Getting into the Blizzard Spirit.

Merry Winter Veil you wonderful people.

     So let us start out with the thing that makes me the most excited.  This is blog post number 200 for me.  That means since my first post on 5/07/2013 I have managed to keep writing and going on this blog fairly consistently.  I won't say that I have never done something that was more fluff than substance, but I am proud of myself.  Looking at my first post, I started writing just before patch 5.2 dropped so I have been here giving my voice to the community about this game I still love since the middle of Mists of Pandaria.  I don't feel too bad congratulating myself here.  Most people don't keep writing consistently on something like this, and even though at times it has been hard, I am still here.

     The news is a little slower at the moment.  Blizzard is seeing Christmas time like the rest of us, so I wouldn't expect to hear much until January.  They did mention that they are aiming to release the Nighthold Raid on January 17th.  This means if they want to get patch 7.15 out before than it will have to fall on January 3rd, (Happy Birthday to me!) or on January 10th.  Beyond that World of Warcraft still had raiding, PVP, world quest etc... you could be doing right now.  Or you could be leveling another alt!  The leveling experience is great this time around, as long as you are willing to let characters sit and feel like they aren't progressing.  I still don't like how alt unfriendly this expansion feels.

     Winter veil is in full bloom in game right now.  Go fight your Grinch and prepare to log on Christmas morning to open up your presents in Ironforge or Ogrimmar.  We are sure to get some new toy this year and another ugly sweater. Of course with Christmas being this weekend I have to ask...

     How are you spending your Christmas break?  Assuming you have one.

     I am out of school the week after Christmas so I am looking forward to logging on some week based hours.  Hopefully I can get my family together and run a few dungeons or Mythics.  I don't see myself raiding, but if one of the groups I chat with etc... need a dps I might hop in.  Next week is going to be a big de-stresser for me.  Not that I'm very stressed right now.  School is going well, my new job is fabulous, and my family life is good.  The only thing I lack most days is time to sleep.

     I might throw a few more hours into Diablo III as well. Maybe fiddle around with Heroes of the Storm which I have never done more than poked at here and there.  I am still unwilling to throw money down on Overwatch at this point, as I don't have much time to even play Wow generally, but with everyone I work with playing it, I might give in eventually so I can torture them outside of work. Who knows?

     I have goals coming in for next year as well.  I am only vaguely aware of what some of them might be at this point, but I am getting a plan together on how I plan to progress at work and a bit at home.  I am still working on one book, editing one, and I need to get off my butt and market the other.  By June I will have something full book sized up on Amazon/Kindle.

     I also will be working on getting healthier.  My work has a full sized Gym I can use at any time.  I need to take advantage of that.  I am debating with my work schedule shift, doing a workout before I go to school two or three days a week if nothing else.

    But how are you all spending your Christmas/Winterveil/Holidays.  Does anyone have any big fun plans, or are you stuck just slogging away like normal?

    Either way, Happy Holidays you beautiful people.  Remember no matter who you are the world would be a lesser place without you.

Lag.

    If you would like to support Ben Marble and his bob-sledding goblins, please consider purchasing one of his short stories at Amazon.com

A Few Thoughts on Tanking

I have some thought on tanking.

     Recently, my wonderful sister Anna shared an article on Facebook and tagged me in it.  The subject of this article was someone who was new at tanking was talking about why tanking was difficult in World of Warcraft. He also discussed how it was possibly a flaw of game design since so few people tanked, and so much expectation is put on that one player.  He of course pointed to the things we all know about, impatient players, hard learning curve etc… the article is included Here in PC Gamer magazine and I suggest giving it a read.  So don’t my paraphrasing and take on it, read through it is well worth your time.  I agree with most of what he says.

     I have been tanking on and off since Wrath of the Lich King, Matt Rossi has pointed out several times on Blizzardwatch’s podcast that once people know you can tank, you often end up in that role even if your intention is to become DPS.  Good tanks feel thin in this game, and part of that is because of pressures like this.  The other part is because folks in raid finder, Looking for group, and elsewhere do have a tendency to be verbally abusive and will often blame things going wrong on said tank.  This means if you don’t have a thick skin you don’t tank very long.

    Or you become like me.  I won’t tank for anyone I don’t know.  It is not worth my time and effort to suffer verbal abuse at the hands of someone I don’t know.  I will queue as DPS thank you, and wait the extra thirty minutes.  I won’t lie, part of the social anxiety I have developed dealing with people in World of Warcraft has come from tanking.  I am wary of pugging people into groups, or tanking for strangers because I never know what I’m going to get.  And I know if it’s bad it will often be directed at me whether I have deserved it or not.

    On the other hand, I believe 95% of players in this game are decent people who aren’t looking to tear folks down.  The loud voices in trade chat and in groups are often a vocal minority who like to talk loud because it makes them feel like they matter.  The problem is, you can tank five groups in quick succession, but if you get a person in that fifth group that does nothing but tear you down and get abusive it stands out to the point where you think it’s everybody.  I know one person who is dps that stopped running group finder stuff because he says he has never had a good experience.  I personally can’t say if that’s true, but it sure feels like the game is full of negative individuals sometimes.

     Now, do I think this is Blizzard’s fault?  No.  I think the game is designed for specific types of groups, and that if you were to make everything dps with no heals or tanks it would feel more sporadic and less organized.  Do I think there should be DPS only content? Well, they tried with Scenerios, and my guess is they went away after a small percentage of players used them compared to the amount of time Blizzard had to use to design them.  I could be wrong on that, but for better or worse we are used to the tank, dps, and healer dynamic.

    Now, I wish they would stop gating my content behind mythics, or that the dungeons like the arcway that are gated behind content could be queued for in LFG, but those are minor complaints.  My playing hours right now pretty much make that content hard for me to get to.  I sure am not going to tank them for strangers.  At the same time, I don’t know if there are enough people on in my guild most of the time that need to run them.  That leaves me sitting on quests that are filling up my quest book and that are a bad feeling.

     How do we fix tanking? I hate to say this, but Blizzard can’t.  There is no magical button that is going to change how the group dynamics work.  There is no bit of programming that is going to change characters expectations of quick and clean runs.  The only people who can change this are the player base.

     Players need to openly call out folks that make tanking hard to do.  Players need to set the expectation, that if you start tearing someone down, that is tank or otherwise, the group will kick you.  Folks need to be a little more understanding and patient.  The only way we fix that is one player at a time.

     The other half of this coin, there are some bad tanks out there.  I’m not talking about folks that are learning, but tanks that take for granted that they are important.  Those tanks that are abusive to the groups running with them and tear down other team members are as big a problem as any negative, sweary dps.  (You thought I was going to totally be on just the tank’s side in this blog right?) One run with a tank like that and you might see why a dps would lash out at a tank here and there.

    I think a tank that gets kicked from a LFR, or LFG should have a time penalty before they can queue again.  Why? Because it kills the attitude of, “If they kick me I will get right back in again,” and likewise dps should have a similar penalty.  Not because I’m a jerk, but there should be a consequence when you exhibit bad behavior.   Yes this could be abused.  In my experience 90% of the folks that get kicked deserve it. 

         At the end of the day folks we are all human, and need to treat each other as such.   If we are going to fix this issue in game we need to do it one player at a time, just making the decision to be nice to each other.  I’m not asking you to be everyone’s friend.  Or even to like other people.  Just treat them with the respect they deserve.

Lag

The First Week of Legion's Excitement

So three days in, and I’m loving it.

   Yes, I realize that Legion still has its new shine to it, which can be heavily influential on opinions.  So far, I have been leveling my Paladin Lag as Retribution, and enjoying the experience.  The balance with this scaling seems nice as everything I fight doesn’t go down quickly, but at the same time the damage they deal is manageable.  I normally don’t die unless I have several mobs on me, or if I take something on that is bigger than I can chew.

   The only area I have finished so far is Azsuna, and I thought the zone was great.  The locations are beautiful, the stories are interesting, and I’ve flat out enjoyed exploring the area.  My favorite thing, and I know it’s silly, was the fact we have Murlocs again.  After two expansions, (I don’t remember Murlocs in Pandaria, but I could be wrong) I was questing and heard the familiar Mrggglggglggl.  My heart jumped in excitement I was down sword swinging with a smile on my face.  Sometimes the older traditional mobs are the best.

    The side quests have been fun too.  Stopping to fight a demon invasion in Exodar (I can’t say much more without spoilers) Khadgar pulling me here and there randomly to explore things.  And the artifact quests.  So far I’ve done Ret Pally, Prot Pally, and Frost DK.

    And let me tell you, (just not in this post) the DK artifact weapons quest brought up a lot more questions for me than it answered.  It also might point to some things coming up.  But after some time passes I will comment more.  Enough people are hopping in still I don’t want to destroy the surprise for anyone.  I really don’t.  All the quests and fun have been worth discovering and doing first hand.

    The one theme of this expansion I am hoping is Redemption.  I think that we will see a redemption of Illidan in this expansion.  I think he will remain demon formed and sarcastic, but there is a path set forward in which we could see him become one of the champions of Azeroth.  Hopefully this time he won’t get shafted (thank you Malfurion) and we won’t put him back into the position of being the enemy.   

    If you have read the book Illidan, you probably feel this way as well.  There are some heavy implications towards the end of that book as to Illidan’s destiny.  The other half of that book did prove that Illidan was a bit villainous, however I don’t feel he didn’t do anything for the sake of evil, more for the sake of him feeling the ends justified the means.

    I am hoping, against odds, that we see a Sylvanas redemption story as well.  This one may be a bit unlikely.  There was an interesting discussion on it between Matt Rossi and Anne Stickney on Blizzardwatch where they laid out the reasons she really can’t be redeemed.  Part of it being that she is undead and that has a severe effect on her mindset.  Meaning, some things for her are rational when they shouldn’t be. (for example, killing her sister so they can be together forever, which was one of her ideas in “War Crimes.”) And the fact she really isn’t corrupted by an outside influence. The Lich King holds no sway over her, she recovered her body so that’s her own, and other than being undead which effects how she experiences the world, her thoughts are her own.

    That being said, we have magic in Azeroth.  What if she was brought back to life somehow? Why do we consider her being brought back to life the same as redemption?  Is there an in between we could find?  There is a chance they that her redemption could be sacrificing herself for the greater good. I honestly ask these questions because if anyone deserves some happiness in her story it’s Sylvanas.  I would not be unhappy if they did find a way to bring her back to life, and or if she found redemption.  It is strongly hinted her sister Alleria will be showing up, might she have found something in her off world adventures that could bring Sylvanas back?

    I will say it now, if she stops leading the forsaken, I vote for Lillian Voss to fill that role.  I have always found her interesting, and she is probably the next most recognizable forsaken that I can think of.  While her fate wasn’t certain after Scholomance, I’m a firm believer that if we didn’t see a body, they aren’t dead.

     The trolls have a similar problem.  Other than Vol’jin, who amongst them is going to lead now?  I can’t think of a single one that is nearly as recognizable.

     What is everyone else’s thoughts on this new expansion so far? Are you loving it? Is it more of the same to you?  Or is there an opinion you would like to share that is in between?

Lag

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.

I Love Good Community Stories.

They give me happy feels.

     So, I have the opportunity to work with one or two other Wow nerds at work.  Some are Horde, some are loved.  Just kidding they are all loved but one of them was talking about the trade chat on their main server the other day, and it made me happy.

    Apparently someone got in trade and shared they were feeling suicidal.  

    Now, I know what you all are saying.  Not trade chat! (we of course are not talking about the Wow commentator Trade Chat, but the actual community chat service in main cities, for those non-Wow acquainted)  The cesspool of negative thoughts, Thunderfury and other such horrid eye-wrenching commentary that makes the T for teen into a hard M some nights.  I know, that most of you at the thought of someone mentioning this in the trade chat forum may have your gut clench and your heart stop.  Just not the place for any positive discourse in most situations!

    But instead of doing what trade chat normally does, according to this co-worker of mine, people started voicing support.  Several folks jumped into trade and started talking to this troubled person and trying to help them out and give them some good vibes.  Now, let's admit as a virtual community sometimes there is only so much support we are capable of giving, but at time any support is better than no support.  

    So, first thing first.  Big shout out to the community on the Skywall server Horde side.  I would hope that any server would have a good community that would lift someone up in need, but I wouldn't put money on it.  Anytime people talk about the toxic community in MMOs or any other type of online game, it's folks like you who put them in their place.  Because at the end of the day we are all one big community.

      This also makes me think about the few times I comment in trade chat.  I will be honest, I normally avoid it.  I try to keep the few comments I make positive and happy, but I know there are times I feed the negativity that seems to rule the trade chat forums.  So, I ask myself, if some one on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream server (Or on Aerie Peak if I'm on Trisham or Pyrestone in CTR)  jumped in trade chat and shared having such issues, would I try to build them up? Or would I go my way and not even think of sending some positives their way.

    I honestly can't think of an instance where I have been in that position in trade chat, but I hope I would at the least drop a kind word.  We need more kind hearts in this world who are willing to lift spirits when they need it.  If we all where to stop and say one kind thing when those around us are feeling troubled, whether it's suicidal thoughts, or simply a bad day, this world would be a much better place.

As would the World of Warcraft.

Lag.