Alas, poor Paragon. I knew it, Horatio. A city of infinite pew, of most excellent napkin math...
Okay. Now that I've properly invoked the angry ghost of William Shakespeare AND the lady that wrote For Colored Girls... City of Heroes/Villains is closing its doors for good, and its players have been left floundering, searching for a new home for their heroes. Current options in the comicbook subgenre of MMORPG are slim: SoE offers DC Universe Online (DUCO), Perfect World has Champions Online (CO), Gazillion's Marvel Heroes (MHO) is in closed beta... And that's about it. If you stretch, you could offer Paragon expatriates Funcom's The Secret World (TSW), but you'd have to be Cirque du Soleil flexible. The upside of all of this is that the only game on that list that still has a subscription fee is TSW- and the jury's out on how long that will actually last, since their player retention has been spotty at best. By Q2 of next year we may see yet another "free" to play MMORPG on the market. In spite of all of its irritating issues, Champions Online is probably a refugee's best bet.
Crash course time: Champions Online was originally developed to be Marvel Universe Online, back before Cryptic split into two studios (the other being CoX's Paragon Studios). The guy at the top of the foodchain in Cryptic, Jack Emmert, used to be known as Statesman on the CoX forums. Yeah, that guy. The one constantly going "we're going to be better about communication!" and then disappearing for a few months. Champions was the first of two Cryptic games to be launched by Atari, the other being Star Trek Online. CO released with high hopes, mountains of bugs, and to a day one "kitchen sink" patch that nearly crippled it for good. Cryptic has since confirmed that CO launched very rough and unfinished, and that things like Vibora Bay (which they initially tried to introduce as a paid expansion before pushing live as a free content update) were intended to be available at release. Since launch, the game has gone through several major revisions, including combat revisions, several generations of "powers passes" that modified skill trees and balancing, the annihilation of their crafting system, the free-to-play conversion and introduction of Archetypes (effectively, classes)... The list goes on. The development team has changed almost constantly since launch, as publishers shuffle personnel around to different games and promote anyone who doesn't completely suck at their job to Executive Producer. It's been a rocky road for Champions Online.
So why play?
Right now, Champions Online is a themepark MMORPG. The developer and publisher expect players to come for a few months, spend their money, and leave. As it stands, the only people that stick around for long stays are roleplayers and people who can only feel important as big fish in a tiny pond. Veteran players take frequent breaks of weeks to months, cycling in and out as changes come along. Taken as that, it's a great place to drop by and spend some time. There are precious few games with the depth and breadth of character customization options the CO character creator offers. The closest another game has come to rivaling CO's powers system is TSW's ability wheel- and even that is rather more restrictive than your powerhouse options. Over the years, CO's various devs have given us a limited player housing system, thousands of costume pieces covering every shape and flavor of fictional character, and quite a few fun story arcs. The game has no genuine raid content, and is light on team play. Since the introduction of the Alert system, group content is available on demand as long as you're not picky about what you get. Almost all features are available for free, minus true freeform character creation (which can be bought a la carte for a single character slot via microtrans). Basically, if you're willing to find a copy of the game and get the free month, and maybe pay the fifteen dollar sub for a month, you'll have some fun. Beyond that is anyone's guess.
Don't expect to make a home of CO, unless you're on board for some frustration, and the constant feeling of smashing your head against a brick wall. Perfect World has tied the developers' hands, and there's not much they can do for us. CO exists almost entirely to generate revenue for other PWE projects through microtransactions, and as a testing ground for features that will be in upcoming games like Neverwinter Nights Online. There is a great community in CO, if you know where to find it. Supergroups like ARC (PvE/Events), All Stars (PvE), The Saikashuu (PvP/Events), Red Academy (RP/PvE/Events), and Bloodline of Shadows (RP/PvE/PvP) can offer a lot of fun and great experiences for their members. Joining channels like COPvP, Contests, CORP, and Talkytalk will help you find other awesome groups to get involved with.
I'm hoping that we'll get an influx of CoX players into CO, and that they'll bring the same inventiveness, ingenuity, and DIY attitude to us that made Paragon City such an awesome place to be when I played.
As I get time, I'll try to write up some mini-guides to important stuff in CO, but no guarantees. If you decide to try the game out, feel free to send a tell to @ScarletShrike. Just let me know how you got my handle so I don't feak out and think you're a crazy stalker. <3
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
How to return gracefully, or Don't be a goddamned noob!
I'm not the sort of girl who's good at commitment. The longest I've ever managed to stay continuously in one game was two years, and in that time I was also playing something like three other games. I regularly take breaks from my MMOs, for anywhere from a month to three years. Usually, it's drama that drives me off and big game changes that bring me back: expansions, class reviews, new races... You know how it works.
Now, there's this negative stereotype of returning players that goes something like this:
Your Day 1 procedure, while you're reinstalling and patching, getting your account sorted, and figuring out where the hell your guild wandered off to this time, should also include class research. As a returning player, you're guaranteed that your game's matured at least to the point of having a couple reliable fansites, and where there are fans, there are fanbois who think they are the leet masters of this particular digital universe. Find a cookie-cutter spec for your class, read some of the basic guides posted, and check to see who on the forums actually knows what they're talking about. Then look up their characters and compare to the cookie cutters you've found. Often, you can figure out what's good and what's not, and what's changed just by looking at existing specs and the arguments over what's broken.
If you're going back for an expansion or level cap increase, your first instinct will be to start grinding your ass off to get back to max level. This is usually a decent idea, but sometimes can backfire on you. If there have been significant changes to game mechanics, stat balancing, gear structure, or even just your class, you will probably want to consult the forums and work through some older content before pressing on. If you've missed multiple expansions, there may be quests or gear you need from the interim expansions before you can get to the current content.
Case in point: Everquest 2
Coming up next: More fabulous tips of badassitude for making a good impression when you finally dive back into the community. Or possibly more bitching about my move. Maybe both! ^.~ See you then.
Now, there's this negative stereotype of returning players that goes something like this:
*Joining Dungeon Group, Please Wait*
Priestard: Hey guys! I just came back from a million billion hours out of game. It looks like a lot has changed! Please be patient!
Group: *collective eyeroll*
*Roguetard has left the group. Find new player?*
YOU: *click yes* It's okay. This dungeon is pretty easy. Just don't stand in shit, and watch out for cures. This expansion is brutal for that kind of crap.
*Shamwow has joined the group*
YOU: Okay people, we've got a newbie in the group, so let's take it easy and just get through is. Kay? [Time passes, shit dies, OOMs happen, but it's cool because shit dies.] Here we are, kids, Awesome Boss Dude. Remember to watch the cures, Priestard.
Priestard: Duh. I'm on it! I'm not a noob or anything. Just taking time to get into it.
*Awesome Boss Dude's Easily Dispellable Detriment has anally violated YOU for WTFPWN points of I Told You So damage! Awesome Boss Dude has killed YOU*
YOU: What's up, man? I told you to watch the cures.
Priestard: I did cure. You just suck. I was a hardcore raider when I quit and I know what I'm doing. God, people are such assholes in this game any more. Fuck you all, I hope you die IRL from genetically modified syphilis eating your BRAINS and your balls fall off.
*Priestard has left the group.*
Shamwow : Dude, way to be a dick.
*Shamwow has left the group.*Basically, people expect you to think you know a lot more than you know, and then be all touchy when they try to correct you. Rule number one of returning gracefully is:
You know nothing, John Snow.It doesn't matter how famous you were back in the day, or how hardcore you were, or if you were in fifteen phases of early alpha. All players are going to care about when you encounter them ingame is what you know and can do NOW. Accept that on Day 1 you're going to have out-dated information. Don't wave your peen around until it's not all shriveled and flaccid. If you think you know something and you're called on being wrong, just accept that your information is out-dated. Don't rage all over people about being assholes for calling you out if they're trying to help. And if they're actually being assholes about it, deal with it. Either there's no saving them from their innate assholitry, or you were being a dickweed to begin with and deserve all the punishment you get.
Your Day 1 procedure, while you're reinstalling and patching, getting your account sorted, and figuring out where the hell your guild wandered off to this time, should also include class research. As a returning player, you're guaranteed that your game's matured at least to the point of having a couple reliable fansites, and where there are fans, there are fanbois who think they are the leet masters of this particular digital universe. Find a cookie-cutter spec for your class, read some of the basic guides posted, and check to see who on the forums actually knows what they're talking about. Then look up their characters and compare to the cookie cutters you've found. Often, you can figure out what's good and what's not, and what's changed just by looking at existing specs and the arguments over what's broken.
If you're going back for an expansion or level cap increase, your first instinct will be to start grinding your ass off to get back to max level. This is usually a decent idea, but sometimes can backfire on you. If there have been significant changes to game mechanics, stat balancing, gear structure, or even just your class, you will probably want to consult the forums and work through some older content before pressing on. If you've missed multiple expansions, there may be quests or gear you need from the interim expansions before you can get to the current content.
Case in point: Everquest 2
Every expansion, EQ2 either introduces a small mountain of gameplay changes, AAs, and some new zones or they raise the level cap and add some little stupid AA bullshit. Either way, you're looking at some re-learning and grinding to do. I quit near the end of Destiny of Velious, when I found out that the upcoming expansion Age of Discovery was not going to include new overland zones or raise the level cap. It quite literally was just a features update, and I didn't feel like spending my money on that. The newest expansion, Chains of Eternity, both raised the level cap and introduced new areas. Between the two expansions, I have several new systems to learn, another offshoot of my class's mythical quest line and its followup, and a ton of crafting faction/recipe finding to get out of the way. They've also completely changed Qeynos and Freeport, the two main player cities, and turned my tank class of choice from the joke of the game to the best raid tank. (Go figure, I stop playing my monk and they get buffed out the ass.) Somewhere in the mix, they've also changed aggro mechanics, possibly twice.
TL/DR: I've got to work my way through at least part of the AoD stuff so I can figure out the new systems like Mercenaries and Tradeskill Apprentices before I can even think about getting into Chains of Eternity content. I've also got to re-learn how to tank, and figure out how the changes they've made to my class impact my gameplay. Standards and expectations have shifted, and players in CoE content will be expected to have completed whatever was in the previous expansion, as far as prestige abilities and alternate advancements go. Until my characters meet those minimum standards, I should not put myself in a position to waste people's time.Which brings us to rule number two of Returning Gracefully:
Wise man shut the fuck up and read patch notes. Learn many things.In order to know where to start, you have to know what the current minimum expectations are for you. If you want to know THAT, you have to read the goddamned patch notes, state of the class posts, and all that good stuff. It can be a daunting task, but if you want to make a seamless transition back into your game without looking like an asshat, pissing people off, and needing to transfer/name change a month down the road you'll take my advice.
Coming up next: More fabulous tips of badassitude for making a good impression when you finally dive back into the community. Or possibly more bitching about my move. Maybe both! ^.~ See you then.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Packing Roxi-style
Yes. In my head, that's to the tune of Gangnam Style. And there is a more than good probability that before the night is out I'll be galloping around my now-furnitureless apartment shouting that and failing at the Gangnam Style dance. No, I will not be streaming it, because don't nobody need to see that crap. There's a reason my drapes are some of the last things to be packed.
You would think a woman who's been a guild bank manager for five or seven years would be amazing at keeping her stuff organized, and optimizing her space to move. She'd have boxes of the right size combinations to maximize her stuff/container ratio, and be able to shove everything she needs into her car or moving van efficiently. If RL came equipped with slots, and my dining room table took up the same amount of car space as my socks, I'd totally be set. As it is...
I have a diagram. I don't have this diagram right now, because I'm at work and it's taped to my fridge and scribbled on the back of a Totino's frozen pizza box in sharpie, but I've got one! It details where in my car everything is going. It reminds me of a really really bad game of Tetris, which was analyzed after the fact by the guys from Monday Night Football to show just where the player went wrong. Seriously, I've got squiggles and lines and arrows all over the damn place, and I know it's not going to go as planned because half my stuff is shoved into garbage bags at this point and they keep changing shape. Screw paying nine bucks a tote for boxes. I'm a hobo and I'm proud of it!
Suffice it to say, I'm a lucky person, because my sister has offered to be my bank mule until I get settled in. Since things like my baker's rack, TV stand, desk, and so on won't fit into my Vibe (don't look at me like that), she's letting me pack some minor things into her basement. Now if only getting things off the bank mule were as simple as clicking the "return to sender" button on the mailbox. Mah well. I wouldn't need to worry about a mule at all, but buying extra vault tabs IRL is freaking EXPENSIVE. I am not impressed.
So anyway. Roxi Style involves multi-colored post-it notes to denote whether a room is full, empty, or sorted. Cabinets and closets also use this system. Each room is assigned a certain number of boxes, which are labeled "Roxi - Store - Room" or "Roxi - Use - Room" (obviously, room gets replaced with the actual room it's from). I have a master inventory of what's in each box, or at least had one until the cat kidnapped it and buried it in her litter box. Now the only manifest I have is the one in my brain, and it's bugging the CRAP out of me. RL needs a searchable inventory. Anyway. Things that are getting stored, or which could easily be damaged go into plastic totes. Stuff I plan on using a lot, like clothes, go into collapsible cloth storage bags. (I finally found a use for all the crap my sister got me from Thirty-One.) Electronics are bundled together with their peripherals and cords, and placed into collapsible cloth storage cubes. Cardboard is reserved for big things that are pretty much just easier to carry that way, like the slow cooker and coffee machine. At least...that's the plan.
Every time you fill a box, you take a shot. Every time you find something the cat stole and hid, take two shots. When you have to repack a box because stuff doesn't fit, two shots. One shot every time you move something out of your Goodwill pile and into a box, and two when you put it either back in the donation pile or in the trash. Three shots every time you take a trashbag full of stuff down to the dumpster only to realize it was your pillows or towels and have to fish it out. While filling out the car, one shot for every other box loaded, and three if you manage to get it in without having to re-shuffle things so you can use your rear-view mirror.
The last thing packed and loaded should be the cat, sedated and in her carrier. Finish the bottle(s) if what actually goes into the car last is your laptop bag or tablet, because you were too busy doing scratchy cards on the Rift mobile app.
Oh. Then sleep it off on your living room floor, huddling in your For The Horde hoodie like the hobo that you are.
You would think a woman who's been a guild bank manager for five or seven years would be amazing at keeping her stuff organized, and optimizing her space to move. She'd have boxes of the right size combinations to maximize her stuff/container ratio, and be able to shove everything she needs into her car or moving van efficiently. If RL came equipped with slots, and my dining room table took up the same amount of car space as my socks, I'd totally be set. As it is...
I have a diagram. I don't have this diagram right now, because I'm at work and it's taped to my fridge and scribbled on the back of a Totino's frozen pizza box in sharpie, but I've got one! It details where in my car everything is going. It reminds me of a really really bad game of Tetris, which was analyzed after the fact by the guys from Monday Night Football to show just where the player went wrong. Seriously, I've got squiggles and lines and arrows all over the damn place, and I know it's not going to go as planned because half my stuff is shoved into garbage bags at this point and they keep changing shape. Screw paying nine bucks a tote for boxes. I'm a hobo and I'm proud of it!
Suffice it to say, I'm a lucky person, because my sister has offered to be my bank mule until I get settled in. Since things like my baker's rack, TV stand, desk, and so on won't fit into my Vibe (don't look at me like that), she's letting me pack some minor things into her basement. Now if only getting things off the bank mule were as simple as clicking the "return to sender" button on the mailbox. Mah well. I wouldn't need to worry about a mule at all, but buying extra vault tabs IRL is freaking EXPENSIVE. I am not impressed.
So anyway. Roxi Style involves multi-colored post-it notes to denote whether a room is full, empty, or sorted. Cabinets and closets also use this system. Each room is assigned a certain number of boxes, which are labeled "Roxi - Store - Room" or "Roxi - Use - Room" (obviously, room gets replaced with the actual room it's from). I have a master inventory of what's in each box, or at least had one until the cat kidnapped it and buried it in her litter box. Now the only manifest I have is the one in my brain, and it's bugging the CRAP out of me. RL needs a searchable inventory. Anyway. Things that are getting stored, or which could easily be damaged go into plastic totes. Stuff I plan on using a lot, like clothes, go into collapsible cloth storage bags. (I finally found a use for all the crap my sister got me from Thirty-One.) Electronics are bundled together with their peripherals and cords, and placed into collapsible cloth storage cubes. Cardboard is reserved for big things that are pretty much just easier to carry that way, like the slow cooker and coffee machine. At least...that's the plan.
Every time you fill a box, you take a shot. Every time you find something the cat stole and hid, take two shots. When you have to repack a box because stuff doesn't fit, two shots. One shot every time you move something out of your Goodwill pile and into a box, and two when you put it either back in the donation pile or in the trash. Three shots every time you take a trashbag full of stuff down to the dumpster only to realize it was your pillows or towels and have to fish it out. While filling out the car, one shot for every other box loaded, and three if you manage to get it in without having to re-shuffle things so you can use your rear-view mirror.
The last thing packed and loaded should be the cat, sedated and in her carrier. Finish the bottle(s) if what actually goes into the car last is your laptop bag or tablet, because you were too busy doing scratchy cards on the Rift mobile app.
Oh. Then sleep it off on your living room floor, huddling in your For The Horde hoodie like the hobo that you are.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Rift! No. EQ2! No. Champions! No. Wait...what's my pw again?
This time last week I was (a) whining about having to move and (b) all excited about starting back up in Rift. I even went so far as to buy the one year sub so I could get the free expansion dealie. Things were going great, I was smashing faces with my mage, and then...
...and then I went shopping with my friend, and she saw an old collector's edition of EQ2's Sentinel's Fate expansion for ten bucks. Full game (to the old level cap, anyway), plus a month time, plus free station cash, plus a swanky new mount and a pewter battlecat that has already replaced her dog in the Monopoly set for only ten dollars was apparently too awesome to pass up. This time, anyway. I'd talked her out of it half a dozen times before, because we were playing WoW and running a guild and all that good stuff.
So now I'm playing EQ2, and trying to mentor a True Newb to a game that's gone through eight years of developmental dickery, after something like two years away. I reactivated for a month towards the middle of the last expansion, but only played for about twenty minutes. (Part of it was that I got robbed of 20aa on my illusionist because I hadn't resubbed when I logged her in the first time, and apparently lost all credit for stored xp.) Ever since the game went Free to Play and, more importantly, Rift launched, I've been fooling around Anywhere But There. They hadn't introduced mercenaries yet, let alone introduced prestige abilities or the Choose Your Own Focus Effects tab, or any of that good stuff. Stats have been changed and changed and changed, they've introduced reforging...
I just spent three weeks getting reacquainted with Rift, and now I have to jam on the brakes and shift gears to get caught up with EQ2. I've been staring at my monk's AAs for something like four hours now trying to figure out how to not do it wrong, and concluded that everything I set up when I logged in was most definitely doing it wrong. It also turns out that I've got to wait a week to transfer said monk to the server I had my friend roll on because Butcherblock, my old server, is populated by quasi-sentient dildos.
And to top it all off? My usual fallback fansite has all but died for lack of drama. /mourn EQ2flames. You will be missed.
But seriously! I have epic game ADD any more, and it seems like just when I finally make a decision to commit, someone comes along with something shiny on a string and drags me somewhere else.
So...I'll be bouncing back and forth between games for a while. Actual content to follow soon, I promise!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Time Management, Roxi Style
I'm in the middle of packing for a huge move, and trying to find time to squeeze in both getting the block back up and running and level my mage. This...is not going well. To compound my problems, I'm being slammed hard in the face ingame with Too Much To Do syndrome.
The solution, right now, is to curl up on the couch with the Hunger Games, and pretend that throwing a few boxes into key places in my apartment and making an elaborate color-coded post-it note scheme equates to Getting Things Done.
I think it's safe to say at this point that with everything going on, my stream won't be back up and running before next month. By that point, at least, I'll have some fabulous co-stars to involve, and possibly even the KleptoKlip collar camera I've been talking about setting up on the stream for when I'm not actually playing a game. For some reason, the prospect of broadcasting my cat's life Ghost Hunters style entertains me.
So sit tight, relax...and hope for motivations.
The solution, right now, is to curl up on the couch with the Hunger Games, and pretend that throwing a few boxes into key places in my apartment and making an elaborate color-coded post-it note scheme equates to Getting Things Done.
I think it's safe to say at this point that with everything going on, my stream won't be back up and running before next month. By that point, at least, I'll have some fabulous co-stars to involve, and possibly even the KleptoKlip collar camera I've been talking about setting up on the stream for when I'm not actually playing a game. For some reason, the prospect of broadcasting my cat's life Ghost Hunters style entertains me.
So sit tight, relax...and hope for motivations.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
My beloved Russians! And..that other guy.
I'm sure you all heard the screaming from my dusty, cobwebby little cranny of the Internet when I discovered today that my beloved Russian audience of THREE has completely stopped checking in.
Why you do this, Russians? After that whole thing you went through in the 80s I figured you'd be used to reading and rereading and rereading the same nonsensical blather scribbled on the back of a napkin!
Okay. Possibly a low blow and very possibly uncool, but I had to throw that in there. Seeing as I lost basically my entire audience except, apparently, this one guy in the US who I strongly suspect is a buddy of mine (HI MAL!)... I was a little sad. Never mind that I cruelly abandoned you guys when I discovered Outside, Real Life, and OMG GIRLS...
It's a long story. You'll maybe get it someday. Not today. I know you're heartbroken.
Good news, long-lost readers! I'm back, and this time I PROMISE it will be less thinly-veiled backseat guild leadership and blatant bitching about my recruits. Why? Because not only am I NOT a guild leader or officer this time around... I'm not even IN a guild!
The hell, you say? THE HELL INDEED, my darlings. I have once again jumped games, because I go through them like Lindsay Lohan goes through rehab clinics. This time I've landed myself ass first in Rift, because I can't stand the lure of a GREAT DEAL, and when I mathed it out the free Storm Legion with 1yr prepaid game time came out to AMAZING SAVINGS. And gave me an excuse to quit World of Farmville.
I was really active in Rift's Rogue community when the game first launched, though I'm sure nobody remembers Roxina the Raging Nightblade Bitch who would chime in on literally EVERY thread about "WHY MY DPS SO BAD" with "y u no roll spike?" (Not quite in those words, but...that's what I wanted to write.) When I was looking at the new souls for the expansion though, I saw Harbinger and literally creamed my pants at the thought of what I could do with a Harb/Chloro/Dom spec, so...
Yeah. I'm healing. Shut your whineholes. Wineholes? Either way, it's a hole, and things should be going in, not coming out. I'm on a rambly roll here.
Anyway. I'm Roxina, on Wolfsbane (all hail free server transfers. It's not that I don't like you any more, Faeblight, it's just that I have bad memories of being ostracized by every member of the early hardcore community for officering in three separate guilds that I either accidentally destroyed, poached members from unintentionally, or screwed by not turning over guild bank information before I left on my neverending search for a guild that could actually kill Infiltrator without having to spend two and a half hours wiping because People Can't Fucking Turn Around). Right now I'm working my way through the Storm Legion content at a snail's pace, because I'm getting ready to move in with my ex-guild leaders and start a new job (BEST IDEA EVER or TOTAL FUCKING FAIL, there is no middle ground possible). Wave at me. Hug me. Ignore me.
Just be ready for guides of awesome and, hopefully, some new streams.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Bit of a hiatus
It's been a while since I wrote here. Sad as it is, I'm going to have to step away from this for a while. I've got too much to sort out with my guild right now to manage this on top of my playtime and workload IRL.
What can I say? There's no point in writing about how to be a good recruiter, or raid officer, or whatever if you're not actually going to follow through with it in your own guild.
So! Thank you all for reading, and see you around the intarwebs!
What can I say? There's no point in writing about how to be a good recruiter, or raid officer, or whatever if you're not actually going to follow through with it in your own guild.
So! Thank you all for reading, and see you around the intarwebs!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Roxi's 10min Disc Priest Cookbook
Because there aren't enough guides on the internet, and I'm sure by now I've established myself as That Chick You Really Shouldn't Listen To... I give you Roxi's Ten Minute Disc Priest Cookbook: Pandalicious Edition. (Actually, I'm stuck at work and bored out of my gourd, but don't have enough time to figure out something more useful. Bwahaha.)
- Step One: Buy one of those really big bottles of Malibu coconut rum, and a case of diet cherry Dr.Pepper. You may also need a giant-sized novelty coffee mug, preferably one that says "Rogues do it from behind" or "Alchemist's Flask" or something. Anything but a mug with kittens on it, really. You're learning to play the Roxi way. Embrace it.
- Step Two: Log into World of Warcraft and roll a priest! Before Mists of Pandaria, you were required to do a careful survey of boobies and booties to figure out what suited your tastes now, but the expansion streamlined things a lot. Roll a female Pandaren priest, and name her something Roxilicious. Just don't use Roxina, because that's MINE dammit. Some of my favorite Roxi variants have been Roxtoberfest, Roxiloxi, and Chatterbrox. (The last one was a stretch, but I literally just used her to harass people in general channels.)
- Step Three: Fill your mug! I recommend mixing at 2:1 soda:rum or 1:1, but your mileage may vary. DO NOT USE ICE. Ice dilutes the drink and is for pussies. If you can't drink it before it gets warm, DRINK FASTER. Got a problem with that? Roll resto shammy and spam chain heal. GG.
- Step Four: Level! 1-15 is for getting drunk. 15-85 is for being drunk and pugging as a healer. Or DPS. You're running up as Disc after all, so you're going to be able to pace shadow priests at least into your seventies, these days. "But Roooxiiii!" you whine. "How do I spec?" Hold on a moment.
- 4A - Smack yourself. Disc talents aren't hard these days. The game basically does all the work for you. All you have to do is pick some flavor abilities and your glyphs. Levelling, you'll want reflective shield, smite, and either holy fire or holy nova. Capped out, you'll want smite, penance, and power word:shield. Minors are garbage. As long as you have the levitate glyph, you can put shadow glyphs in the rest and no one will care. Seriously. I think I have shadow ravens and the alternate shadow form on my disc spec. Our minors are THAT bad. As far as talents go... The ones that really matter are Mindthingy that improves your shadowfiend, Power Infusion, and your level 90. The others are all really about which oshit buttons favor you best, or how little you PvP. I grabbed tentacles, feathers, and the omgwtf bubble that has saved my ass a lot. YMMV. (And yes, my level 90 is Cascade. No, I don't like it. Yes, I'm too lazy to spec out of it for Halo.)
- Step Five: Download add-ons! This is actually kind of meant to be done at the beginning, but...yeah. Healing without addons is a pain in the ass. I run with a pretty minimalist addon set- Quartz castbar, Xperl unit frames, Bartender, Decursive, Tidy Plates/Threat Plates, and Auctionator. I have function keys, and I use them. Click-to-heal on things like Grid and Healbot make people lazy.
- Step Six: Refill your mug. If it's not empty yet...you are doing it wrong.
- Step Seven: Pick up tradeskills! For the love of god don't do Alchemy. I am an alchemist/herbalist. It is bad. Blizz has given us no reason to be on main characters. In MoP, go Herbalism/Inscriptions. The haste buff from lifewhateverthefuck can be alternated with power infusion so that every time you drop a squiddy (shadowfiend) he's getting more attacks in and you're getting more mana back. Inscriptions gets you a really nice staff or offhand, shoulder enchants, and darkmoon cards. This early in the expansion, crafting epics are actually worth having, so...yeah.
- Step Eight: Pick up a second spec! Because...you know... It's not like dual spec is 1k any more. You may as well. Go holy if you really feel the need to be a pansy prissypants vagina-spawner, and shadow if you like mudkips. Not that shadow ravens actually look like mudkips, but they SHOULD look like mudkips, and i herd u liek them. Yeah... moving on.
- Step Nine: Read someone else's guide to figure out how to actually play your class. In general, pw:s and prayer of mending on incoming, both on CD after that. Penance as much damage as you can. When you're not needing to direct heal, holy fire, smite smite smite smite smite, HOLY FIRE, smite smite smite. I usually hit power infusion/shadow fiend when I hit 80% mana, and keep him on cooldown after that. For 90% of everything outside of raids, atonement will carry your ass through everything. If you're taking groupwide damage, prayer of healing. If you have big incoming damage, hit spirit shell, then prayer of healing, then stack some shields on your tank. If you're getting bored and just want to nuke, spirit shell, hit the tank with penance and then a greater heal, then smite your li'l arse off. The CD on spirit shell is short enough that i'm pretty liberal with it.
- Step Ten: Stop in the middle of a pull and ask your group why the rum is gone. Wipe. Be told you're a terrible person. Blame it on me. Profit!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Mists of Pandaria - First Impressions
I heard you like pandas. I know I like pandas. A lot. And not just because I look like a Pandaren irl. (Minus, you know, the fur. Because that would be weird.) Mists of Pandaria launched a week ago today, and as evidenced by the total lack of blog posts and streaming... I've been more than a little obsessed with it.
MoP introduced an entire new continent with something like five adventuring zones, a shiny new I Can't Believe It's Not Dalaran city, a shitload of new factions, gear, instances, these new scenario things... Oh. And World of Farmvillecraft. Because killing dragons wasn't enough, now we also need to make friends, grow random shit, and decorate our farms. And I do mean need, because unless you want to pay a ton of gold for your cooking ingredients, farming is just about the only way to get what you need for making food. In short: there's a LOT to do, and in seven days of playing stupid amounts of hours, I've only begun to scratch the surface.
Now. To catch up those of you who weren't my single sad mystery viewer on launch day, I'm playing my disc priest as my main right now. The week's guild drama may change that on me again, but for now I'm a priest. I went 85-90 as disc, and given the chance...I'd do it the same way all over again. It was slow, but safe- a lot like levelling as prot, which is how I plan to run my warrior up. Spent the week in the same room as an arms warrior and a holy priest running up as shadow, and from the sound of things... I definitely had the easiest time with the quests. MoP mobs are more or less tailored to people in LFR gear or better, so if you're dragging up a toon with less than probably 380 ilvl, you're going to be in for some pain and frustration. (Hell, my priest was 396 when I started her out, and by about level 88 she was getting her taint punched in.)
The quests are fun. Lots of fun. Most of them amount to Go Kill Ten Monkeys and Click On Fifteen Piles of Poop, but between the mobs yelling shit at you like "I'm gonna ook you in the dooker" and using abilities like "hit you harder"... I felt pretty well engaged. I loremastered the first four zones before I hit 90, which was just enough to meet the Pandarian Night's Watch (seriously, if you listen to the Shado Pan guys... We are the watchers on the wall? HELLO! GRR Martin called and he wants his money) , the Farmville people, and the fishermanz. Oh, and Hemmet Nessingwary. Because he's everywhere innocent critters need mass murdered. I have yet to find this expansion's answer to the Ring of Blood/Crucible of Carnage, but I'm sure it's somewhere in the Dreadwastes or something.
The crafting is easy. I was a bit perturbed when I discovered that every last one of my goddamned alch recipes is a disco after the heal pots you train at 525, but they've massively upped the disco rate since Burning Crusade. I had all of my recipes by 600, minus any reusables or the epic alchemist stone, which I'm starting to think are a myth. There are flowers literally everywhere, excepting Golden Lotus, which is nowhere and yet needed for every single flask or gem transmute ever. Now, you CAN trade your spirits of harmony (the asshole primal thingies this time around, which are BoP and you might have ten of by the time you hit 90) for three golden lotus, but... You can also use them to bypass your 24h cooldown on your living steel transmute. (Remember Truegold? Yeahhhhhh....) With herbs and ore being ridiculously common and beasts being everywhere, I've yet to hear of anyone having issues with the primary tradeskills. The secondaries, on the other hand...
Hooooly crap, did they turn cooking into a chore. There are now six different "ways" of cooking, and each levels independently of the others. Each way represents a stat, except Way of the Brew, which...hell if I know. It's there. It's booze? I haven't looked at it too much. Each Way takes different ingredients, from meats to fish to vegetables, as well as "fuel items" (if you've played EQ2 and crafted, you'll know what I mean by that) that are purchased with cooking tokens. I'm currently stalled right the hell out at 595 in Way of the Oven because you have no option but to make feasts to progress through each Way, and they take a fucklot of mats. The meats and the fish aren't so bad, but having to come up with 50 vegetables, when you're lucky to harvest twenty in a day before you've upgraded your farm (which you can only do with faction) is a royal pain.
Yeah. Love the idea Blizz, but if I wanted to play Farmville or Harvest Moon, I'd play those games. I don't want to play Warcraftville on three different characters to be able to feed my raid every week. (And yes, you need to max all six Ways to get the recipe for the raid feast for this expansion. Lame-o.)
And then there's fishing. You would think that fishing wouldn't be too bad, especially with the guild perk that makes you get more frequent skill-ups, but... Yeahno. I'm sitting at 560 if I'm lucky, and I've done a LOT of fishing for my tradeskill crap. Archaeology's a lot easier, and marginally more interesting because now you have a random chance to spawn mobs that drop Yay More Fragments. I've yet to get anything good from them, but...not complaining.
Anyway. On the whole so far, I'm loving MoP. I only just got my ilvl high enough to queue for heroics, so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get a good write-up done of those, the new scenarios, and my baby mistweaver.
MoP introduced an entire new continent with something like five adventuring zones, a shiny new I Can't Believe It's Not Dalaran city, a shitload of new factions, gear, instances, these new scenario things... Oh. And World of Farmvillecraft. Because killing dragons wasn't enough, now we also need to make friends, grow random shit, and decorate our farms. And I do mean need, because unless you want to pay a ton of gold for your cooking ingredients, farming is just about the only way to get what you need for making food. In short: there's a LOT to do, and in seven days of playing stupid amounts of hours, I've only begun to scratch the surface.
Now. To catch up those of you who weren't my single sad mystery viewer on launch day, I'm playing my disc priest as my main right now. The week's guild drama may change that on me again, but for now I'm a priest. I went 85-90 as disc, and given the chance...I'd do it the same way all over again. It was slow, but safe- a lot like levelling as prot, which is how I plan to run my warrior up. Spent the week in the same room as an arms warrior and a holy priest running up as shadow, and from the sound of things... I definitely had the easiest time with the quests. MoP mobs are more or less tailored to people in LFR gear or better, so if you're dragging up a toon with less than probably 380 ilvl, you're going to be in for some pain and frustration. (Hell, my priest was 396 when I started her out, and by about level 88 she was getting her taint punched in.)
The quests are fun. Lots of fun. Most of them amount to Go Kill Ten Monkeys and Click On Fifteen Piles of Poop, but between the mobs yelling shit at you like "I'm gonna ook you in the dooker" and using abilities like "hit you harder"... I felt pretty well engaged. I loremastered the first four zones before I hit 90, which was just enough to meet the Pandarian Night's Watch (seriously, if you listen to the Shado Pan guys... We are the watchers on the wall? HELLO! GRR Martin called and he wants his money) , the Farmville people, and the fishermanz. Oh, and Hemmet Nessingwary. Because he's everywhere innocent critters need mass murdered. I have yet to find this expansion's answer to the Ring of Blood/Crucible of Carnage, but I'm sure it's somewhere in the Dreadwastes or something.
The crafting is easy. I was a bit perturbed when I discovered that every last one of my goddamned alch recipes is a disco after the heal pots you train at 525, but they've massively upped the disco rate since Burning Crusade. I had all of my recipes by 600, minus any reusables or the epic alchemist stone, which I'm starting to think are a myth. There are flowers literally everywhere, excepting Golden Lotus, which is nowhere and yet needed for every single flask or gem transmute ever. Now, you CAN trade your spirits of harmony (the asshole primal thingies this time around, which are BoP and you might have ten of by the time you hit 90) for three golden lotus, but... You can also use them to bypass your 24h cooldown on your living steel transmute. (Remember Truegold? Yeahhhhhh....) With herbs and ore being ridiculously common and beasts being everywhere, I've yet to hear of anyone having issues with the primary tradeskills. The secondaries, on the other hand...
Hooooly crap, did they turn cooking into a chore. There are now six different "ways" of cooking, and each levels independently of the others. Each way represents a stat, except Way of the Brew, which...hell if I know. It's there. It's booze? I haven't looked at it too much. Each Way takes different ingredients, from meats to fish to vegetables, as well as "fuel items" (if you've played EQ2 and crafted, you'll know what I mean by that) that are purchased with cooking tokens. I'm currently stalled right the hell out at 595 in Way of the Oven because you have no option but to make feasts to progress through each Way, and they take a fucklot of mats. The meats and the fish aren't so bad, but having to come up with 50 vegetables, when you're lucky to harvest twenty in a day before you've upgraded your farm (which you can only do with faction) is a royal pain.
Yeah. Love the idea Blizz, but if I wanted to play Farmville or Harvest Moon, I'd play those games. I don't want to play Warcraftville on three different characters to be able to feed my raid every week. (And yes, you need to max all six Ways to get the recipe for the raid feast for this expansion. Lame-o.)
And then there's fishing. You would think that fishing wouldn't be too bad, especially with the guild perk that makes you get more frequent skill-ups, but... Yeahno. I'm sitting at 560 if I'm lucky, and I've done a LOT of fishing for my tradeskill crap. Archaeology's a lot easier, and marginally more interesting because now you have a random chance to spawn mobs that drop Yay More Fragments. I've yet to get anything good from them, but...not complaining.
Anyway. On the whole so far, I'm loving MoP. I only just got my ilvl high enough to queue for heroics, so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get a good write-up done of those, the new scenarios, and my baby mistweaver.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Hey look! It's MoP!
Stood in line at GameStop in Robinson for like an hour last night, and it wasn't even for my copy. Like a sane woman, I did the digital pre-order of Mists of Pandaria, because really. I hate going out in public, let alone out in public where there are going to be piles of derps trying to answer trivia questions to win cardboard boxes.
Pretty cardboard boxes, admittedly, but still. Fucking cardboard boxes.
So anyway, like everyone else in the world, I'm waiting on a race change. Goblin to Pandaren, because FLUFFY! I can't say no to the fluffy. It's probably the closest I'll get in this game EVER to a cute little halfling. And the Roxina is ALWAYS a cute little halfling. Except when she's a dark elf.
I'll be streaming while I level my priest. To those of you hoping for my warriorly pearls of wisdom... Don't recruit tanks when you yourself are a tank. All I'm sayin'. ^.^ I'll be running disc/shadow, and the lulz. They will be had.
And that's all you get today, because I've got some levels to get.
Heart!
Pretty cardboard boxes, admittedly, but still. Fucking cardboard boxes.
So anyway, like everyone else in the world, I'm waiting on a race change. Goblin to Pandaren, because FLUFFY! I can't say no to the fluffy. It's probably the closest I'll get in this game EVER to a cute little halfling. And the Roxina is ALWAYS a cute little halfling. Except when she's a dark elf.
I'll be streaming while I level my priest. To those of you hoping for my warriorly pearls of wisdom... Don't recruit tanks when you yourself are a tank. All I'm sayin'. ^.^ I'll be running disc/shadow, and the lulz. They will be had.
And that's all you get today, because I've got some levels to get.
Heart!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Never promise anything
I don't know everything. I know, I know, this will come as a shock to you... but every now and again something comes along and kicks me in the nads just hard enough to remind me that for every one thing I know, there are a couple hundred things that I don't. Admittedly, most of my major Lessons In Life moments come from things that I probably should have known already, like Fire Bad and Don't Touch Bears, but...
The sense. She's not so common as you would think or hope. Especially where the Roxi is concerned.
Anyway, the short and sweet lesson for today is "Never promise anyone anything if you're not certain you can deliver." I mean this specifically in a recruiting sense, but it's one of those lessons from MMOs that carries over well into other spheres of Real Life as a Real Girl. Or boy, if you happen to have that unfortunate disability.
I've caught myself falling into the "say anything to get them tagged" trap. People looking for social environments with a potential for raiding I'll upsell the various close friendships that we've formed to. (Terrible sentence construction ftw.) I push our desire to see and clear everything to folks looking for progression. Someone mentions drama, and I tell them about our "if you have a problem, you handle your shit or you leave" rule. And what's worse, I find myself trying to spin my prospies' concerns and observations into good things, or cover them up like it's some kind of political shell game.
I used to pride myself on my frankness and honesty as a recruiter. As a rule, I only recruit for guilds that I would want to come into as a recruit, and I only pick up people that I don't mind spending half or more of my free time with. (Again with the sentence construction.) But any more... It feels like I'm campaigning, and I've lost my captain awesome mojo.
Anyway. Back to my roots, I think. Honesty, frankness, openness... And no promises.
The sense. She's not so common as you would think or hope. Especially where the Roxi is concerned.
Anyway, the short and sweet lesson for today is "Never promise anyone anything if you're not certain you can deliver." I mean this specifically in a recruiting sense, but it's one of those lessons from MMOs that carries over well into other spheres of Real Life as a Real Girl. Or boy, if you happen to have that unfortunate disability.
I've caught myself falling into the "say anything to get them tagged" trap. People looking for social environments with a potential for raiding I'll upsell the various close friendships that we've formed to. (Terrible sentence construction ftw.) I push our desire to see and clear everything to folks looking for progression. Someone mentions drama, and I tell them about our "if you have a problem, you handle your shit or you leave" rule. And what's worse, I find myself trying to spin my prospies' concerns and observations into good things, or cover them up like it's some kind of political shell game.
I used to pride myself on my frankness and honesty as a recruiter. As a rule, I only recruit for guilds that I would want to come into as a recruit, and I only pick up people that I don't mind spending half or more of my free time with. (Again with the sentence construction.) But any more... It feels like I'm campaigning, and I've lost my captain awesome mojo.
Anyway. Back to my roots, I think. Honesty, frankness, openness... And no promises.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Speculation kills!
No. Really. Knowledge is power, but a little bit of knowledge in the wrong hands? Is fucking devastating. Before a game release there're always a ton of rumors flying around, founded or unfounded, based on media kits, alpha/beta leaks, and stuff people came up with while simultaneously drunk and tripping balls on shrooms. It always seems like those last ones are what stick with people and run rampant too- probably because gamers always assume that whatever makes them rage out the most is true.
Seriously. As a community, it's like we're just out looking for things we can bitch about on forums and in our blogs/podcasts, and an excuse to go all Red Lantern Corps on people.
Today's Roxilicious Rant comes to you courtesy of Things I'm Tired of Hearing About In Voice, which is more or less the same list as Things I'm Tired of Reading In Trade Chat (twice, while the chat bug was still active earlier this week). Everyone seems to think that their class is going to break when MoP releases, they're going to lose their raid viability, and the only thing people are going to want will be Boomkins. For everything. Healing, tanking, dps... For some reason, Trade Chat on Thrall is obsessed with balance druids. Personally, I think it's all part of a giant conspiracy to keep me from getting the Boomie we need for our progression comp, but... Whatever.
Nobody knows how things are going to shift around once the expansion launches. I don't care if someone's been in beta since before public invites went out, Blizz is still going to change a lot between Panda launch and the first raid zones opening up. Even after that, there will be tuning and retuning to make sure people aren't progressing too fast, and classes aren't completely non-viable. (BTW: it's been a while since Blizz let a class be completely and utterly nonviable. It's more often a case of Not As Good As That Other Guy, which is to be expected, and does not mean you need to mainchange or reroll and make us call an emergency officer meeting to COMPLETELY recalibrate the roster. Again.) So just chill out and stop thinking your world (of Warcraft! that never gets old. ^.^) is ending.
On a good day, like 75% of what you read on the forums is total bullshit that's either outdated or just plain wrong. Because things keep changing in beta, and will continue to change after MoP goes live, that number's going to shoot up to like... 90%. (Statistics courtesy of my ass.) If you're looking for beta information, look at the date on the original post, and then look at the date of the most recent PTS update. If OP comes before the update, your information is out of date and while it's not completely useless, you should consider finding fresher infos. Do that before you start ranting about how the damage modifier on Revenge is way too high, or fury warriors are rage starved, or resto shammy aoe heals are overpowered. Please. <3 Even if you know it's not going to be that bad after the expansion, some windowlicker is going to come behind you and take up the cry, the rage will spread ingame, and the next thing you know those guys that don't touch the forums are going to be ragequitting, rerolling, telling people they're garbage for playing whatever spec you've been ranting about and making THOSE people go to the forums and QQ...
Ripples in the stream of bullshit are bad. I like that stuff channeled from point A to point B without getting any splashed on me, thanks. Just...think before you rage. And for the love of god, stop jumping to conclusions before you've actually seen what the devs are releasing. This doesn't just go for WoW. Console shooter, single player RPG, MMORTS... Whatever you're playing, or stalking the development for... If there aren't enough facts to back up whatever you're asserting, qualify it as speculation, and keep it to a minimum.
Okay. That's off my chest now. ^.^ I feel better.
More meat on the plate tomorrow, hopefully, since I shouldn't be so rushed for an update: Roxi's got sandbox in places she never knew existed, and it's starting to chafe.
Seriously. As a community, it's like we're just out looking for things we can bitch about on forums and in our blogs/podcasts, and an excuse to go all Red Lantern Corps on people.
Today's Roxilicious Rant comes to you courtesy of Things I'm Tired of Hearing About In Voice, which is more or less the same list as Things I'm Tired of Reading In Trade Chat (twice, while the chat bug was still active earlier this week). Everyone seems to think that their class is going to break when MoP releases, they're going to lose their raid viability, and the only thing people are going to want will be Boomkins. For everything. Healing, tanking, dps... For some reason, Trade Chat on Thrall is obsessed with balance druids. Personally, I think it's all part of a giant conspiracy to keep me from getting the Boomie we need for our progression comp, but... Whatever.
Nobody knows how things are going to shift around once the expansion launches. I don't care if someone's been in beta since before public invites went out, Blizz is still going to change a lot between Panda launch and the first raid zones opening up. Even after that, there will be tuning and retuning to make sure people aren't progressing too fast, and classes aren't completely non-viable. (BTW: it's been a while since Blizz let a class be completely and utterly nonviable. It's more often a case of Not As Good As That Other Guy, which is to be expected, and does not mean you need to mainchange or reroll and make us call an emergency officer meeting to COMPLETELY recalibrate the roster. Again.) So just chill out and stop thinking your world (of Warcraft! that never gets old. ^.^) is ending.
On a good day, like 75% of what you read on the forums is total bullshit that's either outdated or just plain wrong. Because things keep changing in beta, and will continue to change after MoP goes live, that number's going to shoot up to like... 90%. (Statistics courtesy of my ass.) If you're looking for beta information, look at the date on the original post, and then look at the date of the most recent PTS update. If OP comes before the update, your information is out of date and while it's not completely useless, you should consider finding fresher infos. Do that before you start ranting about how the damage modifier on Revenge is way too high, or fury warriors are rage starved, or resto shammy aoe heals are overpowered. Please. <3 Even if you know it's not going to be that bad after the expansion, some windowlicker is going to come behind you and take up the cry, the rage will spread ingame, and the next thing you know those guys that don't touch the forums are going to be ragequitting, rerolling, telling people they're garbage for playing whatever spec you've been ranting about and making THOSE people go to the forums and QQ...
Ripples in the stream of bullshit are bad. I like that stuff channeled from point A to point B without getting any splashed on me, thanks. Just...think before you rage. And for the love of god, stop jumping to conclusions before you've actually seen what the devs are releasing. This doesn't just go for WoW. Console shooter, single player RPG, MMORTS... Whatever you're playing, or stalking the development for... If there aren't enough facts to back up whatever you're asserting, qualify it as speculation, and keep it to a minimum.
Okay. That's off my chest now. ^.^ I feel better.
More meat on the plate tomorrow, hopefully, since I shouldn't be so rushed for an update: Roxi's got sandbox in places she never knew existed, and it's starting to chafe.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
In which Roxi recruits herself into a corner.
If you've been a recruiting officer or guild leader or whatever, you've been there. You're desperate for fresh blood, you don't get any nibbles, and then out of nowhere you get a totally sweet package deal along. Maybe they're husband/wife, or best friends, or roommates, or whatever. They're everything you want, though. Dedicated, experienced, talented, willing to transfer...
Only the classes they play don't fit into your comp.
Yeah.
There are a few ways the neighborhood friendly recruiting officer can handle this. One, she can explain that right now one or both of those slots are currently taken, and welcome them to run a different role or one of those alts they've got floating around. Two, she can tell them that unfortunately unless they're willing to have one of them run as a social there's no place for them in the guild. Or three, she can grumble and make the switch herself, even if it means switching to an alt she hasn't played, may or may not like, or...whatever. Because some swords are worth falling on, and if the ultimate goal is having a full raid force that shows up every night and gets the job done, you do what you've got to do.
So. For the one person that watches my stream, who probably doesn't even read the blog, I'll be healing on my shaman through the end of the xpack and into MoP. Resto and Enhance have changed juuuust enough that I've got fine tuning to do on my playstyle. FORTUNATELY, there hasn't been a huge stat priority shift in those specs, so...yeah. It'll be an easier 5.0.4 transition than my Warrior had. ^_^
Later this week: Roxi learns not to put metal things in electrical sockets, and Roxi drinks the kool-aid.
Only the classes they play don't fit into your comp.
Yeah.
There are a few ways the neighborhood friendly recruiting officer can handle this. One, she can explain that right now one or both of those slots are currently taken, and welcome them to run a different role or one of those alts they've got floating around. Two, she can tell them that unfortunately unless they're willing to have one of them run as a social there's no place for them in the guild. Or three, she can grumble and make the switch herself, even if it means switching to an alt she hasn't played, may or may not like, or...whatever. Because some swords are worth falling on, and if the ultimate goal is having a full raid force that shows up every night and gets the job done, you do what you've got to do.
So. For the one person that watches my stream, who probably doesn't even read the blog, I'll be healing on my shaman through the end of the xpack and into MoP. Resto and Enhance have changed juuuust enough that I've got fine tuning to do on my playstyle. FORTUNATELY, there hasn't been a huge stat priority shift in those specs, so...yeah. It'll be an easier 5.0.4 transition than my Warrior had. ^_^
Later this week: Roxi learns not to put metal things in electrical sockets, and Roxi drinks the kool-aid.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
In Memoriam - City of Heroes
After eight years, City of Heroes is being shut down for good by publisher NCSoft. It was the first comic book-themed MMORPG on the market, and it came with the most open-ended character creation systems and flexible skill development systems of its day. Initially developed by Cryptic Studios (Champions Online, Star Trek Online, Neverwinter Nights), City of Heroes had a rough road and still managed to keep things going longer than dozens of other second and third generation MMOs. The game launched around the same time as Lineage 2, Everquest 2, and World of Warcraft (4/7/04 for L2, 4/27/04 for CoH, 11/8/04 for EQ2, and 11/23/04 for WoW). Early development decisions, class structure changes, and balance changes (Enhancement Diversification, I9...I'm looking at you) splintered the playerbase, driving veterans away and bringing new diehards in. Troubles at Cryptic Studios led to the fragmentation of the development house, the creation of Paragon Studios, and NCSoft taking over full control of City of Heroes.
And that's when I left. I was bitter and butthurt over NC's attitude towards the massive RMT problems in Lineage 2 (the result of a badly-handled beta to live transition, and a good thing for me to file away for a later rant), so I picked up my toys and went to Everquest 2. Or was it WoW that time? Anyway. I played City of Heroes for close to two years before leaving, and that time stands as some of the best fun I've had in an MMORPG.
Few games have given players as much freedom to create the characters they want to play as City of Heroes did. With their TRULY revolutionary character creation system, you could have an electric blue Internet Fairy that decided rather than attack the darkness, she'd attack people WITH the darkness (Skrypt, dark/dark defender later reborn as an elec/sorcery pvp character in Champions Online); or a super-speeding, plasma-manipulating legal student who rebelled against the teachings of her professors to bring justice to the streets (Bayside Brawler, sonic/energy blapper of awesome)... I saved the world alongside cowboys, robots, mutants, gods, little kids with awesome toys, aliens... And yes, vampires, werewolves, catgirls, and all manner of other things. CoH was the first game that actually invited me to roleplay, and create unique characters with complete histories and a role in the world that was more than just Hail, Adventurer! I am in need of plague rat tails for my mystical potions! And for those of us that played it, it set the bar VERY high for customization in future games.
City of Heroes had, during its heydey, one of the coolest and most open communities around. There were avid guide writers, number crunchers, and some truly creative artists and writers. The group that made the biggest impression on me, and which I think has had the biggest impact on MMORPG culture in general, were the Offenders. There were a few hundred of us back in the day: defenders and controllers (support classes) that saw the secret synergies between powersets that let us turn "weak" characters into powerhouses. The whole attitude of healers and controllers changed once they played City of Heroes, and discovered the Offender way of life. Just being able to keep your team alive wasn't enough: it was about what else you could do. How much damage could you contribute through buffs, debuffs, and use of your own offensive abilities? What combinations of buffs could you use to turn your group into an unstoppable force of nature in PvP? Sure, they were silly, replacing the word "heal" with "fruit salad' in every post on the forums and turning the Wiggles into a bizarre cultural icon, but... To this day I wander around healer communities (and even dps and tank boards) and see names I recognize, or attitudes.
So...yeah. I'm going to miss City of Heroes, and I wish all the folks from Paragon Studios the best of luck in the future. I really look forward to seeing what those guys and gals come up with next.
And yes, a sick part of me is hoping that the displaced players from CoH head over to Champions, and bring us all that creativity, innovation, and spirit that made CoH so amazing an experience.
Servers go down for good on November 30, 2012. That's going to be a very, VERY sad day in the Roxcave.
And that's when I left. I was bitter and butthurt over NC's attitude towards the massive RMT problems in Lineage 2 (the result of a badly-handled beta to live transition, and a good thing for me to file away for a later rant), so I picked up my toys and went to Everquest 2. Or was it WoW that time? Anyway. I played City of Heroes for close to two years before leaving, and that time stands as some of the best fun I've had in an MMORPG.
Few games have given players as much freedom to create the characters they want to play as City of Heroes did. With their TRULY revolutionary character creation system, you could have an electric blue Internet Fairy that decided rather than attack the darkness, she'd attack people WITH the darkness (Skrypt, dark/dark defender later reborn as an elec/sorcery pvp character in Champions Online); or a super-speeding, plasma-manipulating legal student who rebelled against the teachings of her professors to bring justice to the streets (Bayside Brawler, sonic/energy blapper of awesome)... I saved the world alongside cowboys, robots, mutants, gods, little kids with awesome toys, aliens... And yes, vampires, werewolves, catgirls, and all manner of other things. CoH was the first game that actually invited me to roleplay, and create unique characters with complete histories and a role in the world that was more than just Hail, Adventurer! I am in need of plague rat tails for my mystical potions! And for those of us that played it, it set the bar VERY high for customization in future games.
City of Heroes had, during its heydey, one of the coolest and most open communities around. There were avid guide writers, number crunchers, and some truly creative artists and writers. The group that made the biggest impression on me, and which I think has had the biggest impact on MMORPG culture in general, were the Offenders. There were a few hundred of us back in the day: defenders and controllers (support classes) that saw the secret synergies between powersets that let us turn "weak" characters into powerhouses. The whole attitude of healers and controllers changed once they played City of Heroes, and discovered the Offender way of life. Just being able to keep your team alive wasn't enough: it was about what else you could do. How much damage could you contribute through buffs, debuffs, and use of your own offensive abilities? What combinations of buffs could you use to turn your group into an unstoppable force of nature in PvP? Sure, they were silly, replacing the word "heal" with "fruit salad' in every post on the forums and turning the Wiggles into a bizarre cultural icon, but... To this day I wander around healer communities (and even dps and tank boards) and see names I recognize, or attitudes.
So...yeah. I'm going to miss City of Heroes, and I wish all the folks from Paragon Studios the best of luck in the future. I really look forward to seeing what those guys and gals come up with next.
And yes, a sick part of me is hoping that the displaced players from CoH head over to Champions, and bring us all that creativity, innovation, and spirit that made CoH so amazing an experience.
Servers go down for good on November 30, 2012. That's going to be a very, VERY sad day in the Roxcave.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Okay. Yes. I'm jelly.
Lay me flat and spread me wide, because DAMN. I am so very jealous right now. My DK offtank crested the 300k hp buffed mark last night.
Three. Hundred. Thousand. Hitpoints.
He's 394. He comes in at just over 9.6k stamina. I'm 395. I come in at just shy of 11k stamina. Yes, I realize my gemming is borked, but have you seen the prices on str/sta, dodge/parry, and parry/sta gems lately? People didn't have those cuts, and the ones that do are all WAHAHAHA I TAKES UR MONEYZ! *cough* Anyway. Back to bitching.
When we did DS Wednesday night, I still had him by a few thousand hp. I swapped out some sta gems for sta/str, traded out my Veil of Lies for the str proc trinket from Spine, and we were just about even. Now all of a sudden he's up over 300k with fort, food, and a flask. I think I was sitting at 277? Now, I know, I know. ICC zone hp buff thingy. But still!
Okay. I think I'm over it. I don't think I need to sit here and go through the 8% sta he gets from blood presence, and how much he got from effects, and what +30% is from that, or how it added up to nearly 30k hp. I'll live. I should write about something actually pertinent to 5.0.4. Like...
THREAT! Threat is good!
I'm a threat monster! Charge, thunder clap, shield bash the main target, revenge the main target, shockwave, pop a shield barrier. Shout, thunderclap, rotate devastate, bash, revenge, and shockwave as cooldowns come up. Hit cleave or heroic strike on cooldown. It's like...all the same from single target to aoe because shockwave and thunderclap don't cost rage any more. How sweet is that? Throw the shout on incoming, and pop shield block early on packs of trash, stick to barrier when big hits are coming in... It's awesome! Except when I'm doing a tank swap and I end up stealing aggro right back after my OT's taunt wears off. All of my spammable attacks have threat components.
Spec note: After playing with threat and stuff, and watching my CD usage, I think I'm going to be switching to Impending Victory from Enraged Regeneration. 10% every 30s over 20% every minute that burns rage? Yeah. It's great when I've got my enrage thingy up, but that's only once every two minutes, so they come out to about the same unless I'm sacrificing a big fat damage absorb for a heal...
And stuff.
Disorganized post. If you were standing where I'm standing right now? You'd be disorganized too. <3
Three. Hundred. Thousand. Hitpoints.
He's 394. He comes in at just over 9.6k stamina. I'm 395. I come in at just shy of 11k stamina. Yes, I realize my gemming is borked, but have you seen the prices on str/sta, dodge/parry, and parry/sta gems lately? People didn't have those cuts, and the ones that do are all WAHAHAHA I TAKES UR MONEYZ! *cough* Anyway. Back to bitching.
When we did DS Wednesday night, I still had him by a few thousand hp. I swapped out some sta gems for sta/str, traded out my Veil of Lies for the str proc trinket from Spine, and we were just about even. Now all of a sudden he's up over 300k with fort, food, and a flask. I think I was sitting at 277? Now, I know, I know. ICC zone hp buff thingy. But still!
Okay. I think I'm over it. I don't think I need to sit here and go through the 8% sta he gets from blood presence, and how much he got from effects, and what +30% is from that, or how it added up to nearly 30k hp. I'll live. I should write about something actually pertinent to 5.0.4. Like...
THREAT! Threat is good!
I'm a threat monster! Charge, thunder clap, shield bash the main target, revenge the main target, shockwave, pop a shield barrier. Shout, thunderclap, rotate devastate, bash, revenge, and shockwave as cooldowns come up. Hit cleave or heroic strike on cooldown. It's like...all the same from single target to aoe because shockwave and thunderclap don't cost rage any more. How sweet is that? Throw the shout on incoming, and pop shield block early on packs of trash, stick to barrier when big hits are coming in... It's awesome! Except when I'm doing a tank swap and I end up stealing aggro right back after my OT's taunt wears off. All of my spammable attacks have threat components.
Spec note: After playing with threat and stuff, and watching my CD usage, I think I'm going to be switching to Impending Victory from Enraged Regeneration. 10% every 30s over 20% every minute that burns rage? Yeah. It's great when I've got my enrage thingy up, but that's only once every two minutes, so they come out to about the same unless I'm sacrificing a big fat damage absorb for a heal...
And stuff.
Disorganized post. If you were standing where I'm standing right now? You'd be disorganized too. <3
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Why didn't you guys tell me I didn't have my PTT down?!
I did an AWESOME walkthrough last night before the raid of 5.0.4 prot warrior, from stat changes to spec changes, with an explanation of my ghetto regemming because the AH was ridonkulous and the consumables I was going to be using. I outlined my awesome plans for tanking and...
So yeah. I apparently didn't have my PTT down for ANY of it. All you hear in the background is my music, while my cursor's waving wildly all over the screen. Also, zomg the resolution is bad on my stream.
I apologize to anyone who tuned in last night to see the raid. I'll leave the video up and stuff, but I'm also going to record a new version of the tank stuff, and probably a priest rundown later on.
So yeah. I apparently didn't have my PTT down for ANY of it. All you hear in the background is my music, while my cursor's waving wildly all over the screen. Also, zomg the resolution is bad on my stream.
I apologize to anyone who tuned in last night to see the raid. I'll leave the video up and stuff, but I'm also going to record a new version of the tank stuff, and probably a priest rundown later on.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
WoW 5.0.4 Warrior Stuffs
I had myself a right proper temper tantrum last night when I finally got home from work and was able to log into World of Warcraft. The most recent patch brought down a whole lot of major changes on warriors, especially prot warrs. Between things that were eliminated or merged into other abilites, new decisions I had to make, and a completely new stat priority, I was a very very cranky little girl.
So! What's a girl to do when she logs in for the first time in 5.0 for her prot warrior?
So! What's a girl to do when she logs in for the first time in 5.0 for her prot warrior?
- Read over ALL THE THINGS. Make sure you understand which abilities generate rage, and which consume it. Rearrange your hotbars to account for the loss of rend (now called Deep Wounds, and a proc from Devastate), and the new cooldown shield barrier, which gives you an absorb that scales up with the amount of rage it consumes. Once you've gotten familiar with the core, you can ->
- Read over the new talents. We got a lot of them. As Prot, you can now pick up Bladestorm if you want. We can also get an aoe silence, or a proc that's basically Indomitable Will that doesn't take up a gear slot. Vigilance was changed from a set it and forget it ability to a two minute cooldown and damage splitter. You'll notice some things missing, like gag order and stuff, but never fear! That's all on
- New Glyphs! Gag Order, that thing that makes your shield slam hit harder during shield block, that thing that ups your revenge damage after a successful parry? That's all on glyphs. The minors are all cosmetic now, but the majors actually have some tough choices for you.
- Reforge for hit/expertise! Rage generation is just about entirely active now, and because you're not going to be capping evade you WANT your shit to hit. Heroic Strike, Cleave, Shield Block, and the new Shield Barrier all consume between 30 and 60 rage. To top it all off, you are no longer able to CTC cap on block. Mastery gives you less straight block per point now. Defense is also on a two roll system now, which means the game checks first to see if you dodge or parry, and then for block. That means off the top you will evade Parry+Dodge. Anything that gets through that has a Block chance to be blocked. With Parry becoming much easier and effective to stack, and block being much harder to come by through mastery, stat priority shifts. Right now I'm running on (rough) hit (to 8%) > expertise (to 8%) > mastery (until block is in the 20% range) > Parry > Dodge > expertise (to cap). Don't quote me on that, because the math is still out and so is the aecdotal running my ass through dungeons and DS.
- Go tank shit! Seriously . It will take a few run for you to get used to the new rythm of rage generation and consumption, not to mention the cooldown cycle. Be prepared to get cuntpunched. Groups are going to be a little derpy until everyone figures out what they're doing.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
'Twas the night before 5.0...
...and if you really thought I was going to try to make that work? As if.
Today is patch day. The servers are down, the forums are down, and WoW players everywhere are no doubt screaming doom and gloom. My class is broken! I can't pvp! I can't raid! Oh my god, Blizz, how do you expect me to change this quickly?
My patch day crises are about as resolved as they're going to be. My raid's getting another shake-up as we get yet another main change in the wake of 5.0.4, and a role change. I'm getting a new tank 2. And in another month I'm losing at least one of my DPS. Yaaaaay. The best time to change your raid comp is when everyone's going to be reeling from mechanics changes.
Anyway. Blog is going to be in a holding pattern for the next few days. Hurt my hand at work, and I'm going to be spending my time in WoW fleshing out new builds for my girls and playing with the new shinies. Stream will be up most of the week, from 9-midnight eastern. Pay us a visit!
Today is patch day. The servers are down, the forums are down, and WoW players everywhere are no doubt screaming doom and gloom. My class is broken! I can't pvp! I can't raid! Oh my god, Blizz, how do you expect me to change this quickly?
My patch day crises are about as resolved as they're going to be. My raid's getting another shake-up as we get yet another main change in the wake of 5.0.4, and a role change. I'm getting a new tank 2. And in another month I'm losing at least one of my DPS. Yaaaaay. The best time to change your raid comp is when everyone's going to be reeling from mechanics changes.
Anyway. Blog is going to be in a holding pattern for the next few days. Hurt my hand at work, and I'm going to be spending my time in WoW fleshing out new builds for my girls and playing with the new shinies. Stream will be up most of the week, from 9-midnight eastern. Pay us a visit!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Roxi's WoW 5.0.4 Cram Weekend
Once upon a time I was one of those gamers that spends just about as much time on the forums as she does ingame. As in, I was playing ten hour shifts, then logging off or tabbing out and reading the forums for another two to four hours a night. Oh, and I was reading them for at least an hour or two in the morning. People knew my handle, my smartass sigs, my guild recruiting spam... It was awesome. I was like a celebrity or something in a community of maybe 10k people. It was Champions Online, and at this point it's like saying I was one of the cool kids on the shortbus. ANYWAY. The point is I used to be a big forum reader, pts-denizen, and keeper of spreadsheets.
Then I came back to WoW, and everything was already done by people who have dedicated eight years to being professional WoW players, and I got a massive case of the fuckits. The only threads I really post on unless I'm specifically seeking help any more are the @Day threads on the Warrior forums, the Tank Lounge, and (when I'm feeling brave) the Priest social threads. Why? Because I can't be assed. Literally. You come near me with the WoW forum donkey and I'll just beat it with a shock stick until the ASPCA comes along and takes it away. That is how strong my aversion to the forums has become. Or the force of my lazy. Take your pick, because either works.
It came as a shock to me that WoW 5.0.4, which has been on PTS for a while now I think and prepatched like a month ago, was bringing the Pandaria class changes. You know, the big, game-changing things that are making people go AMG DOOM about their classes. The things that made me quit WoW before Wrath of the Lich King came out because my ex didn't like what they were doing to combat rogues and I was tired of fighting with him about exactly how little the changes actually meant, and how there were two other specs, and wasn't he always complaining that he wanted to run subtlety anyway? I mean, it's not like we were raiding or anything back then, so he could have played a freaking 21/10/10 spec or something and nobody would have cared. -.- Tangent!
So now I'm looking at my class being completely redesigned JUST after I've finally stopped sucking at it. (For those of you who haven't heard, I used to be a disc priest atonemen/lolsmiter and mainchanged to my warrior, who runs prot and arms like... six weeks ago? Eight? Pretty much right after she dinged 85.) A smart woman would have been at least keeping the changes in mind, holding onto things in case they became useful because of shifting stat weights and priorities, or open gem sockets, or... Yeah no. My bank has a bunch of transmog shit in it, and all the junk I've accumulated while leveling archaeology. My brain is about the same right now. That is to say: I know rage is getting changed, but don't know how; I know tanks are going to need some amount of hit or something; and I know mastery's being...fucked with. Somehow. But I don't know how.
I'm like, a primary tank. Depending on which way the wind is blowing and whether or not his girlfriend used fabric softener when she washed his boxers, I trade off main tanking with Zartash the fatbear Reckless Embrace's fearless leader, who is also occasionally Hexxie the shaman (and who used to be a rogue, and was a paladin before that, and a warlock before that, and...there may have been a hunter in there somewhere? I don't know. I need a score card for these things.). Point is, my raid kind of depends on me to know my shit and be able to not completely screw up Zon'ozz because I'm turning him too early because I'm half-drunk and trying to overcompensate for the fact that I might possibly be getting drunk, or...whatever was going on this week.
Know what? Enough preamble. I went to the WoW forums, and all I found was bitching, and it made me sad. Seriously! I know they're not exactly known for the quality of the information to be found within their vast halls, but you'd think with a major patch on the way SOMEONE would be talking about the changes. Only...not so much. Warrior forums? Are all about how much we suck in PvP. And occasional recipes for tasty goodies, beer, and how to name/transmog your warrior. So I picked up my toys and went over to the tank forums (after chiming in about how stupid I thought someone's name was, and why), where I saw some pertinent thread titles. Sadly, I have not yet gotten to read said threads, because real life is hard and I want a pony.
BUT! Blizz has delivered! Today, I go to claim my totally cute Li'l XT consolation prize for paying Blizz three bucks a month for something that should have been free all along (mobile AH/guild chat) and I see that they've got a 5.0.4 Survival Guide up! Let's give the devs a round of applause for keeping the lazy strong! So I read it over, and I go "Meh. Meh. Fuck druids. Meh. Oo! Someone left a piece of candy on the- ew, never mind, it's cinnamon. Meh. WARRIORS! Here we go!" And... Blizz tells me exactly what I already knew, MINUS the fact that tanks actually need to care about hitting things.
When Tuesday rolls around and the patch hits, I'm going to be streaming the hilarity of me running dungeons and LFR trying to wrap my head around whatever fresh hell Ghostcrawler's come up with for me. My rage is going to be generated when I use certain attacks, like building runic power. Okay? This means I need hit, because if one of those misses, I'm screwed for rage. Gotcha. And I can use anything from any stance. WOOT! No more stance dancing for arms. Maybe now I'll stop sucking! Of course, now I'll have to change my hotbars completely, since I've got it all carefully mapped out and macro'd to work with my extreme windowlicking playstyle.
We're also getting the new talent system on Tuesday, so I'm going to have to decide between Shockwave and Bladestorm. Shockwave... And BLADESTORM. But of course... I can only shout during Bladestorm, so what if I need to taunt something, or use a defensive cooldown or- screw it. I'm motherfuckin' bladestorming with a motherfuckin' shield. This also means the new glyph system, which means herbers, get your gloves on. Expect a HIGH demand for inscriptionist-made stuff, between the new glyphs and the Tome of Clear Mind that lets you switch talents out on the fly. Harvest all tiers, and plan for a 25-50% markup on Cata herbs, and as much as a 100-200% markup on non-Cata herbs. Those numbers are pulled out of my ass, but that's what I'm planning on doing.
5.0.4 is also bringing some little things, like account-wide mounts and achievements, a unified cooking currency (because they couldn't have done that back when I had like 80 tokens on my priest and dumped them all into meats and cocoa beans to sell? I want my chef hat!), aoe looting, and the valor -> justice conversion.
Oh. And mana is getting capped. Grats on your herps, casters.
And I almost forgot. The ranged slot is going away. No more melee, hunters, sorry. At least the damned minimum range is finally getting axed. Now you really can be all Legolas and just point blank eyeshoot someone in the face. I just hope they refund me my valor or something for the two ranged pieces I'll suddenly have no use for. Or make them vendor for a stupid amount. Even though, you know, I'll probably just DE them because I'm a whore like that.
If you don't like my rundown, do your own cramming or read Blizz's page. I'm at the shore this weekend, but I'm going to try to compile Roxi's 5.0.4 Cheat Sheet For Shieldy Hurty Things when I get back Sunday night.
I've got some cool plans for the stream after Tuesday, including Pre-Pandaria Window Licking for Prot Warriors, my vainglorious attempt at getting my DK 85 before the expansion hits (including tradeskills, so bring a pillow and some coffee), and 50 Shades of Training Dummy: Arms Warrior edition.
Then I came back to WoW, and everything was already done by people who have dedicated eight years to being professional WoW players, and I got a massive case of the fuckits. The only threads I really post on unless I'm specifically seeking help any more are the @Day threads on the Warrior forums, the Tank Lounge, and (when I'm feeling brave) the Priest social threads. Why? Because I can't be assed. Literally. You come near me with the WoW forum donkey and I'll just beat it with a shock stick until the ASPCA comes along and takes it away. That is how strong my aversion to the forums has become. Or the force of my lazy. Take your pick, because either works.
It came as a shock to me that WoW 5.0.4, which has been on PTS for a while now I think and prepatched like a month ago, was bringing the Pandaria class changes. You know, the big, game-changing things that are making people go AMG DOOM about their classes. The things that made me quit WoW before Wrath of the Lich King came out because my ex didn't like what they were doing to combat rogues and I was tired of fighting with him about exactly how little the changes actually meant, and how there were two other specs, and wasn't he always complaining that he wanted to run subtlety anyway? I mean, it's not like we were raiding or anything back then, so he could have played a freaking 21/10/10 spec or something and nobody would have cared. -.- Tangent!
So now I'm looking at my class being completely redesigned JUST after I've finally stopped sucking at it. (For those of you who haven't heard, I used to be a disc priest atonemen/lolsmiter and mainchanged to my warrior, who runs prot and arms like... six weeks ago? Eight? Pretty much right after she dinged 85.) A smart woman would have been at least keeping the changes in mind, holding onto things in case they became useful because of shifting stat weights and priorities, or open gem sockets, or... Yeah no. My bank has a bunch of transmog shit in it, and all the junk I've accumulated while leveling archaeology. My brain is about the same right now. That is to say: I know rage is getting changed, but don't know how; I know tanks are going to need some amount of hit or something; and I know mastery's being...fucked with. Somehow. But I don't know how.
I'm like, a primary tank. Depending on which way the wind is blowing and whether or not his girlfriend used fabric softener when she washed his boxers, I trade off main tanking with Zartash the fatbear Reckless Embrace's fearless leader, who is also occasionally Hexxie the shaman (and who used to be a rogue, and was a paladin before that, and a warlock before that, and...there may have been a hunter in there somewhere? I don't know. I need a score card for these things.). Point is, my raid kind of depends on me to know my shit and be able to not completely screw up Zon'ozz because I'm turning him too early because I'm half-drunk and trying to overcompensate for the fact that I might possibly be getting drunk, or...whatever was going on this week.
Know what? Enough preamble. I went to the WoW forums, and all I found was bitching, and it made me sad. Seriously! I know they're not exactly known for the quality of the information to be found within their vast halls, but you'd think with a major patch on the way SOMEONE would be talking about the changes. Only...not so much. Warrior forums? Are all about how much we suck in PvP. And occasional recipes for tasty goodies, beer, and how to name/transmog your warrior. So I picked up my toys and went over to the tank forums (after chiming in about how stupid I thought someone's name was, and why), where I saw some pertinent thread titles. Sadly, I have not yet gotten to read said threads, because real life is hard and I want a pony.
BUT! Blizz has delivered! Today, I go to claim my totally cute Li'l XT consolation prize for paying Blizz three bucks a month for something that should have been free all along (mobile AH/guild chat) and I see that they've got a 5.0.4 Survival Guide up! Let's give the devs a round of applause for keeping the lazy strong! So I read it over, and I go "Meh. Meh. Fuck druids. Meh. Oo! Someone left a piece of candy on the- ew, never mind, it's cinnamon. Meh. WARRIORS! Here we go!" And... Blizz tells me exactly what I already knew, MINUS the fact that tanks actually need to care about hitting things.
When Tuesday rolls around and the patch hits, I'm going to be streaming the hilarity of me running dungeons and LFR trying to wrap my head around whatever fresh hell Ghostcrawler's come up with for me. My rage is going to be generated when I use certain attacks, like building runic power. Okay? This means I need hit, because if one of those misses, I'm screwed for rage. Gotcha. And I can use anything from any stance. WOOT! No more stance dancing for arms. Maybe now I'll stop sucking! Of course, now I'll have to change my hotbars completely, since I've got it all carefully mapped out and macro'd to work with my extreme windowlicking playstyle.
We're also getting the new talent system on Tuesday, so I'm going to have to decide between Shockwave and Bladestorm. Shockwave... And BLADESTORM. But of course... I can only shout during Bladestorm, so what if I need to taunt something, or use a defensive cooldown or- screw it. I'm motherfuckin' bladestorming with a motherfuckin' shield. This also means the new glyph system, which means herbers, get your gloves on. Expect a HIGH demand for inscriptionist-made stuff, between the new glyphs and the Tome of Clear Mind that lets you switch talents out on the fly. Harvest all tiers, and plan for a 25-50% markup on Cata herbs, and as much as a 100-200% markup on non-Cata herbs. Those numbers are pulled out of my ass, but that's what I'm planning on doing.
5.0.4 is also bringing some little things, like account-wide mounts and achievements, a unified cooking currency (because they couldn't have done that back when I had like 80 tokens on my priest and dumped them all into meats and cocoa beans to sell? I want my chef hat!), aoe looting, and the valor -> justice conversion.
Oh. And mana is getting capped. Grats on your herps, casters.
And I almost forgot. The ranged slot is going away. No more melee, hunters, sorry. At least the damned minimum range is finally getting axed. Now you really can be all Legolas and just point blank eyeshoot someone in the face. I just hope they refund me my valor or something for the two ranged pieces I'll suddenly have no use for. Or make them vendor for a stupid amount. Even though, you know, I'll probably just DE them because I'm a whore like that.
If you don't like my rundown, do your own cramming or read Blizz's page. I'm at the shore this weekend, but I'm going to try to compile Roxi's 5.0.4 Cheat Sheet For Shieldy Hurty Things when I get back Sunday night.
I've got some cool plans for the stream after Tuesday, including Pre-Pandaria Window Licking for Prot Warriors, my vainglorious attempt at getting my DK 85 before the expansion hits (including tradeskills, so bring a pillow and some coffee), and 50 Shades of Training Dummy: Arms Warrior edition.
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