Project Lore

It Takes Longer To Find All The Weapons Than To Level The Skill Love it or hate it, Blizzard has been changing the leveling aspects of World of Warcraft with each additional expansion.  As the level cap continues to be raised, the developers feel that blasting players through levels is a reasonable solution.  Sure, the slow to level players, and highly casual alt creators may feel a sense of abandonment, but according to Blizzard, the game begins at max level.  With increased XP gains from questing and grinding, lower level access to mounts and cheaper training costs and Recruit-A-Friend bonuses, leveling has become nothing more than a quick chore.  So why is it that we still bother with Weapon Skill? From what I can tell Weapon Skill was part of the combat calculations for two reasons.  Mainly to limit a players ability to take on much higher level mobs than themselves.  Perhaps your skill would let you drop a beast 10 levels higher than you, but all the dodges, glancing blows and misses from your puny weapon skill (still hardcapped at 5*level) negated your epeen.  The second attribute is to please our incessant need to see our character "progressing".  Even though we'd only see an increase of five in between levels, the great driving force of rising statistics kept many of us cracking skulls. Now, at level 80, the statistic is completely meaningless.  Yes, it does impact your DPS when you aren't capped, but does anyone not have max weapon skill with their weapon of choice?  If you grab a new weapon of a skill you aren't proficient in you can have that skill capped within the hour.  The incoming influx of axe wielding rogues are a perfect example.  So what's the point?  Why is it that we have to bother with a relic from vanilla WoW that has ultimately lost its purpose to Expertise?  Is it hanging around for archaeological reasons and the achievement? Unfortunately, we can't completely abandon the system since its main purpose is still in use.  But it'd be nice if Blizzard made it an actual task to accomplish, rather than a challenge to find an elite mob to swing away at.  Of course having to invest additional time into a pointless statistic, repeatedly no less, wouldn't make much sense either.  Make it so once one class of weapons (melee and ranged) is leveled they all would be?  That wouldn't please the RPers out there.  How about giving the statistic back some of its stats that Expertise now possess?  That would require additional dev time and rebalancing for no actual change.  Hmm. The state of Weapon Skill is a sticky situation.  Ultimately, its pointlessness for 'when the game begins' just bothers me, and frankly, reeks of a poorly planned change to a former core mechanic.

Click to read more ...

As I get closer and closer to level 80 (no, I'm still not there yet. But that's another story...), I've been thinking a bit about my end goals for Locomomo. They started out vague, long ago when I rejoiced at finding a piece of gear that was one measly armor point higher than what I already had equipped. Back then, I could only dream of what my toon someday would become. And as I've leveled and discovered through experience my play preferences for my class, those goals have solidified quite a bit. What I know so far: I like being sneaky, as a proper rogue should. But even moreso, I like dealing the DPS. One of my primary motivations for leveling is the fact that I want to start raiding with my guild. I'll have to start small to get some better gear, I'm sure. Then hopefully after not too long try out some heroics and get down my raiding rotations. I know, they're still pretty general goals, but it's something to look forward to. And while looking forward, I realized that really, the best way for me to play is to have smaller goals along the way. It seems I'm always playing toward something - trying to reach the next level, and the next and the next; aiming to get my stats up; completing enough quests in an area to get the related achievement and moving on to another zone. Each little step leads to another and another. Blizzard knows how to keep its players motivated. But there have been times when I've found myself a bit puzzled at what to do next. For the most part, leveling is self-explanatory. Just go to an area for your level, click on the NPCs with yellow exclamations points, and go kill things. But sometimes there's the issue of having too much to do. Do you level in zone x or zone y? Do you focus on your professions or continue leveling? Ultimately, there's a million decisions we must make in game, and each one will lead to a different experience. Of course, once you're a more experienced player, it becomes easier to picture your future characters. You know what equipment, skills and talents are out there; you have conquered the zones; and you have played either with or against other high-level characters that you can use for inspiration for what you one day will become. And once you reach 80, there's still all the end-game content. I know a lot of players find it a bit harder to keep playing once they reach a certain point and no longer have those little steps to motivate them along. But I think I'm a very long way from reaching that point. I've got dungeons to explore, enemy cities to sneak into, equipment to be had, achievements galore to earn, and only so much time to play. The future Locomomo, as I picture her, will be awesome. But it's the journey getting there that I'm looking forward to. In your own gaming experiences, what drives you to keep playing? Is there any specific goal you're currently playing to? Do you picture what you hope your future toon will be, or let that picture shape itself as you go?

Click to read more ...

While I've always considered myself a strong raider, I've always done my best to keep a handle on the amount of time I dedicate to the game. It is after all, just a game, and it is very important to not spend too much time playing. That being said I am a total completionist, and I'll admit, a bit of an addict when it comes to this game we all know and love. This is why I am beginning to struggle with the new content patch. I know in a matter of months I will likely be QQing about the lack of content available... but for right now, I am overwhelmed! A big part of my problem is I can't decide if I would rather do 10-man progression or 25-man progression. So I do what any good WoW fanatic would do, and try and do both, which in my guild equals out to about 6 nights a week of raiding. That is a pretty large jump up from what I am used to, and the first few weeks I tried to make that happen it started taking a toll on me. Now don't get me wrong, I am not some helpless junkie that can't get a grip on his time... I can quit anytime I want to :) ! But the fact is I want to see both versions of Yogg go down, and there are plenty of loot upgrades for me in both versions on the instance. Fact is I am just stuck in that rare window of new content where 10-mans are still important to farm, and 25-mans still need work to progress. Eventually I know that I will completely outgear 10-mans and have no reason to go back, but I fear the hard modes will extend that window further than it usually gets extended. At this point it is clear to me I am going to have to start making some choices. What is important now, and furthermore where am I having the most fun? 10s or 25s? I realize I can't do it all no matter how bad I want to! How are you other raiders doing in this department? Are you accomplishing everything you want to? Or do you find yourself in the same place where there are not enough hours in the day (or at least enough gaming hours)? I'd be curious to know your choice, because it is time for me to make mine!

Click to read more ...

I've touched on this before, when talking about a lack of end game in the current content. But once again I personally have reached an interesting point in the life of my Paladin. When Wrath first came out, and I first got a look at all of the loot tables I spent a great deal of time planning my gear. I found every piece I wanted, determined what was the best in each slot, debated what set bonus were worth while, and finally came up with my "gear plan." More or less I  decided exactly what I wanted my character to look like when I had everything I wanted. Well last week I reached that point. With the exception of a few changes I made along the way as I gained a better understanding of end game bosses, my gear is exactly how I wanted it. What I am saying is there are no longer any pieces I want to drop, I have it all! There may be a few side grades here and there, but nothing that I absolutely must have for my character. There are no upgrades for me, so to speak. I know a few other people that find themselves in this same situation. It is interesting to see how they are dealing with it. I, for one, love raiding. I don't plan on stopping, but at the same time there is little reason to go anymore. Sure, I am still chasing down a few last achievements, but gear as a motivation is completely out of the equation. In a certain way, I feel like I have beaten the unbeatable game. Others in my shoes it seems have stopped playing all together, meanwhile I have been burying myself in an alt (loving the shaman!). I find myself logging on my paladin only for raids, and even then I am willing to sit out if another tank is chasing a drop. I really feel like I have been left no choice but shelve my main, at least until Ulduar. I know I can always find something to do, but I am hard pressed to find something I want to do. It is such an odd feeling, and one I have never experienced before. Any of you guys finding yourself in the same boat (or have you in the past)? If so, how are you feeling about it?

Click to read more ...

For those of you that haven’t seen it yet, Blizzard has posted a very nice description and screenshots of the new Ulduar raid on their EU web site. For the last while I have been rather impatiently waiting for this raid, viewing it more as something necessary to keep my interest, rather than something to look forward to. Well, after reading what Blizzard posted I must say I have changed my tune. I am excited! This raid sounds freaking awesome. The thing I grabbed onto right away was the size of the content. I have been telling people for a while that I hoped Ulduar would be a substantial raid. Well it sounds like I got my wish. The post says there will be 14 bosses. This makes it larger than all of Tier 5 in Burning Crusade which had 10 bosses (6 in SSC and 4 in TK). Furthermore it claims that 11 of those fights will have hard modes (think Obsidian Sanctum with drakes up). This should provide tons of new challenges, achievements, and most importantly replayability. If I am going to be grinding this instance night after night I’m glad to hear we will be able to change it up and keep it interesting. The post also mentions an interesting "preinstance" that players must fight through in order to reach the instance proper. It sounds as if this will involve the raid taking out an army on vehicles before a final showdown with a boss that must be taken down on the vehicles as well. While I have never been a big fan of the “vehicle fights” I am going to keep my mind open on this one. While not a big fan of phase 3 Malygos and the Oculus, I love Wintergrasp and this seems to be going more in that direction. I couldn’t be happier that Blizzard has throw this carrot out there. I will be feverishly checking out the Blizzard site, forums, and news sites looking for more details. But for right now, I feel this one will be worth the wait. Be sure to read the preview for yourself here, and tell me, are you as geeked as I am about this one?

Click to read more ...

One of my favorite things about playing World of Warcraft has always been the sense that the game is unbeatable. There is always something to do, always ways to improve yourself, and always something to suck up your time if you want it to. Getting a bit of a late jump into TBC raiding, the sense of things I hadn’t done and bosses I hadn’t seen was overwhelming. I loved having far off carrots to chase after and drive me to work on my character day after day. Lately though, I have grown concerned. I know lots of people are saying it, but I am honestly starting to believe that the current amount of content is very inadequate. I have long ago downed every boss in the game. When I saw Malygos go down for the first time, it was bittersweet, but I knew there was lots more to do because of the achievement system. I was content with the fact that while there weren’t any new bosses, there were plenty of new and challenging ways to kill those bosses. The problem now is I’ve spent the time over the last month or so and earned a lot of those achievements. And now I’m faced with the feeling that there aren’t even enough achievements left to keep me very interested. Sure I will likely keep farming Naxx until I have my gear looking exactly how I want it, and I still have the matter of killing Sartharion with 3 drakes up, but I very much want a longer laundry list of things I could still be doing. I consider myself a fairly strong raider, but I am nowhere near as hardcore as a lot of people. If I am running into this issue, I’m sure there are many more than myself who feel the same. In my eyes Ulduar can’t come soon enough, and if Blizzard wants to keep its more dedicated players interested there isn’t a moment to lose.

Click to read more ...

Achievements are many things, they are fun ways to pass time, they are ways to show off some accomplishments, but there are just a few that seem to carry a little bigger meaning. These achievements are truly achievements, and they are not easy. Tonight I will start my 3^rd week of working on such an achievement: The Undying. And let me tell you, it is unlike anything I’ve worked toward in this game before. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the achievement it reads like this: “Within one raid lockout period, defeat every boss in Naxxramas on Normal Difficulty without allowing any raid member to die during any of the boss encounters.” Or in other words, it demands absolute perfection from every member of the raid. As we learned the hard way, even the tiniest misstep will end the entire attempt. First time we tried this we had zero deaths up until Kel’Thuzad where a Soul Weaver knocked back a death knight into a void zone just as it went off. It was heart breaking. The worst part about this achievement is that as the run goes on the more stressful it becomes, and if you happen to be the unlucky one to take the first dirt nap you really feel that you let down your friends. I’m sure it is not a good feeling (fortunately I do not know this firsthand). All of this is why I say that going for the Undying is unlike anything else in the game. It's tough, it's emotional, and its unforgiving. Luck plays very little role as you must play well for the entire run. For all its stress, I think it is great. If you see someone with the title, you know you are looking at a strong player, and likely one that was not carried by his friends. I plan to continue work until I have earned this one, and a true “grats” to any of you that have already done it.

Click to read more ...

Many players have been griping that the gear they have seen on their first five levels towards 80 have not been good enough. Generally speaking, these players are decked out with Tier 5/Season 3 gear, or better. Heck, one of my characters has a combination of heroic/Karazhan/Season 2 and their set is still going strong. Blizzard Poster Bornakk even addressed the lack of upgrades by stating that those with concerns should "keep leveling and keep instancing, you'll find upgrades soon enough. :)" The flip side to this discussion is that this is exactly the opposite situation from The Burning Crusade's release. After TBC went live, people who had been raiding for the previous two years realized that their gear was being replaced by early quest rewards and instances. Mind you, these players had the best gear available in the game, making them feel that all their hard work was pointless. The reversal of fortunes is not perfect, but I feel it is a much better way to go than the itemization from The Burning Crusade. However, it remains to be seen if Blizzard made the end-game stuff difficult enough to force players to upgrade. While TwentyFifthNovember has now beaten all of Wrath, the hardest way possible, they are the best of the best. Many other guilds are now tackling endgame heroics with their Sunwell gear, and blowing them away. Hopefully they have upgrades available to them, and need them to complete the end-game raids. It remains to be seen. While I have been complaining the majority of this post, that isn't my only point. Many of you out there are in the same boat as me, seeing quest reward after quest reward being wasted because you can't use it. In the interest of helping with your personal economy, I have another gold creating tip for you. If the quest reward isn't a solid upgrade then buy the plate or weapon reward and just vendor it. As tanks know, plate gear costs way more to repair, but on the flip side, sells much higher than Cloth or Leather. The Auctioneer Suite used to be able to tell you exactly how much things would vendor for on mouseover, but the last version I grabbed does not have the updated information. It will likely be updated soon, if it hasn't been already in an alpha release. So for the players out there complaining about not getting upgrades, perhaps this is Blizzard's way of handing you 1000 gold for the Cold Weather Flying fee. Seriously, if you do 300 quests with item rewards on your way to 80, average 4 gold per vendor, you'll bank 1200 gold. Remember, the harder it is, the better it sells.

Click to read more ...