And now for this skill testing... instance?
by Eric Vice 
Sep 20th 2007 at 6:32PM
I was just sitting in Ironforge a minute ago trying to peddle my enchants. The members of the guild I'm in were sitting around shooting the breeze about Burning Crusade instances. Somebody remarked on BRK's article earlier today about hunters "once being in demand" in Blackrock Depths, and I chimed in that as a subtlety rogue I've felt a little left-out of some of the Burning Crusade content. It seems from my vantage point that hunters and mages own the vast majority of the Burning Crusade instances because those of us who have to be in physical contact with our targets who don't have the benefit of plate armour are getting the bejeezus beaten out of us in this series of instances.While I can see the progression that Blizzard has taken, and I can understand the necessity for encounters to increase in difficulty I'm having a really difficult time finding the willpower to flush my carefully crafted rogue build down the toilet that I spent so much time perfecting.
So let's shift gears for a moment to solo instances. Yes, we've talked about them before. I think that with the right implementation though, that we could kill a number of birds with one stone.
How many crappy rogues have you met in-game? Ok, put your hands down. We can substitute any class into that question. There are lots of players with no skills floating around. We've all seen warriors who don't sunder, mages who don't realize they can summon (food and water), and even shamans who don't know what a totem is. Yes, I'm serious, I've seen every one of those.
So here's my idea - with apologies if somebody else already thought of it first. I know Dan brushed gently against it a few months ago. Why not make an Academy style instance where players could go solo, maybe every ten levels, and be taught in "live fire" situations how to use the skills they've acquired in the last ten levels. Loot would have the benefit of being class-specific (or at the very least class-appropriate), and lunchbox letdown would be next to non-existent. The only obvious problem to me, is that the gear would almost have to be Bind on Pickup, and they'd probably want to make it so once you beat the last boss that you couldn't come back until you graduated to the next bracket.
Then everybody would have something to do, nobody would feel completely useless, and best of all it would have a positive impact on the skill level of the players on our realms and in our guilds. What do you think?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Gqhades Sep 20th 2007 6:38PM
Mages can't summon...
Ransom Sep 20th 2007 7:49PM
As a matter of fact, I see mages who don't know they can summon everyday. Maybe it's you that's the bad player?
A rogue that knows how to sap has TONS of group value.
thegarz Sep 20th 2007 6:39PM
That's pretty fantastic. I imagine it being you going around helping an NPC do something. probably make the instance shorter than usual ones.
The problem I foresee however is with hybrid classes. They would need to tailor the instances to specifically help you hone your "skill-set" depending on spec as well, whether tanking, dps or healing. Hybrid classes may skip out on this if even their loot would only be for a single spec.
my2cents Sep 20th 2007 6:43PM
The only summoning a mage can do from I know is using the summoning stone or clicking on a warlock's portal ;)
Anyway, sounds like a good idea to me
Mellisande Sep 20th 2007 6:41PM
I quite like the idea, but I fear the implementation could be...difficult. I mean, how do you teach a holy priest about mindflay or shadow form? How do you teach a feral druid about moonkin form? There are so many different ways to play each class that I Blizz would have to come up with a lot of instances. Let's see...if there are 9 classes and say each can be played in 2 different ways with one instance every 10 levels...that's 9x2x10=180 instances Blizz would have to design. I somehow don't see that happening.
Toman Sep 20th 2007 6:42PM
@1 I'm pretty sure my Water Elemental would kick your ass if he heard you say that ;)
Rich Sep 20th 2007 6:44PM
I like that idea...
Take some of the class specific quests and tie them into that solo instance. If they are done right, they would require all of your skills/abilities/talents up to that level to succeed. Make the loot at the end something you wouldn't replace for awhile.
There could be one instance for each of the classes and since it's solo instance, no bringing your friends to help. It would definitely help teach players their class. If they don't want to learn, then they miss out on the lootz.
Bart Sep 20th 2007 6:45PM
Mages can summon?? Yes i do believe we need a soolo instance to teach us that skill. Cause I'm level 70 mage and I still didnt learn how to summon. I must be a noob
johnthorpe Sep 20th 2007 6:47PM
Umm...the frost mage water elemental FTW?
Kyane Sep 20th 2007 6:57PM
I hope you've run into mages that don't know how to summon ;)
Nubh8r Sep 20th 2007 6:58PM
Man there are some noob contributors to this site... subtley rogue? GTFO. I think you're the one who needs to be taught.
AndyF Sep 20th 2007 7:01PM
Eric, unless you're a 11/28/22 Rogue (which kinda adds up to Combat more than Subtlety but hey-ho), you need to give an instance-specced Combat build a try before you carry on thinking ranged DPS have an easier time of it :)
Regarding Solo instances, I don't think they are needed - aren't we supposed to have Class quests for this instead? Don't you remember how much fun your poison quest was? :D
Wulfhere Sep 20th 2007 7:04PM
Yes, how dare he enjoy the game with a spec that suits him? HANG HIM NOW! From the highest tree in all the land, so that rogues could look upon him and know that they WILL be speccing combat swords, and those other two talent trees ARE ANATHEMA!
Physis Sep 20th 2007 7:10PM
"if there are 9 classes and say each can be played in 2 different ways with one instance every 10 levels...that's 9x2x10=180 instances Blizz"
Actually, it would be 9x2x(X/10), where X=Max Number of levels. In this case, X=70. So 9x2x(70/10) = 126. I think.
Anyway, the idea of individual instances seems like an amazing idea with nearly impossible implementation. What I would to see would be dungeons similar to Diablo - where they are randomly generated. Blizzard could use such a system to create instances for a single player, where all the mobs generated were weak to that player's spell or damage type. A mage's dungeon would mobs who received extra damage from fire, ice, and arcane spells. As the dungeon progressed, the mobs clump together in tighter groups, making individuals responsible for crowd control and avoiding a aggro. The final boss would be selected from one of nine, each tailored to the class fighting it. This way, instead of designing individual dungeons, it would be the bosses that blizzard focused on for the players.
sizzle Sep 20th 2007 7:41PM
As one rogue to another rogue, drop Subtlety. If you want to raid, solo or do arena you really need to go Combat or Mutilate. Subtlety is really only fun in AV Battlegrounds when you can Ambush + Eviscerate those low level players.
However it doesn't look like you do much arena (1 win and 9 losses in 2v2 for a 1362 rating) or do much Kara since none of your gear is past Huntsman so forget my advice and just have fun.
Having fun > elite
Rob Sep 20th 2007 7:16PM
Great idea, will never happen. Blizz is too busy swimming in our money. What is more realistic is to have quests associated with major milestones, or even have the trainer actually telling you want the new skills mean and how to use them. The game would be so much better if they had something, anything, to teach us how to actually play our classes better.
Scruffy Sep 20th 2007 7:18PM
I don't think every ten levels would be necessary or at least not a different instance every time.
Let's say I'm a priest. I got two specs (ok, four if you want to be specific about PvP, healbot, lolsmite, and shadow), holy and shadow conforming roughly to heal and dps. Shadow would have you down in the cathedral catacombs and would have areas accessible only once you get spec defining talents or abilities from levels. I'm talking mindflay and silence.
Now, I AM a priest and very much enjoyed shadow but VE, Shadowform, and VT don't really change HOW you play shadow spec but simply let you play it better. You know, maybe there'd be diseased humanoids you have mindflay fear lasso or pulling with silence. Holy could send you down there too. Res a person, heal them up to form a party. They might call out to be cured of diseases and/or dispell magic debuffs on them and buffs on the enemy. Might have you shackle too. MC would be better as off used in a friendly area just to display what is possible and what isn't.
Ok, so I totally lost my train of thought but I'll tack on a few more. Wait, no. Much of the tricks would be too much of a pain the ass to document and to design an instance around or even just an area of an instance. How deep would training go? "Look! You can cure him and res her! He's about to die! Shield him!" or go into spell rotations, pvp tricks (Levitate trickery ftw), maybe yell at you "WTF are doing with your talents?!" and "WTF ARE YOU DOING WITH LW AS A WARRIOR??!??!!" and "sweet zombie jesus you need to gear up. some shitty greens 20 levels below you would be an upgrade"?
I can see the use in an instance with a set team that'd do everything pretty much the same way every time. That'd be extremely useful. It also would be a lot of work that, frankly, should have been done when the game came out. I'm for it entirely though. It'd be cool and maybe a time saver if Blizz turned it into a design contest then pick and refine the best of the best.
robodex Sep 20th 2007 7:29PM
"Yes, how dare he enjoy the game with a spec that suits him? HANG HIM NOW! From the highest tree in all the land, so that rogues could look upon him and know that they WILL be speccing combat swords, and those other two talent trees ARE ANATHEMA!"
Rogues bring one thing and one thing only to an instance: DPS. If a rogue's DPS isn't as much as they can make it, there's no reason to bring them.
Tiforix Sep 20th 2007 7:43PM
Why is it that Mages use Pyroblast as an opener before the tank has a firm grip on aggro, just to pick one noobish example. It's because they can get away with that in solo play, and that's how they learn to kill stuff. If they never group, then they never learn that a completely different skill set is needed in group play.
I don't think more solo content is going to make anyone a better group player.
skbid Sep 20th 2007 7:42PM
I like the idea of solo instances to sharpen the skills. If that's the intention then they should have 3 different instances for each class designed to take advantage of each talent tree. The instances could all be the same but tailored to the specific class and level of the player. If the instances were only available every 10 levels they would definitely show you the benefits and limitations of the particular build. Playing a subtlety rogue myself arguing the superiority of one build over another is and has been an ongoing discussion and will never have a conclusive finish so leave this thread to the current subject.