Sunday, May 30, 2010

What's a little 5% worth anyway?

Perhaps a great deal actually. This week Blizzard increased the passive buff an additional 5% to 20% in ICC. Between that, and a new strategy on Putricide we finally downed him Thursday night.  And as luck would have it, we also then went on to "kill" Dreamweaver as well.  Nearing the end of our raid time we wanted to get in an attempt or two on Sindragosa to see what that fight was all about but it was pretty clear on the first attempt that very few actually knew anything about the fight.  Thursday night was a good night but unfortunately the guild needed me to DPS on the Putricide fight, so I didn't get my Unholy Infusion for my Shadowmourne quest chain completed.

It would have been interesting to have thought of our new strategy and tried it out before the 5% increase.  I'm pretty sure we have the DPS to have done it without the additional buff as our problems with Putricide have always been about people dieing to the  Maleable Goo.  Some of that can't be avoided, like when you're targeted by the green sludge and Maleable Goo is thrown at or near you.  Having the goo go off near you and being hit by the green sludge will almost always kill you, but outside of that people continue to be hit and killed by the Maleable Goo which is nothing more than an indication of them not paying attention.

What we changed is that during phase 1 and 2 no one stands in the center.  During phase 1 and 2 the ranged and healers stand in a group on the table side of the room and Putricide is tanked near where the green sludge spawns.  When he's about to throw out choking gas bombs the tank will kite him into the middle where they can be dropped safely.  The melee remain where Putricide was being tanked and can resume DPS as soon as he's brought back.  During phase 3 the ranged all move into the center and Putricide is kited from as near his table along the outer wall and around to the entrance as slowly as possible.  The only thing that has to be reacted to during phase 3 is the RNG part of where he throws the slime puddles.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Sith Warrior Vignette released



I do so love these vignettes Bioware has been releasing the past few months.  While short, this one gives flesh to what we've already known about the Sith Warrior class.  And as a bonus, adding to it is more detail about the sub-specializations -- the Marauder and the Juggernaut!  The Marauder would be synonomous with WoW's Fury Warriors and the Juggernaut is the tank.

Monday, May 24, 2010

I am really that old

Not only did I see The Empire Strikes Back when it originally hit the theaters, but I also saw the Star Wars when it hit the theaters in 1977 as well.  To commemorate me being that old Bioware is bringing Hoth to a SWTOR near you!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Frustration, your name is Professor Putricide

I've lamented on many occasions my guilds systemic progression problems but had resigned myself to the fact I'm unlikely to see Arthas let alone get any further.  After today however, I'm boiling over with frustration.  I've had a great deal of trouble with keeping my alt-a-holism, but for the most part I play just two characters -- my Paladin as my main and my Druid as my alt.  I raid regularly on my Pally but only PUG a 25-man raid on my Druid on the weekend in a semi-permanent group.  In that raid there's a static core with probably half the raid being PUGS (friends and whoever).  Today we killed the first four bosses in an hour flat, then went on to one shot Festergut and Rotface and kill Putricide in three attempts.  And it only took three attempts because the first attempt ended in a wipe when someone new cleansed the Abom (twice!).

I play Boomkin on my Druid and this was only the second time I've seen Putricide on him.  The first time was months ago in another PUG, and as I'm normally melee in this fight all I had to do differently was to make sure and duck the maleable goo.  Zero problems with that.  And I don't even use AVR which is why I'm so frustrated right now because our casters getting hit and killed by the goo are the only reason we haven't killed Putricide yet.

WTB casters that actually have some situational awareness!!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Jay Mohr at Blizzcon 2010

I met this news with a bit of trepidation because I truly felt he was horrible last year.  Not only was he not funny last year but you could plainly see he wasn't the least bit interested in being there.  His entire routine was delivered with a deadpan voice and without much visible emotion.  He was bored and his routine reflected it.  And to reward him Blizzard brings him back.

./golfclap

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Doldrums or something else entirely

I'm still not completely convinced the "doldrums" have begun this year, but I have noticed a very distinct and deep dissatisfaction with the state of the game percolating among segments of the player population.  You can read it on the forums, see it in the people who have gone missing, and hear about it trade and general chat.  Whether it's boredom or dissatisfaction with the direction the game has taken, clearly something is going on.  I'm experiencing some of that myself. I've mentioned many times that I've been put off by the constant changing nature of end-game raiding, not to mention my own guilds systemic problems with progression. Outside of raiding the only options for entertainment are PVP, socializing (pay $15 a month to sit around and do nothing but talk to people?), and questing/achievements.  I PVP with great regularity, though my interest in PVP ebbs and flows. And quite frankly there just isn't a great deal for me to do in PVP right now, other than complete remaining achievements on my Druid and my Paladin, and upgrade the last few pieces of their suits to Relentless pieces.  I do my daily PVP matches on both characters and maybe a few additional to earn honor for gems, but that's about it these days.

While I tend to chase achievements, a lot of other people aren't all that interested in doing that.  Where I have objectives in game to occupy my time, others get restless and despondent and stop playing.  And usually before they get to that final point they express their boredom and displeasure on the forum or in chat.  Fortunately for me, WoW is a theme-park and offers developed content.  If this were a fantasy skinned version of Star Wars Galaxies I'm sure I'd have been gone long ago too.  Though I still like WoW very much, like many others, it is getting old for me.  I've noticed myself being restless from time to time and I have been giving a lot of consideration to other games.  Star Trek Online didn't pan out but I'm sincerely hoping Star Wars: The Old Republic does.  When the time comes I'll most likely play it along side WoW if I don't change up out right.  In the mean time I'll fill in those hours of play time with more achievement hunting and continue to develop my Horde Druid.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Green Proto-Drake

I never thought I'd get this.  My weekly egg hatching had become one of my most detested chores.  It surprised me this week.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Cataclysm Alpha

We knew it would be soon, and the friends and family alpha is upon us.  Earlier in the week we started to see the odd leak or two, but then MMO-Champion unleashed a wave of information on us.  Boubouille has always been a font of knowledge in regards to WoW, but I don't recall him ever getting this much information this early in the development cycle before.  He's evidently cultivated some very "profitable" relationships with some Blizzard employees.  He also had the talent trees up a few days ago but I can't locate those at the moment.  Suffice to say that they were very interesting!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

PC Games I'm looking forward to this year

I don't play a lot of PC games these days.  But just occasionally there are some that I can't wait to pick up.  Including Starcraft 2, which is one of the most anticipated releases that I can ever remember.  The original Starcraft has attained something close to  legendary status.  It's still, a decade later, still a staple in the gaming industry and is all but a national past time in South Korea.  A lot is riding on this release.

A lot of people are impatiently waiting it and I'm one of them.  The release of Star Craft II which was finally announced yesterday would be released on Jul 27th.


Another game I'm anxiously awaiting is Star Wars: the Force Unleashed 2 which was announced today as being released on Oct 26th!  Force Unleashed 1 was a terrific game with stunning visuals and hours of fun game play.  Looking forward to playing its sequal.




Sunday, May 2, 2010

Children's week 2010

Last year when I did Children's Week it was on my DK who was my main at the time.  I only bothered to get the free pet from Dalaran on other toons.  I made a few salient points last year by what I felt was an unfair achievement, and all the same complaints I had then remain today.  Blizzard didn't change a single aspect of Children's Week for 2010 other than to roll the Dalaran portion of it into its proper week.  Except that's broken at the moment.  So Children's Week still asks people who may never have even stepped into a Battleground before to not only do that, but to achieve very specific objectives in them on top of it.  It's simply not very fair to ask that in my opinion.

As I said, last year I did it on my DK but I was determined to complete Children's week on my two main characters this year -- my Paladin and my Druid.  Children's Week was my final world event for What a Long Strange Trip it's Been for him and I was able to complete Children's Week, and the year-long meta achievement today.  I was also able to complete Children's Week on my Paladin, however he still has the MidSummer Festival to complete for the year-long meta.  If Children's Week is so hard how was I able to fully complete two characters in a single afternoon?  Simple.  I'm a heavy PVP'er, know my way around all of the battlegrounds, and I knew specifically where to go to achieve the battleground objectives easiest.  It also helped that there were actually some flag/tower trading going on today, though I doubt that will continue indefinitely.

If you know what you are doing, AV isn't bad at all.  Skip the first tower completely at IB and go for TP or run all the way to Frost Wolf.  Most people will stop to fight Galv or take IB tower or Tower Point automatically removing some of your competition.  That may, or may not be enough though if you take a less efficient route or get stuck on obstacles along the way.  AB is only slightly less easy as your best bet is to run strait for the Stables flag.  But as most people will probably be doing that as well you can head for the mine or the lumbar mill instead.  If you see no opponents at your location it boils down to whoever is fastest to the flag.  But if you do have opponents it boils down to whoever can sneak off to the flag first.  If you can stealth do it.  Wait for an opportune moment and sneak into the flag when others are fighting, or wait to recap it if it's taken by the other side and no one is looking.  Whatever you do, just make sure you have your orphan out when you do it otherwise you won't get credit.

EotS and WSG are going to be the hardest of the four to complete, with WSG possibly being the toughest.  If you can find a match where a nice opposing member will pick up the flag and then drop it for people to return and who also won't be killed by an over zealous team mate, you're in like Flynn.  Otherwise you have to do it the hard way by actually killing the flag runner and then being in the right place to return the flag once it's dropped, and be the quickest to do so.  EotS is just slightly less annoying, except there's one central location to get the flag and everyone trying to get it all at once.  Unlike WSG where there just might be a little team work going on with the opposing side, there is no such thing going on in EoTS.  Its every man for himself and everyone out for himself all at once.  Good luck being the lucky one standing mid-field trying to grab the flag, avoiding area damage, and being quicker than everyone else.

In relation to other battleground achievements during world events where they generally only require you to obtain X number of honorable kills, this world event requires you to obtain specific objectives that are many times more difficult.  We can discuss the specific difficulty of the achievement, but when you compare it against all the others and against the back drop that the meta takes an entire year to complete in the first place, doesn't it seem very out of place?  Not to mention just a little bit inappropriate considering much of the audience?