Adapt or die!

Changes happen, in games and in life.  Tiny, seemingly innocuous events can trigger massive cascading shitstorms that leave you standing with your pants down about your ankles, staring around you, trying to figure out what the HELL you're going to do now.  And then you go searching for answers, and you find blogs like this, and they offer no help at all.

That's right.  No help at all.  The best I can offer you is commiseration.  Think of this as my "I feel your pain" address.  At least, unlike Bill Clinton, I actually do feel your pain.  In my ass.  Especially when you're whining in my forums or on my vent.

I've been through dozens of expansions and game updates.  In the short-term, they're game-breaking, and that's always what we notice first: we can't do today what we did yesterday, the same way we were doing it.  People flood the forums, preaching doom and mayhem, and everyone's sure that it's only a matter of time before the game's hemorrhaging subs.  Not all updates are quite that bad, though.  Some updates greatly over-tune player abilities and gear in advance of a major spike in difficulty.  Reactions are delayed.  People want to stay superheroes in a room full of purse snatchers.  They don't want to have to work, now that they've tasted real ultimate power.

You have to adapt to changes like that.  And knowing the capriciousness of game developers where balance is concerned, you have to be cautious about your celebration.  Just because you can roll your face this week doesn't mean that once the rest of the update hits you won't be back to staring at your buff bar or mods waiting for procs.  Your prot warrior doing top five dps in a 25man will likely not last once damage multipliers get modified.  Just keep calm and keep on keepin' on. 

Your first step on the path to acceptance and adaptation is decision.

Know what you want to play, and stick with it.

Just about every MMO player I've ever chilled with over the years has strongly identified with one of their characters.  Even those of us who tend to keep a stable of leveled, geared alts to rotate as guild and raid needs change...  We have a character or spec that is our favorite.  In EQ2, it was my Inquisitor.  In Rift, my rogue's nightblade spec.  For the longest time, I was head over heels in love with playing a Disc priest, but then I rolled my warrior tank, and since then everything else has just been very ho-hum.  It can be hard to figure out which one of your babies you most identify with, especially if you've been switching around for a long time, or if you're burned out with the content and misinterpreting it as disgust with your current character.

So...  Do me a favor.  Sit back, close your eyes, and forget things like meters, rankings, and progression for a minute.  These games are first and foremost about fun, and people who love what they're doing tend to perform better than those who are being forced.  They also stick with it longer, and that makes progressions and all that stuff cleaner.  So forget the achievements.  Forget the flavor of the week.  Forget all the transient, fleeting things that can and will change drastically across the various updates you'll be seeing.

Now.  We've just met.  You just found out I play your game, and I ask what you are.  What are you?  What's your first answer?

When I was playing Champions, I said "I'm a PvP healer."  No thought, no hesitation.  That's who and what I saw myself as in that game.  In EQ2, I'd laugh and say "I'm a tanquisitor.  No really.  I tank shit on my inquisitor."  When people at work catch me on the WoW forums or armory and ask what I play, I tell them "I'm a warrior tank."  It's not necessarily accurate to what I'm playing RIGHT NOW, since I had that brush with resto shammy healing last week, and was able to move back to my warrior as arms main-spec for MoP when our second DK told us he wouldn't be raiding the expansion with us.  My quickness with the "I'm a warrior tank" reply is what made me say "yeah, I'll take the dps spot" instead of going "eeeh...whatever makes the raid work" like I had been.

I know myself.  I know if I'm not happy, I'll lose interest in the game, and in progression.  I won't deliberately screw up my slot, but I'll be a lot more driven to push myself if I'm playing something else.  (I can't help it.  I hate resto shammy.  Enhance is pretty fun, but...  Resto puts me to sleep.

Know your gamer identity, and stick with it.

That's it.  That's your first step on the path to weathering the constant changes and uncertainty that are sure to come with a major game update or expansion.  Know who YOU are and what YOU want, and let your guild's officers know they can count on you to show up and deliver.  Trust me, it's more important to us that we can count on you, and we know what we're dealing with than that you're flexible and will change classes or whatever.

Tomorrow, assuming I actually make the time to write the post tonight after work: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, or speculation kills.