Can You Avoid the Cookie Cutter Build?

It's always been there, in one form or another.

      There was an article released recently that was very interesting on Blizzardwatch.com. It's How cookie cutter builds discourage player customization.  It's a good read going into how player perceptions effect the choices that players overall make.  Give it a read, I'll wait.

      For those who have played World of Warcraft for a long while, you remember Talent trees.  Instead of one defined spec, you could take points in all three moving up as you leveled.  In order to take full advantage of a spec, you had to put a large amount of your talent points into it, but by picking and choosing different abilities in different trees you could make some very interesting choices.

     In theory this meant that folks could have some very customized options in their characters.  You could stick to the bottom half/third of all three specs at one point and never advance to end talents.  Or you could take your fire mage and then give him a bunch of power in frost once you topped off the fire tree.  This should have lead to a bunch of differently balanced characters doing really cool things.  Instead once some number runner figured out what talent point configuration put out the top DPS in the trees the community would all start to adopt that talent point spread.  If you wanted to be taken seriously pugging raids or finding a team you had to be running the popular choices.

     What should have been customization was in fact an illusion.

      As time went on Blizzard started putting constraints on the trees.  The first was that you had to put X amount of points into a specific spec before adding points to a different spec.  Then the trees got pruned and simplified taking out pointless choices, like add X damage to ability B.  Things that they knew everyone in the talent tree would take.  Then eventually the talent tree got the boot out the window and we were given essentially what we have now.  The talents tab.

     By simplifying the system and giving choices that where meaningful when it came to the feeling of game play Blizzard wanted to get rid of the cookie cutter build.  I would say they have been mildly successful, but overall people still depend on which choices are rated the best, or are the most popular.  There are some good options with choice, but most people stick with the popular track.

      I will admit I'm in that pack.  When I level a character I haven't picked up for a year or so, and decide to make that jump to level 100 I normally go to Icy-Veins.com and see what talent choices are rated the best, and which ones I can choose without a DPS loss etc...  I even do this for characters I know will probably not even make LFR.  While the idea of switching and testing different talent choices sounds fun,  a part of me just wants to make sure I'm doing things "right."  This is the part that often wins.

    I guess the question then becomes, is it possible to escape the cookie cutter build?  In legion we will be able to run all three specs and if I read correctly won't need to spend points to switch talents.  I think part of the goal has been for people to swap abilities for different fights, but I find myself only doing this in the rarest of circumstances.  Apparently you won't need a resource to do this swap next expansion which is probably another step in the right direction, but I still think folks are going to mostly follow the crowd.

    This makes the question what can you do to make your game play feel customized?  If talents are just another illusion of choice does it really matter if Blizzard includes this mechanic rather then just giving you the abilities to use as needed?  Is there anyway to beat this Illusion of choice and make it meaningful to game play?  Obviously if the talents had to do with things non-combat related (mount speed, character's dance etc...) then it feels like choice, but it doesn't matter in the over all scheme of things.  How do you all feel about it?

Lag.

My issues are Legion

Because you know, we are getting more information

EDIT: A Quick Clarification, It's two raid instances to start.  The information I had led me to believe otherwise.  I ran a small search and couldn't find anything definitive on how many raid tiers are planned for this next expansion.

With that in mind take my words for what they are worth.  A little misinformed at this point, however should there only be two raid tiers, they are a valid concern for me.  (I can't speak for everyone.) So I will leave them up, but wanted to make sure anyone reading knew they where misinformed at the time of writing.

    First of all, it's been a little while.  I won't lie. Without regular raiding my desire to keep writing here has been a little light.  I plan on keeping this blog going however, and will hopefully pick back up after the new expansion drops and we are back into baddies.  With that being said...

    My first issue is the announcement that there will only be two raid tiers again.  I almost missed this one until they mentioned it on "The Instance."  Really Blizz? If you want to do more content more quickly then you have to live up the that more content part.  I have mentioned it before, but it's annoying that the expansions are being shortened content-wise when the price tag went up by $10.  Now, I'm not going to opt out of wow, and I'm not hurting at shelling out ten more bucks for the next expansion.  I am worried about the precedent that expansion may be two big raid tiers long.  It feels wrong to me somehow.  I know last expansion they said that there was one less raid tier because of Garrisons, I am wondering if Class Halls are going to be the excuse this time around.  Honestly, I would take another raid over a Class Hall, but that's my preference.

     Spoilers (Not going to give them away) seem to indicate that there will be shake ups in both the Hordes and the Alliances leaderships.  While I like to see the story advance, I am wondering at this.  Yes, it's probably time to swap things up in the Alliance.  It's been stagnant there since Varian came back to his throne.  However, the Horde has had enough shake up the last couple of expansions I think they could use a rest over on that side.

     No new battlegrounds.  Now, this one doesn't really effect me as I rarely if ever do PVP.  However, this is the first expansion I can think of that isn't offering any new Battlegrounds coming to the table.  I am worried that the rush in content is going to alienate those people who actually play the game for that aspect of it.  I hear they do exist....

     On the positive side, I love the fact they are really digging into the flavors of each class spec.  Making hunters feel that survival, Marksman, and Beastmaster specs are completely different is a good thing to me.  From what I see most classes are getting more of that and as long as things are generally balance this is a good thing.  It could become a bad thing if spec X is doing way more damage the spec Y and now everyone feels required to play spec X to be competitive.  I know this already happens a bit, but if  people feel forced to play in a way they don't like it's going to push more away from the game.

     I'm still Juryied out on the Artifact weapons, I like the concept, and as long as I can Transmog over them I'm OK.  If I can't, then they may really cramp my style.

How are you guys feeling about the expansion news so far? What's exciting to you? What worries you?  Let me know.

Lag

The Wait is a Mistake.

I know, lot's of awesomeness from Blizzcon today.

     Blizzard and Activision starting their own film and Television company.  They are starting with a Skylanders T.V. show, and mention was made of a Call of Duty treatment.  This is perfect as anyone who has seen Blizzard's cinematics has seen the awesome talent that Blizzard has hired on.  I'm excited to see where they take this.

      The Warcraft movie cinematic was released as well.  I enjoyed it and I look forward to that movie more than I do Star Wars.   I don't feel the trailer gave a ton away other than the idea of the main conflict.  The few shots of Garona made me wish she looked a little more orc like, but really I had no complaints.

      The opening Cinematic for Legion was released as well.  I felt it was VERY Alliance heavy, and that is coming from someone who mainly plays Alliance.  I thought the tone was interesting and I am wondering if they are foreshadowing Varian's doom, or if they are trying to fool us on the direction the expansion will go.  The moment between Sylvanas and Varian before the fight breaks out was something I never thought I would see in a Warcraft game... and anything else I say will be way too spoiler filled for those who haven't watched it.

      And here is where I get a little negative.  They announced, last night actually, that Legion will be released on or before September 21, 2016.

      Really Blizzard? You are focusing on getting content out quicker and it's likely to be well over a year of Hellfire Citadel?  This is going to be a mistake on their part, and I would be surprised if there aren't folks at Blizzard working to make sure they beat that September deadline by a bit.  If they wait that long, I am betting the subscribers who plan on returning will be less than if they dropped it in June, or so.

      The honest part is that the date says BY.  That means there is a chance that the expansion could drop well before September if things work out right.   But with Blizzards standards of perfection and track record, if they do get the game out before September, I wouldn't bet on it being a lot sooner.  They could prove me wrong here however.

      Once again however, this wait could have been alleviated by one or two things.

      Blizzard could have slowed down how quickly they released content by a little.  I'm not saying a lot, but if each of the major patches had been delayed by an extra month or month and a half that could have bought Blizzard 3-5 less months of waiting for the next expansion.  Yes, in reality we would have been waiting just as long, but it would feel as long since the last bit of content was much closer.

      A third raid tier.  I won't lie that I felt it was a mistake for Blizzard to up the price on expansions at the same time they released a two tier expansion.  We had taken it for granted that the previous expansions from Wrath to Pandaria all had three raid tiers.  Yes I know they were saying that the third raid tier was sacrificed for Garrisons, but had they done something, anything, to at least give us a midway raid that would have bought them more time as well.  Instead if feels like we paid more for less content.  That feeling is never good for a player.  It probably won't cost Blizzard my subscription, but I'll be severely dissapointed if Legion only had two raid tiers.  It's just not a direction I think Blizzard should go.

      I'm sure there are other things I could think of.  They could release a patch of just extended quests, make some timewalking raids available, etc... There are things they can, and may do to alleviate this time.  However, remember. Anything Blizzard does at this time is essentially development time they are taking away from Legion, so it becomes a double edged sword if they throw a lot of resources our way to help get past this down time.

    I'm honestly surprised they didn't offer another annual pass deal, because while I don't think this is by any means the death of wow, I thinks it's a major loss of revenue they could have had if things had been planned better.  I honestly hope next time around they do figure this out.  The less people playing World of Warcraft does effect the gaming experience, and I have a right to worry about the future of the game I love.  But enough about that.

What has been your favorite bit of information dropped from Blizzcon so far?

The Last Week Before.....

Blizzcon is coming.  That means the news drought is almost over.

      Had some Firelands fun this weekend.   Nothing big, just a clear for some transmog.

      I've been slow on mentioning it, but the drought got some relief a couple of weeks ago on the PTR.

    We are getting new time walking dungeons from Cataclysm, which to be fair is probably the last expansion that I ran dungeons in after I got past the point where I didn't have to.  They are also expanding the dungeons we are running from Wrath and Burning Crusade as well.  Pretty cool stuff.

     We are getting Valor points back.  Instead of capping how many you can have, they are capping how many you can earn.  Meaning, you will run out of stuff to do to get some Valor love because you simply won't get them from EVERYTHING.  We will be able to use these valor to upgrade item levels again, and they are also making it possible for all your Tanaan Jungle gear to level up to 716 I believe it was... Anyway.  This will give folks a boost to finish the raids they are working on, and maybe even step up a level higher.

     Speaking of raiding, so much rage over a moose.  I mean, Ghost Crawler promised us a moose right?

     Well, he lied.  In order to get this moose you must finish Hellfire Citadel on Heroic or Mythic before the next expansion drops.  With it being shoved into the game at this point, without warning and later in this raid cycle this has folks blowing their tops.  Partially because a lot of people don't think they can finish Hellfire Citadel on Heroic+, but because the time is limited on this mount so you won't be able to go back and get it if you don't finish Hellfire while it's current.  People feel entitled to a chance at anything added into the game.  To be honest, everyone has that chance for this if they can put in the time and effort.  I don't expect to get it, but I'm not putting much effort myself towards this at the moment since my focus is elsewhere right now.  I won't lie, If I get a chance to make a run for it I will, but I'm not sure when I'd find that chance right now.

      But I'm not upset or bitter.  Sometimes there are cool mounts that you don't have time or focus to earn.  I don't begrudge Blizzard this new carrot on a stick.  The mount does look freaking cool though....

     If you are curious you can look up the latest PTR build.  Many things coming.

     Now I will ask, what do you think will drop at Blizzcon this year that might surprise us?

     There is the big push in eSports, but other then that we know most of what is happening.  Legion has been announced, Starcrafts new expansion is dropping already, Diablo has been a little quiet but it might be a little early for another expansion there (I could be wrong) so what do we think will be the big surprise announcement?

     I personally would love to see another annual pass.  My suspicion is that we won't however.  I wonder if they found that the folks who signed up for that where those who would have just played Wow without cancelling subscription anyway.  Or if there was enough negative press that it made Blizzard decide it wasn't work trying again.  Either way that seems like a one time deal at this point.

     But man, if they announced that those who signed up for one would get Overwatch for free and a themed in game mount... I would be on that train.  But I of course probably won't unsubscribe during this time either.

Anyway, that's my rambling for this week.
Lag

This is My Towel. I'm Throwing it in.

So want Blizzcon to get here now.

      Alright, after last weekend and tonight I'm officially calling raiding done until Legion.  I will still put stuff up on Sunday or Saturday night.  But I'm done wasting my nights wondering if enough people will show.  We will probably be just getting together, running old content etc... from here on out.  Watch the Calendar.  But there may be weekends now where I don't plan anything.

      We will pick it up when Legion Launches again.  Before then I will be doing a poll to see best nights for folks to raid, along with times etc...  I can't claim things will change but if there is another time/times that might work better I will look at it.  I am open to suggestions etc... for raiding next Xpack.

       I plan on continuing this blog as news comes out.  I want to continue to discuss different ideas, iterations, and features coming out.  I want to make sure I am keeping my opinion out there.  Being called "the Ornery Raid Leader" may be a misnomer for a while, but for now here it will stay.  I am planning on still raiding leading next Xpack so it will eventually fit again.

     News is sparse at the moment.  Linkin' Park is playing at Blizzcon. That almost makes me consider buying the digital pass for the event.  However, I 'm sure I will get the news I want without paying for the extra content.  While I like to poke at other Blizzard games, I'm still mostly Wow so a large amount of what I pay for won't be of interest to me.

      Now Overwatch Beta is launching a couple days after Blizzcon.  I'm hoping to get in on that, it's a first person shooter that looks like it might appeal to me.  I was in the Heroes of the Storm Beta and didn't find much time to play.  That game is fun, but I haven't had time to play it in depth.
 
      I won't lie, since I now own Benmarble.com I might migrate this page over eventually into a sub domain.  I need to learn a little first.  

      As you can tell, there is not a lot to discuss this week.  Go kill the Headless Horseman.  Get a mount and a pumpkin.  Level some alts. Play Wildstar now that it's Free to play.  Have fun.

     I'm out until next week.

     Lag.

   

The Magic we Miss

Yes, it's going to be dry news until Blizzcon.

     Last weekend no raiding again.  Saturday, only 4 folks showed and we all went and did our own thing.  Sunday, we blew up Firelands for transmog.  Gratz to Scorpy by the way on his Flame Talon of Alysrazor.  So, once again, not enough peeps and we ran older content or dispersed.  I will keep trying to do things on weekends, but if we don't raid until next expansion it won't break my heart.  Don't get me wrong, I would love to get back into Hellfire Citadel and finish it.  However, if I have to find an alternative to do it, I will.

     I just hope we have a group to start raiding with in Legion at this point....

     Anyway, let's go back and discuss a topic we light to cover.  Why do people miss original, (or vanilla) wow so much? People are always talking about wanting to do forty man raids, and how epic it was back in the day.... There is a level of prestige to saying that you've played the game since vanilla (in your own head generally). Part of the reason we were so excited for Warlord of Draenor was the fact it hearkened back to good old Orcs. Vs. Humans and old Warcraft.  Which, while not being Wow itself, stirred up a lot of nostalgia and emotion.  Now we are getting the same feels for Legion.   But what exactly do we miss?

     I think it has more to do with scope and excitement.  I know the first time I rolled a character, (a Night Elf Rogue because I was excited about playing a Drizzt type character.  You R.A. Salvatore fans know what I'm talking about.) The sheer size of the game baffled me.  My brother was nice enough to port me to Stormwind so I could learn the sword skill, because once again, I wanted to wield swords no matter how impractical, and I was amazed at the difference just between Darnassass and SW.

    After that as I deleted and re-rolled characters, trying to find the perfect fit for me, I would run my rogues, hunters, warriors, etc... from Darnassas to Stormwind for that sword specialization.  This would be an hours trip give or take depending on how many time I died on the run etc....  The first couple times however, it amazed me how far I would run/ride a ship between the two areas.

    As I continued to play, it was still hard for me to image just how big the game was.  All the way to level 60 I found myself constantly being surprised at how many areas I could level in, how big the quests where, and all the different story lines.  I very quickly lost my desire to picture Night Elves in the same light as the Dark Elves they had resembled to me.  I fell in love with the lore itself.

     And I remember how cool it felt, when my first character, who was a gnome mage incidentally, hit level 60.  What a big accomplishment that seemed to be.

    That I think is what people are looking for in each expansion.  A level of scope and immersion that we probably won't see again.  We want that experience that was stepping into Azeroth for the first time, not knowing what we where doing in the slightest.  That feeling that there is no way we will touch every corner of this game because of how big it is.  The knowledge that there is something we have never seen before around every corner.

     And that will never happen.  We know this game.  We love this game and have grown with it.  Over the years, Azeroth has been explored by our characters so many times it's no longer the giant unknown.  Each expansion brings us new lands, but they are filled with as much familiar as they are new.  There is no going back, just forward.

    I personally wouldn't have it any other way.

Lag.

   

I don't want another Death Knight. (Introducing Demon Hunters)

I love the Death Knight class.  (Sorry Bel) but....

    Let's start with the raiding news.  Family stuff came up and I didn't make Saturday.  Sunday, no one showed so the couple of us who where there just ran some time walker dungeons.  Pretty much the story lately, I'm going to keep on posting, and we will do something.  This next weekend might be tight for me too... we will see.

    Like I said, I love the Death Knight class.  The starting zone, the feel of the play, the animation I think is all well done.  Some of the Lore choices that Blizzard has made with them (I must make things suffer or go insane being one of them) are not my favorite, but that is something that doesn't effect me in game.

    Let's remember when the DK's where first introduced however.  Blizzard was smart to cap the class at that time to one per realm because everyone had a DK to play.  The class itself was introduced as a hero class and was overpowered in a lot of instances.  Sometimes to the point where someone could just mash buttons and put up great DPS.  The class, despite a lot of criticism has come a long way from that point with all the changes over the last few expansions, but most don't forget the herd of facerolling DK's that haunted our Wrath Nightmares.

    And let's be honest, they still have some features that are arguably overpowered.  You don't see many other classes with the livability and self healing the blood spec has.  There are famous DK's that make a point out of soloing what is considered current or close to current content because they can.  While Blizzard may change that eventually, it's so ingrained into the DK at the moment that the screams would be loud and crazy where they to nerf it away.  So I don't think we will see a big change on this front anytime soon.

    I do however, have to mention, I mention duel-wield tanking on my DK.  It just felt and looked awesome.

    Why am I discussing DK's like this? Well, because with Demon Hunter's being introduced as a hero class I'm hoping Blizzard takes a strong look back and sees what did and didn't work with the DK initially.

    I want Demon Hunters to be fun, I don't want them to be overpowered.  I want them to pull about the same DPS as everyone else when a skilled hand is applied. That's not to say I won't complain if they aren't exactly at the middle of the DPS charts, I just don't want them to breeze into any dungeon and raid and immediately take the top DPS spot on account of the class, not the player.

    I would love to see the one Demon Hunter per realm limit.  I know I might get flack for this, but I know tons of people want to roll them.  I don't want to make it worse by having players roll five Demon Hunters to swap around depending on looks.  Make it simple, and then take the limit off in an expansion or two.  We don't need to be overwhelmed.

    Please let them feel unique.  At this point with Duel Wielding we have Fury Warriors, Rogues, Monks, and Frost DK's.  I am praying that the demon hunter doesn't feel borrowed or mashed from these other classes.  I am a fan of duel wielding in my reading fantasy, and my game fantasy, but I want it to feel like it's own thing.

     Brief but interesting starting area.  I love the DK starting area.  It has great story, feels imporant, and I can play through it in a couple hours easily.  I have a hard time with the Worgen, Goblin, and Pandarin starting areas because I feel trapped and stuck in them forever.  I know they probably aren't much longer then the DK area, but they feel like they take forever.  I would love an option to opt out and just start at level in the Orc, or Human zone.  Please make the Demon Hunter starting zone brief, but interesting.

    Let's make sure that with the introduction of the class I have been begging for since freaking Wrath or earlier is introduced in such a way that they are fun and iconic, but don't create multi-expansion grudges.  I plan on playing this class, and if they live up to their promise there is a good chance I will replace Lag as my main for the first time since wrath.  He has taken a back seat a couple of times, but he has always come back.  The Demon Hunter may be the death of him.  Or at least cause his retirement.

How do you hope the demon hunter is introduced? What did I miss here?

Lag.  

Little Broken Worlds

Last couple of weeks weren't so hot.

     Attendance one again down, through Saturday, and a little into Sunday we just went through and nuked Siege of Ogrimmar.  I think at this point when we don't have the attendance we will start working old raids for mount achievements etc....   At this point there is no reason not to.

     Then the next week, (yes I missed a week here) I forgot to post the raids, and attendance was low, probably because of that.  We worked on ICC 25 (I got my achievement mount) and the next day we did heroic BOT and BRD.  Some achievements where had, a couple missed.  Next time will be better.

     Now is the hard time.  People are playing less and less, some because of real life obligations, others because it's hard to get the will to work on things in an expansion that is for all intents and purposes coming to a close.  Attendance is going to be harder to gain, and so on.

     So now is the time to level the alts if you have something different in mind for next expansion.  It's time to play other games, be they Wildstar now that it's Free to Play, heroes of the Storm or whatnot.  Now is the time to take a breath and not live in Azeroth full time.

    But I would love you all to still show up for raid... hee hee.

    To be honest, I will keep posting raid times whether or not people show.  We can go work on old content mounts like I mentioned in the moments when not enough folks show.  I do still want to work through Hellfire Citadel, and I think we can if we can get the attendance, but If people don't want to show I'll make other plans.

    Let's be honest, we still probably have at least four to six months before the next expansion, we have time.  But that only works if we use that time.

     As for me, I plan on keeping my account active and dropping in when I have time.  School has had a major effect on my play time and that's a good thing.   I am doing well in school and I can't complain about the experience.  I think it had been good for me, and in the long run it will provide some good opportunities.  Not just for me, but for my family.

     So, let's try to get this raid done.  The little nerfs are coming through which will make things even easier.  And if folks decide to keep not showing up, there is always next expansion.

Lag.

   
   

   
   

We Have Time on our sides.

So here we are, It feels to me like everyone is over Warlords, and pining for Legion already...

     This week was fairly O.K.  On Saturday we went in and downed the first three bosses in Hellfire Citadel again.  I am still back and forth on saving progress here, because I know there is a couple pieces of gear folks could get from the first few bosses... but I want to move forward more quickly.

     Sunday we picked up on Council, and even with odds against us we started working on the Council fight again.  We only had 3-4 pulls when the tank we pulled from the nether dropped and left us stranded with 45 minutes left to go.  Rather than pull someone in for half an hour by the time we found them, we called it there.  Of course... we made some nice progress on council!  We might have downed them too if we hadn't lost the guest tank.  He dropped without a word.  Next week I'm pretty sure we will have that fight down.

      Now, with Legion on the way, and despite my tone here it is on the way, we still have some time to wait.  Beta hadn't dropped yet, and with Blizzard the betas for World of Warcraft tend to last a long while.  Several months in most cases.  So, supposing that the Beta for Legion starts right after Blizzcon, in November, we are still probably looking at a March release if they move quickly.  That is guessing at a 3 month long beta and that Blizzard might be very far along in their process.  Most likely the Beta will be longer and we will be looking at June for the time the next expansion drops.  I could be wrong, feel free to tell me I'm wrong, but I feel it's unlikely if we don't see the Beta by Blizzcon that we won't see the next expansion sooner.

     So what to do in the mean time?  I know I plan on sticking to raiding schedule.  Other then that Denarin and Scorpiack are working on openly recruiting to our guild "Fear Itself" on Zangarmarsh.  My hope is to get some of these folks that get abandoned as guilds start to go elsewhere and unsubscribe.  I'm looking at this time of "dulldrums" to do some building.  I haven't had a lot of time myself lately, but I'm managing to log in for an hour here and there.

     Other things that you can do right now? Level your characters.  Build up the character you want to play next expansion.  If  that's your main, you can always get an alt ready.  If you want to try something new, now is the time to get working on it.  Unless it's a demon hunter, demon hunters will have to wait.

     You can work on old achievement and content.   I know on my pally I can solo anything form original wow to dragon soul fairly easily and quickly.  If you ever wanted a rare mount drop off one of those raids, go start farming it.  There are several sweet mounts that are hard to find.  Go get 'em.

     Level something new from scratch.  1-100 still takes a little while.  Go experience the story from the beginning again.  Or start a character on the opposite factions side.  If you haven't played all the starting areas since Cataclysm you are missing out on some great stories.  I recommend the Forsaken starting zone.  It's the reason I have some a desire to see Blizzard do something big with Lillian Voss....

     If you can't find anything to keep you interested, then unsubscribe and wait.  The game will be here when you get back.  I'm a die hard and probably won't unsubscribe unless I literally have no more time to play.  As long as I can at least do raids I'm here for the duration.  My honest guess is that with Wow down to 5+million subscriptions right now, that before Legion drops we will be down to 3.5-4 million.  Once again I don't think this is a death knell in any way for Wow, because when Legion comes back the players will too.  And I think we will have a resurgence that quiets the naysayers until the next subscription drop.  But that is my guess as well.  Since this is all speculation and opinion, I could very well be wrong.

Lag.

Things I'd like to see in Legion.

So, I was at a wedding in Vegas last weekend, so I didn't raid.

      Now here is one of those things that bear asking before the launch of a new expansion.  What have they promised, and what do you want to see that hasn't been mentioned.  And I'll admit it is kind of a hard question for me this time, because it feels like everything has been thrown into this expansion that we have asked for.  It has been called the fanservice expansion in a few descriptions I've read, and I'm not sure how far from the truth that is.  But here are some things anyway....

      I want to see more dynamic professions.  Warlords gave us a neutered down, generic path for our character's professions.  It largely felt like it didn't matter what profession your character had, because you could just get a vendor in your garrison to make whatever you needed for the most part.  The only exceptions seemed to be the items used to level up the ilevel on gear.  Gathering professions where just laughable.  Your garrison pretty much gave you everything you needed on this front.

    Class specific quests.  It feels like we may be getting some of these with the class halls, but I'm not holding my breath.  I have walked in to to many things only to find that we have been supplied with the same quests as everyone else, just with a different starting point, or different faction.  I am hoping that each class with have a series of quests unique to each.  So my Paladin and Death knight can have very different experiences.

     More involved story lines.  A lot of Warlords felt like we were watching events unfold, but not necessary to the story.  This was a departure from the feeling of places like, say Jade Forest where we did something, and felt like we were personally responsible for the consequences at the end.  In warlords despite being called general etc... it felt like we were watching others achieve thing for us, and we just happened to be helping a little.  In order to feel involved our characters need to feel like the driving force in the game.

     Involvement from characters in Warlords  or Mists, or.... Rather then having great character like Yrell disappear from this point on, I would love to see them pop in here and there as we move forward.  Even if it's just running into her while visiting the king on a quest that takes me back to Stormwind. I hate that we get invested in characters and storylines just to see them abandoned for the next big flavor.

     That is the list on my mind, what would you like to see in Legion when it drops?

Lag

Speed Versus Quality.

I have a ponderance about this....

     Saturday night and Sunday both went well.  (Yes, I'm combining this blurb this week)  Both nights we raided.  I had saved from the previous week so  it was all council fight both nights.  We still haven't downed the fight, but we are on the way there.  Now if everyone would watch the strategy for this upcoming week to help out.....

     This week I want to discuss one thing that occurred to me the other day.  Do you think that Blizzard's more quickly released content had effected the quality of the game?  Hear me out here.  I know I have often said that I think the more quickly released content has had a negative effect on the game itself.  It ramps up expectations and now content that would have been fine for a six month span until the next big patch is being hailed as old with in two months.  That is not what I'm discussing here though.  I want to look at quality.

    First of all, let's go to the first expansion to accomplish this.  Mists of Pandaria was fantastic all the way through.  We had scenerios, lot's of endgame content, and the story felt like it had a direction that our characters mattered in.  The big patches were release, Landfall, Throne of Thunder, Escalation, and Siege of Ogrimmar. That is four big patches in what was a great expansion.  However, let's be honest here.  Before Pandaria launched we had a year of Dragon Soul in which Blizzard had time to work on this content.  I honestly don't know how much was done before hand, but I feel a lot more prep time was given for everything we experienced.  That being said, look at the last couple of patches.  Escalation had a couple of scenarios. Siege had a raid and the Timeless Isle.  While siege was big, Timeless Isle I would argue is just reskinned content with a theme that could be explored and experienced within a couple of hours.  Yes there are rewards for sticking in and working there longer, but overall, there was no reason to hang out there unless you needed some gear or had time to kill.

      Now we are in Draenor, and I think it has been less successful.  The leveling game was fantastic, but after that there is little compelling reason to leave the garrison.  Yes there was in game content, with dungeons, weekly garrison quests, etc... but to me it never felt necessary.  I had out geared heroic dungeons in two or three weeks and never looked back.  Garrison quests took a couple hours a week, and then done.  There was no reason to go out and farm since my garrison gave me adequate amounts of ore and herbs.  I've never been a part of PVP so I haven't experienced the Ashran mess.  But by all accounts I've heard it's a mess.  The raiding has been good, but that is a small part of anyone's week for the most part.  Tanaan Jungle has been fun, but once again it was basically in game at launch, and they have just had to populate it with npcs.  We walked through a large part of it in the opening cinematic, so we know at least a large part of it was finished.

     So what happened?  I suspect that without as much time to develop content that we are getting the abridged version of things.  The story lines are there, but they aren't the great bits of unfolding we saw in Landfall, or Throne of Thunder.  Instead we get little bits that last about an hour a week if we are lucky.  To me it just feels like not as much time as been spent on keeping people engrossed.  And yes before you say it, I know they have added Mythic dungeons.  Which, once again I have no reason to run because in a week of grinding in Tanaan they had no gear for me.  I do like the timewalker dungeons, but those are once every three weeks for a weekend?  On top of that, both those and Mythic can all be chalked up to re-skinned content.

    So my question is, will this be what we are looking forward to in Legion? Is everything going to be short, condensed and abrupt?  Is the content feeling like this because of the speed of releasing content, or is there something else behind it.  I have to believe the speed is part of it.  I have no evidence other then my suspicions, but if there is another reason I'm not seeing it.  Blizzard has stated they have the largest group of people working on World of Warcraft then they ever have, so it can't be manpower.

     The other problem is that if speed of release is the issue here, there is no good cure.  I've often been told that you can't do something for a customer, unless you expect to be able to do it every time.  Because once you've done something once, it becomes that customer's expectation they will get it again.  You think flyinggate was bad, see what happens if Blizzard goes back and says they are spending more time on content, rather then releasing it quickly.

But that's my opinion, what's yours?

Lag

You Can't Save Me.

So, this week happened.

     Saturday we went back into Hellfire Citadel and once again downed the first three bosses.  I was very happy to do so, but we didn't get any further in.  So, on a high note we ended the night.

    And ended up not raiding again Sunday because we were short once again.  I know we won't progress well on a one night a week schedule, so I saved the raid.  This week we will be starting on the Council fight.  Should be fun.  Have I mentioned my extreme "love" of council fights.  Yeah, not a fan.

     So, getting down to business.  I am at that point where I'm completely frustrated with this.  I am hoping with school getting back in we might get a slightly bigger pool for raiding, but I'm not a hundred percent hopeful at this point.  It does come down to this though, in order to save our guild's raiding, we need some fresh blood.  So, we have a plan.  (Well, a slight one.)
   
    Denarin in our guild has been given the task of guild recruitment.  With my schedule and other's lately I haven't been on to do much recruiting.  I'm hoping to get one more person in the guild attached to this as well.  It's time to grow things back up and to prepare for Legion when it drops.  I'm betting right now on a March/April release at this point.  They are trying to fast track it, but I don't see the expansion dropping for a while yet.  I'm guessing they are going to have to fast track the Beta this time around, and I would be surprised if they waited until after Blizzcon in a couple months to launch it.  Most of the time the Beta's have lasted several month, so if we get a Beta drop after Blizzcon, that will mean June or later for the expansion by my guess.

    That would mean almost a year of Hellfire Citadel.  Exactly what Blizzard has said they want to avoid.  That would be very bad for an eroding player base that has now dropped to less then half of the record subscription numbers.  Not that I think we are looking at the end of Wow by any means, I think however that Blizzard isn't planning on another 10k subscriptions again.  I think they are now focusing on several games instead of one big cash cow.

     I do think when Legion drops we will see another subscriber gain.  I don't think it will be as high as Warlords, but I don't think 7-8K subscribers would be out of the question.  I don't think Blizzard needs saving.

     Our raid team though, we are getting to that edge where I start going crazy over  the fact we aren't running like we should.  In that case no one will be able to save me. So save yourself.

Lag

Is Harder Better?

Such a weird question... here we go.

      Saturday we mounted up and headed into Hellfire Citadel. It was a good night, very few issues and we downed Kormoc for the first time.  A good raid night all around, I was very happy and my tanking didn't kill us all.  We had a new raider and a person we pulled from the nether with us as well.  It was nice.

     Sunday didn't happen as a raid night.  Not enough showed so we split up and rand timewalking dungeons.  I pulled my DK Illyrea out for a tank test (I haven't DK tanked since Wrath, when I could duel wield tank.  Thank you Blizz) and only wipe us a couple of times.  To me the tanking feels a little clunky on the DK at the moment, but I haven't developed the timing and muscle memory for the class.  Had fun anyway.

      So this week Topic is one that has been on my mind.  With Illidan and a lot of old stuff being brought back again, there seems to be a lot of people wishing for the old days of World of Warcraft.  You know, where there were 40 man raids and everything was mind numbingly hard, because only the elite raided, and they stood apart for it.  And the grinding man, if you didn't spend hours getting herbs and ore making your eyes bleed with all the pixels they were taking in just so your character could be their best.... Well, I think you can already tell where my opinion is on this.

     I think there should be some challenges in game.  And I think we have them, there is Mythic raiding, PVP, and some bigger achievements.  Do I think we should go back to the days of having to CC every pull, spending a couple hours in a dungeon, and wandering around Dallaran yelling in trade for a group? No.  Not at all.

     This game, like all successful things has evolved with the player base.  I would imagine for every person who yells about how easy this game is now, there are a could hundred who roll their eyes and close their ears as soon as the song of the glory days of vanilla comes on.  While I started playing at the end of Vanilla, or original Wow, I sure don't miss the days of grinding and praying I could get one character to level 60.  To me, getting one, being able to get a couple things done, and getting off in an hour or two is perfect.  Heaven knows I can't spend hours upon hours on the game anymore.  Call me a casual.  I'm cool with that.  I hardly believe though the people calling for things to be like the old days are the majority.  I think it's more a vocal minority with a lot of folks who just as soon don't want to engage in a long pointless debate.

    But I could be wrong.  I admit it.  I mean, I know raiding wise as a leader I'm not lighting any fireworks.  We have fun, which I thought was the point of this game, but compared to a lot of the "big raiders" we are mediocre.  I will take mediocre and fun any day over stress, yelling, and treating this game like a job.  Obviously if you want something harder there are other options out there.  Wildstar is going free to play in a couple of months, and it is supposed to be very punishing and hard on the raid content.  Of course, like I said, it's going free to play so there might be a reason for that.

     Alright, my rant is over.  I meant it to be an argument and it's all one sided.  Sue me.  I just can't justify a discussion on making the game harder and more grindy for a few special snow flakes.  In other news....

     Get your pathfinder done.  6.2.2 drops on Sept 1st.  That means we are getting close to flying in Draenor.  If you haven't gotten your achievement, now is the time to get 'em done.  If you don't care, it doesn't matter what I say anyway.

See you in game.
Lag.

Regaining The Fire

So, raiding happened.  I'm very happy that raiding happened.

     The first night we ventured in may have had a couple of issues.  I brought in a new raider who was geared but inexperienced, and it showed a little.  Also, the first boss just kept outright destroying us and we couldn't figure out why.  The healers couldn't keep the tanks up through the first few mobs, and I think we only got to the second siege weapon once.  finally called it.

     The second night our mystery was solved.  On the way in my wife noted that there was a skull in front of the portal.  Somehow I had my raids turned to heroic, and we were all expecting normal. To put it lightly, I screwed up.  But that second night we downed the first two bosses and had our best attempt on the third we have seen so far.  More importantly, we managed to raid two days in a row.  I am hoping this means more happy things to come.

     Now, I've been thinking of the next expansion in reference to the subscription drop.  For those living in a cave Wow is now down to just over 5 million subscribers.  Now, I do not think this is unexpected.  The game is ten years old and we see a lot of drop off as expansions go on.  Warlords itself feels like an expansion that just has aged prematurely to me too.  While it's been out for less then a year, for some reason the content just hasn't felt lasting.  Normally we get some excitement, you feel content to log in every day and do stuff, but this time it feels like it's all been done pretty quick.

     Part of it is the shock of how the end game feels after the great leveling experience.  You hit level 100, and half the stuff you want to do is tied into your garrison.  There are rep grinds, but you really don't need them.  There are daily apexis, but while they are fun the first couple of times they just don't feel great after a while.  The dungeons felt ok, but I wasn't enthralled.  And raiding, as always is fun, but that is only a couple nights a week.  Overall the experience people got after a while was, log in, check garrison, log out.  There was no benefit to hanging around in game for the most part, other then visiting with you guild mates.

     I also think this is where the faster content expectation they built hurt them.  When it feels like very little is coming, and it's coming quickly it just isn't a wonderful experience.  In Pandaria it worked because we had things like the Isle of Thunder, or the invasion of Krasarang Wild as our factions showed up.  All that had direction and felt like it had purpose behind it.  Then we got the wild treasure hunt that was Timeless Isle.  

     Now the best we have is Tanaan Jungle, which is fun, but feels as directionless as the rest of the expansion.

     Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed Warlords, but I wanted to take a look before I went forward at the issues I have had, and that I have heard discussed before I moved forward.  Because there are a lot of things that Legion is going to have to be in order to keep the current subscriptions they have.  Let's be honest too, we know when the expansion drops those subscriptions are going to go up again.  I don't know if they will go all the way to ten million, but no one expected to see that with Warlords and it happened.

     Legion is going to have to have direction and purpose.  We need to feel like we are interacting and controlling the story, not just witnessing it.  Being called general, master, etc... doesn't make up for the fact you don't feel like your character is important to the story.  I want to feel like the driving force behind taking down the baddies, not like I'm holed up in my castle giving orders and surfing chat.

     It is going to have to play on our nostalgia, and keep a hold of it.  The themes we are seeing so far are familiar and exciting.  Demon hunters, Illidan, Tomb of Sargaras, are all fan favorites and great memories from Warcraft III and early World of Warcraft.   Blizzard needs to make sure that these places and people feel enough like the original that we don't feel cheated.  It also has to feel shiny and new enough that we don't get the, "It's all been done" feelings.  Right now the excitement is high, and i'm hyped up, but I need a good pay off for that excitement.  If I hop on my new demon hunter and I feel like, "Well, I've played this class before" it's not going to be so great.  If I go into the Tomb of Sargaras and say, "Oh, I seen this cave skin since vanilla." It will be disappointing.

    The last thing Legion needs to do is find a way to find new players.  Most of us who have been playing for years don't have the time we did long ago.  I know I can't spend hours upon hours questing like I used too.  I have also debated lately dropping my subscription for a while with work and school just so I don't have one more thing pulling at me.  (I'm not dropping, don't panic raid team)  We need to find a way to get new blood into Wow.  I don't know if it's possible but getting those late teen and early twenties crowd to hop in would build a player base with more time, and durability then those of us die hards who have been logging in for years.  At some point we generally move on to other things, there needs to be players coming in, to slow the number drop of those going out.

     Not that Wow is dead or dying.  They still have more subscribers by far then any other MMO out there.  That doesn't mean that they shouldn't be looking to the future a bit more.  I imagine this game will still be going on in some form ten years from now.  I also think with the MMO market what it is, we will never see another MMO with 12 million subscribers that dominates the market like Blizzard has in days past.  I would love for them to prove me wrong.

    That is my thoughts on it anyway, what are you all thinking at this point?

Lag

World of Warcraft:Legion. The Newly Announced Expansion.

      So, needless to say, as this was all announced as information leading into the next expansion, I 'm not going to worry about anything that might be considered a spoiler.  So, if you don't want to know what is coming stop reading here.  I am not filtering, I am not avoiding, I am talking about what was shown and what I'm still looking through.

      So, I am giddy with excitement.  I just watched and looked through some information for this expansion and I'm very happy with what I'm seeing.  I don't think I've been this excited for any other expansion, and I've been excited for most of the expansions... let me explain.

     When you watch the expansion trailer it is voiced by Illidan.  Just to hear him doing the voice over made me insanely happy.  If you watch the teaser cinematic you see Gul'dan going into revive someone who looks strangely just like Illidan.  Pair that with the voice, and we can be sure that the other Stormrage is returning to our World of Warcraft.  I am not sure what role he is playing however, but we will discuss this in a moment.

      We are witnessing the return of the Burning Legion on Azeroth.  While we have tangled with them before, in Wow it was limited to Outland in BC, and the end of Draenor.  Sure there has been the odd demon or two popping out of the nether and earning a sword to the gut, but for the most part that has been the extent of our interactions in this game.  Of course, before BC, they were the ending focus of Warcraft III.

      We are going to the Lost Isles.  If you played Warcraft III you have been here, it's where the Tomb of Sargaras lies among other things.  If I remember correctly, this continent was between Kalimdor and Northrend, but it's been a few years so if I'm wrong I apologize.

      While this is being marketed as, "The burning legion has returned we must defend ourselves" it's very apparent we are going after Gul'dan right off.  He is in one of the first two raids, and I am hoping we put him down.  But I'm not counting on it.

      This expansion seems to be pulling on the heartstrings of those like me who remember playing in Burning Crusade.  From the Illidin voice over to the familiar legion mobs it smacks of new mixed with familiar.  Once again I think Blizzard is playing with Nostalgia to try and bring people back into the game.  But they are also giving us new shiny stuff like my favorite thing... The Demon Hunter Quest.

      The new class looks pretty cool.  With only two specs, the Demon hunter is either Melee or tank.  I am disappointed that they went with leather for armor, since mail is the types that has the least users right now.  Other then that, from the characteristic green glow from where the character's eyes had been to glaves the class looks awesome.  They metamorphose into demon forms while fighting, can double jump, and they even mentioned using your wings to glide down from areas.  This class is supposed to be all about mobility and in the minor game play video they showed, the Demon Hunter can bounce around and fight with the best of them.  However, they mentioned that the Demon Hunters we play (limited to the two elf races) are the Illdari that followed Illidan back in Outland.  This brings us to the big question.

     If we are fighting for the Horde and Alliance, and Illidan is back, does that mean that Illidan is flipping sides to help us against the Burning Legion?  While I've always found his story somewhat not convincing in making him an outright villain, (yes he betrayed people for power in the war of the Ancients, not forgetting here) I felt more that he took opportunity in Warcraft III to grab power and then used it to help, I don't see him as a "good" guy.  He may fit in the Anti-hero role fairly well though and I imagine that it might be safer for him, and for us, to ally for at least a little while.

    But what do you all think?  There are many things that I haven't mentioned like Class halls (garrison where you hang out with the other members of your class in game), and artifact weapons (because you know you want to wield Doomhammer or Ashbringer), and many other things.  Level cap 110, etc...

    Are you guys excited too here? or is it just me?

Lag

   

     

     

Next expansion 2015.... War of The Dead?

     It's that time of year again.  Time to speculate on what the next World of Warcraft expansion will be.  Last time I made a guess at what I wanted the expansion to be I said an adventure where the Forsaken are shaken up because Sylvanas is resurrected and giving her some sort of redemption story.  My guess was that Lilian Voss was going to be the next Forsaken leader as they seem to be building her up to something, and that the expansion would also take us to a series of tropical Islands including Kul Tiras and Zandalar.

    This year my expansion idea is actually a little similar.  So bear with me here.

     I am somewhat basing this on the fact that we get a reference to Wrathion having been in Draenor with us, though he never appeared and what happened to Admiral Taylor's garrison.  Admiral Taylor's garrison bothers me simply because it was obviously destroyed by a necromancer/warlock (Ephial) but we are in a Draenor where as far as we can see, Warlocks if they exist are somewhat new.  The orcs have not lost their shamanistic powers, as happened (to my understanding) when the race gave up on the elements and started practicing magic through demons.  Of course this change seemed to have happened along with the orcs drinking Mannaroth's blood.  (I haven't read to books so my understanding may be skewed here)

    What if the "Dark one" that the Necromancer was referring to wasn't even on Draenor.  Ephial came through the portal to Draenor with us, and may have had some plan all along.  While Taylor's journal does mention Ephial going missing for a while after a Horde attack, I'm not sure this means that whatever twisted him happened on Draenor.  He could have been evil before he stepped through the portal.

     I think things may be stirring in the North.  What if Bolvar has awakened, and he's been corrupted.

     He has spent the last few years up there with Ner'zhul in his head.  Frozen alone with the ghost of the Lich King whispering in his ear.  Because with Arthas having been in the helmet all those years, there is a chance that his voice in in Bolvar's ears as well.  What if we are about to fight another scourge invasion.  What if Wrathion knew this and had arranged Garrosh's escape in order to find  a way to get a bigger army for Azeroth.  I don't think it's coincidence he showed up in the same garrison as Ephial.  He told Admiral Taylor that he was fleeing the ogres, but was that the truth? Or did he lie so he could keep an eye on the evil he found had followed us through.  Strangely, we didn't see any signs of ogres chasing him.  From the account in Admiral Taylor's book he was hardly a prisoner. 

     Now picture this, Bolvar goes south to take out the only true threat he can see to his power, Sylvanas.  What if Sylvanas where to strike back with a Frostmourne rebuilt from the shards.

    When the sword takes her like it did Arthas, will we be stuck between to factions fighting for the dead of Azeroth?  What might have happened in Northrend in the years of our absence?  What might have been awakened from beneath the ice? What lands might the Cataclysm have unearthed between us and the North?

    Anyway, that is my thoughts.  I would love to see "The War of The Dead," as an expansion.

    I'll be honest, everyone is thinking Burning Legion expansion, and dealing with Gul'dan.  But let's be honest, following Garrosh to Draenor was the first time the previous expansions event led to the next expansion.  I'm more inclined to believe they will let that thread dangle for a while.

    What do you all think the next expansion will be?

Lag

Road to Nerdtacular 2015.

It's that time of year again.

      Last couple weeks of raiding has been not really happening.  Low attendance etc.. has had us running old content for kicks and having fun doing other things.  This weekend I'm hoping will be better but since I will be somewhere Saturday night.... The place listed in the title we will see.

     Maybe if I'm not there folks will show.  Who knows?

     Nerdtacular is over for me now.  This is my one big get away event where I go to hand out with Geek kind at Snowbird, Utah.  It is awesome to see how it has grown since the first year I went to see it and we watched Iron Man 2, then had a short Q&A upstairs.

     I wandered around a bit, caught some cool panels.  I really loved the ones on Podcasting and Comic books in Modern media.  However, due to the fact it's so big I had to pick and choose between panels and ended up sitting out hypothetical help and Sword and Laser.  All of these will eventually be streaming somewhere on the Frogpants Network among other places, and I recommend thumbing through and seeing if there are any you like.

My Fat head next to Chris Metzen's

      The highlight this year for me was that Chris Metzen was there.  I didn't talk to him much, but I managed to shake his hand and thank him for an amazing game.  I then embarrassed myself by not being used to taking selfies on my camera. (let's be honest, this is not a bad thing except in this situation.)  I did get this picture with him, and it is fun to be able to say I've met the man.

     If you only listen to one thing from Nerdtacular, I would suggest "The Instance" Podcast.  (Though you should listen to more)  Chris Metzen and Russell Brower where both part of the panel, and Chris essentially stole the show.  He talked a lot about the beginning days at Blizzard and how things have grown and illuminated the path they took to get where they are.  Whatever you think of World of Warcraft, and Metzen himself, I will tell you from the little bit I saw; the man has passion and while he's very smart, he seems very humble as well.  When they talked about Project Titan and the Values Blizzard holds to when releasing a game, I felt myself smiling.  You can tell he cares a lot about what he does, and about the people his products serve. 

Ever Wonder why I love living in Utah?

    Here I am though, two days of Nerdtacular past, and feeling happy about the time I spent there.  Here is the funny thing about me though, I don't talk to many people.  I sit there, by myself this year, and just watch the people around me and enjoy what is going on around me.  I did miss my opportunity to thank Jules from Tauren Think Tank and to say hi, as she had reposted one of my blogs from last year.  I need to email her and say hi and such, but I felt that I should have said something and I let the moment pass.  Once again, I am much better at typing my thoughts out here than approaching people in real life.  Especially when I have a lot of respect, and a little hero worship, for what they do.

     

     I even asked a question on the Podcast (building an audience panel) because I've been kicking around starting one to compliment this blog.  Nothing big, and probably just once or twice a month, but we will see what happens.  In all likely hood between work and school that goal is a long way off.

Snazzy new shirt.

     So, if you ever get a chance to find your way to Nerdtacular, I recommend the experience. Scott Johnson has created a wonderful experience and it's amazing to see how it's grown.

See you soon,

Lag

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    Yes I included a lot more images then normal.  But this was a special occasion.

My Open Letter To Deathknight Joe

Here we go again.

     I won't lie, Saturday we had a rough go at it.  Ended up pulling in a few folks to get running, and it turned into an uncomfortable mess.  Yes we got the first two bosses down.  It was rough but we did it.  However, the folks we pulled in criticized our DPS and brought a negative vibe to the raid.  Nto fun but we eeked through.
 
     Sunday didn't happen, not enough folks and I didn't have the heart to pull folks in again after the previous night.  So a couple folks hung out on ventrillo and we did some dailies and chatted.  Not a bad way to spend an evening, but it wasn't raiding.

     No, I'm going to address the Deathknight Joes out there.  Not there is nothing wrong with Deathknights... I enjoy playing mine.  But this is my imaginary douchebag character.  Deathknight Joe...

    So Joe, if I may call you that.  There is something called common courtesy.  If you are queued up in the looking for raid tool I know that there is no promise that any group you land in is going to be great, or good.  I know that you sit there at your keyboard hoping that when you get an invite it's not going to be to a bunch of hosers that  call you names and treat you like crap.  Or maybe you are a masochist and you do want that, but I digress....

    Being nice people, if we extend that invite to you DK Joe, we are then you hosts.  By the laws of hospitality you are our guests.  It puts in place a mutual respect that means, if there is something you don't like about us, rather then be an asshat, just politely bow out.  Tell us your cat is on fire, or there is a nail polish sale at your local Walgreens.  I won't be offended.

     Don't sit there and crap on our DPS because some of them are low.  I am aware of the situation and we are working to fix it.  I can vouch for one in particular who has been working on rotation, looking stuff up on Icy-veins, and pushing for gear in Tanaan.  She has also tapped a couple of folks to work with her on her class.  I guarantee you next time her dps will be higher.  Do I think it's going to break the charts? Not without practice and some more work.  But she's getting there.

    The thing is Joe, you don't know our situation.  You don't know we just changed to weekends and that means we are building a couple of folks up.  If it's a situation that you don't like, I understand that.  I am fine with you leaving.  I am not fine with you building your ego by criticizing my raid team.  Because I guarantee you Joe, that when you started raiding and playing, you where not better.  Hell, with that ego you where probably worse.

      Here we are though.  We will be working on building our raid team back to proper.  With a little work maybe it can be stronger then it's been in the past.  We don't know yet, but we are working on it.

     So do me a favor Joe, give the next group your in a bit of consideration.  As for me, I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing and being polite and happy to everyone I raid with.  I don't care if they show up in level one grays.  I will politely ask them to get their real gear if I notice, but hey, I will be polite about it.

Lag, Lazyeye