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Monday, April 02, 2007
WoW Journal - 2-April-2007
Yes, I'm still playing World of Warcraft. But significantly less than before. This weekend even the Puzzle Quest demo, limited to level 7 as it is, managed to keep me playing longer than WoW (I just had to play all character classes to the max in Puzzle Quest to see which one I liked best. I recommend warriors.) So I didn't do any instances at all this weekend, and only grouped shortly once, to help a guild mate with an elite quest.
So what I was doing in WoW is playing my level 68 warrior. Having finished all the quests in Nagrand, except a couple of boring ones that I decided to skip, I moved on to Blade's Edge. Questing there started a bit slow, there aren't all that many quest-givers in Thunderlord Stronghold. But once I did the first handful of quests, it opened up a quest series for Rexxar, Champion of the Horde. Apparently he has given up wandering through Desolace, and has been replaced there by another champion of the horde NPC for the Onyxia quest chain.
Many of the quests in Blade's Edge mountains involve killing ogres. Fortunately there are a couple of fun quests and events, not just serial killing. You meet the disembodied head of a troll witch doctor, who is asking you for 10 beers and a hookah (no, I'm not spelling that wrong), which leads to you receiving a source for beer that distracts one tribe of ogres. You get to curse some ogre buildings. And Rexxar sends you to control a marmot which stealthes through the ogre camp to poison their kegs. All fun enough, but after a couple of hours I tend to get bored nowadays.
That is insofar strange as soloing with my warrior is more fun than soloing with my priest. I so love the spell reflect ability, especially since it also works on a couple of breath weapons. Not only is the ability very useful, it also forces you to react more, making combat more interactive. Nevertheless I did have a situation again this weekend where I got disconnected while fighting 2 ogres, and by the time I reconnected one ogre was dead, and I still had enough health left to kill the other ogre before he got me. That makes me feel as if my button-mashing wasn't serving for much more than shorten fights I would also have won on auto-attack. Not very heroic, nor interactive.
- posted by Tobold @ 10:00 AM Permanent Link
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Browsing yours and other gamer blogs over the last few months I got the impression that a fair number of WOW players are getting bored with the game and preparing to jump ship into LOTRO. IF you had asked me a month ago - simply from looking at the internet buzz I would have bet on LOTRO as the next big thing. However as I watch your WOW boredom grow deeper I wonder is LOTRO enough? Is the game sufficently different from WOW that it can rekindle the enthusiasm of bored players? I will be dipping into Middle Earth myself but then again I haven't played WOW for almost a year and I am bound to find some novelty in the game. In the past I have suggested other games for you to play to get your through a patch of ennui but our differing views of Puzzlequest (the game leaves me cold) make it very clear that we have different tastes. My preferred distraction from online gaming is the in your face uberviolence of a good single player FPs or perhaps the sublime horseback mounted combat of Mount and Blade.
One of the largest challenges for any MMORPG game is the interia effect. WoW is the undisputed market leader, and many people continue to play because their friends play. When a WoW player looks at the new games, his most important question isn't: "Is this better than WoW?". It's: "Will my friends play it?"
So, even if a game that's much better than WoW in every aspect would be released tomorrow, it would take months or even a year for it to reach "critical mass" and surpass WoW.
And speaking of using other games to take a small break from WoW.. Ultraviolence is always a good option. A round or two of UT2k4 is my choice. I also have Supreme Commander (to sate my need for megalomania) and Twilight Princess (to sate my need for exploration) ready, just in case.
So, even if a game that's much better than WoW in every aspect would be released tomorrow, it would take months or even a year for it to reach "critical mass" and surpass WoW.
And speaking of using other games to take a small break from WoW.. Ultraviolence is always a good option. A round or two of UT2k4 is my choice. I also have Supreme Commander (to sate my need for megalomania) and Twilight Princess (to sate my need for exploration) ready, just in case.
Interesting point about friends Shaklis but my own experience of "friendship" in online gaming is that the relationships formed are of the most ephemeral kind possible. Friendships apparently hard forged in the cauldron of hundred's of hours of shared dungeon crawling vanish into nothingness once people change guilds or change games or simply get bored. I no longer expect anything more than the most casual of aquaintanceships from online gaming. Granted I have never gone gaming with real world friends but it seems to me that the internet has through forums and blogging and social networking and online gaming created a whole new paradigm of relationships that are both incredibly intensive and incredibly shallow at the same time.
It seems to me that the internet has through forums and blogging and social networking and online gaming created a whole new paradigm of relationships that are both incredibly intensive and incredibly shallow at the same time.
Amen.
After coming from games like Everquest, where guilds were rather solid, and after experiences with a good multi-game guild that stayed together over several games, the shallowness of WoW guilds was a shock to me. People change guilds faster than they change their shirts. Guilds tend to span a wide range of playstyles, until the people at the top either leave one by one, or in a big pack, to join up with other people of a more hardcore persuasion. Guilds become simply constructs of opportunity, with concepts like loyalty or friendship being unknown.
Amen.
After coming from games like Everquest, where guilds were rather solid, and after experiences with a good multi-game guild that stayed together over several games, the shallowness of WoW guilds was a shock to me. People change guilds faster than they change their shirts. Guilds tend to span a wide range of playstyles, until the people at the top either leave one by one, or in a big pack, to join up with other people of a more hardcore persuasion. Guilds become simply constructs of opportunity, with concepts like loyalty or friendship being unknown.
friendship & honour can be found still in some guilds, but i admit, a guild in wow is nothing more than the best lfg-feature.
You might consider skipping to Netherstorm, Tobold. The travel aspect of Blade's Edge is horrible sans flying mount. The initial Netherstorm quests were quite easy (my priest had no issues doing them at 69) and gave tons of exp, plus useful items.
# posted by 
: 2/4/07 16:25
: 2/4/07 16:25
Interesting points.
Like Tobold, I've really enjoyed playing my warrior; a pleasant surprise. I'm level 69 now, and also in the same area, and agree that Spell Reflect is an excellent warrior ability. But now I'm on the brink of 70, and considering a re-spec from arms to prot when I hit the milestone. I need to find good resources on tanking gear / stats, and prot-tank talent builds.
The point about getting d/c and getting back on is, IMO, moot.
Blizz could "fix" that problem simply by turning off auto-attack.
But I don't want carpel-tunnel, so I hope they leave auto-attack enabled.
And I don't suppose that combat in LOTRO or Puzzle Quest is really any different in the final analysis. Get d/c, reconnect, find your character in auto-attack mode or waiting for the next puzzle step. Pick up where you left off. No biggie; not really a WoW issue or even a combat issue, just a game design decision.
Just don't get d/c in Arathi Basin...
Guilds in WoW, to me, sound like they are broken. I specifically have not joined a guild because I didn’t feel I could keep up the expectations and obligations to a guild. I was mostly questing solo. I rarely feel comfortable to commit to a two+ hour time block to run an instance, and in a guild as a warrior I would feel obligated to do that at least occasionally. Plus I interact quite a bit with RL friends and family who play WoW, and have guild-like commitments to them, such as sending Netherweave to the tailor and sharing various mats out to the toons that need them. Joining a guild would potentially put me in conflict with current arrangements.
So if I join a guild in the future, it will probably be directly tied to a commitment to either endgame PvP or endgame raiding.
Like Tobold, I've really enjoyed playing my warrior; a pleasant surprise. I'm level 69 now, and also in the same area, and agree that Spell Reflect is an excellent warrior ability. But now I'm on the brink of 70, and considering a re-spec from arms to prot when I hit the milestone. I need to find good resources on tanking gear / stats, and prot-tank talent builds.
The point about getting d/c and getting back on is, IMO, moot.
Blizz could "fix" that problem simply by turning off auto-attack.
But I don't want carpel-tunnel, so I hope they leave auto-attack enabled.
And I don't suppose that combat in LOTRO or Puzzle Quest is really any different in the final analysis. Get d/c, reconnect, find your character in auto-attack mode or waiting for the next puzzle step. Pick up where you left off. No biggie; not really a WoW issue or even a combat issue, just a game design decision.
Just don't get d/c in Arathi Basin...
Guilds in WoW, to me, sound like they are broken. I specifically have not joined a guild because I didn’t feel I could keep up the expectations and obligations to a guild. I was mostly questing solo. I rarely feel comfortable to commit to a two+ hour time block to run an instance, and in a guild as a warrior I would feel obligated to do that at least occasionally. Plus I interact quite a bit with RL friends and family who play WoW, and have guild-like commitments to them, such as sending Netherweave to the tailor and sharing various mats out to the toons that need them. Joining a guild would potentially put me in conflict with current arrangements.
So if I join a guild in the future, it will probably be directly tied to a commitment to either endgame PvP or endgame raiding.
While there were numerous guilds that transferred from Everquest to WoW, those were not the kinds of friends I was talking about. I'm talking about people you can have a beer with and can come to your place and punch you if you piss them off enough.
It's very easy to be a twat when the only possible consequence is to have some guy write mean stuff about you on a website.
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It's very easy to be a twat when the only possible consequence is to have some guy write mean stuff about you on a website.
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