[1.Local]: From our readers' point of view
by Lisa Poisso 
Feb 20th 2009 at 2:00PM
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.
Until next week!
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My buggy Valentine With no (buggy) world events to obsess over, life has been much calmer for some players this week. "The way I've been logging in every hour to hope beyond hope that I'd get a Bag of Candies has made me feel like I was in the hatch on Lost, pushing the buttons every 108 minutes to save the world," moans Jeff. "Two bags so far, and seven of the eight candies needed. I'm going crazy. "The RNG must die." Did frustrations over Love is In the Air this year dampen your ardor for world events? |
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WoW botter tells all Our 15 Minutes of Fame (Infamy?) interview with a player who's resorted to botting (which is against WoW's Terms of Service agreement) for leveling up alts and farming mundane tasks provoked a lengthy debate (plus a followup Breakfast Topic, too). Reader Jennifer brought her perspectives to bear several times during reader reaction to the interview: "The truth of the matter is, 'I want to be competitive, but I don't want to do the work.' What is competition, if not 'work'? Athletes work out, artists practice in sketchbooks, chess players study strategies ... if it feels like 'work,' then maybe it's not the right hobby." And later, in reply to the idea of telling botters to quit the game if they don't enjoy the game's time-consuming aspects: "He's not saying 'quit the game' -- he's saying 'do what you like; don't do what you don't like.' ... There is no need to force yourself into a relationship -- IRL or with any hobby -- that you don't enjoy doing. If you don't enjoy farming -- why are you playing a game that (at least the OP feels) necessitates farming? "Gaming is addictive. Any hobby or 'fun' is addictive. People who feel it is necessary to cheat at a game in order to enjoy the 'fun' aspects of it have an addiction to the game that is unhealthy. ... It's the same in any hobby -- there's a point where things become unhealthy. Cheating because you 'have to cheat to have fun' is really sad to hear." The comments continue with a lengthy exchange between reader SarahtheGnome and Daedren, the subject of the interview. Did anything said in the analysis change your view of botting in World of Warcraft? |
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I need help! Slaytanic and dragon_fey contributed fresh, useful ideas to our WoW Rookie post about asking for help from other players. "When I meet other high-level players of my class in my area," suggests dragon_fey, "I send them a mail -- in character. I always get a good response. It's not immediate. But it's polite, and they can respond when it's convenient for them. I'm surprised more people don't use the mail." Slaytanic suggests applying a little reverse psychology to get the job done: "If you're asking a general question and are being met with the sound of crickets, try this: 1) Ask your question in Trade. 2) Have a friend deliberately give you the wrong answer. "This will very quickly give you the correct answer, for there are as many information Nazis out there as grammar Nazis. Yes, it's a little sleight-handed, but reverse psychology can be a beautiful thing. :)" Get more tips designed especially for new players at WoW Rookie. |
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Double the loot, double the rules? Is your guild creating new rules with contingencies for dual-specced players? Some groups seem to think no changes are necessary, that things will all come out in the wash if players simply apply a little common sense. But Clevins foresees drama: "If you are specced healy/DPS and you are in the raid in a DPS role, you get to roll on DPS gear. "1) If you almost never DPS but are doing it that week because someone was unable to make it, is that fair to the person who's in a DPS role week after week? And is it the best thing for the raid? "2) What if you spec DPS for one fight in the raid (remember, you can switch on the fly with a summonable Lexicon)? Do you get to roll on DPS gear from that fight, even though you're going to respec to heals for the rest of the raid? "Yes, being 'adult' is the best thing, but ideally you have a set of rules for dealing with things like the above so that it's not only adult but fair and consistent, versus someone's taking a bullet so as not to cause drama." How will your own guild handle dual spec loot rules? |
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Hybrids vs. pures -- is it an issue? Are tanking Warriors currently working at a disadvantage? Readers had a lot to say this week about the relative strength of Warriors and other "pure" classes. For Dru, who plays a healer, it's experience and skill that get the job done. "As a healer, I'll always take a Warrior first for PUGs. They might not have access to the same range of abilities, but in my experience, the skill level of your average Prot Warrior far outstrips that of other tanking classes. I won't even run with DK tanks these days; who needs that headache?" Others see the new wave of tanks as bringing more to the table. "Our GM/RL is a DK tank," says kryonik. "He's capable of putting out 4k DPS ... while tanking. Our main Druid tank is capable of doing that in cat form with some gear swaps. Our Paladins have great ret and holy sets in addition to AOE threat while tanking. "... Right now, in terms of min/maxing, you bring a Protection Warrior to raids to offtank, period. There is no other reason to bring one." Mike breaks the issue down to a bottom line: "Seems there's a big link here you're not making. ... Holy Priests and Prot Warriors are suffering from exactly the same problem. Despite the concern of some of the replies to your article, your overall point stands. Both of these pure classes do what they do very well. They are excellent generalists. There is no tanking situation a Prot Warrior can't face and no healing situation a Holy Priest can't face. "Unfortunately, in the world of homogenized hybrid classes, no-one is looking for a generalist; they are looking for specialists for different fights. So in Blizz's effort to tweak other classes to be almost as good as Warriors (e.g. by adding Last Stand or Shield Wall equivalents), they have undermined the role of the Warrior and their position in raids. "They've done exactly the same to Holy Priests, nerfed the pure class and tweaked the hybrid, and it's a direct consequence of making previously hybrid classes more viable when competing with the pure classes. "What's the outcome of all this? I have no idea, but currently I have Warrior and DK (tanks) and a Priest and Druid (healers) all at 80, and the hybrids are getting more action. Part of me feels pretty sad about this. It's not slightly wrong; it's very wrong. I prefer the pure classes." What's your take on the evolving Hybrid vs. Pure Class debate? |
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Vehicles: love 'em or hate 'em? Vehicular combat is here to stay. Many players who dislike that vehicle-based fights essentially ignore their hard-earned gear and skills seem satisfied that Ulduar vehicles will scale with gear. Others, however, aren't so sure that's the solution. "I don't like it," says Muse. "Part of what I enjoy in vehicle combat is that my healer can become the tank or the DPS. Whatever gear I'm wearing wont have any effect on combat, just the amount of skills I can pour into it. So if all of a sudden only DPS stats are valued for vehicles, I'll once again be relegated to the 'healing' vehicle and the 'healing' buttons." Looks like there are a lot of players out there who still think vehicles will be taking them for a ride. |
Until next week!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GerardthePriest Feb 20th 2009 2:19PM
As someone who mostly ignores the seasonal/holiday events, I'm both saddened and amused that these lighthearted additions to WoW have resulted in so much angst and obsessive behavior. They're seasonal so that they can be novel and fun, not so that people can scream in frustration at being unable to complete achievements within a short time span. Sort of a tragic side-effect of adding achievements to the game.
zappo Feb 20th 2009 2:29PM
Which is actually sort of the funny thing. Achievements are doable for people who just want to take the time to do them. Seasonal holidays likewise are supposed to be a fun side event. Yet stick them together and you have something as bad as grinding most of the time.
A big part of that I think was the fact that Achievements were worked around holiday activities that weren't intended to fit into that scenario. RNG being a big part of that. Really they should have worked in holiday content that was more conductive to being fun - many of the old holiday stuff really isn't when you put it into being goal oriented.
Tayla Feb 20th 2009 2:37PM
Our loot rules already are set up as mainspec rolls first, offspec roll if noone mainspecs rolls.
One roll of each per run, until everyone of your armor class gets something.
It'll stay that way.
Main spec would be what you CAME IN AS.
Offspec would be what you either respecced to, or what you weren't when you came into the instance.
Kyth Feb 20th 2009 2:59PM
The focus of the holidays were lost entirely as a result of the achievement system. I remember the first Valentine holiday and how much fun it was to run around to guildmates (or random people in Org) handing out pieces of candy, throwing rose petals, etc. Instead of that, I listened to my guildmates who logged in hourly to be disappointed or nervous that they would miss out on an achievement.
One of my friends logged in every hour for the last sixteen hours of the holiday (after logging for more than 8 every day prior) trying for a bag of candy. He had boxes and boxes of the gifts and in the end, he did not get a single bag of candy. Not one. He said that it made him feel like WoW had turned into a virtual casino.
While I'm not saying that these things are life-endingly important (it is a game, yes), Blizzard has taken the wrong design approach to having fun with holidays.
Holiday =
1) RNG piece of crap tied to achievement (Hallows, Valentine's)
2) Travelling to every zone in the world tied to an achievement (Lunar, Hallows)
More fun gifts and things to play with. Hard achievements or RNG ones should be removed from the meta.
Tokie Feb 20th 2009 3:27PM
The vehicles don't scale with dps, they scale with Ilvl.
WoWInsider is getting worse every week, used to be informative, now we've just got class qq posts with a few informative gear posts thrown in. Come on guys, you're better than this -.-
Wulfhere Feb 20th 2009 3:50PM
I can go back two years and find a comment just like this one.
If you're going to troll, make some effort to say something, if not new, at least in a novel way.
Lisa Poisso Feb 20th 2009 4:34PM
Glad you're here, Tokie -- because this feature is all about reader comments ... and you're a reader! Looking forward to seeing more informative, constructive comments from you. ;)
Bernie Feb 20th 2009 4:53PM
I am a serious Mount addict. Currently have 66 mounts.
My dislike of the holiday events has kept me from completing more that 2. I am "the Hallowed" and by sheer luck "the Love Fool". But didn't complete a single Merrymaker achievement, lunar festival. only 3 of the Brewfest achievements.
The repetitive grind is just way too annoying for even me, and I farmed Strat for days on end to get enough Runecloth to turn in for exalted status with all the Horde factions.
Theresa Feb 20th 2009 5:00PM
As a healer I can certainly say there is a shortage of healers on my server - I can get invites to just about anything I want and geared up my healer many many times faster than I ever did my dps. (And as a holy priest... I top the healing charts except when a holy pally is healing a tank, a good resto druid is healing anyone, or shaman are raid healing with a bunch of aoe. In other words... when the specialists are doing their specialty!)
As a guild leader I also know that our loot rules will change very little. We are a small guild, we don't accept or don't keep people who cause drama. Every person in the guild has their main spec, which we prefer to play. That will continue, in raiding, to be their main spec no matter what they come into a raid as.
It makes no sense to kit out our best resto druid in boomkin gear when he loves healing, nor for me to have a better shadow set than our lock's gear. We will continue to play the same roles with small adjustments, so why would the way we roll on loot change?
Chaelura Feb 20th 2009 5:00PM
"Did frustrations over Love is In the Air this year dampen your ardor for world events?"
YES.
KT Feb 21st 2009 3:25PM
It does make me sad that people got so frustrated over the holiday just because of the achievements. I know I was doing the log-in thing on my main to try to get as many achievements as I could, but since I'm not going for the meta-achievement and am a pretty casual player anyway, it didn't bother me that I couldn't get them all, since I had known going in I wouldn't. And I had fun anyway, goofing off with people while waiting I don't have a guild or friends on WoW so the holidays have been the main times I've had fun with other people in the game.
I think the main problem is the meta-achievement/mount. Because you HAVE to complete all required achievements on every holiday, for the people who really want that, it becomes work instead of fun, and very frustrating that a random number could destroy all that work.
To be honest, it's the meta-achievement that ruins it, I think. If that wasn't a factor, people wouldn't care so much if they couldn't get all the achievements - they would just have something to do for the next time.