WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com WoW Insider http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif WoW Insider http://wow.joystiq.com prods@weblogsinc.com (Weblogs, Inc. Producers) (Weblogs, Inc. Web Support) en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. View our terms of service here: http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: How would you change Cataclysm?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/04/16/what-would-you-change/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/04/16/what-would-you-change/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/04/16/what-would-you-change/#comments This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

There is no question in my mind that Cataclysm has made substantial improvements to WoW as a whole. Still, the game is far from perfect. Improvements can always be made. So, I got thinking if I could change any one thing in WoW, what would it be?

At first, I thought that's easy: Make Baby Spice more available. Baby Spice is great at taking care of inconsiderate people (I'm being polite here) who park their mounts on top of mailboxes or quest givers or whatever. But then I realized that's not really a design bug in the game so much as a certain segment of the players being inconsiderate.

Then I thought: Faster instances would be nice. I'm a busy guy right now and can't often afford to spend two straight hours in an instance. I miss the days of 20-minute VH runs. But then I figured, my being busy isn't really something Blizzard should worry about designing around.

Finally, it hit me: Archeology needs to be streamlined. I don't mind flying all over the world to play a game of Hot or Cold once, but I really get a little peeved playing three games of Hot or Cold. My change would be that once you reach a dig site and find the proper dig spot, that would be it. One hit gives you 5 to 12 artifacts, and then you are on to the next site.

If you could change any one thing about Cataclysm, what would it be?

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Breakfast Topic: How would you change Cataclysm? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 16 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> facebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussionworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (John Zakour) Sat, 16 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Guest Post: Confessions of a noob death knight]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/11/guest-post-confessions-of-a-noob-death-knight/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/11/guest-post-confessions-of-a-noob-death-knight/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/11/guest-post-confessions-of-a-noob-death-knight/#comments This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com.

 Here's the thing: I've been a mage from day one, when I first started playing WoW a good two years ago. I always liked being a mage in Dungeons & Dragons, so I figured I would like being a mage in WoW. I was right. In fact, I love being a glass cannon. (OK, I don't love the glass part so much, but I really dig the cannon part.) I'm not a great mage; age and fingers that were broken by judo or baseball have slowed me some. Still, I am a good mage. I hold my own, doing anywhere from 7-12k DPS depending on buffs and what I am watching on TV.

The thing is, as much as I love being a mage, making my own food and teleporting all around, I hate taking forever to queue. I also started thinking, "Hey, there must be more to simulated life than just standing back and blasting things." I decided to try a new character. Not having the patience to level a character from 1 to 80, I figured I'd go the death knight route. After all, DKs are mage-killers; they are the anti-mage. So after two years of being nothing but a ranged DPS machine, I rolled a DK.

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Guest Post: Confessions of a noob death knight originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> altaltsdpsrangedranged-dpstanktanking (John Zakour) Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: Are you dodging the Cataclysm beta?]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/07/breakfast-topic-are-you-dodging-the-cataclysm-beta/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/07/breakfast-topic-are-you-dodging-the-cataclysm-beta/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/07/breakfast-topic-are-you-dodging-the-cataclysm-beta/#comments This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com.

I could have taken part in the Cataclysm beta, but I chose not too. Here are my Top 10 reasons why I decided to wait to play Cataclysm until it is released some time later this year:

  1. I only have so much time -- might as well put it toward making my toons stronger.
  2. I'll let other people work the kinks out.
  3. I get bored enough repeating quests as it is. Why do the quests when they don't really count?
  4. I don't want to get accustomed to playing a level 85 mage, only to have to go back to my level 80 mage.
  5. Why level (or for that matter, play) with a character you can't bring into the "real" non-beta world? I'm not that ambitious.
  6. I've done the beta before: fallen in love (well, strong "like") with certain spells or abilities, only to have them taken away. (Mirror Image so rocked when it first appeared in the Wrath beta ...) I don't want to experience that pain again.
  7. Most of my guildmates won't be there. I like having my guild around.
  8. I actually don't think I'm a skilled enough raider to be any help with my feedback. I really need to do a boss encounter four or five times before I start to get it down well.
  9. If I am going to risk wife aggro, I want to risk it for something that counts.
  10. I'm not a fan of spoilers. I'd rather experience it all when it goes live.
Are you playing in the Cataclysm beta? Why or why not? Would you, if you had the chance?

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Breakfast Topic: Are you dodging the Cataclysm beta? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> betafacebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussionworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (John Zakour) Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider <![CDATA[Breakfast Topic: The things that keep us playing WoW]]> http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/16/breakfast-topic-the-things-that-keep-us-playing-wow/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/16/breakfast-topic-the-things-that-keep-us-playing-wow/ http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/08/16/breakfast-topic-the-things-that-keep-us-playing-wow/#comments This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com.

A few days ago, I told a couple of friends who were ex-gamers that after my softball game, I couldn't go grab something to eat because I needed to get home and play WoW. After all, it was our weekly raid night. One friend replied, "Why bother? Why even play WoW? I use to play but then gave up; it all became about the numbers." The other just stood there nodding his head in agreement.

This got me thinking, why do I play WoW? After all, it's not like I don't have a lot of other things to do to occupy my time. I have books to write, sports to play and a family and friends to hang out with. My life was perfectly fine without WoW, and I am pretty certain life would be fine if the Blizzard servers crashed forever (God forbid), thus making WoW impossible to play. So why do I play?

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Breakfast Topic: The things that keep us playing WoW originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> facebookfeedgame-discussiongamer-discussionwhy-you-playwhy-you-should-be-playingworld-of-warcraft-discussionworld-of-warcraft-topicswow-discussionwow-hot-topicswow-issueswow-topics (John Zakour) Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST WoW Insider