Is the gaming treadmill getting faster or am I slowing down?

The likely answer: probably both.

I play Hearthstone pretty casually (surprise) and usually hit, but rarely break, rank 20 each month. I put some effort to reach that level (in case I'd like the card back) but typically not great amounts. It can take me a while to hit 20 some months and I think my best ever ranking was maybe 17?  It is also something I can play on my phone or tablet to pass the time.  I prefer it on my computer but when there, I'd rather be doing something else.

Casual credentials established, the recent announcement about Standard Mode, Wild Mode, and the retirement of some cards kind of disappointed me and highlighted how out of sync I am with the game. It's not that I don't understand the issues with overly powerful cards or the need to keep the game "fresh" and also accessible to new players.  I just really dislike the way they are going about it.

Old expansions no longer being available for purchase means unless I craft them, which can be exceptionally hard to get the dust I would need, I will never have some cards. That's pretty disappointing. Not end-of-the-world, gnash-teeth, rend-garment but simply "oh, that sucks."  Being unable to collect items in a DIGITAL collection game is pretty weird and annoying.

The limited time* nature of future decks in standard play is also annoying. This is what really inspired my treadmill question. If you want to stay current and have a chance at winning, you'll likely need to have the most recent expansions.  And you'll need to stay current or you'll just be left with the basic cards.  It's not that you can't win with a basic set, but that you will be at a disadvantage most times.


The game is moving in a direction where you'll need to really keep playing and current with the decks or else be left pretty far behind.  And I really don't like that kind of game.  I don't want a static world per se, but this constant (and to me quick) change discourages me from investing myself in the game.

If I can't learn, explore, and experience the game at my own pace; if I have to rush through things and stay with the pack or get permanently left behind and miss out on things, that game is probably not for me.

I'm kind of this way about aspects of WoW too. I actually prefer the long gaps between major events and changes because it gives me a chance to play the game the way I like it.  I can try different classes and storylines.  I can be different races or specs.  I can spend time in the game, enjoying it without feeling like I'm permanently missing out on something.

I don't mind if I'll always be behind the pack in a game like this unless that means that I'll NEVER have the chance at something.  I have the Core Hound mount from the 10th anniversary event and I hated getting it.  Not because the raid was hard.  I had a very good and easy raid, actually, and was even lucky enough to even get the pet on my first run though.  I hated it because I felt I had to rush to 100 and then I had to get geared up enough to get into the raid.  All because it was for a limited time.  That wasn't fun to me.

Did anyone that got the mount feel like the fun part of it was the limited time?  Does anyone really feel extra special that they have the mount and others don't when it may simply be that the other person didn't have enough time?

I also happen to think that longer gaps give more time to produce good quality games when they finally are released as opposed to...well, Warlords of Draenor.

(Quick note: I, of course, realize that many people prefer a faster pace and want more content to consume faster.  This post is not intended to convince them they are wrong**.  I'm just examining my own relationship with current gaming and my preferences.)

I fully realize that if the gaming treadmill is speeding up, it may only be by a small amount and it's actually that I'm just slowing down more.  Nothing wrong with that but ignoring it or being in denial about it can cause problems.

And I guess that's what I'm trying to grapple with. The path that Blizzard is going with their games, seems to be one that I'm not very interested in following.  Obviously, once the multi-billion dollar company sees my post they'll change their ways.  Until then, I kind of need to come to terms with what it means that I'm not the target audience anymore and never will be.

Earlier this week, Fiannor had a post or two that also thinking about game audience. Just some more food for thought.

As I said at the beginning, I think it is most likely a combination of the gaming industry just moving faster and me becoming even more resistant to my leisure activities always being rushed. Still, as Blizzard keeps pushing new ideas that they think will keep the game fresh and pull in new people, it's a little sad for me because it seems to end up pushing me out of something I enjoy.


* The card backs are limited time too, which does bother me, but I've been thus far willing to work within that, since I can use Hearthstone to pass down time at work or wherever.  The card backs are also unrelated to game play.  I won't win or lose based on the card back.  Not having access to current cards, which often have new and more powerful effects, that does impact game play.

** Which of course, they are :P

An interesting read

I haven't meant to neglect this blog for this long but things have been busy with the recent holidays and at work, so...well, I guess I did.

I was just starting to work on a post about my own personal gold challenge when I saw that Grumpy was talking about gold this expansion.  I'll still get to mine (unlike my other lost topics) because it is slightly different and specific to my situation, but I saw this article that I thought was worth sharing.

The secondary title of the article sets the stage What happens when the vast universes in massively multiplayer online games go offline?

From the perspective of the characters who inhabit a doomed MMO’s diegesis, it is truly the end of everything, their world, as the poet Philip Larkin put it, “[soon] to be lost in always, not to be here, not to be anywhere.” For players, the apocalypse is, of course, not real, but nevertheless imparts a real experience of what the apocalypse might be like, to see a world they have come to care about lose its ability to be.

I don't agree with the entire article but I found it worth my time and thought I would share.

Shipyard Changes

So, did you read this blue comment about Shipyard changes?:

General
• Rare Naval Missions have an increased chance to appear.
• The bonuses provided by assist equipment, such as Ammo Reserves or Automated Sky Scanner, have been increased by 100%.
• Increasing the chance of success on a naval mission will now also decrease the chance a ship will be destroyed on failure. If the mission success chance is increased to 90% or greater, no ships will be lost on the mission.

Blockade Missions
• Blockade Mission duration is now 30 minutes (was 4 hours).
• Blockade Missions will respawn after 7 days (was 5 days).
• The Oil cost for Blockade Missions is now 50 (was 100).

Crews
• The bonus chance to Mission success provided by Human or Undead crews will be 50% higher.
• The bonus chance to Missions success provided by a Pandaren crew will be 33% higher
• The Pandaren Crew bonus will apply to Missions that are 12 hours or longer (was 18 hours).

The changes above are all live now. Here are a couple of notes to keep in mind:

• If you try to use a scroll that instantly completes a Blockade mission that was already in progress when we made this hotfix, it will reset the time on the mission.
• Blockade Missions that were already in progress will still need 4 hours to complete.

While I'm still not a fan of this shipyard, this will make it SO much less terrible.  I never lost at 100% but I lost in the high 90s and it was infuriating.  Such a simple thing that never should have been.

Casual

My original name for this blog was going to be Oddly Casual but someone had already claimed it, so that plan was dashed.  Dashed, I say.

But I wanted it because I felt it described me pretty well.  My modified moniker works as well, so not too much disappointment. The point is that I generally see myself as a casual WoW player.  But am I?

That's the problem. What does it mean to be casual?

Quick note: I place no value judgement on casual or any type of player.  This is not an evaluation of good versus bad but just me trying to define what a casual player is.

What's in a word?

Does a casual:

- Use Wowhead?
- How about Mr. Robot?
- Add-ons?
- Read blogs?
- Write blogs?
- Read Blizzardwatch?
- Read forums
- Get silver proving grounds?
- Use LFR?
- Use the group finder for non-LFR raiding?
- Have the legendary cloak or ring?
- Do the brawler's guild?
- Complete Long strange trip?
- Have the Draenor gold looting achievement?
- Have heirloom equipment?

This is obviously far from an exhaustive list and were really just some of the first things that came to mind.

Let me lay out two examples, myself and my spouse.

We both use Wowhead to look up quest chains, items, achievements, mounts, pets, bosses, etc. I'm probably more savy with navigating it but we both use and get around fine.

Neither of us use Mr. Robot.  I only became aware of it a year or so ago?  I'm 99% sure my spouse has no idea what it is.

Both of us had security concerns about add-ons and didn't use them for a long time. I only started using add-ons a few months ago and while I love the few I have, I actively try to avoid getting them and am still a bit wary of possible exploits. When add-ons break due to patch updates, I can sometimes find how to fix them but other times not.  The spouse has no add-ons and no plans to use them anytime soon.

I read a limited number of blogs and, obviously, write this one. My spouse hopes to find time to read mine.

I read Blizzardwatch but not all of the time or exhaustively. The spouse does neither.

I generally avoid the forums, although occasionally I risk my sanity and check things out.  The spouse is wiser and never does.

I have succeeded in silver proving grounds on my mage, druid, paladin, and hunter.  I have just recently, and with great headache, passed with my warlock. The spouse has not tried them yet and would not be aware of them if not for me mentioning that it was necessary for the legendary ring quest line.

I used LFR a fair amount at the end of MoP but not much right now. The spouse has joined me so as to see the story, but has never run one without me, I think.

I used the group-finder to get in some SoO raids to be able to get my legendary cloak quest completed and to get my Garrosh heirloom.  The spouse have never used it to my knowledge.

I have the legendary cloak on one character. Two or three others didn't finish in time (no bitterness there). I just finished the legendary ring quest on one character last night (a post on that coming soon?).  The spouse has zero cloaks and almost nothing started on the ring. I held off on completing the ring quest on this character because I knew that it was unlikely the spouse would see the story if i didn't.

I am maybe rank 2 or 3 in the brawler's guild?  Somewhere in that range. My spouse has had 2 fights I think?

I have completed a long strange trip and hated every minute of the mandatory PvP. I know the spouse was very, very close but I can't be sure if it is completed or not.

I got the Draenor looting achievement a while back.  Not as fast as Grumpy but still, a while ago.  The spouse got it a week or two ago.

I have all heirloom equipment except for pants (no guild with that achievement yet), the rings, the trinket from Darkmoon Faire PvP (or whatever it is), the fist weapons, and the new mythic dungeon heirlooms. Most everything goes up to at level 90 with a few things going to 100.  The spouse has the same gear (except the intellect plate heirlooms) but half or less go to 90.

Just taking those things, are we both casual players?  Just the spouse?  I wouldn't call myself hard-core by any means, but am I really a casual player?

Why does any of this matter?

I don't really care what category I fall into in terms of social status or rank or other nonesense, so it doesn't matter in that sense.  I'm pretty use to being outside the norm in many instances. What matters is that if I am typical, then Blizzard is not really addressing the desires of the bulk of its players.  And if my spouse is closer to the average, then Blizzard is really missing the mark.

Now a company like Blizzard has to have the statistics on players enough to know the characteristics of a typical player.  It's been 11 years so they have something going on right.  But as they keep pushing this raid-or-die mentality, as they keep pushing certain thing in game play, it feels to me that they don't really know or don't really care about those of us they keep leaving out.

Some time ago, over at Tome of the Ancient I put it this way:

"Whatever Blizzards idea of a player is, I feel I don’t fit it at all and I’d be curious to know if I’m really that odd or not.

And while previously I felt benignly ignored as a player on the best days, I’m starting to feel actively pushed out."*

That was back during the time of no-flying ill-will, when the alts-r-bad vibe was very strong.  Things have...well not improved but they've not gotten worse.  Given some of the things Fiannor writes about, I'm probably just  less focused on it now.  Whatever the case, I've just always wondered what do other people think fits the term "casual"?

* By the way, here's the apostrophe I misplaced.  ----> '

I guess it was a timelord. <----I have no idea what I was referencing when I wrote this.

Secondary note - this was actually written weeks ago, perhaps even in September or October.  It was actually intended more as a discussion of what it means to be casual.

More thoughts on LFR and raiding.

In response to my post on raiding, Crooked had a reply that I enjoyed reading. It's good to get perspective and especially on something as varied as raiding experiences.

I was planning to reply there but as I typed and edited and typed and edited I realized was basically writing a post.  I don't have a problem with long comments but not everyone likes a sub-post to their post, and so I'm back here.

Anyways, Crooked had some good comments that I wanted to discuss.

"Same mechanics, less punishing"

This is a great idea, to me, of what the tuning of LFR should be.  There should be a risk of failure, but it shouldn't be quite like what it is on normal+ raiding.

By having the same mechanics but toned down, you get a couple of benefits. LFR players can become confident enough to try to move up to normal+ raiding, just like Blizzard seems to want.  They've had a taste of the mechanics and can understand how it should be handled, even they aren't yet aware of how quickly it must be handled or anything like that.

Also, when normal+ raiders do come into LFR, for whatever reason, they don't develop the bad habits of not worrying about mechanics, as Grumsta talked about in a comment.  To be fair, this is likely what Blizzard is trying to do but I'm guessing they just have trouble finding that right balance.

I also think they really need to limit single-person-causes-the-raid-wipe in LFR.  When you have a group of individuals that really have minimal communication and investment, team failure because of one or two people is going to really sour the experience.  I won't say never have it, but if you it is a must to the encounter, find a way to give it more room for error

"... so you are not motivated to improve over multiple runs. You don't care about spec or rotation. You just want to get in there, see the content, collect your rewards and get out. Once."

I disagree. I  kind of agree. I agree. I agree. - how's that for a reply? :)  For me, I do want to improve but the homework dedication of a normal+ raider doesn't appeal to me, so you are right that I don't care about spec or rotation in that sense. Or at least, I don't care about it to maximize DPS. I care about what feels fun to play, again for me. Stealing from my own reply to Grumsta:

Despite how I may have made it sound, I don't mind learning a rotation, but I guess...I like discovering it and learning myself. I often actually like theorycrafting in games. It helps me feel like I really know my character. Now, I'm sure I'm not great at it, but I do enjoy it. I think the problem is that my amateur level theorycrafting is good, but not the best and people often want the best for a raid. And I do understand why they would want that. That means if a team would need me to be a certain spec with certain enchants and other such, it would just push me away from raiding.

But Crooked does nail it that, seeing the story to the end once is typically good enough for me. Well, unless the raid is fun in and of itself, but that hasn't been the case this expansion.

"There is no 'legendary grind' for normal+ raiders (ignoring the shipyard, but I won't go there), it just comes eventually, in the process of gearing up and boss progression"

This was a great insight and point.  I hadn't really thought about it but it makes sense (even though I think other bloggers have said it too - maybe I'm just slow on the uptake).  The collection of things would just come as part and parcel of the whole thing of progression raiding.  So that's good to note, but as Crooked also said, it creates a grind feeling for us non-raiders if we care to finish the storyline.

Credit where credit is due though - Blizzard did seem to acknowledge that issue this time by allowing alternative means to collect tomes/stones/macguffins via profession boxes or follower missions or etc.  So, that is actually a good thing that they should be applauded for.  The pace of collection that way is a bit slow but not the end of the world.

"If LFR is meant to be so easy anyone can participate and succeed, make it so, but don't reward people for participating. Unfortunately, I think if you reduce or even take away the reward, no-one will actually want to do it, despite what people say otherwise."

For me, I do think there should be some rewards but I fully agree that it shouldn't be of the level that normal+ gives.  I think the rewards would be needed for two reasons - 1) like you said, without it, participation would drop off and 2) I do still enjoy some gear progression/advancement.

I think what really needs to be addressed, and I'm not sure how to do this yet and am thinking about it elsewhere, is that I feel forced into LFR, if I want to see the story/get the ring/follower/etc.

Now, obviously, I'm not forced to do anything in the game, but, as I've said before, it really does take something out of the game to follow the majority of the story of an expansion and never see it resolved.  You get all of the investment and lore and build-up and then...nothing.  If you don't raid.  If you raid, you get it all.  If you don't, you can go find it out on other websites, but you never get to experience it yourself.  Is that fair?  That's a whole other post and something you did hit on.

 

"This is why I don't hold much hope for LFR, and have leant in the direction of 'remove it'."

I think LFR was doing its job and while it wasn't perfect before, this go round it is especially failing.  But the concept of LFR is good for me.  And I think that's the problem.  Who is LFR for?  Is it tourist mode?  Is it for loregeeks and RP people that want to see the end game story?  Is it for raiders that don't have the time commitment needed for normal+ raiding?

I don't have an answer for this right now and it is all part of the next post I'm thinking about.  But for me, as a casual* player, I think LFR is good in concept but needs love in its current state.

I plan to write another post ruminating on raiding, LFR, fairness and such, but thanks to Crooked for some good feedback that made me think!

* I also some day plan to talk about what does it mean to be "casual".  The fact that I am blogging kind of makes me not causal in a way.  I really wish we knew more about the typical WoW player.  Not so we can judge people that are too involved or too causal or anything like that, but so we can really understand what people know and do.  Again, for a later day.

** Huh.  I'm just now resurfacing into reading blogs and I'm seeing that this LFR conversation has been going on around me.  It was just coincidence that my post hit on LFR because I had bad runs the night before.  Looks like a there is a fair amount of discussion going on.  I guess I'll go read.  You should too.

Could I ever really be a raider?

So, last night I started grinding out my tomes of 33 busywork or whatever.  The story has pretty much lost all interest for me at this point.  Part of that could be because I already knew a fair amount of the story by reading raiders talk about the it and such but, mainly, I'M SO TIRED OF ORCS.  Not really engaged with demons either, which bodes well for Legion.

Anyways, last night I think I realized how much I dislike raiding.  Now, it was LFR, so it wasn't organized raiding with a good team, with good communication, and the reward of group effort in over coming an obstacle.  It wasn't a bad group overall.  Abuse was minimal*, someone only somewhat testily explained mechanics after the few wipes we had, wait times were reasonably short, and the rewards were decent - I got three parts of my mage's Felwhatever set of whateverness.  With some warforging on the one thing.  Yay!

As you can see, my engagement with it is subdued because the grind to get it was just boring.

Actually, quick detour here.  This post is not a criticism of other raiders or that it shouldn't exist or whatever.  While I do think Blizzard puts too much emphasis on raiding and perhaps could better allocate resources to make the game better, I wouldn't want to remove raiding.  This post is more of a thinking-out-loud-about-my-relationship-with-raiding. Mission. Quest. Thing.  Part One, most likely, because I doubt I'll get through everything today.  Time to add that Rambling label.

Okay, and we're back.  So, what was my point? Oh, that while I got upgrades that will improve my game and (possibly?) a tome on every boss, I pretty much hated it. The fights to get to the bosses were boring and repetitive.  The boss fights themselves seemed to go on forever.  Is this possibly due to poor DPS in LFR?  Very much so and I may be part of the problem.  I typically sit about middle of the pack in DPS.  Sometimes in the top 5, sometimes it seems I was trying to gum the boss to death.  But even beyond that, I just felt that I was hitting the same few keys again and again and again and again with no real reason.

And this is one of the reasons why I think I could never really raid.  I don't care to look up the best rotation for my spec.  I don't want to only pick the best talents DPS-wise.  I want to be able to enjoy playing my character and not the cookie-cutter-one-rotation-to-rule-them-all that is best.

I appreciate the point that if I'm not doing my best on a team, then I'm making others carry me.  It's a fair point and I don't actually want to be carried.  But I also don't want to play approved Mage spec #35 with rotation XYZ because that's what's best.  Which is why I think real raiding would never work for me.

But if I care to see the actual story of the expansion?  Then I am forced to join LFR.  If I don't, I get half of the game and, very specifically, not the end.  So, when I go into LFR I do my best to read the guide and listen and do whatever I can not to be the load.  The thing is, that isn't a fun feeling.  Trying hard not to weigh down a team - especially when you are only a "team" in the loosest sense of the word.

Beyond me and my idiosyncrasies of wanting to play how I want to play, there are also the fights themselves. Fiannor had a post recently about "What makes a boss fight fun?" and it is interesting and something I never found time to comment on there. It's something I want to comment on more in-depth at another time but for now, boringly long fights where you can probably use Heroism twice in the fight would fall under "not fun" for me.  Again, that may be due to LFR damage being low and thus taking a long time to down a boss, but then LFR should probably be revisited.  Grumpy, Fiannor, and others have better thoughts on that. (although I'm having trouble finding them this morning. Whatever).

So, I guess I end this where I basically started.  I know I'm not a raider and I'm fine with that.  There was just something about last night's grind that really struck me about how much I disliked it.  There's likely more to this topic but I should head off.


Writing tic of the day: I had thought it would be "whatever" but "so" seems to have beaten that out today.  It does most days, to be fair.  Commas are, of course, disqualified because I've never met a sentence I couldn't beat a comma into.

* Blizzard - if the phrase - "Abuse was minimal" is considered an element of a decent group, you might have a toxic community.  Heads up.

What races could be removed from the game and no one would notice?

I didn't want to make that needlessly provocative, but it is a question I want to think about, despite the fact that it comes across a bit like clickbait. My apologies. I don't actually want to remove any playable races but it is worth thinking about.  Here's why: when you look at the various parts that make up something (an idea, an object, whatever) you can usually identify which parts are vital to the whole and which are secondary, completely unnecessary, or even dragging things down.


If you look at something and you realize you can remove it and the overall idea isn't drastically changed, you generally have three options:

1) Put it back in and don't worry about it. It wasn't causing a problem so why worry about it?

2) Remove it and don't worry about it. No one really cares about it so why worry about it?

3) Improve it.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with options 1 or 2, I'm more inclined to pursue option 3 when possible.  The reason is that there can be grand potential and fertile ground for creativity.

A quick note: this is not a list of which races I hate or anything like that.  I actually like all of the races, to varying degrees, and don't want to see them removed.  But I am thinking about them in terms of the game and how they are treated, so thinking about their absence helps me recognize their weaknesses.

So, for the Alliance, I'd initially say the Draenei or the Gnomes.  Space Goats versus Comic Relief. The thing is, the Draenei are key to the lore and intertwined in the various expansions and so they get to be more than just the Space Goats.  Which really leaves the Gnomes.  They don't have to be the comic relief but that's pretty much all they are treated as.  I'm not against the silliness, but why not have silliness and more serious lore at the same time?

I enjoy my Gnomes a lot and again, they don't have to have more dark, heavy storylines to make things better.  I'm not against it, just saying it isn't necessary. I guess I just feel like they could use some love on lore and just in general.  This isn't a unique idea obviously.  Many more vocal and passionate Gnome players have asked for years about having more attention.

And we did get that retake Gnomeragon event a while back...although nothing really came of it.  Also a revamp of the Gnome starting area, which is great but then...nothing.

If Gnomes disappeared tomorrow what, in terms of lore, would really change?  Maybe they are more important to the general background running of things than I recognize.  I guess the train between Stormwind and Ironforge might stop running.  A few other outposts and such too but I'm really having a hard time seeing how it would negatively impact the Alliance. (Anyone with more lore knowledge is encouraged to correct me.) I know they were a part of the Siege of Orgrimmar invasion but that always felt kind of gimmicky and out of place given the feel of the rest of the story.

Which kind of goes back to the original point.  They are treated very much as a comic race in a game that, generally, wants to have serious overall story arcs.  Not that their aren't funny non-Gnome jokes and quests, but when the story needs to get serious, you'll be hard pressed to find the Gnomes.

___

On the Horde side, this was more difficult for me.  Which race feel like their removal wouldn't really impact the game?  Well, obviously not Orcs because Orcs über alles appears to be the Blizzard motto. The Blood Elves are wrapped up in lore too.  Trolls have a deep history with Azeroth and have been there throughout, to say nothing of Vol'jin leading the Horde right now...but they do generally feel kind of inconsequential overall. The Forsaken are directly related to one of the biggest baddies in the game and have driven a fair amount of plot and conflict.  Goblins don't seem very vital, but they were a late addition to the Horde so I feel like that should be weighed in.

Tauren.  Tauren seem like a candidate.  Perhaps it's because of all of Horde races, I probably have a slightly higher interest in them, so this may be biased.  Well, of course it is, but what I mean is the Tauren have always felt to be a little bit of an odd match for the Horde.

Goblin. Tauren. Goblin. Tauren.  Goblins are kind of like the Gnomes of the Horde in many ways.  Not just smaller and technology focused, but a bit sillier than the rest of the races on their side.  Maybe the problem for me is that the Goblins were an NPC group first so I feel like they never had much depth to being with.  Plus they just never clicked for me.

But doesn't that fit my criteria?  Lore-wise, if Goblins were missing from the world tomorrow what would happen?  Again, some technology would no longer be maintained.  Some neutral cities/outposts would no longer have anyone there.  But the overall story wouldn't change.  Although, as I'm typing this I'm remembering that Goblin technology was a big deal in the Siege of Orgrimmar and the Iron Horde of this expansion might not be around if not for stolen Goblin plans.

Maybe this is all just a way to rationalize that I'd like more love for Tauren.  I think one of the biggest failures of Cataclysm was killing off Cairne Bloodhoof outside of the game. That whole tie-in issue is something I should get into another time (badly executed idea), but for now, let me just say that when a racial leader is killed off and there is nothing in game that really points to it clearly, that's a mistake.

The guards around Thunder Bluff could have had some black arm band of mourning.  Or perhaps small decorations around Thunder Bluff honoring the killed Chieftain. Yes, there is a quest to honor his spirit (or something, it's been a while) but it is easy to miss and it's obvious that it had no real impact on me. I'm not remembering a clear visual distinction between Cairne and Baine either.  When Garrosh replaced Thrall, they were pretty different in color, size, and outfit.  And Vol'jin replacing Garrosh is even more of a difference.  But, to my memory, Cairne and Baine looked pretty similar.  As father and son that makes sense, but in terms of making players notice, not so much.

This digressed (surprise).  The point is that a major plot event happened (1) out of game and then (2) was not really acknowledged in game.  Or at best, passingly acknowledged. This isn't the only example, just the best one I could think of. It is also a good example of an opportunity to have had some great lore and story for a race that I feel doesn't get enough attention.

What are your thoughts?  I fully and freely admit that I am not very knowledgeable on lore. I'm okay on some basics but there is a lot I don't know.  So if I missed a lot about any race or you think you know of a player race that could use a bit more love, I'd love to hear it.

"...jealously guarding the skies for themselves."

You've likely seen it, but if not, head over to Kamalia et alia to read her post about her druid Kerisa getting flying back.

As Thaloc says in the comments "THIS would be the perfect introduction for the patchnotes."

To me it shows the passion and love fans can have for this game and their characters. The hunger for good story and character development in addition to the flying so many of us love.

I might not have liked the flying restriction (hint: I hated it) but this at least tried to give it some in-game justification.  Someone else (can't remember) also suggested that the Iron Horde was just too dominate and it was too dangerous to fly except to the very restricted flightpaths with expert flyers (? riders? not really pilots, flightmasters?).  It wouldn't have made me like the flying decision but it would have given some logical justification, which can make it more palatable.

It's something similar that Fiannor touched on when talking about her followers.

Yes, I know the entire game consists of wisps of imagination bound to 1’s and 0’s, but one of the things Blizz has always really excelled at is bringing depth and body to nearly every part of the game. Graphics, art, animation, programming, and dev imagination all come together to give us a wonderful, fun, interactive environment.

 
I know gameplay before story is how Blizzard, and WoW in particular, works but a little more imagination would really go a long way.

Two good reads, go check them out.

An idea on class halls

I was reading Grumpy's post about where class halls should go and Elkagorasa's comment got me thinking about the story that is needed for these class halls.

Rogue's and warlocks generally seem disappointed in their class hall so far.  We don't know why these exist and filling in that lack of information might help those places seem more palatable. And give us some desire to use them.

There isn't a lot of information out there yet and perhaps that will change things once we know more. They are supposed to be cross faction, I think, but yet no cross faction talk - I guess warlocks can use demonic, or could last I checked.  And traditionally rogues in RPGs had thieves cant to talk outside the law...but I'm digressing.


I think there should be a pre-expansion event to open our class hall.

What I mean is this - prior to the expansion we get a class specific quest line that is based in the lore of your class.  These quests would introduce the Legion invasion and give us a reason for the class halls.

Here's some ideas for each class.  I'm not fully competent on class (or other) lore, so please forgive out of date or wrong ideas.  You'll hopefully get the feel of what I'm aiming for though.

Death Knights - Each death knight can feel some sort of pull to Ice Crown Citadel. It wasn't like when the Lich King had control, but a gut feeling of dread, anger, panic.  They travel to find Bolvar still on the throne but he warns of a great evil wave that is fighting him. He assures us he will hold the Scourge but that there is a great evil coming and we must prepare.  He urges us to return to the Ebon Hold and talk to <NPC>.  When we zone in, there is fighting all over the place and chaos everywhere. Some of the Death Knights and undead have joined the Legion and taken over the Ebon Hold. We have to retake the Ebon Hold.

Druids - In answering a summons to Moonglade, we find out there is something in the Emerald Dream that we need to investigate.  Perhaps a quick trip and we see some corruption that we must contain. Once it is done, the need of a united front in the Emerald Dream is obvious and the resolve to work together more is declared.

Hunters - A hawk delivers a note and a small bound package to you from Sylvanas Windrunner. She has heard of your skills and as a fellow hunter asks for you to follow-up on a mystery. Inside the package is a necklace. You pet seems to respond to the presence of the locket and when your pet is out and you wear the locket, you can get the quests from your pet to follow the storyline. Following the quest line leads to the heavily hinted at (but perhaps not resolved) that Alleria Windrunner is returning and with terrible news. Sylvanas thanks you for resolving the mystery and suggests the need for the great hunters of the world to work together if they wish to continue to enjoy the hunt.

Mages - You notice odd fluctuation in your spells, as if the magic is rebelling, and head to the mage area of your city/faction.  From there you find out it isn't just you and set-off to find out what is causing it. After much trial and tribulation (of course) you find out that these minor reverberations mirror the Great Sundering. You travel to Azshara, investigate and stabilize the disturbance that had been growing.  A great council is convene to watch the disturbance and research what it means.

Monks - While in meditation, the distress of the Pandaria cries out.  You portal the Peak of Serenity and are told that your help is needed in <LOCATION>. A small invasion of the Legion has landed in Pandaria and fighting is going on between the Sha, the Legion, and the Pandaren. As monks you must save the people, quell the Sha, and repel the Legion. When it is over, Taran Zhu discusses the need to work together throughout Azeroth.

Paladins - An NPC runs up to you and explains that he is the last of a small band that had been sent to investigate some desecration at the tomb of Uther the Lightbringer.  He explains what their quest had been and what went wrong. He begs you to help rescue the rest of his party that was taken into Scholomance.  You travel there and it is an ambush intended to kill you.  As you finish off the ambush the NPC that tricked you murmurs his last words of something about the coming of the Great Burning Shadow. This leads you to investigate further and realize the horror that is coming. A great conclave of paladins assembles to train and prepare for the light to do battle with the Great Burning Shadow.

Priests - At a decennial meeting of the great priests an Image of Sargeras appears among them and taunts them. A decision is made to travel to the towns and cities and talk to the people and learn of fears or other sightings about the Burning Legion. People are comforted and helped as needed. A small cultist group is uncovered in a smaller town which leads to a larger enclave in the Swamp of Sorrows (since we were just in the Blasted Lands for last expansion but still near by). After you have dispersed the cultists you return and with your knowledge, priests agree that they must prepare for the coming war, as they know that their talents will be sorely needed.

Shaman - Green Jesus (since we so rarely see him) and Farseer Nobundo have asked for your assistance in Vashj'ir. They are trying to find the still missing Neptulon and have some leads for you to follow. While on those quests hints about the Legion keep arising.  Your quest ends with little more knowledge about Neptulon than when you started (unless Blizzard is doing more here) but you are now aware of the threat of the Burning Legion and the need to work together.

Rogues - there seems to be a lot of interest in Ravenholdt and anger at the Dalaran sewers.  Not universal but pretty consistent.  Whatever the case, perhaps the quest line starts in Ravenholdt and the rogues have to sneak in and find out that cultists are trying to open portals for the Legion in Ravenholdt.  They take this information to SI:7 or something analogous within the horde, realize cross faction work is needed and they strike back to stop it.  In trying to stop the portals from being opened, Raveholdt is destroyed (since Blizzard isn't likely to change) but the two cross-faction groups realize that working together they can do things to stop the invasion.

Warlocks - When you log on your demon is missing.  Using your spell to summon it prompts a quest explaining that nothing happened.  You travel to your faction warlock hub and find that others are trying to solve the same problem.  It is determined that something or someone is blocking your summons.  A quest line begins to figure out who it is and as you complete each quest, you "get back" access to one demon.  After you have gotten them all back, the final story leads you to the truth about the return of the Legion. From then on you know you must ban together to stop the legion. Downside here - it FORCES players to do this quest - so perhaps something that leads into the demon being missing and then you have to "earn" them all back.

Warriors - A letter arrives challenging you to a drink and a fight at the Brawler's Guild in your faction City. Not a Brawler's Guild invitation, but simply a starting point.  Gamon for Horde, unsure for Alliance.  Perhaps a woman? After the drink and the fight, your challenger confides that they have found something and are recruiting others like them.  Then send you out on other quests and challenges, revealing a little more each time. When you have earned their trust and respect they inform you of the full story and send you off to the area where they are training more like you.

I'm sure others could flesh these out more or take them in better directions. But the big thing that comes through to me in listing all of this, is how weird the factions become when we are grouped by class.  If we are all working together by our classes, then are any of us really fighting each other by faction?  It seems weird for Alliance and Horde Paladins to get along but an Alliance Paladin will still fight a Horde Warrior?  Just odd to me.  Of course, I never got faction pride.

I think I have more for here but I should have finished this 5 minutes ago.  Your thoughts and ideas are more than welcome.

5.6 Million

Just after I hit publish on my last post, it loaded my screen and I saw this:

World of Warcraft down to 5.6 million subscribers

I don't have time to write more this minute, but tell me again flying didn't matter.

Yes, it wasn't the only reason, but come on, it mattered.

Two comments on that page stand out (but I haven't verified)

HeroProc said:

Nov 2014: 10 million subs 
Jun 2015: 5.6 million subs

Let that sink in for a minute. 

Nocjin replied to someone else:

Slightly fitting they went back to the sub numbers of the pre-flying days.

Quick note, I'm not happy about these numbers but I hope they see a lesson in this.

Pathfinder Achieved

I'm done.

The weight is lifted.

I completed it Sunday night but didn't get around to updating this right away.

Whatever the case, when flying drops, I will rise.

I'm just...

relieved.

That's the best word for this.

To remove that cloud over my head.

To get that bad taste out of my mouth.

I feel free to try to enjoy the game again on my terms.

To play the characters I want

at the pace I want

in the way I want.

It wasn't fun for me.

The questing was fine. I had basically completed it anyways.

The reps felt pointless.

What do they have to do with flying?

I had explored everywhere, just not on any one character enough to get the achievement.

So I had to run around to tick off the box.

Immersive.

Treasures also became a number to fill.

Not a reason to explore.

Not a fun thing to find.

Not something that added to the world.

They could have been those things, but it didn't feel that way to me.


Check box 1 of 8

75/100

76/100

Immersion.

Is that something I inflicted on myself?

Did I exacerbate something that Blizzard had done?

Possibly

Whatever the case, I don't ever have to do it again.

And that my friends, is a sign of good game play.

When a player says: "I'm so happy that is over and I never have to see it again"

Call it a success Blizzard, well done.

Immersed.

I've been reading too much Grumpy Elf Monday Random Thoughts.

If you could skip Draenor, would you?

Let me start out by saying, I know this won’t happen. While on one hand I like the idea, it isn’t practical for numerous reasons.

That said, imagine the next expansion comes out and instead of leaving Draenor and adding 10 more levels from 101-110, it actually adds 20 levels, but they run from 91-110. What would happen is that when you were done with Pandaria, you could choose to go to Draenor in pursuit of Garrosh or you could head to this new area. Obviously, those that were already 100 could just start in the new expansion at 100 and go from there

Now, given the choice between an old storyline and a completely new, unknown one, of course you are going to choose the new one. But for alts after that? Yes, it’s going to be dictated by the quality of this new expansion, but what I want to get at is: is there enough of an enjoyable experience in Draenor to return there if you had other options?

Part of this is related to my last post about Warlords of Draenor and how all of the things I associate with it are going to stay with it.  The other part of it is that as an altoholic, I like having leveling options.  One of the things that Vanilla WoW had great about it was leveling options.  Two continents and often multiple areas on those continents that were close enough in level to quest in.  As it got to the tail end of things there were less options but still, overall, a lot of choice.

Burning Crusade had one single starting area but you could leave Hellfire Peninsula pretty early on and start questing in Zangarmarsh or you could finish Hellfire Peninsula and move over to Terokkar Forest.

Wrath had one of my favorites. You could start on either side of the continent and bounce around the various equivalent level areas.  In the end, there were basically two max level areas too.

Cataclysm had Mount Hyjal or Vashj'ir as your initial level 80 questing. Although the starting quest to Vashj'ir was such a terrible wait that sometimes it felt like you only had one.  Still, you could quickly move to new areas again or finish the original areas and skip to the "third" zone.

Mists of Pandaria was pretty railroad in the beginning.  It wasn't a lot, but a few quests were required to get things set-up but then after that it opened up pretty well.

Warlords of Draenor has continued on this strong on-the-rails trend for the starting area and then ostensibly opens up. But our "optional" garrison becomes vital and a fair amount of the quest hubs won't open up unless you progress the story.  Which is great for storytelling, but it feels a little too linear at times.

With all of the caveats of new story and quality of the story and etc out of the way, I do think that if I had the choice I'd probably avoid Draenor on most alts. Part of it is likely due to the Orc-exhaustion I've been diagnosed with (much of Blackrock Foundry and Hellfire Assault feel so much like Siege of Orgrimmar to me.) Part of it is of course would be going with the new & exciting thing.  But just overall, I'm just not very enamored of Draenor.

There are some beautiful sights and interesting things, don't get me wrong. And the leveling can be very smooth with good story and not too much fluff (although perhaps a tad too fast relative to the areas). But something about it just feels very...claustrophobic?  I'm not sure what word I'm looking for here but when I think of Mists of Pandaria I think of very open and the feeling of wide lands.  Very interesting and engaging.  Despite how pretty Draenor can look, I just don't feel that same way.  I wish I knew why. I'll be curious if having flying changes my thoughts on leveling and experiencing the content.

But back to you, what are your thoughts?

Warlords of Draenor feels ephemeral

When is the last time you changed the music on your garrison juke box?

When is the last time you actively sought out music rolls for your garrison?

When is the last time you collected the ore from your mine?  Flowers from your garden?

After your bodyguards hit max reputation, do you use them anymore?

Have you got to max rep on all of your bodyguards?

Did you get the selfie achievement?

After getting the achivement, how many people use their selfie cameras?


How popular is the twitter functionality?

What do we do with those toys that are only of use in Draenor?

What about those toys that somehow aren't really toys?

During the Wrath Timewalking weekend I ended up in the Halls of Lightning for one of my runs. After we beat Loken, I had the music roll drop from him.  It surprised me because I had completely forgotten about the jukebox in my garrison and about collecting the rolls for it.  I had meant to go back to get a lot of them later but just never got around to it.  (That was about the time that the no-flight thing was in full swing and it really curbed my enthausim for playing.)

It struck me as odd how quickly I had forgotten about this part of the game.  Then I remembered how others have said that the developers have said (2nd hand knowledge warning) that the garrisons are just for this expansion.  We won't be getting a new garrison in the next expansion and our followers won't be joining us.  It really underlined how self-contained this expansion is.

Think about Draenor as just leveling content, with no intent to do "end game". Any character that comes to Draenor after the next expansion is out probably won't have a level 3 garrison because why would they?  They'll level through the area fast enough to not need it and the benefits from it may not be enough to justify the time and resource sink that it is. If they don't have a level 3 garrison, they won't get a shipyard (okay, so there is an upside) and they wont' be going to Tanaan.  Even if they get to Tanaan, and assuming they didn't have a higher level character earn the Pathfinder achievement already, are they really going to take the weeks to get the rep to honored so that they can get the achievement? So new players are likely to never fly in Draenor.


Is this something unique to Warlords of Draenor? Is this really different than past expansions?  Am I being fair?  I guess something just feels different this time.  There are so many time sinks that when we come back to this content as pass through, it's going to feel very pointless to do a lot of these things.


I'm not sure of those answers but here are some other features that have stayed relevant past their addition to the game. These are not core gaming components, but they are significant enough to have developer time in patches and expansions after their introduction.

(I thought about adding flying to this but 1) I consider it a core part of the game and 2) I think others do too, and now Blizzard knows that.  I'm not sure if they'll try to remove flying again from the game, but I doubt it would be anytime soon if so.)

Pet battles

Only "recently" introduced, pet battling has become an identifiable main stay of the game. They've really only been here since Mists of Pandaria, granted that was around 3 years ago that they were introduced, but it did such a good job of taking something that had been around since Vanilla, revamping it and giving it a life of its own.  Some people hate it, yes, but the same could be said of PvP or raiding or crafting. The key thing is, it is popular enough that it draws people and isn't going away anytime soon.

Heirloom items

I had forgotten that heirlooms were introduced in Wrath of the Lich King.  There have been numerous changes to them, and with the latest heirloom tab it is even easier to use them. But they've been through 3 expansions and I doubt they'll remove them anytime soon.

Transmogrification

A Cataclysm update that had been requested in video games since the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt. Rough estimate.  Not only are they now creating gear that is solely for transmog purposes, but if it were to be removed, I'm pretty sure the transmog community might put the flying community to shame.  Their numbers are probably smaller than the pro-flying crowd, but though they be but little, they are fierce!

I have no doubts that there are other things we could point to and argue about as additions or content and I welcome any additionally thoughts.  The bigger thing for me is that the stuff I associate with this expansion, is stuff that is going to stay with this expansion, good or bad.

As to my questions from above: 

As I mentioned, I forgot about my jukebox.  After I get Pathfinder done (almost there, a few more days, when I can find the time) I may go back on do that, although to be honest, looking for those rolls feels like a nothing-to-do thing for me.

I generally still harvest my flowers for a few reasons: as a tailor, some of the flowers are needed for my daily cool down. My spouse has an alchemist so I send along the others I don’t use. And I typically get the food buff fruit for when we play, so while I’m over there I grab the flowers. Also, my druid has a storehouse, so I can easily and quickly drop the flowers in my bank. But other than that, no, I don't do it often. The mine I do even less.

I only have one bodyguard up to max rep, so I have a ways to go on that front before this is an issue. But I do know that I doubt I'll be getting wingman on more than my main and one alt.

I think I've taken 4-5 photos with the selfie camera.  I might do more.  I'm not inherently against it, it just doesn't really appeal to most of my characters, so I don't do it. But it isn't a draw for me.

Never used twitter, doubt I will. If I do, it will never be in game.

I hate that so many toys from Draenor are specific to this world and doubly hate the ones that take up space and for all intents and purposes seem like they should be toys but somehow aren't.

Some thoughts on motivation

Over at Alternative Chat, there is a post that I wanted to talk about. I'm not done with this post but I want to get it up now and come back to it.  Be sure to check the comments too. I generally agree with both of them.

First of all, she tricked me into thinking that she knew there was a patch about flying coming tonight. I should have known better but, alas, no flying yet.

But since I enjoy reading her blog when I can (need to add that to my list on the side), I read on. The thing is, there is a sentence that I feel misses something. Or maybe it’s that it misses me.

“The many who complained about not being motivated to leave their Garrisons were kept there by rewards that involved little or no effort at all…”

I’ve seen this idea bandied about and I’m curious how accurate it is. It isn’t for me and I’m not convinced it is that way for others. I’m sure there are some that feel this way but I’m not convinced it is a huge number of people.

This is just as anecdata as anything else but, there are a lot of reasons that I haven’t done much outside of garrisons and easy rewards and free materials are pretty low on the list.

1) Time – Both in order of importance and size of impact. It takes me a while to process the garrison chores. I don’t use Master Plan or any similar add-ons, so before the latest patch, I would have to wait for the animation to process through each mission. If I had stuff done at the dwarven war bunker, I would go and see what upgrade pieces I had and perhaps start the next work order for those. Then upgrade and reassign followers and send them back out, which took a little while as I was trying to find the best combinations for my missions. Then, I might want to go process my salvage, sell stuff, mail stuff to DE or auction. After that I might do a pet battle or perhaps my crafting. After those were done, off to collect my mine and herb garden. Okay, done! Now off to repeat on 4 more 100’s and 5 more lower garrisons.

2) Story – Yes, the stories in the areas while leveling tended to be good but overall, the story for this expansion is not very engaging for me. It is Siege of Ogrimmar, part 2, now with more Orcs! Blizzard has never been great about making their story flow for non-raiders, but this expansion is every worse. Stuff happens and I have no idea why. I really do try to read the quests and such but, in game, there is so little explanation of why we are doing anything.

3) Flying – I miss it. It made the content more fun at max level and it gave me something to look forward to. The lack of flying really killed my immersion. And when Blizzard, originally, said that there would be no flying ever in Draenor, I had little motivation to move forward. I never posted about it, but the biggest impetus to start blogging may have been to try to explain how flying helps immersion for me and my complete and utter bafflement at others that said it hurt theirs. I wasn’t discounting their view (although they often discounted mine), I was just trying to understand it. It wasn’t purely about flying at that point. It was also about how I felt in the game, as a player. This conversation over on Tome of the Ancient hits on it pretty well. (I was Lurking reader way back then)

The rest of the quote above is a different problem for me too.

“…and this is probably part of the reason why Ships now have a destructible element worked into the algorithm. Because a lot of people are now addicted to the notion of the 100% success rate, Blizzard have a problem. That means anything below 100% becomes pointless, and by definition this could include a fair proportion of all normal gameplay.

Fixing this problem however should be simple with the right rewards.”

One problem for me is that this is, essentially, out of my hands. It’s gambling at less than 100% which I don’t have a problem with, but that’s not why I play WoW. For the game mechanics of WoW, I want it to be about my skills and abilities, not random number generators. It isn’t about failure and losing things. It’s that the investment of time and resources that I’m gambling isn’t worth it.

Look at it this way. If I go to LFR, I can fail a lot of times, especially as I’m learning the fight. But, I can keep trying. I can look at what went wrong, pay my repair bill, and try again. With follower missions, if I fail it, I don’t get to try again. It’s gone. And the thing is, the only real control I have over that outcome is if I get my success rating to 100%. Beyond that, it is all up to the RNG. Not my skills or abilities or anything else. Just an algorithm.

When people say “Oh, you just want an ‘I win button’ ”, no I don’t. I want to learn and improve and earn. What I most decidedly do NOT want is a button that determine what I can do in game, is random, and I have no real influence over.

The shipyard just magnifies that problem. At least with followers if I fail, I don’t have to get a completely new follower, who will have completely random stats too.

Isn't this what she is saying?  Yes and no.  The point isn't that I have to have 100% success.  It's that we have two different games. The one I like to play and want to play is, mostly, based on my abilities. The one that I don't enjoy but am being forced to do if I want to get back to the one based on my abilities, is mostly up to an algorithm, and that isn't fun for me.

(just found out I can't change the permalink name.  Learning new things all the time)