells does. Once the expansion is further along in development and more of the balancing issues have been worked out, they can release information on spells, talents, professions, and other such things to keep the player-base placated. (I know they've already released information on some of the changes coming to talents and spells, but we still got more information that they didn't mention, from the leaks, so we didn't get the whole picture. As such, there is always more to the story than they tell with the initial preview.) That combined with the new content we are getting between now and Cataclysm should keep the player-base satisfied, or at least more satisfied than the drought of information did.
But whether or not Blizzard sanctioned the leak is not what I'm here to ponder; I think we'll know in time whether they did or not. No, what I am here to ponder is the very phenomenon that created this leak in the first place: the players' desire for information on upcoming content. For the past two expansions, I remember reading up on previews of the upcoming content eagerly, but something changed over the course of Wrath of the Lich King. When the data-mined audio files from The Frozen Halls came out, I listed to them, and they were awesome. But there was an unintended consequence of doing so; when I finally worked my way into the Halls of Reflection, the story that unfolded before me was not so amazing as it should have been. Because I knew what was coming, I was much less blown away by it, and I'll even go so far as to say that it was less fun because of what I knew going in.
That experience made me look at spoilers in a new way, a way that affects how I look Cataclysm spoilers today. Now, to be honest, I don't have much self control when it comes to heading the "spoilers ahead" warnings I see anywhere, but with a leak this massive, for once, I held myself back. Though I did pour over the new talent trees, new profession recipes, and other things, I abstained from looking at the screenshots of the zones. That's one of the things I look forward to the most about new content: just seeing it, and I refused to spoil that for myself.
But I digress. There's a difference between giving someone a taste to leave them wanting more and giving them the appetizer long before the meal, and I think this leak crossed that line. And the players? They ate that appetizer greedily. The real question is, do we deserve it?
The time between the final patch before an expansion and the next expansion definitely represents a lull in the game. With no new content coming out, players are restless, especially when they know that amazing things are just around the corner. Of course, Blizzard is doing a much better job this time around trying to keep us interested. We have the Ruby Sanctum coming in patch 3.3.5, as well as Operation Gnomeragon and the retake of Echo Isles in what will probably be patch 3.9. That's better than what little we got to tide us over between Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King (which, if I remember correctly, was only the zombie infestation, something that ruined the game for me). Considering the amount of time between now and when Cataclysm will come out, that may not be enough to completely hold our interests, but it's certainly better than nothing.
Of course, the lull is an unfortunate necessity; Blizzard does need to focus on developing the expansion, after all, and they can't give us content at their usual rate if they need to focus on developing content for the next expansion. As such, we reach the point where the current expansion has taught us to expect content to be released at a certain rate, but Blizzard is unable to deliver it to us at that rate while they develop the next expansion. Sure, they have certain elements to keep us playing the game long after the content has become stale, but when we know new content is coming, those elements just don't work as well, and players lose interest. That's a problem for Blizzard, for if people stop paying their monthly subscription fee, they lose money to spend on developing new content, and if they can't develop new content, then players lose interest and stop paying their subscription fee. It's a cycle that Blizzard can't allow to happen.
But how can they keep our interest if they can't develop new content? One might say that keeping us up-to-date on how Cataclysm's development is coming along is one way, but that won't keep our interest in the game itself alive. Their current plans for a post-Icecrown Citadel raid and two pre-Cataclysm world events seem to be on the right track, but it's clearly not enough to satiate player's desires for information on Cataclysm.
But is the problem that Blizzard isn't doing enough to keep players interested, or are we, the players, the problem? As I said in my post Por que, NDA?, and as we have seen with the frenzy of discussion that the latest Cataclysm leaks have generated, players tend to overreact to information that comes out about upcoming content, especially when we don't have the full story, and that creates a headache for Blizzard in trying to placate the community while still focusing on developing content. Frankly, I don't envy Blizzard for the job they have trying to convince players that they know what they are doing and that there is plenty of time to change things that do go awry.
However, this frenzy happened because the community grew restless with the lack of Cataclysm information coming out. We went through a pretty long drought of information after Blizzcon, and it was probably that long period of little information that lead to the players so eagerly looking for alpha spoilers. I'm sure Blizzard had their reasons for keeping further Cataclysm information under wraps, but it was keeping that info under wraps that lead to the leak being so eagerly received.
Perhaps the best thing Blizzard can do for now (and in the future as they develop future expansion packs) is to release a constant trickle of little tidbits of information about Cataclysm. The Cataclysm screenshot of the day (which they currently have going on their websites) is a good example of a way to give players a taste of things to come without spoiling the whole feast with appetizers (metaphorically speaking). It also has the added benefit of not giving players as much to complain about on the forums as releasing information on talents and spells does. Once the expansion is further along in development and more of the balancing issues have been worked out, they can release information on spells, talents, professions, and other such things to keep the player-base placated. (I know they've already released information on some of the changes coming to talents and spells, but we still got more information that they didn't mention, from the leaks, so we didn't get the whole picture. As such, there is always more to the story than they tell with the initial preview.) That combined with the new content we are getting between now and Cataclysm should keep the player-base satisfied, or at least more satisfied than the drought of information did.
Friday, January 29, 2010
How the new emblem system ruined heroics (and what could be done to save them)
I am a busy player. I don't have the time to raid or the reflexes to PvP, so I run heroics instead. I still get to play in groups, but I don't have to dedicate a large portion of my time to the game; I can simply plop down for a half-hour or hour when I have one to spare. With the death of solo content in Wrath, heroics were really all I had left, and now my last little sanctuary has been perverted by the very thing that were supposed to save it: the new emblem system.
I'm talking about the system by which heroics offer the second best emblem in the game, while the first random heroic you do each day (previously, it was the daily heroic-quest) gives you two of the best emblems in the game. There was a time when heroics only gave you emblems of heroism, the worst emblem in the game. These emblems were used to obtain gear that was good for heroics, but would never let you out-gear them. With the new emblem system, amazing gear is obtainable by people who have never stepped foot in a raid. Now, certainly, this system has benefits. People can gear up their alts rather quickly and get them into the highest tier of raiding without forcing their guild to drag them through the previous raids. Through heroics alone, I have decked out my druid in tank gear good enough that I could run Icecrown Citadel 10-man if I wanted to. The issue is, I can't, so for me, and players like me, heroics allow us to obtain amazing gear that we will never put to use. You could say that the new ICC 5-mans, the Frozen Halls, are the place to go to use that gear, but in the gear I'm in, only Halls of Reflection is a challenge, and I'm not going to run that one over and over again just because it's the only place that is difficult.
And so we see the issue. For people who only run heroics, the new emblem system allows us to get gear that only serves to make the content we are running easier. These same heroics that once provided some level of satisfaction are now hollow shells of what they once were. They are not challenging, they are not interesting, and they are not enjoyable. To pour salt in the wound, the ridiculously inflated cost of emblem of frost gear forces raiders, most of which ran heroics nauseam in order to gear up for Naxx, to run heroics each day so that they can get their gear in a timely manor. Many of them hate the heroics with a passion, and their animosity makes heroics less enjoyable to run when it rubs off on those of us who still enjoy them to some degree.
The dungeon finder only exacerbates this situation. It allows people to chain run heroics, bringing them to the point where heroics provide no challenge even faster than players would get there on their own, and it makes the groups inconsequential, promoting the kind of dickish behavior we see in heroics today. After all, when the only repercussions for your actions are being put on someone's ignore list (a punishment that is completely intangible), what motivation is there for the common man to not be a jerk? He wants his emblems, he wants them quickly, and he doesn't want to bother with the niceties that were once required to successfully complete a heroic.
Where does the solution lie? The benefits of the new emblem system are that it allows raiders to gear up their alts quickly and allows people who are only now reaching the level cap to quickly gear up for the most recent raid content. If Blizzard were to scrap the emblem system, the new solution would need to address these two problems.
The first one could be addressed by making emblems bind-to-account, thus allowing raiders to send their excess emblems to their alts. Some may object to that idea, since heroics are supposed to give people practice with their characters, practice they need to perform well in a raid. However, the kind of heroic runs that have become prominent since patch 3.3 (the "silent but deadly" speed runs) are hardly good places to train oneself for raiding. Overgeared healers can heal the tank and DPS through their mistakes, and overgeared tanks make threat a non-issue for DPS, while overgeared DPS make the bosses die so quickly that the encounters are nothing more than tank-and-spanks. This particular issue could be solved if the dungeon finder only put people with similar gear together in groups. That would mean the people who need to do the heroics slowly and need the practice would be put with people like themselves, while the impatient people who outgear the heroics would be put with people like themselves and could burst through the content. While this might be a good short-term solution, it doesn't address the larger issues of the emblem system.
However, if all Blizzard does is scrap the emblem system while making emblems BoA, that wouldn't address the fact that the new emblem system helps people who have only recently hit 80 get into the current tier of raiding, saving them the trouble of finding people who will run them through the previous tiers. If heroics only dropped the worst emblems, there would need to be a way for people to still get good gear without going through the old raids. I propose that, when Cataclysm hits, with each patch that Blizzard releases a raid, they also release a 5-man dungeon or two, like how with the release of Icecrown Citadel, they added The Frozen Halls. These new dungeons would be harder than other heroics, obviously, but to compensate, they would drop the emblems and gear that are better than the last tier of heroics. To use the current heroics as an example, some Ulduar-based 5-man would have been released with patch 3.1, and it would have dropped emblems of valor. Trial of the Champion would have dropped emblems of conquest, and the Frozen Halls would have dropped emblems of triumph (perhaps the Halls of Reflection could have dropped emblems of frost, considering how hard it is).
Yes, this would mean that heroics would become a new kind of progression, but is that such a bad thing? They are very popular now, so it wouldn't be a bad idea for Blizzard to cater to the part of their fanbase that likes heroics more than raids. This system would also mean that people could gear up for the current tier of content through heroics, which are quick and don't require a lot of preparation, rather than by running old raids, which takes a long time and requires more preparation and people.
So, to summarize the changes I propose:
1. When Cataclysm is released, the heroics that are available upon the launch date with drop the same emblem as the starter 10-man raids, while the 25-man versions will drop the next tier of emblems. As patches are released, the new raids will give better emblems, but the base emblems in old heroics will not change.
2. Emblems will become bind-on-account so that raiders can use their extra emblems to gear up their alts.
3. With each raid that is released, one, two, or three new 5-mans will be released, the heroic versions of which will drop the same emblem as the 10-man version of their corresponding raid. This will allow people to gear themselves up for the current raid content without running old content.
Edit: I would just like to add that these are preliminary ideas to inspire others to come up with truly great solutions; they are not meant to be end-all-be-all fixes.
I'm talking about the system by which heroics offer the second best emblem in the game, while the first random heroic you do each day (previously, it was the daily heroic-quest) gives you two of the best emblems in the game. There was a time when heroics only gave you emblems of heroism, the worst emblem in the game. These emblems were used to obtain gear that was good for heroics, but would never let you out-gear them. With the new emblem system, amazing gear is obtainable by people who have never stepped foot in a raid. Now, certainly, this system has benefits. People can gear up their alts rather quickly and get them into the highest tier of raiding without forcing their guild to drag them through the previous raids. Through heroics alone, I have decked out my druid in tank gear good enough that I could run Icecrown Citadel 10-man if I wanted to. The issue is, I can't, so for me, and players like me, heroics allow us to obtain amazing gear that we will never put to use. You could say that the new ICC 5-mans, the Frozen Halls, are the place to go to use that gear, but in the gear I'm in, only Halls of Reflection is a challenge, and I'm not going to run that one over and over again just because it's the only place that is difficult.
And so we see the issue. For people who only run heroics, the new emblem system allows us to get gear that only serves to make the content we are running easier. These same heroics that once provided some level of satisfaction are now hollow shells of what they once were. They are not challenging, they are not interesting, and they are not enjoyable. To pour salt in the wound, the ridiculously inflated cost of emblem of frost gear forces raiders, most of which ran heroics nauseam in order to gear up for Naxx, to run heroics each day so that they can get their gear in a timely manor. Many of them hate the heroics with a passion, and their animosity makes heroics less enjoyable to run when it rubs off on those of us who still enjoy them to some degree.
The dungeon finder only exacerbates this situation. It allows people to chain run heroics, bringing them to the point where heroics provide no challenge even faster than players would get there on their own, and it makes the groups inconsequential, promoting the kind of dickish behavior we see in heroics today. After all, when the only repercussions for your actions are being put on someone's ignore list (a punishment that is completely intangible), what motivation is there for the common man to not be a jerk? He wants his emblems, he wants them quickly, and he doesn't want to bother with the niceties that were once required to successfully complete a heroic.
Where does the solution lie? The benefits of the new emblem system are that it allows raiders to gear up their alts quickly and allows people who are only now reaching the level cap to quickly gear up for the most recent raid content. If Blizzard were to scrap the emblem system, the new solution would need to address these two problems.
The first one could be addressed by making emblems bind-to-account, thus allowing raiders to send their excess emblems to their alts. Some may object to that idea, since heroics are supposed to give people practice with their characters, practice they need to perform well in a raid. However, the kind of heroic runs that have become prominent since patch 3.3 (the "silent but deadly" speed runs) are hardly good places to train oneself for raiding. Overgeared healers can heal the tank and DPS through their mistakes, and overgeared tanks make threat a non-issue for DPS, while overgeared DPS make the bosses die so quickly that the encounters are nothing more than tank-and-spanks. This particular issue could be solved if the dungeon finder only put people with similar gear together in groups. That would mean the people who need to do the heroics slowly and need the practice would be put with people like themselves, while the impatient people who outgear the heroics would be put with people like themselves and could burst through the content. While this might be a good short-term solution, it doesn't address the larger issues of the emblem system.
However, if all Blizzard does is scrap the emblem system while making emblems BoA, that wouldn't address the fact that the new emblem system helps people who have only recently hit 80 get into the current tier of raiding, saving them the trouble of finding people who will run them through the previous tiers. If heroics only dropped the worst emblems, there would need to be a way for people to still get good gear without going through the old raids. I propose that, when Cataclysm hits, with each patch that Blizzard releases a raid, they also release a 5-man dungeon or two, like how with the release of Icecrown Citadel, they added The Frozen Halls. These new dungeons would be harder than other heroics, obviously, but to compensate, they would drop the emblems and gear that are better than the last tier of heroics. To use the current heroics as an example, some Ulduar-based 5-man would have been released with patch 3.1, and it would have dropped emblems of valor. Trial of the Champion would have dropped emblems of conquest, and the Frozen Halls would have dropped emblems of triumph (perhaps the Halls of Reflection could have dropped emblems of frost, considering how hard it is).
Yes, this would mean that heroics would become a new kind of progression, but is that such a bad thing? They are very popular now, so it wouldn't be a bad idea for Blizzard to cater to the part of their fanbase that likes heroics more than raids. This system would also mean that people could gear up for the current tier of content through heroics, which are quick and don't require a lot of preparation, rather than by running old raids, which takes a long time and requires more preparation and people.
So, to summarize the changes I propose:
1. When Cataclysm is released, the heroics that are available upon the launch date with drop the same emblem as the starter 10-man raids, while the 25-man versions will drop the next tier of emblems. As patches are released, the new raids will give better emblems, but the base emblems in old heroics will not change.
2. Emblems will become bind-on-account so that raiders can use their extra emblems to gear up their alts.
3. With each raid that is released, one, two, or three new 5-mans will be released, the heroic versions of which will drop the same emblem as the 10-man version of their corresponding raid. This will allow people to gear themselves up for the current raid content without running old content.
Edit: I would just like to add that these are preliminary ideas to inspire others to come up with truly great solutions; they are not meant to be end-all-be-all fixes.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
A post-dungoen-finder guide to instance etiquette
When I wrote my first guide to basic instance etiquette, I didn't expect that my work would be done, but I did at least think that it would at least last another patch. However, with the advent of patch 3.3 and the dungeon finder, it has become clear to me that the old rules governing instance etiq0uette have once again become inadequate. New behaviors have come up that are so horrifying that I am afraid to even run random dungeons these days, even though I am a tank and that solves about 25% of my potential problems. But rather than complain about this issue, I will instead compose some guidelines that we should all follow for a smooth instance run. Let's hope this does some good.
As a final word before I start this, if this all seems obvious to you, that is a good thing; it means you are likely not part of the problem.
Everyone:
-The fact that you will likely never see these people again is not an excuse to be a jerk. A little courtesy goes a long way and will make the run smoother for everyone.
-If you haven't run that particular instance before, say so. People will be more forgiving of your mistakes and will likely explain the boss fights to you.
-Do not kick people just because they don't have all ilevel 232 epics. No one needs über gear to run a heroic. Heroics were designed to be run in gear obtained from normals (ilevel 187 blues), reputations (ilevel 187 blues, 200 blues, or 200 epics), and BoE crafted items (ilevel 200 blues or epics). Remember the days when Wrath first came out? Everyone was in that kind of gear, if you were lucky; seeing someone in a heroic with low-level quest greens and blues wasn't uncommon in those days. If one person--or even four people--in your group has that kind of gear, you can still complete the heroic. Ninety nine times out of one hundred, you'll be able to carry the person in "sub-par" (I use the term sarcastically) gear and won't even notice their presence.*
-Likewise, if you are in the minimum gear for heroics, it helps to let your group know. If you are a DPS, this won't matter too much, but if you are a healer, the tank needs to know that he can't chain pull half the instance and the DPS need to know that they will have to avoid damage during the boss fights, and if you are a tank, the DPS need to know that they need to watch their threat and the healer needs to know that he/she may actually need to stay on his/her toes.
-Most items cannot be traded cross-realm, with two exceptions: conjured items and BoP items that dropped during that run. As such, there is no reason to flip out if someone accidentally picks need on an item you wanted and wins it; just ask for him to trade it.
-If you know an upcoming boss drops an item you need that is a lower tier of armor than what you can wear (like if you can wear leather and you need a cloth item the boss drops), let your group know so they know to pass on it and not hit the DE button.
-Don't link damage meters or recount. I have never sen anything good come from doing so. Only link them if one person is doing such bad DPS (as in triple digits) that you want to kick them, and you need to convince the group to do so.
Tanks:
-If someone is low on mana, see whether they are drinking to regenerate that mana. If they are, don't pull.
-Do not pull enemies when the healer doesn't have the mana to heal you, and make sure you give the healer enough time to regenerate that mana.
-Don't pull more enemies than your healer can handle. Pull one pack at first. If you healer has any trouble healing you through that, you'll know you can't chain pull during this run.
-Don't go so quickly that your group can't even loot the corpses. Wait until everyone is next to you before you pull. This is especially true for bosses.
-You should still go pretty quickly, since these days, with everyone in such amazing gear, you can, and most people will be glad you did so. Just go as fast as you can without violating any of the above rules.
-Don't body-pull enemies without causing any threat to them; if you do that, your healer will get aggro and die.
-Don't focus on AoE threat when everyone in your group is attacking one enemy at a time. Don't focus on single-target threat when your group is AoE'ing everything down.
DPS:
-It is not your job to pull enemies. If you don't like the pace the tank is going, tough it out. The only possible exception to this rule is if you are in a place where pulling patrols at opportune times is important in order to avoid pulling more enemies than you can handle. If your tank is about the finish killing the mobs you are fighting now and the patrol is in just the right place to pull it, then it is partially excusable to pull the enemy if you tank doesn't look like he has noticed it. Still, when this happens, it's best to try to bring that enemy to the tank so the tank will pick him up, either actively or accidentally with his AoE. Note that this situation will rarely, if ever, happen for you.
-Just because you and the healer out-gear the instance doesn't give you the excuse to act stupid and pull threat or take easily avoidable damage, such as standing in the fire.
-Turn on Target of Target in your interface menu and use it to attack whatever your tank is attacking. As a tank, there is nothing more annoying than a DPS who attacks enemies that I am not focusing on, even when they are behind me and are thus clearly not whom I am causing the most threat to.
Healers:
-As sad as I am to have to say this, you aren't allowed to pull enemies either (yes, I have seen healers do that).
-You should heal DPS through the occasional mistake, but saving them from their serial stupidity is not your responsibility. Do so if you are bored, but know that they will only learn their lesson when the see their repair bills.
*This rule obviously doesn't apply to the new Frozen Halls instances, and to some extent heroic Trial of the Champion. The gear requirements for those instances are much higher, and someone in all quest blues just won't be able to pull their weight unless their presence is offset by someone in full Trial of the Grand Crusader gear.
As a final word before I start this, if this all seems obvious to you, that is a good thing; it means you are likely not part of the problem.
Everyone:
-The fact that you will likely never see these people again is not an excuse to be a jerk. A little courtesy goes a long way and will make the run smoother for everyone.
-If you haven't run that particular instance before, say so. People will be more forgiving of your mistakes and will likely explain the boss fights to you.
-Do not kick people just because they don't have all ilevel 232 epics. No one needs über gear to run a heroic. Heroics were designed to be run in gear obtained from normals (ilevel 187 blues), reputations (ilevel 187 blues, 200 blues, or 200 epics), and BoE crafted items (ilevel 200 blues or epics). Remember the days when Wrath first came out? Everyone was in that kind of gear, if you were lucky; seeing someone in a heroic with low-level quest greens and blues wasn't uncommon in those days. If one person--or even four people--in your group has that kind of gear, you can still complete the heroic. Ninety nine times out of one hundred, you'll be able to carry the person in "sub-par" (I use the term sarcastically) gear and won't even notice their presence.*
-Likewise, if you are in the minimum gear for heroics, it helps to let your group know. If you are a DPS, this won't matter too much, but if you are a healer, the tank needs to know that he can't chain pull half the instance and the DPS need to know that they will have to avoid damage during the boss fights, and if you are a tank, the DPS need to know that they need to watch their threat and the healer needs to know that he/she may actually need to stay on his/her toes.
-Most items cannot be traded cross-realm, with two exceptions: conjured items and BoP items that dropped during that run. As such, there is no reason to flip out if someone accidentally picks need on an item you wanted and wins it; just ask for him to trade it.
-If you know an upcoming boss drops an item you need that is a lower tier of armor than what you can wear (like if you can wear leather and you need a cloth item the boss drops), let your group know so they know to pass on it and not hit the DE button.
-Don't link damage meters or recount. I have never sen anything good come from doing so. Only link them if one person is doing such bad DPS (as in triple digits) that you want to kick them, and you need to convince the group to do so.
Tanks:
-If someone is low on mana, see whether they are drinking to regenerate that mana. If they are, don't pull.
-Do not pull enemies when the healer doesn't have the mana to heal you, and make sure you give the healer enough time to regenerate that mana.
-Don't pull more enemies than your healer can handle. Pull one pack at first. If you healer has any trouble healing you through that, you'll know you can't chain pull during this run.
-Don't go so quickly that your group can't even loot the corpses. Wait until everyone is next to you before you pull. This is especially true for bosses.
-You should still go pretty quickly, since these days, with everyone in such amazing gear, you can, and most people will be glad you did so. Just go as fast as you can without violating any of the above rules.
-Don't body-pull enemies without causing any threat to them; if you do that, your healer will get aggro and die.
-Don't focus on AoE threat when everyone in your group is attacking one enemy at a time. Don't focus on single-target threat when your group is AoE'ing everything down.
DPS:
-It is not your job to pull enemies. If you don't like the pace the tank is going, tough it out. The only possible exception to this rule is if you are in a place where pulling patrols at opportune times is important in order to avoid pulling more enemies than you can handle. If your tank is about the finish killing the mobs you are fighting now and the patrol is in just the right place to pull it, then it is partially excusable to pull the enemy if you tank doesn't look like he has noticed it. Still, when this happens, it's best to try to bring that enemy to the tank so the tank will pick him up, either actively or accidentally with his AoE. Note that this situation will rarely, if ever, happen for you.
-Just because you and the healer out-gear the instance doesn't give you the excuse to act stupid and pull threat or take easily avoidable damage, such as standing in the fire.
-Turn on Target of Target in your interface menu and use it to attack whatever your tank is attacking. As a tank, there is nothing more annoying than a DPS who attacks enemies that I am not focusing on, even when they are behind me and are thus clearly not whom I am causing the most threat to.
Healers:
-As sad as I am to have to say this, you aren't allowed to pull enemies either (yes, I have seen healers do that).
-You should heal DPS through the occasional mistake, but saving them from their serial stupidity is not your responsibility. Do so if you are bored, but know that they will only learn their lesson when the see their repair bills.
*This rule obviously doesn't apply to the new Frozen Halls instances, and to some extent heroic Trial of the Champion. The gear requirements for those instances are much higher, and someone in all quest blues just won't be able to pull their weight unless their presence is offset by someone in full Trial of the Grand Crusader gear.
Monday, December 21, 2009
My Warcraft Year in Review
This post over on Restokin alerted me to the existence of the Warcraft Year in Review Meme, and I thought I'd join the crowd and give my own answers to these questions.
1. What did you do in the World of Warcraft in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Well, like Lissanna, I started my blog this year, but as for what I did in-game, this year was the first (and last) time I ran a 25-man raid. I was spontaneously invited by my guild, so I thought, why not? I'll try it. It was a pretty fun experience, but considering that I mostly tank now and that there isn't as much of a demand for tanks in 25-mans as there is in 10-mans, I think I'll be sticking to 10-mans when and if I do raid, which is a big if.
2. What was your favorite new place that you visited?
The new 5-mans in patch 3.3, The Frozen Halls. Granted, I have yet to actually complete the Halls of Reflection (goddamn that one is hard), but the Forge of Souls and Pit of Saron are incredibly fun. Why? The boss fights require movement. I was pretty disappointed by the encounters in Trial of the Champion because they were just damage and healing races. In fact, they were pretty much tank-and-spanks. I think I enjoy Eardic the Pure the most in ToC because you actually need to move in that fight. The FoS and PoS fights all involve movement, and if you move correctly, the fights are not all that difficult. Sure, they do require a pretty high level of gear, but then again, The Frozen halls is like the Ulduar of the 5-man world, in terms of skill and gear required. I think Krick and Ick might be my favorite fight in The Frozen Halls.
Still, you may say, other fights also require movement, so what makes The Frozen Halls special? I'll tell you: the movement is proactive, not reactive. There's no satisfaction in moving out of an area spell when a boss casts it out of nowhere; it's just a nuisance. However, when a boss is about to cast a spell, and you move to avoid it, or you just move because you know you need to, rather than because of something that just happened, you avoided that damage outright. Your skill just made the fight easier, and that makes it much more satisfying.
3. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
In terms of game content, I would like viable solo content. Sure, 5-mans have become so casual-geared that solo content is almost a non-issue at this point, but I was still very disappointed by Wrath's solo content. With the new Path of the Titans, my wish might be granted.
In terms of what I want for my character, I would really like to win the Battered Hilt so that I can get the Lightborn Spire, a serious upgrade to my current tank and DPS weapons. I have run both FoS and PoS quite a bit (fourteen times as of posting this), and have yet to see the hilt even drop once. Come on, Blizz; just seeing it drop would make me more optimistic.
Oh, and realm stability for Thrall would be nice.
4. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
There are too many to pick, but if I had to pick my biggest, I'd say it was either getting Lil' Game Hunter or the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth. I'd say Lil' Game Hunter was a bigger achievement, but I'm prouder of my Traveler's Tundra Mammoth. Whenever I am in Pit of Saron, the Culling of Stratholme, or Utgarde Keep, I always take the opportunity to show it off.
5. What was your biggest failure?
Trying to force myself to raid. My play style and play schedule just don't allow me to put in the amount of time needed to raid, and yet I tried to fit that mold anyways. It seemed like the next logical thing to do, since I had bested the 5-mans, but I just didn't enjoy it. Thank god for the new 5-mans, which are like mini raids, and so the give a similar level of satisfaction when beaten.
6. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Dual specs and the dungeon finder. I got more excited over dual specs than I did over the dungeon finder, since there was a big healer shortage on my realm and I would finally be able to help that problem, but now I am more excited about the dungeon finder than the dual specs, since it has made me interested in the game again. I suppose I got pretty excited over buying the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth, as well.
7. What do you wish you’d done less of?
The Argent Tournament dailies. Granted, the Argent Pony Bridle and the pets were somewhat worth it, but I punished myself for those things.
8. What was your favorite WoW blog or podcast?
Aside from the obvious answer of wow.com, Restokin is certainly up there. The mix of druid info and occasional philosophy makes it an awesome blog.
9. Tell us a valuable WoW lesson you learned in 2009.
I learned the importance of being prepared by reading up on what you are doing. When I started healing, rather than just getting the gear and going in blind, I read Lissanna's guide to resto healing, and it made me a much better healer. Reading the strats for the new Frozen Halls also made me much more able to tank them.
1. What did you do in the World of Warcraft in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Well, like Lissanna, I started my blog this year, but as for what I did in-game, this year was the first (and last) time I ran a 25-man raid. I was spontaneously invited by my guild, so I thought, why not? I'll try it. It was a pretty fun experience, but considering that I mostly tank now and that there isn't as much of a demand for tanks in 25-mans as there is in 10-mans, I think I'll be sticking to 10-mans when and if I do raid, which is a big if.
2. What was your favorite new place that you visited?
The new 5-mans in patch 3.3, The Frozen Halls. Granted, I have yet to actually complete the Halls of Reflection (goddamn that one is hard), but the Forge of Souls and Pit of Saron are incredibly fun. Why? The boss fights require movement. I was pretty disappointed by the encounters in Trial of the Champion because they were just damage and healing races. In fact, they were pretty much tank-and-spanks. I think I enjoy Eardic the Pure the most in ToC because you actually need to move in that fight. The FoS and PoS fights all involve movement, and if you move correctly, the fights are not all that difficult. Sure, they do require a pretty high level of gear, but then again, The Frozen halls is like the Ulduar of the 5-man world, in terms of skill and gear required. I think Krick and Ick might be my favorite fight in The Frozen Halls.
Still, you may say, other fights also require movement, so what makes The Frozen Halls special? I'll tell you: the movement is proactive, not reactive. There's no satisfaction in moving out of an area spell when a boss casts it out of nowhere; it's just a nuisance. However, when a boss is about to cast a spell, and you move to avoid it, or you just move because you know you need to, rather than because of something that just happened, you avoided that damage outright. Your skill just made the fight easier, and that makes it much more satisfying.
3. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
In terms of game content, I would like viable solo content. Sure, 5-mans have become so casual-geared that solo content is almost a non-issue at this point, but I was still very disappointed by Wrath's solo content. With the new Path of the Titans, my wish might be granted.
In terms of what I want for my character, I would really like to win the Battered Hilt so that I can get the Lightborn Spire, a serious upgrade to my current tank and DPS weapons. I have run both FoS and PoS quite a bit (fourteen times as of posting this), and have yet to see the hilt even drop once. Come on, Blizz; just seeing it drop would make me more optimistic.
Oh, and realm stability for Thrall would be nice.
4. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
There are too many to pick, but if I had to pick my biggest, I'd say it was either getting Lil' Game Hunter or the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth. I'd say Lil' Game Hunter was a bigger achievement, but I'm prouder of my Traveler's Tundra Mammoth. Whenever I am in Pit of Saron, the Culling of Stratholme, or Utgarde Keep, I always take the opportunity to show it off.
5. What was your biggest failure?
Trying to force myself to raid. My play style and play schedule just don't allow me to put in the amount of time needed to raid, and yet I tried to fit that mold anyways. It seemed like the next logical thing to do, since I had bested the 5-mans, but I just didn't enjoy it. Thank god for the new 5-mans, which are like mini raids, and so the give a similar level of satisfaction when beaten.
6. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Dual specs and the dungeon finder. I got more excited over dual specs than I did over the dungeon finder, since there was a big healer shortage on my realm and I would finally be able to help that problem, but now I am more excited about the dungeon finder than the dual specs, since it has made me interested in the game again. I suppose I got pretty excited over buying the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth, as well.
7. What do you wish you’d done less of?
The Argent Tournament dailies. Granted, the Argent Pony Bridle and the pets were somewhat worth it, but I punished myself for those things.
8. What was your favorite WoW blog or podcast?
Aside from the obvious answer of wow.com, Restokin is certainly up there. The mix of druid info and occasional philosophy makes it an awesome blog.
9. Tell us a valuable WoW lesson you learned in 2009.
I learned the importance of being prepared by reading up on what you are doing. When I started healing, rather than just getting the gear and going in blind, I read Lissanna's guide to resto healing, and it made me a much better healer. Reading the strats for the new Frozen Halls also made me much more able to tank them.
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