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.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Original Sin In An RPG?
Labels: General Gaming, Reflections, Shout Out 3 comments
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The Dream (PvP) Team
Labels: Fun, PvP 0 comments
Saw this on BBB's blog today.
All I want to say is: Dibs on being on Cynwise's team. I'll even take Gnomer if we can figure out some across-the-Earth thing, (even though he's a mage). Can we have a fantasy draft? I'll need some sort of Average Honor Per Battleground (AH/BG) stats for appropriate judgement. Or what would be the best stat of effectiveness?
I don't think I count as a PvP blogger, though. Maybe I'm more of an alternate, since I've mentioned PvP occasionally at least. And I'm not sure my WoW toon is geared well enough to be less than a burden on the pros out there. I'm about one season behind. I can look pretty. And fight on the flag. And set a mean mid-map pick for the FC (Frost DKs can be supremely annoying).
My Jedi is damn near Battlemaster, though. Decked out. Not that that improves my odds of being chosen on any Dream Team. (The odds are not in my favor, much like a certain Everdeen.)
I think a blogger PvP brawl is a great idea. I don't have the wherewithal to set it up, but it's a great idea. Maybe BBB should pawn it off on Hugh again. ;-)
I don't think I count as a PvP blogger, though. Maybe I'm more of an alternate, since I've mentioned PvP occasionally at least. And I'm not sure my WoW toon is geared well enough to be less than a burden on the pros out there. I'm about one season behind. I can look pretty. And fight on the flag. And set a mean mid-map pick for the FC (Frost DKs can be supremely annoying).
My Jedi is damn near Battlemaster, though. Decked out. Not that that improves my odds of being chosen on any Dream Team. (The odds are not in my favor, much like a certain Everdeen.)
I think a blogger PvP brawl is a great idea. I don't have the wherewithal to set it up, but it's a great idea. Maybe BBB should pawn it off on Hugh again. ;-)
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Shake That Shadow Maker
Labels: Raiding, warlocky 15 comments
I received a rather interesting comment for consideration yesterday. It was on my "No Beta" post, asking a pretty specific question. Namely: As an Affliction Warlock, how do you manage heavy-movement fights? The commenter, Sibylle, pointed out that there didn't seem to be many guides or help-articles around the blogosphere covering this topic. Thus, I decided I'd give it the old college try.
I guess I should start out with the caveats. Any too-good-to-be-true offer has fine print, right? Why should this potentially helpful article be different?
In my best legal radio announcer's voice: /deep breath. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author who, though having played an Affliction Warlock for many years is no longer raiding. His raid group dissolved and he has yet to finish the DS fights, which is probably really sad. Still, he's making the most of it by, well, waiting for the next expansion. The point here is that he may not be on the up-and-up about the newer fights. /deep breath
Sibylle asks specifically about Morchok, which I've actually done a decent amount, so I should be able to help there. Also, I think a lot of what I'll say is generally applicable. Still, I know I have a couple more-shadowy-than-I Warlocks lurking out there that may know things I've missed. (Poneria of the Blood Pact, I'm looking at you. I'll beta-read for you any time, just shoot me an email. You're a rock star in my grimoire. Also, you're blocked at work, hence why you're getting the comment here, in the middle of an article. Convenient, no?) Feel free to help our fellow 'lock out in the comments with some specific tips on DS fights.
If memory serves, on Morchok the basic idea is that you have a small bunch of ranged that are on "shard duty." They have to close with a randomly spawning shard to decrease damage, and do it quickly. Also, there's the whole run-behind-a-rock phase as well. Those are pretty much the two "problem zones," right? (I'm going to assume that most of the folks reading this know what to do if you're just standing there, not chasing anything. If not, check out my guides and feel free to ask questions to that effect.)
Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot you can do running to the shard. It spawns randomly, making it hard to anticipate. Your raid leader can help by positioning folks to minimize the running. That is, we used to just spread out as ranged, and the three nearest did the running. Sometimes, they assign runners though, and if you're one of them and a shard doesn't spawn nearby, it's going to suck.
Even in the worst case, we can do a few things. You have Fel Fire to keep UA up. Corr and BoA/D are instant, so you can keep those up. That alone should keep you from bottoming out. If you get a lucky nightfall proc, that's a bonus. The general idea when running is to keep an eye on all of your instants. Don't let them fall off. Sometimes it goes against the stand-and-sling rotation, I know. For instance, you may want to clip your DoTs (*gasp*), but look at it this way: anything you take care of while running is something you don't have to take care of while standing. It may not be mana-ideal, but you can keep DPS flowing and that's your #1 job.
While running to the shard sucks, running back should be the easy part. I mean, you did drop your demonic portal, right? Right?! If not, it's okay, that's one of my fails, too. After the first run of shame back to your starting point, you'll be like: oh yeah, I should drop that. The portal lets you get back to point A in a green flash, and back to casting right away. Proper portal use is key to minimizing problem zones in a fight. Clever use can almost always boost your deeps.
Bonus, the portal can help you in the hide-behind-a-rock phase, too. He'll yank you in, you port back out. Generally, this lets me find a rock earlier and, in some case, find a space that lets me still DPS the boss. This trick is dependent on lucky rock placement. You have to get it where the safe, non-ink zone allows you to stand and not be LOS'ed from the boss. Porting out, giving yourself more time to look for a spot, only improves your odds.
So, the crux (horcrux?) of performing on the run seems to be possible to distill to two main points:
I'll touch on one more trick before I wrap this up. Soul Swap is a great spell to remember to use. A lot of fights combine movement with refocusing on a second target. Sometimes this is adds, sometimes the head, or leg, or whatever. Affliction Warlocks are going to suck on anything short lived (fair warning), but if you just need to bump over sustained DPS (think of the dogs in the Shannox fight), proper use of SS can be a solid bump to the deeps. The inhale lasts for longer than you think, so it's often possible to suck in the dots, let the new thingy spawn, and then exhale on the run (both are instants).
Hopefully this helps. It's not so much a guide as a springboard for specific ideas. The keys can vary widely from fight to fight (especially with portal placement and SS usage), but the basic ideas are the same. Sibylle (and others), if there are other specific fights that are hamstringing you (I think I covered Morchok well enough?), feel encouraged to mention them in comments. Me, or other more shadowy readers will likely have a few tips and tricks. This is a great topic, and a place where I feel like Aff'locks can shine, but definitely requires clever play.
I guess I should start out with the caveats. Any too-good-to-be-true offer has fine print, right? Why should this potentially helpful article be different?
In my best legal radio announcer's voice: /deep breath. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author who, though having played an Affliction Warlock for many years is no longer raiding. His raid group dissolved and he has yet to finish the DS fights, which is probably really sad. Still, he's making the most of it by, well, waiting for the next expansion. The point here is that he may not be on the up-and-up about the newer fights. /deep breath
Sibylle asks specifically about Morchok, which I've actually done a decent amount, so I should be able to help there. Also, I think a lot of what I'll say is generally applicable. Still, I know I have a couple more-shadowy-than-I Warlocks lurking out there that may know things I've missed. (Poneria of the Blood Pact, I'm looking at you. I'll beta-read for you any time, just shoot me an email. You're a rock star in my grimoire. Also, you're blocked at work, hence why you're getting the comment here, in the middle of an article. Convenient, no?) Feel free to help our fellow 'lock out in the comments with some specific tips on DS fights.
If memory serves, on Morchok the basic idea is that you have a small bunch of ranged that are on "shard duty." They have to close with a randomly spawning shard to decrease damage, and do it quickly. Also, there's the whole run-behind-a-rock phase as well. Those are pretty much the two "problem zones," right? (I'm going to assume that most of the folks reading this know what to do if you're just standing there, not chasing anything. If not, check out my guides and feel free to ask questions to that effect.)
Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot you can do running to the shard. It spawns randomly, making it hard to anticipate. Your raid leader can help by positioning folks to minimize the running. That is, we used to just spread out as ranged, and the three nearest did the running. Sometimes, they assign runners though, and if you're one of them and a shard doesn't spawn nearby, it's going to suck.
Even in the worst case, we can do a few things. You have Fel Fire to keep UA up. Corr and BoA/D are instant, so you can keep those up. That alone should keep you from bottoming out. If you get a lucky nightfall proc, that's a bonus. The general idea when running is to keep an eye on all of your instants. Don't let them fall off. Sometimes it goes against the stand-and-sling rotation, I know. For instance, you may want to clip your DoTs (*gasp*), but look at it this way: anything you take care of while running is something you don't have to take care of while standing. It may not be mana-ideal, but you can keep DPS flowing and that's your #1 job.
While running to the shard sucks, running back should be the easy part. I mean, you did drop your demonic portal, right? Right?! If not, it's okay, that's one of my fails, too. After the first run of shame back to your starting point, you'll be like: oh yeah, I should drop that. The portal lets you get back to point A in a green flash, and back to casting right away. Proper portal use is key to minimizing problem zones in a fight. Clever use can almost always boost your deeps.
Bonus, the portal can help you in the hide-behind-a-rock phase, too. He'll yank you in, you port back out. Generally, this lets me find a rock earlier and, in some case, find a space that lets me still DPS the boss. This trick is dependent on lucky rock placement. You have to get it where the safe, non-ink zone allows you to stand and not be LOS'ed from the boss. Porting out, giving yourself more time to look for a spot, only improves your odds.
So, the crux (horcrux?) of performing on the run seems to be possible to distill to two main points:
- Pay attention to your instants. Refresh on the run what you can, freeing up more standing time for cast-time only spells.
- Figure out the best use of your Demonic Portal. This will vary between fights and mechanics, but can usually go a long ways to smoothing out the dead zones in your DPS. It is almost always worth dropping, even if you forget before the fight.
I'll touch on one more trick before I wrap this up. Soul Swap is a great spell to remember to use. A lot of fights combine movement with refocusing on a second target. Sometimes this is adds, sometimes the head, or leg, or whatever. Affliction Warlocks are going to suck on anything short lived (fair warning), but if you just need to bump over sustained DPS (think of the dogs in the Shannox fight), proper use of SS can be a solid bump to the deeps. The inhale lasts for longer than you think, so it's often possible to suck in the dots, let the new thingy spawn, and then exhale on the run (both are instants).
Hopefully this helps. It's not so much a guide as a springboard for specific ideas. The keys can vary widely from fight to fight (especially with portal placement and SS usage), but the basic ideas are the same. Sibylle (and others), if there are other specific fights that are hamstringing you (I think I covered Morchok well enough?), feel encouraged to mention them in comments. Me, or other more shadowy readers will likely have a few tips and tricks. This is a great topic, and a place where I feel like Aff'locks can shine, but definitely requires clever play.
Friday, March 23, 2012
No Beta
Labels: Expansion, Hot Topic 7 comments
No, I didn't get a beta invite. At least not yet. I'm stuck reading from the sidelines with most everyone else.Which also means that I have no answers... only questions. Questions I've not seen adequate answers to (though, admittedly, I may just not have looked hard enough). In random-stream-of-consciousness style, here's the list of questions running through my brain. Feel free to answer in comments with exposition or linkies, whatever's clever.
- What's up with new Warlock pets? Seriously, just caught some pics today, are all those talents going to be in the demo tree?
- While we're on that thought, has anyone seen anything about Affliction Warlocks? Specifically, wtf we're going to do with soul shards now? I mean new information here. I remember what they said back in the day, but has anything actually been implemented? Or are we all just going Demo this x-pac because they're going to make it too awesome not to?
- AoE Loot. Fuck yeah. (Pardon my demonic, but it is warranted in this case. Also, there is no question here. It just needed to be said.)
- When does Diablo come out again? Seriously, I thought this was announced but it was promptly driven from my brain. May 15th, right?
- Is Pandaria really that pretty? I've seen some raving-lunatic-like pronunciations. How much can they really do with this ancient engine? I don't mean this to sound as negative as it sounds, but I guess I just have a hard time believing the OMG IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL crowd. Like, maybe I'm just jealous. Green is a good color of me.
- GREEN FIRE. (Sorry, spontaneous combustion happens.)
- Going back to the pets... am I in danger of not using my felpup? Floaty eye =/= felpup. Just sayin'.
- Can we, instead, get a felpup update with little bits of mage stuck in its teeth?
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Flash Fiction With Friends
Labels: Fun 3 comments
I generally shy away from writing contests. I don't know why. I suppose it's just hard for me to write on command. Plus, I suffer from the writer's common cold. You know, the "I'm not good enough" one? Still, it's a BBB writing contest. That's pretty hard to resist if you ask me. But, but... I'm running out of time and work was really hard today and my brain is coasting and I don't have a whole lot of time before I need to get out of here and do another things and if I leave without doing it, I'm never going to do it and...
Okay. I can do this. Flash Fiction, 100 words or less. Go:
Okay. I can do this. Flash Fiction, 100 words or less. Go:
The slender elf leafed through the tavern’s gift shop rack. “Does liking this make me vain?” she asked, holding up a pair of tights.77 words. Not bad. Nailed all the prompts, too. Now, I just need to put a link in BBB's post comments.
“It says juicy on the butt,” was the dry reply from the dwarf.
“You’re right, it doesn’t hold a torch to the ones with the see-through star.”
The dwarf rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just get one that says ‘shaft please?’”
The elf shot her a puzzled look. “Where’s that one hidden?”
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Information Overload -or- My Top Three
Labels: General Gaming, Hot Topic 4 comments
I mentioned that the MoP NDA was lifted yesterday, and floods of information resulted. On the SWTOR front, they're getting ready to release a giant 1.2 content patch. Thus, the wires I watch are blazing with the fires of fresh knowledge right now. My poor brain is a bit overwhelmed, and I'm probably missing a great deal.
Here's what I think I'm looking forward to in Mists:
And for TOR 1.2, here's what I'm liking:
I guess you could say these are my top three things for each game. At the very least, they're what I'm focused on today. Tomorrow that may change. What are your top three today? Pick either game, or both!
Here's what I think I'm looking forward to in Mists:
- Scenarios - Right up my alley.
- WoW Farmville - Yes, I'm looking forward to this. I don't know why. I didn't play a lot of Farmville. I think I saw someone, somewhere call this "backdoor player housing." That's probably why I'm excited.
- Horde Destruction - We get to kill Garrosh and maybe be the heroes that we're supposed to be. And people are whining already about the Alliance "winning." All I can say is: It's about felling time we won something.
And for TOR 1.2, here's what I'm liking:
- Artificing improvements - namely more color crystal choices and PvP specific crafting (I believe the term "closed loop" was used).
- A diversification of PvP gear - That is, we should be able to remove mods and put them into different orange items (so we're not stuck with the PvP-specific purples like everyone else).
- Legacy! - It's about time those levels mean something.
I guess you could say these are my top three things for each game. At the very least, they're what I'm focused on today. Tomorrow that may change. What are your top three today? Pick either game, or both!
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