Project Lore

Love 'em or hate 'em, rogues have got to be sneaky. It's a good part of what defines the class, allows them, as leather-wearers, to deal melee dps without instant death, and sets them apart from other DPSers. So it's no huge surprise that Vanish, one of the key skills that rounds out that specialty, has long been debated because it's, as some players would say, "broken."

Just how is it or isn't it broken? Different players of different classes will give you varying answers. But the debate revolves around players/mobs/pets still being able to attack a rogue who has vanished, and a number of AoE/DoT effects that will immediately pull a vanished rogue back out of stealth. Personally, my main is a rogue, so I tend toward the side that vanish should allow a little bit of lenience to allow some time to get away, heal or regenerate some energy. But I certainly don't want it to be overpowered, either, because then it will inevitably get a nerf.

Enter Patch 3.3 on the PTR, and game developers announced hefty plans to unveil a Vanish fix. The hoopla began about a month ago, with blue poster Ghostcrawler announcing Blizzard's intentions on the WoW forums:

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In the past month or so, I've had a lot more time to really sink my nails into playing WoW. While getting caught up in the hype of gold, dungeons, scoring a hot new flying mount and figuring out how to best spend my emblems is fun, more and more I'm coming to realize that there are so many amazing, intricate aspects to gameplay that I've come to expect to the point of no longer appreciating. Now let me preface this by saying that Blizzard knows its business. If executives want WoW to remain the top MMORPG out there, they undoubtedly know that they have to stay on top of their game and keep coming out with challenging, fun, cutting-edge material to keep players engaged. And, for the most part, they do. There's always insatiable audiences who constantly demand more content, but all in all, I think Blizzard pretty much tops the industry in keeping subscribers happy. Let me also say that I am in no way informed about the actual process behind creating content. I'm happy with myself when I can just successfully get an addon functioning, so make what you will of that. So perhaps I'm in the minority when I say that sometimes, it's those simple things in the game that can most amaze me. I think a lot of this has hit me during my recent jaunt in exploration. Sometimes the large size of a zone would be daunting while leveling. And yes, even annoying. Running back and forth across an expansive area to complete quests wasn't my favorite aspect of the game. But by the same token, I wouldn't have enjoyed the actual questing if everything was crammed into one tiny, crowded area. I remember when flight paths were a godsend. Each discovery of one of those tiny green exclamation points was reason to celebrate. But eventually, they grew to be expected. And when there were areas without enough flight points, it was disappointing because it would throw off my leveling agenda. Certainly I'm not the only one who has felt this way; the Patch 3.2 implementation of mounts at lower levels makes me think I'm in the majority, not the minority. I'm not ashamed to admit that I suppose I also can be demanding of Blizzard. Why shouldn't I be? As subscribers, most of us probably do feel entitlement in some form or another. I just try not to be an ass about it because in the end, I'm still having fun playing. But its during those instances of annoyance that I try to remind myself of just how awesome this game is - without even going into the expansive lore, which alone is enough to draw me in. When I can't find an NPC because (lightheaded isn't working and) their location isn't clear enough on a quest description, I instead find joy in the hunt. When I was leveling and couldn't squeeze in all the quests I wanted because they were so spread out, I instead popped into an inn and decided to make up the difference on rested XP another day. And (before the days of being able to trade BoP items with raid members) when I had to put in a GM ticket to swap a piece of loot, I focused on the fact that Blizzard cares enough about keeping players happy that they will do something trivial like allow me get a gear upgrade. Now I'm even more amazed by some of this after reading WoW.com's report the other day that Blizzard tracks 180,000 bugs at any one time. That's a hell of a lot of content to be weeding through and still find time to make one individual's gameplay experience a priority. So perk up and show some appreciation. We'll always find things to complain about, but there's so much more to be excited about. If you need further proof, just take a look at Project Lore's blog page on any given day and learn about what Blizz plans next.

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Blue Stew is a new daily column bringing you a delicious concoction of developer news, thoughts, and opinions straight from the boiling pot that is the official World of Warcraft forums. The highlights of each day include additional commentary by Project Lore staff. It's a surprisingly tame day on the forums, folks. Well, of course there's the usual whining, and some questions about the Paid Faction Change, but if you want to find answers to those or discuss the new service, Project Lore's coverage is a really good place to start (I even wrote it myself!). With that said, I've still managed to cherry-pick a few things that I think are worth looking at: So Explain To Me Again... Weapon Skill: Quite possibly the most useless skill in the game! Wait, wasn't that supposed to be Spirit? Nerthuz must be suffering from Memory Gremlins in her brain again, because she can't remember what she was told last time she asked about Weapon Skill. It must be hard with those nasty little critter eatin' up your thoughts and all. But, hey, she has a point. What is up with Weapon Skill, anyway? This is an issue we've covered here at Project Lore before. Why iTZKoopA posted something about it just one month ago, and he came to the conclusion that it was a sloppy, poorly-implemented stat, though it may have simply been used as a limiter to keep people from tackling mobs way above their current level. But, then, couldn't weapon proficiency simply be built into levels instead of being something you need to raise? Why not just tack on an extra five points every time you ding and automatically pro-rate new skills you learn from Weapon Trainers? Lore-wise, I suppose there is some sort of justification. Ancilorn points out, in accordance with the theme of Nerthuz's original post: "The worlds most skilled swordsman are not so skilled when it comes to wielding axes in combat. They would have to hone their skill to become competent at wielding axes in combat effectively." Indeed, it makes sense that while just about anybody should be able to theoretically wield any weapon, Weapon Skill is associated with how well they can actually do it. In real life, anyone can learn to shoot a gun, but not everybody can be a Bob Munden. Still, I think it's an iffy stat. It's not terribly inconvenient to max out, but it does feel kind of useless. Even if its inclusion can be justified, maybe it should've been tossed out like all those other stats were at BlizzCon. Cataclysm Compilation Nothing snarky to say about Frejya, the kind of person that everyone on the official forums should strive to be. And it seems that Blizzard approves, as well, as they've given her the hallowed green text of a V.I.P. (Very Important Poster). Now that the Cataclysm section has been opened, Nethaera thought it was high time to move Frejya's extensive and resourceful thread on the next expansion to the new forum. The only flaw with it, of course, is the lack of back-linking to Project Lore! Be sure to check it out if you need to know something about Cataclysm on the fly! Two Minute Buffs Need [To Be] Changed! It just wouldn't be a normal day on the forums without Ghostcrawler addressing a little bit of QQ. This time, 'letter Z' fanatic Bearlizion wantz to know why Blizzard dizcriminatez againzt all of hiz two-minute buffz. This is where I bring up something we talked about yesterday, namely people who don't play the game as it is and rather desire to play it the way they want it to be. Usually, this means ignoring basic play mechanics in favor of unrestricted convenience. Why can't people realize that without limiters placed on your class, it wouldn't be fun to play at all? Ghostcrawler's sage advice shines like a light from the heavens once again: "With warrior shouts, the intent is that the resources do matter. You might not have enough rage at any given moment and part of the skill required in playing a warrior is making sure you have enough resources to both shout and do your other damage." The fun in playing the game comes from strategizing in combat and figuring out how to manage your resources and when to use your skills. As I see it, most Warriors (especially tanks), already deal with a rather bland experience and the best thing to do would be to make them more complex, not easier to play. GC goes on to detail a couple of ways in which that could be accomplished, but the common theme seems to be restructuring rage so that a Warrior tank would have to pay attention to it throughout an encounter and not just at the beginning of it. You guys do remember the old days, right? When threat was actually something people had to worry about? I know I can recall the days of having to strategically limit my DPS and make alternate use of Feint and Vanish to clear my aggro on the target. His other core idea is perhaps putting key Warrior buffs on CDs: "Imagine (I am arm waving for a moment) that Battle Shout and Commanding Shout didn't cost any rage and in fact gave you rage, but were on a cooldown. Then using the shouts might become a more interesting choice -- you'd want to use them at moments when you're rage-starved and generally not when you have a full bar. However, you'd also want to keep them going because of their buff so you couldn't neglect to use them too often either. A challenge of playing the class / a test of your skill would be to shout at the right moment to keep the buff up but also make sure you earn the rage when you most needed it." Sure sounds more interesting to me! But I don't play a Warrior as my main, so I'd like to hear what you more experienced players think of this sort of change. Keep in mind that they're only ideas and this is not an indication that the development team is going to suddenly change the class' mechanics. I just happen to believe that making any class more strategic to play can only be a good thing!

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QuestHelper/Carbonite & Extended QuestLog/DoubleWide Features Incoming I've never been one to play on the PTR.  Like many other players I don't want to spoil the upcoming content or experience "unfinished" gameplay.  And yet I spend hours a week just staying current with the latest news and revelations, from the Live realms and the PTR.  I guess that would make me a bit of a hypocrite - I won't spoil by playing, but get spoiled by reading occasionally - but that is the price I pay for knowledge.  So when my buddy noticed that the patch notes had changed again, he knew I would be interested. Blizzard began implementing QuestHelper functionality as part of the Secrets of Ulduar patch, and I was okay with it.  They have been trying to make leveling easier for some time now, and that change was the next logical step.  The devs seemed to have found a happy middle ground between the hardcore and the casual players thanks to additions to the tooltips.  In essence you still had to read the quest text to find out where mob X or item Y was located.  Only when you were in the general location - being able to mouseover an objective - would you be tipped off.  No biggie.  Enter Call of the Crusade, which is taking it a step further.

• A skull graphic will be placed on the map in the general area where players can find creatures they must kill for a quest.
• A skull graphic with red eyes will be placed on the map in the general area where creatures can be found that must be killed in order to collect quest objects.
• A gear/cogwheel graphic will be placed on the map in the general area where players must loot quest objects found in the world.
• A chat bubble graphic will be placed on the map in the general area where players must interact with a specific NPC for a quest.
• A yellow question mark graphic will show on the map to provide the location of a NPC whose quest the player has completed.

Aside from these obvious benefits, former downloaders of quest helping mods should see an increase in available system resources and (slightly) more secure accounts. Okay, this is way further then I expected Blizzard to go.  Before the hardcore base goes all "reading comprehension" on us let's take a step back.  Remove yourself from the discussion and just look at WoW as a product.  Blizzard, the creator of said product, is looking at QuestHelper, and mods like it, and realizes that it is one of the most downloaded add-ons for World of Warcraft.  What would you expect them to do?  Would you want them to simply ignore the actions of millions of players?  No, of course not. Here's the rub, many other UI changes are getting the option to be toggled on or off, but Zarhym's updates make no mention of that for the topic at hand.  If you want to play WoW the hardcore old school way it doesn't seem to be an option.  The freedom of choice is what the hardcore should be complaining about, not the dumbing down of a part of WoW that you are no longer a part of. Under what circumstances would you accept the added features to the world map?  Would it have been acceptable to you if it was implemented back in 2004?  Should the option be defaulted off?  Are you going to abandon your helpful questing mod if the feature goes live?  With the amount of subscribers reaching a plateau, does it even matter at this stage in the game? Let the QQ begin. <popcorn>

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I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but it looks like one of the greatest points of contention regarding the recently announced mount changes for 3.2 will continue to upset players of WoW. In comments both on my post here at Project Lore and on the official WoW forums, posters have begrudged the major price dips for mounts because they had to pay so much more when they bought their mounts. Some have gone so far as to suggest (or demand, in some cases) that Blizzard refund their in-game gold. Not surprisingly, blue poster Zarhym has responded to these requests in a couple of different places in the forums. After the complaints started rolling in Wednesday, he said:

"We have no plans of offering in-game gold refunds on item costs to compensate for this content change, as has always been our policy."

Later on,  in an individual thread asking for refunds, he expanded on that point:

"It's truly a great thing that online gaming has expanded to the point where a game can grow and evolve over time with new content. As a gaming company, we can look back with hind sight and make changes to update older content within the context of everything that has come since. Several times over this has led to price adjustments in a number of areas, and we do not reimburse items or money due to changes in content. There are simply too many variables and too many changes each content patch to attempt to compensate anyone who's been negatively affected by a change."

Now this doesn't seem like a hugely unexpected revelation. As he said, I can't think of any other time that Blizzard has made any overarching gold refunds for in-game price adjustments. I'm also not sure that anything has ever decreased in price across-the-board this drastically before, but I can't say for sure. But still, this has been a major point that has players up in arms, and it probably will continue to be controversial. I predict that all the hoopla will die down once patch 3.2 comes out (whenever that is - it may still be awhile), and people start getting cheap-ass mounts for their level 20 alts. Plus, all those other changes that also are planned for 3.2! Personally, I can't wait. One thing I'm still undecided on - what's the verdict for all of you who are on the verge of buying your mount? Do you wait for the patch, however long that may be? Or do you shovel out the cash so you can get the benefit of faster travel now? And if you do, will you QQ about it?

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His WoW-inspired lyrical creations each have started out as karaoke fodder "on stage, in front of a bunch of people in a bar that have no idea who Arthas or Sartharion are, and just stare at me like I am insane." Ryan Myers has been dreaming up the parodies in his head for years, he said, but it was just within the past couple of months that he decided to act on the impulse. I first heard "Ninja Raiders" at the end of The Instance!, episode #141 (apparently I missed "Action Bars," which was played on episode #140). And the response was immediate. That night, I logged onto my main, got on Teamspeak, and sang along every time someone started belting out, "If you like it then you should have rolled need on it," and "QQQ♪..." Then I sought out the video, which Ryan made with his and his guildies' characters, along with "the assistance of a Party Grenade to make unwitting passers by part of the dancing shots," he said. Apparently, I wasn't the only one enthralled. Ryan said he has gotten an "overwhelmingly positive" response to those two songs, and also to "Clint Felwood."

"After that episode came out, Ninja Raiders seem to spread like wildfire, through forums and trade chat. I'm guessing it was a little more successful since it is a real 'video'. I was a little embarrassed when it became popular... it's the first video I've made, so there's a lot of rookie mistakes in there, like leaving the cursor on the screen and whatnot. I'll be going back to make videos for the other two, so hopefully those will look less amateurish."

Here's a little more about the man behind the lyrics, 30-year-old (with "the body of a 29 1/2 year old") Ryan Myers, from the suburbs of Chicago, Ill. Project Lore: How did you get into WoW?

"I've been playing for about 4 years. I downloaded the free trial just to give it a shot, though I was determined that I would never 'buy some stupid game that you have to pay for each month'. Well, you can see how well that plan worked out for me."

PL: What are you working on in-game?

"My main is Ember, an 80 night elf rogue on Aerie Peak. Though I have also been leveling a draenei shaman. I've been messing around with the Argent Tournament a bit, and just starting to get into Naxx (we have a very casual guild of just a few friends, so we're a bit behind). My friends have actually yelled at me to 'stop being creative and play more.' "

PL: How did you start making parody songs?

"I've been writing them in my head for years, but it's only recently that I started recording them. I didn't think anything would come of it, I just recorded 'Action Bars' while really bored one day, and then decided to send it off to the Instance just for the hell of it. I didn't think they'd ever even play it."

PL: Is anyone else involved in the creative process?

"No, though I do have to say that my wife gave me the first line of 'Clint Felwood' (if I didn't mention that, she'd kill me). Otherwise, it's all me. Except of course for my poor guild, that I force to dance while I film them."

PL: What kind of reaction have you gotten so far from anyone who's heard the songs?

"The reactions have been overwhelmingly positive... it seems like my only harsh critic is me. I know that my voice isn't the greatest, and I sing off key a little, so I get super self-conscious about that. But people don't seem to mind, they just dig the parodies. I always assume everyone will hate them, but that's never the case, thankfully."

PL: What's your favorite song you've done so far?

"Action Bars is still my favorite... not only because it was the first one I did, but also because it's about rogues, so obviously I identify with it the most. It's funny, I used to listen to the original song 'Handlebars' (by Flobots) all the time, but the other day when I tried to sing along with it with the real lyrics, I couldn't do it... I kept sliding back into Action Bars."

PL: Are any of your lyrics based on RL experiences?

"Ninja Raiders definitely, especially the 'hunter weapon' part. I've been part of some pugs where it is just mind blowing what some people will roll on. And I have heard the response of 'QQ more' on more than one occasion when someone was asked about their ninjaness... so I couldn't help but put it in as my own little revenge."

PL: Do you have any other upcoming songs that we can listen out for?

"I've got a couple bouncing around in my head, so there's definitely some on the way, I just haven't decided which one will be next. Ultimately, I'd like to have at least one song for each class. I'm heading to E3 next month, so I have made that a deadline for myself... I will have at least one more song and one new video done by then, if not sooner."

And here we have some of Ryan's favorite lyrics from each song: Action Bars: "I've won about a million Arathi Basins make druids AFK in exasperation they all try to heal with their restoration but I just respecced to assassination" Ninja Raiders: "I need no permission, did I mention everything is a hunter weapon... don't tell me that you don't secretly want to be just like me and need every boe that you see" Clint Felwood: "the boomkin aura, I'll bust it out for ya the fauna and flora all call me destroya" So is anyone else a fan? You can bet I'll be waiting for Ryan's next lyrical nugget. In the meantime, go download MP3s of each song at his Web site, Roboguzu Entertainment. Share the love with your buddies, and let us know what you think!

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<QQ>I touched upon this subject last week in my farewell to Warhammer Online post, but it has raised its ugly head once again.  For all intents and purposes, Blizzard has no facility implemented - and in use - to disseminate crucial or important information to the mass of World of Warcraft subscribers.  Yes, they have the official forums and the front page of WorldofWarcraft.com, but they don't use these facilities to their utmost potential. Rather than being a haven for important discussions, details and announcements, the majority of the forum is used as a soapbox by angry and disenfranchised players.  Blues do creep in and drop bombs on the community here and there, but their efforts are trivialized by how few of us absorb the morsels.  To top it off, the same question or topic is then brought up a week later.  The front page of the MMORPG's official website is employed as a facilitator to a degree, with contests or huge announcements disclosed, but it misses the mark when compared to what it could easily offer. Bloggers, players and apparently even Ghostcrawler are fed up with the lack of a central information repository.  It doesn't have to be anything glamorous, new or even incredibly up-to-date.  To make most QQers happy, all Blizzard would have to do is a weekly wrap-up of important blue posts.  Just a quick summation of the hot topics with direct links to the discussions and we'd be so much happier.  Sure, bloggers would have to remain on the prowl for daily updates, but the average playerbase would enjoy the information being delivered in a nice package for them.</QQ> There is also a flip side to this.  Rather than placating critics like me, the developer would likely draw more casual subscribers into the forums if they had a "safe" starting point like this.  From what I have gathered from anecdotal evidence, most of my casual friends fear the forum is some sort of mystical creature with a thousand or so maws.  Perhaps it is all the clutter that comes from the repeating topics, the hatred spewed or the know-it-all attitudes.  Or, to lift Ghostcrawler's statement, maybe it is a "perfect storm" of the three. I rarely frequented the forums when I was a hardcore player because of this very issue.  It wasn't until I when I relapsed into real life that I began lurking the forums on a regular basis.  You know, to stay hip and all.  But lurking is all I ever do...How often do you frequent the forums and in what capacity?  Poster or lurker?  You seem to love our wrap-ups, but would you want Blizzard to do one of their important information on a weekly basis? And yes, I know that ProjectLore or any number of sites could do this, I just feel that Blizzard should be doing it to keep their customers informed.  Plus, as you can see by our growing list of talented bloggers, we have serious business to discuss, dissect and diss! Diss is still a common colloquialism right?  Oh god, am I getting old?!

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Have you ever been in a group or pug that you thought was going in one direction and went the complete opposite? I mean, you thought you were going to do The Violet Hold so you could finally get the chance to complete Lockdown to get one step closer to your new Red Proto-Drake, but 10 minutes into summoning they decide that Utgarde Keep is easier to do for badges because the tank isn't defense capped just yet. This sort of indecision, lack of focus and disregard to certain members almost guarantees that I will leave the group immediately and go do dailies. And I have found out that doing just that is perfectly fine no matter what anyone one spams at you in chat. Let's face it, in WoW there are a few people, regardless of actual age, that are... well.. how should I say this... big cry babies who piss and moan when they do not get their way. That's fine by me. They can go their own way and I can go mine. I truly do not care if someone spams me that I am a traitor for leaving a pug or that I was now put on some list by them because I didn't finish a Heroic when everyone in that pug knew the tank couldn't hold aggro in a two-ton bucket. That is what /ignore is for. And the same thing goes for some guilds I have been in. Years ago, I was in a guild that felt that every member had to help every other member, not on a voluntary basis or when available, but right now, no matter what it was that had to be done by whichever member. Around the same time, I saw a guild advertising on their web site that in order to move up the ranks, you had to drop whatever your were doing at a moments notice while soloing to come the the aid of a guildie even if it was just the GM's lowbie alt that couldn't down Hogger. Now for some that is fine, and if that's you or someone you know or even if that's your guild now, great. You go your way I'll go mine. I have no animosity toward you not should you have any against me. It's just what you do or want me to do is not something I want to do or a way that I want to play. Everyone has a right to play the game how that want in the way they want at whatever time or frequency that they want. As for me, I will go my own way, and as far as being in a guild, if that includes hanging out with mature respectful people taking down end-game content on a daily basis, I'm in. And as you probably guessed, in RL you can go your own way too. If you want to be a florist, flautist, or philanthropist, be me guest. Better yet, be your own guest. It is your life - don't make a pug out of it. Go your own way and find people who are cool and hang with them. And always, /ignore those QQ peeps who want to pee on your parade. What do they know? So if you've ever gone your own way and it worked out better than you ever imagined, let us know. Your story can help others, and maybe you'll help give someone the confidence to go their own way. Thanks and have fun.

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If you look at him hard enough, he will die.

If you do a quick Google search of Escort Quests and filter through all the links to guides, the next group of articles you are sure to find is people complaining. Gamers have been QQing about escort quests since they were introduced into the video game industry so many years ago. There is not a single factor that makes them annoying, rather it is a cavalcade. Pointless backstory and ridiculous requests for the escort, random mob spawns, atrocious pathing (scripted or unscripted), and let us not forget, how incredibly slow they can be. This is all compounded a few times if you happen to be on a PvP server, as getting ganked at any point in time will cause you to fail the quest. But PvP does come with the territory.

As I have progressed through Wrath's various quests, I have not come across too many escorts. Not nearly as many as vanilla WoW and less than The Burning Crusade. So I decided to give them another try.  To be completely honest, they weren't annoying on the usual scale. There was a reason for the escort - lost, stranded in Scourge infested areas, dieing, tagged along with you to help – and most pathing issues were resolved by having the NPC use the /follow command. Most importantly, they moved at your pace, and waited for you if you stopped to gather something.

I found a new annoyance though, NPCs that follow you that possess little to no health. Generally speaking, only Rogues and Druids are likely to come across this with much frequency. Initially I just thought it was the one NPC, but I later ran into another and another. Nass the deaf, blind and dumb NPC, was the latest NPC inflicted with the inability to take a hit. He is sent with you to collect Hair samples from Trolls in the colorfully named Kickin' Nass and Takin' Manes quest.

Being a Rogue, I stealth around as I wait for the opportune moment to attack, often opening with a Pick Pocket before I Garrote, if I can. The problem I have with Wrath's new fangled helper/escort quests is that these mobs pull aggro and then die in a few hits. If I fail to open my assault quickly then back to Stefan Vadu I go because I “lost” Nass.

Sorry for the additional QQ, but I am here to point out the good quests along with the annoying ones. Despite Nass' frail nature, the quest text is more than hilarious, referencing a few different cultural lines. Seriously Nass, everyone knows that Stamina is the most important stat to stack!

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Homogenization:  the act of making something homogeneous, or the same throughout; or the tendency of something to be come homogeneous (Wiktionary) A vocal group of players have been pretty miffed about the homogenization of World of Warcraft's classes.  While a collection have been barking about the issue for some time, the group grew substantially after changes to the way raid buffs work were announced as part of the Echoes of Doom patch. The late-August decision was made to allow Raid Leaders to bring the people they want to play with, rather than having to fill cookie-cutter configurations for bosses, trash mobs or the raid as a whole.  In doing so, Blizzard Entertainment drastically changed the current buffing system, including some of the buffs themselves.  I already did a summation of the changes, or if you prefer, here is the lengthy full post. Adding more fuel to the fire this past weekend, was the revelation that the class forums would be abolished in favor of role forums, Damage Dealing, Tank and Healing.  Personally, I would like the Damage Dealing section split into Ranged and Melee, but I digress.  After the aforementioned group became even more vocal, Blizzard backtracked and decided to keep both the class forums and role forums. The idea of WoW's classes becoming homogeneous has me a bit torn.  As a prospective raid leader for Wrath of the Lich King, being able to bring people I can trust, rather than the “right” classes, is certainly a boon.  Another personal point, is that my main is a Rogue, a class that should benefit from the situation.  My Priest...still no problem getting into groups there. On the flip side, doesn't everyone like feeling special?  Feeling needed?  Feeling that if, you specifically, weren't available everything would crumble?  Over dramatic you say?  Heavens no. In the end I am going to have to go with Blizzard on this one, and say the path they seem to be going down is probably for the best.  Many of my friends were burned out from raiding due to thinking there were always needed.  I hold the belief that the modifications will cause less guild QQ and more pewpew.  Which is best for everyone. Well, not Arthas, but he deserves to die after that whole plague fiasco.

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