Blog Posts from "In all honesty" - Gameriot.com

Top 5 reasons we love Top 5 lists

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:07:48 -0500

This site loves top 5 lists. Loves them. Loves them like college coffee drinkers love to think their "unique" opinion matters. It's natural for us to be drawn to topics about what's best because we all have opinions. And that, friends, is the very essence of communication. But in the spirit of the discussion of the pinnacle of discourse it would only seem right to honor these lists with a list about that very love we have for them in the fashion they deserve. So I've created a list of the top 5 reasons we love top 5 lists.

5) THEY'RE RIGHT

Nothing says "Suck it, *****," like the opinion of some random writer agreeing with your take on anything that you can show to a friend while you laugh at him. He's wrong, you're right and thus the hip thrusting suck it. Since this is Gameriot I'll use games as an example. Halo 3 was touted as the coming of a new age of the greatness of games. Truth be told it wasn't that good, the story was still average and the gameplay hadn't changed since the first Halo. Watching Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation take on this game validated the opinion that I was right, 13 year old fanboys were wrong and thus I was great. Then I went to the coffee shop and drank coffee to discuss my unique opinion about the game.

The truth is we love lists because they agree with us and make is feel like there are like-minded people in this world who don't live head-up-***** (in our opinion, though disagreeing with me means you DO live head-up-ass).

4) THEY'RE SHORT

They are. No one likes writing essays and you can be damn sure no one likes reading one.

3) YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING IN TO

Reading blogs is like being drunk. There's a gamble to the love affair you might engage in when you click the random blog labeled "1/11 Universal Empathy, Blizzard and Priests, Arenas" and nothing sucks more than coming out of the opposite side of the blog feeling woozy, a little sick, embarrassed and without clothes. The shame of your friends calling you the next day asking "Did you SERIOUSLY read that blog?" coupled with going to the doctor to get checked for any special gifts is never an easy pill to swallow.

2) ---------------------------------

You try to sit down and create 5 reasons you love top 5 lists! There's a delicious irony in that it's hard as hell to do. As with most things I do in life this was tackled with impromptu and I really only had reasons #5 and #1 in my head. And like most things in my life I ended up short. GET IT?

CHEERS FOR LOWBROW HUMOR?!

1) THEY ARE WRONG

There's a little college coffee drinker in all of us. Everyone values their own opinion above anyone else's and thus there's an inherent desire to absolutely crush any arguments about anything that we don't agree with. The original Super Mario Brothers beating out Ocarina of Time for the greatest game of all time has sparked more heated debate than party politics. Ocarina of Time was better, I might add. Flaming is the ultimate in desirable reading for the average internet tough guy, and thus a completely WRONG opinion on any subject deserves massive hatred and teeth gnashing. Threats over the internet are how real men fight.

GTA 4 was NOT the best game of the year, Halo 3 DID suck, Arena class XYZ IS overpowered, random Blizzard mechanic IS balanced, my opinion is the only correct one!

Toss that into the stew and let it cook. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING makes people feel better than completely and often times violently raging about the incorrectness of something all from the comfort of their home chair. Not going to get punched in the face today! Teh intrawebs r my protectar lol!

So here's to the opinionated coffee drinking we all engage in!

Cheers! Have a great Sunday.

How to play Arcane! A darn good tutorial!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 03:57:35 -0500

This is you!

You're a gnome mage and new to arenas you say? It's a big world out there, so let's get right down to how we can help you tackle that nasty, mean arena all with enough time left to eat that wonderful meatloaf dinner your Mom put on the table!

But where do we start you ask? Well my friend that's an easy answer! We start with talking about the "skills" you need to be able to win at the arena game! Will said skills pay the bills? Why yes, you'll be a good, hard-working American yet!

So you've heard of this Arcane Barrage skill, but want to see what it looks like in action. Never fear! We have a little photo here to show you what you can do with this simple little button placed on that clean action bar.

Fun! Who doesn't like clouds? That's right, champ, you're well on your way to being an all-star! Be sure to remember when that shiny button flashes every 3 seconds that it's time to hit that space bar and jump in style. That's it! It's always good to look your best when displaying your amazing talent.

Example!

Doing well! What's that you ask? Certainly there has to be more than can be done. Absolutely! Look closely and you'll see that you can throw balls of fire the size of a truck at will! With 30% more destruction included! Haha, that's right buddy, life is always good. Those Ruins of Lordaeron arenas can get awfully cold!

Oh no, someone gave you a boo-boo? It's ok, tiger, don't forget to encase yourself in unbreakable ice for 10 seconds. Will it hurt? Only the people who were foolish enough to try to focus on you!

With this little lesson you're ready to head into the highly skilled world of arenas with a bounce in your step and a heart full of gold. Remember that PvP is about skill, and finesse, and nothing says finesse like a big flaming fireball and arcane barrage in the middle of the air while spinning into an iceblock! Nothing but 10s from the judges!

Congratulations! The meat loaf is fresh on the table. Your parents will be so darn proud to see how well you're doing. So enjoy that meal, you've earned it! Being so good requires a hearty meal, so eat those greens and get good rest. Good mages like you deserve it, and give this tutorial a nice +1 for helping you become so awesome!

Diary of a WoW Hater-Player

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:11:05 -0500

An ode of sorts to those of you who hate this game and still log on. Makes sense!

I logged on today. It was morning. I opened my friends list.

Nothing.

I have no friends. My soul is the blackest black of black in the hell that is Dalaran. The NPC's in Shattrah laughed at me constantly, now the NPCs in Dalaran won't even look at me.

A mage ran by, he had some gear. I felt the anger rise in me to see a person have purples that I have. He doesn't deserve them. Gear like that should have been reserved for me only, but the lord of WoW deemed it fitting to punish me so.

The knife cuts deep into my being.

I ride my war bear in circles around Dalaran, the motion mimics the hole in my heart.

I joined the fight in Strands of the Ancients. Other people didn't listen to me. We lost. I won't even attempt to join Eye of the Storm.

Why don't people understand I need help, that I cry for them? Blizzard doesn't hear me when I write to them "uhhh paladins are OP." It's like I don't even exist...

Battlegrounds are terrible, but I long for the days when PvP was fun. Arena lets me show my skill, but I hate fighting in a fishbowl. Zergs in battlegrounds make me cry in a bathtub full of cold water while Michael Bolton plays softly in the night, the glow of candles as dim as my own WoW life.

And yet...

Tauren Mill and Southshore battles were the only real PvP. I miss it dearly.

Sometimes I jump from Scryer rise. The pain lets me know I'm still alive.

I dueled a paladin today. He beat me harder than I beat myself every day I log on. He used divine storm after the duel was over, just to show me how skillful he was at pressing his 3 keys to win.

A deathknight rezzed as a ghoul in an arena. I wish I was a ghoul. It crit me for 3k. I wish I was a ghoul. I spammed arcane barrage as best I could, the buttons are hard to hit while I move. I'm so skillful.

Other people get by by not being skillful. It's unfair.

This game is terrible and I hate it. I should log off. I hate it so, it sucks in every way.

I should log off.

I should...

fin

I'd ask for likes, but I hate myself too much for playing WoW.

**** tenacity, am I right?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:55:19 -0500

Most of the chaps that read this blog have praised me on attempting a balanced perspective and not complaining massively about issues in this game. Today I give them the big middle finger and a nod of apology as I'd simply like to say that tenacity might be the single most frustrating mechanic in WoW to date.

Imagine, if you will, not being (insert random generic gamer insult here). Take that vision of yourself and give it a haircut, shave that scruff, remove the cans of soda from the desk and take out the trash. Replace the trash with a stack of BFR .50 Smith and Wesson Magnums and condoms. Replace the cans of soda with M67 grenades. Replace the computer with the M1 Abrams tank and replace the desk with the trigger for the cannon and some condoms. Now replace your mother/roommates with some hot chicks and some condoms and you have a good idea of what Wintergrasp tenacity does for you.

Wintergrasp tenacity effectively gives players all of the tools stated above to bring to a PvP experience against a number of 5 year olds during the smooth musings of the Secret of Nimh at nap time. The problem is that these players are still fumbling to figure out what the hell a condom is and despite their bleak and sad performance issues can merely come out on top without a true understanding of how to use everything in front of them simply by plowing headlong into the situation. The rest of us are left feeling confused, horribly amused, sad and ashamed when we wake up. Tenacity is the definition of an incorrectly assumed implementation that was designed to balance the field in the wrong way.

Blizzard seem to be following the trend of working for balance over fun. Rather than designing specific bonus siege weapons, powerful NPCs or other tactical equipment they simply tossed the smalled force effective raid boss status in the hopes that it will bring these players in line. What has been forgotten in the mix is that certain classes make massive use of the skill based purely upon what they can do with their spec. A warrior with 10 stacks of tenacity getting stunned is worth many lulz when you're on the outside looking in, but when that green sword of the bandit hits you for half of Jesus, there's a problem.

WE GET IT

Yes, these players can be CC'd. Yes, these players can be mana burned. That being said the obvious argument is the best argument in that it's difficult to do either when the Mighty Keyboard Turner swings that "skill" your way.

It's still fun, though, and I can't deny that. Nonetheless there's nothing more frustrating than knowing that there is no "outplay." There is no faster reaction. There is no clear definition of a better player in the encounters. Everyone pines for skill based engagements but this buff only serves to undermine that very desire.

Anyway I can complain about a minor and well documented issue, but it's nothing game breaking. I can't fault players for getting the buff and I wonder how epicly fun it must be to have received it. All in all it just looks like a bandaid fix to the issue that asks players not to be mobile for fear of being left stranded and completely and utterly destroyed. It asks players not to force the engagement but rather wait for it to come to them and hope they can zerg hard enough to live. To me that seems to ruin the very essence of PvP when any thought is removed in favor of "force it down." Yes, other battlegrounds do the same, but this one seems to reward it in spades.

Here's to hoping for a better mechanic in the future, even if this one isn't all that bad.

AND YES MAYBE I DID GET ****** UP BY THE MIGHT KEYBOARD TURNER AND DIDN'T LIKE IT.

Season 5!? But damage are out of control!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:45:16 -0500

I guess I just don't get it. Season 5 comes swinging into our laps like a monkey on Christmas and all I'm seeing are complaints about how out of control damage is going to be. "People are bursting people down in 2 shots," "Healers can't outheal the damage," "PvP is going to be a joke," so on and so forth.

WHY ISN'T THIS LIKE SEASON 4?

The hard truth is that we as a player base have become far to expectant. At the time that season 1 was introduced to WoW there were very, very few complaints about burst capability in the game as people simply wanted to step inside that arena and **** the apes on one another. Remember that double enhance shaman composition you saw? So many windfury procs, survival will be impossible! A druid healing? El oh el sir, HoTs can't tick through THIS damage. It was a time of unique discovery in which we found ourselves enchanted and caught up in the power of what arena promised, not what it was at the time.

I suppose I'm just not sure what people expected. If the access to resilience gear is effectively limited to PvP honor and arena points to obtain, of course the entry level season 5 season will be full of burst until it all balances out. People lay claim to their experiences in beta in PvP and that may have been valid at that time, but beta equipped players with NYI skills and the basic blue set to PvP with, and the varying tiers will make a large difference.

There's a strong belief that the tiers will cut people out much the same as we saw win trading and point selling do in prior seasons, but I believe that it will only enforce a stronger level of competition and focus on outstanding PvP to simply obtain it. Admit it or not, this season will be a far cry better than the "everyone has season 1 gear lol" days of old.

I'm going to keep this very short and sweet and simply say I'm looking forward to it. Yes, it sucks to be burst down in less that 15 seconds with nary a response I can make. Yes, certain classes will openly dominate the bracket. At the end of it all is that any different than any other season we've ever had in any way? This is the same **** you've been dealing with for 4 seasons of PvP now and suddenly it comes as a big ol' 3 finger shocker (4 if you're savvy) that burst damage will dominate the first month or so of PvP when no one has resilience?

All I'm saying is be realistic and be patient. Forget the doom and gloom for a day. I can't honestly be the only one who has a broner for this upcoming PvP season.

Does size matter?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:19:55 -0500

Yes.

Thanks for reading.

Understand that I write this knowing full well that no one raids or PvEs in this game. This was established in fine color in the last blog. Again I say no one has the time to raid between the base-jumping, Ferrari driving, and invitation-only club partying we are all doing. By we I mean those of us who actually have a life, right?

Apparently there is a sect of players who do engage in the scripted side of WoW that is PvE. In this foreign (I say foreign because association with raiding is much the same as sitting at the lunch table with the kids who all have Magic cards pulled out and lunches in those black and purple-on-the-inside carriers and as such I cannot possibly tarnish my reputation with the pimps of WoW High School) environment people apparently fight pixelated figures on a screen that perform certain actions at certain times that force you to press a certain button to counter said action and win many shiny purples to use to kill the same pixelated ********.

WE'VE ALL TRIED RAIDING

Yes, Magic might have been uncool and you probably spat in the faces of the kids who played, being a cool guy and all. Nonetheless your eyes couldn't help but wander at the badass dude on the card who apparently loved 3 forests and the number 2. Why? Because being badass is badass and anything that looks badass is worth looking at to begin with. PvE raiding was the start of min/maxing in not only PvE, but in PvP as well. Some of the best PvPers of the old days pulled through amazing videos of sheer fun as they smashed players in greens. Raiding was accessible to most players and the game in the time of 40 mans was a simple setup that didn't take a lot to sink your teeth into. Sure, it got out of hand near the end, but we're talking about an age where PvP was a hobby, not a style of play.

So why did players stop raiding and oppose it so vehemently?

Because gear should not equal skill, the obvious argument we've heard day in and day out. The split occured when it was announced that arenas would be created and a dichotomy was formed. Raiding in TBC became more complex, and the size of the raids were cut down to match the complexity. 40 people you had varying like for sliced down to 25.

25 man raids for the duration of TBC (in this chap's opinion) ruined more of the game than arenas ever could have. I'll toss aside QQ here because I don't look at it all negatively, just as something that happened and we dealt with. When you force players to become THAT selective so as to progress as a guild it makes sense that people would take one role or the other and embrace it, thus crippling the bridge between types of players. This was bad. 40 mans allowed more flex in who you took, because to be honest a drunk player is terrible for raids, but damn if they aren't worth having on vent anyway. So is the hot chick (via voice), just don't look in your guild's "lol pics here' thread and ruin the surprise. That advice comes for free.

RAIDING IS EASIER NOW AND IT KICKS ASS

It's awesome, really. Smashing your face against a difficult encounter night after night blows. It's a job, a chore. Would you enjoy taking out the trash only to come back in and see the damn can full again? Wash some dishes and put them back in the dirty water for a few hours and see how that treats you. No, so the ease of current raiding comes as what might be the REAL reason WotLK is so very successful. If you don't like raiding that's fine, but it's feels great to complete some encounters without the headache of 4-5 hours of wiping simply because everything is slightly more forgiving. Those little offset pieces are now much easier to get for everyone in the current format.

Christ, it's annoying to hear about hardcore raiders complaining about casuals getting their way, but when it comes to PvE there really isn't much of a reason to care. You're playing with cool people again that you otherwise cut when it was all downsized and STILL winning them purples. That's good raiding, that's a fun time, that's a fun damn game.

PvE is fun again, 3 cheers to beers, Blizzards, and babes (DON'T LOOK IN THAT PIC THREAD)!

How to be WoW Cool

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:51:43 -0500

I'd like to posit this as an introduction to any new players to the game and this site as to the basics of how to be cool in wow and collect as much fame as possible. The guide will serve as a template upon which you can smear a smiley picture of yourself and become a popular magnet of personal charisma on the Northrend plains.

WOW PLAYERS DO NOT ENJOY WOW

Remove that ridiculous picture from the template. Honestly, who the hell smiles when they play WoW? There is nothing fun in this game. Period. You play an underpowered class in all aspects of the game and are absolutely powerless to stop the juggernaut classes of paladin and death knights at all times. Battlegrounds are little more than unfun struggles in which the largest of the noobs come to gather while ignoring your incredible tactical strategy that you've honed over the years playing an online game. Simple minds cannot grasp the strength of your mastery in these settings, so you hate battlegrounds as a whole.

You also hate arenas. They ruined large scale PvP. When it is pointed out that battlegrounds are large scale PvP you scoff and point to TM/SS fights that required more thought than any BG could muster. Never, ever define large scale PvP. Ever. It exists, but you can't be bothered to explain what it is while woefully bemoaning the death of it from arenas.

In fact you hate PvP. PvE is for nerds but PvP sucks in this game. Make sure to discuss the wonderful merits of games that are not WoW at all times and question why it's so difficult to balance classes when you could create the aforementioned with the power of your will alone.

PvE really is for nerds. Who sits at there computer for hours daily playing a video game? Honestly? It takes you less than 3 minutes a day to gain that 2.2k+ rating you have on your main that you'd rather not log on to discuss your awesomeness and everyone else's suck lest you be flooded with noobs asking questions once they found out your actual main. But you hate your main too because they're underpowered against those damn PvP kings.

This game sucks.

WOW PLAYERS ARE GREAT AT EVERYTHING

Despite the fact that there are so many overpowered classes out there that 3 shot you without skill you never lose duels or arena matches. Yes, you beat them with your eyes closed in 3v1 situations but they're still overpowered. You don't raid, but you are filled with detailed knowledge of all encounters in the game. How did you learn? Well you certainly didn't research, you divined it through sheer greatness. In fact Blizzard probably called you to find out how to design encounters.

As far as women go you're the only WoW player in the world getting laid. Not just getting laid but getting laid from Playboy models every day all day even during the 3 minutes you're online. You have women with DSL's that make Angelina Jolie's lips look like 3 day old flapjacks. They're locate firmly near your pants at all times. Your skills in WoW helped you get these women, but you don't actually PLAY the game do you? You use it to amuse yourself by toying with lesser beings in the pantheon that is your universe. Being so cool these women flock to your doorstep and love you with a passion unmatched. No one in the entire world gets women like you do.

These are a few ways to become WoW cool, and I suggest you read them a few times over. I'd conclude but I don't have the time to explain more and in fact I didn't really type this. I hate WoW.

Why you didn't stand in line.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:20:12 -0500

I'd like to start of by saying simply that we are bred as people to constantly prove superiority over one another in any way that we can. As it stands right now you have two crowds of people on my server: the people who stood in line for the expansion and the people who didn't. Oddly enough this seems to be a massive means of qualification for the "loser" crowd, consisting mainly of those players who didn't get their hands on a copy of WotLK for various reasons.

Quick SEGUE (LOL THE IRONY): loser is spelled loser, not looser. I don't understand where this breakdown in communication occurred but somewhere between 10th grade and now the entire population decided that it couldn't spell the one word that it slings the most as a put down. Perhaps God is enjoying the irony.

So perhaps you're one of those losers (like myself for reasons to be mentioned later). Your **** is maybe only 3 inches simply because Loladinxephirothegolas said so in trade chat before he went to Howling Fjord. That's a crap deal, so let's examine the reasons why you couldn't possibly find the time to wait it out for a game release more popular than Jesus singing lead for that angel band.

1) Too cool.

Somehow you forgot that the rules of playing an MMO apply to you as well. Why be caught in a crowd of people who define their existence in a game from the chair in their random living quarters? They all live in their mother's basement, you do not. They fap to their characters, you fap to real porn. There's a high level of guilty-by-association that you'd rather not get caught up in. Besides, who wants to hang for an hour with scrubs in greens talking about their latest Kara run? Certainly not you, and you wouldn't be caught dead in that line when a girl came walking by.

Irony:

You still play WoW. You are no longer a scrub in greens. What this would equate to on paper is that you probably play more often than any of the "noobs" in line right now. What's more is while you carry the facade of being too cool for games and spout as many random excuses as you can to miss hanging with friends for the sake of that raid it's the pimple face in line who has a bevy of friends who are all like-minded enough to not need to act like they don't enjoy it. The truest irony? All of your drinking buddies play the god damn game too just as secretly. That and your concern for female attention only means you have none yourself.

WoW is the most popular game ever created that no one seems to play.

2) Pre-Ordered a copy.

You decided that if this game really is more popular than a shredding Jesus that you probably won't be able to stave off the horde (kek?) of people standing in line at every store available. You decided on the safe route of a "sure thing" and pre-ordered a copy from one of the million sites that had copies. This also ties in well with reason #1.

Irony:

Too many places ordered too many copies. It's the Halo 3 syndrome revisited. Had you just decided to go to your local Wal-Mart you would find that they ordered in about 10,000 copies and only sold maybe 500. That being said you're forced to swallow the wait time to play a game all the while knowing that your "sure thing" is coming in late at the track and the old horse "Bang for your Buck" got pissed on when he came around that last turn. This is me.

3) Convinced you won't play.

This is the best crowd and also ties in closely to reason #1. You believe that the game sucks and you refuse to play it. Blizzard slighted you massively when they nerfed back XYZ, introduced arenas, made honor give epics, etc etc. Pick the sub reason for the primary reason, but you are certainly NOT PLAYING THIS GAME ANYMORE BECAUSE YOU HATE IT SO MUCH YOU TYPE HARD ON YOUR KEYBOARD ABOUT IT EVERY CHANCE YOU GET.

Irony:

You're going to play WotLK.

4) You have a job.

You wouldn't be able to play it anyway given that you wake early tomorrow to work. It seemed to you to be a waste of time to grab the xpac if you weren't able to get the time off anyway. It sucks to hear about the people who have bosses that were gullible to buy their excuse, yours happens to be a hard ass with a hard on for you working tooth and nail. That or you're short handed (this is me as well). Damn those jobless kids! If only you could be one of them, yeah?

Irony:

There is none. Sucks to be you.

Good luck to those players who get the 15 hour jump on any of the aforementioned people. Despite all the crying about everything most of you are still excited to be playing the expansion, and I will be as well. Nothing wrong with enjoying what you do in your spare time. On your deathbed the random ******* who laughed at games won't even be a blip on the horizon, will he?

See you in Northrend!

Two Come in One Comes Out: Arenas vs Battlegrounds

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:10:08 -0400

For all of my time spent playing WoW I've never seen any real outright questions asked by the development team on blanket issues that we all discuss. The reasons for this are probably numerous, but it puts me in a position to ask just the same and sate some curiosity I've had about what you play for and why.

Lets assume that WoW decides to shift into either arena only PvP and Battleground PvP. World PvP is inevitable, so it remains as it is for now. The choice you have today is one or the other Arena or Battlegrounds. The game will be completely devoid of the opposite.

Some points to consider:

Arenas:

The Good (per average argument):

Increased the skill cap so that not only are the best players shining, but the worst players have become on average better.

Rewards intelligent play and cohesion on a team that's able to pull off numerous combinations to snag a win.

Created a distinct difference between PvE and PvP gear, whereupon no PvE geared player will hold a candle to a PvP geared player when they step into a PvP match.

The Bad (per average argument):

Effectively ruined large scale coordinated battles as a focus.

Brought for the glaring flaws in certain class specs and combinations.

Shifted focus from player knowledge to player status, bringing in a new wave of elitism and trolling.

Battlegrounds:

The Good (as per average argument):

Allowed friends to play with friends for the sheer sake of fun, skill being less of an issue.

Created epic memories of grand fights between skilled teams.

Allowed for more ingenuity in terms of class combinations and tactics on an open field where dying was a negative impact but not crippling.

The Bad( as per average argument):

Require little to no skill given certain battlegrounds and classes, often time rewarding zerging more than good play.

Map limitations and lack of new battleground construction leads to an often stagnant feeling of the overall battleground experience.

Extreme queue times have a tendency to create obvious imbalances in team numbers, resulting in a negative mindset.

These are just a few of the pros and cons of either system and is certainly not a definitive list. To flesh that out would take a damned lifetime. Feel free to add your own arguments as you see fit, but at least leave arena or battleground in your post.

Remember it's one or the other ONLY. Not both. Control is given to you now.

PS: I'm an idiot and have no idea how to create a poll. If you DO know let me know, it'd make this **** a lot more easy.

The Real Issue: New Players- Take One

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:55:58 -0400

Lately we've seen a pile of articles that dissect the ins and outs of WotLK PvP. There's quite a bit of merit to them all, no matter what the side. It seems like we have a split between what's considered casual play and hardcore play. Then you see the age old split between the PvE and PvP crowd and which does what, why and when. It's typical business, but the truth of why WoW is becoming oh-so difficult to balance lies in the fresh level 80 character.

Today let's chat with ease of entry into the PvP game. Working your ass off to receieve a promotion to a position for better pay always feels good. A direct response to the effort you've put forth is the reason we do anything, so it goes without saying that the best should always win when he/she puts forth the better effort. Joe Shmoe McGee comes along and gets hired directly to your position. He making equal pay and has equal benefits. That sucks, plain and simple as he is now competition for future advancement without the work. However, if effort and skill required directly relates to rewards recieved there should be no fear of a loss at the hands of someone less skilled, right?

It's not that simple. Like that fat, dumpy guy holding hands with the hot woman sometimes it doesn't require skill to get a great reward. And that, friends, is the essence of the problem for the hardcore crowd. It's easy to point the finger at the fatty but hard to argue with the calibre of the woman right next to him. So what do we have? We have an issue with effort vs reward and how it may or may not be fair. Before you begin smashing either the crowd of casuals or hardcore let's start by saying that there are hardcore PvPers I know that are never breaking 1700 and casual PvPers I know that sit at 2300-2400 on a given week. There are casual raiding guilds that are killing KJ and hardcore guilds wiping on Archimonde. It would seem that the true problem lies in a fresh character to the real game that starts at the level cap and what they recieve and with what ease compared to you.

THE "THEY DON'T DESERVE IT" CROWD.

This following has a point. Shmoe doesn't deserve the same pay grade as you for less work. That fat rich guy shouldn't have the fine woman given that you actually made suave moves at the bar and made her swoon. There's something to be said for a bit of anger over putting in effort and seeing someone put in less time to recieve the same rewards you did. This argument became big with the introduction of season gear via honor, coining the ever loved term of "Welfare Epics." The point being that at some time you might have had to work for it through arena and now feel like it was a waste when you look back given everyone is running around in it now. You may be in full season 4, but you remember season 2 and the effort you made to get the gear. That in conjunction with the fact that you saw "Loladihuntarcoil" as he dinged level 70 a month ago makes you less than pleased that he's already in 3 pieces of season 2 gear. The general ease of which any new player can get gear really serves to undermine the effort a veteran player put forth.

THE "WE DESERVE IT"CROWD

These are the people in that gear. The general argument that has merit from these chaps is that season 2 gear will never outperform season 3 or 4 gear. They are absolutely right as both 3-4 saw different statage that created it's own new form of arena and cookie cutter specs. It's easy to get angry that anyone has access to easy epics, but the truth is that the time investment just to break into the PvP game given current tools might just be too much. It takes a good 2 months of straight grinding just to get into the PvP scene with gear to start to GET the gear you need to actually compete. Yes, a season 2 geared player can be competitive given the right circumstances and skills, but this argument only serves to debunk veteran players that make claims of skill, claim a season 2 player can compete and yet are disappointed that this gear can be ground out via honor now. It's a logical hodge podge. If you're a better player and make that claim it shouldn't affect you no matter what gear someone is wearing.

Again, both sides of the debate have a good point, but this has nothing to do with a casual or hardcore crowd and everything to do with the new level capped character. It's easy to be upset but not when you're in the shoes of the new player. Then again it's easy to be happy with good rewards to look forward to, but not when you're someone who put in more time to get them in the past. Shmoe needs to understand the vets anger and you need to realize you can't blaim Mr. Big Pants for having a hot woman because he took advantage of his circumstances (lolmoney).

Fatties, hotties, Schmoes. Fun.

PS: If you're fat with a good looking girlfriend, props. Don't take this personally, I'm sure you have a winner personality. It's a joke.

Why I stopped Blogging (and why you were right)

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:46:48 -0400

So for a brief while this blog saw some decent popularity. I can't really express the gratitude I have for everyone and anyone who posted here, be it a troll or not. Communicating ideas and beliefs is the spice of ******* life, and we just happened to hit the jackpot on this site.

I *think* my last blog post was on what WoW Riot had become. A devolution into off topic chit chats and flame wars that had turned the site from entertaining information about WoW to simply entertaining. What I didn't get at the time was the simple truth that some of you had even slapped in my face...

... WoW is overdone, over analyzed, over talked, over poked, over everything. There is hardly any new information to supply. Sure, talking about AV in it's old format is entertaining for our nostalgic sides, but it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Talking on RNG, XYZ class and such is the very same. WoW, being as popular as it is, has enough analysis. It's like serving tables. If you've done it long enough you'll notice there's always that "one guy." This "guy" doesn't seem to grasp that you have other **** to do and loves to yammer on and on about the same old stories about the past on topics you really don't care about. So you tap your feet impatiently and nod that head hoping that he'll catch a whiff of a hint. The rub is that they never do. Ever. They're happy enough to keep talking despite the fact that your section just got slammed by the rugrat kid that climbs over everything whose Mom and Dad look in different directions and don't say a word to each other the whole time. No talking, no smiling, no fun.

By the way, serving THAT couple is akward. If you're relationship sucks that bad grow a pair and get out.

So it's overdone and I appreciate now the discussions other blogs bring to the table in regards to the off topic bonanza. It makes sense, but it's also scary in its implications.

What it means in this guy's book is that WoW is not large enough for its own good. Not large in a financial sense, **** me, but large in a sense that it hasn't provided enough enormity in content and development to really keep us on the edge. The world effectively shrunk with TBC, making the game feel even less epic. If a game has that much funding behind it one would believe they could pump content like a madman, giving players an amazing amount of options at their fingertips.

A game that controls 60%+ of the market share has less expansions than a more graphically intense engine in EQ2 that holds maybe 2% of the current market.Â I'll end this by saying the primary article on this site is the necessity of Warhammer's success and I absolutely agree. Kyle P. wrote it I think. A monopoly on a market is piss poor for a market, and it's time for a little heat on WoW. If WAR flops you'll probably see the MMO market die within a decade.

Or maybe I'm just being that jackass customer who cries about the food they got served in order to fish for a free meal.

A look into RNG and what it does for WoW

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:02:51 -0400

I'm going to forewarn you all that this is going to be a longer article since I haven't written in a long while. If you've read my blog before you'll know that means something. If you don't enjoy long blogs, all good, just click out now. For those of you who want to talk about this particular monster I thought I'd bring in some anecdotal discussion, despite the fact that I hate anecdotal **** when it comes to making a point because they're generally rare cases of yadda-yadda occurring on such and such date resulting in whatever. The reason I'm bringing it here is because sometimes anecdotes can prove a point about the frequency of an event. In this case: RNG issues in WoW and what it does for the game.

For those who don't know, RNG is random number generator. Or luck, I guess, but what it breaks down to is the "random" chance of an event occurring that makes you bend over and take it or be the one who is giving what's being taken. Most of us remember being on the receiving end more than the giving end because that's when it tends to be the most impacting for our game. Frustrating, really, when you play your best and get smashed by a random resist/stun/freeze/anything, but on the flip side it's easier to not see it happen.

So back to anecdotes. I'll take my rogue, fresh level 70 with all of 200 resilience, 25% crit, 1400 AP as an example. Hardly a baller but a toon I enjoy trying my hardest on. Understandably people argue rogues being OP, but as you can see this fresh toon is hardly there yet. What I have seem to find is:

Ok, before you say I'm crying about all this, I'd like to point out that this is all obviously a joke. I don't care about getting rocked on undergeared alts because it comes with the territory and is still a ton of fun for me. No crying here, dead serious, alts are fun. The point being that RNG creates these feelings when playing the toon, that there are some things that are so far beyond my control that even with flawless play I'll still end up buried when engaging a player even at equal gear. But what does it all mean? Is it good or bad?

Arguing for RNG:

LOL STUN

This will get me fleeced. 100% chance to be bent over by the public and take it. Nonetheless I need to argue on some level why RNG is important to the game. The primary argument between PvE players and PvP players has always been a matter of what's uncontrollable in any given situation. Arguably PvP creates more random situations and thus requires more focus. RNG works in favor of this argument because without it PvP could possibly fall into the category of "going through the motions" just the same as a PvPer argues PvE encounters are. The randomness of PvP is what gives it such lasting appeal. Without might decline into scripted flows of events. A resist of some sort can be a game breaker, but the chances of it occuring are nearly the same on all fields. Both teams in an arena match can see equal opportunities wasted because of it, so in the end it should in theory even out.

People may not consider it but RNG is everything this game is about. Damage done is RNG. Healing done is RNG. Talent tree procs are RNG. Most classes are designed through various forms of RNG. What happens when you completely remove randomness in a game? Flat damage to flat healing, that is. What happens as a result would more than likely be a greater issue with gear vs skill. A warrior who swings for a flat 100 more than your own teammate would edge out on gear alone even if they're a lesser player. And what would happen to classes if they lost random skills and procs? What would happen to PvP then? Which classes would be outstanding without? Which wouldn't?

Arguing against RNG:

LOL MISS

I won't lie to you, arguing in favor of RNG is hard because the flaws it creates are so much more easily identified. If you break down the prior arguments you'd see that they're fairly flimsy. If you have arguments in the favor of it, add them, because it's a difficult stance to argue beyond "some classes rely on it." RNG effectively lowered skill in that outplaying a person and seeing a key resist/miss/dodge/parry could end up in a complete loss for the person unlucky enough to be recieve it. WELL TIMED MACE STUN is beyond the control of anyone, and juking a pummel to be stunned is among the apex of rage creators for almost any healer in this game. Couple that with skill resists and you have a game that rewards you less on your play and more on your luck in a game. On average it may level out that skill > the random generator, but sometimes it goes beyond player's control out to the realm of outrageous (as I'm sure we've all felt).

The problem therein is that when you take control away from the player you take away what PvP is supposed to be about. Players reacting correctly in a situation should see punishment in the form of randomness that messes their flow. Moreover some classes acces RNG that is in their favor more than others, creating a serious problem in balancing PvP classes.

The fix:

**** if I know.

The problem is that without RNG you have a stale game and with RNG you have an unbalanced game. Skillful play is not very rewarded with or without. On one hand RNG exists to level out possible gear disparities to some small extent and give PvP that FUN edge that it would lack without. On the other hand you can't outplay randomness that works against you, and over the course of time it probably doesn't even out flatly in your favor. It's a crazy balance to try to strike when you think about it and if you read this block of text you probably are. I'd like to hear some ideas on it all and will admit right now that the arguments aren't THAT fleshed out purposefully because this blog is generally not about my opinion. Add more as you see fit and be prepared for a 85% chance to be trolled 100% of the time.

That doesn't make any sense.

Want some serious lulz?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:34:57 -0400

I relaxed today, didn't feel like writing. Then I saw this and it made me laugh. I'd wager some of you've already seen this, but for those who have not:

What is WoW-Riot?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:16:58 -0400

This is going to be shorter and sweeter than the average Brilliance blog. Why? Because instead of an ambiguous approach I'm going to give an opinion on an issue on wowriot that actually bothers me.

I appreciate blogging in all of its forms, but it seems that maybe the competition for top blog got things out of control. For sure everyone can write about anything they want, and that's fine, but the site is inundated with topics that are all personal perspectives on political goings-on, or just topics that are not WoW related in general that seem geared solely on getting hits. Obama this, Obama that, it's nice to see that so many people have a strong opinion on the presidency, but the concept of wowriot seems largely cheapened by the effect.

It's a small bother and I can't tell people what they can and cannot do. I suppose that if someone is writing it's better than nothing at all. If you're one of the bloggers and readers who enjoys political blogs, more power to you. There's nothing wrong with NOT sharing my opinion in this regard. Ironically I'm making a non WoW related article in making this entry, so if you want to tear up an angle, there's a start.

Again, it's cool to have opinions. Man would it be plain crap if we didn't. It's even cooler to express them and take a slice of what other people think (aside from when it devolves into a I TYPE HARSHER WORDS THAN YOU fest). This is not a knock on the quality of blogs on this site (despite some of our raging moments most people here have fun reads), this is a knock on the medium used FOR these blogs. The site is a dedicated WoW site, but the larger the number of topics that aren't related to that very concept the less and less you'll see players that are genuinely interested in the discussion thereof and more and more people writing on issues unrelated to the point where the site should just be called "Riot."

That's actually a pretty ******* cool name for a site to blog on.

Perhaps another portal. I don't want to be the old guy shaking my cane at kids from my porch over this. Again, I value opinion in all of its forms and all of its approaches. All I'm saying is that the site feels less WoW-like every time I log on. Yes, I know if I don't like it don't read it, so I don't. Still, it's worth finding out your opinions on the matter, thus I brought it up.

Just gives us a "political riot" portal so people can chill and discuss there. Sounds as cool as a revolution but doesn't leave some of us dead.

If I'm alone in this feel free to tear me up.

WHY SO SERIOUS?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:30:43 -0400

We all come to this site to (maybe) chill and read articles on the goings on in the WoW world. More times than not the articles you read are biased, anecdotal and full of rage. Maybe I'm alone in admitting this but it's something you could say I feed off of. I read these for the same reason I read the general forums; it's fun to just wallow in the filth of poor arguments and unbridled rage. The reason we habit this site more, though, is because the filth is less poor argument and more unbridled rage. People here are just generally more intelligent about their approach, even if it is a bit heavy-handed.

That's fine. What's humorous about this article (for me) is that I'm writing this in the middle of a 5 game AV losing streak before work and yet here I am enjoying the game. Chat is spammed with "U FCKING SUCK AT AV" and "NED 35 PEPLE TOO D" as well as the favorite "CAP BACK TOWERS" from a guy in the harpy caves. I guess I just don't understand the reasoning behind it all. Do people really lose sleep over this? Is losing AV really THAT big of a deal? Probably not, but from the sounds of it Jesus is coming back and he is pissed at all who failed to "TKE THRREE N WHOLED" in Arathi.

Make that 6 games.

I spend a lot of time talking about old school PvP versus new school PvP and in order to give this topic a direction I'm going to do it again.

THE OLD WAY

Sucked. Plain and simple. Old school PvP was unintelligent and zergtastically stupid. Certain classes would always dominate other classes and that was that. A well geared shadow priest versus a warrior? Forget it. Rage starvation was death. Hunters versus cloth? As I say, insta-lulz. Some classes just owned the PvP universe in battlegrounds. Gear > skill > you.

THE NEW WAY

Not really different. Certain classes are still zergtastically stupid, only now they can pull it off to greater extent with other classes supporting them. Some classes still just own the PvP universe. Gear > skill > you.

*********

Arguably the new school way allowed for more balance than the old, fair enough. The issue is that it didn't give us players much more at all. Whereas imbalance didn't create raging rage of rage topics in classic WoW nearly to the extent it does today, balance today is still extremely delicate and not too far off from what it was.

So why the rage? Gear gaps are a start, and said gear gaps have never changed because it's an impossible situation to fix. The new gear for PvP ultimately shifted the focus away from PvPing for enjoyment's sake to PvPing to for a necessary goal, lest you be left behind in the dust cloud of the cool kids in the back of the truck. Only now it feels as though you're behind the ball to a greater extent. In a BG a death means nothing. There's nothing really at stake when you lose thus it's a much more laid back and enjoyable approach. Death in an arena is the start of a loss. That's not knocking on fans of arenas, mind you. Being behind in gear means more now than ever.

On that note I finally won.

The problem with being a cool kid on the back of the truck is that you're still only in the back of the truck. Drunk John is up front driving and if he hits that tree and rolls, you're smashed (and not in a drunken way). Blizzard employee John is in the driver's seat, and he's swerving on the road making you work on not becoming a human projectile. And when a game feels like work (as many people on this site complain about) there's an issue. I personally enjoy WoW, but Blizzard has done such a poor, poor job of letting players have fun that the game is sinking for many players. Killing classes and ignoring other balance issues isn't fair play, it's poor design. The same old same old PvP that doesn't seem to grow the same way PvE does is sketchy. Waiting for WotLK to fix classes is just lazy on the behalf of a company with more than enough to cover the overhead of fixing said classes a million times over.

This article isn't for me. It's a sort of nod of understanding in the direction of the players who are dissatisfied. Yes, these players know that if they don't like it they can quit or reroll, but that would be much the same as removing all of the park rides save the ferris wheel and telling the disappointed kids "lol sucks for you find another place to go." It's a piss-poor approach to the problem when the problem could be at least attempted to be fixed.

Oh and my AV win streak of 1 is now over.

fin

A Take on Overpowered: Mobility

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:56:33 -0400

Everyone likes to talk about what annoys them the most. On the job you discuss customers you hate, the habits they have that displease you and the like. When you watch a game you enjoy cutting opponents down while swinging a beer and eating chips. All chill and all good because sitting down to hate on things is a legacy for humanity. It's overdone but who cares? What's funny is that the things we pick at the most generally aren't specific even if we try to define them as such. That guy made a crap comment about the food I served him is just another way of saying he's an *******. We can point out that the Lay's Potato Chips you were eating suck because they're greasy and if left out too long look like potato slices that have been urinated on, but the overriding issue is that they're just run-of-the-mill, average tasting chips.

Much the same (or perhaps not so much, my SEGUE BRIYAN <3 is from a 15 hour workday) we can easily point out specific class based issues that we hate (cyclones, fears, stuns), but most of them seem to boil down simply to matters of mobility. More specifically the ability to act while mobile, a topic we allude to but never really discuss.

Lacking mobility:

Let's start with some legitimate discussion on classes lacking mobility. Prior to BC the player skills level was lower on average as PvP didn't yield nearly the same rewards or popularity as it does today. A class such as a paladin didn't see as much focus for what it lacked, on the contrary season one was overflown with massive concern about paladins overpowered bubble in arenas and what it would mean for PvP. Flash forward and we see that paladins are on average the easiest of all healers to shut down. Why? Stand-and-cast style of play doesn't lend itself to the fast reactions and controlled burst on single targets in current PvP. Shamans act, perhaps to a lesser extent as some would argue, in the same fashion. Stand-and-cast with an NS with a dispellable earth shield. There are very few mobile skills for either. Both can succeed, but the average of either requires more.

As far as DPS classes are concerned we can point our fingers at hunters as lacking. The class suffers greatly from a lack of escape mechanisms and the inability to DPS effectively on the move. With only one mobile shot and a secondary shot that has a hidden .5 second cast it's easy to see what the average hunter lacks. For a class based on ranged mobility, they seem to lack the ability to become such for high end PvP. Yes, BM is the easiest mobility allowed, but the best PvPers rarely compete as such. The irony in this argument is that the top rated hunters LACK mobility but still had the ability to get there. I'll let you all take that how you will.

Gained Mobility:

This is easy for everyone: Rogues, Warriors, Druids. These classes are commonly labeled as overpowered for various reasons, and there may be some truth to it. But the greatest advantage all three share is mobility. A druid is anti-snare and with quick shifts can move away from threats that vary from the shatter combo to poisons to hamstring. This mobility is coupled with on the go spells that function well with the class. Rogues gained shadowstep, a change that made them significantly better and truly raised the possible skill cap for the class. The ability to move from ranged snares into immediate range with a 70% speed bonus is great. Warriors move with a 15 second cooldown that ends in a stun. While this may not effectively neutralize the "kite," it certainly makes it much more difficult. Perhaps not new, but more pronounced than ever.

An honest player needs to understand that to take away this mobility would be to break the classes capabilities to a degree. The balance issues fall far less on the shoulders of the players and more on the developers for not working on a nice center point. However I'm open to opinions on how to balance it if only to shoot ****.

Middle ground:

Mages are a good middle ground. Blink has always been a strong talent in the arsenal along with freezing opponents, but they're a class that focuses less on their own mobility and more on controlling opponents mobility. Warlocks are a funny breed in that they don't necessarily need to be mobile at all times to be effective, they can still play their role without much. Priests are a different bag in terms of on the go skill sets that give them survivability beyond the average mobility. Yes, they have issues as well, but they rely less than some of the prior classes on immobility.

The balance isn't where it could be, we all know this. Issues are there, but in this writer's eyes the primary issue is a matter of mobility. Escaping pressure is important, moving in to exert pressure is important. The myriad of other issues is well documented, but the big and fat primary problem remains the ability to beat them feet when you need to. When you can, you're eating Doritos, when you can't you're looking at a sad bowl of old Lays while your team decides to abandon its running game as well as its slant patterns and lose the championship game.

And that sucks.

Scratch that, WotLK Hunter pets

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:37:02 -0400

Blue AV Post Creates a Case of Insta-lulz!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:52:38 -0400

This was a blue post I happened across yesterday. The CM with a red skull, name is Zarmhyn or some nonsense. Either way it gave me a good laugh the first time I read it. Oh, you want to know why? Easy! Read on.

This will be one of my first posts where I show clear subjectivity, and the subject will be the old AV versus the new one. This site houses the minds of plenty of old school players. Release date players saw a wholly different game and a multitude of changes, buffs, nerfs and bugs that shaped WoW into what it is today. Alterac Valley has been a highly discussed battleground for many old school players for a few reasons, the primary being outlined by the blue. By outlined I mean he speaks as if AV and large-scale PvP battles are mutually exclusive. They are not.

OLD ALTERAC

Alterac Valley at one point was chalked full of NPCs. Bases had advantages in ways over others. Old Alterac Valley had flaws, riding into the horde base and being dismounted to be pin-cushioned by arrows is a good example. Yet there was no real deterrence to joining AV games because they were the pinnacle of PvP achievement at the right moments. I can recall personally being chain healed on my warrior as we poured from SH GY and the horde smashed back from SF. I can recall the first time the big fat troll smashed my head into the ground. I recall one of my best friends (rest in piece, Ryan) wearing a blue turban that on inspection was an amazing frost mage helm from the Ice Lord. I remember being blown away.

The games were large. The battles were epic. Inch by inch you'd crawl either way, clawing for a small piece of pie. When you got it, it was elation. So I'm making AV sound like sex, and it isn't. If you haven't had sex, don't liken it to AV, women won't appreciate that. I digress, the point is that AV was epic because battles were hard fought. Attrition was the name of the game. At the time there were no resources, so you won merely by killing the opposing general. Merely is an understatement, the crap was difficult. Games could last days, which is draining but great. Ram Riders, The Ice Lord, Druid spams! holy crap.

The primary issues with old AV were that its honor return was garbage unless you won. Splitting honor over an entire raid (since everyone was together smashing faces) made for a bad ratio. That's the only real point of contention I have. Out of all of its possible issues that's the only one that really bothered me. Feel free to add more, this is a personal take anyway.

NEW ALTERAC

This is the insta-lulz. I told you not to liken AV to sex, but in this way you can. The newer AV has no face to face engaging. People literally come to AV to NOT PvP. When a PvP zone discourages PvP there's a problem. New AV is like being premature: over too soon and dissatisfying for women and embarassing. Maybe not women and maybe you're girlfriend won't care, but either way it's just lost its amazing appeal. The honor per hour ratio kicks ass now, that much can be said. But at what cost? The blue mentions a "different type of experience that will include large-scale PvP battles" but forgets that's what AV WAS ALL ABOUT.

Possible Fixes

Yes, I'm throwing dynamite at the dead horse, but I think for many players this topic never gets old. If you don't agree and had a serious dislike for old AV that's 100% fine. I can admit it had its issues, so outline them here if you so choose. For me, I consider a few fixes that might balance the game out. The game should be pure resources, up the cap to 800. Resources come not only from mines, but from turn-ins, holding towers and bunkers as well as the good old fashion mines. I'm drinking some cold coffee as I think about this. All off the cuff, really. You still win via general kill, but unless the opposing force drops below 200 resources the general would stay barred in his base, unaccessible. Mind you that all it takes it to drop below 200 resources once and they open, even if you climb back. Hmmm... I think there's a reason I don't work for Blizzard's design team.

Probably a terrible idea, but it's not very fleshed out either. Bring back the forest and ice lords. Give us generals again. We want the huge troll to hold snowfall. Let the Fields of Strife be pure smash mouth brawls. AV has the potential with the way the honor system works NOW to be so great if it was returned to form! Toss some ideas out, get the ball rolling. Or hate on AV and this blog. Either way, have fun doing it.

A different type of experience that will include large-scale PvP? We had it and we want it back... well, some of us anyway.

EDIT: DID I MENTION SHREDDERS?

The CC Train (not Choo Choo)

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:24:47 -0400

So I've been using this terrible analogy about driving to sort of tie my blog together day after day. The problem is that it doesn't really lend itself to much, and that sucks. Today, though, I can see a small corollary between driving and the topic at hand. Today we'll be chatting about CC and what it's done to the game. Fiery stuff given that its impact for better or worse has been so massive for so long. For us all CC is like driving in that when it happens it's like being late to work and hitting every damn red light. Or it could be like being behind the people who didn't notice that the road transitioned from a 20 to a 30 and the agony of waiting behind them makes you want to scream.

And you will scream, because CC is a show-stopper.

Let's look at the opposite ends of the spectrum with crowd control. The positives and negatives as it has changed the game. Generally I focus on TBC retrospectives to see what happened to the game, but since this is such a sweeping topic we'll discuss CC in relation to the current game versus the old game and such. For the purpose of this talk I'm going to exclude stuns from the list of CC effects. Yes, I know, they can be defined as such and I REALLY invite you to argue that point if you want to, but getting into all of that nuanced conversation is another topic in itself. Stuns are their own class, and we can get to that farther down the road (lol continuation of garbage!).

Aspect One: CC in the old system

You may recall what CC was back in the day. If not I'll tell you right now; CC was not effected by a limitation in time on a PvP target. In fact mages had a set bonus that would increase the duration of polymorph effects. There was nothing quite as pleasant as a heated WSG match being brought to an end on your PC by 60 seconds of waddling like a sheep while people would run by you and chuckle. Old CC was extremely powerful in it's own right in that the durations were massive. Couple this with trinkets on a 5 minute cooldown that has class specific removals, not a blanket effect. Look to a hunter as a prime example of this. FD was linked to a mid combat trap, zero arming time based on being outside of combat. At the time traps were untrinketable, making them extremely effective in PvP. In retrospect I laugh a bit because CC, though used, was never as prevalent as it is today. What makes it truly funny is that 30-60 seconds of CC in today's game would be outrageous, so imagine the effect back then.

This could be attributed to the effects of survivability in the game today. Prior to TBC CC effects saw less importance because there were less reasons to use them. Given that DPS was on full crank at all times without any real reduction, the players could destroy people without need of any CC. I personally recall watching nerf sap and commenting how crazy it was to mid combat vanish/sap because it just wasn't as necessary back then on average.

Aspect Two: CC in the new system

Eventually CC effects were reduced in length and set on diminishing returns. It was a necessary move for Blizzard as players would eventually become jam-packed with the ability to stay alive longer. What it created was a necessity for CC on some level as survivability would mean that CC would be critical to applying pressure to burn an opponent down. It made sense on paper, since arenas were worth winning for gear worth getting. You needed to be able to coordinate. In this way it raised the skill cap for (as some of you said in prior blogs) team PvP.

By the same token it meant that CC spam could break games. When half a team is missing due to a CC train it can end up being devastating in the long run for particular classes and combos. It added in some players eyes a "cheese" factor to games. The argument is that spamming sheep, fear or cyclone doesn't require any particular skill and only makes the game less enjoyable.

Along with all of this came the changes to trinkets removing ANY CC effect. From a blind to a sheep to a trap, now ALL control effects were dispellable on a possible 2 minute cooldown. This completely changed the face of PvP. Again hunters are a prime example. Where once a trap was reliable CC despite its lengthy cooldown, it became less valuable BECAUSE of its cooldown when it was dispellable by any class. Then you couple some new CC effects into the game and you have an extravaganza of crowd control because every second counted. This is the CC train that people speak of. Dispel to blind, to sheep, to fear, to cyclone or what have you. Couple this with the importance of winning in arenas versus the old systems BGs only and it's pretty easy to see why CC has become more important and widely used than before. Every second counts.

Aspect Three: Summing it up

Old school CC took ages to wear off. New school CC is spammed to the point of smashing faces on walls. Sometimes you just want to run a red light, or just pass that dude in front of you for driving too slowly. Much the same with CC, sometimes you just get sick of it. This isn't a new concept or anything, but is CC perhaps a bit overtuned? It would seem that Blizzard took CC and turned a 180 on it, from undertuned to overtuned in many players eyes. However there are just as many players that find CC to be the bread and butter of their style, so should they be punished for it? The changes also made us look to the effects of particular types of CC. Sheeps heal but break on damage. Fears do not break on damage and don't heal but are susceptible to earlier breaks more often. Cyclone is short, but cuts all incoming damage and healing. Blind is on a 1 minute + cooldown. Some CC effects share a DR with others. Some don't. Note that I'm not showing bias here in this list. I am WELL aware of all of the issues with all of the previously mentioned CCs. However, feel free to discuss them here, just understand that they are not a reflection of my own view.

Green light means it's time to go. I wanted to cut this down but I'm pretty terrible once I start rolling. This wall of text could possibly be three to four times longer and we STILL wouldn't get below the water's surface for a peak at the iceberg. I guess that's what comments are for.

Egotism and the Future of this Blog

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:55:02 -0400

TBC: An Intelligent Retrospective (Pt. 2- Resilience)

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:56:57 -0400

I'd like to start today, and in fact WILL start today, with a discussion on writing and what it all means with emphasis on blogging. If you're here to check this blog out again I'd wager it's because you enjoy a discussion that's a little less volatile but still pushes thoughts and perspectives without the "in your face" attitude that's smeared across the internet. I don't really know where it all went wrong, perhaps it's just a byproduct of our age (average 18-25 if you're here I'd wager), but somewhere we decided it was important to be loud. Not just loud, but angrily loud.

Stephen King speaks of this seperation between the serious novelist and the popular novelist. The difference is that the serious novelist focuses on self-ideas and self understanding. The popular novelist looks to grab the audience by the balls and squeeze a bit for a blue-in-the-face reaction. Your average blogger would want you to believe they're a serious novelist, but that's about as bull**** as it gets. What's crazier is that that's fine, and they just don't know it. Being either works out the same, but I think where the average writer fails is by attempting to be both at once, which ends up in some jarbled yadda-ya/hum-dee-hum let's go for a roller coaster ride through thoughtville. If you blog yourself and you're reading this (and you are) just try to define which you are and stick to that gun.

Whatever the hell all that means.

So we're still on the road. The last blog was a stop at a gas station with a couple of really old guys talking about philosophy. Great to hear, boring to talk about with friends later. So today I'll introduce some thoughts and let you grab balls and squeeze for the blue-in-the-face reaction. Maybe you'll even kick them, it's cheap and amazing entertainment at any level. There, you see? You just engaged in 1v1 PvP with someone by booting the goods, but did you come out on top? Prior to TBC a swift kick as such may have been followed up by a headbutt and your opponent was KO'd. Since TBC these encounters ended up a little more complex and a truckload longer, requiring bar stools and friends. The change was resilience as well as a higher average level of play. Less the latter, more the former.

So into sub-point A) What was done right.

Some of us were around prior to the advent of Resilience. I'd bet we could spend a night talking about the AP/POM/PYRO/DOUBLE TRINKET LULZ mages we'd see in BG's that wouldn't engage until they had all of their cooldowns ready. I remember a video of a mage sheeping some poor tauren warrior sap, popping everything he had and two shotting him. The caption for it was something like "clearly outplayed." It was a riot, also very cheap entertainment in a pie in the face sort of way. The problem was that as much fun as it was to toss pies, it stopped being funny when it started being you. Near the end of the classic WoW era the game had devolved in skill to a 1-2 shot fest. It didn't matter who you were, you were every bit as liable to recieve a pie. Retrospectively the truth was the pie cart was the high end raider with access to Naxx/AQ level gear. If you were behind the PvE curve, you were behind the PvP curve.

So Blizzard implemented a statistic known as resilience to define the players who chose one way or another. Resilience effectively stopped unskilled play. There are arguments that FOTM comps lack skill when compared to more elaborate and unique setups, but these comparisons pale when you consider the gibs of past days. Seduce to soulfire may still be effective from time to time, but the increase in life and the ability to cut a significant chunk off of critical strikes as well as cut chance to be crit makes specs that rely on insane burst come back down to earth. What was right about resilience is that it gives players more time to pick an opponent apart and react. The stat opened up a higher level of play by forcing us to use intelligent skill sets to defeat our opponents. No more gibs against an equally geared opponent, PvP became what it was always supposed to be about: survival.

In short, resilience defined the PvP crowd from the PvE crowd and forced players to think before they act. Oh and it helped us survive.

Ah, but what about sub-point B) What was done wrong?

For all of the perks of resilience it also brought about the ugly face behind one major PvP aspect: healing. Resilience allows a player to fight longer by cutting incoming damage down. Prior to TBC survivability generally meant pocket healer. Couple pocket healer with resilience and you have an issue. While healing has always has massive effects (der) it only proved to be more powerful when it became that much more difficult to slice an opponent down. Look again to the power of healing debuffs. Classic WoW didn't see as much complaining about the debuff mortal strike supplied as it did about its damage output. Now there's a reversal, and it's the debuff that matters most. That level of balancing causes plenty of issues that tie into the following rebut of resilience...

... Burst classes. Windfury shamans were formerly a force to be feared. With massive damage output windfury shamans could really shred people. Before season 1 was introduced feral druids were in the limelight because of their incredible potential to put out massive damage on any squishy target. There was no need to cut healing when your damage was greater than the heals that were put out to stop it. Now we find both specs and classes have niches, but are not as widely used as some others. The potential for greatness in any class is strong enough, but to top the top it required more micromanaging of class skill sets that certain classes simply don't have. Yes, I know cleave teams can do so on and so forth, but the real issue with that particular comp is not based upon today's topic of conversation. Games at the highest level of 2v2 and 3v3 can take upwards of an hour to finish, sometimes more. Survivability being at its all time high has lent itself to this kind of play. There are few things as frustrating as losing after an hour's game and looking at a 15-20 point drop as a result. That's 3-5 games of the same just to make it up.

In short, resilience cut down class potential and made healing and micromanaging overly important.

Sub-point C) How to fix it.

Your call, not mine. I'll never presume to know more about PvP than anyone else, and my ideas are probably the same as yours.

So you may say, "Lyell, (this is my toons name, not Brilliance, Brilliance just sounded better) you can't have your cake and eat it to!" To this I would reply you don't make any damn sense. If I'm eating a cake, I HAVE the cake. What good is saving a cake until later anyway? Resilience and burst seem to be mutually exclusive, but they may not be. I'm sure we can figure it out because we aren't all just pie-chuckers without a care in the world. We DO care, thus we are here and you are reading. It's the feedback that starts right here that catches developer attention, much like driving 100 in a 75 and catching the cops.

Whatever the hell that all means.

TBC: An Intelligent Retrospective (Pt. 1-PvP Cont.)

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:55:48 -0400

So we’re back in the driver’s seat again. Yesterday was the first time in my life I’ve attempted to blog, and it saw a lot more attention than I expected (thanks sincerely for reading and responding). If you missed out we’re on the topic of PvP, specifically arenas and what it did to the game.

So let me address some of the more valid concerns that we created yesterday, born out of both this very site and the WoW General Forums. Contrary to popular belief, if you dig through the bile you find legitimate debate and concern. While I’m no dev, I think it’s worth a shot to make arguments known and be loud as hell about them. I never really consider the possibility of quitting when something isn’t done right, and if you’re here you agree. Ok, so let’s dig into this.

Point 1) Fishbowl Fighting- Where it started

This argument against arenas is a common one. Yet the argument bites a huge bullet for the honest player insofar as what PvP was prior to TBC. Yes, we grind honor now, but in order to achieve a rank where you gathered gear designed for PvP it required a time investment above and beyond the average player. What’s more are some of the players that achieved the hallowed GM/HWL status weren’t necessarily the best players in PvP. What it caused was a shift in the player’s PvP philosophy towards more skill based PvP rather than a grind-fest. Player accountability may not want to hear it, but when the idea of arenas was introduced, I heard more cheers of joy at skill based PvP than woes of a broken system. So to be real, we were happy when we first heard about it because it introduced the possibility to exceed the average and become noted for playing exceptionally well. There’s nothing wrong with admitting excitement for arenas when the concept was introduced. Unless you’re awesome enough to have incredible premonitions, you didn’t see what I’m about to discuss.

Point 1) Fishbowl Fighting- Where it ended

Arenas are a strong representation of skill based PvP when compared to the past (assuming you’re smart enough to look past win-trading). Season one was full of promise. Queuing for rated arena matches was exciting as the micromanaging of comps versus comps wasn’t really necessary. Double enhance shamans on a team? No one laughed because no one understood what was good and bad at the time. Moreover the gear that came from arenas was worth the play time. What wasn’t understood was how PvP would ultimately become a game of nuance versus nuance to the point where certain compositions would rise to the top and other comps would fall by the wayside. Imagine double enhance shaman now. Now laugh. Now cry. We, as players, didn’t see the extent to which arenas would require such focus and synergy. When PvP becomes small scale, abilities become more pronounced or perhaps a better way of explaining this is that a LACK of abilities becomes pronounced. Is it fair that we were asked to play a game of micromanagement constantly? Perhaps it is, perhaps not, but it is what it is.

In short arenas were a celebrated concept that ended up as more than players could chew.

Point 2) FOTM- Where it started

FOTM sounds like fapping to me. When I first heard someone say FOTM does yadda yadda I had no idea what FOTM meant. In retrospect I feel dumb that I couldn’t intuit something so simple.

Onward. FOTM is the idea that certain classes and specs are run based on their current strength in a given system. This has been going on since the start of the game. Look at hunters as a great example of what FOTM was. The class could easily dominate the PvP bracket simply by design of unfocused engagement in WSG. With the introduction of AV and eventually AB it became apparent that ranged classes had an edge if played appropriately. Extend this philosophy about hunters to PvE as well. A hunter can effectively solo beyond the scale of most classes based upon the skill set it receives. This is not to say hunters didn’t have issues pre-TBC, but let’s roll with this for the sake of argument. So they really were the flavor of the month class in vanilla WoW due to the versatility of the class. On the contrary warlocks saw little play because the design of the class was so poor at the time. Not so FOTM. Not so enjoyable as fapping. Remember that FOTM is fapping in that it’s easy.

Point 2) FOTM- Where it ended

That’s not to say that playing a FOTM class is something a person should be persecuted for. The developers created skill sets that worked well with one another. Where it got out of hand came much later in TBC. I’ll take warriors as the prime example. Prior to TBC hunters and rogues saw a vast following based purely on the user-friendliness of the class, holding a large share of the player market in their hands. In TBC stats showed a huge influx of new warriors to the point where they are now one of the most widely played classes above even rogues. I haven’t checked this recently, so a post that validates or denies this is fine. I want you to debate this stuff, as I’m just thinking out loud. And yet you can’t find a tank for heroics lulz! Classes like warriors became so FOTM because of the utility they brought to PvP and the class mechanics that set them as one of the burstiest classes with a relatively easy style of play combined with the powerful mortal strike effect. This in turn led to compositions leaning away from unique compositions and to more refined PvP based around 2 or 3 classes that were essential in order to continue success. Is that the fault of the player? Can you really blame them for wanting to succeed. To some extent a player that argues “reroll if you don’t like it” may have a point. Leveling is easier than ever, and if a person has a will to win they’ll find a way. If that way comes as rerolling, is there anything inherently wrong with it?

In short, FOTM has been around forever, but arenas asked us to engage in it even more, whether right or wrong.

PS: I do understand a well played warrior requires great skill. I’m using them as an example of averages.

Point 3) Elitism- Where it started

Fun! Fun, fun, fun.

Elitism is nothing new. Much like the previous discussion it’s started since the beginning of the game. I only mention it here because it became even more powerful with the advent of arenas and the subsequent introduction of the armory links. In fact, I’d say that’s where it truly began. Prior to TBC elitism was on high based upon your rank in PvP. Eventually the philosophy as stated shifted and we began to see that your rank in PvP was no indication of skill whatsoever, but more of an indication (on average) of a player’s time commitment to PvP. A long time ago there was a site for character profiles known as CT Profiles. This site let you set your characters gear in a window for all to view. At the time is was better known as a way of showing off shiny epics from bleeding edge raiding. Was there anything inherently wrong with wanting to show off your work? No. What it did do was open the door to Blizzard to create an overriding system that involved everyone in the CT Profile style system.

Point 3) Elitism- Where it ended

Where elitism started to run rampant was when players set up less arguments based on the topic and more based on the person. This is known as ad hominem, or “too the man” debating. When a player has a legitimate concern that is well articulated, it was altogether too easy to tear them down via gear and arena ranking. More arena ranking than gear, it would seem, since a large portion of discussion flows from PvP-centric topics. Players began to stop discussing anything of worth for fear of reprisal from the masses of players who would rather smack a fat kid in glasses than shake hand when they discussed. It opened the door to e-bullying (a sad ******* concept if you really think about it).

When you can’t rebut you have a tendency to lean towards whatever you can get your hands on. It’s human nature. So while a person can blame the troll, it’s easy to forget that it wasn’t until arenas became what they are that the notion of “you suck at PvP lol dun talk” began to hit its stride.

In short, the arena system combined with the armory created a pool for the masses to disengage from actual discussion.

THE END

To end this I’ll admit really don’t know where this is all going. I guess the point of a blog is to incite interest and debate and natural discussion about a topic. I’m a bit worried that I might have carried on too much here, and this post may not SEEM to be genuinely objective, but trust me when I say it’s hard to be such at every turn. Before I open the floor I’d like you to understand that these points are not necessarily my own, but more of a collaboration of what I saw from yesterday. Yeah, I missed some, I know. There’s plenty more writing to come. Spit bile, share opinions, agree, disagree or whatever, either way take get in the driver’s seat and take the damn wheel. I need a nap.

TBC: An Intelligent Retrospective (Pt. 1-PvP)

no.spam@gameriot.com (Brilliance) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:49:42 -0400

I, like many of you, will not be seeing a beta invite. The idea of an opt-in is fun on paper (and for the brief moment you check Gmail), but ultimately nothing worth counting on. Despite this I feel like there’s still plenty of opportunity to engage in the WotLK beta without an invite, and in that philosophy comes a multi-part retrospective on TBC in regards to what was done right and what was done wrong. Development is still in an infant stage, so we can still attempt to persuade.

You may ask, “Lyell, what gives you room to pass judgment on a game’s design?” and to this I answer, “Honesty.” I have seen most aspects the game has to offer and being much the same as you have opinions, likes, and dislikes that I feel are worth addressing. The average player will tell you opinions don’t matter, but I’ve seen sweeping class changes from the shoulders of singular threads that erupted, so the driver’s seat is right here.

Part one is about PvP design. By this I mean arenas. By arenas I mean garbage. And by that I mean I’m joking so shut up. Arenas were by and large what we asked for before the release of TBC. I can remember players drooling over the concept of small scale PvP as a means to prove skill. In a smaller setting it’s easier to establish who is skilled and who is not. Players will make the argument that “duels aren’t pvp lulz,” but that point is sketchy when considered truthfully. In any battleground you are subject to small scale PvP, including the very same 1v1 situation you engage in while dueling. The way you play in a duel is no different than this scenario. Argue against it if you will, but in my mind I treat any 1v1 situation against class X the same, duel or not. That is how I support the legitimacy of arenas, via the previous argument.

So begin sub-point A) What was done right.

Arenas raised the skill cap. More random encounters I engage in now play at a higher level than at the start of season 1 or the end of the age of vanilla WoW. What arena did was forced players to look into their class to find every small amount of utility they could get there hands on. I use the self-dispell of a warlock felpuppy as a means to judge. I rarely if ever saw this happen until arenas. In opening that palate of skills, arenas presented to us a deeper understanding of our own classes while all at the same time rewarding us for that knowledge. I’m going to preempt the argument here about “cheese comps” and say that it’s no fault of the players finding synergy. Naturally we strive to maximize ourselves, and these compositions are a result of that. I don’t enjoy threads bemoaning the issues of XYZ class because for every one of these threads I can find a different player of said class that PvP’s at a higher level. Pehaps they have less synergy on average, but there is still something to be had for any class.

Arenas also introduced the power of positioning. While this is the largest average complaint (and I am a hunter to boot), I’d say it is another way arenas deepened what PvP is. Battlegrounds are generally open, and a focused DPS target will generally die because of it. What arenas did was open the player to a method of survival. In turn this made players more aware of their surroundings than ever, and it stretches into world and BG PvP. Is is problematic? Sure, but we’ll get to that. Is it the fault of the players? No. have you utilized it yourself? More than likely.

In short, arenas made us better players and rewarded us for it.

On the sub-point B) What was done wrong.

This is a lot of typing I didn’t really intend to do. To achieve balance I’m going to try to respond to my own arguments. The intricacies of it all stop me from chucking out a million pros and cons, so yeah, this is blanketed. Arenas, while raising the skill cap, also made us aware that there WAS a skill cap. The problem with arenas starts when matches drag out to beyond and hour because either team is playing at maximum potential. This is where the infamous RNG comes from. When reliance on PvP achievements comes from random numbers there is an issue. Eventually certain synergies become painful to engage in, and that’s a problem. NICE MACE STUN BRO comes to mind for plenty of players. Also, we saw the power of FOTM (flavor of the month) classes. Warriors, rogues, druids, and season 1-2 warlocks are great examples. Pick up and play classes, so to speak. This isn’t to discredit incredible players of any of these classes. They deserve mucho props. Honest players, however, will admit that warriorxlol has more power than, say, magepewpewicespec in plenty of settings based merely on the ease of the class to the AVERAGE player (again, skill cap people). As such classes became undesirable, which is a disservice to PvP as a whole.

Positioning, positioning, positioning. Positioning created a myriad of issues with classes and defined a class based on its mobility and not utility. Druids are a prime example of this. They can see the same success as any class in 5v5, but they are the bread and butter of 2v2 and 3v3. Why? Positioning is easier for a class as mobile as they are. Pillar humping is the term, and while it’s cheesy it’s also what we were forced to do. Unintended though it may be, it drew out flaws of many classes. Since I’m on a hunter I’ll use them as an example (again, a well played hunter is JUST as effective as any class). A class that requires a modicum of range and cannot effectively DPS on the move is affected by LOS in a painful way is cut down in effectiveness by LOS. Running in circles is not necessarily intelligent PvP, and not fun for the people who engage in it at ANY level.

In short arenas made PvP more work than fun.

Sub-point C) How to fix it

This isn’t for me to write. I’m creating the template. This is for you to write. I’m no overlord of PvP, and while I’ve seen up to 2k on other classes, I’m far, far from an expert (2k lol). I wrote this as a start to incite ideas and thoughts.

The retrospective will continue tomorrow, but it will be in regards to people’s answers. Some will troll, and that’s fine. Some will get angry, fine as well. Some will respond that I missed SO many arguments, but I did that on purpose. I’ll move on to BG’s and the sort later. For now let’s talk about arenas, in regards to what was done right and what was done wrong. Let’s talk arenas so we can be in the driver’s seat and start our own sweeping changes.