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Sunday, April 30, 2006
WoW Journal - 30-April-2006
I did my first real Onyxia raid this weekend, previously I had just snuck in once and looked around. We had 35 people, and if I understood it correctly, some of them had been there before, but never successfully. This time was no different: In 3 hours we wiped 5 times, usually getting Onyxia to something like 35%. We had the first phase under control, finishing it with full mana and rage. The second phase was more problematic, we usually lost a couple of people to one or two Deep Breath attacks which we couldn't totally avoid. And in the third phase we just died. Over and over.
Doing it one evening long was fun. But I don't see the point of doing it again and again, even if obviously one day you are going to succeed and get some purple items. It is a bit like a ballet, you practice enough until all the movements are perfect, but even then you're just a bunch of guys in pantyhoses hopping around on a stage. There is no deeper point to it, you don't learn to play your class better, you just learn to kill Onyxia. You earn a few epics per week, but divided by the number of raiders that isn't very much.
I think I have a different view of "achievement" in MMORPG than the people who love raiding. Not even getting some epic loot this weekend changed my mind about that. It was a lot of effort for a very small improvement to my power. For me character advancement is only meaningful in as far as it allows me to go places where I couldn't go before. And leveling a second or third character to 60 opens up a lot more new content to me than spending my time raiding with the old characters. I can see how it would be nice after several wipes to beat Onyxia, but that is not something I wish to spend the majority of my time on.
- posted by Tobold @ 12:09 AM Permanent Link
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Yeah, I agree about raiding, but ironically, Onyxia is the least tedious of all the raids once you learn how to kill her. You can be in and out in less than 40 minutes, a far cry from raiding MC.
Also, raiding MC and Onyxia does open new content, in the sense that you can't raid AQ40 or BWL without good purple gear, or at least you shouldn't. You run the entry-level 60 instances to replace your crap blue and green gear, then you run MC and Onyxia to get decent purple so you can run the next level up in instances. Aaaaand so on.
I completely agree that it is tedious, but I tend to agree with the developers' logic: only the obsessive few raid (3.6% is the number, I believe?) So why should developers spend the majority of their time making content at that level of play? Therefore, making one good instance that you have to run dozens of times before you can move on is the logical way to keep those players busy.
The game *has* to change at 60, because there just isn't enough money and developers to make fast-burn content like they do for the lower levels.
Also, raiding MC and Onyxia does open new content, in the sense that you can't raid AQ40 or BWL without good purple gear, or at least you shouldn't. You run the entry-level 60 instances to replace your crap blue and green gear, then you run MC and Onyxia to get decent purple so you can run the next level up in instances. Aaaaand so on.
I completely agree that it is tedious, but I tend to agree with the developers' logic: only the obsessive few raid (3.6% is the number, I believe?) So why should developers spend the majority of their time making content at that level of play? Therefore, making one good instance that you have to run dozens of times before you can move on is the logical way to keep those players busy.
The game *has* to change at 60, because there just isn't enough money and developers to make fast-burn content like they do for the lower levels.
# posted by 
: 1/5/06 03:12
: 1/5/06 03:12
I have to say Ony is one of my favorite encounters. About a year ago I organized and led a weekly PUG Ony Raid. That lasted about 3-4 months or so, with us taking her down only on our 2nd weekly raid.
Since then, I've helped take her down tons of times. She eventually becomes a nice, fast, relatively easy boss fight. For less than an hour invested, you come out with 4-5 epics (2 T2 class helms, at least 1 other epic, and her head) not to mention her 18-slot bag and a bunch of blues. Not bad.
Btw, Phase 3 is a cakewalk if you have good Fire Res (FR). I'm at 159 FR unbuffed, 185 FR or so buffed (Gift of the Wild) and 210 FR with a Pally FR Aura. Rarely do the fire blasts damage me in Phase 3. And you can avoid Deep Breaths in Phase 2 by spreading out and maintaining good dps on her. Just make sure no one stands on the ledges since she can bug (and regain health) if a ledge-stander gets aggro.
Since then, I've helped take her down tons of times. She eventually becomes a nice, fast, relatively easy boss fight. For less than an hour invested, you come out with 4-5 epics (2 T2 class helms, at least 1 other epic, and her head) not to mention her 18-slot bag and a bunch of blues. Not bad.
Btw, Phase 3 is a cakewalk if you have good Fire Res (FR). I'm at 159 FR unbuffed, 185 FR or so buffed (Gift of the Wild) and 210 FR with a Pally FR Aura. Rarely do the fire blasts damage me in Phase 3. And you can avoid Deep Breaths in Phase 2 by spreading out and maintaining good dps on her. Just make sure no one stands on the ledges since she can bug (and regain health) if a ledge-stander gets aggro.
# posted by : 1/5/06 19:04
: 1/5/06 19:04
Everyones views on achievement will vary according to what they want from the game.
I enjoy primarily playing the game with good friendly people, however I also like overcoming diffilcult challenges with those people and sharing in their exultation when we finally make that elusive kill.
For instance, on Sunday night we went to AQ40 to see how we could do. The guild hasnt been able to kill the 1st boss in there yet, so we gave the Prophet our best. I think we wiped at least 8 times on the git! Each time coming back with a tweaked strategy, and often having to clear the fast spawning trash mobs on the way.
In the end, on our 9th or 10th try (I kinda lost count!) we downed him for the first time (and apparently only the 2nd guild on the server to do so).
For me, this is what the end game is all about. Its not the loot. Its not the repeating the same content over and over again. Its the challenge of a team of people working together to overcome seemingly insurrmountable odds.
And yes mate, I could have had that experiance where I was, but that still wouldnt have solved the stress and management issue - now being in a raid team that aces Ragnaros everytime, I'd say Im worse off for not being there at a "first kill" - but there will be other first kills to celebrate, as shown above :)
I would be a strange strange world if we all liked the same things :)
I enjoy primarily playing the game with good friendly people, however I also like overcoming diffilcult challenges with those people and sharing in their exultation when we finally make that elusive kill.
For instance, on Sunday night we went to AQ40 to see how we could do. The guild hasnt been able to kill the 1st boss in there yet, so we gave the Prophet our best. I think we wiped at least 8 times on the git! Each time coming back with a tweaked strategy, and often having to clear the fast spawning trash mobs on the way.
In the end, on our 9th or 10th try (I kinda lost count!) we downed him for the first time (and apparently only the 2nd guild on the server to do so).
For me, this is what the end game is all about. Its not the loot. Its not the repeating the same content over and over again. Its the challenge of a team of people working together to overcome seemingly insurrmountable odds.
And yes mate, I could have had that experiance where I was, but that still wouldnt have solved the stress and management issue - now being in a raid team that aces Ragnaros everytime, I'd say Im worse off for not being there at a "first kill" - but there will be other first kills to celebrate, as shown above :)
I would be a strange strange world if we all liked the same things :)
Please link to Engineers India Org. we will link you back if you have an engineering website.
Gnome or goblin engineering? :)
Normally I would just delete spam comments like this, but somehow I found this one funny. Did he find my site because he googled for "engineering" and my WoW engineering comments came up? Didn't he notice the difference?
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Gnome or goblin engineering? :)
Normally I would just delete spam comments like this, but somehow I found this one funny. Did he find my site because he googled for "engineering" and my WoW engineering comments came up? Didn't he notice the difference?
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