On Warlock RP

Wanted to check in today. It's been a bit. I was reading Poneria's little spat of fiction over at Fel Concentration, and fondly remembering my own glory days with RP here on the site. That was a lot of fun, wasn't it? Warlocks make great fictional characters. They are predisposed to walk the good/evil line, and it makes for a very interesting protagonist. How can you make someone who is, essentially, evil be sympathetic? How can a group where "selfishness" is a core value ever go on some sort of epic hero journey?

I watched Iron Man 3 last weekend, and really enjoyed the movie. I had the crazy notion just this morning that, you know, Tony Stark might just be a Warlock. IM3 certainly had the minion thing down. Plus, he is an inherently selfish character.

The cool part about that movie, to me, was the cleverness with which the story was pulled off. In the Avengers movie, the very fabric of the world was in jeopardy what with the alien invasion and Norse gods and all. It was the epitome of a "save the world" plot. How, then, do you create a movie in the same universe, with the same character, and have it retain a high stakes feel? It's like... well, we just saved the world, now what? Sequels in general struggle often with this problem. The stakes were so high in a previous movie and any subsequent plot will fall a bit flat.

There is a neat little trick that I think IM3 nailed. Instead of putting the whole wide world in jeopardy, you need only put the main character's world in jeopardy. If you make a likable character, then threatening things that are important to them can really raise the stakes without needing to resort to threats of a more global variety.

As a Warlock, I appreciate this. Saving the world doesn't always appeal to me. Sometimes, well... let 'em burn, right? Yet, threaten what I love and... it's on! Blizzard has a hard time using this trick, since we'd all be protagonists in Azeroth. Global threats are the only ones that seem to work well, which perhaps is why I feel it gets a bit overdone there. They have some good story threads, but my favorite by far was the Lich King. Fitting, then, that it may be perhaps the most personal of the Azerothian storylines.

I've been working with a character, Damian, on my writing blog that I'm trying to make into a bit of a Warlock. As much fun as WoW RP fiction was, I really enjoy working in my own world as well. It's more challenging, but I can also publish it at the end of the day and don't have to worry about offending any IP lawyers. Still, I'm trying to carry what I've learned over into my fiction. Tortured, somewhat ambiguous characters are fun to write. And, also, don't forge to make it personal.

A Google Reader Alternate

I have a post I'm cooking up with a whole bunch of Sim City lessons learned and tricks, but the announcement Google made about retiring Reader sent me into a mental tailspin (as well as a whole bunch of others, it seems). I've been a Google Reader user for years now, and I'm not even sure I could find half the blogs I like to read again if Reader just disappeared. So yeah, I was just a bit panicked. Plus, as a content provider, you have to somewhat wonder how this is going to affect your readership.

Have no fear. Feedly to the rescue!

After I calmed down a bit, I suspected it probably would not be too hard to find a replacement. Surely, someone else has created a clever RSS-based reading application. It did not take long. I found Feedly right away, installed the Chrome app, logged in, and perhaps 15 minutes later was staring at my Google Reader subscriptions in a new service. After a bit of poking around, I was sold.

Then, I decided to go look to see if my Reader subscriptions would be safe with Feedly after the inevitable shutdown. The good folks at the Feedly blog had two wonderful articles. One with tips for all of us transitioning from Google Reader. The other explaining how your subscriptions WILL be transferred over (short answer: seamlessly and without any action on my part. Huzzah!).

I figured I'd pass this all along as a sort of public service announcement, as many of you undoubtedly had faced similar freak-outs in the last few days. I want to note that I am in no way affiliated or receiving anything from Feedly. I'm just pimping them because they're the first service I came across, it was super simple to set up, imported my existing subs with a button, and assured me that they've got my back when Reader is shut down. What's not to like?

So no, I do not think Google shutting down Reader will be the end of blogging. I don't think it will really harm traffic all that much. Sure some folks may be left in the dark, but where there's a will, there's a way. If we keep creating content that folks want to read, they'll figure out how to read it. How do I know this? Because I'm more consumer than creator these days anyway!

Case closed. The Mayans were still wrong.

Baby Locksteps

One small step for Warlocks, one giant leap for Warlock kind? The ODB-Butt posted the other day about a baby warlock he rolled. The article is noteworthy not (only) for its interesting wordiness, but for the first-hand experience of leveling a Warlock since they've changed things on us. If you're a Warlock keeping up with anything Cynwise has written, you're probably aware of his deep-dive into the unpopularity of the Warlock class. One of the most-substantiated (and agreed-upon) reasons for a lack of 'locks was the unpleasantness of early leveling. It sounds to me that Blizz may have improved upon it. And not only improved, but perhaps... shattered the soul of the problem?

Awful, I know. Oh well. That's all I've got for you today.

(Also, since I used a bit of parody: RIP Mr. Armstrong.)

Pre Patch Shout Out

I'm going to talk some more about the impending patch today. I know I'm being a bit of a hypocrite, seeing as how I so recently indicated my intention to wait until after the patch. Still, I feel a bit of a responsibility to all the single warlocks (all the single warlocks) out there. Also, if you like it then you should have put a shard on it. Just sayin'.

I've just got two quick links for you today from 'locks who are more proactive than I. Good articles, worth at least a skim. Nothing I think ruins the post-patch day exploration novelty.

First is from Saga again at Spellbound. This is a great visual post, detailing the spell effects that have been changed. I'm still going to "ooh" and "aah" when I first see these in-game. Seeing them in a screenshot just whetted my appetite.

I can't help but be a bit disappointed that the Demo and Destro resource effects are so cool, and all Affliction gets is some floaties over our heads? Am I reading that wrong? I want glowy hands or to be felling set on fire. Hopefully, in-game our balls will be more impressive on display. I mean, shards. Shards.

The second post is from Amijade at Warlockery. Here you can find a few great tips to surviving patch day. Like Amijade, I've been through several expansions now (starting of in TBC as well), so I can vouch for the tips. I think the most important thing to remember is that things will change. We've yet to see an expansion that hasn't produced a myriad of hotfixes and post-patches to re-balance some things. Despite extensive testing, there is nothing like running software through the ringer of live gameplay. Don't fall in love with any one item right away.

Otherwise, have fun. Change can be fun, and things will stabilize soon enough. Enjoy the flux while it happens.

(Hopefully we'll get a few days of being OP. Then again, avoiding the nerf bat is an equally laudable goal, methinks.)

#SWTOR - Here's a Free Blog Post

Apparently, there's quite a stir going around with TOR's Free to Play announcement. My blog has always been free to read, so I'll be the first to welcome the TOR folks as brethren in the free entertainment movement. Hopefully they'll have more luck turning this into a full time job than I have. (The Day Job I'm forced to keep is really cutting into my writing time right now... ah, consequences...)

Joking aside, there are a whole bunch of opinions over at The Melting Pot, and my buddy Targeter chimed in. I don't have a whole lot to say on the issue. Having spent a lot of my recent gaming hours in League of Legends, I've now experienced a stellar Free to Play setup. Riot does a great job. They seem to make smart moves, and understand what their players want.

Free to play can be good. It can also be cheesy. I hope TOR errs on the "good" side.

I was probably going to cancel my sub once it ran up, but with the entry price being free... I could see myself picking up the ole' lightsaber now and then. I'm glad the story is free. As for the rest of it? Well, I'll just have to see.

I think that about sums it up. Especially for the price of "free." You want more content? Leave comments. That's like blogger currency. (Or you can just pay me money too. I'm sure we can work out the comment currency exchange rate. Last I checked the going rate was... a penny? Suppose that depends on how much thought you put into it.)

LoL - Home On The Ranged

I took my first tentative steps into the world of the league of the legend of the world of the.... um, what was I saying? Oh yeah, PvP. League of Legends. I upped the ante.

Quite frankly, I probably should have started PvP runs sooner. Trying out a character on AI bots is all well and good, but the true test is against human players. At my low level, I'm not sure there's much of a difference. To be honest, the human players may be easier. It's sort of like the bots are less prone to error, but more predictable. Human players show flashes of inspired play, but will also be derpy on occasion. You trade frustrating deaths for free kills, essentially.

I expect that as I level up, players will become more unforgiving. Thus, AI bots will be more necessary for trying out new characters. For now, I've actually been trying the freebies in PvP games. My experiences have been mixed, but rarely am I a drain on my team. That is to say, I take care not to feed kills. I may not always contribute to the kill count, but I take care not to die a lot as well.

I've learned a few things. First, I'm not so great at the melee playstyle. Every melee toon I've tried so far, I feel like I do a lot of fumbling. I've been on the receiving end of some stellar melee play, where I'm just getting chopped to pieces but Master Yi (and can't run away because F that guy. Seriously). Good melee seems really tough to play.

Ranged is a bit more forgiving. On Morgana, I've become a force to be reckoned with. most games, I'll at least triple my death count. I've become "Legendary" quite a bit. With other ranged toons (Miss Fortune, Sivir), I've had decent success as well. Not quite as effective as I feel I am with Morgana, but generally about double kills v deaths. And in all cases, I stay on the top end of the leveling push.

Oddly, my wife has taken to the melee playstyle. She's been chumming around on Sion, and doing a pretty darned good job. One on one in a lane, she generally wins. And when the two of us share a lane, we tend to do very, very well. Sion is a turret killing machine, and Morgana can bring some nice burst to bear on enemy champions, while offering some support.

Here are a couple of my replies to comments yesterday. I wanted to mention them here because I elaborated a little, and this is an elaboration post. Plus, I got great feedback from folks. So thanks for that.

• Matticus gave me some stellar tips, and I replied thus: 
• Re: items - "Typically, I snag a Doran's ring, then rod, then hat, then hourglass. That's been my basic progression and it seems to work out well." 
• Re: Morgana's Ulti - "The running INTO the crowd takes a bit of getting used to. As a caster, my natural instinct is to run away. I gotta remember that the ulti is "blood in the water" time. Feed, shark, feed!"
• Diablokls offered a tip about runes, which launched me into a bit of a diatribe on the Free to Play model:
• "That's really why I'm growing fond of this whole F2P model. I'm a little hesitant on games that gate content behind payments and the like... but a game that lets me choose between grinding (time) and paying (money), I'm okay with that. It's sort of like the company is saying, "We believe in our product, and will let it speak for itself. There are no gimmicks here." The Riot team really seems to put value in their content. The skins are gorgeous, for instance. Purely cosmetic, but you can tell thought and enjoyment goes into them."
• Also, Mobafire.com was suggested, and I'll second the referral. I'd found the place via Google earlier in the week. Great resource for builds. 
• I've got a running list of Morgana "alternates" for trial when the free to play rolls around to them. Malzahar and Cassiopeia are on the list.

There's nothing quite like quoting yourself. Am I right? Lazy blogger is lazy.

That's enough for today. Pleasant LoLing. 

With All Due Respect, Rivs...

Rivs and I do this every couple of lunar cycles. He says mages are cool, I correct him. The Legion keeps on Burning.

(On a serious note: I'm a fan of River's intent: Gotta stoke the ole Mage/Lock fires every now and then. Some rivalries never get old. And, to be fair, it seemed a slow news day. I mean, we're talking about attunements again. Attunements. So, instead...)

10 Reasons Mages Are More Awesome Than Warlocks. A Rebuttal.

10. Demonic Portal – Seeing tons of people beating on thin air that was previously you is pretty damn cool.
9. Summoning – Ripping people from one location to where you desire them, way better than hopping through to some smelly "city." Like anything of note happens there.
8. Cookies – Much easier to pop in your mouth, no sitting required. Also, cookies are perhaps the most versatile form of food. Could go with a plain vanilla wafer if you're old school, or the more recent Cataclysmic Oreo of Doom. That's two chocolatey circles of black doom, one creamy soul filling.
7. Minions – They talk back, but we force them to do our bidding anyway. Elementals are for the slow of mind (Like dear Watson). Witty comebacks help you cast spells faster. It's magic science.
6. Damage – Don’t need a pet to do that.
5. Soulsteal – Ever steal a soul? 'Nuff said.
4. Fel Armor – Because dead things don't hurt.
3. Keybinds – 9 out of 10 Admirals' daughters prefer numerous nimble fingers in a lover.
2. We’re hotter – We can actually set ourselves on fire. So how is this a contest again?
1. The Nether – It's rough having a whole 'nother dimension at your beckon call.
0. You can find warlocks lurking in the cellars of taverns. Mages lock themselves in their pretty towers. Fun fantasy fact: Graceful spires are for damsels in distress. At least that's the word on the street. We've never actually tried to rescue one.

11 is louder than 10.

Some Random Thoughts

In what's becoming somewhat of a trend during the pre-expansion lull, my Monday will once again be the home of some random recaps from the weekend. I have some Diablo thoughts to share. I want to link to a bit of warlockery from the great Cynwise. I've not played TOR due to Diablo, so, um, nothing there. Sorry TOR. I'll be back once I bring my glass of ice water all the way through hell, which I'm suspecting a max-level monk will be able to do. I'm pretty sure that's how Diablo ends: a triumphant character, holding aloft a sweating glass of clear beverage whilst hordes of demons swoon and slobber at the sides. "In the land of the thirsty..."

Anyway, Diablo. Yeah, I wanted to share a bit about my playstyle. I've mentioned that I rolled a monk. Basically, every time I level, I've been trying the new skills I get. After somewhere around 17 levels, I find myself gravitating toward a certain playstyle and speccing to match it. I like to use the charge ability (I forget its name, it's on the 2 button) to zip in, and then unleash holy hell. I've been using sweeping strikes, as I feel like that hits everything around me the best. I also use the fiery roundhouse kick (at least that's what I count it) as my secondary ability. I have the heal on 1 (with AoE rune) and the suck-everyone-in-and-explode on 3. Though, for 3, I just got the run-around-like-the-flash-with-fists, which is vying for usage. The main perk with that one is that you go immune to damage for a few seconds. Great "oh shit" button.

Since I'm mixing it up in melee, I generally try to bring a ranged companion. Right now, it's the Scoundrel that's picking off the stragglers. Also, his blatantly loot whoring makes me laugh. The Templar is just too dull.

[Insert flashy game transition here]

I have two links I wanted to share, warlock related. I didn't have enough to say to make a full post, so I'm tacking them on here random-style.

First, Cynwise wraps up his wonderful series with a surprisingly hopeful post concerning the future of warlockery. I guess it shouldn't be surprising. Still, halting the downward slide of the class I love is no easy task. Cynwise has laid out a solid, logical path, but will the devs take it? Initial forays by 'locks into the beta (myself included) see good signs. Only release will tell the true tale, but there are definitely things to look forward to. I wanted to link and thank Cynwise for his exhaustive look into 'locks. Really great stuff.

Second, I wanted to link a new (to me at least) warlock blog. Amijade the Warlock posts over at warlockery.com. Immediate shards should be given for the site name. Furthermore, seems to be good content over there, and I mentioned that I was on the lookout for new souls as part of the whole NBI thing. This is the first warlock-specific blog I've seen. Thanks to Rivs for pointing it out. Amijade, consider yourself /followed.

That's all for today. Hope your Monday is overrun with zombies. (That would be an improvement on most Mondays, right? Especially if you're in the firearms business.)

Any Newbie Warlocks?

Are y'all out there, lurking? I know I've been a bad blogger lately, but I swear I have good intentions. Like, I really thought the New Blogger Initiative was cool beans, but didn't feel like I could really sign up to sponsor because I'm more of a study in what not to do lately. Especially when you compare it to these stellar articles.

Side note, I really love the Pot. It makes my linking life a lot easier.

Instead, I wanted to mention that if there are any new warlock bloggers hoping to get in on this NBI thing, shot me a link in the comments of this post. I would love to link you in a post to be created at a later date. With all the gloom and doom Cynwise has been analyzing, new 'locky bloggers deserve a special mention.

Side note, from a warlocky perspective, isn't gloom and doom good?

I'm full of side notes today.

Hey! That can be my useful tip. Don't know what the hell to write about? Just start typing and then randomly throw in side notes. You can even give them their own paragraph to add length to your post. It's all about appearances, am I right?

Okay, so that's a lie. Content helps. Especially, if you want to get linked by the Pot. (Which, I must note--but not side note--is a laudable goal.)

Side post, are there many class specific SWTOR blogs out there? No, not you, Targeter. I already know about you. (But even you have branched out a bit). I think altitis has been encouraged so that the concept of a "main" is somewhat muddled in TOR, if not altogether destroyed. Anyway, I'd love to find someone writing about Balance Shadows. Does such a person exist? Google says "no" (apart from yours truly and forum guides).

Closing side note, Day Jobs suck. Just sayin'. (Which makes it okay.)

A Shadow Of A Shadow

Short post, but a well deserved Shout Out. Cynwise has been quantifying my feelings and expounding them in true Cyn-fashion. The latest entry in the The Decline and Fall of Warlocks in Cataclysm series was particularly heart-rending for me. Not that I have a heart, mind you. Like many others, I've felt extremely frustrated with my 'lock for some time, for all the reasons Cyn mentions. I could never quite put my finger on it...

I really hope someone at Blizzard is reading and taking notes. And I hope it gets fixed in Mists. I miss my 'lock. The real one, not these fake Cataclysm pretenders that are but a shadow of our former shadowy glory.

Original Sin In An RPG?

Here's a random deep thought I had today. It may not be fully fleshed out, but I thought it was interesting enough to share. I'm assuming if you're reading here, you've probably played some sort of RPG somewhere along the way. Could be an MMO. Could be single player. Anything that has you build a character, really.

At least one of these games probably had some sort of morality system. Sometimes it's clearly evident, other times it might be hidden. But it's there. My most current example would be the Light Side/Dark Side system in SWTOR. Bioware has been using a system like this for a while now. WoW doesn't really have a morality system (rep doesn't count), but there are a lot of other examples out there.

The one constant, as far as I know, across all of these is that the player starts with a "blank slate." We start neutral, gray, morally ambiguous. My thought was: what if we didn't? What if we had original sin?

You could take this deeper. Do people start basically good, or basically evil? Likely, it completely depends on the world and character you're building. But why not? Why do Sith and Jedi alike start off neutral? Are we to believe that they've never made a choice until the very moment that we rolled them? Is this sort of the Bioware "age of reason" doctrine?

Now, I get it. It's a game. Starting off neutral makes good gaming sense. Then you can create a simple system that revolves solely around the choices of the player. But I would argue that you could still do this with the original sin concept. Instead of grinding "good points" until you "become good," why don't we just average the summation of all currently made choices? That means, if you create a character and only make one good choice, you're fully good. Over time, you might progress to gray. Also, the more choices you've made, the harder it becomes to overcome your previous choices. You've developed a reputation, it seems.

Wouldn't this be more realistic? More fulfilling? And it doesn't seem hard to implement. Today, most choices are worth some sort of points, and they are additive. Just make all choices worth "the full bar," and then average them. Done.

Syp over at Bio Break inspired this idea. He's writing specifically about LOTR's virtue system, and mentions several things. I'm not familiar with the Ultima X system, but it sounds like it was a bit different from what we're used to. Maybe there are other examples I'm not aware of as well. Feel free to point them out in the comments. I guess all I'm saying is that I'd like to see more thought given to these systems in general. The current "grind to good" (or evil), is growing stale, and I'm not sure it even makes sense.

Congrats Poneria

As Ratshag might say: Is big hairy congo rats to Poneria over at Fel Concentration fer the snaggin' of the WoW Insider Column what be fer Warlocks.

I'll be honest, I just wanted to use "congo rats" in a proper sentence (apologies to Ratters for playing orc with his voice). If you spend enough time lurking around the blogosphere, you pick up things like congo rats that you desperately want to say in real life sometimes, but know that no one will understand. Thus, when one gets the opportunity to offer the hairy buggers in an appropriate manner online, one takes it.

Nothing against the other Blood Pact columnists, but I'm rather excited for Poneria. She's been a great blogger that I've followed for a while now (and has commented here often). I'm happy to see it go to "one of our own," as it were. Not that it hasn't before, just that she's really the fist person to hold the position that I've interacted with, and I know she'll do a great job.

So congo rats it is!

PS to Pone - The rats are not without tails: Now I know whose crypt to lob skulls at if you say something I disagree with...I know where you live! (At least on Twitter) ;-)

The Other Side of the Couple's Coin

There has been some talk about gaming couples in recent weeks. I think most of it was spawned by Matticus's somewhat negative article about raiding couples. I got the sense that he doesn't care much for them. Yet, I can't help but think he's only speaking about one very specific type of couple. One very narrow-minded view.

My guild was founded based on couples. Most of the founding members were part of a gaming couple. It's why we took the joking name: Lothar Swingers Club. And it worked really well for us. We had very low drama. We succeed in progressing at our own pace. And we have a wide variety of couple types. Some of us talk... a lot. Some of us are quiet. Some of us, you can't even count on to have spoken to their spouse more recently than you have.

To be fair, I've know couples like the ones Matticus describes, but we just didn't have anyone like that. I would say we have everything but that. In fact, it was probably more often 2 on 1 against one member of the couple, causing more marital strife than in-game strife. It was not uncommon for a couple to go silent for an uncommon amount of time on vent, only to key in five minutes later saying: "Sorry, was yelling at my spouse across the room. He/she was being an idiot again."

Which brings up what I believe to be the biggest benefit of gaming couples, mechanics-wise: they're in the same room. When my wife is tanking, it's like she has a built in bonus camera in the form of the pew-pewing warlock. While she's watching the All Crotch All The Time channel, I can warn her of adds or other impending doom. Basically, two heads are better than one. And this sort of thing extends to a lot of other areas, but in-game doesn't really cover it for me.

Honestly, I think the biggest benefit is been the support network you get. Any married person can tell you that having other married friends is comforting. It's nice to know that all the yelling is normal, and that you're not the only one annoyed by who did/didn't do the dishes. And when one of you gets sick - really sick - you have a whole bunch of folks that are there for you and understand.

The support I've gotten from my guildies in the past few months has been unquantifiable. You cannot min/max it. It will never show up on a meter in-game.

I guess I just wanted to go on record with that. No way in hell would I avoid gaming couples just on principle. No, I just try to avoid unreasonable asshats based on individual experience. After all, you don't have to be a couple to be one of those. Does it surprise anyone that they might come in pairs? Just saying: don't throw out the baby with the bathwater here.

All in all, I think this: "On the other hand, you could just auto decline couples entirely and sidestep any potential drama problems that might happen later" is terrible advice. You could miss out on so much, and MMO gaming isn't just about raiding.

(Note: I don't think Matticus was really meaning to "hate" on couples, though it kind of came off that way. Instead, I think he was merely stressing that as a good GM/RL, you need to take someone's entire situation into account when deciding if they're right for your group or not. And that is not bad advice.)

Iron Man Mode

You may have seen similar posts from other bloggers out there, but I wanted to put my own post up. Zeke from the Iron Man Mode Blog contacted me, and asked if I would help support their new venture. As someone who is admittedly polygamerous and a fan of the Child's Play Charity, the idea was all Win as far as I was concerned. The skinny is that a group of guys are planning to pick up well known games (and maybe some lesser known games as well) and play as far as they can on only one life. After the die just once, they'll move on to other games, and the blog will move on as well.

The premise is mostly for fun, and the charity element is a great touch, but it also servers as a subtle reminder of our own mortality. Obviously, we don't get more that one life to live (unless you believe in reincarnation or something, but even then you don't get to go back to the last quick save). We should make the most of it.

Anyway, I wanted to pass the link along to help raise awareness. They've got a Twitter account as well as a blog and if you'd like, you can donate through their site. Child's Play is something we've donated to in the past (remember the #iblamesyrana tweets?) and will continue to do so in the future.

When I was little (~10 y/o), I screwed up my knee and had to have surgery. There are two things I remember from my stay at the hospital. The first was all the ice cream I was allowed to eat. The second was that they wheeled in a video game cart and I was allowed to play (when I should have been at school). Now, nothing about my injury was major, but even then, having the chance to play games while laid up in the bed was a great spirit-lifter. In a very simple way, that's what Child's Play is all about. I was lucky to have been at a "gaming" hospital before Child's Play existed. To be able to help spread that today is pretty cool.

So check out the Iron Man Mode Blog if it is something that interests you, and consider supporting their charity effort.

The [Gaming] Social Network

Cynwise writes a great article today, inspiring a response from yours truly. This is a topic that hits home hard with where I'm sitting right now. In WoW, I don't feel like there are a whole lot of individual accomplishments I'd like to tackle. Instead, I'm thoroughly enjoying my time in TOR. Still, I would be willing to swap between games in an instant if I knew something was going down in one universe or the other.

Some of my WoW guildies are playing TOR, but not all of them. Some are waiting for a free trial, some decided it just wasn't their cup of tea, but these are still people I love playing games with. Perhaps the most - THE MOST - important thing that has happened to me over my 5+ years with WoW and even more years with MMO gaming is having made the friends I've made. Some have literally become my best friend. Had I never played WoW, I would never have met these wonderful people in real life. Even if WoW dies tomorrow, and the servers shut down for good, these relationships are what will stay with me forever. Pixels do not define them.

Some days I feel like the only reason I keep paying for WoW is that the prospect of short changing this hard won friendships is completely abhorrent. Sure, I can email most of them now. We're likely Facebook friends. We have ways of staying in touch that don't rely on WoW, but WoW is our meeting place, our clubhouse, our coffee shop, our Monks. It would be a lie to claim that such a loss would not leave the bonds strained. Unbroken, sure, but strained nonetheless.

This isn't to say I don't have bursts of gaming fun in WoW. It is still, after all, a great game. But I enjoy other pastures as well. Not to call them greener, just different. To borrow a term, I've always been somewhat polygamerous. I don't want to be forced into monogamy because I'm afraid of losing friends. Fear has always been a poor motivator to maintain any relationship. Also, it is of the Dark Side and leads to anger and aggression (trolling?).

I would be happy as a pig in mud if I could have my cake and eat it, too. If I could play the game I want to play and still be directly in touch, in chat with my best gaming friends... that's a pixelated nirvana right there. I'd jump between games as activities dictated, never feeling like I had to remain somewhere just to maintain.

The problem with any one company developing such a capability is very obviously financial. What business sense does it make to make it easy on your customers to spend money elsewhere? Because obviously you need to keep them in your game, in your world. You need to keep those doors firmly closed, lest all the cattle stampede out at the slightest hint of fresher fronds.

Or do you? A more forward-thinking businessman might realize the truth of the old country adage: "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar." That is, in putting the happiness of your customers first, you may just generate enough good will to make your game, your company the de facto Center of All That Is Gaming. You'd still have your game, but you could also be the Facebook of Gaming.


But does it even have to be a Blizzard, or a Bioware, or a Turbine? These developers are heavily invested in their own games. Let's be honest, it would be really difficult to get them to seriously consider interfacing with someone else. This is where I think a savvy entrepreneur, a new third party could come in and be the diplomat. Negotiate between these disparate nationalities in order to form a more perfect union. (The could also establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility, but let's just start with a union first, shall we?)  Yes, I'm talking about a third party "app." An addin. A plugin. Whatever you want to call it. A piece of third party code, maintained by an exterior company but vetted by the "local" governance, integrated smoothly into the UI.


It seems to me that every game has to develop it's own chat system. Sometimes they get around adding a voice chat feature too, but more likely it's just chat. What if someone developed that for all games? What if, for every new MMO from here on out, the chat feature was already solved. Just use the NerdFace app (or whatever).


It's easy to see the revenue potentials. Could be part of the sub. Could be an extra add in to a more basic chat, a "real money store" perk. Could be ad driven. I think if it became generally accepted, the entrepreneur would be able to simply charge the companies. Who wouldn't want to be hooked into the gamer network? It could be a vital step for general acceptance of your new game. And you wouldn't have to stop at MMOs. One of things I love about Steam is the ability to chat with other people playing any number of other Steam games. I can say "hey, how did you do x in Skyrim to my buddy playing Portal."


The potential is easy to see, I think. The risk, however, may be too much. It would take someone with vision, and probably deep respect in the gaming community to pull such a venture off. Still, I think it may only be a matter of time. Twitter and Facebook have proven the power of social networking. The world is shrinking even as it grows. The gaming industry needs to get on board.

A Dancier Dance

I've been following Klepsacovic at Troll Racials are Overpowered for some time now. To some extent, I consider him my reader's personal Howard Stern. That is to say, he can be a bit of a shock jock, but probably less focus on nudity (this being a text-based media, though Howard did it on the radio so maybe he just hasn't gotten that big yet). I'll admit it, I hang around for the lulz. And I inwardly cringe for some of the hate mail he must get when he takes "the line" and leaps across it with wild abandon.

Color me surprised, then, to read his article today. I suppose I was anticipating extreme hyperbole at some point, but instead got a really well-reasoned article. Instead of exercising (or is that exorcizing?) my best warlock cackle in anticipation of the flames to come, I found myself nodding vigorously along with his points.

I encourage you to click through, but I'll summarize what I took from the article. Basically, Klep is establishing that you could basically design a raid fight in several ways. Let's assume all players could be thrown into one of three bins, labelled: Bad, Average, and Superstar. The fight can then "test" one of those levels. Superstar tests require extreme multitasking, and are generally shouldered by one talented member of the raid. An average test clocks in as "DPS" race, where generally the whole raid is involved but to clear it without extra gear, you need to demonstrate a passable mastery of your class. Bad tests then would be best exemplified by "Defile" on the Lich King fight. A mechanic that, should one "bad" person stand in it, will wipe the raid.

Since most things are better viewed on a sliding scale, we could say that we have individual responsibility at both ends of our "test" slider, with "involving everyone" in the middle. The problem with simply shooting for the middle is that there are a limited number of mechanics you could employ without being completely bland. Also, it can be a bit rewarding when one person is allowed to shine. The flip side is that it can be utterly frustrating when one person causes a fail (both for the group and that one person).

Klep says that he feels WoW's raid design has slowly been moving that slider downward, toward the "bad" tests. I have to say, I tend to agree. It does seem to me that raid mechanics of late either involve DPS races where most of the raid is involved, or have a mechanic where derping it up wipes the raid. There seem to be fewer and fewer "superstar" type tests.

It's a shame because where "bad" tests are firmly seated in negative reinforcement, I think "superstar" tests have the potential to seem more positive. The problem being, of course, that it flies in the face of the "bring the player not the class" mantra. That is, often "superstar" tests involve a specific combination of abilities, limiting the possible classes needed. This realization serves to reinforce the feeling of that slider sliding lower, and it seems in line with what we've heard from the Devs.

Yet, is it a good thing? Having been a 10-man raider longer than other types of raiding, I suppose I'm more used to enhanced individual responsibility than, say, a 25-man raider. Even so, I find myself wishing often that losing just one person wasn't so dire. In 25's, I feel like: "Fel! We can lose half the raid and we're still fine." Now that's not completely true, but the wiggle room is there.

I don't really have a good solution or anything. We could probably discuss the trade-offs at length, and I'm sure Blizz has. I've said in the past that I'd like to see more tank-and-spanks randomly thrown in (especially early in a raid instance). That is, I think we could do with more "average" tests sprinkled in. They may not be as exciting mechanically, but I think they help keep a raid group together with positive vibes.

I suppose instead of coming to some grand conclusion that I don't really have, I'll instead close with a mostly unrelated public service announcement. I'm sure y'all know this already, but if you bail on a LFR group, you get a 30 minute deserter debuff. Apparently, everyone in our raid group had missed this. And the debuff umbrellas out to include the dungeon finder as well (which is dumb, IMO).

We queued up, but were placed in a group that was a revolving door on the last boss. We'd wanted to do all of the first four, so we dropped right away. There was no warnings about 3/4 cleared, no chance to decline a show already in progress. But they were on the platform, so they'd obviously cleared the first part (we were queuing for the first half of DS, fwiw). Maybe the warning just malfunctioned, I don't know. In any case, it was not what we wanted, and we only need a few seconds to see that they group wasn't going anywhere fast.. The finder, for whatever reason, was throwing people in and no one wanted to do just one boss... people were popping in and out like crazy.

Imagine our surprise when we dropped and got that 30 minute debuff. No big deal, thought we, we'll just do some 5-mans. Oh, wait. Can't do those either. Welp, I guess Ima go play Star Wars then. Boo hiss. (In all fairness, this is my first negative experience with the LFR, though I'm not a heavy user.)

I guess we should have just stayed and tried to do that one boss and been grateful for the opportunity. Still, it seemed like a confluence of odd design choices conspired to end our raid night early. I mean, we didn't even get to the mechanics! We danced with the "organization" raid boss, and wiped. Sometimes, it's just not your night.

Halftime of the Reader Clearing Game

And we're back. Happy New Year everyone! Back to the grind. I'm having an acute case of gaming withdrawal today. I've swapped my early morning coffee back in where early morning PvP warzones had settled in over break. Then, there's the bloated feedreader. Neglect it for a week and it'll blow up bigger than, um, something in a Michael Bay movie. (Anything. Could be a banana, and it would mushroom cloud... yeah, picture that.)

So yeah, I'm halfway through clearing out. I'm skimming most of what I find, captured by a few articles here and there. In an effort to force myself back in the swing of things, I'm babbling here. I'll even give you an amazing list of random gaming thoughts:

• I picked up AC: Revelations yesterday (finally!) and started it. Took forever to get my PS3 updated to the right software (I've played all the games on the console, though I had to dust the bad boy off this time). The tutorial got me right back into things (Yep, remember how to ledge assassinate). Looking forward to this game.
• My brothers surprised me with a Christmas Game Gift. They're poor college kids, so I didn't expect much (usually a half-imbibed beer is a solid effort, amirite?)... but they pulled out a Lord of the Rings game that I hadn't really paid attention to: War in the North. Apparently it is supposed to have a solid co-op to it, so I'll have to give it a play-through soon as well.
• After unlocking my legacy on TOR, I rolled a trooper. Feels totally different from my lightsaber-wielder, in a good way. I feel a bit like Stallone (think Rambo, not Rocky. Or maybe Demolition man. Murder-Death-Kill?), running in, guns blazing, blowing everything to hell. Fun times.
• I'm back in the raid leading saddle on the WoW side of things. Our previous RL stepped down due to RL time crunching. Last night saw my re-debut. We've got the first two Dragon Soul bosses down now, though the ping pong guy took us a bit. I'll probably be writing more about the strats we're using here, though I know we're late to the party, as usual.
• Two shout outs from my reader perusal. First, From KISA... on trying to hit "quicksave" while playing TOR. Spot on. Caught myself doing this last night.
• Second from Bio Break... on the strength of story-telling and its potential to reach untapped audiences. I've been seeing a trend of reactions to TOR in the blogosphere that I'll write about more tomorrow (and also link the counterpoint).

Wasn't that amazing?! *Sigh* Okay, back to the grind and sneaking in articles. I will get this reader cleared out today...

Two for Thursday

You get another post today. This one is just a quick shout out, though. Promise. Generally, I try to space stuff out, but there's just a lot going on.  So many games!

I wanted to point to the latest SWTOR beta patch notes over at The Stoppable Force.  Stop's a great blogger and I'm glad to see he'll be writing about Star Wars.  He was one of my favorite WoW bloggers back in the day before he went on hiatus.  Anyway, he published the notes in their entirety, so all you midi-chlorians out there might want to go check 'em out.  I know I did.

I'd Like To Thank The Coven

Today is going to be quick, as often happens on Mondays. I apologize for going afk on Friday (again, really), but I was pretty sick. Like puked in the car sick. While driving. It was an awesome life experience. You see, I was so close to home, and I really just wanted to puke in my own toilet. I'm pretty sure I blew through a few stop signs (no one was near, I could see), but it didn't matter. Blargh, down my frontal regions. Rationally thinking about later, I should have just pulled over and used the drainage ditch... but I was so close to home. Anyway, Friday ceased to exist for me as I finally found a bucket and my bed.  This Friday isn't looking good either (what with holiday travel), so I'll just pre-apologize for shoddy posting.  I know.  I'm a horrible blogger.  It's just a data point. 

(I may be sufficiently bored at my parents and crank something out.  Who knows?  I'll have the laptop and stranger things have happened.  I can only take so much family before I want to crawl back in my cave and tap, tap, tap away.  What can I say?  I'm an introvert.)

In the interest of getting out in-front of my holiday introversion, I'm going to share some love today.  Elkagorasa wrote a nice article giving thanks last week.  I believe Blog Azeroth is doing some sort of Thanksgiving posting bonanza as well.  Chalk it up to being a bad blogger that I just don't get as involved as I used to, but I do still try to pay attention.  At the very least I like to know what's going on, even if I don't always take part.

So thanks to Elk for the kind words.  Elk's written some great, warlocky things, so any traffic I've pushed his way is much deserved.  I'm also a big fan of Nibs as well.  Like a good warlock, she finds ways to machinate from the darkness even whilst afk.  Thanks are due to her from my end as well, as I still get traffic from there.  The other links Elk throws out are great folks too.  I'm not going to re-link them all because I'm lazy and a horrible blogger (see data point above).  We love warlock bloggers here are Killing 'em Slowly, and Elk is what we call a keeper. You know, someone who's soul you'd like to steal and shard up just to have around. Yep, that's cute and cuddly for us.

I will, however, give a special mention to Cynwise.  He's kept me inspired because I think we've both backed off a bit in this last year, yet he still puts out a lot of quality content (making me want to do the same).  Specifically, his article today on DoTs is great.  The short story is that, in case you were wondering, player bonuses are calculated into DoTs on cast or refresh.  Target debuffs are calculated each tick.  The refresh part was new to Cata, but otherwise it's how I've understood them to function for a while (and how I've subsequently developed my gameplay).  If you want more, Cyn's article breaks it down.

It's been a rather quiet year for 'locks, to be quite honest.  Our gameplay has remained relatively stable.  There's not been a whole lot to whine about.  I still enjoy the heck out of my warlock.

I also am enjoying the heck out of some Skyrim.  I even put AC: Revelations on hold.  I can't handle that much gaming at one time.  I'll probably pick it up over the holiday here, though, if only to provide a nice little change-up.  Move from the office chair to the couch... rinse, repeat.  You know how it goes.

Anyway, I'll leave it with a final thanks to you, the reader.  You guys have hung around here for a while now, and I'm grateful for it.  I've had great commentary over the years, and you've really been a patient lot as I have wandered a bit from the strict focus of the blog.  I don't plan to go anywhere.  I like it here.  I may talk about other things, but only because I think y'all are interested in them as well.  Thanks for putting on a face even when you weren't. 

Okay, so this wasn't that quick, but it's hardly a heavy-hitter.  I'll try to post a few more times this week, but in case life gets in the way again, have a good holiday weekend.  Enjoy your Coven, if you have one.  Shard a turkey or two.  And thanks for lurking.

Movember

Quickie post today. In case you don't stalk him like I do, Gnomeaggedon popped in with a Movember reminder post.  (The stalking, of course, is simply natural for a warlock to do to a mage... to harass and corrupt.  For sure.)  The short story of Movember is that we like to use mustaches in the month of November to raise awareness about men's health.

I'll be doing something, not sure what yet.  Last year we missed out on an opportunity to hang out at a bar and don mustaches (paste on for the girls) and drink good beer.  There was some sort of donation involved, but they had me at beer and mustaches (had I not been indisposed).  I'm hoping they do it again this year so we can attend.

Gnomer has talked about depression in the past, and it is an illness that hits home around here.  I write about our own adventures monthly on my personal blog.  Feel free to stop by there if the topic interests you. 

Otherwise, I'll be keeping my eyes out for any cool events.