Blizzard Needs a Different Approach.

I love Blizzard entertainment.

      Honestly, if they weren't in a place so crowded as California and I thought I had the talent my goal someday would be to work for them in some capacity.  Everyone I have met from the company, the way the love their own games, and the quality they aim for all impresses me.  They make me happy.

     Now I know that all seem contrary to the comment I made above.  I mean, I'm sitting here fan boying a bit, and you know I'm a fan since I run this blog, but my title implies something different.  The truth is after my last post on flying in Legion my mind has been on the big flight controversy in Warlords.

     I stated at the time and I will state it again.  I'm a firm believer that the biggest issue with the announcement of no flying was the way in which it was handled.  At the beginning of the expansion we were told flying would be added in a later patch, and then right before the final patch there is an interview where (I believe it was Hozzikostas) casually mentioned they had decided not to implement flying.  And the roar from the fans shook Azeroth.  Or at least Draenor.

     Much of the problem was with the way they presented it.  This should have been something aimed directly at the fans.  A post or a video you click on in you Blizzard loader that has Hozzikostas, or Metzen, or one of the other recognizable heads address the community head on and say "hey, we have decided to removing flying, and this is why..."  Instead having it said in the interview made it feel like it was something Blizzard was hiding and that it may have been a slip.  It raised the question, "If they hadn't said it here, would they have said it at all?"

     I admit to having a short term memory, because I don't remember many other outroars that were that big.  I know there was the moment when Blizzard decided to post on the forums your real name would be shown, but beyond that, nothing.

    It does feel however that when it comes to Warcraft we are not getting as much communication as we used to. I remember there being blue posts and messages constantly through other betas/alphas but both the betas for Draenor and Legion have felt quiet.  After Warlords dropped it felt a lot like Blizzards focus was on their other games.  I believe it's part of the shift where World or Warcraft used to be Blizzard's #1 property, and now we are sharing the spotlight.  It however does not feel good when it feels the focus has gone away and it leaves people wondering.

     Here is where I give some suggestions to Blizzard (I know, I'm a short fat dude and they have no reason to listen to me.  I'm going to speak anyway.)

    First of all, next time you have a decision that may be controversial take a moment and discuss it with the community rather than just making the decision.  The flight issue would have been mitigated by a lot if there had been some threads in the forums by blues saying "This is what we want to do and this is why, but we want your opinions."  Yes I know there would be a lot of whining and pointless crap to sift through, but you could also take the pulse and get the feedback from the community before making a change.  If it's something that would effect flying or another major mechanic you have given us, hold an open discussion with your fans.

    My other piece of advice could work for all your games.  Make sure you are talking to all your fan bases on a regular basis.  I don't know if having a monthly update on the state of the game is the way to go, but fight the feeling the community gets of, "well, we are in Alpha, I've got months before the next expansion and Blizzard doesn't care, I mean they are focused on Overwatch."  Make sure the doors of Blizzard tower feel open.  Find ways to communicate that you do care.  There is a reason that there is a #threetiersinthreeyears hashtag.  It's painful, but there it is. Warcraft needs to continue to feel like it's important to you as well as the community.  Long silences get interpreted by the community as you don't care.  Even though I know for myself that is not the truth.

    I know it seems over simple.  But this is a relationship we have with you Blizzard.  Like any relationship, you need to let the important people know you think they are important.  Otherwise overtime you loose them.

    Anyway, until next time.

Lag.

Flying into Legion.

It wasn't long ago we had "Flightgate" in Warlords of Draenor.

     Now let's be fair here.  There was little or no doubt after the community explosion over flying in Warlords that we would be getting flying Legion.  I myself am a fan of flying, but as I stated earlier, if it was removed from future expansions it wouldn't be a game breaker for me.  I think there are valid arguments on both sides, but that isn't the issue at hand.

     It was revealed that when patch 7.0 drops you will have your requirements for flying in Legion.  Like in Warlords it will be an achievement based.  What the achievement will be, I think it's pretty easy to guess.

     Plan on finishing all the main quest lines in all the areas relevant to your faction.  One of the main reasons Blizzard wanted to remove flying was to make sure everyone experienced the content in a good grounded fashion.  This meant not flying over mobs to kill the main baddy in a quest or skipping important content.  They are going to want you to experience the world in a way you have to interact with it.

     Plan on having reputation with factions.  This is where I pray faction reputation isn't the grindfest that it was in Warlords.  I never bothered focusing on any this last expansion because there were no rewards worth wasting my time pounding mobs.  The only factions that mattered to me were in Tanaan Jungle simply because that was how I had to earn flying.  Other than that I simply didn't care. This time around I hope that doing all the quests gets you most of the faction rep you need, otherwise I see this as a point of whining contention from some members of the community.

      Plan on doing class quests.  Part of getting flying on Draenor was the garrison quest lines and the dailies from there.  I would expect there will be some sort of quest line, maybe given on a weekly basis, that you have to finish to get flying, along with daily achievements.

    Don't plan on getting flying in the first patch.  From what has been seen the achievement thus far is part 1.  I do believe they mentioned on Convert to Raid that finishing part one will give you a speed increase on your ground mounts, but you won't get flying just yet.  This is going to be one of those things that we are probably going to get a few months into the game at the earliest.  I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they didn't release flying until the last patch of the expansion again.  I hope not, but it's possible.  This also means I won't be leveling as many alts initially as I normally do.  I like the ease of flying/questing when I've already seen the story.

    I do have some questions though.  Say they release flying earlier in the expansion.  Is it going to include all of our alts again? Or just the character who earned it?  I hope it will effect all of our alts but since in Draenor it was introduced at the end of the expansion, I could see Blizzard implementing it another way, and then opening it up to include all your alts later.

    What will happen with those who didn't earn flying in Draenor.  Obviously after the expansion ends people aren't going to want to hang around and earn the achievement for the most part.  There are exceptions here, but if you have a friend who gets the game and starts playing now, that means if you want to go run retroactive dungeons in Draenor with him, he is going to have to walk.  I am honestly hoping they open up flying in Draenor to everyone when Legion drops.  Or at least make it included if you get the Legion achievement.  I don't think this is a big deal, but it's a question I feel is at least worth asking.

   So, anything I miss or anything that needs to be added to this discussion?  Post below.

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.

One Shot Ahead.

This weekend was interesting.

      We were short folks on Saturday so we pulled in a few from the nether.  We managed, with this help, to down the first two bosses in the Hellfire raid first time fighting them.  It was exciting and exhilarating and we got pumped up.  Then we hit Kromroc.  OR more specifically he hit us.  We stopped on him for the night and resolved to come back tomorrow.

     Then tomorrow happened and a big thing was apparent.  We are undergeared/under dpsed on several characters.  This leads the question of what to do about it.  I know we have switched nights and a few things are  going to be out of whack for a little bit, but there is no reason anyone can't keep up.  At the end we didn't down any additional bosses.

     So here we are in Tanaan Jungle.  There are a ton of ways to get some gear now.  Every 20k Apexis crystals you can upgrade one of the armor/item drops from the area to 695.  Of course when they drop they are at 650 not upgraded so that works too.  If you can't get a drop (i.e. a weapon) you can buy the token to create it as well for about 10k apexis.  This means you can get a decent upgrade every 20-30k apexis that drop.  That seems like a lot, but doing your dailies and a little grinding and you gain apexis fast.  Also keep an eye out for the apexis weekends when drops are increased...

     Doomlord Kazzak is the new world boss and taking him down once a week is worth a chance at a 705 ilevel item.  This is also the best place to farm Felblight if you are saving up for some to make upgrades for your crafted items.  Which hey, another thing you can do in this area.

      As of this week LFR opens for the first wing as well.  This is your weekly run of hopefully upgraded items in whatever doomed group you end up in.  I only mean doomed by normal bunch of LFR folks refusing to talk or do anything beyond getting in, getting loot, and getting out.  I am hoping to run this sometime in the next couple of nights to see how it is.

      This week will be a short Weekend as well.  With the 4th of July we will only be raiding Sunday.  So take time to get some gear, get worked up, and let's hit the raid hard Sunday.  I would love to at least get the first two bosses down again.  Also look up the first few raid fights.  Fat boss is preferred but LOS gaming is fine for quick tips if you don't have a lot of time.

See you all this weekend,

Lag/Lazyeye

Patch 6.2 My Precious

And it is here.  Today.
 

      Saturday was a LFR running day.  I wasn't available as I had to work, and not enough folks showed so we ended up running LFR together.  Wasn't there, but I assume Magilla was stoic, people shot and stabbed things, and fun was had.  If fun wasn't had, then I blame Gul'dan.  Dude ruins everything.

     Sunday was O.k.  We went in and one shot Hanz and Franz, (we decided to skip Gruul) and then went and took some swings at Beastlord no one remembers my other name.  Last week we one shot him.  This week we had some trouble, and weren't able to down him.  Part of it is still getting a consistent group.  I'm hoping Hellfire's excitement will help with that.

     Today 6.2 drops and all of Warcraft quivers in excitement.  New content is always ready to be devoured after a lull, and this lull has felt long despite the fact that it probably was a lot shorter then we used to wait between raids and content.  Mists however has built us up for quicker content and now I don't think Blizzard has the option of easing up on the gas.  I still think at times that the content is too fast, but in this case it's time.

      First of all you can start making sure you are getting ready for the return of flying.  Getting the Draenor Pathfinder achievement will earn you wings for your main character, and any other character you have in Draenor over level 90.  This may actually get me to start leveling characters against.  Be aware there is a bit to getting the Pathfinder achievement.  However, Wowhead.com has a great feature where you plug in your character and it will tell you what you have left to do to earn flying.  You can find it at http://www.wowhead.com/flying.  Be aware that the last 100 treasures achievement is a little misleading here.  It tells me incomplete because Lag hasn't gotten 200 treasures, but he does have over the required 100.  Otherwise plug yourself in and see what you have left.  Securing Draenor achievement quests can be bought in your Garrison if you haven't done them.  You can buy maps of the different treasure locations in Ashran.  Loremaster you will have as long as you finished the main questlines, and exploring is just riding around and seeing stuff.  If you start now when flying drops you will have it available to you soon.  Be sure to work up your three Tanaan Jungle reps because you will need those at revered as well.

      Timewalking is coming.  During the weekends here and there you can hop into special events where you can run past dungeons with your characters being nerfed down so the content will be at level for Heroic.  The gear dropping here will be dropping to an ilevel rewarding to your character.  The reason you can only run these on weekends is so you might want to run some Mythic dungeons....

      And yes Dungeons are getting a Mythic level.  It is recommended you have at least some Highmaul/Blackrock gear before attempting these.  ilevel 680 gear will be dropping here with the chance at a ilevel 700 piece from the last boss.  These Mythic dungeons will be on a weekly lockout like LFR so don't expect to run them non-stop to get geared.

     Naval missions are coming as well.  I hope you have around 6,000 garrison resources saved up because that's what it is going to cost you to get your naval yard built and rocking.  Blizzard has said unlike garrison missions these won't be so time consuming and the rewards will be good.  So, plan on setting your missions every couple of days or every week.  This will also be how you create an inroads into Tanaan Jungle.

     Yes we now go back to the area where this all started.  Back to Tanaan to explore and fight the Fel Iron Horde?  Anyway.  New quests, new factions, new goodies.  Oh, and new mats for Professions so you will have to leave your garrison.  MWha ha ha

     Other features include a new Quest journal that gives suggestions on how to best develop your character.  And several folks having to relearn their classes.  Oh, and did I mention Hellfire Citadel.  Yeah, new big green fiery raid.  Bring it baby!  I am hoping this isn't the last big content patch for the expansion and that Blizzard has something else up their sleeves.  I mean, Gul'dan is not even a boss in the Hellfire Citadel....

Anyway, what is everyone looking forward to the most when the servers come up and they can log in today?

Lag

   

The Return of Flying in Draenor.

The community has spoken.

     Saturday raid didn't happen.  I forgot I had promised to be elsewhere that night, and Magilla had prior plans as well.  Not a great way for one of our first Saturday raids, but I think one of the downsides of the weekend raiding is that things are going to come up for people more often.  I ask that people are patient as we work out schedules and the kinks.  Things may be rough for a while.

    Sunday night we didn't have enough folks so we went back and stomped a couple of Pandaria raids.  If we are short again this weekend we are going to stomp them on heroic and get the guild the mount from the first raid tier of Pandaria.  It wasn't current, but it was fun.  Spirits where high and we all had fun.  Was a good way to spend a night.

     But let's get to the topic at hand.  Ian Hazzikostas had made an announcement that flying wouldn't be happening in Draenor or future expansions.  To put it mildly the community did not take this announcement well.  There are several forum posts of rants and raging over this decision.  The few that were defending this choice seemed the vast minority.  I fell on the side of wanting flying back, in a calm rational way.  However as I stated this would not be a game ender for me.  I wasn't going to rage quit and stomp off to other pastures.

     The community was heard however, in the largest rage fit since Blizzard announced they were going to make people post their real names on the forums.  (Did you remember that little gem?)  Here is the article they posted on the matter. Dev Watercooler-Flying in Draenor  Now lets discuss.

      For those who don't want to read the whole thing, let me put it in a nutshell.  Flying will now be introduced into Draenor sometime after 6.2 (not during the patch launch.)  In order to get flying you will have to finish Loremaster in Warlords along with a couple of other achievements.  At that point you will get a shiny new mounts, and all your toons will be able to learn flying after level 90.

      This I think is an elegant solution.  It let's Blizzard get us into the game on the ground while leveling and achieves their goals.  At the same time it will allow people to earn the right to fly, and help them level alts later on rather then having to hoof it through the content on every single toon you level.  I think this is a model they should look at for future expansions as well.  I don't mind them gating flying behind achievements or level requirements.  I don't think it breaks the content to let people fly around after they have done it once.  I am not sure this will get people out of their garrisons, but that's another discussion.

       There is a sacrifice that is being made here that folks aren't looking at.  Dairies on Convert to Raid podcast mentioned that time spent on making content work for flying could be time spent on other content, and he's not wrong.  Think about it.  If Blizzard didn't have to make the world pretty for those who buzz above and fly they could put that time elsewhere.  More raid content? Dungeons? Questlines?  Things that could help fill these times of lull between major patches and give us more stuff to do in game.  I am not saying that this trumps the joy of flying and the ability to re-explore the world from above, but it should be taken into consideration.  As with all things, you have to ponder what you are sacrificing in order to gain.

      How do you feel about this? Is Blizzard on the right track with this plan?  Do you think this means that they won't try to take flying out of newer expansions, or stick to a model like this?  What are your thoughts.

Lag/Lazyeye.

Kids and Flying Banned in Draenor.

This last week had no raids.  I had stuff going on both nights so..... let's get to it.

      First of all in the news of new experiences I have let my two daughters start playing Wow a bit.  This should be interesting to see how they learn to play and whether or not they enjoy this virtual world.  At 12, and 13 they are old enough to experience a game like this and I'm looking forward to watching and teaching them.  Don't expect them to be online a lot, but here and there.  When asked when they get their own account? I answered when they can pay for it.  So, They won't be at raid anytime soon.  I'm just mean like that.

      When your kids are old enough I recommend trying this.  It's fun to see what your kids choose.  Right now we have a Human Mage and a Draenei Hunter.  (I forced them to start Alliance because I'm more familiar with the leveling and story lines should they need help.)

      In other news there will not likely be any Flying added to Draenor.  Here is a link to one o Blizzards forums talking about it Forums/Flying.  Obviously this is a hot button topic and I recommend giving some thought to this before going crazy.  This choice could still get reversed if Blizzard gets enough constructive (notice I didn't say negative) feedback as they have with other choices in the past.  Remember when to post on forums you were going to have to show your real name? I do.  Here is a link to the actual interview where Hazzikostas gave the now flying news. Introducing Tanaan Jungle: six things to know about World of Warcraft's newest zone

       I really want to push the constructive feedback aspect of talking to Blizzard if you want to post or comment about this or anything else.  If you go in screaming and saying things suck, your just going to get lost in the forest of idiots who have nothing to base their opinion off of other then emotion.  If you go in and give facts and act like a decent human being, you are more likely to be heard.  Every time.

      This does mean that my opinion on the Runesaber from last post is strengthened by this choice.  I think it was a bad move to release it with flying and now with this interview it's just going to feed the people angry about no flying.  I just see this as a bigger and bigger mess that people will still be arguing about several expansions from now.  Because you know, most people who are pissed won't unsubscribe and we will have to listen to them go on and on about the mistake removing flying was.  Rather they will stick around and complain.

     For the records, I think they should return flying (and I've said as much) but not at the time of release.  I think it should be introduced after the expansion(s) have been thoroughly explored by people leveling.  However, I'm not going to rant, rave or talk about unsubscribing.  I understand and respect the choice even if I don't agree with it.

       Other new I am still doing raids on Tuesday and Wednesday for the next couple of weeks, but everyone who voted on the website voted for them to shift to Saturday/Sunday night.  I will give warning in raid before they shift, and will still watch for feedback but that decision seems done.

Have a great week
Lag/Lazyeye

Check out the Runesaber mount.

I've been very bad about posting this last month.  I have gone every other week for two weeks and I'm not sure I might keep up weekly... more on that in a moment.

      Last couple weeks of raiding has been interesting.  We have managed to get into Blackrock Depths and keep hitting along.  We are still only two bosses down though.  Our focus right now is Beastmaster Dumluck (Yes, I know that's not his real name) and we are getting close.  I'm hoping we will be building some momentum soon.. But we will see what happens.

      First, let's discuss Blizzards new mount shall we.  Twenty five dollars will net you this brand new shiny tiger.  I'm cool with that.  I think it's a spiffy looking mount.  I can see my Night Elves salavating at the idea of riding the purple beauty into battle.  I do have one issue with this.

       The mount had an emphasis on the fact it can fly.  Now, thats not a bad thing per se in a normal expansion situation, but since in Draenor we can't fly yet this seems something that wasn't thought through very well.  As a matter of fact to those who have been fighting for flying it's almost like  a middle finger up in the air.  I don't count myself amongst those individuals as I think it's time to flying, but I'm not going to cry or freak out if it doesn't happen.  I understand Blizzard's reasons for the no flying, and I respect it.

     I think this was just a case of people designing something, thinking it was really cool and not realizing the implications of releasing it right now.  No body is perfect and Blizzard has shown that while they come close at times, they aren't either.  Like I said, I love the look of this mount.  I'm not likely to plunk down twenty five bucks on it just because I normally don't buy mounts or pets, but it does appeal to me.  I think the only thing wrong here is the timing.

     Now if Blizzard has been smart they would have held onto this mount until they announced the release of flying in Draenor.  Whether that is in 6.2, 6.3, or 7.0 it would have been cool if they had done a campaign around the idea of, "Now that you can search Draenor's skies, do it on this shiny new mount!"  I think in that case it's a lost opportunity on their part.

     I really don't want to beat this into the ground though,  Five minutes on twitter and you can hear the screams of people critizing the introduction of this mount on Twitter, Facebook, or whatever social media site you like to use.

     The other point of news this week is we are discussing moving our raid times to Saturday/Sunday instead of running Tuesday/Wednesday.  The reason behind this is that this raid leader will be going back to school soon.  Yes, he will be hauling his old butt back into a learning enviroment pretty much killing his free time during the week.  Guild members can go to our site at Fear Itself and opine or vote on the raid night.  There has also been a point of discussion brought up here that is worth mentioning.

     When running current content people should be playing on their best geared/performing toon.  I agree with this, but have been lenient on it at times.  I will start enforcing this with a couple of exceptions.  You can bring a different toon based on these two standards.

1. Your toon does comparable dps/heals as the one your swapping with.  I have no issue with folks swapping to a different class, but do your work to get to the point where they can come in.  The reason I haven't been running on Lazyeye this expansion is that he just hasn't got the deeps Lag does right now.  Otherwise I would be swapping to ranged right now as we have had times where we are too melee heavy.

2.  You are assuming a new role.  If we need a healer and you swap, this is an obvious exception to me.  Same goes for tanking.  If we need a tank and you have one ready to go, as long as it's geared enough for the content I would rather have you swap than not have us run at all.

    These are the only two reasons one should swap.  If you do not meet either of these plan on being on your strongest toon.  Once we have things on farm we can then discuss switching and running alts.  This is something that like I said, I have been lax on, but not anymore.

    As a matter of fact I'm starting to build my shaman up so we have another healing option. However, I guarantee you won't see her in raid until she is ready to kick as much butt as Lag does.

Lag/Lazyeye.

I'm ready for flying now.

I think it's been long enough.

     I am going to keep it simple.  We didn't raid this week.  Attendance boss hit us twice so we all (those who showed) Jumped into an LFR and ran whilst chatting.  Not the fun we were looking for, but it was fun non the less.

      I haven't minded not being able to fly thus far.  I agree with the big heads who have decided that not flying in Draenor where right.  The world has been more immersive and the experience leveling has been much better.  The ability to run into other players is nice, and I mostly haven't felt limited, until now.

     At this point in the expansion I am not as worried about immersian.  Most of the time when I'm going some where I want to get in and out.  I have played through the areas 2-3 times, and I know the stories already.  Most people now spend the majority of their time hiding in thier garrison and avoiding the outside world.  The whole reason they decided not to allow flying is evaporating quickly.

     I also miss my mounts.  While they have made most mounts able to run, glide, or crawl along the ground it just doesn't feel the same.  The mounts that I earned by doing raids, dungeons and achievements are starting to collect dust and it doesn't feel good.  Out of all my mounts I only use a small handful in the first place, and it's even less now.

     Not flying on the other hand, is not going to make me quit Wow.  It's not something that is going to destroy my enjoyment of this game, or make me cry and shriek about unfairness.  It's just something I would like to see return.  Please Blizzard?

    That's about all I have for now.  See you next week.

Lag/Lazyeye
 

And Here Comes the 6.1

And it drops on this Tuesday...

 
     Tuesday was pretty good.  We went in and tried Kargath on Heroic and got eaten.  We managed to get his life low enough to feel good but never quite took him out.  Instead we moved on after an hour or so to down a few bosses for Loot.  We only managed three, but it was better then a wasted night.

     Wednesday we went back into Blackforge and still only got down Gruul.  We had some issues fighting him that felt like things just weren't syncing up very well. We finally got him down, but not in enough time to do much else.  That means we ended the night right there.

     But enough talk about raiding.  6.1 is dropping right quick and what do you need to know about it?  Not much.  It isn't changing the landscape much other then some nice UI updates and a few tweaks here and there, and that is fine.  Not every named patch needs to be absolutly awesome.  Sometimes we just need the little quality of life tweaks that are given.  This one will include....

     Heirloom tab.  As an altoholic I fully approve of this.  This means no more trying to remember which character has was heirloom on them or where they went.  You simply click and summon the heirloom for you nooby toon, and then delete it when you done.  If you have one level 100 warlock and want an army of 49 more warlocks on your account, no problem.  You can roll them all and then summon some heirloom threads for all.  Also, if you get enough heirlooms (I believe it's 35) you get a lowbie mount called the chauffered chopper.  You get to ride in the sidecar and let someone else drive you around.

     Male blood elves.  OK, old bad joke that is still somewhat relavent.  Seriously though, your blood elves are getting a visual work up.  I don't think it's going to be an insanely big change but it will be there.  Don't worry, your laughs and voices are staying the same...

     Selfies and Tweets.  Yes, for you superficial folks that have to show off your characters and achievements to everyone you can now take a shot and tweet from in game.  I won't lie.  I am one of the folks that think the whole idea of selfies in real life is absolutly stupid, and finding them in game doesn't excite me.  I mean, aren't you excited for your non-gamer friends to lift an eyebrow at your pixalated glory?

     Legendary follower.  Yes, we can get closer to our legendary rings and we can earn a legendary follower.  Most people know who this is by now, if you don't I won't spoil it for you.  Needless to say this one I think is a nice touch and I'm excited for.

     Daily Garrison quest.  You can run a dungeon or do a quest for a chance at 640-665 gear.  This is a cool way to gear your alt slowly, or get some more chances for loot.  It might actually get folks out of their garrison a little.

     Speaking of garrisons, they are changing the UI up a little with improvements to identify what followers fit what quest better etc...  Also, your followers will now be counted when working at your buildings only if they are present during a work order.  No more assigning them for pick up, or drop off then pulling them for quests.  On the bright side they will now get experience while doing this so they can grind their way to epic while mining your ore.

    Flying.  Ok, that was mean of me.  It doesn't look like we are getting flying yet.  I don't mind not flying per se, but I do miss it.  I look forward to getting it and further exploring Draenor.  In other words,  Num Lock, fly forward while sneaking a snack, then coming back to say wow! That is a neat cliff I'm face planted in!

    And much more.  You can look up the patch notes to see what I've missed.

So what are you excited for in 6.1?

Lag/Lazyeye.

 

Tectus has multiple personality disorder.

One more week down....

     Tuesday went well.  We one shot all the ones we had already downed, and the mood was pretty good.   We hunkered down and prepared to take on Brackenspore.  After a few tries and a little frustration we managed to kill him dead.  On the last pull of the night.  Happiness and joy abounded.

    Wednesday started out with us almost not raiding.  After the group had gathered we went to knock on the door and Highmaul seemed to be not at home.  Trying to get into the entrance just resulted in a long loading screen that kicked you back out after a couple of minutes.  After a half hour of this I was starting to call the raid when one member dropped from the group and got in.  We disbanded, handed him temporary leadership and moved in together.  From there we went to work on Tectus, and after a few pulls we swapped Saberlynn to disc and with the extra healing he went down pretty well.  Then it was on to Kor'gath.  That is where our night ended, we did a couple of pulls and then went our merry ways to re-convene next week.

       Now, for the news part of this week, 6.1 is now live on the PTR and Blackrock Foundry opens on February 3rd.  Both of these are big deals.

      First of all, it is nice to know when the next raid is opening other then "Sometime in February."  I honestly suspected with the vagueness of Blizzard's answer that we wouldn't be seeing the next raid until close to the end of the month.  It was a pleasant surprise to know we can traipse our way in three weeks from now.  There is hope that we can be 7/7 in Highmaul by then.  At the rate of progress we have had, I believe we may get there on opening week.  That is, if we can get the first five bosses down on Tuesday from here on out.  I think there is a chance we could pull that off.

        As far as 6.1 is concerned.  We are already seeing spoilers and data-mined content.  As always anything you hear about the next patch from anyone but Blizzard must be taken with a grain of salt.  A lot of the information gained is stuff that never makes it into the game and people get butt hurt when their expectations don't become realized.

        We are getting an legendary follower.  I'm not going to spoil who it is, but I am very excited.  And no, it's not Varian Wrynn.

        New blood elf models are on their way.  Looks like there is a good chance we will have them with this patch, who is happy about there finally being male blood elves to play?

      Heirlooms tab!  That's right!  If this feature makes it in, you can just create and equip the heirlooms you already own from a tab.   When your done, just throw those suckers away.  No more mailing between realms.  No more re-buying the heirlooms that have dissipated along the way...

      And much more!  This is a content patch so far.  No raids, just fun little quality of life additions.  6.2 should be the next raid, and then 6.3 may be the last patch of the expansion?  If they stick to the two raid tier plan it will probably be.  Then again, maybe Blizzard will have a change of heart.  I believe they said that the final raid boss will be a surprise this time around.  (This after someone slipped and said it was going to be Grommosh Hellscream right after Blizzcon)  I am personally hoping for Gul'dan and the Shadow Council as that would fit into that last big bad nicely.  This would really fit into the current legendary quest for our ring.

     That is it for this week.  Next week I'm hoping to have something more opiniony.  Like, NO FLYING IN WARLORDS EVAH!  Or at least not looking like it in 6.1.

Lag/Lazyeye.

and the release for Warlords of Draenor is.....

11/13/2014.  Yes, I was optimistic and off

        We aren't going to discuss raiding this week.  I took Tuesday off to spend time with my wife and saw "Guardians of the Galaxy" (Awesome, go see it) and Wednesday we didn't have enough folks to field a foray into enemy territory.

      The big news, the announcement of the release date for Warlords.  Yes, I guessed wrong, partially because I wanted the darn thing sooner.  I am convinced though that everyone wanted it sooner, including Blizzard.  However great things came from today's unnecessary announcement.  (Yes I still think they should have just released the info instead of spending extra time on and effort on this.  Not because I believe it has any bearing on when the game comes out etc.. but because it's a pointless dog and pony show.)

      The almost as big news as the release date is that this is blog #100 from me on this site.  I sit here amazed and surprised that I have managed to keep blogging on a weekly basis. (I have only missed one)  Some weeks I have even blogged twice which is why I am here less then two years after starting this.

      I want to actually take the time to thank some people, though I am sure I will miss some as we have an ever growing and changing team, that have worked and influenced my time through Wow as a Raider.

     Aeryn-My wife and partner in crime.  Honestly, I fiddled here and there but never would have started raiding if I hadn't sojourned with her into Midnight.  She is the extrovert to my introvert that has helped build my relationships in WoW.  She is the best priest heals machine I could have sitting next to me and making sure I am seeing everything going on in raid.

     Gwyndolynn- Our guild leader and druid heals machine.  I can't remember what she thought back in Wrath when me and Aeryn stated that the guild should start it's own raid team.  I do know she has been supportive since day one and we have rarely butted heads over things.  She has very rarely missed a raid and has been a solid fixture since we started.

      Magilla- Warrior tank master.  Mag has been tanking and running with us since ICC.  You couldn't ask for a more solid co-tank and raider.  He is always on, ready to rock and lead us into danger.  I think he didn't know what he was getting into when he joined us, but I'm glad he did.

      Shaqia- Shaman heals/enchancement.  He is there making sure no one gets too serious.  Amazing with heals, and getting crazy on dps lately rarely does he miss a raid.  He started raiding with us at teh beginning and has taken a couple of Wow breaks, but I always look forward to him coming back and smashing things.  Then we go raid....

       Scorpiack- Shaman/Warlock.  Scorpy has been mainly a shaman but has recently put away his lightning for demons and fire.  He has always ruled the dps charts in our guild and is happy to destroy anything that gets in our way.  I'm a little more fuzzy but I believe we picked up Scorpy at the end of Wrath, beginning of Cataclysm.

      These five I would consider the core of our team.  They have been running with us solidly for multiple expansions and make even the worst wipe fests of a raid a good time.  I imagine without them I'd have a hard time stepping up and leading the guild to our doom.

      There are more to be mentioned though, we have

       Shojji- Hunter and brudder.  He's been playing Wow a good while but he just really started raiding with us this Xpack.  As a deeps he has grown and is constantly working hard to be better.  I think in time I will be fighting him to stay near the top of the deeps chart.

       Belevina- Bel gets a mention here as he has been in and out of our raids for the last couple of expansions.  His priest deals pain instead of heals and when he's in raid stuff dies a lot more easily.  And he's entertainment!  His sarcastic comments can challenge my own!

      Mynk (Hellscream)- Monk tank from Midnight rising-One of the newer members of our team, she is light, bubbly and brings some good positive happiness to the raid.  She has been a great addition and I am hoping we can keep her into WoD.

      Orheim- His Disc priest makes sure we know what is going on in raid.  He is a good solid healer and when he is in raid everyone knows it.  He is invaluable at times when trying to figure out a wipe, and while I don't always agree with his observations, I love the fact I can always get feedback from him.

     Reighven-He is still playing in the guild but the school monster took him from us.  (Priorities, sheesh, hee hee)  Hopefully sometime we will get him back but the man is one of the best fathers and people I have known and I'm honored to have gotten to meet and spend time with him.

      Amelmi-Another person who has been in and out of our raid team for a couple of expansions.  When he is there the numbers his lock rocks is almost insane.  I'm excited any day he runs with us.

      Cricky- She will always have a special place in my heart.  Cricky hasn't raided with us for a while but she was one of the first people I invited to our guild when I opened it up to more then family, and I feel I have virtually gotten to see her grow up a bit.  She will always be our guild mascot.... because you know young girls don't play Wow so she was a FBI agent the whole time.

      Fantaa-The mother of the guild, literally for some of us.  She doesn't run with us often but she is sure to keep us on the straight and narrow in and out of vent.  She always brings fun with her.

      There are a few more who have been hopping in that I don't know as well yet,  Ainnvar, Aluara, Frosttide, etc...

And there are so many more I could mention who are gone.

Bromli, Deadlysinner, Wickedsavior, Lotauna, Khallon, and Ithuriol, and so many more that I know I'm forgetting.

Thank you all for making Wow a good part of my life.

I will see you in raid.

Dizzty/Lag/Lazyeye.

   

     
   

   

Swing it! (Raid update 01/25/2014)

So, we went once more into the breach.. oh and I just had to include the picture.

Anne Stickney From Wow Insider made this epic picture.

     Tuesday was good.  We one shot every boss except for Sha, and on Sha we still managed to get him down before the raid was over.  This is the first time we have cleared first wing in one night.  I am not saying that we won't be going back in, but we have pushed far enough through I'm happy to start working second wing first raid day now.  We are once again moving forward.  We are showing signs of the raid team improving, and I'm looking forward to making some good progression now.

     Wednesday was a good raid too.  We only managed to get two out of four bosses in the second wing down, but that puts us about even with where we were before things started to decline.  I feel we are about to flip and start getting some forward motion going, and all I can say is that it's about time.  I want to see pay off for everyone who has stuck with us for all the rocky moments, and who want to start building again.  I see good things on the horizon.  I am an optimist....

     That not to say we didn't have some issues.  We are building a raid team, which means some people need performance worked on.  Personalities are getting to know each other.  we had a tense moment at some comments someone made Tuesday night, and luckily it passed.

     One of the hard things with working with different folks it that it's easy to forget we all have different experiences in Wow.  Some of us glide through and have fun, with little problem.  Other's have experiences that have changed the way we view the game and guilds all together.  I know if you want to get my wife's hackles up, just mention the guild Midnight we were part of for a while.  And yet, I can guarantee you there were plenty of people in that guild that had no issues at all.

    That is neither here nor there however, right now we blaze our own path.  We will continue to build, continue to down new bosses, and we will eventually see where it leads us.

    I'm betting it's to a happy place.

Lag/Dizzty/Lazyeye





   

Fly you fools! Well, wait until 6.1 anyway.....

The wonders of how some things blow up.....

      On "The Instance," one of my favorite pod casts recently there was an interview with Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street, (Whom apparently stopped monitoring Magilla's vent so he can wipe us when we are cocky for Blizzcon) and in the interview Ghostcrawler was asked about flying in the next expansion.

       Ghostcrawler mentioned it had been DISCUSSED that they hold back flying until the first patch (6.1 respectfully) because they want to make sure everyone takes the time to explore the new content in the upcoming expansion.  By forcing players to walk instead of flying, it makes them interact with the world more, and they don't skip areas or content while leveling, or after. 

      Of course, people blew up at this.  Trolls came out in force on the forums threatening to quit the game, and even making passive aggressive comments like, "Well if Blizzard doesn't like flying mounts they should just take them out of the game" (Paraphrasing.) People started firing off their mouths (fingers?) in disgust, anger, and I think just for the fun of trolling because this apparently is a big deal.

       Blizzard has since then come out and confirmed that flying is not likely to be available until that first patch, and of course that hasn't eased the anger at all.  If you take the time to go through the forums right now, you can find enough righteous anger to feed power to an army of Paladins.  I do suggest taking some heavy medication though before going into the forums.  That place is scary.

     How do I feel about this?  Let me tell you!

      I'm not a fan of this, but I'll get over it.  I enjoy flying, I use it to work on my professions a lot once I get to max level.  It sure is convenient when you want to get around and not get sucked into the mess of fighting bunch of mobs just to get your mining node ninja's by a hordie.  I don't think I am among the people that they are choosing to do this for.  I like to finish all the zones in an expansion at least once, so I can get all the story.  Even after flying is in, I will go back, run through quests, and see what is going on in each area.  I still haven't done this for the horde side in Pandaria, but as my need for LFR is lessening, and NaNoWriMo is over in a month or so, my rogue may get some play time to do the horde half of Krasarang Wilds and any other areas I've missed.

      Will this break the game for me? No.  Do I understand why they are doing it? Yes.  Do I think they should? Not really.  I think they have stressed "play the game the way you want to play it" enough that limiting people like this is not a smart thing to do.  I don't think the people that skip through quests and ignore story lines are going to be any more invested because they are forced to run around for a month or two after the expansion drops.  I know what Blizzard wants to accomplish, I don't think they will get anything but headache over it.

     This brings me to a dilemma on my part.  I normally think when Blizzard makes a decision they need to stick to their guns and see how it plays out.  However, they have listened and changed things when the community rails against them before.  I think if Blizzard has made this decision they do need to see how it has and effect on game play, because I could be completely wrong and this could get people tied even more deeply into the world.  However, I predict that Blizzard will 180 on this if the shouting gets two loud and give us flying right when we hit 100, and the other part of me thinks they should do that instead.  So, in my head I am split on this issue.

      What do other people think about this?  I would love to hear the feedback from other people who are more sane the forum trolls on how they feel about a delay on flying when they hit 100.

     If you want to hear Ghostcrawler's interview it's on "The Instance" Show number 347.  Also, on the most recent show 348 they discuss this a bit more and give you their take on the flying thing.  I recommend you listen to this podcast anyway just because Scott Johnson, Willy "Dills" Gregory, and Mark "The Turpster" Turpin are just fun to listen to.

Lay/Dizzty/Lazyeye