[1.Local]: Spring chatter in the air
by Lisa Poisso 
Apr 26th 2009 at 12:00PM
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.
Until next week!
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Dislocated but not disconnected Lileya of Lightbringer-EU, the subject of this week's 15 Minutes of Fame, has a rare, lifelong condition that can make even the simplest tasks impossible (let alone healing an endgame raid). From her ankles to her knees, from her fingers to her shoulders, Lileya's joints dislocate at the drop of a pin. The first installment of our interview with Lileya inspired an outpouring of support from readers. "im on lightbringer (eu) as well," wrote Lynxx. "if your ever lookin for a group then just ask any1 in Misery. Your story touched me but im rly struggling to put into words what i want to say, but your story touches me =). Craig" You may have been struggling for words, Craig, but I think Lileya and the rest of our readers got the point quite clearly. Well said, friend. |
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Northrend pop culture references Fans of pop culture will definitely want to stop by April 18th's Breakfast Topic, "Northrend pop culture references," to chuckle over the Easter eggs sharp-eyed players have uncovered so far. Players shared their favorites from Northrend and earlier. "I about had a nerdgasm when I hit up the lounge in the Violet Citadel for the first time and saw Arcanist Ginsberg chillin' with Alchemist Burroughs," wrote Kylenne. "It's the English major in me, I suppose. And the fact that Blizzard makes references to beat poets in the same exact room as Alfred from Batman pretty much sums up why I love this game so much. "The only thing that really gets on my nerves about all the references and shoutouts in WoW is when ... 'less cultured' fanboys see something in WoW, then get exposed to whatever the reference is referring to and assume it's a WoW reference instead of the other way around. Fail." That's putting the "nerd" back in "nerd," wouldn't you say? |
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The best pun name you've ever seen Pun names. Four hundred and forty-nine comments. You take it from there – enjoy. |
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Blizzard gets an F at the Better Business Bureau Does an F at the Better Business Bureau mean epic fail for Blizzard's customer service? Plan doesn't think so, at all. "Then call me a fanboy," he wrote. "I've played many EA games (C&C, BFME, BFMEII, etc.) and it takes them between six months and a year to issue patches. It is not uncommon for their RTS games to be hacked within a week or two of a patch or release, so it is nearly impossible to play online without running into legions of cheaters. I remember when the xpac for BFMEII came out and THE VERY NEXT DAY people were cheating in multiplayer. EA doesn't care, they just pump out the games, take people's money, and complaints fall on deaf ears. I distinctly remember an EA CM publicly admitting on the company's official boards that he wished he could devote dev resources to patching BFME II, but he could not because the entire team had been shifted to development for the upcoming C&C title. Seriously, WTF? "Ditto for Bethesda. Although not all their games are terrible, I remember buying Star Trek: Legacy and experiencing the buggiest PoS I've ever played out of the box. The chop job was so evident, Bethesda did not even bother to change its user manual's control section from XBOX controls to PC controls. WTF? "Or how about Microsoft? Remember the famed AoK A and B patches? Two patches for a game that had a multiplayer life of about eight years. It got to the point where the player community banded together to issue regular patches. In other words, volunteers with their own day jobs and families, coding anti-cheat patches regularly to keep the game playable. "Anyone remember the PC version of Gears of War? Epic released that PoS knowing that it would crash on the vast majority of systems, then systematically deleted the widespread complaints on its official forums, with the vague promise that a patch would be 'forthcoming.' It was -- some two or three months later. "With all of these companies, it was nearly impossible to get a hold of customer service people, either online or by the phone. With all of these companies, patches were NOT a priority, and playability or customer experience be damned, the first priority was doing a rush job on the next game they had in the queue. "So complain about Blizzard all you want (and I HATE the class imbalances in PvP, the slowness of tweaks to certain classes, the ridiculousness of the PvP rewards system, etc.) but you can ALWAYS speak to a GM, you can always voice your opinion, and if you post on the appropriate forums -- and you aren't a supreme dick about it -- chances are good GC or another dev will not only read your comment, but they might actually respond to it. "So until another game company shows 1/10th the amount of concern for its playerbase that Blizzard does, the BBB rating means nothing. Blizzard has many, many faults, but compared to its peers in the gaming business, it looks downright amazing. "Don't believe me? Go pick up an EA, Epic or Bethesda game, play it online, sacrifice yourself to the legions of hackers and cheaters, and tell me your experience with them was better than your experience with Blizzard." Take that! |
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Argent Tournament is for casual players Reader Maegwynn is quite clear why the Argent Tournament is worthwhile in its own right. "Why must everything be gear-oriented -- it can't just be done because it's fun?" he asks. "That's what the tournament is to me, just having fun building towards something and making some gold as I do it. I'm quite happy to only get a pet, etc., and get my gear from raiding." What do you think is the best part about the Argent Tournament: the rewards, the fun ... or both? |
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New five-man instance confirmed for future patch There's a new five-man instance ahead, and Sean doesn't care so much what it's about as he does what type of players it's designed for. "I hope it's not tuned for raiders," he wrote. "Not everyone has the time or inclination for raiding, and creating a five-man that requires 10- or 25-man gear would be just cruel. I'd love to see a five-man attached to Icecrown. Something that will feel like an 'end game' for casuals, our way of defeating Arthas. Please note that I am *not* asking for a watered-down Arthas or demanding a shot at Frostmourne or anything like that. All I want is what BC didn't really have, an end to the story for the non-raider." Given the increasingly casual-friendly design coming out of Blizzard these days, do you think this sounds like a plausible idea? |
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Video teases iPhone WoW client Wait ... what? WoW on the iPhone? "Just want to make sure someone has mentioned that you can roll a 'toon on both factions when you're on a PVE server. (I suddenly feel like I'm on fark.com)" Wait ... what? Read the comments to find out. Or just click away to some real confusion. Wait ... what? |
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Popcap releases Peggle for WoW As they say, headline says it all: WoW Insider Exclusive – Popcap releases Peggle for WoW. The infamous Turpster summed up the feelings of many WoW Insider readers on this new turn of events: "Uh oh....There goes my life... ~T" So ... Tried Peggle looting yet? |
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kanuris Apr 28th 2009 8:20AM
"Given the increasingly casual-friendly design coming out of Blizzard these days, do you think this sounds like a plausible idea?"
Nope. All the current Heroics are an easy faceroll to complete. The people in my old guild, wonder as they were as friends, were horrendous at raids, but fine in 5 mans.
A decent hard 5 man akin to MGT would be much appreciated.