Alt-itis

I feel like I'm coming down with something, folks, and that something is Alt-itis.

Not that this is an acute or new condition... nay, I've had it before, so I'm pretty sure that it will always be with me. It always starts out innocently. I have one definite class that I want to have as my main, so I roll it up and start playing that. Then I think of one, maybe two other classes that sound interesting, and roll those up. Eventually when I hit a wall with my main, I move to one of the alts to give myself a break.

Then it gets crazy.

See, I can't just roll alts. Nope, my OCD requires that I have one of each race, unless a particular race is so abhorrent to me that I just can't tolerate them. In WoW, it's humans... for some reason, I just can't bring myself to play one. In LotRO, it's dwarves, since dwarves can't be distinctly female (I know, it's for lore reasons, I understand. Still not rolling one). Then, not only that, but they must all have different hair colors. And eye colors, if available. In a game like LotRO, I have to have the blondes/brunettes/redheads balanced in equal numbers, and keep a roughly equal amount of each race. Right now I'm up to 2 hobbits, 2 elves, and 2 humans. And, oh, their names should be at least semi-lore appropriate, the number of letters in their names should all be the same, and no two names should start with the same letter.

Then... THEN, it gets even worse: I assign professions to each one, according to lore or what I think fits with that class/race. If I play an alt and don't care for it, then that leaves me with an empty profession, which means that all of the other character's professions might have to be shifted to make up for it, costing me time and currency.

Yes, it's a sickness. I have a fever, send more cowbell.

Back Into the Oculus

Syp over at Bio Break just made a post regarding the new Oculus reward system. Obviously, the new reward might help motivate people to stick with Oculus if it comes up in random heroics. But why do people dislike it so much? First, my Oculus experience...

I hated Oculus. With a passion. As a matter of fact, before patch 3.3, I had run Oculus a total of 3 times since launch. I didn't like the drakes, I didn't like how there were all these platforms and levels and flying drakes that aggro'd on you if you looked at them funny from a mile away. But mostly, I just didn't understand it. The groups I was with usually just flew from one point to another, stopping in random places with no rhyme or reason to it. It didn't make sense.

Then the first day of 3.3, I got it in a random PUG. As it turns out, my groupmates either hadn't done it (because they heard it was so horrendously bad) or had only done it once or twice, and still didn't really know what to do. But we decided to give it a shot anyway. And it was fun! But it was also somewhat insightful in regards to the state of instance-running these days.

Now Oculus isn't one of those instances that you can run through mindlessly, especially if it's your first time there. You're not running through a hallway and killing mobs on auto-pilot. Once you get your drake, you have to read what your new skills are, think about what those skills do and how to use them to your advantage (to be fair, you only get three new skills), and then you have to talk to your drake to find out where to go and what to do next. It was THEN, finally, that we figured out that the drakes tell you what to do and where to go.

We got our drakes and I listened to the first part: Kill Arcane Dudes. Okay, easy enough. We flew to the nearest platform and found four Arcane Dudes. Then on the ring right next to us, were more Arcane Dudes. Worked our way around to the other side... yep, the last Arcane Dudes.

Hey bronze dragon, what now? Oh! Time to kill Big Ugly Bubble Man! Can do.

The entire instance went like this. Once we figured out that the drakes tell you exactly where to go and what to do if you just take time to read the flavor text, it was cake... FUN tasty cake with gooey icing. Even the last boss was easy, once we got into a groove with our new drake skills. It's like learning to drive. You have to become one with the drake (car), and once you get into that mindset, it becomes effortless.

My point is that Oculus isn't the big bad monster that I thought it was for months. Granted, it was tougher in the earlier days, pre-nerfs. My theory is that Oculus was put in the game just to see if players are paying attention. It reminds me more of those early days of WoW, before QuestHelper and Carbonite and before Thottbot/WoWhead were widely used. In those days, we quested uphill! In the snow! Both ways! The only thing we had to go on was quest text, and part of the fun of the game was the journey and the accomplishment of finding those hidden clues and quest objectives. When players say that they hate that instance, I wonder if it's hated because people genuinely hate the mechanics (3-D movement/combat, new skills) or if because it's not a straightforward, on-the-rails, point A-to-point B instance like every other?

In the end, Oculus went from my most dreaded instance to one of my favorites. It's different from any other instance, and really doesn't take very long at all once you get going. And now, there's extra loot! I definitely won't be complaining about that.

Ze Mood of Luv...

To some, Naxx is an unholy fortress of evil and undeath. To others, it's merely a bump on the road of gear progression. But to some... well... let us say that it is akin to Paris in the springtime...

You have no idea how distracting those two mammalian lovers are during a Patchwerk fight.

The Social Aspect of 3.3

So the new hotness in Patch 3.3 is the new Dungeon Finder system. Level 80's are running instances like crazy right now to get prepared to beat the living daylights out of Arthas. Even lowbies and alts benefitted to this change, as it's now easier to get at-level groups for early dungeons, thus rejuvenating the leveling experience.

I've been having some interesting discussions regarding how DF will impact guilds, especially smaller social guilds. There seem to be two points of view. Some are very concerned and feel that the DF will trivialize guild groups. After all, you get extra badges, extra gold, and extra loot if you use the DF to find random PUGS, whereas you don't get those same benefits with guild groups. It's now incredibly easy to get online and jump straight into a PUG heroic, so why wait on guildies? Now you don't need a guild to run instances... anybody can do them on their own with no fuss.

The other viewpoint is that the DF tool is actually very beneficial. Most players in smaller guilds stay there for the low-key atmosphere and the close relationships they develop with their guildmates. These players enjoy grouping with their guildies, and will nearly always prefer a guild run over a PUG group. But, on those occasions that there are more than enough guildies online for one group, but not enough for a second (or third) group, this offers a better, more improved system for those odd folks out. Missing 2 or 3 people to fill out your team? Jump in the queue, grab a couple of puggers, and go get some badges. Everybody who wants to instance, gets to instance, but within the guild they keep that same homey atmosphere that they enjoy.

Another interesting idea that I've been mulling over is how this will affect gear-progression and raiding. Right now the Dungeon Finder is designed only for 5-man content, but it wouldn't be a huge stretch for Blizzard to add raiding content as well at some point in the future. If that were to happen, it could reduce the number of players from smaller guilds that "trade up" to large guilds for gear progression and raiding. The guild would be for the social aspect, and Dungeon Finder for the progression aspect. Who said that successful raids can only be run by guilds?

Of course, this is all speculation and we'll have to see how things work out over the next few months. The Dungeon Finder could be one of the best things to happen to the game... or it could be detrimental to developing camaraderie within guilds. Only time will tell, but at this point I think it will be far more beneficial than anything else.

Patch is up!

Ah, Patch days. They are exhilarating and frustrating at the same time.

Patch 3.3 went live today. After some extended maintenance, SwC came back up and our modest, medium-pop RP server got very packed, very quickly. After dealing with some UI and add-on issues, I was finally able to start instancing. Luckily, a guild group had one more more spot left and I got to try Forge of Souls for the first time.

Now, keep in mind, I'm not a raider. I've done it, in the past, for the fun of hanging out with guildies, but it's never been something that I enjoy just for the sake of it. Different strokes for different folks and all that. Five-man instances, on the other hand, are a whole different story, I can do five-mans all day. So we head in, with a bit of nervousness since it's a new instance and of course we know nothing about the bosses.

First thing we notice is that Jaina is now a rather snooty-looking Amazon woman. When did this happen?

Second thing we notice is... wait, that music... it sounds rather... kind of like Austin Powers-esque organ music. Or something you'd hear on a drug episode of Dragnet re-runs, with a hint of techno. This is not your normal WoW music.

We get around to Bronjahm, the first boss. Our hunter remarks about the reference to James Brown, we all laugh, buff up, and jump in.

And then it REALLY starts.



A quarter of the way through the fight, I completely lost it. The music is so different, so joyfully epic, and I just could not stop the giddy schoolgirl laughter. Surprisingly, we didn't wipe! On the contrary, I think it motivated us even more.

The next boss is the Devourer of Souls. It was up for debate on who it looked more like: The Wizard of Oz or the Face of Boa from Dr. Who. Either way, he/she/it was a bit hectic the first go-around, but an easy finish the second time.

I'm love, love, loving Forge of Souls... definitely one of the most entertaining instances I've seen in a long time.