World of Warcraft

If you haven’t noticed the brand new splash on Blizzard’s site, they’ve introduced an aggressive recruiting policy that targets new players and there’s some substantial in-game rewards if you can find friends to bring in. Here’s a list of rewards you can expect:

1. Characters on both accounts can summon each other once per hour.
2. While adventuring with your linked friend/family member, you will each gain triple experience.
3. For every two levels the new player earns, the new player can grant one free level-up to a lower-level character played by the veteran player.
4. A special Zhevra mount!

Needless to say that while a lot of new players will be happy to know the leveling process will be much easier, its left many veteran players out in the cold. After all, where are the rewards for players who are slugging it out to 70 with their 5th or 6th character? Don’t they deserve a leveling boost, even if its temporary, as well? I’ve read quite a number of unhappy responses over at the forums, and that’s not entirely surprising given the current set of circumstances.

In my own opinion, I think Blizzard should reward players on both sides of the fence. Yes, bringing in new players to the game should be rewarded and an easier leveling process for newbies makes the game more enjoyable and less of a grind. But toss a bone to use old heads too, like one triple XP alt to 60 every year or something like that. This wouldn’t upset the balance or effort of the game, but would reward players for being loyal customers as well.

With high powered handhelds becoming commonplace among consumers, I’ve always been curious as to how feasible (and likely) a convert to consoles would be. Console gamers are typically fickle when it comes to MMO games on their box, and really most people who want to play MMOs already have a PC (who doesn’t?) beefy enough to run Warcraft, considering the system requirements are so low. A recent post over at WoWinsider considered the possibility as well:

Mike’s post yesterday about playing WoW with an XBox controller got me thinking. Now, I honestly prefer playing certain kinds of games on the PC, MMOs topping that list. But if Blizzard up and decided tomorrow to change their minds about a console (which they aren’t) version of World of Warcraft, I wonder what it would be like. Exactly how much would the game change once it was ported? And which console would WoW be most at home on?

Honestly a portable version of WoW would be the most fun to me, perhaps on the iphone or psp, (maybe we’d see it over at psp spot), though I’m sure many handheld devices would have trouble running the game..for now anyway.

Blizzard has repeatedly stated that a port to the xbox is out of the question, but as time goes on I believe the possibility is much more likely. Looking at Wrath of the Lich King it doesn’t appear that there’s been any major graphical overhaul, while consoles and handheld systems are constantly gaining processing power. I believe that we’ll see a console version of the game at some point before wow’s shelf life ends.

While I’ve come across plenty of complaints about Alterac Valley and how the glory days used to be awesome are plentiful, but it doesn’t appear that Blizzard agrees, as a recent Blizzard CM stated that they are generally satisfied with AV in its current form:

This is partially true. Alterac Valley was originally going to be its own zone. We do feel Alterac Valley is fairly well tuned at the moment, though we would like to give players a different type of experience that will include large-scale PvP battles, destructible buildings, siege weapons, and more. These are some of the things planned for the new PvP zone Lake Wintergrasp.

There will be a lot of tuning and balancing of the zone done in the coming months. One thing we are looking to do though to help with population imbalances is impose certain benefits for the side with less players in the zone. For instance, since supplies will be necessary to unlock certain vehicles, the side with the population handicap may see a decrease in requirements. We may also offer increasingly more supply benefits for a faction if they are suffering from consecutive losses in Lake Wintergrasp. The goal is to even the playing field regardless of faction population balances across all realms.

We plan to give Lake Wintergrasp a definitive play time where the event may last somewhere around 45 minutes. The event would not start again for a set amount of time after the battle is won. We will tune these times as testing further develops. The plan, additionally, is to provide certain incentives for visiting this zone between battles.

We’ll be sure to provide more information about Lake Wintergrasp as well as the new Battleground as we get closer to releasing them for Beta testing.

Personally yes, I did genuinely enjoy the old epic Alterac battles that took days on old to complete, but there were some serious flaws with the system at that time. First, it took 2 hours just to get in, because players tended to never leave after they finally got to enter (at 2 hours a shot, no kidding). With the recent bout of afking, you’d likely see a huge increase in AV queue times, and your team could be half afkers as active players left only to be replaced by a botter looking to get days worth of honor for free. I like AV as it stands, even though it could definitely use some tweaking (let us summon lords and cavalry, I mean come on!). Additionally I think Lake Wintergrasp is really intended to be what AV used to be, and if that’s the case I think its perfectly fine to leave AV for the honor grubbers and people who actually want an epic fight can go to the lake and get it!

Since the release of the Burning Crusade, engineering has gone through some serious changes. You won’t see any engineers pulling out dragonlings, a battle chicken, or a deathray/shrink ray. Instead you’ll likely see….goggles. Maybe a mote extractor too. As a whole, much of what made the professions quirky and fun (and got people mad at you.. “who the hell just shrunk our group?!…YOU!”) was the trinkets and various gadgets that engineers had at their disposal. Unfortunately much of the craft was homogenized and dumbed down. Old gadgets no longer worked (reflector trinkets), but new ones were not added in to continue the fun. Instead trinket pets were relegated to jewelcrafting, and patch after patch yielded few new engineering changes other than a new mount and a new goggle recipe that, frankly, most players will never get or hope to get.

With this in mind, many players have turned their hopes toward the expansion. After all what’s a better time to re-vamp a profession than a HUGE content patch like Wrath of the Lich King? I’ve heard rumors of a motorcycle mount, but beyond that it doesn’t seem anything substantial has been added yet. One of Blizzard’s CMs, Bornak, did recently respond to concerns about the engineering profession in the expansion:

We have heard and noted some complaints from engineers in the past. Please be patient and more details will be available soon on all the professions and new things they will have in Wrath of the Lich King.

Hmm, well its not exactly a guarantee, but at the very least the engineers’ concerns have been heard. If this is the case, then expect to see some more fun when the expansion hits! Or goggles…one or the other.

Well it appears that Blizzard has no shortage of merchandise to peddle onto its playerbase. From t-shirts to character models to the trading card game, they most recently announced the addition of a board game version of Warcraft. That said, I’ve played similar games in the genre (A Lord of the Rings board game was a ton of fun, for example), and they can be a total blast! Here’s a brief description from the site:

World of Warcraft: the Adventure Game is a fast-paced game of danger, conflict, and heroes. 2-4 players engage in a struggle for glory and valor as they travel the East Kingdoms of Azeroth battling monsters, completing quests, and vanquishing each other in their bid for supremacy!

* Fast paced immersive action with four unique heroes
* Battle monsters as well as your fellow players
* Innovative game design with multi-tier encounters and quest

You’ll have to compete with up to 4 opponents for glory and treasure as you stomp across Azeroth. You have the option of playing a dwarf hunter, human warlock, undead mage, or orc warrior. Given the fact that each has their own unique abilities, I wonder if there will be some arguments as to who gets to play the “overpowered” class (oh right, you WOULD pick the warlock!).

Essentially, your turn will go like this. You’ll flip over some cards to see how far you can move, and you’ll have the option of playing cards to mess with your opponents or move a bit farther as you go along. Then you’ll get to fight a monster through an encounter, depending on your level, you can fight mobs of various difficulties. If you win, you get your very own treasure or some other reward. Quests will also be available to you, and completing them will award you “valor points.” The first person to 8 valor points wins the game.

If you happen to have a bunch of buddies who are into this sort of thing, then you might want to take a look. If any of you guys do pick it up, feel free to let me know how the game plays and whether it has a good amount of replayability. I’ll post any interesting feedback I receive on the game!

I’m sure you’ve been just as frustrated when it happens. There you are, happily waiting for the queue to pop up, and there it is! You quickly enter your Arathi Basin, buff yourself up and…realize you’re one of 3 people there. The clock is ticking, and you watch anxiously as the opposing side fills up to full, while you start the round with 5 people. Desperately trying to cling to your last node hoping for reinforcements in time, you get rolled by 15-5 odds, and the game ends within a minute.

Ugh.

Blizzard isn’t ignoring our plight, per se. From the sound of it, they’re not happy with the way the system currently works, either. Here’s what Zarhym, a Blizzard CM, had to say about it:

” The fact of the matter is that the queue system has been altered over the years since the implementation of Battlegrounds to be the most convenient to the most players with regards to selecting one’s preferred Battleground, as well as the amount of time one must wait before entering a match.

An equal number of players from each faction at the top of the respective queues are selected at the launch of the Battleground. Each player selected is given a grace period to enter the match before they are automatically removed from the queue. The issue you’re describing is a result of players not entering the match when selected, and not leaving the queue before this grace period ends. By the time new players from the top of the queue are offered the chance to join the match, it has already begun. Most of you understand this; I only mention this to acknowledge the primary cause of the situation discussed in this thread.

It can be very demoralizing when one team is forced to begin a battle with less members than the opposing team. I’ve been there and experienced that first-hand many times over.

There are inherent issues with both leaving the queue system as it is, and imposing further requirements before a match begins. For instance, if we keep the match from starting until each side has an equal number of players, everyone is forced to wait beyond the actual queue time to ensure enough players have accepted to enter the match.

The choice may well be between suspending a match indefinitely until both teams have the same number of players; and starting a match lopsided so players can get through the match and carry on with their gaming. I suspect not everyone would have the same preference given this choice, and the difference could greatly impact the style, reason, and enjoyment of the Battlegrounds for many.

That said, we aren’t completely satisfied with the queue system as it stands.”

So what it boils down is that they WANT to fix it, but they don’t want to fix it by breaking something else. Seems fair, eh?

Oh sure it may seem like a minor issue, but I always had a spot for the crews that were put in place on the boats from Menethil Harbor, Booty Bay, etc. Maybe I’m just a sucker for fluff, I love a good story and I think it’s a lot more engaging to hop on the boat to see vendors and crew to interact with. As it stands now the boats are ran by ghosts, mystically floating from one destination to the next.

Apparently I’m not the only one that thinks this, either. Blizzard CMs were kind enough to answer the not-so-important question of whether they intend to fix the boats and bring back the crew:

“We would like to return them to their posts when and if we can. Due to safety precautions on the vessels, they were removed, but hopefully the engineers will get the kinks worked out so that they can return and continue their jobs in relative safety.”

Apparently the crew were causing some serious problems, like server instability and crashes. I suppose this sort of thing falls pretty low on the priority list, too. Maybe the expansion will have boat crews that don’t blow servers up…and then they’ll add them to the old boats?

Wishful thinking…

Tom Chilton, one of the lead game designers over at Blizzard, recently had an interview at Gotfrag about the state of the Arena game and what we can expect in the future. Much of it deals with the “esport” area of Blizzard’s development. Essentially many of Blizzard’s games have benefited from professional tournaments and matches associated with their games. Starcraft, for example, may have died out long ago if it weren’t for the professional organizations to keep many a player’s interest in the game, particularly in Korea. It seems that they are aiming to increase World of Warcraft’s lifespan in this manner as well.

What I found most interesting was a question related to the importance of PvE vs. PvP gameplay, here was Tom’s answer:

Where is Blizzard’s priority when it comes to changes made between class dynamics; PVE or PVP?

“We strive to evaluate all aspects of World of Warcraft evenly in terms of class dynamics. We want every class to feel unique and useful in instances, raids, Battlegrounds, and Arena play. Ideally, no matter what class a player chooses, he or she will be able to experience and enjoy all aspects of World of Warcraft in one form or another. Players should be able to customize characters by changing equipment, talents, or play styles to correspond to the type of game experience they prefer.”

So there you have it, the answer is both! Many players complain about the so-called “focus” on the esport side of arena gameplay. Some may argue it’s unbalanced, while others claim it can never be balanced and so can’t really be viable as an esport. Whatever the case may be, it hasn’t significantly affected my gameplay or experience to date, and so I’m neutral on the issue myself.

You can view the full article here.

You know it figures as soon as I make a post about information not coming fast enough…Blizzard releases an entire presentation on what we should expect in the coming expansion! You can check out all the nitty gritty details here, but I’ll post the highlights for those who don’t feel like reading through it all…

General

* All 25 man raids in Wrath will also be available to complete with 10 players. This is so that more players will get to see end game content (Even the Arthas encounter will be available as a 10 man raid).
* There will be completely different loot tables for the two different raid types. They will also be on separate cool downs, so players could fight in both the 10 man and 25 man raid on the same day if they wish.
* The mounts available to buy in Wrath will probably be able to take passengers. These mounts will also work in the old world (Provided they are land mounts), so players can give low-level characters a ride! The new mounts will also be slightly faster, around the speed of the Armored Netherdrakes.
* All 5-man instances in Northrend will feature Heroic modes, and the loot tables for the 2 modes will be totally separate. Heroic dungeons will have their own “Tier” of armor completely unique to that level dungeon.

Death Knights

* Death Knights will be available to players who have a character level 55+ on the same realm. There is no other requirement at this time.
* Players are allowed 1 Death Knight per realm that they have a level 55+ character on.
* Death Knights will be “born” in a floating Necropolis over the Eastern Plaguelands, similar to Naxxramas.
* Death Knights will start at level 55.
* A Death Knight’s starting armor will be a mixture of green and blue quality items. The first few quests that they encounter will provide upgrades to these starting items, and these upgrades will be armor specific to Death Knights.
* Death Knights can dual wield.
* One Death Knight spell is Raise Dead, which converts a fallen unit into a ghoul for a time to serve the Death Knight, similar to a Hunter’s pet. If the spell is used on a fallen friendly player, the player will be presented with an option box similar to a resurrection message, and if they accept, they will take control of the ghoul and will be able to use its abilities for the period of time that it is active. This can work as a sort-of battle res, and Chilton stated it may be available in Arenas.

Northrend

* Northrend is Huge. It is larger than Outland by a couple of zones, and some of the zones in Northrend are bigger than the largest zone in Outland.

I read an interesting thread today on the forums suggesting that the current battlegrounds were in need of some improvement, both to the reward system and to the battlegrounds themselves. So I gave it some thought came came up with some improvements I think would be helpful. Feel free to agree or disagree, just an idea.

General Improvements

It irks me a little when I see people complain that the PvP system “rewards for losing.” I think that the current system in concept is fine. Players do and should receive a consolation prize for actively participating in a battleground or arena, because if you’ve ever tried to bring an alt through the first few weeks of arenas (without buying it) or played Alliance on most battlegroups…sometimes you’re just destined to lose. If there was no reward at all for losing, players would simply stop queuing, and no one who likes to PvP wants that.

Instead I think there should be incentives in place to encourage players to try and achieve victory. If a close-fought battleground match ends in a loss, reward the players who fought to the end with extra honor or 2 marks instead of 1. This would encourage (but not require) players to fight harder for a greater reward, even if it’s still not as good as winning.

More active enforcement of the AFK policy would also be helpful, I think. It’s downright frustrating when you’re duking it out for every node in Arathi Basin only to get pushed back because 2 of your players are still back at the starting graveyard staring at the wall. Take away the incentive to do this or punish players who violate participation rules.

Specifics

So there you have it. Nothing too substantial or revolutionary, but I think it would go a long way in improving the overall gameplay.

I recently came across this trailer over at WoWInsider. A cross between Unreal Tournament and Warcraft graphics, I figured readers would get as much of a kick out of this as I did!

Enjoy your weekend!

It’s true, after months of inadvertent saving, it appears that I finally collected enough to get my very own flying mount. Sure it’s a bit late tot he game, but the best part was I hadn’t even been trying to obtain it! After some time of doing dailies, transmutes, and other quests leveling up some alts (paladins are a bear to level…), I found that I was quite close to the mark! Here are some tips if you’re saving for an epic flyer of your very own:

With the addition of the Shattered Sun Offensive and the recent expansion of the daily quest limit to 25, this is far and away one of the easiest ways to earn gold. May personal favorite is the auchenai spirit towers daily, picked up from allerian stronghold or stonebreaker hold. The towers reset every 6 hours, and you only need to capture one!

I don’t really recommend “farming” for primals, but you are BOUND to get primals along the way from the various mobs that drop motes in dungeons, while questing, etc. Save these and head over to the AH. With the new content and new gear coming out with the latest patch, these have seen a significant increase in price, and so you’d be well advised to sell them if you’re aiming for a mount before the expansion.

Much of my revenue for the mount came from my bank. There is all sorts of items that will sell on the auction house for serious money. Rep related items like armaments and arcane tomes, netherweave cloth, various gathering skill extras. Liquidate your bank, inventory what you have, and sell it off peacemeal. You’ll be shocked at what you can get!

Good luck!

As per the usual, everyone seems to be quite interested as to which class is up next to be buffed. If you read the forums with any sort of consistency, you’ll run across endless threads stating “BUFF X!” or “NERF Y!” At the present moment, most of these complaints are in regards to classes like restoration druids (in arenas) and warriors (also in arenas). Other classes are seen to be underpowered and in need of help, such as balance druids and retribution paladins. What does Blizzard think in all this? It’s unusual for them to come out and directly say anything about buffs or nerfs until they are loaded up on the PTR. Bornakk, a blizzard CM, had this to say:

“We did cover in an episode of BlizzCast that we would like to improve the effectiveness of Daggers for Rogues, yes.”

” We have mentioned in the past that we would like to improve Retribution Paladins in Wrath of the Lich King, we just don’t have a lot of specific details to release regarding this right now. We did say we plan on changing how their abilities work to share gear with warriors which will help make it easier for them to gear up though.”

As you can see, some changes are in order leading up to and including the newest expansion, Wrath of The Lich King. If you’re either one of the above listed classes, there’s at least some hope for you that Blizzard is paying attention and will properly improve your spec to be viable!

As per the usual, the servers came down for maintenance yesterday. Since, like most I’m sure, I’m either sleeping or at work when the maintenance goes down, it doesn’t really affect me very much. I did notice, however, that quite a number of players were agitated by the fact that a large number of servers were down for “extended” maintenance. Well after the game is usually back online and running, these servers were still down, and a significant number of players stomped through the forums yelling about how unfair and awful Blizzard was for doing this to them. Being completely honest, I’d wager these were a lot of kids on spring break, and for many Tuesday afternoon over spring break would likely be prime WoW time!

I usually disregard such sentiments, as really, there’s always something else to do if Warcraft servers are down. If you are really THAT angry about the fact that there was extended maintenance (and it’s likely in anticipation of the new patch), you may want to examine your play schedule and re-prioritize your in-game time. That said, they may have a point.

Even tolerable players can get irritated by downtime if it goes on long enough. Even casual rational players staged protests on the Lake Superior shard in Ultima Online after it was down for a few days. What then, is the limit for acceptable downtime? 4 hours? 8 hours? 24 hours?

From those I know that play, 6 hours is about right, and anything beyond 12 is excessive.

What do you think?

If you’ve ever visited the WoW forums; a dark, desolate place filled with nonsense, trolls, and a lot of angry people wanting to complain about one thing or another, there are brief glimpses of useful information. One of the easiest ways to navigate the forums is to just skip posts not touched on by players all together. If you click on search, there’s an option to look through posts that have been replied to by Blizzard Staff. In this way you can cut out the garbage and go right to the nit and grit of what you’re looking for. Granted, sometimes CMs just pop into a thread to join in on a joke or give a witty response to an issue they don’t perceive as important, but if you’re lucky here and there they will divulge details on upcoming changes or the future direction of the game.

If you want to spot some of these CMs on your own, here’s a brief list (not exhaustive, I’m sure there are more)

Nethaera

Drysc

Eyonix

Bornakk

It’s important to seek out these posters when looking for important game information or just to see what the CMs are looking into at the moment. They may not have exactly what you’re looking for, or even anything particularly useful, but it’s nice to be able to have a point of contact with Blizzard at least. Not necessarily a perfect system (as any forum-goer will tell you, I’m sure), but it allows you to have at least some impact on the game by communicating changes you’d like to see or new content you’d like to experience. Good luck!