Update regarding me: in the middle of a move, barely had time to raid lately let alone work on the blog. Sorry. Guild is currently 10/13H and working on Heroic Dark Animus. Think I've managed to work out a way to get in about 30 minutes of writing each day at work during some downtime, but we'll see.
I'm sure everyone has heard about the new flexible raid feature coming in 5.4 - a raid that scales between 10 and 25 people, is harder than LFR but easier than normal, uses the LFR loot system, and is designed to help create social bonds. There's been a lot of discussion about many parts of this feature, but today I wanted to focus on one particular aspect: the item level it offers.
Ghostcrawler has suggested some tentative item levels for 5.4 in this tweet. If we put everything together, we get the following:
502 ToT LFR
522 ToT Normal
528 SoO LFR
535 ToT Heroic
536 SoO Flex
553 SoO Normal
566 SoO Heroic
Now, I do want to mention one thing right off the bat: I am generally happy with how LFR was handled in Throne of Thunder. Except for legendary items, I had very little reason to run LFR. The staggered release coupled with heroic gear from the previous tier meant I didn't need items from there. For those unaware, heroic raiders were compelled to run LFR for the gear in both Dragon Soul and tier 14 in order to remain competitive - see this post about something being "optional" if you disagree.
It wasn't an accident that the nightmare system from Trial of the Crusader was changed and the 10 and 25 lockouts were combined - Blizzard realized that people feeling compelled to run the same raid twice as week was not a good idea. There's a reason the weekly raid lockout exists in the first place.
But now many heroic raiders are worried about the SoO Flexible raid item level because it's actually an item level ABOVE heroic raid gear from the previous tier. And while this might not matter much for a ring or necklace, it absolutely matters for things like tier pieces (which CANNOT be Thunderforged), trinkets, and possibly weapons (remember the proc weapons from Dragon Soul?). Heroic raiders are likely going to be compelled to run Flex raid each week for these.
Don't get me wrong - I'm interested in Flex raid and I like the idea of being able to help out friends who aren't as skilled in a difficulty mode that's perfect for them. However, I do not want to feel obligated to run every section every week for a decent chunk of time (possibly 2+ months). There are three main ways to avoid this - removing tier, powerful trinkets, and proc weapons, putting Flex on a loot lockout with Normal/Heroic, or simply lowering the item level.
Blizzard's already stated they don't want to remove tier at a minimum and instead are planning to add new things to normal/heroic that aren't available in LFR/Flex. We'll see how this works out since we don't really have any other details, but I suspect I'll be obliged to run Flex for tier gear at a minimum (which, again, is actually higher ilvl than ToT Heroic tier gear - and if you're about to bring up item upgrades, keep reading).
It also seems unlikely that Blizzard will combine lockouts right now for fear of lessening the people playing Flex. If they lock it with LFR then that doesn't solve the problem for heroic raiders (though it does help). If they lock it with normal/heroic then people might not move up from Flex to Normal which is probably what Blizzard would like to see. One could argue that the people could simply do normal modes first and thus they'll just get gear from the bosses they DON'T kill on normal - and I think I might agree - but for the moment that solution probably won't happen (and is beyond the scope of this post).
Our final option is lowering the item level on LFR and Flex - but here's the rub: that's not possible. Why not?
Valor gear.
Imagine a world with no valor gear for a moment. People in full LFR gear have full 502s that are upgraded to 510s. Overall item level is probably in the 508-510 range (they might be missing a slot or two).
People doing normals would have 522s upgraded to 530s, so probably 528-530 item level. Heroic raiders would have 535s upgraded to 543s, so 541-543 item level. These two groups may also have some Thunderforged items (especially if they raid 25 mans) which may boost these numbers slightly.
So, in summary:
LFR player: 509ish
Normal raider: 529ish
Heroic raider: 542ish
This means, for example, you could do something like the following for Siege:
LFR: 522
Flex: 528
Normal: 553
Heroic: 566
Now Flex raid item level is seven below heroic items instead of one above. But valor gear throws a wrench in the works since those are 522 items available to LFR players. You can get the following from valor:
Neck
Shoulders (not technically valor but vendor bought at exalted Shado-Pan Assault - badly itemized but still 522)
Cloak
Chest
Bracers
Gloves
Belt
Legs
Ring
Trinket
That means you can get 10 items that are 522 without stepping foot into normals (and without doing Oondasta). Suddenly getting 522 from SoO LFR does not look appealing because more than half of your gear slots have that same item level already.
This is the problem with valor gear in a world where you obtain it without doing normals - it means LFR item levels have to always be higher than the previous tier's normals or else people won't get much from a new tier of LFR. Something like the Sunwell token system could get around this but Blizzard might have a simpler solution in mind - removing valor gear entirely and only using valor for item upgrades. This means you only get item levels appropriate to your difficulty.
Another point of note: Blizzard has been moving toward larger ilvl gaps between tiers to act as a progressive nerf. We're used to 19 in WotLK/Cata. We saw 26 for ToT. Now we see 31 for SoO. Let's go with a value of a 30 item level gap below to act as an organic progressive nerf.
Here's a summary of the expansion's item levels as it actually happened:
476 MSV LFR
483 HoF/ToES LFR
489 MSV Normal
496 HoF/ToES Normal
502 MSV Heroic and ToT LFR
509 HoF/ToES Heroic
522 ToT Normal
528 SoO LFR
535 ToT Heroic
536 SoO Flex
553 SoO Normal
566 SoO Heroic
Now let's remove valor gear (but keep valor upgrades for epic items) and see if we can get something better (using our 30 ilvls between tiers number from above):
463 (Heroic) Dungeons
469 MSV LFR
475 MSV Flex
476 HoE/ToES LFR
482 HoF/ToES Flex
493 MSV Normal
499 ToT LFR
500 HoF/ToES Normal
505 ToT Flex
506 MSV Heroic
513 HoF/ToES Heroic
529 SoO LFR
530 ToT Normal
535 SoO Flex
543 ToT Heroic
560 SoO Normal
573 SoO Heroic
That includes a possible flex ilvl for the whole expansion. Some things we notice:
1, normal from the previous tier is equal to (technically 1 ilvl higher) than the current tier's LFR - meaning it is valuable in gearing up a new character and provides an alternative to LFR (aside things like set bonuses)
2, flex from the current tier is always 8 ilvl behind heroic items from the previous tier - while set bonuses and insane trinkets/weapons can still cause problems, heroic raiders aren't generally compelled to farm flex mode for gear.
3, everyone has a constant gear progression and never goes through weird situations like people doing ToT LFR and getting 522 gear. As long as you're doing your desired difficulty, you're golden.
4, instead of LFR being forced into Flex and Flex into normal if they want to do more, these players can try the previous tier's (nerfed) normal and heroic modes respectively if desired since those offer alternative or even better gear than they'd get otherwise.
Obviously it's too late to do anything this expansion - I expect we'll simply need to suffer through whatever we get during SoO. Hopefully it's not too bad.
But I do find it interesting that Blizzard has backed itself into a corner with LFR item levels due to valor gear and made it so LFR *must* surpass the previous tier's normal. Perhaps a solution would be to make valor gear equal to the current tier's LFR gear. So valor would have bought 476 initially, 499 in ToT, and 529 in SoO in our "new" ilvl ladder. Would have acted as a catch-up mechanism or a way to get slots that refuse to drop for a person in LFR.
Food for thought.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Random Update
Sorry, no interesting post this week. But I have an excuse, I promise! I've been judging for National History Day which just ended (judging for papers and websites began before today). If you know a middle or high school student who is interested in history, it's an amazing opportunity they should consider for next year. Next step for the finalists from today is the national competition in Washington, D.C.
Some scattered random thoughts will have to do instead:
1. Two copies of NWN still available.
2. Even though I avoid it like the plague, I think LFR is still a beneficial addition to the game as a whole (more later).
3. Still concerned about item upgrades and valor when it comes to off sets. I do actually have to heal a decent amount and the idea feeling like I should upgrade a healing item over a shadow item because it'll make more of a difference seems contrary to Blizzard's stated goals (where you can "pretty easily" upgrade every item).
4. Speaking of valor, I can now only buy offset gear with valor, can't use anything else for main set. Which is actually nice, since it's a bit behind my main set right now.
5. My guild currently is 2/13H and about 95% of the way through two different heroic bosses. Annoying, expect to kill them both this week.
6. Clearing ToT seems to take about 3.5-4 hours so far - which means if we do clear for gear we need to dedicate close to half of our raid week to it.
7. Flying on Ji-Kun is definitely fun and I very much enjoy the fight despite it having simpler mechanics and being one of the easier bosses. Also liked Alysrazor flying a lot. And Al'Akir. Did I mention I liked flying?
Some scattered random thoughts will have to do instead:
1. Two copies of NWN still available.
2. Even though I avoid it like the plague, I think LFR is still a beneficial addition to the game as a whole (more later).
3. Still concerned about item upgrades and valor when it comes to off sets. I do actually have to heal a decent amount and the idea feeling like I should upgrade a healing item over a shadow item because it'll make more of a difference seems contrary to Blizzard's stated goals (where you can "pretty easily" upgrade every item).
4. Speaking of valor, I can now only buy offset gear with valor, can't use anything else for main set. Which is actually nice, since it's a bit behind my main set right now.
5. My guild currently is 2/13H and about 95% of the way through two different heroic bosses. Annoying, expect to kill them both this week.
6. Clearing ToT seems to take about 3.5-4 hours so far - which means if we do clear for gear we need to dedicate close to half of our raid week to it.
7. Flying on Ji-Kun is definitely fun and I very much enjoy the fight despite it having simpler mechanics and being one of the easier bosses. Also liked Alysrazor flying a lot. And Al'Akir. Did I mention I liked flying?
Saturday, April 13, 2013
I Have Discovered the Source of Forum Complaining in Mists!
There are still two more games available from my giveaway - hopefully the recipients are enjoying Neverwinter Nights. There's already been some evidence of new blood in the game's community, which is always nice to see.
Last December I wrote about the idea of "optional" in WoW. A few days later, I set up some polls to try to collect some data. Then I got completely sidetracked by other stuff and never got around to actually doing something useful with the results.
So let's change that!
To recap, the purpose was to find out what people were willing to do to obtain a very nice item (a best in slot heroic ring at the time). To figure out the point where it crossed from "I'd be stupid not to get the ring" to "I'd have to be crazy to get that ring."
I imagine most of you aren't surprised to hear that people have differing opinions. However, you may be surprised to find out just how wildly these opinions vary. First, the graph for how many Mogu people would be willing to grind for the ring:
I want to emphasize that the x-axis is NOT a linear increase - those three spikes (about 1/3, 2/3, and near the end) are at 100, 1k, and 5k+ respectively. So what does this mean?
Well, if the ring required killing 200 Mogu, fully 32.7% of the respondents would think you'd have to be insane to get the ring. If you could kill a Mogu every 15 seconds, that would be less than an hour to obtain the heroic ring - yet this is considered to be too much by a good chunk of the population (what's even more revealing is that the people who respond to this poll are more likely to be more "hardcore" than people who never read forums or blogs - which means it's far more than 32.7% in reality).
This probably seems shocking to people used to potentially wiping dozens or heroic times on bosses to get two items (not that the loot is the primary goal, just as a reference point).
Next, we hit the median at 500 Mogu - at this point, about 50% of people think getting the ring is an obvious no-brainer - yet this is over twice many mogu as would be reasonable for about 1/3 of the respondents.
The next big spike is the 1000 Mogu mark. And even at the 1k mark, fully 41% of the respondents think you'd be stupid not to get the ring. Five times the amount of Mogu that 1/3 of the population thinks is reasonable.
And then, of course, 13% think you'd be justified in grinding out 5000+ Mogu (at four Mogu a minute, that's 20+ hours of grinding total).
No wonder we have so many complaints and arguments on the forums (in terms of actual complaints and not trolling) - if Blizzard puts in ring that requires you to kill 500 Mogu, half the population of those that responded to this poll thinks you'd be crazy to get the ring and half the population thinks you'd be equally crazy NOT to get the ring! The first group can't understand why the latter group feels compelled and forced to grind out the Mogu and the latter group can't understand why the first group thinks it's even a valid choice whether to get the ring.
Now let's look at the graph for gold (in terms of how much you'd be willing to pay for the ring):
We notice that the graph is more of a bell curve (with two peaks, but at least there were SOME people in the middle). However...those two peaks are at 5k and 50k. Basically as many people think you'd be an idiot to spend over 5k on a BiS heroic ring as there are people who think you'd have to be an idiot NOT to fork over 50k for that kind of upgrade.
The median in this case is at the 10k mark, as a point of reference.
It's easy to see why we could have such disagreement over the use of the words "forced," "optional," and so on when people have such vastly different perspectives. There are plenty of people who think something is completely optional and plenty of people who think they are forced to do something - when talking about the exact same thing.
As you can imagine, this puts Blizzard in a difficult situation - unless they do something very drastic (like require 20 Mogu slain or 20k Mogu slain), a large chunk of the population (or at least the forum/blogging population) will think it is forced to do something no matter where the bar is set and another large chunk of the population will vehemently disagree.
In a sort of interesting twist, by making more content more accessible, Blizzard makes more people feel compelled to do it and gets more complaints than they might if they added nothing at all.
Which is definitely true in regards to valor capping and coins - my primary issue with them as a heroic raider (finished world 404 overall, 247 for 10 mans on two nights a week) is that we compete for rankings which then determines who we can recruit. Meaning that, yes, in a vacuum, adding coins and item upgrades is nothing but a boost for our team - but if they give a more of an advantage to our competition than they do for us then we were better off in a sense without the boosts even existing.
Complicated issue to be sure.
Last December I wrote about the idea of "optional" in WoW. A few days later, I set up some polls to try to collect some data. Then I got completely sidetracked by other stuff and never got around to actually doing something useful with the results.
So let's change that!
To recap, the purpose was to find out what people were willing to do to obtain a very nice item (a best in slot heroic ring at the time). To figure out the point where it crossed from "I'd be stupid not to get the ring" to "I'd have to be crazy to get that ring."
I imagine most of you aren't surprised to hear that people have differing opinions. However, you may be surprised to find out just how wildly these opinions vary. First, the graph for how many Mogu people would be willing to grind for the ring:
I want to emphasize that the x-axis is NOT a linear increase - those three spikes (about 1/3, 2/3, and near the end) are at 100, 1k, and 5k+ respectively. So what does this mean?
Well, if the ring required killing 200 Mogu, fully 32.7% of the respondents would think you'd have to be insane to get the ring. If you could kill a Mogu every 15 seconds, that would be less than an hour to obtain the heroic ring - yet this is considered to be too much by a good chunk of the population (what's even more revealing is that the people who respond to this poll are more likely to be more "hardcore" than people who never read forums or blogs - which means it's far more than 32.7% in reality).
This probably seems shocking to people used to potentially wiping dozens or heroic times on bosses to get two items (not that the loot is the primary goal, just as a reference point).
Next, we hit the median at 500 Mogu - at this point, about 50% of people think getting the ring is an obvious no-brainer - yet this is over twice many mogu as would be reasonable for about 1/3 of the respondents.
The next big spike is the 1000 Mogu mark. And even at the 1k mark, fully 41% of the respondents think you'd be stupid not to get the ring. Five times the amount of Mogu that 1/3 of the population thinks is reasonable.
And then, of course, 13% think you'd be justified in grinding out 5000+ Mogu (at four Mogu a minute, that's 20+ hours of grinding total).
No wonder we have so many complaints and arguments on the forums (in terms of actual complaints and not trolling) - if Blizzard puts in ring that requires you to kill 500 Mogu, half the population of those that responded to this poll thinks you'd be crazy to get the ring and half the population thinks you'd be equally crazy NOT to get the ring! The first group can't understand why the latter group feels compelled and forced to grind out the Mogu and the latter group can't understand why the first group thinks it's even a valid choice whether to get the ring.
Now let's look at the graph for gold (in terms of how much you'd be willing to pay for the ring):
We notice that the graph is more of a bell curve (with two peaks, but at least there were SOME people in the middle). However...those two peaks are at 5k and 50k. Basically as many people think you'd be an idiot to spend over 5k on a BiS heroic ring as there are people who think you'd have to be an idiot NOT to fork over 50k for that kind of upgrade.
The median in this case is at the 10k mark, as a point of reference.
It's easy to see why we could have such disagreement over the use of the words "forced," "optional," and so on when people have such vastly different perspectives. There are plenty of people who think something is completely optional and plenty of people who think they are forced to do something - when talking about the exact same thing.
As you can imagine, this puts Blizzard in a difficult situation - unless they do something very drastic (like require 20 Mogu slain or 20k Mogu slain), a large chunk of the population (or at least the forum/blogging population) will think it is forced to do something no matter where the bar is set and another large chunk of the population will vehemently disagree.
In a sort of interesting twist, by making more content more accessible, Blizzard makes more people feel compelled to do it and gets more complaints than they might if they added nothing at all.
Which is definitely true in regards to valor capping and coins - my primary issue with them as a heroic raider (finished world 404 overall, 247 for 10 mans on two nights a week) is that we compete for rankings which then determines who we can recruit. Meaning that, yes, in a vacuum, adding coins and item upgrades is nothing but a boost for our team - but if they give a more of an advantage to our competition than they do for us then we were better off in a sense without the boosts even existing.
Complicated issue to be sure.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Want a Free Game?
Yes, I'm alive. And for those who found my posts interesting, I apologize for my inactivity the last few months, been very busy with a few things plus real life has been quite hectic.
First among those would be raiding in WoW. We raced to finish Heroic Sha of Fear in time and literally killed him about 5 hours before the servers went down for the 5.2 patch. Cut it very close there. Throne of Thunder has been interesting so far, lots of trash at times, 1/13H and will kill Heroic Ji-Kun this week at a minimum. Going to be tricky trying to deal with a 12 boss raid with plenty of trash on a two night schedule.
I've also been busy fighting the good fight on the Blizzard forums regarding the new item upgrade plan and how it impacts (or rather doesn't) your off set, which causes problems since Blizzard is expecting everyone to pretty easily upgrade every item (their words, not mine).
Prior to that, I've also been working on a project of my own in what little free time I had. You see, in addition to WoW I'm quite fond of a game called Neverwinter Nights. It's an RPG that came out a few years before WoW which is completely amazing because it is immensely customizable. You can play solo campaigns, you can play multiplayer campaigns, and you can play online on what are effectively MMOs (abet with playerbases in the dozens to hundreds instead of tens of thousands).
It has a complete toolset that can be used to tweak almost every mechanic and create custom content - the original "official" Bioware campaigns make up like 0.1% of what's available for the game, and a ton of the user made content blows the original campaigns out of the water. Users can also add new content in the form of ".hak" files, which add new creature models, new tilesets, new weapons, new feats (like talents), etc.
And all of this is free except for the original purchase. It's available to buy on a site called Good Old Games for $9.99 normally - which includes the original campaign, both expansions (so two more campaigns), and an additional "premium" module - but it's on sale right now for $5.99.
Except I'll sweeten the pot even further - if you send me an email at balkothwarcraft at gmail dot com within the next three days, I'll buy the game for you and send it to you as a gift. Absolutely free. Because I think the game deserves to be promoted.
On top of that, if 10 people haven't requested a copy of the game by the end of the sale, I'll still send a free copy of the game until 10 people total have gotten one.
Now, earlier I mentioned a project of my own. There was a "building challenge" where participants had one month to create a module (the game is separated into modules, which can range from being a single testing zone to a MMO-like Persistent World which spans hundreds of areas and offers hundreds of hours of playtime - you just load the module you want to play or join it if it's already being hosted). I created a solo adventure for max level characters called Siege of the Heavens, which is an action adventure focused on scripted boss fights, similar to what you'd find in WoW raids and dungeons (or Brawler's Guild if you've done that). The Heavens are under attack by devils and demons and the celestials enlist the help of mortals heroes like yourself to help lift the siege.
It's not something you should immediately play - you'll want to familiarize yourself with the basic mechanics of the game before trying my module. It's also only technically halfway finished since I only had a month to build it - which is still 3 or so hours of playtime, and once it's done you'll be able to pick up where you left off and play the remaining 3-4 hours that are planned.
Speaking of familiarizing yourself with the game, I would be happy to play through the official campaigns (or some custom campaigns, I'd strongly recommend the Aielund Saga at a minimum - among many other custom campaigns - which is much better than the official campaigns but again somewhat expects a familiarity with the game) with anyone interested, provided we can arrange suitable times. The first official campaign probably takes about 40 hours to play through, the second two both take about 20 hours each.
IMPORTANT NOTE
You will need to request a unique multiplayer key once you claim your game or else you will be unable to sign into some multiplayer modules for security reasons. There are instructions on how to do so on the GOG site.
Also, some of the old multiplayer services (like game listings provided by Gamespy) are no longer active - but members of the community have recreated replacements that are just as good (or better in some cases) as the originals. More information can be found here. Feel free to contact me (via email or private message on the boards - this is my profile there) or post on those boards for help if you need it.
Again, email me at balkothwarcraft at gmail dot com if you want a copy of the game, want to find out more about the game, want to try to play the game with me, or just want me to shut up about NWN and get back to focusing on WoW.
My goal is to try to get at least a post per week and I will try to analyze some of the results from the poll to the right next. Expect some graphs and probably some whining from me.
First among those would be raiding in WoW. We raced to finish Heroic Sha of Fear in time and literally killed him about 5 hours before the servers went down for the 5.2 patch. Cut it very close there. Throne of Thunder has been interesting so far, lots of trash at times, 1/13H and will kill Heroic Ji-Kun this week at a minimum. Going to be tricky trying to deal with a 12 boss raid with plenty of trash on a two night schedule.
I've also been busy fighting the good fight on the Blizzard forums regarding the new item upgrade plan and how it impacts (or rather doesn't) your off set, which causes problems since Blizzard is expecting everyone to pretty easily upgrade every item (their words, not mine).
Prior to that, I've also been working on a project of my own in what little free time I had. You see, in addition to WoW I'm quite fond of a game called Neverwinter Nights. It's an RPG that came out a few years before WoW which is completely amazing because it is immensely customizable. You can play solo campaigns, you can play multiplayer campaigns, and you can play online on what are effectively MMOs (abet with playerbases in the dozens to hundreds instead of tens of thousands).
It has a complete toolset that can be used to tweak almost every mechanic and create custom content - the original "official" Bioware campaigns make up like 0.1% of what's available for the game, and a ton of the user made content blows the original campaigns out of the water. Users can also add new content in the form of ".hak" files, which add new creature models, new tilesets, new weapons, new feats (like talents), etc.
And all of this is free except for the original purchase. It's available to buy on a site called Good Old Games for $9.99 normally - which includes the original campaign, both expansions (so two more campaigns), and an additional "premium" module - but it's on sale right now for $5.99.
Except I'll sweeten the pot even further - if you send me an email at balkothwarcraft at gmail dot com within the next three days, I'll buy the game for you and send it to you as a gift. Absolutely free. Because I think the game deserves to be promoted.
On top of that, if 10 people haven't requested a copy of the game by the end of the sale, I'll still send a free copy of the game until 10 people total have gotten one.
Now, earlier I mentioned a project of my own. There was a "building challenge" where participants had one month to create a module (the game is separated into modules, which can range from being a single testing zone to a MMO-like Persistent World which spans hundreds of areas and offers hundreds of hours of playtime - you just load the module you want to play or join it if it's already being hosted). I created a solo adventure for max level characters called Siege of the Heavens, which is an action adventure focused on scripted boss fights, similar to what you'd find in WoW raids and dungeons (or Brawler's Guild if you've done that). The Heavens are under attack by devils and demons and the celestials enlist the help of mortals heroes like yourself to help lift the siege.
It's not something you should immediately play - you'll want to familiarize yourself with the basic mechanics of the game before trying my module. It's also only technically halfway finished since I only had a month to build it - which is still 3 or so hours of playtime, and once it's done you'll be able to pick up where you left off and play the remaining 3-4 hours that are planned.
Speaking of familiarizing yourself with the game, I would be happy to play through the official campaigns (or some custom campaigns, I'd strongly recommend the Aielund Saga at a minimum - among many other custom campaigns - which is much better than the official campaigns but again somewhat expects a familiarity with the game) with anyone interested, provided we can arrange suitable times. The first official campaign probably takes about 40 hours to play through, the second two both take about 20 hours each.
IMPORTANT NOTE
You will need to request a unique multiplayer key once you claim your game or else you will be unable to sign into some multiplayer modules for security reasons. There are instructions on how to do so on the GOG site.
Also, some of the old multiplayer services (like game listings provided by Gamespy) are no longer active - but members of the community have recreated replacements that are just as good (or better in some cases) as the originals. More information can be found here. Feel free to contact me (via email or private message on the boards - this is my profile there) or post on those boards for help if you need it.
Again, email me at balkothwarcraft at gmail dot com if you want a copy of the game, want to find out more about the game, want to try to play the game with me, or just want me to shut up about NWN and get back to focusing on WoW.
My goal is to try to get at least a post per week and I will try to analyze some of the results from the poll to the right next. Expect some graphs and probably some whining from me.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Sticking Together (On Cross Realm Raiding)
As people likely know, ever since cross-realm raiding came into existence via Real-ID it has been Blizzard's policy to allow it for every raid tier except the current one. Rohan at Blessing of Kings and Stubborn at Sheep the Diamond recently made a pair of posts regarding the subject. Rohan tried to build a case for Blizzard's current policy and Stubborn suggested reasons why the policy should be changed.
I'm going to agree with Blizzard's policy but for different reasons than Rohan's and I'll actually have two separate arguments. The first is more general and applies to social bonds and opportunity cost, the second is directed at progression raiding.
On Social Bonds
This may shock people, but Blizzard charges a monthly subscription. Thus, they want you to stay subscribed.
It's possible that you've considered quitting raiding and/or WoW, for whatever reason. But when you did, it's likely you felt like this:
One of the main points of MMOs is social bonds, building relationships with people in a persistent world. Those relationships are what generally keep people playing even after the available content is consumed. Doing a dungeon for the 50th time probably isn't fun. Doing a dungeon for the 50th time with friends might be.
So how does this apply to cross-realm raiding? Well, let's say you're considering quitting but you're part of a raiding team. In which of these two scenarios are you more likely to quit?
1, to fill your spot and allow the group to keep raiding, someone just needs to have a friend somewhere on some server some character that's able to fulfill your role.
2, to fill your spot and allow the group to keep raiding, your guild has to recruit someone, most likely cross server. This person has to go through an application process and be vetted and then pay a transfer fee, at which point your guild can evaluate them in a raid environment and see if they're an adequate replacement.
In terms of social bonds, it's a lot easier on you in terms of quitting in the first option. You may feel guilty for making them do that work and you know you're likely introducing a complete stranger into the group of friends.
But there's more.
The man in the above image is discussing the idea of "opportunity cost." In short, opportunity cost means that whenever you do something, you're giving up doing something else you could have done instead. To summarize the summary...
Let's say you have a mage in your guild. He's not performing quite as well as you'd like, and you're considering replacing him as a result.
Currently, to replace him you have to advertise, go through applications, pick someone, and have them transfer over with the knowledge they may fail their trial and thus have wasted their money. That's probably quite a bit of effort and time invested. In short, it puts up a barrier that means you're less likely to replace someone on a whim or for a very minor improvement.
Note that this also can work favor of new applicants. Let's say the old hunter actually had to quit raiding for whatever reason. You get a new hunter, but he's 1% worse than what you want. Is it worth going through the hassle of recruitment again to try to find a better hunter? For the vast majority of guilds, the answer is no.
And
this also even helps prevent people from leaving! A person is less
likely to try to "trade up" in terms of guilds due to the necessity of
transferring and such instead of joining a friend's cross-realm raid
group. Or on a social level, if drama happens, people are more likely to try to work things out and stick together. There's a much higher cost associated with leaving for a new
guild in these scenarios.
Are realm firsts and realm rankings outdated and archaic? Perhaps, but a lot of people still enjoy it. It's a lot more fun to say "We're 8th on the realm" instead of "We're 8,589th in the world." Note:
Is all of the above possible within the same server? Yes, but trying to pull off the above within one server is a lot harder than when you have access to every server.
Perhaps you're still thinking "So what? Social upheaval is fine, people will eventually sort themselves out, cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war!"
Whenever social upheaval occurs in WoW, guilds tend to dissolve and people tend to quit. So how much stability are you willing to give up for fluidity? How much are you willing to sacrifice on the altar of cross-realm raiding?
That's an answer you'll have to decide for yourself.
I'm going to agree with Blizzard's policy but for different reasons than Rohan's and I'll actually have two separate arguments. The first is more general and applies to social bonds and opportunity cost, the second is directed at progression raiding.
On Social Bonds
This may shock people, but Blizzard charges a monthly subscription. Thus, they want you to stay subscribed.
It's possible that you've considered quitting raiding and/or WoW, for whatever reason. But when you did, it's likely you felt like this:
One of the main points of MMOs is social bonds, building relationships with people in a persistent world. Those relationships are what generally keep people playing even after the available content is consumed. Doing a dungeon for the 50th time probably isn't fun. Doing a dungeon for the 50th time with friends might be.
So how does this apply to cross-realm raiding? Well, let's say you're considering quitting but you're part of a raiding team. In which of these two scenarios are you more likely to quit?
1, to fill your spot and allow the group to keep raiding, someone just needs to have a friend somewhere on some server some character that's able to fulfill your role.
2, to fill your spot and allow the group to keep raiding, your guild has to recruit someone, most likely cross server. This person has to go through an application process and be vetted and then pay a transfer fee, at which point your guild can evaluate them in a raid environment and see if they're an adequate replacement.
In terms of social bonds, it's a lot easier on you in terms of quitting in the first option. You may feel guilty for making them do that work and you know you're likely introducing a complete stranger into the group of friends.
But there's more.
The man in the above image is discussing the idea of "opportunity cost." In short, opportunity cost means that whenever you do something, you're giving up doing something else you could have done instead. To summarize the summary...
"Time is money, friend!"
Let's say you have a mage in your guild. He's not performing quite as well as you'd like, and you're considering replacing him as a result.
Currently, to replace him you have to advertise, go through applications, pick someone, and have them transfer over with the knowledge they may fail their trial and thus have wasted their money. That's probably quite a bit of effort and time invested. In short, it puts up a barrier that means you're less likely to replace someone on a whim or for a very minor improvement.
"Good news, everyone! We spent a week of slaving over applications to replace our old hunter with a new one that's 1% better! Totally worth it!"
On the flip side, if you can replace him with someone who's a friend of anyone cross-realm, that lowers the barrier to replacement and means you're *MORE* likely to replace people because the opportunity cost is lower.
Note that this also can work favor of new applicants. Let's say the old hunter actually had to quit raiding for whatever reason. You get a new hunter, but he's 1% worse than what you want. Is it worth going through the hassle of recruitment again to try to find a better hunter? For the vast majority of guilds, the answer is no.
In short, putting up barriers (by not allowing cross-realm raiding on the current tier) helps maintain guild bonds because the opportunity cost of recruiting someone new (or leaving for a new guild) is much higher and so it happens less. It makes moving between groups less fluid and preserves more relationships, which keeps more subscribers, which makes Blizzard happy (and is good for the game).
On Progression Raiding
All that said, allowing cross-realm raiding also causes issues in the progression arena on at least two fronts...
The first front is more obvious: realm firsts and realm rankings.
Note: that's not my achievement.
Allowing cross-realm raiding for the current tier muddles these waters. If Guild A borrows someone from Guild B cross server for a server first kill, is that considered a realm first? Or let's make the example really horrid...Group A uses nine of their people in a cross realm group with Guild B on Guild B's server to get the realm first on that server.
Or let's say realm firsts aren't even involved. Let's say my guild is 16/16H in a month or two and we don't need one or two of our raiders for, say, Heart of Fear. So they go help some friends on another server who are working on normals or early heroics in Heart of Fear. You might imagine that the competition on that server might not be thrilled about this.
Are realm firsts and realm rankings outdated and archaic? Perhaps, but a lot of people still enjoy it. It's a lot more fun to say "We're 8th on the realm" instead of "We're 8,589th in the world." Note:
those numbers are taken from an actual realm.
Is all of the above possible within the same server? Yes, but trying to pull off the above within one server is a lot harder than when you have access to every server.
The second front is somewhat tied to the first front: maintaining an appropriate roster.
One of the challenges of progression raiding is striking a balance with your roster. You want enough people to handle all roles and to cover absences, but you don't want so many raiders that people become unhappy due to sitting and loot gets diluted (a 10 man roster gets 50% more loot per person than a 15 man roster, to use some extremes). If you try to raid with exactly 10 people and someone has to miss a night, you're in trouble, and that's the penalty you pay for trying to play it fast and loose.
Allowing cross-realm raiding for the current tier encourages people to use smaller rosters because finding a replacement is a lot easier. You just need one raider who knows some person who can fill in the spot for the missing person. As a result, it places less emphasis on the guild as a self-contained unit, which weakens social bonds, and we've already discussed how Blizzard doesn't want that.
Conclusion
So there you have a few reasons against cross-realm raiding for the current tier. Allowing cross-realm raiding for the current tier will result in...
1, more people quitting raiding and/or WoW due to ease of replacement
2, more people being replaced in guilds since the barrier of replacing is lowered
3, more people leaving guilds because the barrier of trialing for new guilds is lowered
4, weird (and detrimental) effects on realm firsts and realm rankings
5, less emphasis on raid groups as self-contained units which weakens social bonds
When you're sitting there and missing one person for a raid, I'm sure seeing a bunch of friends online cross realm seems to taunt you. And individually, letting you bring that one person doesn't cause an issue. But WoW players have a tendency of taking things to extremes.
To draw a parallel, taking a friend to LFR with you wasn't really a big deal. Allowing that, however, resulted in guilds doing 10 runs a week using 3 new characters and 22 "saved" characters to get people tons of loot. If you open the door, people will abuse it.
Perhaps you're still thinking "So what? Social upheaval is fine, people will eventually sort themselves out, cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war!"
Whenever social upheaval occurs in WoW, guilds tend to dissolve and people tend to quit. So how much stability are you willing to give up for fluidity? How much are you willing to sacrifice on the altar of cross-realm raiding?
That's an answer you'll have to decide for yourself.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
How Many Mogu Lives and/or Gold is a Ring Worth?
In my last post I discussed the idea of Blizzard adding a new ring vendor who sold 509 rings and suggested that people would value the ring at different amounts. To be "fair," I spoke about both paying in gold or killing Mogu for drops to use as currency instead.
So now let's see what people actually think! Inspired by a suggestion from Stubborn of Sheep the Diamond . Again, to summarize the scenario:
Pretend Blizzard has added a new vendor in your faction's "capital" in Pandaria. This guy sells 509 rings that are unique-equipped as a set, so you can only use one. Also pretend you're a reasonably new level 90 who is looking to acquire gear (likely for raiding, though perhaps to get into LFR or simply because you like gear).
We'll also assume that the ring is perfectly itemized for your spec (or the vendor offers a variety so you can pick the best).
There are two potential methods to pay for the ring. The first is to kill Mogu for a drop (one drop per Mogu so you can't make a group and grind them incredibly efficienctly) and the second is to pay gold. What I'm mainly looking to find out is the threshold at which you go from saying "Yeah, that ring's definitely worth getting" to "You'd have to be crazy to get that ring."
There are a pair of polls on the right hand side of the blog, it'll be interesting to see the results.
So now let's see what people actually think! Inspired by a suggestion from Stubborn of Sheep the Diamond . Again, to summarize the scenario:
Pretend Blizzard has added a new vendor in your faction's "capital" in Pandaria. This guy sells 509 rings that are unique-equipped as a set, so you can only use one. Also pretend you're a reasonably new level 90 who is looking to acquire gear (likely for raiding, though perhaps to get into LFR or simply because you like gear).
We'll also assume that the ring is perfectly itemized for your spec (or the vendor offers a variety so you can pick the best).
There are two potential methods to pay for the ring. The first is to kill Mogu for a drop (one drop per Mogu so you can't make a group and grind them incredibly efficienctly) and the second is to pay gold. What I'm mainly looking to find out is the threshold at which you go from saying "Yeah, that ring's definitely worth getting" to "You'd have to be crazy to get that ring."
There are a pair of polls on the right hand side of the blog, it'll be interesting to see the results.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
The Ring Vendor (On "Optional")
So, are the dailies for Klaxxi/Golden Lotus/August Celestials/Shado-Pan optional? Is running LFR for upgrades optional? What do we even mean by optional?
I realize I'm a bit late to the party with this post. And frankly at this point it doesn't even matter, the damage has been done (for now). So why write this? To explain the problem, illustrate the frustration people experienced, and hopefully prevent this situation from happening again.
On a personal note, my guild is currently 6/6H in MSV at the time of this posting and hopefully we'll kill another heroic boss or two by the end of this week (we only raid Sunday/Monday). My guild did the daily grind, the valor grind, and the conquest grind during the first few weeks (along with gearing up in heroic dungeons, of course). We hated it, but we gritted our teeth and put up with it. In other words, this is from the perspective of a person who's been there and done that, not someone sitting at 0/0 neutral Golden Lotus and whining about how things are unfair.
So let's imagine a scenario. Blizzard has decided that they want to give people an additional gearing option so they create a new vendor in your faction's "capital" in the Vale. This vendor has 509 rings (which are as a collection unique-equipped) which cost no money, all you have to do is talk to him and get the ring you want (or more than one ring for different roles).
You're estatic, surely this ring will help you down more raid bosses. It's not an earth-shattering bonus, but it will help. You show up on raid night and you see that everyone has one of the new rings...except one person. Surprised, your raid asks the fellow why he doesn't have one of the new rings. He says "We get gear from raiding and we'll eventually kill the bosses anyway, so getting the ring is optional."
How many of you would accept that answer? How many would say "Oh, yeah, sure, you having the ring would help us kill bosses faster while we're all relatively undergeared but it is optional, you're totally right." My guess is none of you. In fact, you'd probably try to get rid of him and replace him with someone who actually cares about helping the raid succeed.
Now let's throw a wrench in the works. Suppose the ring costs 100g now.
Most (if not all) of you probably still think he had damn well better have that ring if he wants to be in the raid.
What if it was 500g? Or 1000g? Or 5000g? Or 1,0000g? Or 50,000g? Or 100,000g? Or 500,000g? How about 1,000,000g?
My guess is that somewhere along that line you went from thinking "Yeah, that guy had better have the ring" to "You'd have to be crazy to have that ring."
I'll also guess that the point at which you thought it was worth getting the ring varied among you, that some of you thought it was worth maybe 100g at most, others thought that a 509 ring that didn't cost a capped currency (valor/conquest) or require a raid ID was worth 100,000g, and most of you probably fell in the middle somewhere.
"But Balkoth, what if we're bad at making gold, that's not fair to people who aren't AH barons!"
Okay, for argument's sake, let's change the scenario.
Now, instead of having to pay 100g, you have to kill 10 Mogu in the Vale for a drop (and each Mogu drops only one item, so grouping doesn't really help).
Most (if not all) of you probably still think he had damn well better have that ring if he wants to be in the raid (that's basically one daily quest, after all).
What if it was 50 Mogu? Or 100 Mogu? Or 500 Mogu? Or 1,000 Mogu? Or 5,000 Mogu? Or 10,000 Mogu? Or 50,000 Mogu? How about 100,000 Mogu?
My guess is that somewhere along that line you went from thinking "Yeah, that guy had better have the ring" to "You'd have to be crazy to have that ring."
And again, I'll also guess that people have different opinions on how many Mogu lives that ring is worth.
So what can we conclude from this?
Trying to claim that getting the ring is "optional" is meaningless. In a sense, it's technically true. In the same technical sense, using gems is optional. Enchants are optional. Using flasks is optional. And wearing pants is optional (you could technically kill every raid boss without wearing pants eventually).
What we really mean, then, is that guilds have expectations that raiders will do what they can within reason to maximize the likelihood of success in raids. And as we've seen above, exactly what "within reason" means depends on the guild.
For raiding guilds, this means getting getting items from heroic dungeons. This means gemming and enchanting the gear. This means using flasks, food, and potions. I have never seen a guild that would consider any of this optional.
But there's something important to point out here. Even this isn't clear-cut: most people, even those who cleared 8/8H Dragon Soul pre-nerf, didn't use epic gems in every slot for every item no matter what. Most people used lesser enchants at the beginning of Cataclysm because Maelstroms were so expensive. And if flasks suddenly cost 5000g each for some reason, I doubt we'd see many guilds using them.
Now, in Mists of Pandaria, raiders have additional ways to maximize the likelihood of success in raids. They can do dailies for reputation for Valor items. They can PvP for Conquest items that are effectively 483 PvE items for all but tanks. They do do LFR for items and sigils. They can get Golden Lotus/Klaxxi exalted for two "free" 489 items (that don't require an RNG drop or a gated currency, i.e. Valor/Conquest).
Guilds serious about progressing quickly in heroic modes consider this all within reason. Thus, it becomes mandatory, just like gemming/enchanting gear is mandatory. Just like using flasks/food/potions is mandatory. Just like wearing pants in the raid is mandatory.
If someone showed up to your raid without pants and claimed wearing pants was "optional," would you accept their reasoning?
One of my next posts will discuss possible solutions to this problem.
I realize I'm a bit late to the party with this post. And frankly at this point it doesn't even matter, the damage has been done (for now). So why write this? To explain the problem, illustrate the frustration people experienced, and hopefully prevent this situation from happening again.
On a personal note, my guild is currently 6/6H in MSV at the time of this posting and hopefully we'll kill another heroic boss or two by the end of this week (we only raid Sunday/Monday). My guild did the daily grind, the valor grind, and the conquest grind during the first few weeks (along with gearing up in heroic dungeons, of course). We hated it, but we gritted our teeth and put up with it. In other words, this is from the perspective of a person who's been there and done that, not someone sitting at 0/0 neutral Golden Lotus and whining about how things are unfair.
So let's imagine a scenario. Blizzard has decided that they want to give people an additional gearing option so they create a new vendor in your faction's "capital" in the Vale. This vendor has 509 rings (which are as a collection unique-equipped) which cost no money, all you have to do is talk to him and get the ring you want (or more than one ring for different roles).
You're estatic, surely this ring will help you down more raid bosses. It's not an earth-shattering bonus, but it will help. You show up on raid night and you see that everyone has one of the new rings...except one person. Surprised, your raid asks the fellow why he doesn't have one of the new rings. He says "We get gear from raiding and we'll eventually kill the bosses anyway, so getting the ring is optional."
How many of you would accept that answer? How many would say "Oh, yeah, sure, you having the ring would help us kill bosses faster while we're all relatively undergeared but it is optional, you're totally right." My guess is none of you. In fact, you'd probably try to get rid of him and replace him with someone who actually cares about helping the raid succeed.
Now let's throw a wrench in the works. Suppose the ring costs 100g now.
Most (if not all) of you probably still think he had damn well better have that ring if he wants to be in the raid.
What if it was 500g? Or 1000g? Or 5000g? Or 1,0000g? Or 50,000g? Or 100,000g? Or 500,000g? How about 1,000,000g?
My guess is that somewhere along that line you went from thinking "Yeah, that guy had better have the ring" to "You'd have to be crazy to have that ring."
I'll also guess that the point at which you thought it was worth getting the ring varied among you, that some of you thought it was worth maybe 100g at most, others thought that a 509 ring that didn't cost a capped currency (valor/conquest) or require a raid ID was worth 100,000g, and most of you probably fell in the middle somewhere.
"But Balkoth, what if we're bad at making gold, that's not fair to people who aren't AH barons!"
Okay, for argument's sake, let's change the scenario.
Now, instead of having to pay 100g, you have to kill 10 Mogu in the Vale for a drop (and each Mogu drops only one item, so grouping doesn't really help).
Most (if not all) of you probably still think he had damn well better have that ring if he wants to be in the raid (that's basically one daily quest, after all).
What if it was 50 Mogu? Or 100 Mogu? Or 500 Mogu? Or 1,000 Mogu? Or 5,000 Mogu? Or 10,000 Mogu? Or 50,000 Mogu? How about 100,000 Mogu?
My guess is that somewhere along that line you went from thinking "Yeah, that guy had better have the ring" to "You'd have to be crazy to have that ring."
And again, I'll also guess that people have different opinions on how many Mogu lives that ring is worth.
So what can we conclude from this?
Trying to claim that getting the ring is "optional" is meaningless. In a sense, it's technically true. In the same technical sense, using gems is optional. Enchants are optional. Using flasks is optional. And wearing pants is optional (you could technically kill every raid boss without wearing pants eventually).
What we really mean, then, is that guilds have expectations that raiders will do what they can within reason to maximize the likelihood of success in raids. And as we've seen above, exactly what "within reason" means depends on the guild.
For raiding guilds, this means getting getting items from heroic dungeons. This means gemming and enchanting the gear. This means using flasks, food, and potions. I have never seen a guild that would consider any of this optional.
But there's something important to point out here. Even this isn't clear-cut: most people, even those who cleared 8/8H Dragon Soul pre-nerf, didn't use epic gems in every slot for every item no matter what. Most people used lesser enchants at the beginning of Cataclysm because Maelstroms were so expensive. And if flasks suddenly cost 5000g each for some reason, I doubt we'd see many guilds using them.
Now, in Mists of Pandaria, raiders have additional ways to maximize the likelihood of success in raids. They can do dailies for reputation for Valor items. They can PvP for Conquest items that are effectively 483 PvE items for all but tanks. They do do LFR for items and sigils. They can get Golden Lotus/Klaxxi exalted for two "free" 489 items (that don't require an RNG drop or a gated currency, i.e. Valor/Conquest).
Guilds serious about progressing quickly in heroic modes consider this all within reason. Thus, it becomes mandatory, just like gemming/enchanting gear is mandatory. Just like using flasks/food/potions is mandatory. Just like wearing pants in the raid is mandatory.
If someone showed up to your raid without pants and claimed wearing pants was "optional," would you accept their reasoning?
One of my next posts will discuss possible solutions to this problem.
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