Playing With Fire

I don’t normally do too much with World Events.  Here and there I’ll cherry pick things to do, usually for the benefit of alts, or profit.  Occasionally it’s for something I want.  In talking with Kamalia Sunday night she mentioned Honouring The Flame for easy experience, and I did one of those head tilts with an “oh?”  So yesterday morning I had the chance to hop on Elcombe for a bit and I headed off to dance with the flames.  The first thing I learned?  Dishonoring The Flame gives double the experience.  So try to put out the opposing faction’s nearby flame as you go along.  Also, in any city you’ll get a quest to take some ashes to a Scorchling.  Definitely worth it, just for the dialogue.

The animation that accompanies it is hilarious.  After I got that little chuckle, I continued making the rounds on Elcombe’s carpet and it was off to Stranglethorn Vale.  The map location shown on WoWhead is off by a fair bit.  So while I was trying to figure out the appropriate location, I came upon Kurmokk.

After I introduced him to a couple of frost spells, I continued on my travels.  A short time later I came upon the proper location to Honour The Flame, and sure enough the Horde one is about 100 yards away.  Easy experience.  I figured from Stranglethorn, the Blasted Lands was the next logical flame to visit.  Nevermind I could port to a city and take the portal to the Blasted Lands.  That would be too easy, and just occurred to me this morning.  Instead, I flew.  But, sometimes things are for the best.  I was flying along the Western Stranglethorn coast, up towards Zul’Gurub when I found myself distracted.

Short John Mithril yells: Arrr, Me Hearties! I be havin’ some extra Treasure that i be givin’ away at the Gurubashi Arena! All ye need to do is collect it is open the chest I leave on the arena floor!

After a moment of staring at the screen, I actually decided to make my way over to the arena.  I was disappointed when I got there.  The chest was nowhere to be seen.  But then I saw the Goblin walking out across the arena floor.  Sure enough, he put the chest down and there was nobody to be seen.  I set to work.

I honest to goodness was just waiting to get ganked at this point.  That chest opens soooooooo slowly.  Or, that’s probably how it seems when you expect someone to shiv you at the utmost convenience to them.  After what seems like an eternity, the chest opened.  There were a few items inside, but the one that mattered most was the Arena Master trinket which started a quest.  The moment I looted that was the moment I got about the last thing I expected to see on one of my characters…

Not too shabby, considering I don’t usually do much in the way of World Events.  It seems that while their details might not be too important to me, they can bring a bit of luck and excitement elsewhere!

Mists Of Pandaria – Thorough Thoughts

As I had suggested yesterday, I was going to take some time to read up on Mists of Pandaria to try and get a better feel for what the World of Warcraft expansion would be bringing down the pipeline.  I gave my trailer reaction yesterday and I can comment today with more knowledge in the barrel, so to speak.

First off is the Pandaren themselves.  Having a race that is neutral for ten levels and then makes you choose Horde or Alliance is a nice touch.  It’s unique, and I think it will work out well for the most part.  How it effects PvP is a question I would love to ask.  I suppose only the “evil” Pandas will be targetable. 

The Monk class, as I said, is a class that makes sense.  We’ve faced them in the Scarlet Monastery and seen Monk-like classes elsewhere in the game.  That the class does not have an auto-attack is as unique as the Pandaren themselves are.  They do have what sounds like a combo-like attack system.  While I’m not sure about Street Fighter gameplay in WoW, I approve in concept and it will be interesting to see if this becomes a standard class or if you can only roll one if you buy the expansion (like a Death Knight requires WotLK).

When I read about the pet combat system, quite frankly the last thing I thought of was non-combat pets.  The short of it is Blizzard is turning your pets into Pokemon.  The crazy part is that you can build up their awesomeness in level and skill points and then sell them on the auction house.   I’ll elaborate more on this in a future Monday Money Making column but the day the expansion hits the pet portion of the auction house is going to go crazy.  But at least now the pets will apparently be account bound.  So all your toons will have access to the same pets you’ve acquired and levelled…so long as someone has the pet.

Speaking of account bound, raid achievements are apparently going to be account bound as well.  So, your fresh level capped Death Knight can get into raids that you’ve cleared with your Mage without people questioning whether you’ve been there.  That’s a feature I definitely approve of.

Weapons.  For starters, Hunter folk are losing their melee weapons.  The good news to go with that is that there will no longer be a range minimum on your crossbow/bow/gun.  All a Hunter will have is their range weapon.  This is a feature the class should have had from the get go (and I’ve actually got a Dwarf Hunter I play that way anyway).  To tie-in with that, the other classes are losing their ranged weapons, or relic slots.  Oh, and Wands are becoming Main Hand.  Honestly not sure what I think about that.  Hopefully caster stats boost their effectiveness.

PvE scenarios.  The example they gave was basically a reminder of the old days of Alterac Valley, where it was more than just zerg everything.  You’ll instance with a few other players (but not require healer/tank/dps) and have goals to accomplish.  In the one described, you’d take out a certain number of enemy soldiers before moving on to some of their artillery and then eventually having to take down the general himself. 

PvP specific gear will be no more.  Resilience will be an innate ability and will increase as your character levels.  I have mixed opinions on this.  I really liked the idea that PvP folk had their own armor sets and that the environment required a different set of stats, but at the same time this royally nerfs the people who would acquire PvP gear just to meet a raid’s ilevel requirement and then be utterly useless in said raid.

Challenge Mode Dungeons is something people are going to like, or hate.  I’m in the latter because as I have stated before I am not keen on this “run through everything as fast as we can” way of combat.  The unique gear skins that sound like they are the reward for succeeding in certain time frames is a solid idea, but likely won’t be enough for me to want to do it.  Time may change that once I see the actual mechanic, as sometimes I can’t get the concept past my brain.

There’s more than what I’ve mentioned here and it will be interesting to see what comes of the opening news for the expansion.  But what I think will be the biggest impact on players, is talents.  How can I put this simply…ah, yes.  The trees are gone.    That’s the plain and simple of it.  Under Mists, characters will gain a new talent every 15 levels, for a total of six.  Each level you’ll pick from three possible talents.  For example, the first one for Paladins is Speed of Light, Long Arm of the Law, and Pursuit of Justice.  Not sure what each one does, but again you’ll pick one and continue doing so every 15 levels.  This is…I will really need to see this “in effect” to have an accurate opinion but I’m really not sure initially.

If I could sum up reaction on the internet, it seems to be a great deal of “is it April 1st or something?  No, really, is it?”  I’m not sure if I fall into that category entirely, but I am somewhat underwhelmed and dumbfounded at the same time.  Based on everything I’ve seen and read, Mists may or may not be the end for me.  There are some things I like (Hunter changes, Monk class, more account-wide variables), there are a few things that don’t impact me (Pandaren, Poke-WoW), but the biggest concern I have is the gameplay.  The changes they’re talking about are intriguing but concerning as well.  As it stands I probably won’t buy the expansion.  That’s still my thoughts after getting more info than the trailer.  But my other thoughts are more concerns about some of the changes I’ve outlined.  The talents would be the biggest one, and it might not be concerns as much as a fear of the unknown.  I’ll most certainly give things a thorough chance when the time comes and I’ll do so with an open mind, but after reviewing all the news from yesterday I do think this will be a turning point for World of Warcraft one way or another for me, and many other players too.

Bizarro World (Or Why Dungeons Aren’t As Sexy For Levels)

If you know me, or have been reading AA for any length of time, you know that I love the old dungeons.  Shadowfang Keep remains one of my favourite 5-mans, and I’m one of the few people happy to tear through Blackrock Depths.  I still go back to farm for recipes or just the feel of the place.  What I want to do less and less (outside my own guild and friends) is run them for experience. 

Don’t get me wrong, the amount of xp you can snag in dungeon runs (plus quests inside) is solid.  Unfortunately, so is the level of absurdity in PUGs.  There’s more people just going in and going through the motions or simply doing whatever they please, without a care in the world.   Call them on it and they basically just shrug you off with some absurd vulgar noob remark.  That’s if they even have stat appropriate gear to call you a noob in the first place.  I’ve seen more Rogues with Spirit Leathers and Hunters in Strength Mail than I’d care to. 

Also, if you’re really lucky and you’ve queued as a tank, you get the pleasure of usually having at least one person decide they’re going to pull/charge/do some crazy stunt that has you fighting to get aggro back even before you’ve started building it.  Quite often if I’m tanking with my Warrior or Druid, I find myself switching to dps simply because my philosophy is if you want to tank then tank.  No point having two in a 5-man instance.  If my wife’s healing, then I take it a step further and just sit down and watch the fight.  Also, in fairness, I warn people first.

The funny thing is, I think the ones that do things like this that grief the tank or even the healer sometimes, have never played either role.  Now that I play a tank (or three) and know a bit more about the role, I’m a better dps or healer because I know what kind of things they need to be doing and what I have to do to help or not hinder that.  I’ve also seen the same thought process from people who don’t do these silly things to me.  I’ve shared a novel’s worth of whispers on the subject.

I don’t know if it’s quick alt leveling, or new players, but I try to be polite and work with people as best I can.  I just find it to be more of a lost cause some days.  Is it any wonder I’ve found a bit of a PvP love as a result?  If all goes well, I can get a level in about 3-4 random bg’s (just two heirloom pieces).  If we struggle, it’s a different story but I’m ok with that.

In all honesty, I’ve found  the battlegrounds to be more appealing lately.  Nevermind the PvP love I’ve discovered in recent months (we’ll save that for another day), but on the whole they aren’t as bad as I remember them.  There’s a few clowns that talk like they’re the top rated PvP player on their server, even at level 37, but one expects that.  There just seems to be more communication than before on Alliance side.  People are actually working together, which is a rather significant element needed for success.  I’d rather fail working together than succeed while pulling my hair out because someone’s being an asshat for no reason other than they can be.

Winter Not Grasped

In an effort to get Tumunzahar the War Mammoth as his epic land mount, I’ve had to indulge in Wintergrasp a fair bit as of late. I’m not the biggest PvP fan, or the best player at it by a long shot. What I am good at, is following direction.

Whether you are defending or attacking, the strategies to success can be very simple. Unfortunately, too many people seem to think they know exactly what it takes. Or, they just want free honour while everyone else does the work.

For instance, when attacking the keep, the guns have to go. There are plenty of ways to make that happen, but they include range dps and guns on some of the vehicles. Speaking of vehicles, it amazes me how “we need siege vehicles now” translates into “I’ll just hop in this catapault and drive south.”

It’s one of the many things people just don’t listen to. I understand there are individuals who like to bark orders and usually don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. However, I find in each Wintergrasp event there are at least two people who may as well be Generals. They bark because they know what works. The problem is, people don’t listen and then gripe because we lose.

But, that’s part of the PvP problem as a whole (at least Alliance side) in the simple fact there are too many individualists and not nearly enough team players.

For what it’s worth, I’m at 236 shards. If we actually win one, I might be able to snag the rest through instance runs.

You Must Resist!

Received an e-mail today from my good friend Jack Flag. He’s a surfer of the official WoW forums -something I tend to not do (work firewalls being the biggest contributing factor against me). He enlightens me of a topic of discussion surrounding horrid faction imbalances on certain servers and that Blizzard would like this to balance out.

Earlier this week, the server Cho’Gall saw the Alliance outnumbered 14 to 1. In fact, there were a grand total of 257 Alliance players total on the PvP server.

On the heels of some clever fellow I applaud, a guild was created and aptly named “The Resistance.” It welcomed anyone to join in an effort to save the Alliance on said server. Within 24 hours there have been over 250 new characters rolled/transferred, or faction changed. The guild continues to have a near open door policy and is said to be quite fun. It’s moments like this you can’t help but be proud of us WoW players. We’re always doing something creative.

I don’t know for sure if I’ll eventually sign up, as I’ve already got my hand in WAY too many cookie jars as it is. Still, I’ll try to inform you of any info should I receive an update from Mr. Flag.