If you follow my blog, you’ll notice that it’s been pretty dang silent around here.  You may have also noticed a change in the timbre of my posts.  I had begun to get a little down on the game, and down on blogging, too.

That’s the honest truth.

So I’m here, like many recently, to close up shop.  Put the chairs up on the tables, sweep the floor one last time, and wipe down the bar.  It’s just plain time for me to get going.  My reasons?

I’ve played World of Warcraft for quite long enough.  I began playing in April or May of 2004 in the closed beta.  Before Hunters were even in the game – when you still needed to spend skill points to buy weapon skills and such.  A long time. 

The funny thing is, I’m still not actually tired of it.  I could keep playing this game for the foreseeable future and have a good time.  But it’s gotten to be too much.

My little All Played tracker put me over 120 days of /played time overall.  That wasn’t even including time I spent on a horde server getting a warrior to 50 in 2006.  I sometimes wonder what else I could accomplish in that amount of time.  It’s really pretty crazy when you think about it.  Now, I don’t necessarily regret it, but it is a rather large number ? almost 3000 hours.  Now that IS over about 5 years, but still.  3000 hours?  I sure got my money’s worth!

I also once again reached the point where the only real progression for me came in the form of raiding.  That meant the necessity of four hour play sessions during prime time.  It also meant I had to spend at least a little time farming gold and such to keep in tip top shape.  In short, it was becoming a bit of a job.  That’s unacceptable.  I was in the midst of leveling my rogue, who I intended to be my fourth level 80, when it kind of all came crashing down on me.

I had had enough. 

And I could no longer sacrifice family time for raiding.  The one night I did raid I basically had to log on about 30 minutes after I got home, long enough to MAYBE do one puzzle with my daughter, and eat a little something.  As she has gotten older (she’s 2 1/2 now) I’ve become more reluctant to swap time with her, my wife, and my 10 moth old son for a game.  Wherein I put on my headphones, and checked out for four hours.

Not anymore.

So about a month back, without telling many people, I cancelled my account.  It just so happened to be the day after I had been charged again, so it gave me plenty of time to prepare to say goodbye, and get my last licks in.  Some achievements, a little more raiding, and my favorite thing of all, a little more leveling.  I got that rogue up to 68, so he’s ready to get it done if I do come back someday.  And I could ? I’ll give the Michael Jordan 99% surety of retirement.

Anyhow, now I can move on to other things, finally.  I plan to start work on a different blog, where I can talk about some of the other things that interest me.  Books, movies, video games, music, whatever.  A blog without borders, that’s what I need now.  Leave me in your reader, and I’ll put up a link soon if you are interested.  I can also make a real attempt at writing that book that’s in the back of my mind.  Let’s see how that goes.

I could go on and on, but this is a goodbye post.  You don’t need my life story. 

I want to thank everyone who supported me.  Thanks so much for taking the time to read or to comment, I really appreciate it.  This blog showed me that I COULD write on a regular basis, and that there are people who want to hear what I have to say.  I hope I’ve been informative in some way, or helped you enjoy WoW like I always did.

I also want to thank all the other bloggers out there who helped me along, either through their leadership, encouragement, or link love.  Thanks to Phae for getting me off the ground, and thank to Matticus for being very supportive.  Also thanks to all the BA people, and especially Fim and Bre for the Twisted Nether blogcast.  One of the highlights of my blog was being on your show!  And of course thanks to WoW.com for really blowing me up in the beginning.  I owe much of my readership to them. 

I’ll miss WoW, and I’ll miss this blog.  I will keep it up, as there are some posts here that I hope can still help people.  I don’t have any intention of truly pulling the plug, just don’t expect new posts.  So long, and thanks for all the fish. 

PTD out.

Post from: Part Time Druid

Goodbye World (of Warcraft)

I’ve been feeling a tad bit nostalgic of late.  I’m not sure what brought it on exactly.  Maybe it’s that I’m tiring of Wrath a little sooner than I thought.  It’s not that I don’t like what’s there, mind you, I think they did a great job, but on some level I feel like I’ve done it all before.  Just in a different skin.

By way of summary, my Warrior is now running in Ulduar 25 once a week, so far we’ve gotten down Levi (of course) and Razorscale.  We are very close on the robot, we just need a couple of tweaks.  My Druid is still unplayed, and I don’t know if I’ll pick him up again any time soon.  My Hunter is now available for raiding as well, so I’m pretty well stacked.

So it is that I found myself playing my Rogue, Mummrah.  The very first character I created on live, who was sitting at 43.  I think the reason I initially quit playing him was all the freaking misses built into dual wielding, but that’s not important. 

What is important are my memories of my first character, and of my early days tooling around Azeroth. 

I began playing WoW sometime around patch 0.7 in beta, I believe it was around the end of June or early July.  At the time, I was writing for the WoW Vault.  (For anyone who is interested, my columns are actually still there!  Look for the ones written by Captain Kryptonite.  Keep in mind these were all written before I even played the game!)  Like many of you that are reading this, I fell in love with WoW immediately.  I loved the visual style.  I loved the cohesiveness.  The quests.  The classes.  The removal of the lame CRAP that other MMORPGs felt “had to be in there” (like painful, xp loss on death type stuff). 

At the time, the “end game” was pretty far from my mind.

So from release for a LONG time, I kicked around with different characters.  Played on different servers.  Tried the horde, tried the alliance.  I rerolled early and often, with a reckless disregard for the mythical level 60.  All the while I had a great time. 

I enjoyed the many and varied zones of old Vanilla WoW.  I heard of places like Un’goro Crater and Azshara, and marveled at how foreign and far away they sounded.  I was still in Loch Modan and having a grand old time.  I couldn’t wait to kill Van Cleef, and marveled at the wonder of his dungeon, when the ship was revealed in the giant cave Goonies style.  I heard of all the other instances as you leveled up, and I couldn’t wait to see each one, and explore their wonders.

I played WoW from release, and I hit level 60 for the first time in November of 2005.

Now, I honestly miss Vanilla WoW, it’s faults and all.  Somewhere between BC and Wrath, leveling became a bit of a job (though quite a fun one!) and max level and end game content became the goal.  I’m not sure when, and I’m not sure how, but I miss it. 

Have we been slowly pushed towards focusing on the end game?  Or is it just me?  Let’s take a look at the three major iterations of World of Warcraft.

Vanilla WoW

• No real twinking for quite awhile.  Most were experiencing all the leveling content for the first time.
• It took quite some time to reach max level.  No leveling guides, boosting, etc.
• Limited end-game raiding at release.  Molten Core, Onyxia, UBRS.  Added Blackwing Lair, ZG and AQ over time.
• End-game raiding was also quite restrictive.  Other than UBRS, raiding was for 40 players.  Nearly an un-puggable number.  (Did they have raiding pugs in Vanilla WoW?)  You needed a large number AND it was difficult to raid.

Burning Crusade

• Twinking became a way of life for many players.  How fast could you get to max level?  Especially with new race and class possibilities.
• Shorter overall leveling curve.
• More end-game raiding right out of the box.  SSC, TK, Kara, and more.  BT and others added later.
• Less restrictive end-game raiding.  Now you only needed 25 players or even 10 players.  Raiding had more of an “entry level” than before, but it was still quite difficult beyond Gruul and Kara.

Wrath of the Lich King

• Welcome to World of Twinkcraft.  Leveling is distilled, processed, and the quickest paths are easy to find.
• Shorter leveling curve than BC or Vanilla, by far.  Leveling is easy cheesy with all the quests and such in Northrend.
• Fewer new raids than in BC, but still an obvious focus.  Naxx, OS, VoA, Malygos.  First major patch adds Ulduar.
• Now every raid can be done with 10 or 25 players.  Raids at release are easily puggable.  All raiding at release is basically entry level.

At this point, I might argue that it’s not so much that Wrath raiding was dumbed down so much, but rather they made it easier to get the initial gear necessary.  Do you remember how long it took you to get a decent gear set together for Karazhan?  And then you had to farm Kara for a little while to hope to compete in SSC?  And so on through MH, BT and finally Sunwell?

There used to be a progression, but now that progression has been immensely shortened.  There is a metric ton of good, BOE epic gear to be had, be it through crafting or through zone and instance drops.  Outside of tanks, perhaps, just about any class can go into Naxx 10 almost as soon as they hit 80.  (Heck, my hunter went into Naxx 25 after a grand total of 2 heroic runs.) 

Is this better, though?  Or were things more interesting before, what with attunements, keys, and long grinds for gear to see the end game content.   Did Blizzard push the bar too far back the other way?

I don’t really know.  I’m starting to sound like a crotchety old man here, and I’m supposed to be the voice of the casual.  “In my day, you had to get ATTUNED to the Molten Core.  I had to use a specialized solo method to get attuned involving jumping off ledges and swim speed potions.”  And I’m not even kidding, maybe you remember the solo MC attunement method. 

All I really know is that I miss how I felt about WoW in the beginning.  When everything was new, and happening across Uldaman in the Badlands was exciting to me.  But, those are the breaks.  It was like that with me for Asheron’s Call too, back in the day.  And Dark Age of Camelot.  I suppose at some point perhaps you get TOO familiar with one game and how it works.  At some point I exposed the gears and wires of WoW, it’s inner machinations.  I used that knowledge to manipulate the leveling game, to get powerful fast.  Now I just wish I could put the old machine back together again.

Post from: Part Time Druid

The WoW End Game: Is it TOO Important?

Rarely am I forced to immediately post something, but Curse and their frigging “premium” service offering have forced my hand. 

I’ve been pissed since they blocked WoW Matrix.  I understand they want their visitors and whatnot, but WoW Matrix was just flat out a better product.  But, again, I understood their reasoning.

So I did what they wanted.  I grumbled a little bit, sure, but I started using the Curse client to download the brunt of my mods. 

Well, tonight I went to log on for an  hour or so, and because it’s been a few days or so I thought I should check for updates to my mods.  I see that a few do in fact need updating (using the Curse client, like I’m ?supposed” to) and click the old ?update all” button.  And this is what I get:

You have got to be EFFING KIDDING ME.  So I went from a superior, free program, to Curse begging for my cash.  Just for giggles, I check out the prices.  5 bucks a month?  30 bucks a year?  For an addon manager I used to get for free?  WTF?

So, everyone join in with me!

SCREW YOU CURSE, YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!

Now excuse me while I go update my addons one by one.  Jerks.

p.s.  And, to top it off, even if you do it one by one, you have to WAIT for each download to finish and install before doing the next one.  AAAARRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Post from: Part Time Druid

The Curse Updater Officially SUCKS

By now the blogging world is well aware of the departure of two big names, BRK and Resto4Life.  They aren’t even the only bloggers to have retired their pens – I also see a general slowdown in the entire community.  Now granted all this stuff went down awhile ago, but yours truly didn’t just want to come here and say “Yeah, this sucks.”  So I let it sit, and thought about it and tried to gather some deeper meaning.  And honestly, it really made me think about the world of WoW blogging — like a lot. 

So my question to you is this:  is there something bigger going on in the WoW Blogosphere?  Or is this just coincidence that two of the big boys (well, one big boy and one big…gal – to be fair) have made their final exits?  Maybe some kind of swine flu or general malaise is sweeping World of Warcraft Writers, or maybe it’s just time for a select few to take their bows. 

The Fleeting Nature of Blogging

Blogs are, by there very nature, somewhat impermanent.  Just think how easy it is to set a blog up today.  Anyone and their grandmother can head over to WordPress.com and get the ball rolling.  You can be blogging in minutes, literally. 

Well, as easy as they are to set up, in many ways they are just as easy to shut down or let go.  It’s not like we (the bloggers) are all under contract somewhere.  Very few of us, if any, see any kind of income out of the deal, and we don’t have editors begging us for more posts, either. 

Take my blog, for instance.  I have a middling number of subscribers, in the 500′s (as you can see from my sidebar) which isn’t great, but is decent for a WoW blog.  I have a Jinx affiliate account, that has a whopping 7 bucks in it.  Still too low for them to even send me a check.  I’ve yet to see a dime from my work, and in fact I have to spend 8 bucks a month for hosting along with paying to renew my domain every year.  I am by no means complaining, I just want to illustrate that WoW blogging is a largely thankless job.

Larger blogs may earn a LITTLE bit, but not enough to quit a day job and take up blogging full-time, I guarantee.  And not all of us can catch on with WoW Insider, where I hear they get actual checks.

What’s the point?  Bloggers aren’t beholden to anyone, even the big blogs, and can close up shop at the drop of a hat.  That’s just the way it goes.

Nothing to Write About

The release of Wrath homogenized many aspects of WoW.  Gear was distilled into more distinct, but more inclusive categories.  (Caster gear, Melee DPS gear, etc.)  The classes themselves were remixed in a way to make all classes at least adequate to fill any role.  Druids got their out of combat Rez, for instance (pre-Wrath, I know, but still part of the larger Wrath update). 

On top of the homogenization, everything was made a little bit easier.  Leveling in Northrend is a piece of cake.  There’s a whole host of easy to attain gear, including BOE crafted epics and the like  Heroics are doable right when you hit 80, without the need to grind rep or get “attuned” to anything.  Even raiding is easier.  I would argue that a lot of good blogging had to do with the more difficult aspects of the game.  What’s the best way to grind rep?  How can I gear up for T5 raiding?  What’s the best array of healers for an SSC run?

All of that is gone.  I don’t really need to update my post about gearing a Resto Druid.  Just find a leatherworker and get it done.  The same can be said for most classes.  Sure, it might be best to have a mix of healers for raiding, but you can go with 4 druids and a pally if you so choose.  It can be done. 

Hell, we can’t even complain about not being able to solo as a healer for grinding cash or whatnot.  We have dual specs now.  

So I ask you this, what is there to write about that’s really compelling?  I don’t know, maybe that explains the slowdown of posts here, in some way.

Blogging to Write

Another issue I see relates to the act of Blogging itself.  And to relay this point, I’ll once again get personal. 

I began Part Time Druid because I loved WoW, but I also REALLY wanted to be a writer.  I felt like I wasn’t pursuing that dream in any way, and I wondered if I could somehow translate my WoW obsession into writing.  I thought about WoW a lot, maybe I could use it as a tool to jumpstart my actual attempts at writing.  I can tell you without hesitation that my nefarious plan worked – it really worked.

Writing the blog gave me confidence that I COULD in fact buckle down and put words on paper.  It gave me valuable practice at the craft of writing, and it even gives me something I can SHOW people.  Yes, I do write.  I’ve had close to 100,000 page views or whatnot.  Some people even read it. 

I don’t think I’m alone in this, either.  I suspect many bloggers were people who really wanted to write.  Maybe they just never felt like they had anything to say, or couldn’t figure out how to make it fit in.  Blogging about WoW can give you easy material, and plenty of practice and feedback. 

For me, personally, I do keep writing.  I just don’t write as much about WoW as I used to.  I like to think I have more interesting things to talk about, and maybe some day I’ll link out to my personal blog, as others have done in the past.  I don’t know.

The Real Reasons are Individual

I don’t think you can really boil it down to a couple of universal reasons — it’s probably more personal than that.  BRK found real life calling, wondering where he had been.  Phaelia decided it was time to start a family, and made the wise choice to concentrate on that.  I can’t blame them.

For all of you reading this who don’t already write a blog, think about this.  You probably play WoW a lot, often thinking you play it more than you should, but not as much as you’d like.  (A terrible conundrum, I know.)  Now imagine adding to that the act of writing about your obsession.  You thought about WoW a lot before, now imagine having to come up with things to write about on top of it!  It can get overwhelming at times.  Do I really want to think about this game so many hours of the day?  (Yes I do, but no I don’t…you know what I mean.)  Am I wasting my time with this?

You have to look in the mirror, and honestly ask yourself:  “Do I spend too much time thinking about a game?”  My guess is that BRK and Phaelia asked themselves quite similar questions, and came to similar conclusions.  Yes.  Yes I do.

Post from: Part Time Druid

Is the Golden Age of WoW Blogging Over?

WoW is a game about carrots.  When you start out, there are a whole slew of different carrots you can chase.  One of the great things about WoW is how many carrots Blizzard managed to stuff into the game.  Instances, raids, PvP rewards, badge gear, vanity pets…there is just too dang much to list. 

But, things aren’t always perfect.  Just because there’s a whole mess of carrots, that doesn’t mean they can keep everyone interested.  Even fanboys like yours truly can get tired of the game.  I have been playing since the dawn of WoW, and even a little before, so it wouldn’t be surprising if I became a little burnt out.

But no, I am not tired of WoW.  Not yet.  I have, however, discovered a little something that irritates me.  As we go on, the paths of real progression grow ever narrower.  Before we really get into it, I’ll get into what I’ve been doing in game.

In Game Update

I do like to talk about what I’ve been up to in game, but I don’t wan to devote entire posts to it.  So from here on out I’ll try to separate these journalistic endeavors into an "In Game Update" within the body of larger posts.  If you don’t care what I’ve been up to, feel free to skip ahead to the next heading where I’ll get back to the meat of the post.

My Druid has essentially been functioning as a bank toon in Dalaran.  I am not done with the druid, and I’m happy to have a heroic ready healer in my back pocket, but he hasn’t been my focus.  Part of the reason is that I hate soloing with him, but the real crux is that I’m enjoying my warrior too dang much to log in my Druid.  If someone really needs a healer, I’m more than willing.

So let’s talk about that warrior.  I had been playing him as a tank for the first couple weeks after I hit 80.  I made great strides in his gear, and got him defense capped and comfortable tanking heroics.  I enjoy controlling the runs I am on, as it allows me the opportunity to pull like a madman.  I don’t like to mess around too much with long-winded explanations and stuff, I just like to roll in and blast stuff apart. 

The problem is that there are just too many tanks floating around my guild.  I was having an inordinately difficult time getting groups together.  Well, about 2 weeks back, someone was practically begging for a DPS to fill a heroic run.  While I had never really played as a fury warrior, the idea of slinging around two huge two handers was awfully enticing.  So I went ahead and took the plunge.  I made sure to let the tank know that my DPS gear sucked (and it truly did…I was using a two hander from a Borean Tundra questline for an offhand) and that I didn’t have a lot of experience.  He didn’t care, he needed a body.

So it was that my days as a Fury Warrior began, and I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever look back.  I am enjoying the hell out of the spec.  My DPS on that first run was admittedly poor, I was one of those chumps who couldn’t even keep up with the tank.

Well, a host of heroic runs and an investment in a whole mess of titansteel later, I began to see the true power of a Titan’s Grip Warrior.  I have probably four great pieces of gear, and a whole lot of filler everywhere else.  I’m still quite easily pushing 2k DPS in heroics, and have been as high as 2400.  That’s with mostly meh gear.  I can’t wait to see what happens when I upgrade my chest, boots, bracers, legs, and trinkets.  Visions of 3k DPS are dancing in my head.

So I find myself farming heroics as a DPS Warrior and having a grand old time.  I also found a late night group to run with, and can almost always find a heroic when I log on.  It’s great, and I only feel a little bad for my poor, neglected Druid.

More on Progression

When you first hit level 80 in WoW, it can be a little overwhelming trying to decide just what the heck you should do first.  Work on Hodir dailies for rep?  Grind instances or heroic instances for gear?  Do some PvP to grind for THAT gear?  Plan your eventual assault on Naxx?  There are many, many things you can do.  As you check things off that phantom list, however, your focus naturally narrows. 

I think that is where I often run into problems.  I’ve been a bit of an altoholic since I began the game.  I took way, way too long to get to 60, because I couldn’t stay focused on one character.  It wasn’t until quite recently that I figured out why I did that.

As my focus on progression narrows, I start to lose interest.  If I realize that to continue to improve I only have one or two choices, I start thinking about alts.  If I have to farm one or two heroics, and hope that ONE boss drops that ONE piece of loot that will really make a difference, I start to lose my nerve.  The trouble is multiplied if said drop or two comes from a raid instance.  Because then I have to make time or find a big old group of people to help me out.

Alts, on the other hand, can be a nice change of pace at that point.  You get your constant progression just from the act of leveling, and along with it you acquire new shiny gear, new skills, and perhaps work on a new tradeskill.  Suddenly all of these avenues for advancement are opened up to you again.

I can’t fault Blizzard for my particular form of dissatisfaction.  Like I said, they stuffed an awful big variety of carrots into WoW.  It just so happens that I have no real interest in a few of them.  PvP, for example, is something I wouldn’t get into, at least not on my server.  (If I want PvP, I’ll go to a PvP server…all or nothing there, if you ask me!  Hell, I even have a level 50 undead warrior on Warsong!)  I’ve also never gotten a lot of enjoyment out of dailies.  Yes, gold is great, but I prefer when it comes as a side effect of my natural adventures.  And yes, I know there is usually rep attached as well, but I’m not into rep grinds either. 

I also have to give Blizzard a lot of credit for the Achievement system.  This has helped alleviate my Progression Problem, as it gives me a lot of things I can do on my own for fun.  Soon I plan to go on a grand tour of old school instances.  There are still a few I have never seen, and it will be fun to go back and just destroy some of that old content. 

So What Can Be Done?

Sadly, I’m not smart enough to know.  It’s not a fault in the game, it’s just natural that as you go on, you have less to do, and your options narrow a bit.  Especially if you’re not interested in certain aspects of the game.  I wish I had some groundbreaking idea for the genre, some interesting way of keeping players occupied, but I don’t.  The only thing I could really come up with is this:  avoid making ONE drop from ONE boss in ONE heroic be the end-all for pre-raid gear.  I suppose it could be argued that its my own perception that makes those purple pants so precious.  The blue ones I have ain’t too shabby, but, well, they’re blue! 

Don’t take this post the wrong way.  I’m still enjoying the heckfire out of my Warrior, and I have plenty of work I can do on the Druid, not to mention my Hunter that languishes at 70, and my new DK.  Uh oh…there I go again….talking alts…

Post from: Part Time Druid

Ever Narrowing Paths of Progression

There may not be another issue revolving around World of Warcraft than loot and its distribution.  Once you get your character to max level, the only "leveling" beyond that is through loot.  It’s no surprise, then, that so many people take it so seriously.  I’ve always been somewhat vocal on this issue in my guild and elsewhere, and for a long time I’ve wanted to discuss it openly on the blog.  Before we get started, realize that this post will be chock-full of opinion, and I both expect and hope for much disagreement in the comment section.  Everyone has their own ideas on what is most "fair" and I’m sure I’ll rub at least one or two readers the wrong way. 

The good thing, though, is this:  I love a good fight.  Let’s get to it.

In the simplest terms, loot systems are designed to make the random distribution of loot less random.  Before you even get to the question of who should get a particular piece of loot, Blizzard’s calculators in the background must determine what will drop.  Therefore, before the players can even get involved, loot is already incredibly random.  With loot systems we normally try to remove as much of the randomness as possible. 

The goal of the many loot systems is to make that non-random distribution method "fair."

What is "fair?"

This is the crux of any loot system, and therefore the number 1 stumbling block.  Before you decide what loot system you should be using, or if you should use one at all, you have to determine what is "fair," at least in terms most of the people involved can agree on.  You won’t find a loot system where everyone agrees, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many out there!

There are many different ideas on what is fair when it comes to loot distribution, here are just a few:

• People who put in more effort are more entitled than those who show up occasionally, if at all.
• Everyone who participates in a particular raid should have the same chance at any loot that drops.
• Loot should go to those raid members who will benefit themselves and the raid the most.

I believe a lot of what makes a particular philosophy fair depends on your guild and membership.  If you aim to create and foster a hardcore, bleeding edge raiding guild, chances are you value who will benefit the raid most along with those who put in more effort.  If your guild is more casually focused, you are more likely to focus on a more equal distribution of loot that skews things less to the top end raiders.  Fair is too subjective a term to label any one system superior to the others in all situations. 

The problem is that many guilds could not classify themselves as either extreme:  all hardcore or all casual.  There are many gray areas, and trying to find where your "fair" should rest is questionable.  What if most of your guild is casual, but you have a hardcore contingent that wants more progress?  What if your guild is mostly hardcore, but you can’t seem to find all hardcore members, and have to pad your roster with more casual players? 

The Long View vs. the Short View

In the long view, the regular, random /roll is a fair system.  Over 100 raids, the numbers will normalize.  Sure, there will be spikes here and there, but a random  system is fair by definition.  The problem is that players don’t get the long view, and we rarely raid anything more than a dozen times or so.  Also, in my experience, the more a particular instance is raided, or the longer it is "on farm," the more loot rules tend to loosen.  Where in the beginning everyone is often interested in drops, as time goes on, and people begin to get focused, the pool of people interested in particular items naturally shrinks.  Toward the end of our Karazhan raiding, loot could be just short of a free-for-all, with new 70s getting many drops on their first run.

In the short view, /roll can be horribly distorted.  Because this system is truly random, each /roll is a separate entity, so individual players can (and often do) get high rolls an entire run, or for a few runs.  Obviously this is potentially quite irritating for other players who feel, for one reason or another, that they have put in more effort  and therefore deserve more.  It’s sort of like clearing the spawns around a couple of resource nodes only to watch another player swoop and in and take the rewards. 

In the short view, then, people understandably feel some kind of loot system is necessary — preferably one that rewards their level of effort.  Really, with the way raiding works in WoW, there really only IS a short view.  So how do loot systems try to address the problem?

The Question of Effort

Most loot systems try to translate your level of effort into gear.  If you raid more often, you will have more DKP or whatever your system uses in order to have more leverage when it comes to gear drops.  Conversely, if you raid less often or give less "effort," you are likely resigned, at least at first, to the drops that those with more points or what not don’t have an interest in or already have.  It makes sense.  If you raid more often, you should get more and better loot.  It’s good for you, and it’s good for the raid when a reliable raider gets better gear.

The problem with this thinking, in my opinion, is that those who raid more often already get more and better gear naturally.  Your effort is already rewarded by more chances at whatever piece of loot it is that you want.  In a way, loot systems will punish those who put out less "effort" when the RNG that determines what gear should drop is unkind to regular raiders.  I think the issue is with drops that are more rare than others.  No, I’m not talking about Legendaries like the Warglaives of Azzinoth, but just pieces that drop with less frequency than others.

These excessively rare pieces are often sought by many.  Does someone who raids more often really have any more right to it than anyone else?  I’m not sure.  I’m really not.  But I do know that chances are the people who raid more are better geared than those that raid less.  In fact that’s one of the only things of which I am fairly certain.

The Fix

So what can be done?  How do you make everyone happy?  Well, like I already said, you really can’t.  Loot systems are designed, for the most part, to try to appease both groups of players in some way.  The difference is in how the systems are managed and how much they are slanted either way.  Straight, capitalist DKP systems favor the hard core more heavily.  More liberal systems like weighted rolling systems and Suicide Kings tend to favor the more casual contingent, as they reward loot a little more evenly. 

In all honesty, there are only two systems that I believe are both fair and honest.  Loot council systems, and /roll.  Loot council systems at least don’t try to hide behind the machinations of a fictitious bureaucracy – real people make real choices.  There is blame to be had, yes, but at least those systems can be honest.  If your goal is to gear up regular raiders first, my opinion is that you should quit hiding behind a mechanical "system" and come right out and assign loot as you see fit.

That’s just me, though.

The regular old /roll system has its drawbacks, honestly, but it does give everyone a fair shake.  If you were in a group that helped kill a boss that dropped loot, you have as good a chance at anyone at getting said loot.  You don’t have to hear "sorry, player A tried more, so you can’t have it."  If you win the roll, you get the loot. 

I’d also like to add that I believe in the context of 10-man raiding, you should be able to just work things out without a system.  Honestly, if most of the loot that drops is only of interest to 2 or 3 people most of the time,  can’t we all just get along?  Especially if you are in a good guild?  Don’t you know that Player A has been begging that the loot Gods let that particular epic to drop while he’s around?  I know I would.  I know I’d step aside and let him have it, no matter my level of interest.  That’s just me, though.

I suppose part of me likes to rock the boat.  Part of me enjoys the random, slot machine nature of /roll.  I’ve been as burned as anyone else, but I’ve also come out on top.

Post from: Part Time Druid

The Philosophy of Loot Systems

My name is PTD, and I have a WoW jealousy problem.

And it’s high time that I admit it.  If you haven’t guessed from the blog’s title or from previous posts, I don’t have a whole lot of time to play WoW.  Now, I’m not a 2 hour a week guy, but my play time usually hovers around 10 hours or so a week.  Not a bad amount, but it comes in fits and starts, an hour here, two hours there.  I also have trouble scheduling raids with my guild, as their times just plain don’t mesh with mine.

I can’t blame them, though.  My times kind of suck.

Anyhow, what happens is I spend time wishing I had the time to raid.  I sit around and wish I could run back to back to back heroics, too.  But it just doesn’t happen.  It’s nobody’s fault, I just happen to have a family and, well…

Family >>>>>WoW

It’s a pretty simple equation.

Still, I can’t help but be a little jealous sometimes.  You see, I like to think of myself as a fairly SKILLED player with an absence of TIME.  I routinely beat out those better geared than I on the lovely little meters.  (And yes, Matticus, I know what you think about meters..)  I’m also very, VERY good at staying mobile when healing (I am a Tree, after all, a Tree that stands around too much is not a very good one in my estimation!) and I tend to pick up things very quickly. 

Honestly, there’s no way through the blog I could really illustrate my skill, but the most I can say is that I think I’m pretty good. 

So when I see people far better geared than I, I sometimes get jealous.  You see I may have grouped with you, and outhealed you, yet I don’t have all the shinies you do.  That just gets me thinking:  How much better could I be if I DID have another 400 spellpower to play around with?

There’s the jealousy.  I wish I had more time to farm heroics, but I don’t.  I wish that I could raid 3 nights a week, but I can’t.  And when I see other people that can, I sometimes get irrationally jealous.

I know it’s irrational, but that doesn’t stop it from happening.  Sometimes I get overly critical of other trees, poring over meters and thinking "this guy doesn’t use his tools!  He never even uses Nature’s Swiftness!"  Then I feel kind of bad about it, and I really must stop.  Hell, maybe that player would be jealous of my family, or my job, who knows.  I just need to knock it off.  So I ask myself, what’s the real problem?

Success in WoW is Nearly All About Time

And I won’t kid you, that bugs me.  This whole hardcore versus casual argument, for instance.  It’s rarely about real, measurable skill — chances are one guy just has a lot more playtime than the other.  After all, what constitutes leveling past the cap?  Gear!  How do you get the best gear?  Some kind of grinding!  Be it heroics, raids, farming, PvP, what have you.  The way you get better gear is spending a lot of time grinding for it in one way or another.

And time, my friends, is something I flat don’t have.

Think about this for a second.  You’re a raid leader, and you get two apps for one spot.  Both are tree druids, and just for the sake of argument, let’s say their gear is roughly equal.

Tree #1:  Able to raid up to 4 times a week, a total of 16 hours.  Can guarantee at least 3 nights per week.  Performed well, though not exceptionally, in a trial heroic run.

Tree #2:  Can only raid once per week, period.  Can’t guarantee more than that.  Performed well beyond expectations in a trial heroic run, same group, same instance.

Who gets the spot?  Tree #1, of course.  No questions asked.

In fact, in today’s WoW, I doubt it’s even a competition.  Unless there are some sort of mitigating factors, like Tree #1 being a know asshat, Tree #2 is out of luck.  He hopes to find a guild or some kind of outlet that will allow him to raid, but the prospects are dubious.

I am that Tree.  And honestly I can’t outright complain, that’s just the way things are.  WoW is a game that’s built as one giant time sink, in the end the guys that have more time to dump into it will come out on top.

This mentality spills over not just from basic game systems but to guild structures.  Besides, there are few good ways to accurately measure WoW skill, if there are any at all. 

So never mind me, I’ll just head back to the corner and snark about your play time.  Gripe to myself about how I wish I could run 4 heroics right in a row.  I’ll just envy your pull of 25 Heroic badges from one solitary play session, a number that takes me 2 weeks sometimes.

Oh well, I have beautiful kids. 

Post from: Part Time Druid

Time Versus Skill: My WoW Jealousy

No, Burning Crusade was not an abject failure.  It certainly kept a lot of people enjoying the game for a long time, yours truly included.  In hindsight, though, I can see why I’m positively giddy with what I’m seeing in Wrath, and how it is light years beyond what BC ever hoped to be.  BC had some great instances, and added a lot to World of Warcraft overall, but it came up short in so many ways.  In terms of zone design and quest design, Wrath absolutely blows BC out of the water.

Before we get started, let me put on my fanboi suit. I know it’s around here somewhere…lessee…

Ahh, yes, here it is:

I couldn’t in good faith do a new blog post without including the 7 Levels of Awesomeness Murloc Suit. Whoever came up with that quest should get a raise. Or maybe a yacht. 

Zone Design

I’m talking about this first not because it’s the most important, but rather because it’s the first thing I really noticed.  Do you remember the first time you took the boat to the Howling Fjord?  I sure as heckfire do.  Boat rides normally meant go make a sandwich time, but the entry into the Fjord was absolutely jaw-dropping for me.  It’s the first zone I hit in the beta, and it’s the first taste I really got of the expansion.  I remember vividly thinking as the boat went along "That’s awesome."  "Wow, that’s awesome, too."  "How cool is that."  And it continued.  Just look at the waterfalls, the sky, the keep in the distance.  Beautiful.

So, do you remember when you first entered the Dark Portal in BC?  Sure, there was a cool battle going on right at the entrance, but what about the zone in general?  Rust colored, busted up mountain terrain.  Not all that exciting.  As I thought about this post, I tried to think about something memorable to say about the first zone in BC.  Well, I couldn’t really think of anything.  Hellfire Peninsula was essentially the same theme repeated ad nauseam – floating, red rocks and mountains.  Bleh. 

Now, let’s think about Borean Tundra, for comparison’s sake.  The zone is both beautiful and, more importantly, varied.  It’s almost like it has a half-dozen mini zones within the larger zone.  Coastlines, snowy mountains, lakes, plains, ruins, you name it.  It’s all there.  Hell, you might argue that there is more variety in the Borean Tundra than all of the Outlands combined.  And that’s just ONE ZONE!  I have now seen nearly ALL of Borean, the Fjord, Dragonblight and the Grizzly Hills.  Every one of them is beautiful and interesting.

Looking back, I’m having a hard time remembering an Outland zone I REALLY liked.  SMV, Netherstorm, Blade’s Edge, Terokkar and Hellfire all kind of sucked, to be honest.  I turn my back on them without hesitation.  Sure, each one had one redeeming quality or two, but overall they were just flat out boring.  Nagrand and Zangarmarsh were OK.  That’s the best I can do.

Quest Design

My first thoughts on quests in Northrend? "Holy crapload of quests, Batman!"  It starts off slow, but before long there is a flood of quests.  There are many, many quest hubs, and most have their own individual flavors.  I remember that at first I was intimidated by the 1.5 million EXP I’d need to level, but then before I knew it I was halfway home.  The reason I hardly realized my quick progress was because the quests were just so damn interesting.

Sure, there are plenty of vanilla "kill 10 of this, gather 12 of that" quests, but there are just as many different and interesting quests to keep things rolling.  Vehicle quests, long, interesting chains, plenty of lore that’s worth reading.

Looking back at BC, I can only think of a handful of memorable quest lines.  The Sons of Oronok chain in SMV, the Gorefiend line in SMV, the Ogri’la attunement series.  These quests were all interesting because they had visceral payoffs in terms of story and rewards. 

In Northrend, I can think of at least that many memorable quest lines in Borean Tundra alone. 

The Mechazod quest line:

The Dragon quest line outside the Nexus:

Last Rites:

All of these quest lines I just mentioned have one thing in common:  big time payoffs.  The quests in Northrend make you feel like you’re actually DOING something, not just looking for big EXP.  And how cool is it that you see Arthas so early and often?  The funny thing is, I haven’t even mentioned the Wrathgate series.  If you know what I mean by that, you know what I mean.  Wow Wrathgate, just wow. 

Even crazier is the fact that the three great quest lines I mention above are all in the introductory zone, Borean Tundra.  The memorable BC quests I noted are from much later in that game’s progression.

Final Thoughts

It’s really pretty simple, when you think about it.  Blizzard gets a little better at what they do all the time.  It’s really just like anything, you might do ok when you start out, but the more experience you get, the better the results usually are.  Think about McDonald’s, they didn’t have the Big Mac right at the start, they just really had regular old hamburgers and cheeseburgers.  It took some practice for them to churn out the genius that is the Big Mac.  I believe the same can be said for WoW.  Classic WoW was a good start, BC expanded on the game and experimented with some things, and now Wrath has taken the knowledge gained from BC and run with it.  Instances are faster.  Off specs can tank or heal normal 5 mans.  Rep grinds are streamlined.  Quests and lore are actually engaging.  So thus far, bravo Blizzard.  I’ve only seen 4 zones thus far (though every inch of said zones) but I have a lot of optimism for the future.  I guess my only question is whether Blizz will be able to keep this streak going!

Post from: Part Time Druid

How Wrath Succeeds Where BC Failed

I’ve been struggling.  Struggling with who I was going to level once Wrath hit.  Well, as I’m sure you’re aware, Wrath hit. 

Before we get into that, though, my sparse thoughts on the launch.  The launch, in my opinion, has been wildly successful.  A little too successful, in fact, as I am plagued by ginormous queues in the evening.  Friday night the queue stood at over 1100 when I tried to log on.  It took hours to get a spot.  Still, to me this is a sign of the games success rather than any kind of failing on Blizzard’s part.  Hopefully the free realm transfers they opened up alleviate the waiting a bit.

Now, about the topic.  My main for a long time has been my Resto Druid, hence the blog title.  Any kind of end-game raiding I have done in the lasts 2 years has been with that Druid.  I really enjoyed my time healing, and it also afforded me nearly guaranteed spots in any raid in which I was interested.  I’ve spent oodles of badges, pored over loot tables, and done everything else to keep my Druid in tip-top shape. 

Well, as raiding fizzled, so did my playtime with the Druid.  I didn’t feel any pressing need to run heroics with him, or spend time doing dailies.  So he was at least semi-retired in the weeks leading up to Wrath.  In that time, I toyed around with a few of my other characters.  My 70 Hunter, a 65 Shadow Priest, and finally leveled my Warrior into the mid 60s as well.  In that time, I found that the character I MOST enjoyed playing was the Warrior.

I love the look of plate armor.  I love the look of giant 2-handed weapons.  I love dishing out pain and being able to take a few hits.  With the changes to the Arms tree, I’ve loved the Warrior even more.

Still, I’ve been torn.  If I level my present "main," I will certainly find myself in the same position I was in before.  I’ll get spots in raids, I’ll be able to focus heavily on one character, and I already know my way around healing.  With that in mind, I started out in Wrath leveling the Druid.  I quested my behind off in Borean Tundra, as a Boomkin spec, and got him to level 71.  And you know what I realized?

I wasn’t having all the much fun playing him.

Sure, I was blasting the hell out of mobs, as the Boomkin spec with my T5ish spell power gear proved to be more than effective.  I liked seeing the big crits, and I liked mowing down everything in my path.  But – and I’m not entirely sure why – I was bored.  Maybe it’s the Boomkin play style.  I basically do the same thing with every mob I come across.  Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Entangling Roots (sometimes, not always), Wrath, Starfire.  By that time, said mob was either dead or very close to it, and I deliver an additional Moonfire or Wrath to finish the job.

I do this EVERY SINGLE TIME. 

Now, I could see how this spec would be enjoyable in a raiding situation.  I could see myself playing the numbers game, and doing everything I could to push maximum DPS.  For the purposes of leveling, though, I find it boring.

The Warrior, on the other hand, is pure joy for me right now.  Combat with an Arms Warrior, even when leveling, is more varied.  You have to spend your time monitoring your skills, and watching for when Overpower or Execute light up.  Also, while my Boomkin can take a few mobs if necessary, my Warrior can REGULARLY obliterate several mobs at once.  You want to see fun?  Look at what happens on my screen when I collect 4 or so mobs and pop Retaliation and Bladestorm.

So that reminded me of something.  I often wonder, why do we play WoW?  What is it that’s so great?  Well, when you peel away everything, at its core it’s all about the FUN. 

And, well, I’m having fun with the Warrior, in spades.  So it is that I will continue to focus on the Warrior, at least for now, and put the Druid and everyone else on the back burner.  I’m not abandoning them, but for now they are in a holding pattern.  Now, this could be just the first blush of love with the Warrior, maybe I’m in love with the "different" and not with the actual class itself.  I guess I’ll have to keep playing him to find out!

Is this blog still the "Part Time Druid?"  Absolutely.  For me, this blog has moved beyond my original concept.  I can still talk about MOST of the things I was talking about already, regardless of what I do in the game.  Don’t expect any Druid Gear posts in the near future, but you never know!  Anyhow, back to Wrath!

Post from: Part Time Druid

It’s About the Fun

I don’t know about the rest of you, but since the patch I’ve been literally obsessed with the new achievement system.  I’ve been running all over Azeroth with my warrior alt (now 52) and trying to complete as many of them as I can.  Which, for a 52, isn’t all that many.  I suppose I could be doing this with my Druid or Hunter, who have the ability to clear all the BC and before achievements, at least.  With the Warrior, I can only do so many.  I suppose part of the fun doing it with an alt is that I’m gaining actual experience while I do them.

This brings me to my point about achievements.  Why am I doing them anyway?  What do I get out of them?

If you really look at it, there are very few quantifiable rewards for achievements.  The more difficult to complete achievements give titles a lot of the time.  There are also the nebulous achievement points, but I have no idea what you can use those points for anyway.

So what’s the deal?  Why do I bother? 

Is it for the pop-up on the screen when I successfully complete an achievement, along with the message in guild chat?

Is it for the fact that something that was once "grayed out" on my achievement panel is now colored in?

I suppose that the answer is really none of those, though they do help at least a little.  I think the real answer has to do with the completionist in me.  This hearkens back to my days playing Mario games.  If you remember Mario 64, that was one of the first games that really CATERED to that completionist tendency.  Sure, you could beat the game with a fairly low percentage of the 120 available stars, but who did that?  I spent a LONG time after beating it scouring every nook and cranny for the deviously hidden "secret" stars to get all 120.

I suppose I wanted to feel like I had really "beaten" the game, and wasn’t satisfied with just taking down Bowser.  It’s funny, too, that in the end the reward for getting all 120 stars was absolutely and completely underwhelming. 

So are achievements a way for people to feel like they "beat" WoW?  Do we now have a way to say we "beat" the classic and BC content before Wrath hits?  Even if you do manage to unlock ALL of the pre-Wrath achievements, what exactly will you get for it beyond the satisfaction of having done so?

In the end, though, if you look at all the different things you can achieve in the game, be they loot, boss kills, or how many vanity pets you own, none of them mean all that much.  Even the shiniest Warglaive of Azzinoth will soon be deemed unworthy of an equipment slot, and I’m sure the day will come that you will vendor your Kara or T5 or T6 gear.  Achievements, though, will be here to stay.

Post from: Part Time Druid

What’s the Deal with Achievements?