Monday, August 18, 2008

The End of All Things...

Hello MMO-Maniacs!

If you’ve been checking in here (and who’s doing that now? There’s dust on dem dere posts!) you’ve probably noticed that there has been a serious lack of content over the past weeks. Well, the reason for this is that I’ve lost my mind and have been committed to the Shattrath Sanctuary Mental Ward indefinitely.

No, really. I have. Look at the wittle birdies outside my window! They’re flying upside down. With orcs on their backs. With even more orcs on their backs.

All kidding aside, MMO-Madness is going defunct for a while. As of my last check in, I was recording a podcast to take our little site into other forms of media. What I found out though was that my scope was too large. If you review my past posts, you’ll see that they’re overwhelming about WoW and my war-mage exploits. That’s not what this site was supposed to be and not what I want it to be. We’re MMO-Madness, not WoW-Whelps. Then again, we’re also not a news resource.

So what are we? A single writer endeavoring to cover several different MMOs. Don’t let my references to “we” confuse you. It’s just me representing my own little project. And as a single worker bee, and a casual worker bee, it’s too much to cover so many different titles fairly. So, until I can rouse some friends/readers into becoming contributors, I’ve decided that the scope needs to be narrowed a little bit.

Hence, I have created Fires of WAR. I find that I enjoy writing much more about the game I’m currently focusing on than forum/news source trolling looking for interesting tidbits to write on. And when I enjoy what I’m writing, I write more often and I write more interesting pieces. Even though I’m not in closed beta for WAR, I am registered for Open Beta, so I hope to have a plethora of content to write on soon.

And since I’ve been following this game consistently for months… and months… and months (!!!) I shouldn’t have any shortage on stuff to write on. So, if you get the opportunity, drop on by to Fires of WAR. And yes, I intend to podcast ;-).

I’ll spare the nitty gritty on that blog here. Suffice it to say though, I intend to write primarily on WAR but I may occasionally cover other topics relevant to the genre.

Sometime, I hope to bring back MMO-Madness. Until then, it’s been a great ride and your readership has meant a lot to me.

Take care all. I hope to meet you on the battlefield.


Regards,
Raegn

Thursday, July 17, 2008

MMOMadness Podcast: Coming Soon!

Update I: Due to some unforeseen real life issues, the "intro-cast" is still in the production stage. We're trying to bring you something good; something you can sink your mind's teeth into. In short, a topic based show as opposed to a post based show. There's a lot for us to do. We have big goals here, people. Big ones that will demand more planning than most other gaming podcasts out there. Stay tuned. You won't be disappointed. Check back Monday evening.

Update II: The content has been recorded. I wish it could have been live but for an "intro-cast" perhaps it was for the best. We're in the polish stage now. For this cast, we'll re-record it if we need to. You're going to get something good, like update I promises. Stay tuned for Monday night.

Aloha, MMO fiends!


We here at MMO Madness have been toying with this idea for a while now and I think it's finally going to happen. I have all of the programs I'll need to do a ShoutCast broadcast and recorded session to be hosted elsewhere.

I'll be testing Skype later today to test my ability to take calls and bring others into the show.

If all goes well, I'll be working on an introductory podcast this afternoon, so stay tuned for details!

Right now, things are pretty much just in the outline stage. Essentially, our podcast will be covering the things you read about on this blog and in the MMO world on the whole. We'll see where we wind up. Timewise, I'd imagine we'll run between 30 minutes and an hour.

If Skype works out, and we get enough listeners, we'll see about broadcasting at regular times and taking calls.

Where would you like to see us head with this thing? Right now, we're the ones leasing the car but, hey, we're the cool kids that'll let you take the wheel from time to time. *smile*

Keep an eye out for the intro-cast and podcast one soon to follow!

Monday, July 14, 2008

So, if you're not satiated with my mind's inner workings yet, there's still more!

I haven't been able to log on WoW too much today. I logged on my mage for about 20 minutes and wasn't able to hop on again. Sure, I was on my computer but it's been one of those days when you're online but there's too much on your plate to game.

Sad, sad business.

Anyhow, in my time off the PC today I got to thinking; I haven't had the desire to log on my level 70 warrior in almost two weeks.

I've had a few low level alts in the past but I've always gone back to my ol' greenie (i be an ork).

It's somewhat striking to me but overall, I think it means that I've reached a new point in my WoW career. 70 is great. The dungeons are fun (usually), the guilds are generally much better than the low levels ones, and the content is better designed.

Despite all that, I don't really care about going back... and it doesn't bother me. All that time put into my main going out the window and I've waving goodbye.

If you've been reading here for a while you'll have seen that I'd been going through pseudo burnout. Rolling an alliance mage is about as polar opposite from my previous game as you can get short of becoming a healer. It's almost like a whole new game and I've been sinking my teeth into the meat of this new experience and the potatoes that make up the B-content (capital cities, shared zones, etcetra.)

I think another part of this equation is that a mage has one defined role. Period.

As a warrior, I was a mediocre tank (yes, by my own failing. Warriors can be great tanks) and, because I wasn't a high-end raider, mediocre dps. After putting so many days /played, I didn't want to have to spend countless hours farming dungeons for pieces of threat or defense gear.

Don't get me wrong. I loved my warrior. They are a lot of fun, especially as dps. Tanking is also a blast when you're equipped for it. When you're working your way up though, it's fun in a kind of stressful, high pressure, can't mess up in the least without being chewed out kind of way. It's for some people. I can do it but I don't play WoW to feel like I'm under the gun. I don't play to have other people depend on me for anything they need in a dungeon. I play to have fun. For me, that means the low pressure, high numbers, dps game. Call me a noob, call me lazy, call me whatever. I don't care.

Now, I have the best of both worlds: a mage on his way to 70 and a warrior already there with 10.2k health (11ish K with commanding shout) and 492 defense. I can do what I want when I want to do it... usually.

So, for the time being I'm rolling DPS and not looking back. I'm in a new game, folks. Sometime, I'll come back to old Raegn. I'll come back and tank the hell out of some instances then respec and kick some ass in the battlegrounds.

Someday.

But not today.

The recent cut in WAR content

Mythic has recently announced that they intend to launch with four less capital cities and classes than intended.

Upon first reading this, I was quite disturbed.

I mean, come on. This has been the MMO we've all been banking on. The end-game for WAR is based on these capital city sieges and now that's being cut down by two thirds of their announced plan. What is their to be other than disturbed.

Betrayed, deceived, tricked? Yes.

Regardless, the removal of the city sieges is relatively minor in my opinion. It is a horrible removal but at least they intend to put this content in with a free patch. So, I can deal with it.

What really bothers me is the removal of the four classes.

I don't know about anyone else, but I see this as the single most detrimental thing they've done to the game to date. How the hell are Dark Elves supposed to function without their offensive tank? How are any of the affected classes supposed to function with these removals?

It seems to me that Mythic, regardless of their intent to have "great" class options available to players, have just screwed over realm balance.

I mean, hell, Dark Elves are bad ass and if this was really the Warhammer universe, they'd skin every other race alive without tanks.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. In the computer world, Mythic just gimped us, the Dark Elves, and other classes.

Tell me, what is RvR if the balance is screwed?

I know: none of the stuff they've cut is even in beta. Technically, we're not losing anything; however, it does not change the fact that certain races are now missing the necessitated tank, dps, healer trio that is essential to race balance.

If there wasn't an issue as to realm balance before, there sure is now.

Don't get me wrong, I still intend to buy this game. I still see potential beyond that of any other recent MMO.

Mythic can pull their ship together and make this thing great, even post launch. It's not unreasonable for an MMO development company to make changes pre-launch. So long as they do something to equal out realm balance soon after launch, I'll be a happy camper.

The only thing I worry about is how many people will jump ship before they implement the fixes. Warhammer Alliance forums have been alight with people claiming that they'll never buy it. Others are of the opinion that a fix needs to come and soon.

Thankfully, Mark Jacobs, the head of Mythic, is paying attention to the community. He hasn't done a ton to make me feel better but at least he's listening and that's something. Most MMO developers sit in the shadows and keep their comments to themselves.

That's not Mythic and thank God for that.

It gives me hope. If they listen to our comments, as they have through beta, the game will be better because of it.

So, despite the questions that arise because of this recent announcement, I still believe that WAR will be the next big MMO to migrate to and, based upon their communications with the community, it has a huge chance to be the MMO that listens and responds and makes itself great.

Keep the faith readers. WAR shouldn't let us down and even if it does, there's some other MMO in development now to make us salivate once again.

As the industry progresses, so shall we.

Rant: Beta Leaks

If you’re in beta for any game, STFU or quit.

Seriously. Personally, I’m of the opinion that if you’re chosen to participate in something like that, it’s to be valued.

A buddy of mine was recently cruising a website that specializes in beta leaks. They hire leakers and give them special status on their forums!

Anyways, one of these schmucks was blabbing in a forum about how poor the combat was in the current state of WAR.

Let me stop here. Screw this guy. I dug around and found out that what he was commenting on was about the state of combat over six months and many builds ago.

So, here he is spoiling people on the game with inaccurate outdated information. He bashes Mythic because they removed all of the videos they… surprise, surprise… busted him for posting, causing him to lose beta access.

A mod on the board follows up with a “wave at the Mythic guys, everyone!” to which another person tosses in a “*gives the Mythic devs the finger*” I may be paraphrasing a bit because I refuse to give their site more traffic by going back.

Seriously…. Gives them the finger? Why do you even want to play their game? How would you feel if they gave YOU the finger, moron. People deliberately break a legally binding contract so that a bunch of information hungry forum dwellers will think they’re cool. At a potential detriment to the game!

Then, the original leaker says that “oh, I’m just waiting on my next key so that I can get in and get you guys some more vids.”


Are you kidding me? That stuck up, spoiled little, brat. Ugh. You have no idea how mad that made me. How many of us have been waiting anxiously for the chance to get our hands on that game? And this dork gets one. And the prospect of a second one.

I make a point not to read those sites but my attention was called to these comments, all. I’m glad I saw it too. It gives me even more disdain for people that blow off the NDA.

I read a comment on Warhammer Alliance a while back that I think sums up the quality of those sites nicely. It said something to the degree of the vast majority of beta testers stay silent on the quality of the game. This tells us that they don’t want to risk their spots in the test. They care about it and are having too much fun to worry about going to some leak site.

The comments of a most WAR leakers I’ve seen slipping by on WHA have been negative. Out of these people, I’d wager that most of them fall into one of more of these groups:

  1. the game just isn’t for them regardless of quality
  2. they’re using BETA as a free trial and expect trial-grade quality
  3. they’re upset because they’ve made suggestions that the developers didn’t agree with.

On top of that, I’d be willing to bet that the amount of leakers that are actually fair and unbiased in their reviews make up the vast minority of those willing to report them.

The lesson here? Leaks suck and hurt everyone. Period. They encourage idea stealing. The encourage some anonymous internet person’s e-peen. Let’s join together and not join these people because if majority rules, most of the reviews can’t be trusted and they’re only giving them up to help themselves feel better.

Grouping in LotRO: Lowbies

As the banner of this blog implies, I play LotRO from time to time.

It’s a fun game. I like it.

I’m level 9.

You hear a whoosh as all credibility goes out the window.

Wow, did you just feel a breeze?

Anyways, yeah, so I’m level nine and questing my avatar off. When I began I decided to roll a loremaster that looked like an old man. I’d been reminiscing about my teenage days reading the Dragonlance Chronicles and something made me want to roleplay an old wizard.

I’m wrinkled. I’m old. I’m Fizban’s half-cousin. Well, not really. But I look and act like it!

So, I’ve been having fun. The game is beautiful, the community is awesome, and the story is engaging.

One thing I’ve noticed in my nine levels of pinecone throwing is that it’s pretty tough to get groups for low level content. I’ve had this quest to kill some cellar spider now for some time but, try as I will, I can’t find a group for it!

Now, I dig some RP but not to the point where it’s going to drive anyone away. I generally keep it in general channels such as ‘say’, so I’m not frightening anybody with my RP.

So, I have to believe, at least on Landroval, that most people have either a) moved past the content and have little interest in alts; or b) don’t want to group.

Either way, it’s not too enthusing. Option A is obviously the better of the two… perhaps there’s something grand at the end of the rainbow for this little loremaster. Or maybe it means that I’m looking forward to one heck of a grind.

Hell, it could just be my playtime too. I’m on during the day, which is usually not the best playtime to find a crowd. Still, I’ve been able to get by on other games. Granted, it would take a while, but I’d still get the job done.

Option B is pretty bad though and, personally, pretty doubtful. I mean, as a relative noob, what do I know, but the instanced quests and great story would be enough to get me to group more if I was a little bigger. Those are the main reasons why I play LotRO and I know that I can’t be alone.

So readers, I pose the question to you: what’s the heck is going on!? To put this in perspective, I’ve been trying to find members for this one for two weeks. That spider’s gonna eat gramma soon if no one kicks him out of the basement. What can I do to better find groups in Middle-Earth and have you had similar experiences?

Until next time -

Lights a pinecone and burns his finger.

Damn. Next time I’ll bring some bag balm with me.

Warhammer PVE: truth or lie, do or die.

Keen had a post up recently that explores a concern we both share: PVE in Warhammer. In last month’s newsletter, Mythic let us explore their new instance. Admittedly, the thing looks awesome. I have to say though, despite my glee while watching their video, I had one main thought above all else when I dug into the video: It’s about time.

I love the idea of RVR, I really do. It looks fun, engaging, and that it’s going to involve a lot of PVE by itself. On the other hand, and don’t kill me here, RVR strikes me as large scale, purpose driven, PVP. I know, I know, there’s more to it than that, but as someone who entered the MMO market with WoW, I guess I’m sheltered.

Thus far, the hype around WAR has been RVR-centric and why shouldn’t it be? At its core, WAR will be an RVR game. After all, war is everywhere. That’s awesome in my book but players will burn out eventually. It can’t be prevented if there’s only one core past time to a game. If your game is PVE centric, players will burn out on the grinds. If it’s PVP centric, they’ll burn out on the repetition of battle. PVP is fun as hell, sure, but you can get saturated on anything if you do it enough (oh Chinese buffet, how I miss you).

So, I’m nervous when we’re only getting little hints about PVE content because it’s “an RVR game at its core.” That’s fine but in order for this game to survive in the long term, they need to put in a LOT of PVE content to satisfy the portion of the player base who doesn’t want to RVR or scenario all the time.

Mythic is putting in dungeons. Cool dungeons. Dungeons that are streamlined and that, at least in part, can be done by everyone in your realm! I love that idea, but how long will it last? Will 70’s be content with this type of scenario? I’m not so sure.

There’s a definite audience for raid content and right now WAR is only offering the king encounters. Nice concept, awesome design, coolness. Enough to keep the raiders satisfied? No. I’m no raider but many of my friends, in-game and out, are. They enjoy the scripted events and mastering the encounters. They enjoy the scheduling and teamwork. The king encounters are not schedulable and as such not masterable based on the players dedication.

So, no, the king encounters are not enough to pull any of the hardcore raiders away from any of the other options out there. The smaller dungeons won’t be enough either. The RVR is a niche, albeit cool, concept but simply not enough for people not prone to PVP anyways. WAR is a pvp/rvr game but that doesn’t mean they should shove pve’rs off to the side.

So hell yes, it’s about time they started putting some focus on the PVE. We need more of that kind of stuff in all of the hype that’s being pushed for this game. Personally, I can’t wait to play it either way, but I want to see this game be all it can be. If they neglect such a big piece of the MMO puzzle, they will in no way shape or form make a long term dent in WoW. They’ll be a “vacation” spot like how Age of Conan turned out to be for so many. I look to WAR as having such huge potential that I’m a little concerned that let down may be inevitable. I truly believe that this game could be great though. If they do it right.

Now, I part from Keen in one main way in regards to PVE. I don’t think raiding treadmills are the worst thing in the world. On the contrary, I think that they help push MMOs towards long term sustainability.

Should your time and work be devalued by “the next big instance”? No. Absolutely not. Should raiding be driven by a desire for loot and not fun? Adventure? No.

However, one thing these treadmills do accomplish is to keep people hooked. It keeps them aspiring to be able to tackle the next chunk of content. And it draws new players in. I hate the idea that gear has become the defacto reason why the majority of people want to progress in games. That’s not what this genre should be about. It’s high fantasy. It’s battle. It’s wars and dragon slaying. It’s adventure and not colored adornments to your character.

Perhaps this is the reason why Mythic is avoiding raid content. Perhaps not. Either way, they should be looking towards raids and not away. Put a new spin on raid progression, Mythic! You have our support! Well… mine anyways.

The scope of this article is too narrow to delve into my ideas on how to solve the treadmill dilemma and how to avoid player burnout. Suffice it to say though, it can be done and I’d love to see Mythic be the one to do it. The last thing we want is for people to get to max level and have different flavors of only one thing to do. People will want more than that and I think we should start asking for it a little more.

Until next article loyal readers…… WAAAGH!

The wait is over...

Yes, that's right!

The wait is over. I had posted a while ago to let you all know that I'd be posting before the 12th but, surprise surprise, it wasn't able to happen. Apparently, my fiancee had an objection to my blogging over studying. Hence, the GF aggro prevented me from putting up anything of consequence for the last couple of weeks.

But, the L.A.S.T. has been taken and I am once again at your service.

So, without further adoux, I give you my most recent posts.

Monday, July 7, 2008

New posts tomorrow!

Hey everyone!

Just a head's up: I began a new shift at work and had the time to write a bunch of new stuff for the site. Expect it up tomorrow!

Stay tuned!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Small Delay and a Little More About Me

Hello Readers,

If you've been checking back occasionally, you've no doubt noticed that there haven't been any new updates to the site since June 21st.

Unfortunately, I've been quite busy in real life. Outside of being a blogger, I'm also going to school to be a teacher and have my first certification exam coming up in about a week and a half. My evenings have pretty much been a study-fest, quickly followed by a soft pillow.

Apart from that, I'm engaged with a wedding coming up in less than a year. So, my fiancee and I have had to do a lot of planning. I actually have an appointment with a florist today.

On top of that, I work as a telephone banker on the weekends and have been going through a department shift.

Anyways, that's my life in a nutshell. The exam is really the main thing that's prevented updates. I apologize if you've decided that the blog must now be defunct. Check back though! My exam is on July 12th. I'll be trying to be before that of course, but you can expect your usual quantity of posts to return after that point.

Until then, take care!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

MMOs and bringing people together

Despite numerous RL distractions, I've realized over the last 12 months just how great of a benefit new technology can be.

Most prominently, since I graduated from high school, I'd lost touch with my best friend. First, he'd moved 2 towns away. Then, he moved to what may as well be ten towns away. It sucked. I went from having my best friend just a few minutes away to about an hour away.

Around that time, I picked myself up a cell phone. That allowed us to keep in touch relatively frequently. Even if I wasn't up to much, I could text my good buddy and see what was new in his world.

And then World of Warcraft came along.

We began talking in-game a lot.It was like a rejuvenation of sorts. We talked a lot. We quested and levelled together. Even though we were miles apart, WoW still brought us together.

It was a great thing. We still get together to this day to "WoW it up." Even despite that, the best part of it is getting to spend quality time with my best friend. We do lots outside of the game... don't get me wrong. It's some of my favorite time away from home; he's my best friend and always will be. He's going to be my best man for crying out loud.

In any event, it bridged the post-high school gap. It's what was needed to keep our friendship fresh.

Recently, my little brother decided to begin WoW. He lives away from home; our parents are separated. His joining up with the game is a wonderful thing.

With the VOIP recently integrated (and Vent if I can get him in my guild) I look forward to a lot of virtual time together. I know, it's not the same as RL, but what else do I have?

My little brother is far from home all but 6 days of the month. Now, I can get insight into what he's going through as an adolescent. I can talk to him as an equal and, in lieu of RL time, we get to be together online. It's not optimal but it's something.

I love my brother. If this is what I have instead of nothingness, I'll take WoW time any day of the week. He and I can have fun together here, despite age disparity.

Don't detract. Honestly, put youself in my scenario: you have a half brother with a different mother. They've separated 15 years ago but due to her issues (read: child support) she won't let him visit more than once every two weeks. He's growing into his own and it's different from how you grew up except for your interest in gaming. You love him and want to be there for him.

Would you do anything other than roll on the same server with him? Would you break away from him online even though it was one of your only ways to keep in contact with him?

Only gaming may lack in some ways but it lets me keep in contact with my kid brother. At this point, screw anything Blizzard does with WoW. It doesn't matter.
What I care about now is the communication and identifying medium their world represents.

For that, I am greatful.

Internet Bandwidth Plans

So, the internet blogs have been abuzz lately with opinions on many ISP's recent announcement about bandwidth pricing packages. To summarize, it goes like this: several popular ISPs, such as AT&T and Time Warner (my provider) are planning on releasing internet packages with prices based solely around bandwidth usage. For example, Time Warner's basic package provides 5Gb of bandwidth per month for $29.99 with a $1 fee for every Gb that goes beyond the customer's pricing plan.

While it may sound innocent to many, this is a topic of high debate. It flies in the face of digital distribution (ITunes, AmazonMP3, etc), not to mention may be limiting to those of us who are regular gamers and participate in high-download activities - i.e. betas. According to their press releases, this change is targeted towards those users who are p2p'ing and bittorrenting. These people, so the ISPs claim use approximately 40% of their bandwidth.

Those who took part in the Age of Conan beta know. During their testing period, those with faulty client downloads were subjected to 32Gb downloads per week. If these limits go into place, they would be paying overage charges out the yahoo. Rather than go into all of the details here, Keen and Graev, as well as The Greenskin, have made very thorough postings with a plethora of worthwhile comments to fuel your discussion.

Keen and Graev:

http://www.keenandgraev.com/?p=1095

The Greenskin:

http://thegreenskin.com/2008/06/19/my-take-on-isp-volume-caps-and-surcharges/


Please read them and comment here or there. It doesn't matter. This is something we all need to be aware of. It doesn't matter if you support it or you're against it; corporate is making a decision that is affecting our lives as internet users. All of us should know the precedent that this could state.

Take care all!

Raegn

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Mage Madness!!

Did Raegn just make a play on his own blog name? I think he did. Well... maybe we should poach him. Raegn is in season. Too bad he's now trying his hand at the pew-pew! He may just shoot back.... with balls of ice and fire! Mwahaha!

Last night's events left me a little bit disheartened. As you know, I've been feeling the twangs of burn out a little bit, and that event didn't help.

So, I took the opportunity to roll a character on a buddy of mine's server of choice, Cenarius. It's PVE, which is a little bothersome since I usually play PVP, but for a new mage, I think that it may actually prove beneficial.

After almost a year of solid Horde, I've made an Alliance. I was hesitant at first. My first few characters were Alliance but I left the faction because of a bunch of bad experiences in Goldshire.

Now though, I'm willing to brave the waters again just for the change of pace and scenery. So far, it's been great.

For the first five levels I've been in, that is.

I always wanted to roll a mage but I had only tried with my first and third characters; both were given up because I had a hard time mastering the class at that point. It should be noted that characters 1-3 only got up to a maximum of level 13. And they all died. A lot.

Anyways, now that I'm a bit more experienced with wow on the whole, and have read up on play strategies, I'm loving it.

The damage is great and, hell, who doesn't want to be a wizard?

Anyways, this should add a little spice to what has thus far been a WoW Warrior blog.

My intention right now is to document my 10-70 experience. I'm not planning on writing a guide; there's enough of those out there right now. But shoot, it might be fun and informational for some to learn from my blunders and... other blunders.

I'll keep you posted, loyal readers!

Until then, take care and do your best to solo Kazzak. He's a nice guy once you get to know him. Loves tea. And pie.

Long week, long night.

Raegn has been a busy bee this week, so he hasn't been able to make any new posts. Not only has he been a busy bee over the course of a week, he's been buzzing just about all night long. In fact, it's 4am right now, so he's about buzzed out! He'll try anyways though.

Greetings new readers!

Tonight was rough. As you know, I've been going back and forth between protection and fury trying to breathe new life into my gaming. Tonight, I was fury and set foot, for the first time, into heroic Mechanar.

Now, I was a good little DPSer and looked up the boss strats on wowhead during the flight out. I was ready and starting out, things went great. We kicked ass right through up until the bombers.

God I hate those guys.

Their incessant 1.2k'ish bombs, never ceasing, never fail to completely wipe me out. I was planning on hanging back to avoid wiping on them. Unfortunately, our tank, as good as he was, was getting pretty well trounced.

So in I went. On the last one, running away, down I went.

Lesson learned. Stay the fuck away from the bombers. Check.

Anyhow, apart from that one death on my part, we did well. I was disheartened to find that I was on the bottom of the DPS meter though. Before the first boss, I was at 389 DPS. For me, that's a little low. I'm at, buffed, 2200AP, so it really should have been a little higher. I chalked it up to the tank running from place to place though... odd for a paladin tank. The circumstances didn't necessarily call for it when he did it (which was often) and yet, still.

I was also comforted by the fact that I was the only one in the group still in blues. You all know, I'm not a raider, but I do my best.

Anyways, we positioned ourselves and pulled the first boss. Bad positioning of him. He was in the center of the room and not kited. Melee was moving, (meaning the rogue and I), but still got the crap bombed out of us a couple of times.

Then, came the polarity changes. I was negative. The rogue was positive. Both of us went boom in a spectacular display of blood, guts, shrapnel (bombs, don't you know), and curses.

"I need to mess with my xperl windows" he says. "I couldn't see my polarity."

So, I accepted it. I'm still learning too. Crap happens, it was cool.

Then, then tank asks for the damage meter and he sees me on the bottom. He very kindly ("Sorry bud") told me that I would be replaced because I wasn't ready.

I respect him for being cool about it, especially given plate repair costs. I was still a little taken back though. I mean, that was it? One group wipe, when the rogue admitted that his UI was messing up his game, and I'm the reason why we wiped?

I don't think so. As a matter of fact, I think that even with all my blues and blue quality dps, we probably could have made it through the rest of the instance. I know we could have gotten past that boss. Honest issues, right?

Here's the thing: shouldn't there be a little more acceptance of people needing to start somewhere? How did they get their first piece of badge gear? By people helping them learn. And hell, not to sound self righteous, but at least I looked up the strat and was ready going in.

Oh well. Another day, another instance.

I wished them luck and said good night; just as I do with you this eve... morning.

Talk to you soon.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

TMI?!?



So, this evening, during a game of RL pool with a friend, and guildie, I was visiting, my GL started squealing over vent about a date she just landed. It hurt my ears, but that's not the point.


Now, let me say, first and foremost, my GL is a kind, fair, and all around pleasant lady. She runs the guild in a manner that benefits everyone as much as possible. She cares and does a great job.


Anyways, she was excited because it was her first date in a while. Her last relationship had ended because of WoW, she says, so beginning anew was exciting and understandably so. She was nervous though. Ready to back out actually. I'm in a guild with roughly 300 people in it and the 15 or so in the vent channel were all encouraging her to go for it. "Don't be nervous" we told her. "You're a beautiful girl, go for it."


Like most people in a comfortable atmosphere, she was talking a little bit about her past relationships and as loyal guildies and, dare I say, friends, we listened and responded.
She was scared and hadn't had anything serious since her last relationship. Then she dropped the bomb. "Don't tell anyone," she says (who would we tell, I thought, we don't know you RL after all). "I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I've messed around I just haven't had any real relationship. Last weekend I had two guys over."

... okay. That was when it got a little weird. As one of two women, out of 15 total players on vent, I think she said exactly the wrong thing. I got to see exactly how odd my guild could be. Immediately, she was begged for details on her MMF encounter. When she gave them in brief, guildies wanted more.

It was kind of... how do you say... creepy? Yes. It was creepy.
I'm not the kind of guy who ever got off on watching porn with his friends or talking about sexual things. I didn't want to be around my friends when they were horned up. It was uncomfortable. On vent, I got to hear 13 people change from normal gamers into salivating horn dogs. Even though I couldn't see their faces, it still weirded me out enough to log off.

Which makes me wonder, was it really appropriate, or anything other than harmful to the guild for our GL to share that? She's a person and entitled to make her own decisions. Personally, I don't care what she does in her real life but I can't help but assume that she probably lost the respect of some of her followers. I mean, you know that kind of thing is going to circulate like wild fire.


So, how much is too much? I know that people get comfortable with their guildies. That's great and conducive to a pleasant guild experience but where is the line for that kind of thing?


Personally, there's no sex in WoW and I don't want to hear about it from other guildies. I don't know them RL and, even if I did, I don't care what they do in bed. It's their business and it doesn't affect me. Plus, I'd rather not hear a bunch of guys get all breathy through my headset.
Has anyone else out there been in this situation? I know our readership is low, so even if there's no responses, I'd be a lot of you have. It's strange, right? Or am I the weird one?

Stance dance


I was set on respeccing back to Protection tonight as soon as I had the cash to do so.

But I didn't.

Instead, as I was grinding out said cash on the Isle of Quel'danas I was asked by a guildie to come DPS Steamvaults. It was a run I had needed for a while, so I agreed to come and push out as big of numbers as I could.

So, to start, I began the first pull in defensive stance. My bad, I said, and switched out. Force of habit.

We went another few pulls. The rogue pulled aggro and wiped us once and the tank, a druid, pulled four too many mobs another time.

It was a rough run.

On the eight mob pull, I did my duty and put on my tank gear, popped into defensive and tossed up a taunt.

Unfortunately, at that time the healer had just died and it was all me; 1v6 remaining mobs.

I was valiant! I was daring! I was hurting my durability! I was dead.

So, we rezzed and went back.

On the next pull, I found out my quick click equipment switch only replaced about half of my items. The 200ish DPS was my first clue. The erect nipples of the tantalized bog lord was the second. Anyways, we survived and made it to the first boss. We wiped once but downed the boss the second time.

Oh so puggishly, our healer and one dps had to leave right after getting the shard from the DE'd item drop. So, I took my leave.

Walking away, I have to say, I felt like a noob. I guess what I take away here, is not to get to comfortable in any one playstyle. I'm no raider, so it's easy for me to become complacent.

No matter what part of the game you're in, you have to be on task. I wasn't tonight and it showed; I was embarrassed. So it goes though. I am always open to learning and always subject to circumstance like every other player.

One of these days, I'll decide which spec I really want to be and then maybe I can at least afford complacency in rotations. Until then, I'm stance dancing and gear waltzing to my heroics.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

/Gquit



Since I've started WoW almost a full year ago now, my main has been in a grand total of three guilds.

I'm a sucker for friendly people I guess.

The first guild I was in was the Blackmoon Tribe, an RPPVP guild comprised of some really great, friendly, and helpful people. The vast majority of my playtime was in this guild and for the most part, I had a lot of fun with them. Many players came and went but the core group remained. Up until a raiding dispute.

BMT was running a single Karazhan group and teaming up with a couple other guilds to begin 25 mans. Technically, according to WoWJutsu.com, we were into the Black Temple kicking some demon ass, but the cold truth of this was only about 2 members of were able to make those runs. We were teamed up with Shattered Oath, one of the servers higher achieving guilds. Unfortunately, they weren't willing to take more of us along. I didn't care though, personally. I'm a casual. Shitty Fraps vids are about as close as I'm getting to Illidan, purples oozing from my mouth from a recent koolaid excursion. Damn, you've gotta love the purp.

So, some of my best friends split. I stayed out of loyalty but soon, I found out that I was all alone. So, I wrote a painful goodbye on the forums and got a single positive response. I hated it. As Bart Simpson once said, "I didn't think it was possible for something to suck and blow at the same time." But it did.

Immediately after, I talked with some of the people who'd left before me and, sure enough, they'd started their own guild and wanted me in it. It was supposed to be everything we wanted it to be. Within a couple of weeks, we were into Karazhan again. It was going great. Even as a casual, I was able to make it in for a run. It was not to last. Some of our members got poached. Correction, ALL of our raiding members got poached.

So, I was asked to step up and help out recruiting which I was glad to do. The GM and remaining officer were great, and so were the other remaining members. It was not to be.

Within a week, my offer to help made me the main recruiter. It made me the website administrator (co-admin technically, but I was the only one doing it). It made me the forum mod. And, not surprisingly, the GM's activity dropped. The other officer, as nice as she was, was recruiting level 18 members, new to the game. I was fine with that but our goal was to get into Kara again as soon as possible to rebound and it wasn't happening.

I stayed, pained, for the sake of the friends I had there. I recruited, I admin'd, I moderated. I wasn't even considered for an officer role but I didn't care nor ever think to as for one. It was something I was doing to help friends.

Within a month, I was burned out. The guild had turned into a job and I wasn't even the one in charge. I was suffering in LFG, still Fury at this time, and spending my little free time in-game in the battlegrounds. I was ready to leave WoW, that was it. I bought a lifetime subscription to Lord of the Rings Online and started visiting there more.

Around that time, it hit me. It wasn't WoW that I was burning out on. It was the "job" aspect of it. As much as I wanted to keep the loyalties I felt, I knew that it was change I needed or else I was done for. The next day, I pulled the officer and a good friend into a party to talk.

I was optimistic that they would understand. Surprisingly enough, my fellow guildie did. The officer, someone who once said "friendships don't end with a guild tag" did not. She was hurt and showed it. Never rude, but wholly un-understanding. *sigh* Bad times.

So, I booked and respecc'd tank. Since then, I've joined one of the better raiding guilds on the server. I don't raid due to conflicting timeframes but it's nice to have a lot of other people on to quest, BG, grind, and, most of all, chat with.

Things were not fixed because I left but the changes I made did help.

I guess the moral of this post is that if you're quick to form friendships and loyalties, you should be very careful in your guild choice. I don't regret joining BMT or the following guild, or the one I am currently part of. I have a lot of great memories and I think it was worth it. Some time though, you very well may have to leave them or have them do the same to you. It should be met with understanding and well wishes but, more often then not, you're sent off with a wave of drama the size of Maui. Take WoW for what it is and keep your options open. People are great and are the reason we play MMO's but always remember, it's your $15 and it's your time. Make the most of it and tread softly, for the waters can be deep.


Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Fury or Prot: that is the question...


Well friends, I'm in a conundrum.

As you know, my main is a 70 warrior. I levelled him from 1-55 as Arms and 56-70 as Fury. Never prot. I didn't tank once. Yeah, smart move, I know.

Consequently, I got to 70 and hadn't practiced tanking at all and was a complete noob at it. Despite this, I was happy not tanking. I had geared up through all of the Outlands instances to maximize my DPS and was happy to see those big numbers fly. I was effective. I was eager. I was always in LFG.

Unfortunately, my server, Emerald Dream, has a major tank shortage.I was stuck sitting in LFG for several hours at a pop at times. Needless to say, even though I was ready to run heroics, and had done several, as Fury, I didn't want to wait for hours on end to do it.

So, I specced Protection. It was rough going at first. There were wipes. And more wipes; but so it goes when you're learning a new skill set. After a bit of practice, and studying up, I got my rotations down and was able to hold my own for the most part. I still had issues but it was better than just starting out.

What I found though, is that tanking is stressful business! I had expected it to a degree; I mean, you're the front runner: the guy who takes the hits for the team, and if you go down, everyone else will likely follow. I wasn't sitting in LFG for hours though. I could run when I wanted mostly and I ran more often. And so, I discovered the horrors of PuG's I'd never seen before.

Arrogant raiders; hunters not following kill order; immature rogues; mages who won't CC in lieu of "burning them down" (seriously). In a way, it's worth it; in another, it's not. Trying to run Magisters' Terrace with a group who insists on killing X before Skull is a pain. Same thing with groups who won't let you gain aggro before going all out on DPS.

But I wasn't waiting in LFG anymore.

I thought of running with my guild, who I recently joined, but was a little ashamed at my noobishness with tanking. So I went it alone. I mean, they'd be cool but I just assumed learn with people I didn't know than those whose opinion may have a lasting impression.

Tonight, I was asked to DPS normal Mechanar for a group with a learning tank. Since I empathized with this person, a pally, I was happy to go along. I respecced Fury and honestly felt refreshed. Sure, we wiped about 4 times before downing the first boss but, hell, like I said, I empathized. Seeing the 1.4k bloodthirst crits and 2.4k executes was nice and I felt more in more element.

Now, I'm torn. Do I stay Fury or go back to Prot to gear up for Karazhan? Prot will get me the groups and experience; Fury will get me an easier ride doing what is, currently, more fun. I like tanking and I plan to do it full time eventually. I'd like to lead a normal group for the guild once I get it down. But shoot, for so many reasons, (grinding, questing, helping friends) Fury has definite appeal.

I'll have to decide tomorrow and, right now, I'm leaning towards Protection. I need a few more instance drops to finish my protection set and I don't want to wait forever to get a group going. We will surely see though.

Now to get questing for the money to respec.... so I have a choice.

MMO Madness: A WoW and Greater MMO Blog; who we are


Hello new readers!

So, if you've stumbled across this site, the title tells it all, right? I suppose so, but who am I to discuss such things? Well, at the current time, I'm a dedicated WoW player, slightly bored, slightly enticed, and highly interested in all things MMO. I began my online RPG experiences with a MUD called The Final Challenge in 1998.

MUD's were nothing like MMO's for population but it definitely started a definitive trend for me. I moved from the MUD phase into Neverwinter Nights in mid 2004. I'm a late bloomer, I know. I played the single player game for a bit and quickly moved to the persistent worlds. And so it began.

Now, I'm a level 70 warrior on World of Warcraft. It's a great game. It's supplied me with hundreds of hours of entertainment, but, I'm a bit too casual for the end game raiding. Hence, the only raiding purple I ever got was Malchazeen on my warrior. A dagger. On a warrior. Yeah, but so it goes; I took what I could get.

I've gone between protection and fury a few times now, sampling what WoW has to offer to me. I've levelled a few alts but somehow, over an entire year, I've only been able to get that one warrior to 70. To that, I let loose a resounding "Meh." I like my warrior. I think I'd like a lock more but what can you do? So, yes, meh it is then. Maybe in time.

So what can you expect from this blog? Currently, I'd say it will primarily consist of the thoughts, speculations, and sexulations (intrigued, no? Orcs have naughty naughty thoughts in private... mostly about boars and very ugly women) of a humble protury, yes protury, warrior. On the other hand, I also have a lifetime LotRO membership and am eagerly anticipating Warhammer Online, so expect a few non-WoW posts from time to time.

For the most part, become a loyal reader because, hell, who doesn't want sexualtions from some faceless blogger on the internet? Am I right?

Seriously though, I hope you continue on. I'll do my best to update frequently and keep you informed and entertained. I'll compete with the paid bloggers as much as anyone can and maybe you'll get a couple laughs or maybe even be spurred to think with me.