The STO head start period started yesterday at 1pm EST and I was there. Helps to actually know what to expect, so I made LT6 by yesterday evening after only about 5 hours of play time. As soon as I made LT6 I logged out and logged back in to create my Klingon, who then made LT5 in all of about 30-45 minutes. Talk about a leg up! And I've already hit LT8 this morning just running PVP queues, which is entirely what the Klingon faction is all about, game-wise. Unlike the Federation faction, which has stories and missions to run through, the Klingon faction has none of it. Any "quests" you get from Klingon faction NPCs relate directly to PVP of some variety.
While I think that makes some sense in a Star Trek way, I have to wonder how much of that was driven by the very tight time line within which Cryptic had to produce this MMO. If you look at it from a simple developmental standpoint, the Klingons were announced late last year. And as you walk around in the early minutes of the game on the Klingon site you can't help but notice how stark it is compared to the Federation faction. Which quite honestly, isn't all that busy to begin with. As I mentioned, it took me something around 5 or 6 hours to make it to LT6 on the Federation side, but on the Klingon side of things it's a simple matter of walking around in the station for 30 mins before you hit that mark. I don't buy the premise that the developers were just slingshoting Klingons to the point where they could PVP. It smacks too much of cut corners to me.
As far as launches go, the head start actually didn't start off too badly. There was some lag which caused rubber banding and the such, but much better than I had believed I would be seeing given Cryptic's track record with previous MMOs. The server has crashed only once that I know of, though I'm going to be very interested to see how things hold up on the 2nd when the bulk of the player population logs in.
[8pm EST Update] I spoke way too soon. The server went down for hours today, and finally came back up, only to now go back down after an hour. The official forums are turning into a mudfest.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
"Interesting" design premise of upcoming MMOs
Notice anything similar between the two largest upcoming MMOs? I've mentioned my recent thoughts on the Star Trek Online (STO) MMO, but hadn't really gotten into the amount of instancing it does. Almost everything is an instance in STO. From the public quests, to the quests, you will jump from instance to instance and only interact -- however limited -- with other players in the sector zones, space stations, and whenever someone ventures into the same public quest instance as you. For all intents and purposes, outside of that you are screaming through what can only be said to be an RPG. Replete with NPC party members, AKA bridge officers.
A lot of this has been available through other sources, but this recent IGN video about the Old Republic (SWTOR) certainly cements things together in a way that I don't think has been done previously anywhere else. Like STO, SWTOR will be repleat with individual instance environments where you will spend a majority of your time.
Bioware has said cities will be open zones, which can be equated to the space stations in STO. And it struck me that this design premise has become more prevalent lately and seemingly started with Age of Conan. Only now it's been taken to the Nth degree and represents a large departure from traditional MMO design. I'd already remarked how the feeling to me in STO was that I wasn't playing an MMO, but rather a simple RPG that just happened to have some other people in it (rpg w/coop) and I'm really wondering at this point if SWTOR will not feel the same way. Interaction with others is important in an "MMO", yet in these two MMOs that interactivity is specifically and intentionally limited. And I have to wonder what would be driving this design premise. Whether this is a reaction to years of failed bids to dethrone WoW, or reaction to a common design problem in other MMOs; that low player base destroys much of the playability of the game; we can only surmise.
A lot of this has been available through other sources, but this recent IGN video about the Old Republic (SWTOR) certainly cements things together in a way that I don't think has been done previously anywhere else. Like STO, SWTOR will be repleat with individual instance environments where you will spend a majority of your time.
Bioware has said cities will be open zones, which can be equated to the space stations in STO. And it struck me that this design premise has become more prevalent lately and seemingly started with Age of Conan. Only now it's been taken to the Nth degree and represents a large departure from traditional MMO design. I'd already remarked how the feeling to me in STO was that I wasn't playing an MMO, but rather a simple RPG that just happened to have some other people in it (rpg w/coop) and I'm really wondering at this point if SWTOR will not feel the same way. Interaction with others is important in an "MMO", yet in these two MMOs that interactivity is specifically and intentionally limited. And I have to wonder what would be driving this design premise. Whether this is a reaction to years of failed bids to dethrone WoW, or reaction to a common design problem in other MMOs; that low player base destroys much of the playability of the game; we can only surmise.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
End of Star Trek Online Beta
The servers are down right now, which in effect means the end of the beta for me as it's a WoW raid night tonight. All in all I think I was able to get in around 12 hours of play time but would have liked to have been able to put in many more as I was still short of LCDR rank. Only having risen to LT 5 there was still much of the game I never gained access to, though I poked around every nook and cranny I could see. My earlier impression about the game being more akin to a first person RPG still stands. While you may see other people running around in sector space you never interact with them, except in the smallest way -- i.e. joining in on public quests, etc. Reinforcing that feeling are the limited communication abilities. Perhaps I am wrong, but I never discovered any specific communication channels created when joined with others. In fact in whatever public quest I was running at the moment I hardly noticed I was actually grouped with anyone else at all as there didn't seem to be any tools to help coordinate the various ships joined together.
I also didn't get to participate in any PVP. I had really wanted to level to the point where I could create a Klingon and see what that was all about, but evidently fell short. The unfortunate aspect of the horrible AI evident in both the ground missions and the space missions makes me want to PVP all the more, where I'm thinking the real gem of this game may reside. At least that's my thoughts on it now and freely admit I may be wrong. If getting into PVP proves to be too hard then I really can't see myself staying around very long. The missions you're asked to run are of the most inane sort imaginable. Other than the sure amount of damage you can take from missions there simply is nothing difficult about them (in general) and they tend to become very boring very quickly. It's a simple matter of rotating your ship to preserve shields, using bridge officer skills and equipment to buff shields, limit the enemies ability to target you, and wear down their shields to kill them. Yet the enemy NPCs never seem to use any strategy or special abilities when combating you. They simply fly around in circles and shooting at you.
There is still the very nagging question in my mind regarding what the end goal of this game is. Perhaps that's simply a question of me being too low to discern, but the available information on the STO website and ingame certainly doesn't clear it up either. You complete missions and kill targets to accumulate different "currencies" and skill points. The skill point system looks interesting, but the currency required to "requisition" higher level ships seems pretty steep. The open question in my mind is is the purpose of the game to level up and acquire more currency to buy a better ship? Only to level up more and but a better ship? Eventually you'll get to the point where you're an Admiral and are flying around in that monster heavy Cruiser, or Fleet Escort ship. Then what? In WoW we have raiding. What does STO online have to occupy the players at the higher levels? Really wish someone could answer this question for me.
In any event those questions will all have to wait until the game launch. The beta was of the typical sort -- which is to say buggy, unstable, and ever changing. However one thing I was greatly surprised that Mythic did not have in place early was a queue system. A great deal of the instability over the weekend was due to the number of people logged in. There wasn't anything in place to keep players from logging in and making the servers unstable, requiring a hardware upgrade on Saturday and a queue test yesterday. These are the sorts of things that make me look back at previous Mythic MMOs and groan hoping those problems aren't to be had here either. Only time will answer this question as well.
I also didn't get to participate in any PVP. I had really wanted to level to the point where I could create a Klingon and see what that was all about, but evidently fell short. The unfortunate aspect of the horrible AI evident in both the ground missions and the space missions makes me want to PVP all the more, where I'm thinking the real gem of this game may reside. At least that's my thoughts on it now and freely admit I may be wrong. If getting into PVP proves to be too hard then I really can't see myself staying around very long. The missions you're asked to run are of the most inane sort imaginable. Other than the sure amount of damage you can take from missions there simply is nothing difficult about them (in general) and they tend to become very boring very quickly. It's a simple matter of rotating your ship to preserve shields, using bridge officer skills and equipment to buff shields, limit the enemies ability to target you, and wear down their shields to kill them. Yet the enemy NPCs never seem to use any strategy or special abilities when combating you. They simply fly around in circles and shooting at you.
There is still the very nagging question in my mind regarding what the end goal of this game is. Perhaps that's simply a question of me being too low to discern, but the available information on the STO website and ingame certainly doesn't clear it up either. You complete missions and kill targets to accumulate different "currencies" and skill points. The skill point system looks interesting, but the currency required to "requisition" higher level ships seems pretty steep. The open question in my mind is is the purpose of the game to level up and acquire more currency to buy a better ship? Only to level up more and but a better ship? Eventually you'll get to the point where you're an Admiral and are flying around in that monster heavy Cruiser, or Fleet Escort ship. Then what? In WoW we have raiding. What does STO online have to occupy the players at the higher levels? Really wish someone could answer this question for me.
In any event those questions will all have to wait until the game launch. The beta was of the typical sort -- which is to say buggy, unstable, and ever changing. However one thing I was greatly surprised that Mythic did not have in place early was a queue system. A great deal of the instability over the weekend was due to the number of people logged in. There wasn't anything in place to keep players from logging in and making the servers unstable, requiring a hardware upgrade on Saturday and a queue test yesterday. These are the sorts of things that make me look back at previous Mythic MMOs and groan hoping those problems aren't to be had here either. Only time will answer this question as well.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sometimes PUGS can be good
I've been working on completing Glory of the Hero for two months now, with Less Rabi being the single remaining achievement to complete. Every time we tried it though we were just off by a hair. Quite frustrating actually. Yet today, in a PUG I get it and get my Red Proto-Drake mount. PUGs, it seems, are not always all bad.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Star Trek Online beta
I've been able to spend a couple more hours playing in between the frequent server crashes. Unfortunately the server is crashing a couple times an hour now and I've taken all of that I can today. However I can say that yes, the fleet actions do become a bit more strategic. They're still fairly fast paced, so by strategic I mean you need to be able to ascertain how to rotate shields away from an enemy and utilize the skills your bridge officers give you to minimize damage you're taking and maximize damage you deal out. I'm in the middle of Lieutenant now and I would have died several times over if I hadn't paid attention to those sorts of things. A few of my fleet mates did -- evidently because they didn't.
I really wish Mythic could keep the servers in a more stable state, but the common statement on the forums from real "fans" is "lawl this is a beta". Not sure what that has to do with anything, but there it is. I had a mission that took me to a sector that I simply couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do it, and would have liked to have given it some more time tonight. Oh well, perhaps tomorrow.
I really wish Mythic could keep the servers in a more stable state, but the common statement on the forums from real "fans" is "lawl this is a beta". Not sure what that has to do with anything, but there it is. I had a mission that took me to a sector that I simply couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do it, and would have liked to have given it some more time tonight. Oh well, perhaps tomorrow.
U.S.S Aries
I really wasn't planning on participating in the beta and had considered skipping STO all together since most of the beta reviews I've seen have been more on the negative side than positive. Yet I couldn't stay away. I had to see for myself what this game was all about, and I've spent the better part of today playing for the first time -- something like five or six hours so far. That isn't enough time to tell you anything substantive about the game, but it's enough time for me to relay some impressions on it.
First, I'm a starship captain! U.S.S. Aries is mine. I think I completed all the tutorial missions, though the server crashed so I'm not entirely certain of that. I'll know more when they can bring it back online and I can complete talking to the two NPCs at the Earth station I need to talk to. It was kinda shaky at first as I tried to figure out exactly what I was supposed to be doing, and how. Most confusing is how to find specific NPCs you are supposed to talk to -- say like on the Earth Station, and how to find specific ships in zones you need to find. In stations they definitely need to add some functionality to the map or some sort of a pointer along the floor to lead you to NPCs attached to missions you currently have. I can see the names of the NPCs I'm supposed to see on my map, but can't tell you where they are in a three dimensional environment. In the zones, where it tells you to get close to U.S.S. Whateveritis, they should add a colored pointer on the mini-map, or a colored directional arrow on the screen to point you in the right direction. You'll experience this problem very soon in your career as the first set of space missions will have you interacting with a Science Vessel that asks you to beam off crew members of four different ships. Finding those four ships in a very busy battle was a bit on the difficult side for me, and then I ended up having to find the original ship that gave me the mission again. Surely this can be done better.
The ground missions are somewhat lacking, most of which have been of the "rescue 6 scientists", "talk to 6 miners", or vanilla kill raiders variety thus far. I found all the missions where I actually had to shoot things to be extremely easy. Something along the lines of shoot one NPC, watch them swarm, and target whichever comes after me first. Knocking them down and stunning them while shooting is the way to go it seems. I'd be just as happy if the away/ground missions were never included in STO because quite honestly I think most people are more interested in the space aspects of STO.
Speaking of the space aspect, I realize that I'm still in the uber noob zone but there isn't really much to space battle I have seen thus far. Simply target and shoot. I like the idea and implementation of weapon arcs, which has been the sole aspect of battles where I've had to do any thinking what so ever. That being which way to point my ship. I'm really hoping that battles become a bit more strategic as I get into real content later on otherwise it will devolve into whoever has the biggest, hardest hitting weapon will win no matter what, and you might as well just sit still and slug it out.
Something else I'm trying very hard to discern is what the "end-game" goal is. What is the over-arcing theme of the game, and that simply hasn't been anything I've been able to tell yet. Unfortunately the information available through the Mythic website is extremely anemic. So far my impression is this is more akin to a first person PC game than an MMO.
First, I'm a starship captain! U.S.S. Aries is mine. I think I completed all the tutorial missions, though the server crashed so I'm not entirely certain of that. I'll know more when they can bring it back online and I can complete talking to the two NPCs at the Earth station I need to talk to. It was kinda shaky at first as I tried to figure out exactly what I was supposed to be doing, and how. Most confusing is how to find specific NPCs you are supposed to talk to -- say like on the Earth Station, and how to find specific ships in zones you need to find. In stations they definitely need to add some functionality to the map or some sort of a pointer along the floor to lead you to NPCs attached to missions you currently have. I can see the names of the NPCs I'm supposed to see on my map, but can't tell you where they are in a three dimensional environment. In the zones, where it tells you to get close to U.S.S. Whateveritis, they should add a colored pointer on the mini-map, or a colored directional arrow on the screen to point you in the right direction. You'll experience this problem very soon in your career as the first set of space missions will have you interacting with a Science Vessel that asks you to beam off crew members of four different ships. Finding those four ships in a very busy battle was a bit on the difficult side for me, and then I ended up having to find the original ship that gave me the mission again. Surely this can be done better.
The ground missions are somewhat lacking, most of which have been of the "rescue 6 scientists", "talk to 6 miners", or vanilla kill raiders variety thus far. I found all the missions where I actually had to shoot things to be extremely easy. Something along the lines of shoot one NPC, watch them swarm, and target whichever comes after me first. Knocking them down and stunning them while shooting is the way to go it seems. I'd be just as happy if the away/ground missions were never included in STO because quite honestly I think most people are more interested in the space aspects of STO.
Speaking of the space aspect, I realize that I'm still in the uber noob zone but there isn't really much to space battle I have seen thus far. Simply target and shoot. I like the idea and implementation of weapon arcs, which has been the sole aspect of battles where I've had to do any thinking what so ever. That being which way to point my ship. I'm really hoping that battles become a bit more strategic as I get into real content later on otherwise it will devolve into whoever has the biggest, hardest hitting weapon will win no matter what, and you might as well just sit still and slug it out.
Something else I'm trying very hard to discern is what the "end-game" goal is. What is the over-arcing theme of the game, and that simply hasn't been anything I've been able to tell yet. Unfortunately the information available through the Mythic website is extremely anemic. So far my impression is this is more akin to a first person PC game than an MMO.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Warrior 1-20
The most interesting aspect of WoW to me is the literal plethora of gaming experiences you can make for yourself with the several classes and the talent spec combinations that are available for each of them. And that is not even to mention the fact that you can start in any one of 4 starter zones for each faction. That alone has been one of the biggest aspects of the WoW MMO that propelled it to the top, and has kept it there. I've spoken at length recently how I've been playing all specs on my two main toons -- my Druid and my Paladin, but I've also recently decided to try my hands at the Warrior class too. I haven't played a Warrior since vanilla, so I went in with absolutely no pre-conceived notions and have plenty to say on the matter.
After five years of playing I just like trying new things. And I've been very happy to find that I could find something new with the Warrior. I have no idea what to expect in the upper levels for this class, but from 1-20 I can tell you that the Warrior class is a lot of fun to play. Especially with heirloom gear. I had the shoulders and Arcanite Reaper from leveling my Paladin, and I added the chest piece to those. Not only to relieve myself of having to upgrade these pieces all the time, but lets be honest; the typical starter gear and weapons just plain suck. Inclusion of these in my little experiment might color my experience somewhat, but not overwhelmingly so.
I was struck with how similar the early experience was between the Warrior and the Paladin. In both cases you are afford the opportunity to fight with a two-handed weapon, or a one-handed weapon and a shield. Been there, done that and I wasn't going to make that mistake again and I would suggest that you not either. Two-handed weapon is the only way to go but be prepared for to some might seem like a combat style is a bit on the boring side. In the first few levels you will be auto-striking. At level four you get charge, which is a fun skill and emblematic of the class, but it won't be until level six when you get a skill to supplement those auto-strikes with. At level six you get Victory Rush, which is a one-time attack usable after a kill. My typical fighting routing consisted of charge (when available), rend, Victory Rush, and auto-hitting until dead. At level 20 I was still doing exactly the same thing -- just with a little more power behind each of those attacks.
I know things get a little more energetic in the coming levels so I'm not overly worried with the current boredom level. But it's something you should be prepared for at the outset. Despite that, the Warrior is a powerful class and I was a veritable juggernaut running around Ellewyn Forest, Westfall, and Lakeridge. I literally killed everything that was between me and where ever I was going at the time with zero down time. Even when taking on multiple mobs. Normally I'm level nine or ten when I head into Westfall, but between all the kills and the XP bonus from the heirloom gear I was nearly level 13 when first stepping foot into Westfall. Nothing in Ellwyn Forest gave me any pause what so ever, and neither did it in Westfall or Lakeshire either.
There isn't a great deal more to be said about the class by level 20, other than to say at level 20 you technically can begin to dual wield and start working up through the fury tree if you so choose. I have every intention of switching to Fury at level 60, but I want to level to 60 as Arms. Not only because it's what is recommended on the Warrior boards, but also because the first time around I completely neglected Arms and leveled entirely as Fury. I want to experience the other side of things this time. And thus far I really see to reason to switch to Fury. Arms does plenty of damage, though it does mean mostly auto-attacks for the time being.
That's something I can live with.
After five years of playing I just like trying new things. And I've been very happy to find that I could find something new with the Warrior. I have no idea what to expect in the upper levels for this class, but from 1-20 I can tell you that the Warrior class is a lot of fun to play. Especially with heirloom gear. I had the shoulders and Arcanite Reaper from leveling my Paladin, and I added the chest piece to those. Not only to relieve myself of having to upgrade these pieces all the time, but lets be honest; the typical starter gear and weapons just plain suck. Inclusion of these in my little experiment might color my experience somewhat, but not overwhelmingly so.
I was struck with how similar the early experience was between the Warrior and the Paladin. In both cases you are afford the opportunity to fight with a two-handed weapon, or a one-handed weapon and a shield. Been there, done that and I wasn't going to make that mistake again and I would suggest that you not either. Two-handed weapon is the only way to go but be prepared for to some might seem like a combat style is a bit on the boring side. In the first few levels you will be auto-striking. At level four you get charge, which is a fun skill and emblematic of the class, but it won't be until level six when you get a skill to supplement those auto-strikes with. At level six you get Victory Rush, which is a one-time attack usable after a kill. My typical fighting routing consisted of charge (when available), rend, Victory Rush, and auto-hitting until dead. At level 20 I was still doing exactly the same thing -- just with a little more power behind each of those attacks.
I know things get a little more energetic in the coming levels so I'm not overly worried with the current boredom level. But it's something you should be prepared for at the outset. Despite that, the Warrior is a powerful class and I was a veritable juggernaut running around Ellewyn Forest, Westfall, and Lakeridge. I literally killed everything that was between me and where ever I was going at the time with zero down time. Even when taking on multiple mobs. Normally I'm level nine or ten when I head into Westfall, but between all the kills and the XP bonus from the heirloom gear I was nearly level 13 when first stepping foot into Westfall. Nothing in Ellwyn Forest gave me any pause what so ever, and neither did it in Westfall or Lakeshire either.
There isn't a great deal more to be said about the class by level 20, other than to say at level 20 you technically can begin to dual wield and start working up through the fury tree if you so choose. I have every intention of switching to Fury at level 60, but I want to level to 60 as Arms. Not only because it's what is recommended on the Warrior boards, but also because the first time around I completely neglected Arms and leveled entirely as Fury. I want to experience the other side of things this time. And thus far I really see to reason to switch to Fury. Arms does plenty of damage, though it does mean mostly auto-attacks for the time being.
That's something I can live with.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The hole in the hole in the hole
Well evidently I need to rethink my position because I just found a loophole. The "tank" was a DK with 5k gearscore and about 37k health, but I noticed before very long that he was taking huge hits. Especially on group pulls. Of course it didn't help matters that two of the DPS were also taking big hits -- especially the Mage who for some reason can simply not explain, wanted to run into the groups and aoe on top of them. In any event I noticed right away the tank was taking hits. If I hadn't had beacon on him (yes I was healing as Holy Paladin) he would have died quickly several times while I was healing the others. We did just fine on the Maiden and Krystallus, but we actually died on the Tribunal during phase 3. Despite spamming FoL on him which heals for 5-8k every 1.1 seconds he went down like a ton of bricks, and then everyone else did as well. The tank died again on Sjonnir.
Now keep in mind I am top healer in my ICC-10 group and I heal Heroics every day. I die of boredom healing as Holy in heroics, yet I let this tank die not once but twice. You tell me how that happens.
So what fooled me? I moused over him and saw he had a 5092 gearscore. After the first few pulls where I saw him taking big hits I inspected him and he had decent gear. Certainly nothing that screamed to me to drop group. Later on I went and looked at the armory but it showed him in Unholy spec as DPS, so I couldn't even look to see what his Defense stat was in tank mode (btw Blizzard, you need to change it so that we can actually see stats when we inspect someone). From the hits he was taking I can only speculate that he was not defense capped, and was low. Not just a bit shy. And I can only guess that he was letting things hit him in the back.
This folks is why tanks, prior to the new LFG system, stopped tanking for PUGs. And it's going to be why I stop healing in PUGs. So when you start to see a healer shortage you know why. Thank the "tanks" who have no business tanking because they don't know how and aren't ready.
Now keep in mind I am top healer in my ICC-10 group and I heal Heroics every day. I die of boredom healing as Holy in heroics, yet I let this tank die not once but twice. You tell me how that happens.
So what fooled me? I moused over him and saw he had a 5092 gearscore. After the first few pulls where I saw him taking big hits I inspected him and he had decent gear. Certainly nothing that screamed to me to drop group. Later on I went and looked at the armory but it showed him in Unholy spec as DPS, so I couldn't even look to see what his Defense stat was in tank mode (btw Blizzard, you need to change it so that we can actually see stats when we inspect someone). From the hits he was taking I can only speculate that he was not defense capped, and was low. Not just a bit shy. And I can only guess that he was letting things hit him in the back.
This folks is why tanks, prior to the new LFG system, stopped tanking for PUGs. And it's going to be why I stop healing in PUGs. So when you start to see a healer shortage you know why. Thank the "tanks" who have no business tanking because they don't know how and aren't ready.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Deserter buff just needs to go
These last two weeks have reminded me more than I can remember just how big the disparity is in the player base. I don't consider myself a hardcore player, yet I'm someone who doesn't like to do something without doing it right. And I'm competitive by nature. Like everyone else I carry my personal traits into the game with me, so I prepare for whatever it is I'm doing. I've been reminded over and over again these last two weeks that just simply isn't the case with so many in the game. I'm of course referring to those I come across in the LFG system, and as I've been running countless dungeons on my Druid getting healing practice in, and pick up badges to update my healing set I'm on the receiving end of those who are really not all that prepared. Particularly the tank and or healer who has ungemmed and unenchanted gear and really has no business tanking or healing yet. I mentioned how annoying that was before, but it's a completely different experience when you're just a DPS in the group watching this, and when you are the healer who has to heal a tank who isn't even defense capped.
I've decided on a personal rule that I'll follow whenever I'm healing, and that simply is that if the tank has less than 4k gear score I'm going to inspect them. And if I see any items that are unenchanted, or ungemmed, or they're wearing items that aren't for a tank, like plate gear with spell power on them then I'm simply dropping group on the spot. If I don't see anything like that I'll hop over to the armory quickly and check their defense stat. If they aren't defense capped I'll also drop. I figure if the "tank" can't bother with actually being prepared for what should be an easy run then I can't be bothered with healing them. Those sorts of situations usually end up being messes as the dps gains agro repeatedly and you have to perform some serious healing to keep everyone alive. In any event it's simply more work that I want to bother with, though I could most likely do it. The question is why should I? I want quick runs, and I'm not looking to make it any harder on myself than I need to. Sounds awful elitist doesn't it? Yet it's simply a reaction to the situation as I see it.
Mathew Rossi at WoWInsider.com agrees in principle, I believe, with the feelings I hold for these people, yet he has a different take on the matter.
All of this has got me thinking that the deserter buff is more punitive to those in my situation who are prepared, than it is to those who aren't. The tank that isn't defense capped, has gear that isn't even for tanking, or who hasn't bothered to finish off his gear with enchants or gems isn't punished at all for subjecting the group to what is often wipes. Yet those who don't want to be subjected to it are punished if they drop group. Therefore I call upon Blizzard to remove the deserter buff entirely from the LFG system.
I've decided on a personal rule that I'll follow whenever I'm healing, and that simply is that if the tank has less than 4k gear score I'm going to inspect them. And if I see any items that are unenchanted, or ungemmed, or they're wearing items that aren't for a tank, like plate gear with spell power on them then I'm simply dropping group on the spot. If I don't see anything like that I'll hop over to the armory quickly and check their defense stat. If they aren't defense capped I'll also drop. I figure if the "tank" can't bother with actually being prepared for what should be an easy run then I can't be bothered with healing them. Those sorts of situations usually end up being messes as the dps gains agro repeatedly and you have to perform some serious healing to keep everyone alive. In any event it's simply more work that I want to bother with, though I could most likely do it. The question is why should I? I want quick runs, and I'm not looking to make it any harder on myself than I need to. Sounds awful elitist doesn't it? Yet it's simply a reaction to the situation as I see it.
Mathew Rossi at WoWInsider.com agrees in principle, I believe, with the feelings I hold for these people, yet he has a different take on the matter.
I'm arguing that you have no reason to hold the other four people to a standard of play they haven't signed up for or agreed to.I already know from listening to him on his podcast that I don't always agree with him, and this is just such another example. While I can certainly agree that random pug members should not, and can not be held to the standards that you would typically hold in a member in a raid, that really isn't the point. A great many people might not mind undergeared or unprepared players on a run, but what about those like me who do? It has nothing to do with an elitist desire to remove all less skilled players from the game, or a lack of understanding that everyone has to start someone at some point. Rather it has to deal with the fact that many just want to play with like skilled and like minded players. I would simply say that "I've put in my time" in those kinds of PUGs and I have little interest in going forward with them any further. To me it's all about the emblems per hour now and I'm really sorry if others can't see that point of view. If you can't see my point of view, please don't expect me to see yours.
All of this has got me thinking that the deserter buff is more punitive to those in my situation who are prepared, than it is to those who aren't. The tank that isn't defense capped, has gear that isn't even for tanking, or who hasn't bothered to finish off his gear with enchants or gems isn't punished at all for subjecting the group to what is often wipes. Yet those who don't want to be subjected to it are punished if they drop group. Therefore I call upon Blizzard to remove the deserter buff entirely from the LFG system.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Comparing healing Paladins to Healing Druids PT 2
In followup to my post yesterday comparing Holy Paladins to Resto Druids, I wanted to continue the analysis. I touched on the basic differences between the healing styles and gave examples of how either would heal in 5-man content but I think that bears more examination. 5-man content is probably where you'll begin your healing career, so it's only right that you know up front what it will most likely look like for you. First, as a general rule, don't start healing until you are actually ready to heal. You can easily DPS and pick up healing items such as rings, necklace, and trinkets from various instances, while earning the badges you need for a full ilevel 232 suit. And that is really what I'd recommend. There just isn't any better way of getting into healing than assembling a T9 suit, which of course means running enough dungeons until you can earn 210 badges for the five pieces of T9, another 25 for the ilevel 245 Libram (or Idol as a Druid), and probably another 70 as for the Ring of the Invoker and Heartmender Circle off the Triumph vendor. You can probably spend another 19 emblems on the Frozen Tear of Elune necklace off the conquest vendor (unless you loot the healing necklace from Forge of Souls) just to round it all out, for a grand total of 324 badges. That seems like a lot but it really isn't. If you run just 5 dungeons a day you can probably get everything you need in 10-11 days and pick up the remaining pieces like a belt, boots, bracers, and trinkets from TOC, FoS, PoS, and HoR.
Once you have all that stepping into 5-man heroic healing will be very much easier than trying to break into healing with greens and blues. Which isn't to say that it can't be done, but running heroics today is really a different proposition than it was six months ago. Today your tanks are typically better geared and more prone to fast runs through chain pulling. It's much more likely you will encounter problems under those circumstances in typical starter gear than in an epic suit you can easily assemble.
As a Holy Paladin you generally want to keep your beacon either on the tank, or on yourself if you're in an instance that features a lot of AOE damage like HoR, TOC, FoS, or PoS. With the suit I'm recommending you'll find yourself around a 4700-4900 gear score and will probably be able to hit 4-5k with Flash of Lights, and FoL Crits in the neighborhood of 6-8k. As such you'll probably just want to use FoL spam heals throughout the instance, as I doubt you'll need to use Holy Light at all, or at least very infrequently. FoL and Holy Shock will be your staples, as will Sacred Shield. FoL healing is mana efficient, but you want to judge whenever you can to give you those haste buffs and to regen even more mana through judgement crits. It sounds funny, but judging can be an integral part of your healing rotation and I routinely scan health bars, then look at the timer of my judgment spell. My eyes are constantly moving so that I can anticipate when I will next judge. Outside of that it's a simple matter to keep Sacrificial Shield up on the tank and spam FoL on the tank or on party members. I'll often keep Holy Shock in ready to use as a mini emergency button for a party member that is taking some damage, but in an AOE damage fight I'm spamming FoL on each member in quick succession. I'll target the first member, get FoL going and immediately target the next before FoL lands on the first member so I can immediately start healing the second. As Beacon will most likely be on yourself of the tank you only need to do that with four party members and shouldn't have any trouble keeping the party up under all but the most extreme damage.
Whereas you are somewhat more reactive and have to pay a bit more attention to you part as a Holy Paladin and not care in the least about your over-healing, it's a different case as a Resto Druid. As Resto it's all about HOTs, though since WotLK was launched Resto Druids now have their first quick direct heal spell in the form of Nourish. As I looked into the specific spec I wanted to go with, it looked like Nourish was more about raid healing, so I didn't take the talents that reduced it's cost and didn't glyph for improved Nourish healing. You might use an occasional Nourish in a group, but your primary heals are going to be Rejuv and Wildgrowth. Meaning you will have to exercise a little more discipline than you probably would as a Holy Paladin. You have mana regen mechanics based on spirit as a Resto Druid and you will probably notice you aren't out-right as mana efficient as a Holy Paladin. So you will need to let your HOTs do their work and not spam rejuv on the tank every 4 seconds. And that essentially is the main difference between healing styles.
As Resto I'll keep Rejuv up on the tank at all times, along with wildgrowth for constant group healing. I'll add a Lifebloom, and a regrowth tot he tank as the situation warrants and can throw a rejuv out on any individual in the party that needs a little extra healing than wildgrowth. This type of healing is ideal for chain pulling tanks who are constantly on the move. Especially those who don't even stop to loot because your heals are still working even if you aren't casting. You simply don't have to be as attentive --I almost hesitate to say that-- to the party as you do for a direct healing class. Which isn't to say that you don't need to be attentive, but with your heals constantly ticking on the tank and the party you don't have to have worry about taking your eyes off healing bars for a second or two.
I enjoy both styles of healing very much, though I'm leaning toward the Holy Paladin as my preferred Raid healer and my Resto Druid as my preferred PVP healer. If you are new to healing either would be a terrific choice to start out as.
Once you have all that stepping into 5-man heroic healing will be very much easier than trying to break into healing with greens and blues. Which isn't to say that it can't be done, but running heroics today is really a different proposition than it was six months ago. Today your tanks are typically better geared and more prone to fast runs through chain pulling. It's much more likely you will encounter problems under those circumstances in typical starter gear than in an epic suit you can easily assemble.
As a Holy Paladin you generally want to keep your beacon either on the tank, or on yourself if you're in an instance that features a lot of AOE damage like HoR, TOC, FoS, or PoS. With the suit I'm recommending you'll find yourself around a 4700-4900 gear score and will probably be able to hit 4-5k with Flash of Lights, and FoL Crits in the neighborhood of 6-8k. As such you'll probably just want to use FoL spam heals throughout the instance, as I doubt you'll need to use Holy Light at all, or at least very infrequently. FoL and Holy Shock will be your staples, as will Sacred Shield. FoL healing is mana efficient, but you want to judge whenever you can to give you those haste buffs and to regen even more mana through judgement crits. It sounds funny, but judging can be an integral part of your healing rotation and I routinely scan health bars, then look at the timer of my judgment spell. My eyes are constantly moving so that I can anticipate when I will next judge. Outside of that it's a simple matter to keep Sacrificial Shield up on the tank and spam FoL on the tank or on party members. I'll often keep Holy Shock in ready to use as a mini emergency button for a party member that is taking some damage, but in an AOE damage fight I'm spamming FoL on each member in quick succession. I'll target the first member, get FoL going and immediately target the next before FoL lands on the first member so I can immediately start healing the second. As Beacon will most likely be on yourself of the tank you only need to do that with four party members and shouldn't have any trouble keeping the party up under all but the most extreme damage.
Whereas you are somewhat more reactive and have to pay a bit more attention to you part as a Holy Paladin and not care in the least about your over-healing, it's a different case as a Resto Druid. As Resto it's all about HOTs, though since WotLK was launched Resto Druids now have their first quick direct heal spell in the form of Nourish. As I looked into the specific spec I wanted to go with, it looked like Nourish was more about raid healing, so I didn't take the talents that reduced it's cost and didn't glyph for improved Nourish healing. You might use an occasional Nourish in a group, but your primary heals are going to be Rejuv and Wildgrowth. Meaning you will have to exercise a little more discipline than you probably would as a Holy Paladin. You have mana regen mechanics based on spirit as a Resto Druid and you will probably notice you aren't out-right as mana efficient as a Holy Paladin. So you will need to let your HOTs do their work and not spam rejuv on the tank every 4 seconds. And that essentially is the main difference between healing styles.
As Resto I'll keep Rejuv up on the tank at all times, along with wildgrowth for constant group healing. I'll add a Lifebloom, and a regrowth tot he tank as the situation warrants and can throw a rejuv out on any individual in the party that needs a little extra healing than wildgrowth. This type of healing is ideal for chain pulling tanks who are constantly on the move. Especially those who don't even stop to loot because your heals are still working even if you aren't casting. You simply don't have to be as attentive --I almost hesitate to say that-- to the party as you do for a direct healing class. Which isn't to say that you don't need to be attentive, but with your heals constantly ticking on the tank and the party you don't have to have worry about taking your eyes off healing bars for a second or two.
I enjoy both styles of healing very much, though I'm leaning toward the Holy Paladin as my preferred Raid healer and my Resto Druid as my preferred PVP healer. If you are new to healing either would be a terrific choice to start out as.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
