Warning: This post contains spoilers about the death of the Lich King. If you have yet to defeat him and you wish to go into the fight unspoiled, please do not read any farther.
As I was admiring Deathwing's Cataclysm model on WoWWiki, I was hit by a sudden realization that changed my admiration to sadness. Here is this great villain, with a detailed model to represent him as he decimates our world. Here is this terrifying creature, destruction incarnate, who can change the face of Azeroth forever simply by returning to it. Steeped in lore, immensely powerful, Deathwing is a very intimidating villain. And by the end of the expansion pack, he'll probably be dead. Simple as that; he's been cast as the main villain, so he's probably going to die.
Something about that just doesn't sit right with me. If Cataclysm will follow the precedents set by the previous three games, then it's only a matter of time before we can kill Deathwing, and this once great antagonist will be just another trophy on the wall for players. But maybe it's just me. Maybe, because I haven't experienced the thrill of killing the final boss of an expansion after many tries and failures, I think too little of the experience, but something about a team of faceless adventurers being able to take down some of the greatest villains in the Warcraft universe just doesn't seem to do justice to these figures.
But I don't think the problem lies in these bosses being killable by players; I think the problem lies in how the killing of these bosses is treated by the game itself. The killing of a lore figure like the Lich King or Illadan or Kil'Jaeden should be a big deal, but something about it just... isn't. Some of the reasons for that are unavoidable in the MMO genre. When we can kill a villain, then hear others claim responsibility for the kill a week later, it takes away from the larger significance of our accomplishment. When we can kill that villain, then go into the raid the next week and see him again, as if we had never laid our blade on him, it makes the whole thing feel meaningless. The killing of major villains on a weekly basis just feels... bland.
There is hope, however, and we can see that hope in the way that the death of the Lich King was handled. Two things were unique about Arthas's death: the fact that his death rewards players with a cutscene, and the fact that his defeat was not a complete win for us "good guys". The cutscene may seem a minor issue, but few events in-game have cutscenes, so the presence of one clearly indicates that something important has happened. More important, however, was the fact that we, the players, were not able to defeat the Lich King; we were only able to defeat Arthas, and Bolvar Fordragon had to take his place as the new King of the Damned. Thus, we really weren't able to defeat the Lich King, though we were able to defeat his avatar, so our victory was believable in its scope.
What does this mean for the future and for Deathwing? Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the lore behind Deathwing to ponder how something similar could be done to make our defeating him reasonable, but I do have one idea. Perhaps, rather than trying to defeat Deathwing, we would merely try to stop him. I don't know what we'd be trying to stop him from doing, but perhaps at some point in Cataclysm's story, it would be revealed that he was doing something that would threaten to shatter Azeroth completely, and rather than trying to kill him, we would only be trying to prevent him from doing whatever it was he was doing. With that under our belt, Deathwing could then be set free upon the world to be a recurring antagonist, continually hindering the efforts the good guys in whatever way the writers find convenient. Then, perhaps after some event has weakened him sufficiently (another foe, perhaps), or he has simply been weakened by time, we could kill him.
Aside from the benefit of this approach making the idea of us players fighting and "defeating" Deathwing more realistic, it would also allow the writers to keep him around as a character and weave him into the lore of expansions yet to come. It would really be a shame to bring him back for a one-shot deal when it would be much more convenient (and believable) for him to stay around longer. And besides, if we keep killing off Warcraft's major villains, who will be left to play the roll of antagonist in Warcraft's continually evolving story?
Showing posts with label wowwiki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wowwiki. Show all posts
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Leveling a druid (what moves to use): Levels 41-60
Here is the next installment of my druid leveling guide, which will hopefully not become completely irrelevant when Cataclysm rolls out and everything we know about WoW changes forever. Here's the first installment, and here's the second one, dealing with level 1-20 and 21-40 respectively.
Level 41
You'll want to start investing in the talent Improved Leader of the Pack. The passive self-healing provided by this talent is extraordinarily useful and one of the best reasons to play a druid and level it feral. Between the healing you gain from this talent and the ability to heal yourself, you'll never need food again. The mana it provides is pretty useful as well.
Level 44
You now get Barkskin, which reduces the damage you take for twelve seconds and makes you immune to spell delay effects, meaning that if you are being attacked by enemies, you can use Barkskin to heal yourself easily. I suggest you save it for when are out fighting and you need to shift out to heal yourself, since you'll be able to do so without attacks against you slowing you down. When you do this, I recommend starting with Regrowth, because of its short cast time, then Healing Touch, for a more substantial heal. You can use Healing Touch again if you need more healing, but make sure to get all of your healing done before its duration runs out. In an instance, you can use Barkskin while tanking to take less damage when fighting enemies; it's short cooldown means you can use it frequently for that purpose.
Level 50
You get two abilities at this level. The less amazing one is Gift of the Wild, a full-party/raid version of Mark of the Wild that requires a reagent. I don't suggest you actually buy those reagents and use this ability unless you run a lot of instances, which will probably be at level 80. You can just use manual buffing until then.
The real exciting ability you get at this level is one you get through talents: Mangle. You should pick up this ability the minute you hit level 50; it will change your life. It causes a high amount of damage and makes the target take more damage from bleed effects, and considering that a lot of your damage comes from bleed effects, that is a big bonus. It also increases the damage of your Shred and Maul abilities, which makes it even better. Take Mangle (Cat) and use it to replace Claw on your action bars; you have no use for Claw anymore. Mangle (Bear) doesn't replace anything, but it is still one of your best abilities for Bear Form, and unless you are fighting more than four enemies, you should use it whenever it is off of its cooldown.
Since Mangle is so life changing, you might be wondering how you should incorporate it into your strategy when out solo-ing. Here you go:
Cat Form: Start in Prowl, use Pounce, Mangle (to maximize Pounce's damage), Shred (if you have enough time and energy to use it), Rake. From here, use Mangle until you have five combo points, then use Rip if your target is above 75% health, Ferocious Bite if otherwise. Use Rake if its duration runs out, unless your target is about to die. When your target reaches 20% health, use Ferocious Bite to use up your remaining combo points.
Bear Form: Use Mangle at every given opportunity, Swipe when Mangle is on its cooldown, and Maul when you have extra rage. Much simpler, yes? If you are fighting more than four enemies, stick with Swipe and Maul
Level 51
Although you can start by investing your talent points in Improved Mangle (which is pretty awesome), you should know about a little talent called King of the Jungle. When you max out this talent, Tiger's Fury will give you 60 energy when used. Whether you want to save energy with Improved Mangle or get more with King of the Jungle is up to you, but you should invest in King of the Jungle at some point while leveling. It makes Tiger's Fury an awesome ability to use when you need a bit of a boost of damage in Cat Form.
Level 60
You get two fantastic abilities at this level. One is the talent Berserk, which pretty much makes you awesome, no matter what form you use it in. While in Bear Form, Berserk removes Mangle's cooldown and allows it to hit up to three targets. While used in Cat Form, it reduces the cost of all of your abilities by 50%, but prevents you from using Tiger's Fury (so you don't use it with King of the Jungle to get some cheap extra energy). If you are fighting three powerful enemies, then using Berserk in Bear Form in conjunction with Mangle is quite useful. You can also use it in Cat Form when you need a sizable boost to your single-target damage.
The other new ability you get is Flight From, which is better than a flying mount for several reasons. For one thing, learning it teaches you expert riding, or at least it did back in my day (can someone confirms that it still does?). You still need journeyman riding to learn it, but you should have that by now, anyways. Flight Form mimics a flying mount in several ways, but it is much better. Why? For one thing, it is an instant cast, so you can use it while moving, something no other class can do. It is also much cheaper than a mount. You can loot corpses, as well as skin corpses and collect herbs without leaving flight form, meaning if you are attacked in while doing those things, you can just fly up and leave combat. (An act colloquially knows as the "roflcopter") Finally, and I feel this is the most important part, YOU CAN USE IT WHILE FALLING! That means that you can jump off of a cliff and use it before you hit the ground, and you'll survive. This also means that if you are ever "dismounted", you can immediately "remount."
Here is a list of all of fun things you can do with Flight From, courtesy of WoWWiki.
Next week, we'll finish the leveling trek and go from 60 to 80. See you then!
Level 41
You'll want to start investing in the talent Improved Leader of the Pack. The passive self-healing provided by this talent is extraordinarily useful and one of the best reasons to play a druid and level it feral. Between the healing you gain from this talent and the ability to heal yourself, you'll never need food again. The mana it provides is pretty useful as well.
Level 44
You now get Barkskin, which reduces the damage you take for twelve seconds and makes you immune to spell delay effects, meaning that if you are being attacked by enemies, you can use Barkskin to heal yourself easily. I suggest you save it for when are out fighting and you need to shift out to heal yourself, since you'll be able to do so without attacks against you slowing you down. When you do this, I recommend starting with Regrowth, because of its short cast time, then Healing Touch, for a more substantial heal. You can use Healing Touch again if you need more healing, but make sure to get all of your healing done before its duration runs out. In an instance, you can use Barkskin while tanking to take less damage when fighting enemies; it's short cooldown means you can use it frequently for that purpose.
Level 50
You get two abilities at this level. The less amazing one is Gift of the Wild, a full-party/raid version of Mark of the Wild that requires a reagent. I don't suggest you actually buy those reagents and use this ability unless you run a lot of instances, which will probably be at level 80. You can just use manual buffing until then.
The real exciting ability you get at this level is one you get through talents: Mangle. You should pick up this ability the minute you hit level 50; it will change your life. It causes a high amount of damage and makes the target take more damage from bleed effects, and considering that a lot of your damage comes from bleed effects, that is a big bonus. It also increases the damage of your Shred and Maul abilities, which makes it even better. Take Mangle (Cat) and use it to replace Claw on your action bars; you have no use for Claw anymore. Mangle (Bear) doesn't replace anything, but it is still one of your best abilities for Bear Form, and unless you are fighting more than four enemies, you should use it whenever it is off of its cooldown.
Since Mangle is so life changing, you might be wondering how you should incorporate it into your strategy when out solo-ing. Here you go:
Cat Form: Start in Prowl, use Pounce, Mangle (to maximize Pounce's damage), Shred (if you have enough time and energy to use it), Rake. From here, use Mangle until you have five combo points, then use Rip if your target is above 75% health, Ferocious Bite if otherwise. Use Rake if its duration runs out, unless your target is about to die. When your target reaches 20% health, use Ferocious Bite to use up your remaining combo points.
Bear Form: Use Mangle at every given opportunity, Swipe when Mangle is on its cooldown, and Maul when you have extra rage. Much simpler, yes? If you are fighting more than four enemies, stick with Swipe and Maul
Level 51
Although you can start by investing your talent points in Improved Mangle (which is pretty awesome), you should know about a little talent called King of the Jungle. When you max out this talent, Tiger's Fury will give you 60 energy when used. Whether you want to save energy with Improved Mangle or get more with King of the Jungle is up to you, but you should invest in King of the Jungle at some point while leveling. It makes Tiger's Fury an awesome ability to use when you need a bit of a boost of damage in Cat Form.
Level 60
You get two fantastic abilities at this level. One is the talent Berserk, which pretty much makes you awesome, no matter what form you use it in. While in Bear Form, Berserk removes Mangle's cooldown and allows it to hit up to three targets. While used in Cat Form, it reduces the cost of all of your abilities by 50%, but prevents you from using Tiger's Fury (so you don't use it with King of the Jungle to get some cheap extra energy). If you are fighting three powerful enemies, then using Berserk in Bear Form in conjunction with Mangle is quite useful. You can also use it in Cat Form when you need a sizable boost to your single-target damage.
The other new ability you get is Flight From, which is better than a flying mount for several reasons. For one thing, learning it teaches you expert riding, or at least it did back in my day (can someone confirms that it still does?). You still need journeyman riding to learn it, but you should have that by now, anyways. Flight Form mimics a flying mount in several ways, but it is much better. Why? For one thing, it is an instant cast, so you can use it while moving, something no other class can do. It is also much cheaper than a mount. You can loot corpses, as well as skin corpses and collect herbs without leaving flight form, meaning if you are attacked in while doing those things, you can just fly up and leave combat. (An act colloquially knows as the "roflcopter") Finally, and I feel this is the most important part, YOU CAN USE IT WHILE FALLING! That means that you can jump off of a cliff and use it before you hit the ground, and you'll survive. This also means that if you are ever "dismounted", you can immediately "remount."
Here is a list of all of fun things you can do with Flight From, courtesy of WoWWiki.
- This form is instant cast, so it can be used to beat a strategic retreat if a fight is going badly. As soon as you are out of combat, it is possible to attempt an instant upwards escape.
- Skydiving! With practice and if you are high enough in the air when you start, you can dismount or unshift, cast an instant spell, and then shift back before hitting the ground and dying. In a case where you are being chased aerially, this allows you to heal and re-buff without making yourself vulnerable by landing. Be very careful of crashing when you do this!
- 'Gravity Chicken': two Druids fly up as high as possible, shift out, and the first to shift back loses. Extra points for talking non-Druids into playing.
- Flight Form can of course be used to avoid taking falling damage.
- Flight Form can be used to scout or bypass small obstacles quickly without the inconvenience of taking the time to mount up.
- This form can be used to quickly bypass content in a manner similar to that of stealth, but with differing limitations. It is also very useful for browsing for herbs, minerals, or rare-spawn mobs.
- In order to do a loop, enter the command /mountspecial. This only works while not moving. There are two actions, Pitch Up and Pitch Down, that can be key-mapped to permit gradual loops in motion.
- Moonbomb: In a heavily farmed area you can gain an advantage by scouting for mobs and Moonfiring immediately after reverting to caster form and before landing.
- RAWRbomb! Shift out of Flight Form while airborne, shift to Bear Form, and Feral Charge your target before you land. Practice until you can accurately land on top of your victims. Important note: You must have the resto skill Furor to get enough rage while falling to be able to Feral Charge; if not, you perform a RAWRsplat (unless you time Enrage perfectly).
- Sneaky Sneaky Sir: You can even shift out of Flight Form, pop into Cat Form, then Prowl all before hitting the ground. Perfect for surprise attacks! This also allows you to shift out from a higher altitude, with the Cat Form's inherent lowering of fall damage.
- You cannot be dismounted while in Flight Form or Swift Flight Form by a mob's Daze effect. This makes mobs like the Monstrous Kaliri in the Skettis area not nearly as annoying to Druids as they are to normal mount users.
- Flight Kite: In your Flying Form, at zero altitude, you are able to aggro ground beasties. You can instantly break combat by gaining altitude. And, since you move at the speed of a ground mount, you can easily kite by getting close, getting aggro, and fly away; when you've gotten it far enough, lift off and back they go. Let them hit you once in a while for the damage from Thorns to keep them interested.
- While the Flight Form doesn't run along the ground, it does seem to act as a ground mount at zero altitude. If you fly down and touch the ground, you bounce up to standard flying beastie height, and follow the terrain. This seems to allow movement-affecting effects to apply. It's also possible to fall off of things in Flight Form while doing this. You do take falling damage after sliding down steep slopes, unless you have a moment of free-fall, prompting your flight form to fly again.
- Water to Flight Form: rapidly and in this order - jump straight up from the surface of the water, move forward (or backward), then shift into Flight Form.
- Cliff escape: if you're caught in a tight spot near one of the endless Outland cliffs and don't have the time, health, or space to run far enough to drop combat, just jump off the cliff. You may have enough distance falling to break combat with the mob, and by spamming flight form you will stop yourself before you die. Note that this is far from guaranteed; vertical distance does not break combat like ground-level distance does.
- Farming/grinding quests: when doing quests where you have to pick up 10 items of some kind from the ground, you can fly over the item and loot it without changing out of Flight Form. If all mobs in the area only can do melee damage, you will be able to do this quest with no fighting in less than a minute.
- Entering the command /sit while hovering over a flat surface will cause you to perch upon it. Entering the command /sleep while hovering causes you to freeze in place.
- Escape Combat: Night Elf druids can use Shadowmeld to leave combat and then shift to Flight Form, allowing them to get out of the area. Flight Form of course breaks shadowmeld.
- If you are an herbalist, you can collect herbs without leaving Flight Form, allowing you to fly away if you are attacked and try again. This also applies to skinning mobs and looting corpses.
Next week, we'll finish the leveling trek and go from 60 to 80. See you then!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
How to tank as a druid (or any class), Part 4
I realized recently that my last few posts on how to tank as a druid had no advice for people just starting with the roll of tanking. There are certain things we tanks know that we take for granted, but there is no way for a newer player to find them out. As such, I will post about them now. These are pieces of advice that apply to all tanks, not just druids.
1. Know how to do an LoS pull
LoS stands for line of sight. If there is something standing in between you and an enemy (like a wall or a corner, for instance), then your and their LoS is obstructed. You won't be able to attack them, they won't be able to attack you. This is key, though. You see, melee enemies, when pulled, will run right up to you. Enemies that mostly attack with ranged attacks and magic, however, will stand where they are and attack you. This makes it really difficult to pull them together into a group, which you need to do to effectively tank them. However, if you pull an enemy and then move to obstruct his LoS, he'll run towards you until he can attack you again.
What does this mean for you? It means that if your next pull contains enemies that use magic or ranged attacks, you'll want to do an LoS pull. How do you pull that off? Start by identifying a corner you can run behind. If you aren't sure if something will block your LoS, try hiding behind it and pulling the group. If you can't attack them, it will work. Next, get within pulling range of the group or enemy while staying as close to the enemy as you can. Pull them (bears should use Faerie Fire (Feral)), and then run behind your corner. The ranged and magic fighters will try to attack you and not be able to, so they will run to you, allowing you to make the group more compact and easier to manage. Note that the ranged/magic using enemies will not run farther than they need to in order to see you, so don't run too far beyond the corner. Also, melee fighters will get to you before the magic fighters, so be ready to pick them up when the show up.
2. Face the enemies/bosses you are tanking away from the group
This is applies to almost every fight you will ever engage in. Even if the boss has no frontal area-of-effect attacks, I can't think of a singe boss fight where you need to face the boss towards your group-mates. As such, unless you know that the boss must face your group as part of the strategy for defeating him, place the boss/enemies between yourself and your group. Do this by running around to their backside, since they won't move on their own.
3. You set the pace of the run
Tanks determine how fast a run goes. They are the ones who pull the enemies, so they decide how quickly the group progresses through the dungeon. As such, you want to find the perfect speed for your run. Go too slow, and your group will lose interest and the run will take too long. Go too fast, and your DPS and healers will run out of mana. Generally, you want to use your healer's mana as the gauge of how fast you should go. It's generally ok to pull trash enemies (those between the bosses) when the healer has half of his mana, but for bosses, you'll want the healer and everyone else to have full mana.
4. You will most likely be group leader, so know how to mark your enemies
This won't be as relevant once patch 3.3 is released and everyone will be able to mark, but even then, I suspect that people will still look to you to decide the kill order. If you and everyone else in your group outgears the instance, you may wish to eschew kill order entirely and just AoE everything down. Otherwise, you should mark a kill order. Enemies that do heavy damage need to die first, so its helpful to look up an instance on WoWWiki and see if any of the trash in the instance do major damage. Otherwise, it generally wise to kill healing enemies first, then offensive casters, then ranged attackers, then DPS. As a good rule of thumb, anything with a mana bar should die first.
To mark your enemies, click on the enemy first, then right click their profile and you'll see the option. Generally, skull marks the enemy that needs to die first, followed by X. It's ok to not mark the last enemy in the kill order, since people should assume that if they are not marked, they should die last. If you need to use more than skull or X, then it's likely the pull is big enough that it doesn't need a killer order, but if that is not the case, then be sure to tell your group the kill order. I generally start with skull, then go through the rest of the symbols in order of color (red X, orange circle, yellow start, etc.) Finally, though this may not be as common as I think, I usually see people mark a patrolling enemy with a green triangle so that people know to stay away from him, and if an enemy should not be attacked at all, I usually see people use a moon to mark him.
1. Know how to do an LoS pull
LoS stands for line of sight. If there is something standing in between you and an enemy (like a wall or a corner, for instance), then your and their LoS is obstructed. You won't be able to attack them, they won't be able to attack you. This is key, though. You see, melee enemies, when pulled, will run right up to you. Enemies that mostly attack with ranged attacks and magic, however, will stand where they are and attack you. This makes it really difficult to pull them together into a group, which you need to do to effectively tank them. However, if you pull an enemy and then move to obstruct his LoS, he'll run towards you until he can attack you again.
What does this mean for you? It means that if your next pull contains enemies that use magic or ranged attacks, you'll want to do an LoS pull. How do you pull that off? Start by identifying a corner you can run behind. If you aren't sure if something will block your LoS, try hiding behind it and pulling the group. If you can't attack them, it will work. Next, get within pulling range of the group or enemy while staying as close to the enemy as you can. Pull them (bears should use Faerie Fire (Feral)), and then run behind your corner. The ranged and magic fighters will try to attack you and not be able to, so they will run to you, allowing you to make the group more compact and easier to manage. Note that the ranged/magic using enemies will not run farther than they need to in order to see you, so don't run too far beyond the corner. Also, melee fighters will get to you before the magic fighters, so be ready to pick them up when the show up.
2. Face the enemies/bosses you are tanking away from the group
This is applies to almost every fight you will ever engage in. Even if the boss has no frontal area-of-effect attacks, I can't think of a singe boss fight where you need to face the boss towards your group-mates. As such, unless you know that the boss must face your group as part of the strategy for defeating him, place the boss/enemies between yourself and your group. Do this by running around to their backside, since they won't move on their own.
3. You set the pace of the run
Tanks determine how fast a run goes. They are the ones who pull the enemies, so they decide how quickly the group progresses through the dungeon. As such, you want to find the perfect speed for your run. Go too slow, and your group will lose interest and the run will take too long. Go too fast, and your DPS and healers will run out of mana. Generally, you want to use your healer's mana as the gauge of how fast you should go. It's generally ok to pull trash enemies (those between the bosses) when the healer has half of his mana, but for bosses, you'll want the healer and everyone else to have full mana.
4. You will most likely be group leader, so know how to mark your enemies
This won't be as relevant once patch 3.3 is released and everyone will be able to mark, but even then, I suspect that people will still look to you to decide the kill order. If you and everyone else in your group outgears the instance, you may wish to eschew kill order entirely and just AoE everything down. Otherwise, you should mark a kill order. Enemies that do heavy damage need to die first, so its helpful to look up an instance on WoWWiki and see if any of the trash in the instance do major damage. Otherwise, it generally wise to kill healing enemies first, then offensive casters, then ranged attackers, then DPS. As a good rule of thumb, anything with a mana bar should die first.
To mark your enemies, click on the enemy first, then right click their profile and you'll see the option. Generally, skull marks the enemy that needs to die first, followed by X. It's ok to not mark the last enemy in the kill order, since people should assume that if they are not marked, they should die last. If you need to use more than skull or X, then it's likely the pull is big enough that it doesn't need a killer order, but if that is not the case, then be sure to tell your group the kill order. I generally start with skull, then go through the rest of the symbols in order of color (red X, orange circle, yellow start, etc.) Finally, though this may not be as common as I think, I usually see people mark a patrolling enemy with a green triangle so that people know to stay away from him, and if an enemy should not be attacked at all, I usually see people use a moon to mark him.
Friday, November 6, 2009
New professions as the embodiments of each expansion pack
One thing I have noticed about both Jewelcrafting and Inscription is that they both embodied significant aspects of their respective expansion pack. I will go over each one in time, but this got me thinking: if this is true of the previous professions, then what can we gleam about Cataclysm from the new profession that is slated to be included, Archaeology? Let's find out.
Burning Crusade was a partial deviation from many of the ways Blizzard did things. Factions were emphasized much more, and Jewelcrafting reflected this by having many of its patterns for gem cuts (of which there were many) come from reputations. Burning Crusade also brought the advent of heroics, many of which dropped Jewelcrafting plans, encouraging jewelcrafters to run them. BC also had something for both new players and players at the level cap (with the inclusion of two new races and the new continent, respectively), but it was mostly focused on the level cap. This was reflected in jewelcrafting, which finally allowed for the creation of useful BoE jewelry for people who were still leveling up, but mostly found its niche in the the creation of gems to put in high-level players' gear. Because of all of these facets (pun not intended) of Jewelcrafting, Jewelcrafting reflected the spirit of BC: varied and with something for everyone.
Inscription, of the other hand, really reflected Blizzard's push for homogenization in Wrath of the Lich King (see my post on the homogenization of Wrath of the Lich King solo content if you haven't already). Blizzard pushed for a more straight forward way of players acquiring their recipes for professions, which Inscription definitely reflects, for all of Inscription's recipes are gained from either trainers or discovery, with the one exception of Technique: Rituals of the New Moon (seriously, that is the only exception). Wrath also made it much easier to level up professions, as anyone who leveled a profession to Grand Master level can attest. Inscription followed this pattern, with all herbs the scribe found being turned into ink, meaning that it didn't matter what herbs you found; as long as they were the right level, you would get the ink you needed to level the profession. Inscription also focused mostly on high-end content, since that is when the profession is at its most useful (with the third major glyph slot being unlocked at 80) and glyphs were really expensive when the profession was first implemented, so they couldn't be accessed by low level players. Thus the products in inscription were only available to those close to the level cap, like all of the new content in Wrath. Of course, glyphs have since come down to a reasonable price now that everyone has glyphs and the demand has shrunk.
So, what can we infer about Cataclysm by looking at Archeology? Let's take a look, going point by point on all of the information WoWWiki has on the new secondary skill.
-It will be a secondary profession.
This means it will be available to everyone. Considering that Cataclysm will change Azeroth to make leveling easier and also include new end-game content, it really will be an expansion for everyone, so this fits.
-Focused on locating artifacts unearthed by the cataclysm.
So the cataclysm itself will be an important part of the expansion pack. No surprises there. Perhaps Cataclysm will also result in us finding out something about Warcraft's past that we had no idea of before.
-Artifacts will go into a new artifact journal instead of your inventory.
Blizzard has put more emphasis on clearing bag space by making more things not take up space in bags (pets, mounts, emblems, non-monetary currency, etc.), so this is no surprise either. Perhaps Cataclysm will result in even more things going somewhere aside from our bags. Tabards, please?
-Placing an artifact in your journal will allow you to "study" it and progressively unlock new rewards.
Perhaps this points to a larger theme of going back to the same place multiple times. Obviously we will be doing that by going back to Azeroth, but perhaps Blizzard will also have us running dungeons multiple times in order to advance the dungeon's story, getting better rewards each time.
-Unlocks unique rewards such as vanity pets.
If Archaeology will not be just about the epic loot and the "useful" rewards, perhaps Cataclysm will be the same way. As a pet collector and a casual player, this pleases me.
-Unlocks paths in the Paths of the Titans system. This will give players a tool to change their characters even more than regular talents.
Path of the Titans, as far as I know, is slated to be a way for player to improve their character at the level cap without raiding or PvP'ing. It's basically end-game for solo-ers. We know that Azeroth's make-over will certainly be something for the solo-ers, but perhaps Cataclysm's end-game will also be more geared towards solo-ers.
If these predictions are accurate, they certainly make me excited for Cataclysm. Let's hope they are.
Burning Crusade was a partial deviation from many of the ways Blizzard did things. Factions were emphasized much more, and Jewelcrafting reflected this by having many of its patterns for gem cuts (of which there were many) come from reputations. Burning Crusade also brought the advent of heroics, many of which dropped Jewelcrafting plans, encouraging jewelcrafters to run them. BC also had something for both new players and players at the level cap (with the inclusion of two new races and the new continent, respectively), but it was mostly focused on the level cap. This was reflected in jewelcrafting, which finally allowed for the creation of useful BoE jewelry for people who were still leveling up, but mostly found its niche in the the creation of gems to put in high-level players' gear. Because of all of these facets (pun not intended) of Jewelcrafting, Jewelcrafting reflected the spirit of BC: varied and with something for everyone.
Inscription, of the other hand, really reflected Blizzard's push for homogenization in Wrath of the Lich King (see my post on the homogenization of Wrath of the Lich King solo content if you haven't already). Blizzard pushed for a more straight forward way of players acquiring their recipes for professions, which Inscription definitely reflects, for all of Inscription's recipes are gained from either trainers or discovery, with the one exception of Technique: Rituals of the New Moon (seriously, that is the only exception). Wrath also made it much easier to level up professions, as anyone who leveled a profession to Grand Master level can attest. Inscription followed this pattern, with all herbs the scribe found being turned into ink, meaning that it didn't matter what herbs you found; as long as they were the right level, you would get the ink you needed to level the profession. Inscription also focused mostly on high-end content, since that is when the profession is at its most useful (with the third major glyph slot being unlocked at 80) and glyphs were really expensive when the profession was first implemented, so they couldn't be accessed by low level players. Thus the products in inscription were only available to those close to the level cap, like all of the new content in Wrath. Of course, glyphs have since come down to a reasonable price now that everyone has glyphs and the demand has shrunk.
So, what can we infer about Cataclysm by looking at Archeology? Let's take a look, going point by point on all of the information WoWWiki has on the new secondary skill.
-It will be a secondary profession.
This means it will be available to everyone. Considering that Cataclysm will change Azeroth to make leveling easier and also include new end-game content, it really will be an expansion for everyone, so this fits.
-Focused on locating artifacts unearthed by the cataclysm.
So the cataclysm itself will be an important part of the expansion pack. No surprises there. Perhaps Cataclysm will also result in us finding out something about Warcraft's past that we had no idea of before.
-Artifacts will go into a new artifact journal instead of your inventory.
Blizzard has put more emphasis on clearing bag space by making more things not take up space in bags (pets, mounts, emblems, non-monetary currency, etc.), so this is no surprise either. Perhaps Cataclysm will result in even more things going somewhere aside from our bags. Tabards, please?
-Placing an artifact in your journal will allow you to "study" it and progressively unlock new rewards.
Perhaps this points to a larger theme of going back to the same place multiple times. Obviously we will be doing that by going back to Azeroth, but perhaps Blizzard will also have us running dungeons multiple times in order to advance the dungeon's story, getting better rewards each time.
-Unlocks unique rewards such as vanity pets.
If Archaeology will not be just about the epic loot and the "useful" rewards, perhaps Cataclysm will be the same way. As a pet collector and a casual player, this pleases me.
-Unlocks paths in the Paths of the Titans system. This will give players a tool to change their characters even more than regular talents.
Path of the Titans, as far as I know, is slated to be a way for player to improve their character at the level cap without raiding or PvP'ing. It's basically end-game for solo-ers. We know that Azeroth's make-over will certainly be something for the solo-ers, but perhaps Cataclysm's end-game will also be more geared towards solo-ers.
If these predictions are accurate, they certainly make me excited for Cataclysm. Let's hope they are.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Good World of Warcraft websites
Due to this week being midterms week, I can't write a very substantial advice post, so I'll simple do a write up of good online resources for WoW. Why am I putting this under advice rather than miscellany? One of my pet peeves is websites that list links without any supplementary information, and I intend to avoid doing that. Not only will I link some good WoW websites, but I will also advise you on what each one is good for.
World of Warcraft Official Site
This is mostly a generally useful site. Though the information on it is simple and occasionally outdated, if you need an answer to your simple WoW questions, the official site can probably answer it. It also has the official WoW forums, but most people tend to avoid them because of the maturity of its posters, or lack thereof. Still, the realm forums are good if you are looking for a guild or want to report a ninja.
Wowhead
The main draw of this site is its database, which basically contains every piece of objective information to be found about WoW. It contains every item, spell, quest, etc. in the game and allows you to browse them. Its uses are endless; just trust me on that. It also has a good talent calculator that allows you to plan your character's talent build in advance, as well as an item comparison tool and forums whose quality tend to be better than that of the official forums.
WoWWiki
This is exactly what it sounds like: a Wikipedia dedicated to WoW. If wowhead is your go-to place for objective information, WoWWiki is your go-to place for subjective information, including boss strategies, background story, lore, and general class strategies. Some of its content is outdated, but with a keen eye, you can easily spot said content.
WoW.com
This is a great site. Formerly known a Wowinsider, WoW.com a huge blog dedicated to WoW. It's best purpose is for finding WoW news, but it also contains many weekly columns about every WoW-related subject imaginable (including professions, each class in the game, roleplaying, leading a guild, one for new players, etc.). I check it every day because it is just awesome like that. Due to the fact that it is in fact a blog, it is also a good source for up-to-date information on many aspects of the game, including guides to the holidays and the wealth of great advice in the class columns. Just read it for a few days and you'll find something to like about it.
World of Warcraft Official Site
This is mostly a generally useful site. Though the information on it is simple and occasionally outdated, if you need an answer to your simple WoW questions, the official site can probably answer it. It also has the official WoW forums, but most people tend to avoid them because of the maturity of its posters, or lack thereof. Still, the realm forums are good if you are looking for a guild or want to report a ninja.
Wowhead
The main draw of this site is its database, which basically contains every piece of objective information to be found about WoW. It contains every item, spell, quest, etc. in the game and allows you to browse them. Its uses are endless; just trust me on that. It also has a good talent calculator that allows you to plan your character's talent build in advance, as well as an item comparison tool and forums whose quality tend to be better than that of the official forums.
WoWWiki
This is exactly what it sounds like: a Wikipedia dedicated to WoW. If wowhead is your go-to place for objective information, WoWWiki is your go-to place for subjective information, including boss strategies, background story, lore, and general class strategies. Some of its content is outdated, but with a keen eye, you can easily spot said content.
WoW.com
This is a great site. Formerly known a Wowinsider, WoW.com a huge blog dedicated to WoW. It's best purpose is for finding WoW news, but it also contains many weekly columns about every WoW-related subject imaginable (including professions, each class in the game, roleplaying, leading a guild, one for new players, etc.). I check it every day because it is just awesome like that. Due to the fact that it is in fact a blog, it is also a good source for up-to-date information on many aspects of the game, including guides to the holidays and the wealth of great advice in the class columns. Just read it for a few days and you'll find something to like about it.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
A guide to basic instance etiquette
Having run dungeons more frequently recently, I am convinced that a new guide on what is acceptable and what is not in an instance is necessary. The unspoken rules that we expect everyone to just know can no longer serve our purposes. As such, I have written down a list of instance sins I see committed far too often. Follow the advice bellow, and you will make many friends and few enemies... ok, I can't promise the many friends part, I can promise the few enemies part.
1. Know the encounters
Even if you have never run the instance before, this is the digital age, and we have things like WoWWiki to help us. Look up a dungeon before you run it, and read the strategies for each boss. That said, it's ok to ask for a reminder about what a boss does, as long as a short reminder makes you remember all the strats you read.
2. Stay behind the tank
If you happen to accidentally aggro a patrol, if the tank is in front, the patrol will attack him. The tank may also know something about the aggro radii of the mobs in the instance that you do not. If you are the tank, don't get too close to the enemies unless you are familiar with the instance and the mobs' aggro radii.
3. Never use the greed button unless you are the disenchanter
This is a personal pet peeve here. The easiest way to go about distributing loot in a 5-man instance is this: you need on an item if you need it, pass if you don't, and greed only if you are the disenchanter. Not A disenchanter, THE disenchanter. Saying "I'll greed for DE" is enough to designate you as the disenchanter, but only greed after saying you are going to. It will behoove you to have only one disenchanter, as it makes passing out the shards at then end easier. If no one in your group is a disenchanter, then you can find that out the hard way and roll on the item no one won. After that, and only after that, everyone can greed if they don't need an item.
I should add as an aside that we are in the middle of Brewfest, and that any loot you get from Coren Direbrew cannot be DE'ed, so he is the exception. Greed if you don't need it, need if you do, pass if you have absolutely no use for an item.
4. Stick to your designated role
As I healer, I have sometimes contemplated trying to cast damaging spells in caster form or using easy instances as an opportunity to level my weapon skill. These are the kind of ideas that kill groups, which is why I have never done them. They all distract me from my real role: keeping the group alive. We all know the three roles: tank, DPS, and healer. While in an instance, you should stick to your role and not try to partake in another role just because the run is going smoothly. Now, there is one exception to this rule: it is ok for a plate wearing DPS to taunt a mob off of the healer if the healer is a squishy, but keeping the aggro afterward, even when the tank is trying to pick up aggro, is dangerous and can lead to wipes. Similarly, even if you can take the damage, no DPS should ever strive to out-aggro the tank and, if you find that happening, you should tone down your damage.
5. Chill out
It is just a game. Every piece of loot that causes drama is, in the end, nothing more than a string of zeroes and ones. These days, if there is a bad roll, the item can be traded, so there is rarely just cause to freak out at someone for anything. Even if someone is doing their job really badly, just give them some advice. If they are just completely bad, you can always ask the leader to kick them from the group. If the bad player is the leader, well, you have better things to do with your time, anyways. Also, no matter what may be the cause of your anger, these is still a keyboard between you and other players knowing you are angry. Thus there is no reason to impulsively write about how angry you are.
6. Don't run an instance if you know you may not have time to complete it
I feel stupid even writing this, but two people in just the past few weeks have left groups I was in during the run, and they knew they needed to leave. This shouldn't require any explanation. Instances take time; factor that into your schedule.
7. Join the vent channel and get a microphone
This only applies to raiders, but there is little reason to not download Ventrilo and join your guild's channel during a raid. It always helps to hear that boss strats before the fight, in case you forget, and if you disconnect, you can let your guild know what happened so they won't replace you. I often find that the people in our raids who disconnect are the people we PUG who said they didn't need to listen to the Vent because they "knew the fights." These are the same people who act indignant after taking fifteen minutes to log in again and loosing their spot. Yes, that has happened.
8. Don't cause a wipe in Heroic Violet Hold
It's a really short, easy instance, but the fact that you need to do the whole thing over if you wipe means no one wants to run it twice. It may be pretty easy, but keep your wits about you regardless.
1. Know the encounters
Even if you have never run the instance before, this is the digital age, and we have things like WoWWiki to help us. Look up a dungeon before you run it, and read the strategies for each boss. That said, it's ok to ask for a reminder about what a boss does, as long as a short reminder makes you remember all the strats you read.
2. Stay behind the tank
If you happen to accidentally aggro a patrol, if the tank is in front, the patrol will attack him. The tank may also know something about the aggro radii of the mobs in the instance that you do not. If you are the tank, don't get too close to the enemies unless you are familiar with the instance and the mobs' aggro radii.
3. Never use the greed button unless you are the disenchanter
This is a personal pet peeve here. The easiest way to go about distributing loot in a 5-man instance is this: you need on an item if you need it, pass if you don't, and greed only if you are the disenchanter. Not A disenchanter, THE disenchanter. Saying "I'll greed for DE" is enough to designate you as the disenchanter, but only greed after saying you are going to. It will behoove you to have only one disenchanter, as it makes passing out the shards at then end easier. If no one in your group is a disenchanter, then you can find that out the hard way and roll on the item no one won. After that, and only after that, everyone can greed if they don't need an item.
I should add as an aside that we are in the middle of Brewfest, and that any loot you get from Coren Direbrew cannot be DE'ed, so he is the exception. Greed if you don't need it, need if you do, pass if you have absolutely no use for an item.
4. Stick to your designated role
As I healer, I have sometimes contemplated trying to cast damaging spells in caster form or using easy instances as an opportunity to level my weapon skill. These are the kind of ideas that kill groups, which is why I have never done them. They all distract me from my real role: keeping the group alive. We all know the three roles: tank, DPS, and healer. While in an instance, you should stick to your role and not try to partake in another role just because the run is going smoothly. Now, there is one exception to this rule: it is ok for a plate wearing DPS to taunt a mob off of the healer if the healer is a squishy, but keeping the aggro afterward, even when the tank is trying to pick up aggro, is dangerous and can lead to wipes. Similarly, even if you can take the damage, no DPS should ever strive to out-aggro the tank and, if you find that happening, you should tone down your damage.
5. Chill out
It is just a game. Every piece of loot that causes drama is, in the end, nothing more than a string of zeroes and ones. These days, if there is a bad roll, the item can be traded, so there is rarely just cause to freak out at someone for anything. Even if someone is doing their job really badly, just give them some advice. If they are just completely bad, you can always ask the leader to kick them from the group. If the bad player is the leader, well, you have better things to do with your time, anyways. Also, no matter what may be the cause of your anger, these is still a keyboard between you and other players knowing you are angry. Thus there is no reason to impulsively write about how angry you are.
6. Don't run an instance if you know you may not have time to complete it
I feel stupid even writing this, but two people in just the past few weeks have left groups I was in during the run, and they knew they needed to leave. This shouldn't require any explanation. Instances take time; factor that into your schedule.
7. Join the vent channel and get a microphone
This only applies to raiders, but there is little reason to not download Ventrilo and join your guild's channel during a raid. It always helps to hear that boss strats before the fight, in case you forget, and if you disconnect, you can let your guild know what happened so they won't replace you. I often find that the people in our raids who disconnect are the people we PUG who said they didn't need to listen to the Vent because they "knew the fights." These are the same people who act indignant after taking fifteen minutes to log in again and loosing their spot. Yes, that has happened.
8. Don't cause a wipe in Heroic Violet Hold
It's a really short, easy instance, but the fact that you need to do the whole thing over if you wipe means no one wants to run it twice. It may be pretty easy, but keep your wits about you regardless.
Friday, August 28, 2009
My musings on Cataclysm from a story perspective
For those of you who don't know, the next WoW expansion was announced last weekend during Blizzcon. It is called Cataclysm, and you can read up on the story and new features on Blizzard's official site, linked before. Normally I'm not much of a lore nerd, but the announcement motivated me to do some research on the lore behind it, and I noticed an interesting pattern that has been consistent with all of the expansion packs thus far: each one has featured a main villain who was not inherently evil, but become that way when he was corrupted by someone else. Illidan admired the Burning Legion for the purity that lay under their chaotic behavior, and was thus turned by the satyr Xavius and eventually given his power by Sargeras. The Lich King became evil when Arthas Menethil was corrupted by the demon Kil'jaeden. Deathwing was driven insane by the whispers of the Old Gods. It seems to me as if Blizzard is simply having us face the minions of the faces of true evil in the Warcraft universe. Then again, although players were able to kill Kil'jaeden in Burning Crusade, facing a powerful being like Sargeras or the Old Gods would probably mean the end of us.
What interests me is that way that Blizzard transitioned away from the Burning Legion as our main enemy to our main enemies being the old gods. Although the Burning Crusade did have us facing the Legion for the most part, the main villain of Wrath of the Lich King was himself created by the Burning Legion's magic. Thus the legion's influence has really been the subject of two expansion packs, not just one. The Old Gods have also been a part of our adventures thus far, though not prominently as the Legion. We faced K'thun in vanilla WoW, but the Old Gods didn't make a return until we faced Yogg-Saron in Ulduar. Now we are going to be facing a being corrupted by the Old Gods, Deathwing. If Blizzard continues that pattern they started with Burning Crusade, where we players first reactively kill the immediate threat to our world then proactively kill an even greater, related threat, perhaps we will be facing more Old Gods after we face Deathwing.
Another thing of note is that, thus far, both of the evil forces responsible for the conflicts we players have faced (the Burning Legion and the Old Gods) have been motivated by the desire to return the world to it's original chaotic form. For those of your unfamiliar with the Dungeons and Dragons alignment system, it makes a distinction between good vs. evil and lawful vs. chaotic. The distinction is important, for it shows that those seeking order are not always fighting on the side of good. I bring that up because the fact that WoW's main villains are chaotic, not evil, implies that we players are not fighting the age-old fight of good and evil, but we are simply fighting to preserve the ordered world which we inhabit and which the titans created so long ago. If this is true, then our cause is not so noble as we thought.
The motives of the Old Gods and the legion are more clear than ours, as are the reasons for them. Both wish to return the world to its original chaotic form, as I mentioned. The Old Gods wish to do this because that is the world they ruled. When they were defeated by the titans, their power over the world also vanished. Thus they probably wish to rule the world again. Sources suggest that they are now simply sleeping below the earth while their telepathic whispers drive the creatures above insane. Perhaps by driving the powerful creatures of the world insane, they wish to restore the world to some form of chaos. Even if they can't rule that world, I would imagine it would satisfy them to know that the world has become as they left it. As for the Legion, well, spreading chaos just seems to be what they do.
Back on the previous topic, I see two possible reasons for Blizzard continually using secondary villains as the main antagonists in their expansion packs. One reason is that it allows them to continue the story of Azeroth without needing to create new evil forces. If we players were to simply defeat the Burning Legion and the Old Gods as a whole, there would be no one left for us to fight. Of course, getting rid of the Burning Legion as a whole would probably be more difficult than defeating the Old Gods, but regardless, if we players succeeded in removing the true threats to our world, the only conflicts left would be those within the world itself. Sure, there are still many fights to be fought among the mortal races, but those are really more patch material (e.g. patch 2.3 and Zul'Aman) than expansion material. An expansion really wouldn't feel like a proper expansion unless we have a very powerful entity to fight, and though there is probably enough left for many expansion packs, if Blizzard wants to continue the story of Warcraft, their choice is to either let players kill the true antagonists of the lore of Warcraft and need to create new villains, or to protect the villains and allow their plots to continue.
That's the practical reason for the pattern of casting corrupted heroes as main antagonists, but there could be a hidden meaning in Blizzard's decision. As I mentioned before, Illidan, Arthas, and Deathwing were all more or less good before being corrupted by some other evil force. If we were to analyze WoW as a story, then this sort of corruption would definitely be a motif, the deeper meaning of which would probably be that we can never truly expunge evil from our world. Although there are still villains aplenty for us to fight, perhaps future expansions will see the corruption of prominent figures in the lore who are currently on our side and whom we will be forced to face after they become evil. My bets are on Varian and Garrosh. Their anger makes them prime targets for any sort of corrupting force, and to be honest, I know a lot of players that would be happy to see them go.
Then again, perhaps it is not other characters who will be corrupted, but instead it is us. Sargeras, the creator of the Burning Legion, slowly became corrupted as he fought the demons of the Legion in an effort to maintain order in the universe. As I mentioned before, that's all we are really doing, maintaining order in a world that is threatened with chaos, not maintaining good in a world that is threatened with evil, although it may seem that way. Are we next? Will we become the Old Gods' or the Legion's new minions? I wouldn't discount the possibility. Perhaps we will then go from Alliance vs. Horde to Corrupted vs. Uncorrupted. (I doubt that will happen; if Blizzard were to corrupt the players themselves, it would be a gradual thing that we would all be involved in.)
I would just like to add that I got most of my lore from WoWWiki, so if anything I have said here is wrong or oversimplified, please let me know.
What interests me is that way that Blizzard transitioned away from the Burning Legion as our main enemy to our main enemies being the old gods. Although the Burning Crusade did have us facing the Legion for the most part, the main villain of Wrath of the Lich King was himself created by the Burning Legion's magic. Thus the legion's influence has really been the subject of two expansion packs, not just one. The Old Gods have also been a part of our adventures thus far, though not prominently as the Legion. We faced K'thun in vanilla WoW, but the Old Gods didn't make a return until we faced Yogg-Saron in Ulduar. Now we are going to be facing a being corrupted by the Old Gods, Deathwing. If Blizzard continues that pattern they started with Burning Crusade, where we players first reactively kill the immediate threat to our world then proactively kill an even greater, related threat, perhaps we will be facing more Old Gods after we face Deathwing.
Another thing of note is that, thus far, both of the evil forces responsible for the conflicts we players have faced (the Burning Legion and the Old Gods) have been motivated by the desire to return the world to it's original chaotic form. For those of your unfamiliar with the Dungeons and Dragons alignment system, it makes a distinction between good vs. evil and lawful vs. chaotic. The distinction is important, for it shows that those seeking order are not always fighting on the side of good. I bring that up because the fact that WoW's main villains are chaotic, not evil, implies that we players are not fighting the age-old fight of good and evil, but we are simply fighting to preserve the ordered world which we inhabit and which the titans created so long ago. If this is true, then our cause is not so noble as we thought.
The motives of the Old Gods and the legion are more clear than ours, as are the reasons for them. Both wish to return the world to its original chaotic form, as I mentioned. The Old Gods wish to do this because that is the world they ruled. When they were defeated by the titans, their power over the world also vanished. Thus they probably wish to rule the world again. Sources suggest that they are now simply sleeping below the earth while their telepathic whispers drive the creatures above insane. Perhaps by driving the powerful creatures of the world insane, they wish to restore the world to some form of chaos. Even if they can't rule that world, I would imagine it would satisfy them to know that the world has become as they left it. As for the Legion, well, spreading chaos just seems to be what they do.
Back on the previous topic, I see two possible reasons for Blizzard continually using secondary villains as the main antagonists in their expansion packs. One reason is that it allows them to continue the story of Azeroth without needing to create new evil forces. If we players were to simply defeat the Burning Legion and the Old Gods as a whole, there would be no one left for us to fight. Of course, getting rid of the Burning Legion as a whole would probably be more difficult than defeating the Old Gods, but regardless, if we players succeeded in removing the true threats to our world, the only conflicts left would be those within the world itself. Sure, there are still many fights to be fought among the mortal races, but those are really more patch material (e.g. patch 2.3 and Zul'Aman) than expansion material. An expansion really wouldn't feel like a proper expansion unless we have a very powerful entity to fight, and though there is probably enough left for many expansion packs, if Blizzard wants to continue the story of Warcraft, their choice is to either let players kill the true antagonists of the lore of Warcraft and need to create new villains, or to protect the villains and allow their plots to continue.
That's the practical reason for the pattern of casting corrupted heroes as main antagonists, but there could be a hidden meaning in Blizzard's decision. As I mentioned before, Illidan, Arthas, and Deathwing were all more or less good before being corrupted by some other evil force. If we were to analyze WoW as a story, then this sort of corruption would definitely be a motif, the deeper meaning of which would probably be that we can never truly expunge evil from our world. Although there are still villains aplenty for us to fight, perhaps future expansions will see the corruption of prominent figures in the lore who are currently on our side and whom we will be forced to face after they become evil. My bets are on Varian and Garrosh. Their anger makes them prime targets for any sort of corrupting force, and to be honest, I know a lot of players that would be happy to see them go.
Then again, perhaps it is not other characters who will be corrupted, but instead it is us. Sargeras, the creator of the Burning Legion, slowly became corrupted as he fought the demons of the Legion in an effort to maintain order in the universe. As I mentioned before, that's all we are really doing, maintaining order in a world that is threatened with chaos, not maintaining good in a world that is threatened with evil, although it may seem that way. Are we next? Will we become the Old Gods' or the Legion's new minions? I wouldn't discount the possibility. Perhaps we will then go from Alliance vs. Horde to Corrupted vs. Uncorrupted. (I doubt that will happen; if Blizzard were to corrupt the players themselves, it would be a gradual thing that we would all be involved in.)
I would just like to add that I got most of my lore from WoWWiki, so if anything I have said here is wrong or oversimplified, please let me know.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
How to assume a raid mentality
As I said in my last philosophy post, it is my opinion that the leveling process does not sufficiently help a player develop the mentality they will need to have when they start doing dungeons and raids. For those who wish to raid, 5-mans are usually the way to learn said mentality, and that's where players can practice their roles. Because players may not know how to approach their first 5-man run, I have decided to give a basic rundown of how a player should think about their roll in a run. Think of this as a teaching you the mentality you will need when you are in a group.
First of all, what are the roles that a player can fulfill in a raid or 5-man? A 5-man run is usually made up of a tank, 3 DPS (it stands for damage per second, but it means damager), and a healer. Here are the various classes and specs that can fulfill the three roles.
Tank: Any Death Knights (Frost is preferred, but as long as you are in frost presence and go for defensive talents, you should be all set) Feral Druids (spec'ed to improve bear form), Protection Paladins, and Protection Warriors.
DPS: Any Death Knights (Blood and Unholy are prefered, but as long as you take offensive talents and are in Blood or Unholy Presence, you will be ok), Balance or Feral Druids (Feral Druids will need to spec to improve cat form), any Hunters, any Mages, Retribution Paladins, Shadow Priests, any Rogues, Elemental or Enhancement Shamans, any Warlocks, and Arms of Fury Warriors.
Healer: Restoration Druids, Holy Paladins, Discipline or Holy Priests, and Restoration Shamans.
To describe the roles most simply, tanks take damage, DPS do damage, and healers heal damage. Tanking and healing are generally agreed to be more difficult roles than DPS'ing, as well as more consequential. I would say that tanking is most difficult, while healing is more consequential, but it's really a subjective thing. Considering that all classes can DPS, and that the armor you acquire while leveling can probably serve you as DPS armor, if you are completely new to grouping, it may be a good idea to start as a DPS before moving on to tanking or healing. That said, having some experience tanking and healing will definitely give you a better perspective on what your group-mates go through, so even if you don't think you can handle the roles, don't immediately think that they are beyond your reach. Many of the best DPS'ers I have played with have experience with tanking, as have some of the best healers.
Regardless of what role you take, there are certain ideas you should include in the mentality with which you approach raiding or 5-mans. These may seem like common-sense things to veteran players, but then again, so will most of the things in this post. If you haven't grouped with other people in WoW before for longer than it takes to complete a group quest, think of these rules as ways of thinking about grouping with other people.
-I will recognize that there are other people behind that characters I play with, and I will recognize that they also have goals and things they wish to accomplish with this run.
-I will use abilities I may not frequently use while solo-ing if they benefit the group.
-I will not use my solo-ing/PvP spec while in an instance, unless my spec contains all necessary talents for both grouping and solo-ing or PvP.
-I will not stand in any fire/black zones/"bad stuff" unless that is part of the boss strategy.
-If I have not run the instance before, I will say so and listen carefully to and follow all boss directions given to me.
-Better yet, I will read the boss strategies on wowhead or wowwiki beforehand so I only need a reminder when I go into the instance.
-I will not run an instance I am not prepared for, gear-wise or skill-wise.
-I will bring the reagents I need for my spells as well as any buff food if I need it.
-I will not distract myself by talking on the phone or browsing the web, unless we are waiting for someone to come back from being AFK.
-I will not go AFK unexpectedly, for longer than is reasonable (5 minutes, usually), too frequently, or in the middle of a fight. I will use the bathroom before the run and will limit myself to one bathroom break during the run.
Now that we've gotten those out of the way, let's look at the mentality you need for each role.
Tanks:
-I will be willing to lead the run, unless I have very little experience with instances.
-I will make sure that all of the mobs we are fighting are fighting me, not any of my group-mates, unless letting them attack someone else is part of a boss's strategy.
-I will focus on causing maximum threat per second, not damage per second. (This is not as much of an issue as it used to be, since damage is now more tied into threat than it used to be, but it's still important to keep in mind.)
-I will face enemies away from my group in case they have a frontal area-of-effect attack, like breathing fire.
-I will only use taunt when an enemy is not attacking me.
-I will always protect the healer.
-I will set the pace of the run to be fast enough that the group doesn't loose steam but slow enough to let the casters regenerate their mana.
-I will use a healing potion when I need to.
-I will move the enemy if he needs to be moved.
DPS:
-I will not cause more threat than the tank.
-I will cause maximum damage per second using the right talents, spell/ability rotation, etc.
-If the enemy attacks me, I will not interpret it as a sign that I am doing enough damage.
-If I can heal myself (through spells or bandages) I will do so if the healer needs to focus on healing the tank.
-I will recognize that I am the most replaceable member of the group and will thus do as much as possible to be a keeper, i.e. to motivate the group leader to not drop me.
Healer:
-I will not spend my precious time or mana casting offensive spells unless I and my group-mates far out-gear the instance.
-I will do everything in my power to not run out of mana.
-I will heal the tank and myself first, then the DPS, then any pets if I have extra mana.
-I will keep a watch on myself to make sure I don't take too much damage or stand in a compromising position (in some "bad stuff", in front of the tank, etc.)
-I will focus on endurance healing when healing during a boss battle.
-I will use my most mana-efficient heals and will avoid overhealing unless the tank is taking a lot of damage and could die if I don't pump out the maximum healing possible.
-I will bring water to each run to regenerate my mana, in case there is not a mage to conjure food.
That about does it. As I said, if you have experience grouping with other players, then there will probably be nothing new in this post for you. This is simply a guide to how you should approach the prospect of grouping with other people and fulfilling your role well. If there are any important things that I missed, let me know so that I may make a more complete list.
First of all, what are the roles that a player can fulfill in a raid or 5-man? A 5-man run is usually made up of a tank, 3 DPS (it stands for damage per second, but it means damager), and a healer. Here are the various classes and specs that can fulfill the three roles.
Tank: Any Death Knights (Frost is preferred, but as long as you are in frost presence and go for defensive talents, you should be all set) Feral Druids (spec'ed to improve bear form), Protection Paladins, and Protection Warriors.
DPS: Any Death Knights (Blood and Unholy are prefered, but as long as you take offensive talents and are in Blood or Unholy Presence, you will be ok), Balance or Feral Druids (Feral Druids will need to spec to improve cat form), any Hunters, any Mages, Retribution Paladins, Shadow Priests, any Rogues, Elemental or Enhancement Shamans, any Warlocks, and Arms of Fury Warriors.
Healer: Restoration Druids, Holy Paladins, Discipline or Holy Priests, and Restoration Shamans.
To describe the roles most simply, tanks take damage, DPS do damage, and healers heal damage. Tanking and healing are generally agreed to be more difficult roles than DPS'ing, as well as more consequential. I would say that tanking is most difficult, while healing is more consequential, but it's really a subjective thing. Considering that all classes can DPS, and that the armor you acquire while leveling can probably serve you as DPS armor, if you are completely new to grouping, it may be a good idea to start as a DPS before moving on to tanking or healing. That said, having some experience tanking and healing will definitely give you a better perspective on what your group-mates go through, so even if you don't think you can handle the roles, don't immediately think that they are beyond your reach. Many of the best DPS'ers I have played with have experience with tanking, as have some of the best healers.
Regardless of what role you take, there are certain ideas you should include in the mentality with which you approach raiding or 5-mans. These may seem like common-sense things to veteran players, but then again, so will most of the things in this post. If you haven't grouped with other people in WoW before for longer than it takes to complete a group quest, think of these rules as ways of thinking about grouping with other people.
-I will recognize that there are other people behind that characters I play with, and I will recognize that they also have goals and things they wish to accomplish with this run.
-I will use abilities I may not frequently use while solo-ing if they benefit the group.
-I will not use my solo-ing/PvP spec while in an instance, unless my spec contains all necessary talents for both grouping and solo-ing or PvP.
-I will not stand in any fire/black zones/"bad stuff" unless that is part of the boss strategy.
-If I have not run the instance before, I will say so and listen carefully to and follow all boss directions given to me.
-Better yet, I will read the boss strategies on wowhead or wowwiki beforehand so I only need a reminder when I go into the instance.
-I will not run an instance I am not prepared for, gear-wise or skill-wise.
-I will bring the reagents I need for my spells as well as any buff food if I need it.
-I will not distract myself by talking on the phone or browsing the web, unless we are waiting for someone to come back from being AFK.
-I will not go AFK unexpectedly, for longer than is reasonable (5 minutes, usually), too frequently, or in the middle of a fight. I will use the bathroom before the run and will limit myself to one bathroom break during the run.
Now that we've gotten those out of the way, let's look at the mentality you need for each role.
Tanks:
-I will be willing to lead the run, unless I have very little experience with instances.
-I will make sure that all of the mobs we are fighting are fighting me, not any of my group-mates, unless letting them attack someone else is part of a boss's strategy.
-I will focus on causing maximum threat per second, not damage per second. (This is not as much of an issue as it used to be, since damage is now more tied into threat than it used to be, but it's still important to keep in mind.)
-I will face enemies away from my group in case they have a frontal area-of-effect attack, like breathing fire.
-I will only use taunt when an enemy is not attacking me.
-I will always protect the healer.
-I will set the pace of the run to be fast enough that the group doesn't loose steam but slow enough to let the casters regenerate their mana.
-I will use a healing potion when I need to.
-I will move the enemy if he needs to be moved.
DPS:
-I will not cause more threat than the tank.
-I will cause maximum damage per second using the right talents, spell/ability rotation, etc.
-If the enemy attacks me, I will not interpret it as a sign that I am doing enough damage.
-If I can heal myself (through spells or bandages) I will do so if the healer needs to focus on healing the tank.
-I will recognize that I am the most replaceable member of the group and will thus do as much as possible to be a keeper, i.e. to motivate the group leader to not drop me.
Healer:
-I will not spend my precious time or mana casting offensive spells unless I and my group-mates far out-gear the instance.
-I will do everything in my power to not run out of mana.
-I will heal the tank and myself first, then the DPS, then any pets if I have extra mana.
-I will keep a watch on myself to make sure I don't take too much damage or stand in a compromising position (in some "bad stuff", in front of the tank, etc.)
-I will focus on endurance healing when healing during a boss battle.
-I will use my most mana-efficient heals and will avoid overhealing unless the tank is taking a lot of damage and could die if I don't pump out the maximum healing possible.
-I will bring water to each run to regenerate my mana, in case there is not a mage to conjure food.
That about does it. As I said, if you have experience grouping with other players, then there will probably be nothing new in this post for you. This is simply a guide to how you should approach the prospect of grouping with other people and fulfilling your role well. If there are any important things that I missed, let me know so that I may make a more complete list.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
How to pick a side hobby
WoW is a big game. There is a lot to do in this game, and though you should experience all of it in some respect, it's good to have one activity to fall back on when you just want to pass some time. Raiding, battlegrounds, and arenas are nice focuses for your game, but when you have a few hours before your guild's Ulduar run is scheduled to start or your full arena team isn't on yet, it's nice to have something to do on your own. That's what this post is concerned with; side hobbies. Here I will discuss various side activities and whether or not you will find them fun. I will also link the associated meta-achievement or max achievement.
Pet Collecting
Non-combat pets are those little companions that follow you around wherever you go. They are quite nice as a flavor item, and as a pet-collector myself, I can tell you that collecting them is an enjoyable pastime. In the days of pre-Wrath, when pets took up space in our inventory, pet-collecting was not a very lucrative hobby. Each pet you had took up one space in your bank or bags, thus making them rather cumbersome. With the new pets interface, that has changed for the better, and you can now have as many pets as you like without running out of bag space.
One of the nice things about collecting pets is the variety of activities involved in pet collecting. Some are gained through reputations, while others must simply be ground for. (I think that's the past tense version of grind. Edit: Confirmed) Many holiday events also give you a pet of some kind, which gives you even more motivation to participate in them. It you want a more focused activity with a more tangible reward, then you may not like pet collecting. Then again, most of these activities won't have tangible rewards. If you want to do something with valuable rewards, run some 5-mans or do some dailies. Also, pet collecting isn't something that you can really brag about, so if you want a hobby that will bring you fame and glory, look elsewhere. It's a shame that you can't display more than one pet at a time, but it is still nice to have many to choose from, especially when a pet showoff session happens in your raid. In the end, if you like varied activities with frequent rewards, pet collecting is a good choice for you. A good database for the dozens of pets available in the game is WarcraftPets.com.
Mount Collecting
Mounts are an important part of the game. They get you from point A to point B faster than hoofing it on foot will, and some even allow you to fly. Thus, collecting them can become a fun pastime. Since mounts are a good deal larger than pets, it's easier to show off your rare mounts than your rare pets. Like pets, mounts once took up space in your bags, which means you wouldn't want to have more than two; one for the ground and one for flight. The new pets interface also has a pane for mounts, which makes collecting them even easier.
Unlike pets, mounts often take more effort to get but come in groups. For example, many mounts require long reputation grinds, but once you finish those grinds, you get six or eight mounts that you can buy. Some mounts are also rare dungeon drops and take even longer to farm than rare pets. Of course, this means that getting one of those mounts can be a real status symbol. If you want something that requires more effort than pets but has more impressive rewards, mount collecting could be for you. Warcraftmounts.com is a good database for mount collectors.
Completing Old-world Quests
There is a lot of lore to be found in WoW, and most of it is found in the quests. Some give you engrossing storylines that also motivate you to go through those old-world dungeons that you missed, while others are just plain fun. Of course, some will make you pull your hair out with their low drop rates, but overall, old-world quests are worth doing. They give you reputation to help you get your crusader title, and though the money you make with them may not off-set the repair bills you build up, it's still worth seeing what you missed if you decided to grind through your levels like I did.
It can be difficult to remember which zones you cleared out in terms of quests, as well as which quests you did that were started by a zone drop. This can lead to long hours spent searching zones for quests you already did or grinding for items you already got. Still, doing old-world quests is really it's own reward. These quests were put in the game for you, so you may as well try them out. Although I don't know of any resources that allow you to see which quests you have already done, I know that wowhead is a great resource for finding quests that you may not have known about.
Exploration
Filling out your in-game map is a simple task that lets you see parts of the world you may not have seen otherwise. You will probably complete some of the exploration-related achievements by doing all of the old-world quests, but exploring for its own sake can also be rewarding. Aside from the title and tabard, you also get to see all of the effort the art team put into this game. Although, to be honest, aside from Jenkins, The Explorer is one of the most unimpressive titles in the game. Just saying...
Fishing
Although I did list the meta fishing achievement, fishing in general is a fun activity. You get to catch fish which can be turned in valuable food for raids, as well as some other interesting things. It's a relaxing activity that I myself enjoy a lot. In the olden days, fishing was less rewarding than it is now and was only a source of food. You may have been lucky enough to win the Stranglethorn Fishing Contest or fish up the 1 Ring, but aside from that, fishing was rather one-dimensional. These days, not only is fishing a source of some fantastic buff food, but you can also strike at rich with the dailies involved in fishing.
One of the nice things about fishing is that it's low key and peaceful (for the most part), and thus won't incur any repair bills. It's also possible to fish while waiting for other things. You can fish on a dock while waiting for a boat or fish next to a dungeon while waiting for your group to get there. Fishing is one of the few activities that you can do almost anywhere, making it quite a versatile hobby. If you seek something more action oriented, then fishing isn't for you. Also, though there are a variety of locations you can fish in and things you can catch, the basic motions are still the same. Still is you want something relaxing to do that you can do almost anywhere, you'll like fishing. A fantastic resource for fishing is El's Extreme Anglin', which has information on anything and everything fishing related.
Reputations
This is probably the most time-consuming hobby in the list. Many people grind reputation to some extent, but some are obsessive about it. Some get try to get exalted with as many factions in the game as they can. The rewards of reputation grinds aren't as great as they used to be, but back in the old days, you could acquire many things by being liked by the right people. There are also some reputations that don't really have great rewards, but people still grind them just so they can have another "Exalted" on their reputation tab. Those of you with no life could also go for Insane in the Membrane, if you really think it's worth it.
Although the ways you gain reputation with different factions vary quite a bit, they all have one thing in common: they take a long time. Grinding reputations as a hobby is not for those who play casually. This is an activity for those who really have nothing else to do and who just want to do something that takes a long time. Again, I don't know of any resources specifically for grinding reputations, but wowhead can probably help you. WoWWiki also has some good guides on effectively grinding various reputations.
It's worth noting that some of these hobbies bleed into one another. For example, pet collectors trying to get the Mechanical Chicken will need to do the old-world Distress Beacon quests, and as I mentioned, doing old-world quests will fill out a large portion of your map. You can also gain some of the rarest pets in the game by fishing. And, of course, many factions gives pets and mounts, so you will probably need to grind some reputations for those two hobbies.
So there you have it! Whatever your hobby may be, just remember to enjoy it. There's no point in playing WoW if you aren't having fun.
Pet Collecting
Non-combat pets are those little companions that follow you around wherever you go. They are quite nice as a flavor item, and as a pet-collector myself, I can tell you that collecting them is an enjoyable pastime. In the days of pre-Wrath, when pets took up space in our inventory, pet-collecting was not a very lucrative hobby. Each pet you had took up one space in your bank or bags, thus making them rather cumbersome. With the new pets interface, that has changed for the better, and you can now have as many pets as you like without running out of bag space.
One of the nice things about collecting pets is the variety of activities involved in pet collecting. Some are gained through reputations, while others must simply be ground for. (I think that's the past tense version of grind. Edit: Confirmed) Many holiday events also give you a pet of some kind, which gives you even more motivation to participate in them. It you want a more focused activity with a more tangible reward, then you may not like pet collecting. Then again, most of these activities won't have tangible rewards. If you want to do something with valuable rewards, run some 5-mans or do some dailies. Also, pet collecting isn't something that you can really brag about, so if you want a hobby that will bring you fame and glory, look elsewhere. It's a shame that you can't display more than one pet at a time, but it is still nice to have many to choose from, especially when a pet showoff session happens in your raid. In the end, if you like varied activities with frequent rewards, pet collecting is a good choice for you. A good database for the dozens of pets available in the game is WarcraftPets.com.
Mount Collecting
Mounts are an important part of the game. They get you from point A to point B faster than hoofing it on foot will, and some even allow you to fly. Thus, collecting them can become a fun pastime. Since mounts are a good deal larger than pets, it's easier to show off your rare mounts than your rare pets. Like pets, mounts once took up space in your bags, which means you wouldn't want to have more than two; one for the ground and one for flight. The new pets interface also has a pane for mounts, which makes collecting them even easier.
Unlike pets, mounts often take more effort to get but come in groups. For example, many mounts require long reputation grinds, but once you finish those grinds, you get six or eight mounts that you can buy. Some mounts are also rare dungeon drops and take even longer to farm than rare pets. Of course, this means that getting one of those mounts can be a real status symbol. If you want something that requires more effort than pets but has more impressive rewards, mount collecting could be for you. Warcraftmounts.com is a good database for mount collectors.
Completing Old-world Quests
There is a lot of lore to be found in WoW, and most of it is found in the quests. Some give you engrossing storylines that also motivate you to go through those old-world dungeons that you missed, while others are just plain fun. Of course, some will make you pull your hair out with their low drop rates, but overall, old-world quests are worth doing. They give you reputation to help you get your crusader title, and though the money you make with them may not off-set the repair bills you build up, it's still worth seeing what you missed if you decided to grind through your levels like I did.
It can be difficult to remember which zones you cleared out in terms of quests, as well as which quests you did that were started by a zone drop. This can lead to long hours spent searching zones for quests you already did or grinding for items you already got. Still, doing old-world quests is really it's own reward. These quests were put in the game for you, so you may as well try them out. Although I don't know of any resources that allow you to see which quests you have already done, I know that wowhead is a great resource for finding quests that you may not have known about.
Exploration
Filling out your in-game map is a simple task that lets you see parts of the world you may not have seen otherwise. You will probably complete some of the exploration-related achievements by doing all of the old-world quests, but exploring for its own sake can also be rewarding. Aside from the title and tabard, you also get to see all of the effort the art team put into this game. Although, to be honest, aside from Jenkins, The Explorer is one of the most unimpressive titles in the game. Just saying...
Fishing
Although I did list the meta fishing achievement, fishing in general is a fun activity. You get to catch fish which can be turned in valuable food for raids, as well as some other interesting things. It's a relaxing activity that I myself enjoy a lot. In the olden days, fishing was less rewarding than it is now and was only a source of food. You may have been lucky enough to win the Stranglethorn Fishing Contest or fish up the 1 Ring, but aside from that, fishing was rather one-dimensional. These days, not only is fishing a source of some fantastic buff food, but you can also strike at rich with the dailies involved in fishing.
One of the nice things about fishing is that it's low key and peaceful (for the most part), and thus won't incur any repair bills. It's also possible to fish while waiting for other things. You can fish on a dock while waiting for a boat or fish next to a dungeon while waiting for your group to get there. Fishing is one of the few activities that you can do almost anywhere, making it quite a versatile hobby. If you seek something more action oriented, then fishing isn't for you. Also, though there are a variety of locations you can fish in and things you can catch, the basic motions are still the same. Still is you want something relaxing to do that you can do almost anywhere, you'll like fishing. A fantastic resource for fishing is El's Extreme Anglin', which has information on anything and everything fishing related.
Reputations
This is probably the most time-consuming hobby in the list. Many people grind reputation to some extent, but some are obsessive about it. Some get try to get exalted with as many factions in the game as they can. The rewards of reputation grinds aren't as great as they used to be, but back in the old days, you could acquire many things by being liked by the right people. There are also some reputations that don't really have great rewards, but people still grind them just so they can have another "Exalted" on their reputation tab. Those of you with no life could also go for Insane in the Membrane, if you really think it's worth it.
Although the ways you gain reputation with different factions vary quite a bit, they all have one thing in common: they take a long time. Grinding reputations as a hobby is not for those who play casually. This is an activity for those who really have nothing else to do and who just want to do something that takes a long time. Again, I don't know of any resources specifically for grinding reputations, but wowhead can probably help you. WoWWiki also has some good guides on effectively grinding various reputations.
It's worth noting that some of these hobbies bleed into one another. For example, pet collectors trying to get the Mechanical Chicken will need to do the old-world Distress Beacon quests, and as I mentioned, doing old-world quests will fill out a large portion of your map. You can also gain some of the rarest pets in the game by fishing. And, of course, many factions gives pets and mounts, so you will probably need to grind some reputations for those two hobbies.
So there you have it! Whatever your hobby may be, just remember to enjoy it. There's no point in playing WoW if you aren't having fun.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Why I don't enjoy PvP
I'll admit it; I'm a carebear. I have a set of PvP gear left over from my Wintergrasp phase, but for the most part, I don't enjoy PvP. It's not because I don't enjoy PvP gameplay itself. I know a lot of PvP'ers think that us carebears don't enjoy PvP because it's actually a challenge, but if that were the reason, we wouldn't raid either. I quite enjoyed the challenge of PvP, since no two players ever fight the exact same way. Each battle is always different, and the thrill of it lies in the unpredictability.
But I digress. There is one reason that I don't enjoy PvP'ing, and it's more of a matter of principle than anything. Though I enjoyed PvP after I had gotten good at it, those days when I was just starting were really rough. I was always dying, and each death meant at least 30 seconds when I wasn't involved in the battle. In Wintergrasp, those 30 seconds could easily become two minutes in the right situations. Those were two minutes of me not being able to contribute to the fight at all, gain any honor, or have any fun. And those deaths happened a lot.
As I got better gear and became more skilled in the art of warfare, I began to die less often and actually be able to kill some players in fair battles. This should have been enjoyable, but those deaths I suffered back when I was starting out had done their damage. I realized that every time I killed an opponent in PvP, I was denying someone else that minute of action, of honor, of fun. All the things I didn't enjoy about PvP, I was now inflicting on someone else. That was my definition of victory: preventing another player from enjoying themselves. PvP in my opinion can best be defined as having fun by preventing another player from having fun.
Perhaps I'm just spoiled by PvE, but I find cooperative gameplay to be a lot more fun than competitive gameplay. In cooperative gameplay like raids, everyone has fun as long as everyone does their jobs. It's a win-win situation. Even if someone doesn't get gear from the encounter, they still get emblems and the satisfaction of killing someone more powerful than them. In PvP, however, every time someone wins, someone else needs to lose. I'm sure there are people who can walk away from a defeat, use it as motivation to play better next time, and be that much more satisfied when they do win, but I'm not one of those people.
Short post, I know, but there isn't a whole lot of explanation needed, really. Keep in mind that I am not saying anything against PvP; I'm just offering my reasons for not liking PvP so that maybe you PvP'ers can realize why we PvE'ers don't enjoy your part of the game.
But I digress. There is one reason that I don't enjoy PvP'ing, and it's more of a matter of principle than anything. Though I enjoyed PvP after I had gotten good at it, those days when I was just starting were really rough. I was always dying, and each death meant at least 30 seconds when I wasn't involved in the battle. In Wintergrasp, those 30 seconds could easily become two minutes in the right situations. Those were two minutes of me not being able to contribute to the fight at all, gain any honor, or have any fun. And those deaths happened a lot.
As I got better gear and became more skilled in the art of warfare, I began to die less often and actually be able to kill some players in fair battles. This should have been enjoyable, but those deaths I suffered back when I was starting out had done their damage. I realized that every time I killed an opponent in PvP, I was denying someone else that minute of action, of honor, of fun. All the things I didn't enjoy about PvP, I was now inflicting on someone else. That was my definition of victory: preventing another player from enjoying themselves. PvP in my opinion can best be defined as having fun by preventing another player from having fun.
Perhaps I'm just spoiled by PvE, but I find cooperative gameplay to be a lot more fun than competitive gameplay. In cooperative gameplay like raids, everyone has fun as long as everyone does their jobs. It's a win-win situation. Even if someone doesn't get gear from the encounter, they still get emblems and the satisfaction of killing someone more powerful than them. In PvP, however, every time someone wins, someone else needs to lose. I'm sure there are people who can walk away from a defeat, use it as motivation to play better next time, and be that much more satisfied when they do win, but I'm not one of those people.
Short post, I know, but there isn't a whole lot of explanation needed, really. Keep in mind that I am not saying anything against PvP; I'm just offering my reasons for not liking PvP so that maybe you PvP'ers can realize why we PvE'ers don't enjoy your part of the game.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
How to get started playing WoW
Since this is the first advice post of my blog, I figure a good way to start is to focus on the beginnings of any World of Warcraft player's career. I will not be covering the technical aspects of setting up an account and things like that, since those are surely adequately covered elsewhere. Instead, I'll be focusing on the subjective aspects of the experience. Since this is such a long post, I'll put a table to contents down bellow. Just use control-F or command-F (PC or Mac, respectively) to find what you are looking for.
Should I play World of Warcraft?
What realm should I play on?
Should I be a member of the Alliance or the Horde?
What class should I play?
Should I play World of Warcraft?
This is the first question you should ask yourself before you begin to play WoW: should I be playing in the first place? It's a simple question, but one you should carefully consider before playing. I feel there are certain specific questions you need to ask yourself as a way to figure out whether or not you should play.
-Do I have enough time to play? I like the way one of my friends put it: WoW is not addicting so much as it eats up all of your free time. If you don't have the necessary free time in the first place, you will probably end up pushing your obligations and responsibilities off to the side in order to make time for WoW, or you just won't play, and you'll pay for that time spent not playing. Neither alternative is very attractive, so if you don't have the time to play, don't play.
-Can I afford to play? Aside from the $20 cost for the game, there is also the $15 monthly cost (or $13 monthly if you buy six months at a time, which I do). If you can't afford to pay that, you definitely shouldn't play WoW. I doubt this would be a problem for most adults, but teens and kids would probably need to get a part-time job to pay for WoW. Of course, WoW could be the excuse you need to get a part-time job, which can help you life in so many ways. Of course, if you won't take the job seriously or can't handle a part time job, don't get one just to play WoW. If you take this path, be sure to get the job first so you don't set up a WoW account without the means to pay for it.
-Will I enjoy playing? In my opinion, WoW is a very accessible game from a genre standpoint. There's something here for many gamers, but some people won't enjoy it. If you absolutely hate playing with other people, WoW is not for you. You can have a good time on your own in the game (as I do, frequently), but the beauty of the game is in its social interaction. Grouping with four other people to bring down a monster too powerful for you to bring down is an incredible experience, and you will miss a lot of what the game has to offer if you refuse to play with other people.
-From a similar point of view, if you dislike micromanaging, you may not like WoW. There are plenty of console games out there for people who simply want to pick up the game and play, and though WoW isn't as bad as I'm sure other games are, you do still need to manage things like your armor, what's in your bags, which quests you are going do, and other such things. You'll also encounter more micromanaging as you progress through the game and more features are opened up to you, such as talents, which allow you to specialize your character's fighting style. Don't let the prospect of such micromanaging scare you; the game introduces its many features to you at a gradual pace. If you have played any sort of RPG or action-RPG game, then you'll be able to handle it, but if that really isn't your thing, then go play a game without RPG elements.
There is also the issue of whether your system will run WoW, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue. To give you an idea of what you really need to run the game, my old eMac ran WoW on the lowest graphics settings without too many problems once I upgraded it to one gigabyte of RAM, which was an easy process. But then again, WoW isn't about graphics; it's about the experience. And that's where the next question comes in: what will WoW give me?
-A LOT of play time. I have spent no less than 55 days on my current main character, and considering my altoholism, I have probably spent about a hundred days in total playing WoW. And that's not actual days; that's days of time spent in the World of Warcraft. That's almost 2500 hours. Granted, I have been playing for almost four years, but that gives you an idea of how expansive WoW is. That's also a pretty good deal from a money perspective: I've spent about $725 on playtime, the game itself, and expansion packs, which means WoW has given me more than three hours of playtime for each dollar I have spent on it. I have rarely gotten such a deal from a console game. Granted, this kind of ratio is highly dependent on how much you play, but it's a good deal none the less.
-A social experience. At it's heart, WoW is about your interactions with other players. I doubt you could play WoW without being influenced by someone else in some way. The in-game economy is based completely on the Auction House, which is the portal for many of your in-game monetary transactions*. The Auction House allows players to sell items to each other without needing to be on at the same time, and thus is how you will probably make and/or spend a lot of your money later in the game. There are also a good deal of quests that require you to group up with someone to finish them, or else level well beyond the intended level of the quest. And lets not forget instances, in which you and four other players (it increases to nine more and twenty four more at the highest level, but don't worry about that yet) get together to defeat the enemies in an area which none of you could survive on your own, and are thus awarded with better-quality equipment and the confidence of working together with other players to achieve something. If you prefer competition to cooperation, then you'll probably spend your time in battlegrounds, the game's main areas for player vs. player action. These are also cooperative in nature, as they are team vs. team style. Anyways, the point of this wall of text is that, where ever you go in WoW, other players will impact you in some way, and that's what makes it fun. You can even just use WoW as a portal to socialize with other people.
-You get to be part of the WoW community. I'd argue that it's just as fun to be a WoW player as it is to play WoW. We have our own in-jokes, on-line communities, clothing, and even web-comics. When you start playing, don't try to take it all in too quickly. Like any sort of cultural assimilation, you'll learn slowly what makes the WoW community tick. Once you become a full-fledged member of that community, you will realize how great it is. I can tell you from personal experience that talking with another WoW player in real life is an experience that cannot be described; it's a closer bond than most people expect it can be.
So let's say you've decided to play. Now for the next issue.
What realm should I play on?
Because there are too many WoW players to fit on one server, Blizzard splits them up so that we don't all crash their computers by overcrowding the game. Picking which server you plan on does not affect the game itself to a great extent; you'll see the same content, but each server as has different players on it. I'd say that if you have any friends that play WoW, play on their server. Make sure you also play their faction as well. (More on that later) Of course, if they are merely acquaintances, you may wish to choose a realm from scratch. This is also your only course of action if you have no friends who play WoW. In that case, you have three issues to worry about: realm type, time zone, and population.
Realm type: There are four kinds of realms: PvE (player vs. environment, your basic normal realms), PvP (player vs. player, in which members of opposite factions can attack each other whenever they want to except in starting areas), RP (role playing, where you pretend to actually be your character. The real world is not mentioned on these realms.), and RP-PvP (role playing realms with the attack caveat of PvP realms). I'd say you are best off starting on a PvE realm. That way you don't need to worry about high level characters coming to kill you for their own personal enjoyment. (it's called griefing, and it happens frequently on PvP realms) If you feel like that you would enjoy the rush of playing in a risky area,, then be my guest and try it, but if you regret your decision, don't be afraid to make a different character on a different server. I'd also avoid RP unless you are actually into that kind of thing. You can move your character to a different realm if you regret your decision, but it costs $25, so don't take such a decision lightly.
Population: Realms with a low population have the issue of a weak economy (less money moving around) and a lack of players to help you. High-pop realms sometimes get too full, and you basically need to wait in line (it's called a queue) to get in. Medium population realms seem like the best fit, but they suffer from empty starting zones, like all well-established realms. On well-established realms, people frequently are already at the highest level or well on their way there, so there won't be many people to help you when you need it in your low level areas. If you are recommended to a new realm when you start, I'd say make your first character there; new realms are more likely to have characters your level, so you won't be alone and you'll be able to find people to help you.
Time Zone: This is probably the least pressing issue, but it helps to have the in-game clock be in sync with your clock. Check the list of realms here for all the realms in your time zone. If your sleep schedule is radically different from other people's, it may be in your best interests to join a realm that is not aligned with your time zone, so that more people will be on when you play.
Now for the tougher issues: Alliance or Horde, and what class?
Should I be a member of the Alliance or the Horde?
The ten races in the game are split between two warring factions: the Alliance and the Horde. It would be far too simplistic to say the Alliance are the good guys and the Horde are the bad guys; if you look up the lore on the subject, members of the Alliance have done some really bad things to others for no good reason, and many members of the Horde are just victims. Players on opposite factions can't communicate with each other other than through macros such as /hug and /hi.
Anyways, factions are a touchy issue. Many players have a lot of faction pride, especially Hordies, so I'll just go from my own experiences. The easy answer is that if your friends play, play which ever faction they play. Otherwise, you won't be able to communicate with them or play with them very much, and that won't make the game very fun, will it? If that isn't a factor, then keep reading.
Though everyone will rush to tell you otherwise, the communities of Alliance players and Horde players aren't that different. Everyone likes to say that Alliance players are little kids who just play Alliance because the Alliance races look pretty and that Horde players are more mature. While this may be true, I have generally found that it didn't impact my gaming experience noticeably. Besides, both sides have their jerks and grieffers. If you prefer to play with people who are proud of their faction choice, then go with horde, but if that's really your main motivation, it's a pretty weak one in my opinion.
If you plan on being a role-player, then your choice should be based on which race you wish to role-play as. Each race has their own history and dominant personality, and though you can break from that in sculpting your character, it's frowned upon to deviate from the standard conventions too much. The game's manual has a nice guide to the history of each race in the Races in Conflict section (page 168), so refer to that when choosing which race you will roleplay as.
If neither of those are issues for you, then just pick based on which class you want to play and which race's built-in strengths and abilities you prefer. It is my opinion that the Alliance has better racial abilities than the horde, but this point could be debated forever, so I won't go into it too much. Unfortunately, not all classes are available to each race, so you will need to pick a class before picking a race. If that seems like too much, just go by which race you like to look at the most. You will be looking at your character a lot, so it helps to not have one you find ugly, at least until you can cover him in armor.
What class should I play?
Now for the truly difficult question. Class is not a decision to be taken lightly. Which class you pick impacts your gameplay more than any other decision you make. Each class has its own unique fighting style, so you will want to pick a class based on your preferences in that area. Your choice of race is limited by your choice of class, so pick your class before setting your heart on one particular race.
Warriors: defensive melee fighters. Warriors can take damage very well, but not necessarily dish it out as well as other classes. They fight in close range combat and tend to take longer to kill enemies than other classes. This gives you a lot of room for error when playing. Warriors are good if you want a melee class with a lot of survivability and hardiness.
Rogues: offensive melee fighter. Rogues can't take too much damage before they die, but they can dish it out really well. They can also use stealth, allowing them to sneak around. If you prefer to end battles quickly and like to sneak around, rogues are a good choice.
Hunters: eclectic ranged fighters with pets. Hunter fight mostly from afar and can train beasts to fight for them, making them popular with newer players. The have a wide range of tools at their disposal, including melee abilities, traps, and the ability to track enemies. They are the only class that specializes in ranged weapons like bows and guns, making them not as dependent on their mana as other magic using classes. If you want a class that fights from afar with a wide range of tools and with the assistance of a constant companion, hunter are a good pick for you.
Mages: potent ranged fighters. Mages are perhaps the weakest class in the game in terms of being able to take damage, but they specialize in doing a lot of damage from afar and keeping their enemies at bay. They also have a wide variety of spells available to them, including the ability to summon food and water to restore their health and mana. If you want to play a class that fights from afar and is delicate but potent, mages are for you.
Priests: defensive ranged fighters. The prototypical healer, priests specialize in helping out their allies. They can fight for themselves and do it quite well when played right, but even then, their focus is on helping others as they kill their enemies. If you want to play a defensive magic class, help others in their combat, or play an assitive role, the priest is a good class for you.
Warlocks: demonic ranged fighters. Warlocks specialize in weakening their enemies more than hurting them, with various curses than affect their enemies in different ways and spells that do damage over time rather than instantly. They can also summon a variety of demonic minions to help them. If you want to play as a caster who is slow and exacting, rather than fast and swift, and you like to have minions doing your bidding, the warlock is a good class for you.
Paladins: defensive magic melee fighters. Paladins are like priests if priests were strong melee fighters rather than delicate casters. They aren't as offensively gifted as other classes, but they can still hold their own. They, like priests, shine most in groups. They can also take a wide variety of roles, from defensive to assistive to offensive. They have arguably the highest survivability in the game, being able to heal themselves and shield themselves from damage. If you like the idea of playing a defensive melee fighter with many options available to you, paladins are a good choice. Just know that if you want to play horde and play a paladin, you will need to purchase the Burning Crusade expansion pack; paladins only became available to the horde with the addition of the Blood Elf race, which was part of the expansion. And be warned that the first 20 levels of leveling your paladin will be the most boring experience of your WoW career; just trust me on that.
Shamans: Shamans are the proverbial jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none, though that last part doesn't apply to them as much as it used to. Their fighting style is a mix of ranged magic fighting, melee fighting, healing, and using special totems they can drop to give themselves and their allies unique benefits. They are also a very fun class to play. If you want an eclectic class with many tools at your disposal, and you want to be able to "do it all" without needing to do any of it particularly well, shamans are the class for you. Just know that if you want to play alliance and play a shaman, you will need to purchase the Burning Crusade expansion pack; shamans only became available to the alliance with the addition of the Draenei race, which was part of the expansion.
Druids: The master-of-all class. Druids are my favorite class. They start out as casters, mixing offensive and defensive styles, and then branch out into melee with the addition of shapeshifting into a bear or a cat. By playing a druid, any role in the game will be open to you, be it defensive or offensive, melee or ranged. They do take a while to get interesting, but if you focus on your melee shapeshifting abilities, you will be guaranteed new experiences all the time while leveling and will be rewarded with a class with very high survivability and a wide variety of fighting styles. If you want to be able to choose between different fighting styles and have a lot of options available to you, pick a druid.
Death Knights: Hybrid defensive-offensive melee fighters. Death Knights are only available to people to have a level 55 character of a different class and have purchased the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack, so if you don't satisfy both of those criteria, then don't worry about trying to play one. Death Knights are very efficient melee fighters, using both defensive and offensive tactics and being able to specialize in either. They have very high survivability and can do many things on their own that other classes need assistance to do, such as killing powerful enemies. Playing a Death Knight feels like a mix of playing a Paladin and a Rogue. If you enjoy being a melee powerhouse with high offensive and defensive prowess, the Death Knight is for you.
Finally, don't be afraid to try new things; I had to try all the classes in the game before I realized that druids were the class for me. I'd say you should try each class at least once, but not all at once. Being able to compare them will help you stick to one that you enjoy the most.
Fin.
*If you already play, you might think that I should say "the vast majority", but don't forget about repairing your armor and buying trade items from vendors. Those count as transactions too.
Should I play World of Warcraft?
What realm should I play on?
Should I be a member of the Alliance or the Horde?
What class should I play?
Should I play World of Warcraft?
This is the first question you should ask yourself before you begin to play WoW: should I be playing in the first place? It's a simple question, but one you should carefully consider before playing. I feel there are certain specific questions you need to ask yourself as a way to figure out whether or not you should play.
-Do I have enough time to play? I like the way one of my friends put it: WoW is not addicting so much as it eats up all of your free time. If you don't have the necessary free time in the first place, you will probably end up pushing your obligations and responsibilities off to the side in order to make time for WoW, or you just won't play, and you'll pay for that time spent not playing. Neither alternative is very attractive, so if you don't have the time to play, don't play.
-Can I afford to play? Aside from the $20 cost for the game, there is also the $15 monthly cost (or $13 monthly if you buy six months at a time, which I do). If you can't afford to pay that, you definitely shouldn't play WoW. I doubt this would be a problem for most adults, but teens and kids would probably need to get a part-time job to pay for WoW. Of course, WoW could be the excuse you need to get a part-time job, which can help you life in so many ways. Of course, if you won't take the job seriously or can't handle a part time job, don't get one just to play WoW. If you take this path, be sure to get the job first so you don't set up a WoW account without the means to pay for it.
-Will I enjoy playing? In my opinion, WoW is a very accessible game from a genre standpoint. There's something here for many gamers, but some people won't enjoy it. If you absolutely hate playing with other people, WoW is not for you. You can have a good time on your own in the game (as I do, frequently), but the beauty of the game is in its social interaction. Grouping with four other people to bring down a monster too powerful for you to bring down is an incredible experience, and you will miss a lot of what the game has to offer if you refuse to play with other people.
-From a similar point of view, if you dislike micromanaging, you may not like WoW. There are plenty of console games out there for people who simply want to pick up the game and play, and though WoW isn't as bad as I'm sure other games are, you do still need to manage things like your armor, what's in your bags, which quests you are going do, and other such things. You'll also encounter more micromanaging as you progress through the game and more features are opened up to you, such as talents, which allow you to specialize your character's fighting style. Don't let the prospect of such micromanaging scare you; the game introduces its many features to you at a gradual pace. If you have played any sort of RPG or action-RPG game, then you'll be able to handle it, but if that really isn't your thing, then go play a game without RPG elements.
There is also the issue of whether your system will run WoW, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue. To give you an idea of what you really need to run the game, my old eMac ran WoW on the lowest graphics settings without too many problems once I upgraded it to one gigabyte of RAM, which was an easy process. But then again, WoW isn't about graphics; it's about the experience. And that's where the next question comes in: what will WoW give me?
-A LOT of play time. I have spent no less than 55 days on my current main character, and considering my altoholism, I have probably spent about a hundred days in total playing WoW. And that's not actual days; that's days of time spent in the World of Warcraft. That's almost 2500 hours. Granted, I have been playing for almost four years, but that gives you an idea of how expansive WoW is. That's also a pretty good deal from a money perspective: I've spent about $725 on playtime, the game itself, and expansion packs, which means WoW has given me more than three hours of playtime for each dollar I have spent on it. I have rarely gotten such a deal from a console game. Granted, this kind of ratio is highly dependent on how much you play, but it's a good deal none the less.
-A social experience. At it's heart, WoW is about your interactions with other players. I doubt you could play WoW without being influenced by someone else in some way. The in-game economy is based completely on the Auction House, which is the portal for many of your in-game monetary transactions*. The Auction House allows players to sell items to each other without needing to be on at the same time, and thus is how you will probably make and/or spend a lot of your money later in the game. There are also a good deal of quests that require you to group up with someone to finish them, or else level well beyond the intended level of the quest. And lets not forget instances, in which you and four other players (it increases to nine more and twenty four more at the highest level, but don't worry about that yet) get together to defeat the enemies in an area which none of you could survive on your own, and are thus awarded with better-quality equipment and the confidence of working together with other players to achieve something. If you prefer competition to cooperation, then you'll probably spend your time in battlegrounds, the game's main areas for player vs. player action. These are also cooperative in nature, as they are team vs. team style. Anyways, the point of this wall of text is that, where ever you go in WoW, other players will impact you in some way, and that's what makes it fun. You can even just use WoW as a portal to socialize with other people.
-You get to be part of the WoW community. I'd argue that it's just as fun to be a WoW player as it is to play WoW. We have our own in-jokes, on-line communities, clothing, and even web-comics. When you start playing, don't try to take it all in too quickly. Like any sort of cultural assimilation, you'll learn slowly what makes the WoW community tick. Once you become a full-fledged member of that community, you will realize how great it is. I can tell you from personal experience that talking with another WoW player in real life is an experience that cannot be described; it's a closer bond than most people expect it can be.
So let's say you've decided to play. Now for the next issue.
What realm should I play on?
Because there are too many WoW players to fit on one server, Blizzard splits them up so that we don't all crash their computers by overcrowding the game. Picking which server you plan on does not affect the game itself to a great extent; you'll see the same content, but each server as has different players on it. I'd say that if you have any friends that play WoW, play on their server. Make sure you also play their faction as well. (More on that later) Of course, if they are merely acquaintances, you may wish to choose a realm from scratch. This is also your only course of action if you have no friends who play WoW. In that case, you have three issues to worry about: realm type, time zone, and population.
Realm type: There are four kinds of realms: PvE (player vs. environment, your basic normal realms), PvP (player vs. player, in which members of opposite factions can attack each other whenever they want to except in starting areas), RP (role playing, where you pretend to actually be your character. The real world is not mentioned on these realms.), and RP-PvP (role playing realms with the attack caveat of PvP realms). I'd say you are best off starting on a PvE realm. That way you don't need to worry about high level characters coming to kill you for their own personal enjoyment. (it's called griefing, and it happens frequently on PvP realms) If you feel like that you would enjoy the rush of playing in a risky area,, then be my guest and try it, but if you regret your decision, don't be afraid to make a different character on a different server. I'd also avoid RP unless you are actually into that kind of thing. You can move your character to a different realm if you regret your decision, but it costs $25, so don't take such a decision lightly.
Population: Realms with a low population have the issue of a weak economy (less money moving around) and a lack of players to help you. High-pop realms sometimes get too full, and you basically need to wait in line (it's called a queue) to get in. Medium population realms seem like the best fit, but they suffer from empty starting zones, like all well-established realms. On well-established realms, people frequently are already at the highest level or well on their way there, so there won't be many people to help you when you need it in your low level areas. If you are recommended to a new realm when you start, I'd say make your first character there; new realms are more likely to have characters your level, so you won't be alone and you'll be able to find people to help you.
Time Zone: This is probably the least pressing issue, but it helps to have the in-game clock be in sync with your clock. Check the list of realms here for all the realms in your time zone. If your sleep schedule is radically different from other people's, it may be in your best interests to join a realm that is not aligned with your time zone, so that more people will be on when you play.
Now for the tougher issues: Alliance or Horde, and what class?
Should I be a member of the Alliance or the Horde?
The ten races in the game are split between two warring factions: the Alliance and the Horde. It would be far too simplistic to say the Alliance are the good guys and the Horde are the bad guys; if you look up the lore on the subject, members of the Alliance have done some really bad things to others for no good reason, and many members of the Horde are just victims. Players on opposite factions can't communicate with each other other than through macros such as /hug and /hi.
Anyways, factions are a touchy issue. Many players have a lot of faction pride, especially Hordies, so I'll just go from my own experiences. The easy answer is that if your friends play, play which ever faction they play. Otherwise, you won't be able to communicate with them or play with them very much, and that won't make the game very fun, will it? If that isn't a factor, then keep reading.
Though everyone will rush to tell you otherwise, the communities of Alliance players and Horde players aren't that different. Everyone likes to say that Alliance players are little kids who just play Alliance because the Alliance races look pretty and that Horde players are more mature. While this may be true, I have generally found that it didn't impact my gaming experience noticeably. Besides, both sides have their jerks and grieffers. If you prefer to play with people who are proud of their faction choice, then go with horde, but if that's really your main motivation, it's a pretty weak one in my opinion.
If you plan on being a role-player, then your choice should be based on which race you wish to role-play as. Each race has their own history and dominant personality, and though you can break from that in sculpting your character, it's frowned upon to deviate from the standard conventions too much. The game's manual has a nice guide to the history of each race in the Races in Conflict section (page 168), so refer to that when choosing which race you will roleplay as.
If neither of those are issues for you, then just pick based on which class you want to play and which race's built-in strengths and abilities you prefer. It is my opinion that the Alliance has better racial abilities than the horde, but this point could be debated forever, so I won't go into it too much. Unfortunately, not all classes are available to each race, so you will need to pick a class before picking a race. If that seems like too much, just go by which race you like to look at the most. You will be looking at your character a lot, so it helps to not have one you find ugly, at least until you can cover him in armor.
What class should I play?
Now for the truly difficult question. Class is not a decision to be taken lightly. Which class you pick impacts your gameplay more than any other decision you make. Each class has its own unique fighting style, so you will want to pick a class based on your preferences in that area. Your choice of race is limited by your choice of class, so pick your class before setting your heart on one particular race.
Warriors: defensive melee fighters. Warriors can take damage very well, but not necessarily dish it out as well as other classes. They fight in close range combat and tend to take longer to kill enemies than other classes. This gives you a lot of room for error when playing. Warriors are good if you want a melee class with a lot of survivability and hardiness.
Rogues: offensive melee fighter. Rogues can't take too much damage before they die, but they can dish it out really well. They can also use stealth, allowing them to sneak around. If you prefer to end battles quickly and like to sneak around, rogues are a good choice.
Hunters: eclectic ranged fighters with pets. Hunter fight mostly from afar and can train beasts to fight for them, making them popular with newer players. The have a wide range of tools at their disposal, including melee abilities, traps, and the ability to track enemies. They are the only class that specializes in ranged weapons like bows and guns, making them not as dependent on their mana as other magic using classes. If you want a class that fights from afar with a wide range of tools and with the assistance of a constant companion, hunter are a good pick for you.
Mages: potent ranged fighters. Mages are perhaps the weakest class in the game in terms of being able to take damage, but they specialize in doing a lot of damage from afar and keeping their enemies at bay. They also have a wide variety of spells available to them, including the ability to summon food and water to restore their health and mana. If you want to play a class that fights from afar and is delicate but potent, mages are for you.
Priests: defensive ranged fighters. The prototypical healer, priests specialize in helping out their allies. They can fight for themselves and do it quite well when played right, but even then, their focus is on helping others as they kill their enemies. If you want to play a defensive magic class, help others in their combat, or play an assitive role, the priest is a good class for you.
Warlocks: demonic ranged fighters. Warlocks specialize in weakening their enemies more than hurting them, with various curses than affect their enemies in different ways and spells that do damage over time rather than instantly. They can also summon a variety of demonic minions to help them. If you want to play as a caster who is slow and exacting, rather than fast and swift, and you like to have minions doing your bidding, the warlock is a good class for you.
Paladins: defensive magic melee fighters. Paladins are like priests if priests were strong melee fighters rather than delicate casters. They aren't as offensively gifted as other classes, but they can still hold their own. They, like priests, shine most in groups. They can also take a wide variety of roles, from defensive to assistive to offensive. They have arguably the highest survivability in the game, being able to heal themselves and shield themselves from damage. If you like the idea of playing a defensive melee fighter with many options available to you, paladins are a good choice. Just know that if you want to play horde and play a paladin, you will need to purchase the Burning Crusade expansion pack; paladins only became available to the horde with the addition of the Blood Elf race, which was part of the expansion. And be warned that the first 20 levels of leveling your paladin will be the most boring experience of your WoW career; just trust me on that.
Shamans: Shamans are the proverbial jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none, though that last part doesn't apply to them as much as it used to. Their fighting style is a mix of ranged magic fighting, melee fighting, healing, and using special totems they can drop to give themselves and their allies unique benefits. They are also a very fun class to play. If you want an eclectic class with many tools at your disposal, and you want to be able to "do it all" without needing to do any of it particularly well, shamans are the class for you. Just know that if you want to play alliance and play a shaman, you will need to purchase the Burning Crusade expansion pack; shamans only became available to the alliance with the addition of the Draenei race, which was part of the expansion.
Druids: The master-of-all class. Druids are my favorite class. They start out as casters, mixing offensive and defensive styles, and then branch out into melee with the addition of shapeshifting into a bear or a cat. By playing a druid, any role in the game will be open to you, be it defensive or offensive, melee or ranged. They do take a while to get interesting, but if you focus on your melee shapeshifting abilities, you will be guaranteed new experiences all the time while leveling and will be rewarded with a class with very high survivability and a wide variety of fighting styles. If you want to be able to choose between different fighting styles and have a lot of options available to you, pick a druid.
Death Knights: Hybrid defensive-offensive melee fighters. Death Knights are only available to people to have a level 55 character of a different class and have purchased the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack, so if you don't satisfy both of those criteria, then don't worry about trying to play one. Death Knights are very efficient melee fighters, using both defensive and offensive tactics and being able to specialize in either. They have very high survivability and can do many things on their own that other classes need assistance to do, such as killing powerful enemies. Playing a Death Knight feels like a mix of playing a Paladin and a Rogue. If you enjoy being a melee powerhouse with high offensive and defensive prowess, the Death Knight is for you.
Finally, don't be afraid to try new things; I had to try all the classes in the game before I realized that druids were the class for me. I'd say you should try each class at least once, but not all at once. Being able to compare them will help you stick to one that you enjoy the most.
Fin.
*If you already play, you might think that I should say "the vast majority", but don't forget about repairing your armor and buying trade items from vendors. Those count as transactions too.
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