The other day Olivia asked if you cheated on your faction, and we found a bunch of you were two-timing the Alliance (which I mean, is totally understandable, since that one GM you spoke to seven years ago said lok'tar at the end of the conversation, clearly showing the horde bias Blizzard has) (p.s., that GM was Mike Sacco), (p.p.s., plot twist: it was really Zarhym). This got me thinking, if everyone is jumping ship to the other faction once in a while, what about another game?

For me WoW is always there, but I often do find myself grabbing the latest attempt at an MMO, or the newest RPG, FPS, or 4X strategy game (I hear that StarDrive is fun, planning on grabbing that soon). These other games keep me entertained through for a month or two, but I always, without fail, end up going back to WoW. And it's not that I stop playing WoW while these other games are going on either, I just won't be as dedicated to it as I am normally.

Other games are a necessary component of any gamer's life cycle, especially as it relates to playing a game like WoW long term. There's a lot of major effort we have to put into WoW in order to play it like many of us do, and just like everything else in life, a change of scenery is good for the soul. We are, after all, closely related to the nomadic roaming tribes of prehistory, not too far removed in actuality. Our genetics is not to stay at one place, with one thing, too long -- just as we roamed the plains, so too must we roam the games.

But we always return to that special spot, that special place we've marked as home -- the inn off the bank in Stormwind for me. It'll be there when I log in for five minutes tomorrow to check my AH dealings, and it'll be there when I raid full time again over the summer months.

There are a lot of other games I play than WoW, a lot of times I'm sneaking around behind it's back. But what about you, do you cheat on WoW?

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

In my ponderings over gear and the state of WoW recently, I came to a central question that needs an answers: what is the point of the gear now, and what should the point of gear be?

In an editorial last week I opined that the biggest mistake WoW made was the constant and never ending gear grind, and I hinted at that I've got a longer idea for a solution in the works, removing all gear as we know it; but in writing that article I realized that I was fundamentally missing part of my logical argument: the point of gear isn't at all clear in WoW.

I don't believe that this obscurity is a fault of communication or use, but through the basic structure of the gear system itself. As such, much of the issues of WoW's gear grind can be traced back through the power structures from the forced paradigms gear inherently provides. Gear makes us stronger, and then we need to fight stronger enemies, from which we get better gear, and so on and so forth. The cycle continues, the gear grind never stops. As the Cylons would say, it has happened before and it will happen again.

Given that we have the gear grind, and putting aside the academic ethical right or wrong for a moment, let's think about what the gear is actually used for. As I see it, there are three primary purposes.

Functional
When gear provides a meaningful stat increase and causes your character to be able to do meaningful things that it wasn't before, it serves a function purpose. Note the word in italics -- the increase or ability has to be meaningful. It can't be just a +50 to stamina, it needs to actually account for a large difference.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

I ask this question philosophically: What is WoW's greatest mistake and greatest triumph? It's a philosophical question that deserves deep thought and logical ideas; any other treatment and the response ends up trolling. And this is not meant to be a trolling article, nor question, so let's start off by refraining from that.

Blizzard is known for being super critical of itself, from my vantage point I don't see anyone beat themselves up more over game decisions than those connected with the design and development of Warcraft. Yes, WoW trolls are a ruthless bunch, but so is the responsibility to millions of well-meaning players. In asking this question, which I'm sure others have contemplated before, we can get at the very root of why this game has the particular unique nature of having so many lovers and haters all at once.

For me, the greatest mistake and triumph are closely tied together. The mistake is gear progression, and the triumph is the random dungeon group finder.

Let's examine both and how they lead to much of what we love, and hate, about this game.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.

I'm reposting this awesome KISS image from Around Azeroth yesterday. It deserves a repost because of its amazingness.

Jordan asked:

Do y'all think we'll ever get the option to choose multiple races per faction? For example, one could roll a Broken instead of a Draenei, but simply start on the Isle with the same quests and gameplay as if starting a Draenei. This would take zero new coding effort, other than maybe implementing a few new animations for the Broken. Similarly, Forsaken could play one of those undead elf banshee women things.

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Filed under: The Queue

Every week, join us as we present you with The WoW Insider Show podcast -- an hour's worth of WoW community discussion covering everything from the week's top stories here on WoW Insider to emails from our readers and what's been going on with our particular characters in Azeroth.

Want to have your question answered on the air? Email theshow@wowinsider.com!

Get the podcast:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

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Filed under: Podcasts, WoW Insider Show

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.

You know what I'm going to play through this weekend (the first weekend I've had off in about a month)? Warcraft III. Forget all these other games, everything else that's got flashy graphics and 80 hours of gameplay. It's time for some good ol' zug zug.

Mar asked:

Previous expacs it was mentioned that pets take a "screencap of your stats" when they're summoned(So you should BL/Heroism before popping a pet CD). Now, however - I'm told - some pets have become dynamic and those that aren't apparently will only benefit from buffs like BL/Heroism AFTER they are summoned. What's correct?

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Filed under: The Queue

Ghostcrawler tweeted the following:

We don't make fights that are target dummies. Nerfing numbers means you can afford more mistakes on the mechanics. (source)

As I said, if improving gear is fun for you, that's great. Just don't obsess unnecessarily over marginal ilevel improvements. (source)

Truer words have never been spoken.

There's an attitude amongst WoW players, one that I've fallen into the trap of many many times during the past eight years, of having to get the absolute best gear. My brain is made in such a way that even if there is an item that's five iLevels higher than what I've got, I must have it, or else I'm a failure.

That's pretty messed up. No wait, that's really messed up.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

I've been thinking a lot lately about the future of WoW and how a game company will need to adapt to continue to grow an eight-year old game. This is entirely new territory for a blockbuster franchise, and Blizzard needs to be its stewards. A large part of this stewardship is how the game's major updates will get rolled out. Now I'm not talking about the pomp and circumstance that comes with a BlizzCon, but the actual content of the updates and how it relates to the event of BlizzCon.

A good example of a lot of pageantry but little (end-game, at least) content was what happened with Cataclysm. There was gigantic roll out of the expansion -- probably Blizzard's best. Designers had their ideas lined up, artists had the major artwork done, and the story was known from the outset. There wasn't much to be left to the imagination after BlizzCon, and that's okay. But then the title released and the end game didn't live up to expectations. So while BlizzCon was epic, the good feelings didn't last.

What's important for Blizzard at this year's BlizzCon is to make those good feeling last. The community needs to be reinvigorated about the game. There needs to be substantial reasons why we should continue stomping around Azeroth, fighting and working our way towards the end goal (whatever that is in an MMO). A new expansion will do this, of course, but it can't just be another run of the mill expansion. It needs to be something cataclysmic (little c).

So what does Blizzard need to do to make this expansion and the announcement happen? What do they need to do to translate the excitement and the interest of BlizzCon to the game's long term stewardship? How will Blizzard make BlizzCon epic?

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Filed under: BlizzCon

Every week, join us as we present you with The WoW Insider Show podcast -- an hour's worth of WoW community discussion covering everything from the week's top stories here on WoW Insider to emails from our readers and what's been going on with our particular characters in Azeroth.

Want to have your question answered on the air? Email theshow@wowinsider.com!

Get the podcast:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

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Filed under: Podcasts, WoW Insider Show

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.

Given the events of the last day, I have little taste to write and talk about WoW at the moment. While video games are a fun distraction, sometimes I think that there needs to be a little less escape into the hyperreal of our simulated environs and more focus on the desert of the real itself. WoW isn't The Matrix, but I've been wondering lately if it's getting too close for comfort. With us being on the verge of complete environmental simulated encapsulation through either consumer-friendly VR glasses or full-room projections, the day will come where we're able to transport ourselves directly into our characters. I don't know if philosophically that level of escapism is advisiable.

So in today's Queue, let's cover some other subjects I can talk about. We'll hit up some WoW, too.

Shannon asked:

Okay, opera then: What's your favorite opera? Do you sing, & if so, what voice part? Do you have a favorite role or character?

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Filed under: The Queue