Sometimes, when I think about this blog, I feel like I owe the 3 people who may actually check it on occasion an explanation as to why I simply haven't been around here, even though I've been as active as ever on Twitter and PlusHeal. Part of the answer is personal and has to do with real life, and I'm not going to get into it here, because, quite frankly, I don' wanna *stomp stomp* *pout pout* so there! =P
The other part of it about how World of Warcraft has changed these past few years. There are, at the very core, two reasons why I play World of Warcraft—the story and the raiding. The storytelling in Cataclysm has been leaps and bounds better than its predecessors, and I have to give major kudos to Dave Kosak for that. Having major lore characters actually going out into the world and doing things is fun to watch, and getting to help them do those things is a joy to experience. Getting to see the plot unfold first-hand is amazing, and my only real problem with it is that the factional divide locks me out of experiencing some very key moments in Alliance lore unless I play a Horde character (such as the full story of Gilneas). Unfortunately, the storytelling does not make for a particularly blog-worthy experience unless I decide to take things in a more RP-centric direction, such as Flinthammer Hall or Travels through Azeroth and Outland, because everyone who is interested in the story can simply log into the game and experience it for themselves.
As such, most of my blogging desire is a result of the raiding aspect of the game—an aspect which I've been equal parts frustrated and content with for since Cataclysm launched. It's not so much with how Blizzard is handling raids (although I'm saddened that Blizzard's 10/25 raid lockout changes have essentially wrecked my old raid group), but rather the inescapable feeling that I'll eventually have to move on from my raiding group of the past 6-7 years if I'm ever to find the style of raiding I'm looking for. The fact of the matter it that, among other things, 10-mans are just not my thing. The days of Upper Blackrock Spire and running Karazhan weekly alongside the 25-man raids during the Burning Crusade have firmly implanted into my head the idea that 10-mans are supplemental large dungeon groups rather than raids proper, and it's an idea I just can't shake no matter how hard I try. Hopefully, though, the introduction of the Raid Finder feature in patch 4.3 will allow me to experience the best of both worlds—raiding with people I know and have a vested interest in seeing succeed, without feeling locked out of running larger, more epic raids.
All in all, between the upcoming storylines and upgraded game systems, I'm becoming more and more excited about the next big patch by the day, and that excitement is the reason why I'm trying to get back into blogging—I finally feel like I have something to say again.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Horde Favoritism in Theramore's Future?
Warning: This posts contains spoilers for the upcoming Mists of Pandaria pre-launch in-game event. Normally, I wouldn't even talk about this since it comes from datamined/unreleased sources, but I'm going to take the fact that Blizzard has taken the time to respond to the posts (including explicitly stating what happens in the events I'm referring to) publicly on their official forums as a sign that they don't mind public discussion about this. If you would like to read the threads and the official responses, you can find the first thread here and the second one here. Click the little Blizz icons to be taken to the first (or next) Blizzard post.
The posts linked above reveal an interesting plot point for the upcoming Mists of Pandaria pre-launch in-game event: the Horde under Garrosh Hellscream's leadership attacks and destroys the port city of Theramore. After the many losses suffered by the Alliance in Cataclysm (relatively speaking, compared to losses suffered by the Horde), some Alliance players are taking the razing of Theramore to be a sign that Blizzard is outright favoring the Horde to be the ultimate victor of World of Warcraft.
I disagree. The fact of the matter is that the Horde instigating an escalated conflict with the Alliance is the only way forward that makes sense. Both the Alliance and the Horde have suffered huge losses over the course of recent WarCraft history, especially in Cataclysm, and as such, both factions are trying to consolidate their power and rejuvenate their resources. It just so happens that the way these two factions go about this is in diametrically opposing manners that cut to the very heart of what it means to be Alliance or Horde.
The Alliance would most likely undertake this consolidation by renewing and reinforcing the ties between its varying races, as well as seeking someone to champion the cause of the faction as a whole, such as happened during the Second War with Anduin Lothar (and later Turalyon). During BlizzCon, Blizzard revealed that a major quest plot point for Alliance players in the future will be to act as a squire for King Varian Wrynn as he undertakes herculean tasks for the other Alliance leaders in order to be worthy of becoming said champion. Indeed, in addition to this quest chain, steps towards closer diplomatic ties between the Alliance leaders are already being taken as Prince Anduin Wrynn has been sent to study the ways of the Holy Light under the tutelage of the Draenei, who had until then been about as far from the center of Alliance political power as possible.
The Horde, on the other hand, is in the worst shape it has ever been in. The new WarChief, Garrosh Hellscream, is despised by most of the other Horde racial leaders. Cairne is dead by Garrosh's hand and Magatha Grimtotem's treachery, Sylvannas misses no opportunity to show her contempt for Garrosh, Vol'jin has been exiled and trusts Garrosh so little that he even sent emissaries to Stormwind City to ask for aid in the wake of the Zandalari resurgence, Trade Master Gallywix is certainly using the Horde for his own ends, and who knows what Lor'themar Theron is up to. The most obvious and orcish solution? Pick a fight with the Alliance to force Horde leaders to unite under the WarChief's banner.
Additionally, some posters in the above-linked threads are complaining that the next step they fear Blizzard may take after Theramore's destruction would be another Alliance loss with no consequence for the Horde. Personally, I don't think that's very likely because the lore itself does not bear that out. When we look at why the Alliance hasn't retaliated against Horde aggression thus far, two primary reasons come immediately to mind: 1)there were urgent matters at hand with significantly higher stakes; and 2)two powerfully influential proponents of peace were in perfect position to mitigate an Alliance military response.
The Theramore incident takes place after Deathwing's death, in the lead-up to the Mists of Pandaria expansion—an expansion in which Blizzard emphasized that there were not going to be any overarching doomsday plots that would suppress the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. Even if we were to completely ignore Blizzard's emphasis on factional conflict, the fact that there is no imminent threat from the Burning Legion or Lich King or Old God-controlled dragon aspect putting all of Azeroth in jeopardy means that point number 1 above ceases to be. In other words, the Alliance can stop focusing on whether or not there will even be a tomorrow and start focusing on what kind of tomorrow they wish to live in—and chances are said tomorrow will not include a unified Horde threatening their stability at every turn.
As for the second point, the two characters preventing the military might of the Alliance from turning to face the Horde were Prince Anduin Wrynn and Lady Jaina Proudmore. As mentioned earlier, Prince Anduin is off studying in the Exodar, conveniently out of the way and unable to talk his father out of war. Lady Jaina Proudmore, on the other hand, is caught right at the epicenter of the conflict. Something tells me that this time she's not going to advocate for peace after the Horde levels her city.
All in all, I'm excited, because if WarCraft past is any predictor of the WarCraft future, the Alliance is about to show the Horde exactly why you don't rouse a sleeping lion from its slumber. I can't wait. >=)
The posts linked above reveal an interesting plot point for the upcoming Mists of Pandaria pre-launch in-game event: the Horde under Garrosh Hellscream's leadership attacks and destroys the port city of Theramore. After the many losses suffered by the Alliance in Cataclysm (relatively speaking, compared to losses suffered by the Horde), some Alliance players are taking the razing of Theramore to be a sign that Blizzard is outright favoring the Horde to be the ultimate victor of World of Warcraft.
I disagree. The fact of the matter is that the Horde instigating an escalated conflict with the Alliance is the only way forward that makes sense. Both the Alliance and the Horde have suffered huge losses over the course of recent WarCraft history, especially in Cataclysm, and as such, both factions are trying to consolidate their power and rejuvenate their resources. It just so happens that the way these two factions go about this is in diametrically opposing manners that cut to the very heart of what it means to be Alliance or Horde.
The Alliance would most likely undertake this consolidation by renewing and reinforcing the ties between its varying races, as well as seeking someone to champion the cause of the faction as a whole, such as happened during the Second War with Anduin Lothar (and later Turalyon). During BlizzCon, Blizzard revealed that a major quest plot point for Alliance players in the future will be to act as a squire for King Varian Wrynn as he undertakes herculean tasks for the other Alliance leaders in order to be worthy of becoming said champion. Indeed, in addition to this quest chain, steps towards closer diplomatic ties between the Alliance leaders are already being taken as Prince Anduin Wrynn has been sent to study the ways of the Holy Light under the tutelage of the Draenei, who had until then been about as far from the center of Alliance political power as possible.
The Horde, on the other hand, is in the worst shape it has ever been in. The new WarChief, Garrosh Hellscream, is despised by most of the other Horde racial leaders. Cairne is dead by Garrosh's hand and Magatha Grimtotem's treachery, Sylvannas misses no opportunity to show her contempt for Garrosh, Vol'jin has been exiled and trusts Garrosh so little that he even sent emissaries to Stormwind City to ask for aid in the wake of the Zandalari resurgence, Trade Master Gallywix is certainly using the Horde for his own ends, and who knows what Lor'themar Theron is up to. The most obvious and orcish solution? Pick a fight with the Alliance to force Horde leaders to unite under the WarChief's banner.
Additionally, some posters in the above-linked threads are complaining that the next step they fear Blizzard may take after Theramore's destruction would be another Alliance loss with no consequence for the Horde. Personally, I don't think that's very likely because the lore itself does not bear that out. When we look at why the Alliance hasn't retaliated against Horde aggression thus far, two primary reasons come immediately to mind: 1)there were urgent matters at hand with significantly higher stakes; and 2)two powerfully influential proponents of peace were in perfect position to mitigate an Alliance military response.
The Theramore incident takes place after Deathwing's death, in the lead-up to the Mists of Pandaria expansion—an expansion in which Blizzard emphasized that there were not going to be any overarching doomsday plots that would suppress the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. Even if we were to completely ignore Blizzard's emphasis on factional conflict, the fact that there is no imminent threat from the Burning Legion or Lich King or Old God-controlled dragon aspect putting all of Azeroth in jeopardy means that point number 1 above ceases to be. In other words, the Alliance can stop focusing on whether or not there will even be a tomorrow and start focusing on what kind of tomorrow they wish to live in—and chances are said tomorrow will not include a unified Horde threatening their stability at every turn.
As for the second point, the two characters preventing the military might of the Alliance from turning to face the Horde were Prince Anduin Wrynn and Lady Jaina Proudmore. As mentioned earlier, Prince Anduin is off studying in the Exodar, conveniently out of the way and unable to talk his father out of war. Lady Jaina Proudmore, on the other hand, is caught right at the epicenter of the conflict. Something tells me that this time she's not going to advocate for peace after the Horde levels her city.
All in all, I'm excited, because if WarCraft past is any predictor of the WarCraft future, the Alliance is about to show the Horde exactly why you don't rouse a sleeping lion from its slumber. I can't wait. >=)
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Oh November
November is National Novel Writing Month. No, I'm not writing a novel, but I figure I may as well take this month as another attempt to revive this blog and get some actual posts done. For the most part, I haven't been writing due to some circumstances in real life seem less and less likely to change by the month, so I figure now's probably going to be a good a time as any.
Anyway, I have a fully written new post lined up for tomorrow, as well as some post ideas rattling around in my head for the upcoming week. Let's see how this goes. =)
Anyway, I have a fully written new post lined up for tomorrow, as well as some post ideas rattling around in my head for the upcoming week. Let's see how this goes. =)
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Well, That Was Weird
I just got out of one of the weirdest Zul'Aman runs I've ever been on. The group consisted of 3 guild members and 2 pick-ups (I was one of the pick-ups) that decided at the outset to attempt a bear run. Things started out really rocky right off the bat during the Akil'zon fight - I died once because I was too far away from the ranged DPS who got targeted by the Electrical Storm, was immediately combat rezzed, and then died again instantly because Akil'zon decided be a jerk and target me with Static Disruption before I could even heal myself. Fortunately, we had a second combat rez that got me back up on my feet and let us finish out the rest of the fight without issue.
Nalorakk and Jan'alai were not noteworthy at all, and we managed to get to Halazzi with a good few minutes to spare on the timer. I don't know exactly how much time we had left when Halazzi went down, but it couldn't have been more than 10 or 15 seconds at most. It was pretty close. I didn't win the bear, but I got my Bear-ly Made It achievement as well as completing The Captive Scouts quest, which is definitely good enough for me. (Not to say I don't want the bear - I definitely do - but I feel like I was the weak link in that run due to the several deaths, so I'm not going to begrudge the person who won the mount their victory.)
Anyway, you're probably wondering right about now why I think that run was weird, and there were several factors that contributed to it:
Nalorakk and Jan'alai were not noteworthy at all, and we managed to get to Halazzi with a good few minutes to spare on the timer. I don't know exactly how much time we had left when Halazzi went down, but it couldn't have been more than 10 or 15 seconds at most. It was pretty close. I didn't win the bear, but I got my Bear-ly Made It achievement as well as completing The Captive Scouts quest, which is definitely good enough for me. (Not to say I don't want the bear - I definitely do - but I feel like I was the weak link in that run due to the several deaths, so I'm not going to begrudge the person who won the mount their victory.)
Anyway, you're probably wondering right about now why I think that run was weird, and there were several factors that contributed to it:
- It was a semi-PuG run that actually managed to get the bear without too much difficulty and without any character in the group having done that accomplishment previously (all 5 of us got our achievement for it).
- Aside from some small bits of advice here and there and the initial "Let's go for a bear" conversation, the 3 guild members all spoke in nothing but question marks. I doubt it was a UI error since there were some important statements here and there that displayed correctly, but the rest of the conversation in party chat looked something like:
?
I have no clue whatsoever was going on there.
???
??
??
???
?
- After completing the bear run and getting a bear for one of their guildmates, the three just left abruptly. I can understand if they didn't need any more Valor Points and just wanted to go on another bear run without bothering to complete the instance, but they didn't even bother to go back and loot the previous chests, either. Just rolled on the mount, got it, and left. Oh well, all that meant was a very quick Valor Point payoff for their replacements and more loot for me and the other original pick-up member at the end of the run.
Monday, April 11, 2011
In Regards to the Holy Paladin Mastery
I've been working my way through a massive backlog of posts in my feedreader recently and I came across a post entitled Illuminated Healing: An Examination of the Holy Paladin Mastery from Kurn's Corner. In it Kurn talks about the problems with the current Holy Paladin mastery and why the proposed changes in patch 4.1 will do little to make it a more desirable stat for Paladins. She also compares how aptly the Illuminated Healing mastery fits with WoW's Holy Paladin and proposes several alternate masteries she feels would fit the class/spec better.
Kurn's post got me thinking: if I had the opportunity to make it happen, how would I change Illuminated Healing to not only make it more appealing to Paladins as a whole, but also make it feel like a better fit with the class. Here's what I came up with:
Essentially, there are two parts of the current Holy Paladin that still feel a bit off to me. The first part is the new Paladin mechanic, Holy Power. Personally, I think the mechanic should be further ingrained into the Holy spec by tying it in some fashion to the mastery system. The easiest way to do this would be to have mastery either influence its generation or trigger an effect on its expenditure.
Some possible ideas in this regard are to change Illuminated Healing so that it instead:
Kurn's post got me thinking: if I had the opportunity to make it happen, how would I change Illuminated Healing to not only make it more appealing to Paladins as a whole, but also make it feel like a better fit with the class. Here's what I came up with:
Essentially, there are two parts of the current Holy Paladin that still feel a bit off to me. The first part is the new Paladin mechanic, Holy Power. Personally, I think the mechanic should be further ingrained into the Holy spec by tying it in some fashion to the mastery system. The easiest way to do this would be to have mastery either influence its generation or trigger an effect on its expenditure.
Some possible ideas in this regard are to change Illuminated Healing so that it instead:
- allows Holy Light a (mastery-based %) chance to generate a charge of Holy Power when cast; or
- increases the healing done by Word of Glory or Light of Dawn (by a mastery-based %); or
- gives a (mastery-based %) chance for Word of Glory and Light of Dawn to proc a significantly large absorption shield (say anywhere from 50-100% of the amount healed); or
- causes Word of Glory and Light of Dawn to trigger a buff that increases the healing of the next healing spell cast (by a mastery-based % modified by how many Holy Power charges were consumed); or
- has an Elemental Overload/Wild Quiver effect, i.e., a (mastery-based %) chance for Word of Glory or Light of Dawn to trigger an extra healing effect on a nearby injured target. Or, alternately, a set % chance to trigger the effect with the mastery stat determining the size of the effect.
The second thing about the current Holy Paladin that I feel is somewhat off is the lack of synergy with the crit stat. Previously, Holy Paladins were very reliant on crit because we had a talent called Illumination that refunded mana upon critical heals. Sadly, Blizzard removed Illumination from Paladins and instead gave it to Shamans in the form of Improved Water Shield, and now crit is regarded as roughly tied with mastery for being the worst relevant Holy Paladin stat. As such, it would be nice if Blizzard brought Illumination back in one form or another to replace Illuminated Healing. Even if a resurrected Illumination were not directly tied to crit it would still be a welcome nod towards the class' history.
Several possible incarnations of a revived Illumination might be for it to:
- once again restore (a mastery-based % of) mana on critical heals; or
- allow critical heals to reduce the mana cost of the next non-Holy Power healing spell cast (by a mastery-based % of mana); or
- cause critical heals to trigger a buff that restores (a mastery-based % of) mana over x seconds which can roll so that multiple crits in a row do not waste the buff.
Now, some of you are undoubtedly thinking, 'Wait a minute! Paladins don't need any more mana regeneration! Giving them more would be overpowered!' Generally speaking, that's true. Holy Paladins don't really need more mana regeneration. However, currently Holy Paladins value two secondary stats very highly (namely Spirit and haste) and consider the other two secondary stats (crit and mastery) to be mostly worthless. By linking crit and mastery together as well as making mastery a mana regenerating stat, what you get is the emergence of a secondary style of Holy Paladin that substitutes mastery and crit for Spirit and haste. Since Spirit is one of the primary means of Paladin mana regeneration, this substitution means that very few Paladins would actually get more regeneration, since they would effectively have to pick either Spirit or mastery. If they instead tried to keep both Spirit and mastery at the expense of haste and crit, the result would be that their heals would lack throughput and the mana regeneration from mastery would be extremely sporadic and unreliable since it relies on crit (which the Paladin would be avoiding) to trigger.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
It's the End of the Raid as We Know It
So this past Friday marked the final official TRI raid of this expansion. We wrapped up with one last Lich King kill. It's a fitting finale, I guess. To say I'm sad about TRI no longer officially raiding 25s is a bit of an understatement. I think the worst part about this at the moment is not knowing what TRI is going to do in Cataclysm. Will we stay together as a 25-man raid, or will we break up into a group of 10-mans? As it stands right now, the future is more than a little uncertain, at least to us non-officers—I have no idea about whether the officers have discussed things or started planning or if they're just waiting for Cataclysm to drop before figuring things out.
Officers have talked about how there will likely be unofficial 10s and 25s continuing to run raids up until the next expansion (or at least patch 4.0) drops, but to be totally and completely honest, I doubt anything much is going to happen. I'm not saying that to disrespect the officers or anything—I'm just being realistic. Between burnout, summer plans, and StarCraft II, people just don't seem to have the time to put things together anymore. For example, the Icecrown Citadel 10-man group I ran with ended up disbanding. It was supposed to combine with another 10-man group to keep going, but I haven't heard a thing about it running or not running for months now. Another 10-man specializing in achievements and hardmodes was under construction, but that either fizzled out or went underground. I'd pick up the mantle and try to put something together myself, but I can almost never get a full raid rostered unless it's an ad-hoc weekly raid quest run, and I simply can't justify either the time investment or the inevitable frustration I will be left with if I try to put together anything else. =(
On top of that, the forums that were the essential out-of-game hub for TRI folks to plan things have pretty much died out. Part of it is due the fact that raid signups were moved to an EQdkp site, and part of it is the result of the snowball effect in reverse (in other words, the forums just couldn't maintain the critical mass necessary to remain active). This makes it exponentially more difficult to actually generate interest in any event that requires some degree of forethought and planning. Events such as raiding. =\
Honestly, I just don't know what to do now. Raiding is one of the major factors that keeps me playing WoW. On weeks when I don't raid (either because there is no raid or because I know I won't be able to attend), I find myself logging on less often. Additionally, when I do log on during such weeks, I end up aimlessly wasting time just logged in and running around Dalaran wondering what to do. Comparatively, weeks when I know I'm raiding are far more fulfilling: I log in with clear-set goals, I waste less time running laps through Dalaran, and I'm better able to focus on the tasks I set for myself (such as hunting achievements or getting recent upgrades gemmed and enchanted).
I guess I'll just mess around with PvP for a while. Battles in Lake Wintergrasp are usually a good time, though Arenas and Battlegrounds are far less fun for me. In hopes of making the lattermost a bit less stressful, I've invested some Badges of Triumph and Honor Points into a pseudo-set of PvP gear to get me to 799 resilience (which is 799 more than I used to have =P ), though the loss of nearly 15,000 mana is very noticeable. I'm still horrible at PvP, and the chance of me heading into Arenas is hovering roughly between fat and none whatsoever, but a quick trial run by random queue has shown me that Eye of the Storm is at least tolerable with some PvP gear.
Perhaps it's time to try my hand at leveling an alt again. All previous attempts have been futile, but it's worth a shot, I guess...
Officers have talked about how there will likely be unofficial 10s and 25s continuing to run raids up until the next expansion (or at least patch 4.0) drops, but to be totally and completely honest, I doubt anything much is going to happen. I'm not saying that to disrespect the officers or anything—I'm just being realistic. Between burnout, summer plans, and StarCraft II, people just don't seem to have the time to put things together anymore. For example, the Icecrown Citadel 10-man group I ran with ended up disbanding. It was supposed to combine with another 10-man group to keep going, but I haven't heard a thing about it running or not running for months now. Another 10-man specializing in achievements and hardmodes was under construction, but that either fizzled out or went underground. I'd pick up the mantle and try to put something together myself, but I can almost never get a full raid rostered unless it's an ad-hoc weekly raid quest run, and I simply can't justify either the time investment or the inevitable frustration I will be left with if I try to put together anything else. =(
On top of that, the forums that were the essential out-of-game hub for TRI folks to plan things have pretty much died out. Part of it is due the fact that raid signups were moved to an EQdkp site, and part of it is the result of the snowball effect in reverse (in other words, the forums just couldn't maintain the critical mass necessary to remain active). This makes it exponentially more difficult to actually generate interest in any event that requires some degree of forethought and planning. Events such as raiding. =\
Honestly, I just don't know what to do now. Raiding is one of the major factors that keeps me playing WoW. On weeks when I don't raid (either because there is no raid or because I know I won't be able to attend), I find myself logging on less often. Additionally, when I do log on during such weeks, I end up aimlessly wasting time just logged in and running around Dalaran wondering what to do. Comparatively, weeks when I know I'm raiding are far more fulfilling: I log in with clear-set goals, I waste less time running laps through Dalaran, and I'm better able to focus on the tasks I set for myself (such as hunting achievements or getting recent upgrades gemmed and enchanted).
I guess I'll just mess around with PvP for a while. Battles in Lake Wintergrasp are usually a good time, though Arenas and Battlegrounds are far less fun for me. In hopes of making the lattermost a bit less stressful, I've invested some Badges of Triumph and Honor Points into a pseudo-set of PvP gear to get me to 799 resilience (which is 799 more than I used to have =P ), though the loss of nearly 15,000 mana is very noticeable. I'm still horrible at PvP, and the chance of me heading into Arenas is hovering roughly between fat and none whatsoever, but a quick trial run by random queue has shown me that Eye of the Storm is at least tolerable with some PvP gear.
Perhaps it's time to try my hand at leveling an alt again. All previous attempts have been futile, but it's worth a shot, I guess...
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
New RSS Logo!
So, I've been working on some updates to this place to hopefully make it a bit nicer to visit. The first update? A new RSS icon for the side menu. For those of you who already subscribe via RSS, take a gander:
Whaddaya think?
Monday, July 19, 2010
Last Stop: Victory!
I nabbed the above this past Saturday while doing Wintergrasp with some friends. It just so happened to also net me the below, too. =)
Now I shall never have to do Wintergrasp again! By which I, of course, mean I will continue to do Wintergrasp at every reasonable opportunity. =P
I'm really looking forward to see how Blizzard plans on making Tol Barad more awesome than Wintergrasp, though I'm somewhat apprehensive about the upcoming queuing changes that will make it more difficult for Alliance on Feathermoon to be able to participate.
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