Hello all, and welcome to Gamers on the Street! In this column I will be logging into a different server each week to create a character and ask completetly random gamers of both factions their opinions about things that are currently impacting players in World of Warcraft. In this way we hope to reach out to the community and give some everyday gamers a chance to talk about some of the things going on in game.

This week, I picked the Gnomeregan server by asking someone in the <It came from the Blog> guild to name a server for me. It was the first one that was given to me. I rolled my two characters -- a Gnome Rogue and a Troll Rogue, which I dutifully leveled past one so nobody thought I was a gold spammer -- and headed for the major cities nearby to ask my questions. Amusingly, getting anyone to talk to you at level five (Alliance) or three (Horde) was difficult to say the least...

The first person I managed to talk to, after several minutes of getting no replies to whispers, or having people log out following being whispered, was a very nice Night Elf Hunter named Boherline of the guild <Metempsychosis>. He and his cat named Buddy (not pictured) gave me a few minutes of their time and their candid thoughts.

Wow Insider: What do you think about the attunement restrictions being lifted for Serpentshrine Caverns and Tempest Keep: The Eye?

Boherline: I do not think it should have happened. Especially after some people -- namely myself -- spent hours and hours trying to complete certain (hard) heroics and attunements.

WI: How do you think the changes will personally impact you, or will it impact your guild?

B: lol. I just left my guild actually. But it will certainly cost some people in guilds more gold in repairs, as they will go into things that they are not equipped for. (aside: He was guilded to <Metempsychosis> mid-interview.)

WI: Do you think Blizzard should focus on more raid content or more 5 man content going forward? And if you said Raid, what size: 10, 25 or back to 40?

B: I would like to see it raid focused. I think 25 is a great number. 40 was just too much, and 10 isn't enough.

From there, I hopped to the Horde side, and started to level my character past one to make my trek. I was greeted by a charming L40 Dwarf Hunter and a L26 Human Rogue Alliance trick-flagging and then ganking level 1-4 characters in the Valley of Trials. (I will admit I logged over and asked one of their Guild mates about getting them to move on, because attacking anything in a noob zone is about slimy in my opinion.) Rather than deal with them any longer, I headed straight for Orgrimmar at that point to ask my questions. Being a Hordie at heart, I was -more- than surprised at the response I got from the Horde on Gnomeregan. While many of my requests on the Alliance side were met with silence or logouts, several of my Horde requests were met with snark, flames, "lol noob" and some insults that I can't reprint here without quite possibly getting in trouble. A few were silent, and in comparison to their compatriots, I thank them for that.

After about an hour and a half of trying, I was ready to log out and say that I'd given the Horde population of Gnomeregan a fair chance to contribute. Just then, a lovely Priestess named Eights from the guild <Waste Management> whispered me back that she would be willing to answer a few questions for me, as best as she felt she could.

Wow Insider: What do you think about the attunement restrictions being lifted for Serpentshrine Caverns and Tempest Keep: The Eye?

Eights: I think it's pretty nice for the casual gamer. But people who aren't ready for the areas (both gear and gameplay know-how) may not do well, which will probably lead to a lot of frustration.

WI: How do you think the changes will personally impact you, or perhaps impact your guild?

E: I'm in a pretty small guild so it will be easier to find people to run them with. It's nice to not have to be part of a huge guild that grinded out the attunements. But then it comes back to the fact that the people we find may just not be ready for it the way we are.

WI: Do you think Blizzard should focus on more raid content or more 5 man content going forward? And if you said Raid, what size: 10, 25 or back to 40?

E: Personally, I prefer the 5 man instances. Raids are nice, but there are so many issues such as who gets loot and people not showing up. Plus it's easier for a smaller group to learn how to work together.

Honestly, both sides have things I agree with. I can see it as being frustrating for those who did complete the attunement arcs already. But if Blizzard institutes further quests on those chains to reward the players who achieved those heights as they were mentioning, that might be a nice compromise. I also agree that it was a good gear check for those who would go there, and that there is probably going to be some sense of frustration from those who haven't done them and are just (ahem) not prepared. What do you think about it? Prefer 5 man, 10-25-40 man, or do you have an idea Blizzard hasn't even dreamed up? Do you think continuing the Attunement arcs with some tasty special goodies at the end is a good compromise for those who have already gone that far? Or is it just enough knowing that you made it in there the hard way and earned your stripes when earning them was tough to do?

Join us next Sunday as I report back with the opinions from the Front Lines of WoW on current game events from completely random folks... Assuming, of course, people talk to me. hee!

Tags: attunement, boherline, eights, gamer on the street, GamerOnTheStreet, hunter, night elf, NightElf, opinion, priest, serpentshrine cavern, SerpentshrineCavern, tempest keep, TempestKeep, the eye, TheEye, troll, world of warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft, wow

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Interviews, Gamers on the Street