This episode brought to you by Single Malt for Single Minds. A lot of information has flowed from the forums about the upcoming Call of the Crusade (Patch 3.2), but none of it more whacky than the latest today that we will be able to move from Horde to Alliance and vice versa. Next up, pigs fly and I'm tall.
Read Medeor's thoughts on this and some other items from the World of Warcraft in this week's edition of The Overpull.
__________________ Jay "Medeor" Johnson
Ten Ton Hammer Contributing Writer
Good article Medeor and everyone is talking about 3.2 - just with any patch there are good and bad changes. I think the whole Coliseum thing is a test thing by Blizzard and they'll see how it is received. As for the complainers they're always going to be there. My thing is if you don't like it don't play....and we'll see you in two weeks when you calm down and realize that a) Blizzard is not out for you and b) the changes really are not that bad. The grass always seems to be greener on the other side.
Maybe the changes are in response to Aion and Jumpgate - but those are such different games that I don't see that being a good reason. This is what Blizzard does - they make the game as widely accessible as possible and what happens is people get this chip on their shoulder about what someone new should and should not be able to do. I leveled 8 toons 60 the "old fashioned" way (pre 2.3) but I really don't care - in fact I see the changes as reasons to dust off some TTH Horde toons and play them.
The whole Horde/Alliance transfer thing is cool - but I really don't have a need for it. I could see where it would be useful for some people but I like all my toons being Alliance and then having my TTH toons for Horde. It makes it easier to keep the factions straight.
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The trouble with being a god is that you've got no one to pray to - Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
The loot changes seem more sensible, and the boost to engineers is long overdue. As far as faction changes I don't see it having many takers but for those who really want it, it will be worth at least $25.
As for the hard core raiders getting upset, maybe they'll run off somewhere else and Blizzard will start getting back to the story and away from the repetitive endgame grind.
You bring up an excellent point that I sometimes forget in when I have my completionist hat on. Almost all of the new material is voluntary (I guess everything is, we get the choice whether we want to play).
On the Horde to/from Alliance thing, I agree with the posters that this may be a big splash when it hits and then once people have made that move they've always wanted, the buzz will all die down (see previous PvE to PvP transfer hysteria).
__________________ Jay "Medeor" Johnson
Ten Ton Hammer Contributing Writer
There is part of me regarding the new token thing that says "well I worked my butt off in Ulduar wiping fight after fight to get my tokens for my head and chestpiece, it's not fair that someone else can grind heroic dungeons and get them". But the fact is that's part of the deal - things are made "difficult" by Blizzard to allow the "hardcore" to get a leg up and then opened up for "casuals" to catch up. The fact is a person who sucks in a raid environment is just going to suck as bad with several pieces of tier 8.5.
What it does help is those people who took a break from the game or have alts can "catch up" and raid. This keeps guilds from having to run Naxxramas for the nth time to gear up people. The fact of the matter is at this time it will be about 230 tokens to get a full 8.5 tier set and that's A LOT of dungeon running. The fact even with the couple crafted pieces from Ulduar you have 17 slots and these items may fill 6 of them total and it is not including weapons...so it is not like they are handing you a pre-made 80 or such. I know people bitch because it's a "well I did it, they have to also"...and when all the people out there are way undergeared for the instance you worked your butt off to get into because there is no way for them to catch up and you're running Naxxramas for the nth time maybe it will not seem so bad about Blizzard's "charity".
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The trouble with being a god is that you've got no one to pray to - Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
Guild banned for Yogg+0 (meaning Zero Watcher) exploit. Apparently Exodus found a way to make Phase 3 a little easier, but they forgot that the cameras are always rolling.
They weren't banned, they received a 72 hour suspension. Personally, I think Blizzard is playing favoutites here as Ensidea used an exploit in some of their firsts also. The difference being that they're the "dream" guild and Exodus is unheard of.
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Either Blizzard doesn't like what it is seeing with it's internal number crunching and player participation, or they are trying to sink their claws in deeper so we don't start looking at Aion, or Jumpgate: Evolution or the other games rolling out.
My thoughts are that they aren't seeing the numbers they want, primarily in their obsession.......raids. One of these days they just might realize that the reason the numbers aren't changing is because the majority of the player base enjoy other aspects of the game besides raiding.
My thoughts are that they aren't seeing the numbers they want, primarily in their obsession.......raids. One of these days they just might realize that the reason the numbers aren't changing is because the majority of the player base enjoy other aspects of the game besides raiding.
That would be me. I may aspire to casual raid status but that would be it. Right now it is hard to imagine scheduling time on specific evenings for raiding on a continuing basis. On weekends it might be possible. Being able to run other instances and also Naxx to get tokens is much better for me that just doing Naxx over and over again. I just don't see the point in going to the same place over and over again. There are so many Northrend instances I have yet to visit and this change may actually get me to see them. We shall see.
I read a little on the whole Ensidia/Exodus thing on wow.com and it seems that the "exploit" Ensidia used was using a mage's spellsteal ability to improve their DPS where
as Exodus purposefully got mobs to evade so the encounter could be done. Yes Ensidia probably does get some favoritism and there have been some questionable things done for them but at the end of the day I really honestly only care about my guild's progress and how I can contribute to them. Just like a lot of world events happen each day the fact is not many of them truly impact you on a daily basis.
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The trouble with being a god is that you've got no one to pray to - Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
My thoughts are that they aren't seeing the numbers they want, primarily in their obsession.......raids. One of these days they just might realize that the reason the numbers aren't changing is because the majority of the player base enjoy other aspects of the game besides raiding.
Me too. I've tried raiding and I just don't enjoy it.
__________________ Cry havoc and let slip the Star Wars TOR!
WoW Weekly Report - The Overpull for 6/29/09
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