Project Lore

BlizzCon 2009 was full of surprises, some little, some known and some huge.  One of the little ones was the announcement that players in PUGs would be rewarded for helping out strangers.  It was a great idea, in fact, it was such an obvious idea that there was a collective "Why didn't I think of that" among the crowd. It's simple really, leading a PUG is an arduous task in management.  You have to gather random players of the right classes, organize them into suitable groups, deal with the wipes that are often associated with the mish-mash of a group and waste tons of time.  All of these headaches for the shot at a reward, and that's if things go well.  If they go poorly you'll be marked as failure.  It'll be your fault that the raid failed.  It isn't quite lose-lose, but you can't get much closer. What better way to get more people leading and participating in PUGs than with rewards?  That's exactly what Blizzard plans to do in Patch 3.3, offering the Perky PUG as one of the (hopefully) many rewards available to the altruistic gamers among us. I am absolutely loving the recent influx of highly diverse and well executed pets.  Good to finally discover why Dalaran's carpets stink.

[caption id="attachment_8732" align="alignright" width="354" caption="Should Of Learned It 400+ Days Ago..."][/caption] Logic has done it to me again.  And by it, I mean making me look like a complete moron (I lack a brain).  During my last PTR run I learned something that I really should have known for over a year.  A simple, small detail pertaining to World of Warcraft's itemization.  Hell, I've played along side it, seen it in action, even inspected those geniuses who figured it out, but the synapse never fired.  The light bulb never turned on.  I never knew that you can put any color gem in any color slot (meta and prismatic aren't colors). I was late to the last PTR run so I was rushing to get my gear all settled.  Due to time constraints, I asked another party member which gems I should create and was told to fill everything with haste and spell power.  "Wait, in all of the slots?" I asked.  I imagine he rolled his eyes and nodded his head as he nonchalantly said yes.  "You...you can do that?" I stammered, completely unaware that Blizzard allows you to break the color coding (how dare Blizzard!). Seriously, how dare the designers allow such an atrocity.  That's like letting a kindergartner hit the square block through the round hole.  It doesn't work that way!  It's blasphemy, sacrilege, desecration!  My world is shattered.  Up is now down, left is topwise and right is cornerwise.  Jon & Kate might as well be divorced.  I'm lost.  Dejected.  Stupefied at my oversight. No wonder Rawr kept telling me to decorate Solidsamm with Delicate Cardinal Rubies.  I...just assumed it was wrong.  Pretty sure that assumption just made an ass of me.  Time to go poke my brain with a Q-Tip. Needless to say, I dropped badges, honor and cold hard gold on regemming Solidsamm and Solidsagart to cover for my stupidity.  Hopefully my story allows for someone else to come to the realization that nothing in WoW has to be logical, before it bites them in the rump. Note: You'll negate any socketing bonus if you fill the slots with incorrect colors.

[caption id="attachment_8679" align="alignright" width="350" caption="He's Had As Many Two Minute Comebacks As I've Had NFL Starts"][/caption] The idea of a Monday Morning Quarterback is some who criticizes their team's quarterback from hindsight, often from the comfort of their local watercooler.  The issue so many people have with the act is that making a snap decision while under pressure (literally "under pressure" in football context) isn't the same as when someone is calm and collected.  You're stressed, distracted and under the gun.  A quarterback that can play under these adverse conditions is going places, he's going to win games, big games.  A healer with cat like reflexes under intense situations will go places as well, raids. I'm not there yet. People still die under my guard in close situations, and at least some of the blame is squarely on my play.  Not my gear, not the group and not the tank, but me.  Every time someone's player frame reads "Dead" I begin to wonder what I should have done to keep them alive.  Where in my rotation did I go wrong, and what can I do to make sure it doesn't happen again.  Should I have shielded and then healed, moved from the poison causing an interrupt, let x die to keep y alive, done an AoE heal before the targeted one?  Those are all questions I have asked myself.  If I can't figure out how I screwed up, then I am man enough to ask for help.  I don't mind that I'm inviting someone else to do some armchair quarterbacking, so long as they are helpful.  Unlike the real world version, many of the people are actually qualified (yay alts)! This is the Internet though, and that bit of perceived anonymity enables the same crazy comments that you can find at your water cooler right now to enter the digital realm.  With so much responsibility placed on my shoulders, I've found it somewhat difficulty to filter out the junk, while remaining open to the useful tips.  Just like yesterday's unlucky QBs, the hate pointed in my direction isn't needed.  It doesn't make you avoid the repair bill, it doesn't make me any better, and it doesn't make us any less wiped.  The only thing it will do is move you to my shitlist, guaranteeing that I'll heal you only when everyone else is topped off. Long time readers probably know that my priest isn't totally new, she hit level 70 during the end of The Burning Crusade, but I never had time to learn the healing ropes then (leveling instances with geared level 70s doesn't help you acquire skill).  Now it is different.  I'm playing her frequently and enjoying the new ball game.  Soon I'll be the Brett Favre of healing, but right now I feel more like Donovan McNabb.

A lot of people responded to the Battle of the Newbs post by listing all of the classes they play, and what level they are.  I'm sure just as many were like me, sticking with one class for months, perhaps years.  Whatever the reason for your dedication may be, you really should take a spin on the PTR.  Assuming you don't mind running the upcoming instances (you won't be able to do much else), it is a fantastic place to playtest classes. Bug testing aside, I think the most useful aspect of the PTR is for rolling another class, and what a fantastic idea that is.  Most players believe that the game doesn't begin till the level cap.  So if you've been thinking about switching, why not try them out at the level cap on the PTR?  Then you won't have to spend ten days of playtime before you realize that you hate tanking, or can't stand playing whack-a-mole for hours a night.  Feeling incredibly powerful with little to no effort doesn't hurt either. Not interested in rolling a new class?  Fear not, the PTR offers plenty of incentives for the unadventurous.  For instance, Solidsamm is undergeared when compared to his raiding counterparts - I know I've beaten this topic to death, but hold on.  I've always felt that if I had the gear, I could be right up there with the big boys.  To test myself I used a character copy, created a rogue decked out in the latest epics, gems and enchants, and proceeded to tear stuff up.  Now I can pat myself on the back, confident that I don't totally suck. Character copying your same class, or even a character transfer with extra gems on your person, can enable a player to tweak their itemization with no penalties.  Want to really investigate what those gems can do for your current gear?  Buy up some class-friendly gems (or have a friend use a pre-made and hand you some), transfer, and begin socketing and unsocketing until you find the perfect combination.  Jot down the details and you'll know what to apply on your live character.  Of course Rawr can calculate this information for you, but there's nothing more concrete than seeing the differences in action before they cost you anything. I think I may go try out a spec I've had little experience with, tanking.  Then I'll feel more, possibly less, confident when I verbally assault the player I am trying to heal.

[caption id="attachment_8539" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Do Some Internet Sleuthing."][/caption] Forget about other video games, I find it difficult enough to split my play time across multiple characters.  Despite my best efforts, that is exactly what I have been doing lately.  Over the past month I have put serious time in to not two, but three alternates avatars and my trusty bank alt.  Solidsamm hasn't missed a beat, as he continues to raise his average ilvl at an alarming rate (for me).  I've only been able to manage the juggling act thanks to careful planning, tunnel vision, and of course, an understanding girlfriend. Solidsamm is doing his best to gear up in an attempt to remain a reliable raider, Solidsagart is trying to get to that point, and the other Solidsagart (original, I know) is busy running through the old content.  My fourth character isn't really a character per se, but a pre-made on the PTR (again, Solidsagart).  The two alternate Solidsagarts are tied to other players, so I only play them when the rest of the group is available, but the priest and rogue are entirely different.  Honest to god, this is the first time I have ever had two max level characters at once, and that's the issue. At this point in time, I wouldn't consider either of them my main.  I play them nearly 50/50 with the rogue eeking out the percent error thanks to raiding time.  As soon as Solidsagart is fully raid ready, that will change.  The longer I go 50/50, the longer it will take for her to be ready.  In light of that, the holy priest is about to become my main.  I have nothing against my rogue, I still love the gnome to death, but my draenei offers an entirely new experience.  One with new challenges, new things to learn and a new set of numbers to crunch.  I've already had enough heroic dungeon experience to know that I enjoy healing, so the change sticking depends solely on my measure of fail.  Hopefully I can keep it low, and people will be understanding. Oh man, I almost kept a straight face.  People on the Internet understanding. Hahahahaha. I've been rocking the John Kerry approved flip-flop method.  How do you move between your alts?  Reroll out of boredom, or after one is geared to an acceptable level?

[caption id="attachment_8520" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Those Names Look Suspiciously Familiar..."][/caption] My adventure into old school instancing has lead me to one definitive conclusion; everyone is a critic.  Everyone believes they know your class better than you, something I can be guilty of when it comes to dagger-equipped rogues.  The five person team that I joined to experience the old world is no different.  In fact, it may be worse.  We wanted to experience the pre-Cataclysm world in a way we hadn't before, causing us to roll classes we have never played before. The tank and the healer (me) changed rolls dramatically, going from melee DPS classes to the key parts of the holy trinity.  To make matters even more interesting, I rolled the healing class that I knew the least about, a restoration shaman.  The other three switched from DPS classes to other DPS classes, some switching from ranged or melee DPS for the first time in their WoWing career.  You can imagine how these conversations go.  Tons of "you're doing it wrong." The thing is, we all tend to be right.  We've all had small nuances in our new class pointed out to us by a helpful teammate who's had hours of playtime in the role.  I certainly appreciate the pointers I've been given by the former shaman, and I am very grateful for the pointers that the newbie tank has received.  His complete and utter lack of tanking knowledge (get threat on all of the mobs in a pull!) left him open to numerous jabs and burns throughout our various runs.  It's okay though, he seems to enjoy the good-natured ribbing, firing right back when the opportunity arises. The class virginity is still a factor thanks to our low level (low 20s).  By the time level 40 rolls around we should be comfortable in our now smelly shoes.  I'm not sure I want that to happen though.  The jibba -jabber is just too hilarious.  Thankfully, we have PTR testing to continue playing classes we have no business rolling.  Let's just hope the tank doesn't gem for crit.  Oh wait, he already did that. /facepalm

[caption id="attachment_8493" align="alignright" width="300" caption="I'm Super. Thanks For Asking!"][/caption] Vanity items don't get me going, for the most part ("ZOMG vanity pets! Squeal!").  I don't care about having cute or unusual costumes.  I don't piece together entertaining ensembles or strive to get rare pieces of rather pointless gear.  Yea, I had a Twill set, but that was sparked by competition rather than my actual desire for it.  Generally speaking, I only go for functional items, the general gear, professions that can save your ass, or help you out, and the one required for a supportive nature.  Hell, I don't bother with extra mounts, one is enough to serve its purpose. There is one vanity item that I have been striving for - Chef's Hat.  Yes, it looks ridiculous.  Yes, it hangs a little to the right.  Yes, it is half the size of Solidsamm.  But I'll be damned if it doesn't make me feel special.  I've been a purveyor of Fish Feasts and other tasty morsels of Northrend for some time, and now everyone can know just how dedicated I've been - dare I say at the drop of a hat (couldn't resist)? The Chef's Hat was a goal of mine, but it wasn't something I was wholly dedicated to.  That was until Blizzard announced that it would speed up your cooking.  Then I became a cuisine concoting fiend, missing the Dalaran daily only once.  Now that I have it, I can't believe anyone would cook or lay out a Great Feast without equipping it.  Frankly, the speed increase is amazing when compounded over a few stacks of edibles and should prove totally worth the effort. Everyone's got their hook.  For Pixie, it's an entire outfit.  For me, it is a hat that increases the speed of my Wolfgang Puck-ness.  What's your most coveted vanity item?

[caption id="attachment_8472" align="alignright" width="300" caption="This Is Still My Desktop Background"][/caption] When I rejoined the masses during The Burning Crusade I knew that I wouldn't be raiding like I did in vanilla.  I knew that I'd already be behind on gear when I joined, with the difference growing as time went on.  I also knew that Wrath of the Lich King was coming soon, and would reset the Azerothian digital divide back to zero.  Sadly, it was just that, a reset of the cycle.  But the cycle would be different this time.  Blizzard had changed its tune, refining its raid philosophy to allow easy entry into the early raids, with difficulty ramping up over time (whether that actually happens is another discussion entirely). Upon hitting level 80, in a somewhat timely manner, I geared up and prepared for my second go at Naxxramas.  During these early raiding days I was highly competitive, grabbing top DPS on numerous occasions.  The accolade was nothing special, players were still gearing and learning their new specs, but I enjoyed my time in the spotlight.  As time passed the DPS merged into a group, with members floating up and down the scale depending on fight, mindset and who had the best party buffs.  With my gear becoming outdated - hello ancient trinkets - I began to fight for my life, scrapping for every bit of DPS I could muster. In comes Ulduar, and the cycle reboot moves to full effect.  I can no longer compensate for my gear's age.  Skill, willpower and all the random buffs in the world fail to keep me highly competitive.  I've been relegated to a replacement, alt night or fill-in-the-hole role, but I'm okay with that, I understand.  I contribute where I can, and hope that everyone is fully geared out when I enter a raid.  Perhaps, just maybe I'll get something to increase my DPS. A funny thing happened a few months ago.  The cycle was seemingly broken, not reset, just broken.  Call of the Crusade came out, and people loved it.  For a few weeks.  But now, now I've realized that my gear has made a comeback.  Thanks to VoA, Onyxia The Head Regrower and my random Ulduar runs my average ilvl's moved up, and I've begun to to climb the DPS charts.  I'm no longer scrapping by, but actually beating players whose DPS I once though unobtainable. How could this be?  Is it boredom?  Are these players so tired of Call of the Crusade and its lock out that they've ignored the gear, or simply cut back on raiding?  Have that many of them returned to alts, allowing me to soak up gear at an equal speed?  Maybe they geared up that quickly?  These aren't rhetorical questions, I honestly don't know, and only assume it is some combination.  SoProjectLoreians (just made that up) are you bored with Patch 3.2?

Some of you may have heard that Las Vegas is going to be the home of BlizzCon 2010.  The odd change in location, to say the least, is far from confirmed.  The news comes directly from the Las Vegas Convention Center.  Not the most unbiased of outlets considering the topic.  A few moments ago Blizzard updated the community with a warning via Twitter. Warcraft tweeted: #Blizzcon We haven’t announced any details regarding our next BlizzCon, so please refrain from making any travel plans at this time. The company mentioned at BlizzCon 2009 that Anaheim was home to the convention, but it wouldn't hurt to shop around.  However, there's numerous reasons why the Las Vegas Convetion Center would lay claims to such a deal.  Blizzard may be shopping around the convention in an attempt to gauge the pricing.  Such an act could have lead the folks at the convention center to think a deal had been struck.  There's also the possibility that Blizzard may be forced to move from the Anaheim Convention Center due to size consideration, or booking issues. Assuming it does pan out, at least Las Vegas would be a better place to fly in to.  It's also more of a vacation destination for any spouses who would want to tag along, but not get all nerded out.  But who wants to go to the desert in July? Whatever the case may be, one thing is for certain, Blizzard has not made any official announcements about BlizzCon 2010.  Except the one regarding not making any announcements for the convention.  Does that count?

[caption id="attachment_8422" align="alignright" width="271" caption="That's Him Right? Love The New Look"][/caption] I know I had a little nerd rage in me yesterday during our polite discussion about the Pandaren Monk.  It turns out that Blizzard wasn't trying to be an evil corporation.  Just that somewhere along the lines Blizzard made a simple mistake when populating a database field, causing the item to sell out when it wasn't possible.  It took the situation a few hours to be rectified, but I'll give the web team a little leeway since I blew my lid while they were still counting sheep. After a guildmate saw me fly off the handle he pointed me in the direction of The Instance.  The long-running podcast managed to corner Tom Chilton for an interview, which went live as part of the latest episode.  In a case of near-perfect timing, the host pinged Chilton on the topic of the moment, Blizzard's non-combat pet microtransactions. According to Chilton, the inclusion of the pets in the Blizzard store are a result of the WoW TCG.  Initially conceived as a bonus to players of the TCG and WoW, the loot cards became a way for players to raise their pet or mount count directly.  The decision was made to offer these incentives directly, removing the randomness from the practice. It'd be naive of us to not think of the monetary/safety factor though.  Purchasing the pets and mounts required obscene amounts of money.  Money that Blizzard, nor Upper Deck, saw any part of.  By selling the items directly Blizzard not only gets its hand in the pie, but it can also police the transactions.  This lowers the amount of customer service calls from people who were scammed or hacked as a result of third party purchasing. How did the company arrive at the $10 slice of pie, you ask?  Chilton covers that as well.  The $10 price is no accident.  Not only is a Hamilton a president that Blizzard feels the market can bear, but the company needed to justify the efforts of the artists and animators that were involved in the project.  I'm sure we've all noticed just how complex and detailed Lil' KT and the Pandaren Monk are compared to the stable of vanity pets we already have. Chilton even offers a glimpse at the future of the project, one that he calls a "side project."  For starters, there is definitely going to be more items placed in the store, but none were detailed.  He did mention that there'd be "pet and plushie" sales.  These would offer a physical and virtual item of a stuffed mob.  We assume that the price point would be lower than purchasing them separate.  Chilton ensured listeners that normal WoW content development has not, and would not, be effected by the store.  He stated that new developers would be hired to produce its content, should the store continue to grow. There, now no one can call me anything but 'fair and balanced.' P.S. Kinda sucks for the Europeans out there that pay €10, which is ~$15.  Even worse is what UK players pay, £9, which turns out to be more than their subscription rate.  Not much more, but North Americans only pay two-thirds of our rate for a pet.