[1.Local] Meltdown -- the Ice Stone, loot issues and curves ahead
by Lisa Poisso 
Feb 14th 2009 at 6:00PM
Reader comments – ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.
See you next week!
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Has the Ice Stone melted? The Ice Stone has definitely melted – at least, so says a very special web site devoted to its welfare. See for yourself by typing HasTheIceStoneMelted.com into your browser – we won't link directly because the impact is so much sweeter if you enter the text yourself. "I laughed way harder at that than is in any way justifiable," giggled Soifra. "In fact, I'm still laughing." Adam Holisky noted, "I think this is the first image-only post WoW Insider has done in its 3+ (or however old we are) years of existence." Readers shared different perspectives on this most dire and puzzling situation. Blacknimbus proved that lolcats were behind the entire affair. And hakuryuu documented an exchange with a GM over the Ice Stone's status. Well played, all. |
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Dual specs: great idea, poor implementation Limiting the upcoming dual specs feature to level 80 players has some altaholics annoyed. To others, the limit reflects the natural flow of game play up to 80. "80 is fine," notes Muse. "Unless someone arbitrarily decides they want to do a level 70 heroic at 70, a DPS spec can tank or heal everything they need during the leveling process. It's not until 80 that you actually need specialised tanks or healers for content. "And they have a point saying new players would be confused by dual specs. The learning curve is far easier to respec to a spec you've never used at 80. Because at least then you know everything about your class, even if not about each individual spec." Would you use dual specs before level 80, if they were available? |
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Raid ID solutions What to do about uncooperative raid IDs? "Ummm! Raid IDs aren't a problem as such," claimed rosencratz. "In fact, they're great; they're not a Blizz conspiracy. They exist so we can run a raid, kill a few bosses, wipe on one of them until raid time ends and try again the next day without having to restart from scratch. "So what about adding manual resets into the mix as well? Well firstly, who controls the manual reset? Only the raid leader? Everyone in the raid? Potentially giving everyone or only one the power to make or break 25 peoples' raiding. It's an odd concept, and it makes sense that resets have prefixed times. "So what about getting saved to raids? Well this is the real problem for the majority of people in the raid. It makes sense that Blizz would try to fix this rather than remove resets. (I guess you guys forget that not everyone clears all raiding content in a single night.) "They may as well make the raids save per boss as they do in heroics, to be honest. But then of course we could farm trash. Solving this problem would be to remove decent drops from the initial trash or putting a boss at the entrance to every raid." Others seemed to agree with rosencratz's last idea. Do you think it would solve the raid ID problem? |
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What would it take to make you ninja? What would it take to make you ninja an item? "Interesting that you mention flying mounts, as it is 'vanity' items that drive me closest to the brink of ninjahood," mused Adamanthis. "The problem is that many PUGs use a ridiculous loot rule that vanity items should be Greeded rather than Needed. The problem of course is that the players who actually want the item are competing with those that only click Greed out of habit and will vendor (or junk) the item. "After several tries for a Green Winter Hat and losing the last one to someone who only took it to vendor (for 1 copper), I had had enough. I said, 'I'm rolling Need on this; roll Need as well if you want a shot.' No one else rolled Need." "@Adamanthis, it's funny that you brought up the hat, because I got accused of being a ninja over that same item," sympathized Adamanthis. "It's the only time I have ever been accused. I was in a PUG, and no loot rules were announced. When the hat dropped, I immediately rolled need on it. "The way I looked at it, you either need it for the achievement or you don't need it at all. I was the first person to roll, so everyone had a chance to see what I did. The second person also rolled Need, the third person rolled Greed (about 5 seconds after my original roll) and the other two passed. One of the guys that passed laid into me ("You DON'T roll Need on achievement items.") I told him my thoughts on it, and he basically dropped it." What do you roll for vanity items: Need, or Greed? |
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Yelling for heals HEAL ME! If healers do not want to hear that infamous wail during encounters, what do they want to hear? "I have your health bar on my screen," explained Kaeona. "I'm staring at it. I time my heals, I know the situation, but if something is going to change with your mitigation or the environment that I CAN'T SEE, that is information healers need to know. "If you miss getting out of the pound on Anub'rekhan, that is information that will help. "If you just popped Last Stand or Shield Wall through a particularly nasty phase, that is information that will get me ready for a spike. "If you are going to get hit with Sapphiron's Blizzard and are going to spike a little, that is going to get the heal team ready to keep you standing before the next air phase. "For God's sake, if you're tanking the adds on Kel and get Iceblocked, that is information every healer in the raid needs to know ASAP. "Notice, all of this is information that is relevant and useful. It's not shrieking 'I NEED HEALS!' at the top of your lungs like a schoolgirl high on Pixie Stix and crystal meth." We would have to agree. |
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When AFK attacks All's fair in love and war – and PvP. "'PVP flag isn't a free-for-all excuse to treat people like dirt' -- I agree 100%," states The Claw. "It's not an excuse to treat people like dirt, and sadly that treatment often occurs. "It didn't occur in this story, though. Two players of opposite factions (both level 80, I assume), one rare spawn, a fight ensues, and there can only be one victor. That's not treating people like dirt. That's PLAYER VS. PLAYER competition, which is exactly what PvP servers are supposed to foster." Sense, or a different sensibility – what's your take? |
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Return of Reader UI of the Week This week marked the return of a reader favorite, Reader UI of the Week. "By far my favorite column," applauded cynmoon. "Thanks for bringing it back!" Some readers put this week's ideas to work immediately. "Just switched my UI to #2 with a few changes, and it looks awesome," reported quinas. "Thanks!" |
See you next week!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DeeGee Feb 14th 2009 6:06PM
The Ice Stone website still gets me. The first time I saw it, I actually giggled a bit.
Alkatraz15 Feb 14th 2009 6:50PM
lol wut
pietrex Feb 14th 2009 7:23PM
I miss the Ice Stone. :( Seems like nothing will melt anymore with such passion and this makes me sad.
Jyotai Feb 14th 2009 8:44PM
Armory lists 38 characters named Icestone, mostly of them newly crafted DKs.
But some of those folks had amazing foresight, like the level 80 mage. Poor gnome's been melted now... :)
lilreafer Feb 14th 2009 11:52PM
hahaa ice stone, nice link, pulled it up in school, fuck yeea i would do duels specs now! im 73, enh shaman.
I would def need on vanity and achievement items, unless rules were decided upon b4
Delita Dec 23rd 2009 6:29PM
The Ice Stone has melted!
Yes, I would use dual specs before 80. And I'm a new player.
And contrary to what "Muse" says, as a new player, I would love to attempt instances at their recommended level to get a genuine feeling from them, instead of just getting to a higher level and run around obliterating everything. If anything, dual specs would make the game more enjoyable for new players like me.
Let's face it, there is a drought of anything that's not DPS right now. The first time I had a chance to actually run an instance the way it was meant to be was when I reached Outland! All the oldies just think about rushing through old world content as fast as possible (and who can blame them), leaving only a few genuinely new players left. Would you spec as a healer or tank if you knew you would have to solo most of the time? If you knew changing your spec will cost you more and more gold the more you do it? Maybe you would. Maybe your level 80 could cover the costs and help you rush through the game. That's not an option for new people. Dual specs would allow them to fill roles needed at any moment. Making groups and dungeons (one of the most fun things in this game in my opinion) a much better experience than what it is now.
Would that confuse new players? No. By allowing players to freely taste and learn about the different roles their class can perform from a low or mid-level and up would give them more experience by the time they reach end-game. Not to mention give them a chance to still experience old content the way it was meant to be. The way most of you already had a chance to.
Finally, Blizzard are damn hypocrites. If they give a damn so much about confusing new players, why did they decided to give an entirely new "Hero" class, with different mechanics and talents, starting at level 55, for free to everyone? Yeah, that's definitely not gonna confuse the shit out of anyone using it for the first time. Specially new players. Come up with a better excuse, FFS...
Phil Feb 16th 2009 9:57AM
I remain amazed at how amused people are at hastheicestonemelted.com, considering it was just a one-off project for me from a joke someone said in an AIM chatroom. Heh. :)
Glad so many people enjoyed it! (And by so many, I mean "according to Google Analytics, over 64,000 of you")