real id

All posts tagged real id

Suggested Reading: Of Vol’jin, Theramore, privacy, priests, and a bit of Guild Wars 2

Posted by Peter (Devee) on September 20, 2012
Posted in: Guild Wars, Suggested Reading, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

Next WoW novel set to focus on Vol’jin, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 9/13/12.

Yes, yes. Yes, yes, yes. (Please let Vol’jin kill Garrosh at the end of Mists.)

“Appear Offline” coming soon to Battle.net, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 9/20/12.

We’ll finally have some privacy on Battle.net!

No Greg, you’re missing point, TyphoonAndrew, TyphoonAndrew’s – Eye of the Storm, 9/20/12.

TyphoonAndrew responds to Ghostcrawler’s post in which he states that he believes players were expecting a big event instead of the Theramore’s Fall scenario. Nope, we were just expecting something coherent.

Spiritual Guidance: Guide to Mists of Pandaria discipline priests, Dawn Moore, WoW Insider, 9/19/12.

This could be important for me.

Breakfasts Topic: Do you use items from your guild bank?, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 9/19/12.

Lisa discusses how she’s never sure what she can take from the guild bank. I know that feeling.

No nerfs, no lockouts, no consumable restrictions for Challenge Mode dungeons, Olivia Grace, WoW Insider, 9/13/12.

Some explanations for Challenge Modes.

Why the NFL’s Chris Kluwe will always be @ChrisWarcraft on Twitter, Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider, 9/14/12.

An interesting article about and interview with NFL player and WoW player Chris Kluwe.

The Endgame Reimagined, Mike Zadorojny, GuildWars2.com, 9/13/12 (via Massively).

An interesting look at ArenaNet’s idea of endgame.

RaF Mount For Five Bucks?, JD Kenada, Amateur Azerothian, 9/15/12.

Give this a read if you want to get the RaF mount for $5.

Blog Azeroth: Single Realm

Posted by Peter (Devee) on July 18, 2012
Posted in: Blog Azeroth Shared Topics, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

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

If it were possible, would you want Blizzard to put all characters in a single realm/game world by realm type — PvP vs PvE vs RP? Why or why not?

With the way World of Warcraft is currently organized, god, no. You would never be able to get anything done. You wouldn’t be able to see anything with all the people, and this if there wasn’t lag, which there would be. However, I do like the idea of having everyone together, unsegregated from their friends.

One way to do this is to use the Guild Wars model. There are different “districts,” which are like realms, in the cities. The “world” doesn’t really apply to WoW because GW’s world outside of cities and towns are all instanced, but the cities function like MMOs. You can freely hop between districts to get to your friends. The number of districts grows and shrinks dynamically based on the current server load. When you log into the game, you’re placed into a low population district, but you’re always free to change to any numbered district. This means you can just ask your friend what district they’re using and hop into it.

Does World of Warcraft need this? The Real ID system makes this, for the most part, unnecessary. You still can’t trade cross-realm, but at least we can all play together.

Last week’s topic was proposed by dragonray. Sadly, I forgot to post a link to mine in the thread. Oh well.

Are you starstruck by anyone? Does someone in the community respond to a post or a tweet and get you all speechless because they actually responded? Is there anyone you are waiting to have respond directly to you? Is there someone that you would like to chat to, but are too chicken? Am I the only one who puts other bloggers on a pedestal?

I saw a lot of Matticus, Cymre, and Cynwise, and I think that’s understandable! My favorite responses include the following:

  • Faye’s post on The Dancing Tree about Allison Robert, the druid columnist for WoW Insider
  • Cymre’s post on Bubbles of Mischief about Matticus, Healbot, Cynwise, Rades, and more
  • Robin Torres’ post on WoW Insider about being starstruck in general (and Laura Shigihara)
  • Evlyxx’s post on Evangelysm about Malevica of Type “H” For Heals.

Suggested Reading: Of Former-GMs, Project Tyria, and D3 Criticism

Posted by Peter (Devee) on May 31, 2012
Posted in: Blizzard and Battle.net, Diablo III, Guild Wars, Suggested Reading, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

IAMA former Blizzard customer service representative for WoW aka Gamemaster. AMAA, Panigg, reddit, 5/27/12 via Titan Focus

The Titan Focus post pulls out anything in the Ask Me Anything related to Titan. However, the actual AMA is a treasure trove of interesting, inside-Blizzard information. I don’t really see anything that’s Earth-shattering, but Blizzard fans should find it fascinating.

Project Tyria, Alucardalina Claire, via Massively, 5/21/12

Project Tyria compares the worlds of Guild Wars 2 and the original Guild Wars, which take place 250 years apart, through screenshots.

[Diablo 3] Elective Mode is a Mistake, Rohan, Blessing of Kings, 5/24/12

A discussion of Blizzard’s mistake of including the elective mode in Diablo 3.

On the Tyranny of Classes, Cynwise, Cynwise’s Warcraft Manual, 5/28/12

A comparison of characters in MMORPGs and characters in traditional RPGs, especially the fact that while a character’s class can change in many other RPGs, it’s the one unchanging aspect in most MMORPGs.

The Reality of Vanilla WoW, Matticus, World of Matticus, 5/29/12

Matticus takes off the rose-tinted glasses to look at vanilla WoW.

Now approaching two years of Real ID — did it work?, Anne Stickney, WoW Insider, 5/28/12

With Blizzard’s Real ID turning two, Stickney considers whether Real ID is a success and expresses her displeasure at the feature.

Dear Blizzard: A Modest Healing UI Request, Matticus, World of Matticus, 5/21/12

Matticus examines the default healing UI in WoW and suggests ways of incorporating absorbs.

Mists of Pandaria: Head enchants… gone! Shoulder enchants…, Adam Holisky, WoW Insider, 5/30/12 via a Ghostcrawler forum post

Head enchants are gone in Mists of Pandaria and shoulder enchants come from scribes. No more long reputation grinds for enchants!

BattleTags Do NOT Solve Real ID Issues

Posted by Peter (Devee) on May 22, 2012
Posted in: Blizzard and Battle.net, Diablo III, World of Warcraft. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

BattleTags are a great idea. Basically, using the BattleTag system is just like the Real ID system except it doesn’t use your account login. In other words, I can give someone my BattleTag, and we’ll have all the benefits of Real ID friends without me having to give out compromising information. Again, BattleTag friends will have all the benefits of Real ID friends. That includes being able to see each other’s online status across all Battle.net games. And that’s the part I still dislike.

I don’t always want to be connected. I know that’s strange in a world dominated by social media. (My profession is heavily dependent on social media even.) I like being connected, but I want a choice. I’d like to be able to sometimes go offline from the social system. I’m not asking to be invisible necessarily; I’m okay with temporarily losing the ability to see others as well.

Blizzard had a solution for this in World of Warcraft, and it’s been there since the beginning of WoW – character-level friends. I can be friends with someone on my character without being friends with them everywhere. While this wouldn’t solve when I want to be offline on a known character, it solves it partially. Unfortunately, Blizzard has decided not to include this functionality in Diablo III. If you want to play with someone easily or keep in touch with them in Diablo III, you have to give them the ability to see what you’re doing across all Battle.net games at all times.

I’ll repeat that: by adding a friend in Diablo III, you are inherently giving them the ability to see your online presence across all Battle.net games at all times without ever having the option to temporarily go offline.

What’s a World of Warcraft friend or StarCraft II friend?

A World of Warcraft or StarCraft II friend is any player you add to your friends list by their character name rather than through Real ID (or their BattleTag, in the future). If you add a character name to your friends list and are not Real ID or BattleTag friends with the player, you will not see the player’s real name in the game, nor will they see yours. Character-level friends such as these are specific to each game (i.e. World of Warcraft character friends cannot see each other in StarCraft II or Diablo III, nor can they communicate cross-game) and can see online and offline status information only, not rich presence details or Broadcast messages. Other characters that the player creates will not automatically be added to your friends list. Diablo III does not support character-level friendship, only BattleTag- or Real ID-based friendship.

via Real ID – Battle.net Support.

Yet another reason to continue to keep my distance from this system.