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All posts for the month June, 2012

Midsummer Fire Festival

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 29, 2012
Posted in: Devee, Holidays, Journal, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Am I enjoying this holiday? I can’t really tell. I’m doing the dailies, but I guess that doesn’t really mean much. There’s a hat and a pet I don’t have, so I might as well grab them. I actually enjoy the torch dailies. Killing the elemental out in the world isn’t bad. It might be if it was in a less convenient location, but being right on the other side of the Dark Portal means I can port there and port back easily.

What I don’t really enjoy is Ahune, the boss that requires queuing. It takes too long to wait around to find a group, and then it takes too long to do for something so easy anyways. It’s a basic fight, so it’s not particularly fun. It doesn’t drop anything good. I guess it’s a little fun to try to out DPS some DPS players while healing.

I’d like to say I’ll be done soon, but I still need a decent chunk of the tokens. Oh well.

Suggested Reading: Of love, cross-realm zones, women and more

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 28, 2012
Posted in: Suggested Reading. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Every Thursday I post a handful of links to articles written within the past week that are worth reading.

True Love Between Gamers: I do take this rotting corpse as my husband, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 6/21/12.

Lisa recounts some stories of love blooming over World of Warcraft.

Cross-realm play and the rise of the funsucker, Robin Torres, WoW Insider, 6/24/12.

Robin considers the fact that there will now be no accountability out in the world while leveling once zones go cross-realm.

Know Your Lore: What exactly is up with women in Warcraft lore?, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 6/24/12.

Last week, Blessing of Kings discussed what message developers are sending by objectifying women in their games. This week, Anne at WoW Insider looks at women characters in Warcraft.

Idea: Release Mists with No Raids?, Matticus, World of Matticus, 6/25/12.

Matticus explores the idea of opening up raids after week 2 of Pandaria’s release. He believes this would level the playing field a bit between people who rush and people who don’t. It’s an interesting idea that I really like. On a personal note, two weeks would definitely not do it for me. WoW is one interest among many. Some days I spend my free time doing things other than playing video games, and when I do play video games, WoW is just one of them.

WoW Moviewatch: Orc vs. Wild: Interactive Adventure, Michael Gray, WoW Insider, 6/14/12.

Michael shares this great choose-your-own-adventure YouTube video.

Mists of Pandaria: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻, Dawn Moore, WoW Insider, 6/21/12.

(Dawn, you’re my favorite WoW Insider writer, but that title was annoying!) New to the beta is a flippable table! yes!

Mists of Pandaria: Gold sink mounts will be account-wide, Robin Torres, WoW Insider, 6/25/12.

Blizzard has gone back on their previous decision. Gold sink mounts will now be account-wide.

Mooglegem and the cute paladin

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 27, 2012
Posted in: Devee, Holidays, Journal, Mooglegem, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Recently, gem and I queued for the Frost Lord Ahune. As usual, it’s nice and easy. While we were looting, gem got a good look at Punishor, our tank.

Mooglegem pets Punishor.
Mooglegem says: you’re so cute
Mooglegem pets Punishor.

And while she said this, she ran in circles around him.

This kind of behavior is normal when I play with her!

Polygons and Pixels

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 25, 2012
Posted in: Blog. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Before I created Kor’kron 501st, I had a blog, WebPageless, at which I posted on any subject. I’ve found that I really enjoy having a dedicated site here for WoW and other online RPGs. The increased focus is much better. As such, I’ve created another site to cover gaming in general. I might spend a lot of time in WoW with brief journeys into TOR and D3, but I still play a ton of other games too. If you care to read my thoughts on other games or gaming in general, check out Polygons and Pixels.

Blog Azeroth: Renaming World of Warcraft

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 25, 2012
Posted in: Blog Azeroth Shared Topics, Lore, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

Every week, Blog Azeroth proposes a Shared Topic for World of Warcraft bloggers to discuss. Here’s this week’s topic, proposed by frinka.

Knowing what you know now about the game, what name other than World of Warcraft would you give it? Why?

To think of an alternative name, I started by paraphrasing the name World of Warcraft. What is the world of Warcraft? Azeroth. At first, I was thinking Azeroth would make a good alternative name. Then I started thinking about what role Azeroth plays. The series is about defeating the Burning Legion. It’s the Titans, the Light, the Naaru, Azeroth versus the Burning Legion. It’s about Azeroth being an anomaly among the planets in the Universe. Azeroth is different. Azeroth has withstood multiple invasions. Azeroth has struck back.

The series is about The Rise of Azeroth.

Cataclysm Bucket List

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 22, 2012
Posted in: Achievements, Mists of Pandaria, PVP, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

There have been other bloggers talking about their Cataclysm bucket lists lately, and I didn’t think I had anything I really needed to get done before Pandaria hits. However, I recently realized I was wrong.

I’ve always thought of Wintergrasp and Tol Barad basically as battlegrounds. I do them for PVP. However, the fact that Wintergrasp is so dead shows that most people are likely doing them for the gear you can get. That means Tol Barad will likely die when Pandaria releases. Embarrassingly, I don’t have Tol Barad Veteran yet. I’m actually only 13/25. I need to step it up!

To a lesser extent, I need to work on Loremaster. I don’t expect to finish it, but it’ll be easier now than later. When Blizzard’s new-fangled realm merging in under-populated zones, I suspect I’ll have people around me now in the low level zones. On the one hand, I like the idea the world feeling more alive. On the other hand, I don’t want to have compete for quest objectives.

Most likely, I’ll finish TB off and forget to work on Loremaster at all.

Suggested Reading: Of women, Varian, flirting, and dating

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 21, 2012
Posted in: Game Mechanics, Lore, PVP, Raiding, Role-Playing, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Reasons for the Backsliding in Portrayals of Women, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 6/19/12.

Rohan examines the idea catering to women, whether or not it’s what women actually want, usually brings about changes to make game easier and to include things like pet battles over PVP. As a consequence, Rohan thinks some companies objectify women or put them in provocative clothing to prove they’re not catering to women and therefore won’t make it easy and will continue to support things like PVP.

Know Your Lore: King Varian Wrynn, or: How I learned to love the jerk, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 6/17/12.

As someone who really only plays Horde, I found this article very interesting. It’s nice to see the humane side of Varian.

Breakfast Topic: I met the critter guy, Dawn Moore, WoW Insider, 6/19/12.

A very cute story about how Dawn met the Blizzard employee responsible for implementing critters. Then they both act adorable.

Is Muradin your love match?, Bravetank, 6/18/12.

Care to see what it would be like if Muradin used a dating service? I’m sure you do.

All-DK guild squeezes WoW in ice-fisted military death grip, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 6/14/12.

Alternative title: Super awesome RP guild is really sweet.

Know Your Lore: Why World of Warcraft needs evil, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 6/20/12.

Rossi believes we need an evil that lasts longer than a patch or two. He also discusses how the Horde went from evil in RTS games to morally ambiguous in the MMO, forcing the Alliance to become ambiguous as well.

PvP gear and the barrier to entry, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 6/15/12.

Rossi discusses ways to improve the PVP gear system, including having PVP legendaries.

Somebody that I used to know, Pugnacious Priest, 6/15/12.

The pugnacious priest comments on fleeting relationships in World of Warcraft.

Blog Azeroth: What I want but can’t have.

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 20, 2012
Posted in: Blog Azeroth Shared Topics, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Every week, Blog Azeroth proposes a Shared Topic for World of Warcraft bloggers to discuss. Here’s this week’s topic, proposed by dragonray:

What is in game that you want, but you can’t have? Is there an animal you want to tame, a critter you want to collect, a tabard that has the perfect design for a transmog set etc etc.

What is it you want, but know you can’t get your hands on and have to stare at longingly whenever you log in?

The one item that I want the most and doubt I’ll ever get it the Tabard of the Lightbringer. You can see how awesome it looks in the video embedded above, uploaded by YouTube user danofspam. I suppose I could get this through two different ways. First, I could start playing the AH a ton in order to make enough gold to buy it. However, prices will likely only increase for a while. Second, I could try to obtain Shadowmourne later in the game when it’s possible to go back and do heroic ICC 25 with a small group. I doubt I’ll ever obtain it.

As for runner ups, there are a couple other things I’d like. The title “of the Horde” is something I really want, but at over 90,000 honorable kills already, I’m confident I’ll earn it. I suppose it’s the 250,000 HK title “the Bloodthirsty” that I’d like but probably will never get. Honestly though, “of the Horde” is the one I really want.

There’s also a little mount called a spectral tiger. Heard of it? I want one.

How about Val’anyr? I’d love one of those and doubt I’ll bet getting one any time soon.

The only thing that I really want and know there’s no way of getting is the initial feeling of wonderment at the world (of Warcraft). At one time, the world seemed huge and sprawling. Now I know that it’s pretty linear. Even if they bring back zones in Pandaria that aren’t linear, you still do one zone after another. The game is formulaic. There was a time in which it was a big trek to get from the zones in Kalimdor in which I was leveling to Ironforge. I remember debating setting by hearthstone there. Now the world feels quite small. I don’t think I’ll ever fully regain that feeling.

Proudmoore Pride LGBTQ Event

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 18, 2012
Posted in: Role-Playing, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Saturday was the 8th annual Proudmoore Pride celebration on the Proudmoore-US World of Warcraft server. Proudmoore Pride is an LGBTQ pride celebration hosted by The Spreading Taint (Horde) and The Stonewall Family (Alliance). I heard about it on Fox Van Allen’s WoW Insider article, 8th annual LGBT Proudmore Pride celebration to be held this weekend, and decided to check it out. I recorded the event and posted the highlights as a video on YouTube that you can see above.

According to the official site, there was a parade followed by a dance party in Booty Bay. There were bits and pieces about some other things, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. I rolled a new troll priest on the server, and Mooglegem created a new troll mage. Then we headed to the parade start location.

Here we’re organizing at the Mor’Shan Ramparts on the Ashenvale border of the Northern Barrens for the start of the parade. Apparently they always organize characters by the color of their gear. My skin was blue, and my starter robe was greenish. I just took off the robe and went in the blue group because Moogle was definitely blue. In the screenshot, you can see us in the center with the purple group behind us, the green in front of us, and the red further up and to the left.

Here you can see Moogle and me marching in the blue group. I’m the troll in the center with the white hair, and Moogle is the troll to the left of my character (on my character’s right) with the red hair.

When we reached Ratchet, we merged with the Alliance parade that was marching from Honor’s Stand in the Southern Barrens.

It was a crowded boat! This was pretty cool honestly. Sadly, I didn’t get a screenshot when the rainbow was up! There were so many people that by the time Moogle’s computer loaded, she was back in Ratchet. She completely missed Booty Bay on the first trip.

Finally, the dance party in Booty Bay! It was odd thinking of Booty Bay as a safe place. I’m definitely not used to PVE servers. Most of the party was on the water itself. Unfortunately, a level one character can’t join a raid group to get a Death Knight’s Path of Frost and is too low level to have Water Walking. I was stuck up here on the dry land.

The Spreading Taint has a bunch of guilds and created a temporary guild for the event called Taint for a Day. They use a mod called GreenWall to merge the guild chats. I’ve heard of this before but never used it. It works really well.

Taint had drawings for prizes that included pets and other items. They also had a second drawing for a chance to attend their heroic Madness of Deathwing kill for the title, Savior of Azeroth, and mount, Life-Binder’s Handmaiden. I didn’t enter because my main wasn’t on that server. Maybe I should have entered the second drawing and then server-transferred if I won.

The Stonewall Family apparently had a parade float judging, but I don’t know anything about that. They also held a drag king / drag queen contest for guild members in Booty Bay. I wanted to at least see it, but I didn’t see much happening so I logged out. There was also a transmog contest later that day at the cathedral in Stormwind for Alliance characters, but I didn’t attend.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I decided to attend, but I had a lot of fun. I’ll definitely check it out again next year. These types of events are fun. Hopefully I can check out more in the future. There was once a homecoming parade for veterans of the War in Northrend on an RP server, but sadly, it was on a European server. This might be a different kind of parade, but it was fun all the same!

Breakfast Topic: Does the Call to Arms bag affect how you queue?

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 17, 2012
Posted in: World of Warcraft, WoW Insider Breakfast Topic. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Everyday WoW Insider offers a Breakfast Topic for discussion. Here’s today’s topic by Matthew Rossi

Have I been trained by the Call to Arms rewards? Am I a Pavlovian tank, demanding my bribe bag before I sign up to do my job? Have any of you tanks or healers felt yourself acting this way, refusing to queue unless fabulous prizes await?

In short, yes, of course.

Things were different when the Valor Points were my primary goal. At that time, I’d try to queue when there was a Call to Arms for healers active, but if I was short on time and needed my VP, I’d queue anyways. Now Valor Points are worthless. Very rarely do I do any actual endgame. If I do play WoW, I’m doing battlegrounds or working on loremaster. If I happen to see the Call to Arms, I might do a heroic – perhaps one every three weeks. I definitely wouldn’t waste my time on a heroic if there wasn’t a bag offered.

On the other hand, I’ve never received anything of value from a bag either.

On a similar note, I’ve run LFR just for fun a couple times since the guild stopped raiding. Sometimes I give Madness one try, but often I drop group when we get there. I’m doing it for fun. Madness is no fun with people who can’t succeed. Dropping group solves that problem.

Blog Azeroth: What would Devee do as an NPC?

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 16, 2012
Posted in: Blog Azeroth Shared Topics, Lore, Priest, Role-Playing, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Every week, Blog Azeroth proposes a Shared Topic for World of Warcraft bloggers to discuss. After the recent post on WoW Insider by Robin Torres about a Shared Topic, I decided to join Blog Azeroth as well. Here’s this week’s topic, proposed by Cymre:

If Blizzard added your main as an NPC in WoW, where would they be located and what would be their function? Give us a shot illustrating the fact.

I play a troll discipline priest named Devee. If Blizzard added me as an NPC, I’d hopefully be in the Valley of Spirits in Orgrimmar. As weird as it sounds, I’d like to offer quests only to troll priests. I know that’s limiting, so sure, we can open it to all Horde priests if you really insist. It would make sense to place me in the hut to the right in the background of the one pictures in my screenshot because that’s where the caster trainers are; however, I find it ugly. It either needs some more trees, or I’m planting my NPC right here! However, I definitely want to be in Orgimmar and not on the Echo Isles. Despite my disagreement with the politics of Garrosh, Orgrimmar is the center of the Horde.

Priests of different playable races use varying lore for their class mechanics. Some use the Holy Light. The Forsaken have twisted the Light into their new religion, the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow. The Darkspear use loa and spirits. I’d like my NPC to reconcile the traditional troll views with the Holy Light.

It could begin with a quest to put to rest the spirits of trolls who died during the Liberation of the Echo Isles from Zalazane. Unlike quests that usually urge players to kill undead spirits, the quest would task you with healing aggressive spirits, putting them at ease and finally letting them rest. The spirits would be hostile but immune to damage. Only healing can stop them. Bwonsamdi, the loa representing the spirits of the dead, could walk slowly through the area during the quest.

The next quest would send the troll priests to Stranglethorn Vale. This was the ancestral home of the Darkspear tribe. The quest would have players seek knowledge about the loa and honor their ancestors. Rather than being about combat, it would send players to locations in the zone, causing the spirits of ancestors and loa to appear and talk to them. Players will discover that the strength of benevolent loa spirits as well as the love, honor, and respect of and for the spirits of their ancestors empower troll priests.

The final quest would send players to Shattrath to talk to A’dal and Grand Anchorite Almonen. Currently in the game, Almonen gives a speech that includes the following:

It has been made known to me that inside each of us, the Light resides… that it is a gift, given freely to all naturally born beings. It manifests itself as a feeling, small at first and easily ignored, that confirms truths and subtly prods one to do good. Simple kindnesses, charitable deeds, service to those in need. These are all fruits of the Light. It rewards those who heed its promptings with blessings, both seen and unseen. Personal reservoirs of hope and faith are strengthened, and one’s capacity for greater light increases. Over the course of time, through obedience to the Light’s guidance, one becomes more sensitive to its voice, and its power. Great is the healing and blessing power of the Light’s most diligent followers.

I’d like Almonen to expand on this to the players on the quest. He’ll note that the Light doesn’t require worship, and that the Light doesn’t necessarily refuse people who gain power from other means.

The lore implications would be that the teachings regarding the Light don’t conflict with Darkspear teachings. Troll priests will end the questline knowing that there’s great power in the Light, but that they can continue their racial traditions as well. It’ll be implied that through interactions with the spirits and even the discipline flavor of overpowering minds, they could still be following the Light.

1.6.0 – Assault on Blackwing Lair Trailer

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 15, 2012
Posted in: Raiding, Videos, World Events, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

It took until patch 1.6.0 for Blizzard to release another raid. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this isn’t because Blizzard wasn’t releasing content. They were just more lenient about what constituted a full patch number. In the last post, I talked about the 1.5.0 – Battlegrounds trailer. It was bad.

If you watched the Assault on Blackwing Lair trailer, you’ll see that this is bad as well. I’m positive that Blizzard knew how to make good trailers at this time. They did it for previous games, and they did it for the launch of World of Warcraft. Why does this one look like amateur machinima? Why is there a jerky camera? Everything’s in-game; there’s not even any voice work. It’s probably worth noting that this patch also introduced the Darkmoon Faire, although the trailer doesn’t address it at all.

Of course, maybe it’s redeemed by the character jumping around randomly around 0:15 to 0:17 on the left! Blizzard also uses this raid to reinforce the importance of the Black Dragonflight. In fact, having multiple Black Dragonflight raids so close together probably contributed to them seeming more important than they were, because they did take a backseat for a while afterwards. It was also interesting that the first three raids (and a few dungeons) were all within Blackrock Mountain. That was an incredibly important place for a long time. Besides PVP, it was the location of endgame World of Warcraft.

Suggested Reading: Of Odin, Learning from D3, and Pandaria Endgame

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 14, 2012
Posted in: Diablo III, Game Mechanics, Lore, Mists of Pandaria, Raiding, Suggested Reading, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Odin the All-Father’s Diablo 3 account hacked, Robin Torres, WoW Insider, 6/7/12.

An amusing complaint was posted on Blizzard’s forums recently. Apparently, it was posted by Odin the All-Father.

What classes should WoW have been designed with?, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 6/13/12.

A great consideration of what classes should have been implemented in WoW from the start and which can’t possibly fit now.

The 5 best raid encounters in Cataclysm, Chase Hasbrouck, WoW Insider, 6/13/12.

I don’t understand how the Spine of Deathwing isn’t on this list. That’s a very cool fight that’s different than most others. I’d probably throw Chimaeron on the list too. Hmmm… this might deserve its own post.

Mists of Pandaria Beta: The new endgame, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 6/13/12.

A discussion of the differences between the endgames of Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria, specifically the linearity of Cataclysm’s and the vast amount of choices in Mists.

Diablo 3 mechanics that World of Warcraft should steal, Mathew Rossi, WoW Insider, 6/11/12.

Spoiler: Topics are individual loot, healing globes, potions, environmental interaction, item enhancement, and crafting.

What WoW’s story could learn from Diablo III (and vice versa), Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 6/7/12.

Stickney discusses allusion, pacing, and voice-acting.

Legendaries for Everyone: What could it mean?, Matthew Rossi, WoW Insider, 6/13/12.

Rossi reports that WoW Head has datamined that Mists will feature a legendary questline that spans multiple patches and will reward different forms of the legendary so every spec can have one. He also goes into some speculation on what this could mean.

Patches up to 1.5 – Battlegrounds.

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 13, 2012
Posted in: PVP, Raiding, Videos, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

In Vanilla, Blizzard wasn’t matching patches to story progression yet. Some progressed the story, but many did not. Patch 1.2, Mysteries of Maraudon, brought holidays and the Maraudon dungeon. I was low level at the time, so I don’t know what it was like when it was first released. Next came patch 1.3, Ruins of the Dire Maul, which brought the dungeon and player caps on dungeons. It seems odd now to think that there was a time when there weren’t player limits. The more mind-boggling aspect is that at one point Maraudon and Dire Maul were new and, presumably, people were excited about them. Those dungeons are terrible. Is that just me, or do other people agree?

Patch 1.4, The Call of War, brought the PvP honor system, Children’s Week, the Gurubashi arena, and the elemental invasion. These are all good parts of the game I think (or at least on the right track). However, I still can’t imagine being too excited about this patch. It’s not real, full-fledged content yet.

Patch 1.5, Battlegrounds, brought Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley. Here’s some actual content finally. However, it’s still only PVP content. Don’t get me wrong; I’m fine with that, but I think the vast majority of players are PVE-oriented. I couldn’t imagine the game without battlegrounds. Yeah, I enjoy some other aspects of the game, but battlegrounds are my favorite. Without them, I never would have reached endgame. I’m sure of it.

The trailer itself is terrible. It seems odd that Blizzard could make such a great trailer for the game itself and then release this. It’s bad. It’s really bad, actually. I would say it looks like a fan made it, except I’ve seen excellent fan videos. This is clearly recorded in-game withsome zoomed to first-person perspective. The camera work is shaky, and most disappointingly, there’s no voice-acting at all. At this stage of the game, Blizzard seems to be promoting mechanics more than the world itself. There’s no sense of getting into character and really making the universe come alive. Maybe it wasn’t needed back then because World of Warcraft already had the most undeniably “alive” world of any game.

Next we’ll see Blizzard gets any better with the Assault on Blackwing Lair.

World of Warcraft Cinematic Trailer

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 12, 2012
Posted in: Videos. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

I’ve been wanting to view and comment on the trailers for a while now. This is the original cinematic trailer for classic World of Warcraft and is still one of the best. In vanilla, there was no central bad guy. There was no world-threatening problem. What this patch introduced was the world itself and the peoples that inhabit it. It does an excellent job. Rather than showing off locations, spells, or story, it highlights the differences between the races and the hostilities between them. This was the first Warcraft RPG. Before then, you were controlling armies. Now, you were controlling a hero. It makes sense that the trailer would detail individuals, because the goal was to hype people about becoming one of these heroes.

Note the iconic way each race behaves in the video. We see the dwarf as a toughened hunter. The night elf is a druid and connected to nature. The forsaken spreads undeath just with his existence. The tauren is shown as thoughtful and, like the night elf, connected to nature. The human wields magic. And of course, there’s a lack of trolls and gnomes. Apparently, they’re unimportant.

WoW Insider on PVP keybinding

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 11, 2012
Posted in: PVP, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

On May 22, Olivia Grace wrote a piece called “Keys to PvP: Keybinding, movement and clicking” for WoW Insider. It was a good article and discussed what you’d expect – using the mouse for movement, using keybinds rather than clicking on skills, and setting up keybinds.

I use both the keyboard and the mouse for movement depending on the situation. I don’t click any of my skills. In fact, I don’t display my skill bars. I have bars that onto which I throw random items, and I have a non-clickable bar onto which I put certain long-CD skills just to use to track when they’re ready. They can’t be clicked. My healing skills are all performed the Clique on Grid. For those who don’t know, that means that various clicks I perform on my raid frames perform different heals. Right-click on someone to cast Penance on them for example. For this reason, I’ll use the keyboard to move if I’m using the mouse with Grid. I posted the following comment on the article:

As a healer, I find that I do movement with WASD and the mouse, depending on the situation. I’m healing on unit frames. Is that clicking? I actually have no buttons on screen at all, but all healing spells are bound to mouse buttons for Clique.

I expected that to be the end of it. On June 7th, Olivia Grace wrote a follow up piece called “Keys to PvP: How to heal with keybinds, clicking and movement.” When I saw in Google Reader, I was decided to read it because it seemed applicable to me. I was surprised to find this in the third paragraph:

But the main topic I’m here to address is healing. CaylynnRunner, berna.bleeker, adyuaa, andPeterAnagirou all talked about the trials of PvP healing as users of Healbot, VuhDo, Clique and the like, and that’s what I plan to talk about today.

I wasn’t expecting that! I didn’t really write this article to discuss keybinds or movement. I was actually just excited about being mentioned on the site! (Of course, I’ve also been published on WoW Insider, so you’d think I wouldn’t be that excited.) I’m just impressed that she took the time to answer.

I will say, however, that I wasn’t exactly disagreeing there. I was just mentioning why I used the keyboard for movement sometimes. In her follow-up, Grace discussed ways to heal without using the mouse. First, she discussed targeting players with keys, say party members 1-5 with the numbers 1-5, and then simply pressing the button bound to your heal. Another interesting method she discussed, about which I had never though, was using different modifiers to select target. Say the ‘1’ button casts Penance. Control+1 might Penance party member 1, alt+1 would Penance party member 2, shift+1 would cast on the next, etc. It’s a fantastic idea! However, both these ideas would only work in arena. I don’t really enjoy arena.

What about battlegrounds? She heals on her raid frames when she’s being left alone just like I do. There’s one catch; when she heals someone by clicking on her raid frames, it selects them. Her healing spells are also bound to keyboard shortcuts. When she’s under attack, she can move with the mouse and use keybindings to continue healing the person she last had selected. That’s a pretty nice idea. The only problem I still see is that I do a lot of offensive casting in battlegrounds as well. I like to keep an enemy selected so I can cast offensive spells on them while casting healing spells using Grid.

While I’m used to my way, I may have to try her way though if I have the time to try learning it! Again, I just want to repeat what really excited me. Grace was directly responding to previous comments in her new post. Fantastic :)

Why I play World of Warcraft

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 8, 2012
Posted in: Blog, Lore, PVP, Raiding, Role-Playing, The Old Republic, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

This wasn’t the original topic I was planning on discussing today, but then I noticed something. I had 99 published articles on Kor’kron 501st. I think the 100th post should be a little more reflective.

World of Warcraft is a great game, and I love it and the universe in which it takes place. Of course, it’s not without its flaws, but I keep coming back to it. I’m also a Star Wars fan. I’ve played a lot of the games, I’ve read a lot of the novels, and The Old Republic seems fantastic; but TOR just  doesn’t suck me in like WoW does.

It might the idea of becoming a powerful, heroic character. I want to overcome great evil, wield the legendary weapon such-and-such (I suppose it would be Val’anyr.) When I first started, I wanted to imagine myself jumping into a group of enemies, swinging my two blades. Now, I want to imagine myself a guiding light, helping my friends and faction overcome adversary.

I love the number of interesting characters. I love Thrall, and I love that they removed him from his position as War Chief when he became too loved. I love Garorsh Hellscream’s rise to power and am excited to see his story unfold in Mists of Pandaria. I might not love noble Cairne’s tragic death, but it does give me an emotional investment in the story seeing his death and Baine’s rise as the young High Chieftain of the Tauren. The interaction between him and Anduin Wrynn is a happy bit of piece in a story of turmoil. Anduin (as well as Jaina) also make excellent juxtapositions to Varian.

The world feels large and alive, at least at first. Over time one learns that the world isn’t really quite so large (especially with the more linear zones introduced in Cataclysm), but I still love the overwhelming feeling I had when I first began to play. When I first saw Ironforge on my Alliance character, my jaw dropped. When my Horde character first left Durotar for the Barrens, it felt like I was actually helping the Horde army. (I had no idea how bad life was going to get once I had to play through the Barrens.) How about the Wrathgate cinematic and the Battle for the Undercity? It felt so epic, and I watched that video over and over the few days after first reaching it (and I still do sometimes).

This doesn’t even discuss the major gameplay aspects. Seeing dungeons for the first time is always an amazing feeling for me, which is why I avoid doing it in a rush. I loved first exploring the Frozen Halls dungeons introduced in 3.3 with Icecrown Citadel. The feeling of improving and overcoming new raid bosses in a team feels wonderful. Clean kills? Those are boring. The first kills during which I feel like I did everything in my power and skill set to succeed, the ones in which only a handful of raid members are left standing, are the good ones. Likewise, battlegrounds can be so much fun. Nothing in gaming (uh, besides Portal) can compete with Moogle and me surviving and winning an outnumbered fight in a battleground! Of course, raiding (and sometimes battlegrounds) add another part – socializing. I’ve met a lot of really amazing people in WoW.

I suppose it all comes down to investment. There’s time and money, but mostly it’s the emotional investment. I’ve learned so much about the universe. I love many of the characters and factions in Warcraft. I’m excited by the dramatic tension between individuals and groups, even if one I like comes out worse. I understand how my character thinks. He’s an extension of myself. Most of all, I just love exploring and experiencing this wonderful universe with Mooglegem. It would take a lot to break the emotional attachment. In fact, I doubt it could break. Sometimes I begin to play less. Yes, I’m sure I’ll quit someday. But even when I step back, I still care about what’s happening. Just like how I’ve always had a soft spot for Mario and Sonic, I don’t think my attachment to Warcraft will ever fully go away. And hopefully my investment continues to pay off for a long time.

Suggested Reading: Of Diablo 3 Sales, Big Pineapples, Pandaria, and Quitting

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 7, 2012
Posted in: Diablo III, Game Mechanics, Lore, Mists of Pandaria, Raiding, Suggested Reading, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Just Quit, Matticus, World of Matticus, 6/6/12.

Matticus suggests that raiders who don’t want to give it their all should quit.

Infographic shows the numbers behind Diablo III’s opening day, Jef Reahard, Massively, 6/6/12.

An interesting infographic showing how impressive Diablo 3’s first day of sales was. The amount of money from sales of the game on the first day would be equivalent to $42,000 per Blizzard employee.

You cannot get hacked by playing public games in Diablo 3, Michael Sacco, WoW Insider, 6/1/12.

Sacco agrees with Zarhym’s response that hacked D3 accounts were hacked using conventional methods (by obtaining passwords).

Big Pineapple problems, Mathew McCurley, WoW Insider, 6/1/12.

Diablo 3 can’t be sold in China right now, but “Big Pineapple” can be sold. Big Pineapple translated is “dà boluó.” Say that out loud.

Many WoW-like improvements discussed for Diablo 3, Robin Torres, WoW Insider, 6/4/12.

Bashiok responds to a forum post in the D3 forums by user Matthest in which he makes 35 suggestions for Diablo 3.

Mists of Pandaria Beta: New Jaina Proudmoore Theramore event voices, Michael Sacco, WoW Insider, 5/31/12.

I’m staying away from this one! I’ll just be surprised.

Know Your Lore: 3 developmental changes needed for storytelling in Mists, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 6/3/12.

Anne believes storytelling can be much better in Mists than in previous expansions due to the use of cinematics, keeping story developments secret, and making lore accessible. Of note, she points out that BC’s boss, Illidan, was never seen by non-raiders. To make sure non-raiders got to see Arthas, he showed up all the time in Wrath. In Cataclysm, the story was such that Deathwing showed up randomly, not for story purposes, to burn the countryside, giving non-raiders a way to see him. Mists is different. The raid finder will be present for the entire expansion, allowing Blizzard to keep certain things a secret knowing that any max level character should be able to see the raids.

Play Diablo 1 with World of Warcraft models in StarCraft 2, Alex Ziebart, WoW Insider, 6/5/12.

A fun new mod in SC2 lets you play something similar to D1 using WoW models and the original Diablo’s sound effects.

Mists of Pandaria Beta: Nomi, the cook’s apprentice, Mathew McCurley, WoW Insider, 6/6/12.

This article briefly discusses the various “Ways” (like specializations) of cooking in Pandaria before talking about Nomi! Nomi is the cook’s apprentice you get after you max your cooking. You gain friendship with her as you train her to be a master chef! Cute!

Improving the Darkmoon Faire: More games, high scores, and Darkmoon VIP Cards

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 6, 2012
Posted in: Game Mechanics, World Events, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , . 2 Comments

The Darkmoon Faire was only recently revamped, and it’s much more fun and impressive now. I was very excited for the first few months, but its attraction is already wearing thin. I’ll most likely stop caring about the dailies once I purchase all the mounts and pets. Luckily, there are a few things that Blizzard could do to improve the Darkmoon Faire even further.

More Games

First and foremost, the faire needs more games. If the size of the island and “under construction” tents are any indication, Blizzard plans this as well. However, players will eventually tire of these games as well. Right now, the Darkmoon Faire is exciting because of its limited availability. It can only be accessed one week per month, making it more shiny and new when it’s around. This should be taken a step further. Every month when the Darkmoon Faire is available for a week, it could feature five random games of the pool of 10 to 15. The five wouldn’t change over the course of the week, but next month they could be different. Because it’s different, it’s unlikely that on the second month it would be a brand new five. This would definitely keep the Darkmoon Faire fresh. As the number of total games grew, the amount offered per week could also increase. If there were 30 games total, maybe the faire would feature 10 every week, allowing you to do 10 dailies each day.

High Scores

Next, the games need to be actual games and not just quests. They seemed like games at first, but there’s no way to know if you’re doing better than last time. The game should track your high score. It’s Hammer Time; He Shoots, He Scores!; and Tonk Commander could each track how long it takes you to finish the game. Target: Turtle could track how many tosses it takes you to get three to land on the turtle. The Humanoid Cannonball could, I suppose, the number of shots out of the cannon you use. If this system was introduced, it would give players a fun reason to continue trying these games – to beat their previous high score.

The Darkmoon VIP Card

Lastly, I think the daily system should be changed. Really this is something I’d like to see everywhere, but I’ll take it as a change to the Darkmoon Faire. Each day you should be allowed to complete each daily once for free. Each week (that the Darkmoon Faire is open) you should be able to complete each daily seven times. After you’ve used your free play, you could use a “Darkmoon VIP Card” to play the game again. This would still count toward your weekly limit.

We’ll examine how that would work. Let’s say I can play every day that the faire is open. I would simply play each game on each day, and it would be exactly like it is currently. Now let’s say I can play only on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesday and Thursday I can only play for a short period of time, but I can play all day on Wednesday. In this scenario, let’s say I play It’s Hammer Time once on Tuesday. That would use one free chance at that daily for that day and bring my weekly total for that daily to 1/7. (To be clear, the totals would be per daily. The other games have their own total and daily freebie.) On Wednesday, I have a lot of time to play. I play it once to use my free chance. That makes me weekly total 2/7. Then I play it another four times, using four Darkmoon VIP Cards. Now my total for the week is 6/7. Why didn’t I play it a seventh time? Because I can still play for a bit on Thursday, so I might as well do it without using a Darkmoon VIP Card. On Thursday I go ahead and play the game, using my free chance. Now the total is finally at 7/7. Even if I suddenly find myself with free time on Saturday, I wouldn’t be able to play that game again.

Obviously I’m inspired by the “daily” heroic, which is now simply a bonus for the first seven of the week. However, I’ve made a change. Blizzard wants people coming back to play repeatedly. My Darkmoon VIP Card system encourages players to play daily to avoid using Darkmoon VIP Cards, while still allowing people who don’t have time to play daily the opportunity to get their total amount of tries into a limited game time. There’s still the question of how Darkmoon VIP Cards are earned. They could be awarded randomly on completion of the games, awarded absolutely each time a certain score is beat in certain games, or sold for gold. They could even be purchased with prize tickets, although I’m not sure how I’d feel about that.

Conclusion

I love the Darkmoon Faire. I love the feeling fun and mystery. And I don’t want that feeling to go away. I want to like and enjoy the Darkmoon Faire. The Darkmoon VIP Card would be a large change to the system. More games would take more development time. However, surely the high score system couldn’t be that much work. Add the high scores into our characters’ statistics page! The timed games would be easy!

Hardcore, Level 10

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 5, 2012
Posted in: Achievements, Diablo III, Journal. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

gem and I have been playing a bit of hardcore mode after finishing our first playthrough of normal. It’s a little dangerous to be doing that with four roommates who may begin to download at any time, but I try to keep an eye on my latency. We reached level 10 recently, which honestly surprised me a bit. Don’t get me wrong; I’m relieved. I just figured our Internet would have dropped or something by now.

We’ve killed Leoric twice now I think. After defeating him, we reloaded at the previous quest to allow us to farm a little before proceeding. Better safe than sorry. I think we might play up to the Butcher and then restart before actually fighting him. I’m also anxious to try out other characters and to push into nightmare on my demon hunter, so who knows what we’ll end up doing.

AOEing Ragefire Chasm

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 4, 2012
Posted in: Transmog, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

My hunt for transmog gear continues. Due to knockbacks, I have to admit that gathering all of RFC at once is probably not the best way to do it. However, I just couldn’t resist. You see the before picture above and the after picture below.

Didn’t get the piece I wanted.

Farming Blackrock Spire

Posted by Peter (Devee) on June 1, 2012
Posted in: Devee, Journal, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I spent a while farming BRS last weekend. Solakar Flamewreath is a jerk who wouldn’t drop what I wanted for transmog. The annoying part of it was that there are quite a few timed delays getting there. When everything dies so quickly, having to wait 10 seconds for something to happen can be really annoying. Here I’m channeling on a little altar to allow some enemies to be fightable. When I used it, it looked like I was lighting it on fire. Lucky for me that my little Murkablo decided to help!

I also like how this one dude died. I guess rigor mortis must have set in quickly. He looks like a dragonspawn-kabob.