Posts Tagged ‘Wow’

Gnomercy:  Hi there.

Guild: (no response)

Gnomercy: So what? Is this a voluntary vow of silence from everyone?

Guild: (no response)

Gnomercy: I’m riding my mechanostrider and I’m naked.

Guild: o.0

Gnomercy: You know I have been dating King Bronzebeard.

Guild: (no response)

Gnomercy: But I think I may have to break it off. I think he’s been cheating on me with Thrall.

Guild: (no response)

Gnomercy: O.K. I will be back later, but try and keep it down in hear will you? The noise is deafening.

 

 

     

This last Saturday, Saylah from Mystic Worlds, my co-host Fran and I whiled away an hour or so discussing World of Warcraft  (WoW) and why people hearken to its siren call, returning time and again.  In the early days of Warhammer Online, then Mythic Entertainment chief Marc Jacobs got into a tiff online with Blizzard execs over virtual tourists from WoW playing Warhammer Online – in retrospective it looks like Blizzard was right. Still, even Rob Pardo once attributed the large player base of World of Warcraft to an ever revolving player base, rather than a static one.  Whether WoW has a static player base, or one that rotates so fast it could break the sound barrier, there is no denying that it has more staying power than Barry White .

So while Ravious from Kill Ten Rats has his day in front of the microphone (show 63 being edited now), E3 gets into swing (I wonder if EA will have any phony demonstrations this year) and the Lotro free 2 play model becomes old news (which means this is about the time the magazines pick it up) – I decided to “take a walk on the wild side.”

Mind you most of my life has been on the wild side to begin with. However, the particular side I am talking about is the Alliance side.  Yes, as most of our listeners and readers know, my mainstay of play in WoW has been horde for some time now.  This is, of course, why I have been want to quote the following phrases …

Once you roll horde you never get bored.

Once you roll troll you never re-roll.

 

Ah my friends, there was a time when the horde was merely a mystery.  There was a time when I was firmly entrenched in place with names like Stormwind, Ironforge, and the flames of Molten Core ensconced many a player as it was the highest instance in the land. Then came the fateful day when I rolled up a hunter and entered a battleground. And the rest, as they say, is history. I do, of course, have alts (including one named Vashj who is forever stuck on the Whisperwind server). There are even a scant few Alliance side alts that languish forgotten, never having seen the process of changing factions (and believe me I would rather pay the 25 dollars than go through the Everquest 2 betrayal process again for the umpteenth time).

So it is with some trepidation that I stepped outside the boundaries of the horde and stepped into the shoes of my gnome warrior Pharthing (below)

 

My first shock was that after over a year I was still in the same guild. The first play session (see above dialogue (or lack thereof) showed a possible reason why.  Since I found myself in Booty Bay anyway I decided to start my short time in short shoes wandering the woods of Feralis.  The saddest sight was a barren Barrens – totally devoid of any life that was a collection of artificially intelligent pixels.  No, the land that was once the home of the now infamous “Barrens Chat” is now so empty you could shoot a cannon down the middle and not hit anyone.

O.K. that I half expected – but as I wandered the wide world of the pre-Burning Crusade WoW that some call “Classic” or “Vanilla” WoW I found the only life where I expected to find it…outside of the banks in Ironforge and Stormwind. After all, “bank sitting” is a long time tradition that heralds all the way back to the days of Ultima Online when it was a market place because no one had yet thought to include an auction house in an online game.

And so my great Alliance side experiment ended with a whimper and not a bang.

Still, it gave me pause for thought of the fate of what was once a vibrant (albeit virtual) land full of pixilated players. This, of course, is fuelled by the fact that the NDA for a recent press event concerning the next WoW expansion (Cataclysm) was recently lifted and is covered here. The news has brought about a bit of ballyhooing by some of my favorite bloggers. (Well, perhaps more of a “downroar” than an uproar). The big news here are the words “Path of the Titans has been scrapped.” Instead the good folks at Blizzard (and here I exclude Messer Bobby Kotic – Yes I know he’s Activision but I had to fit that in somewhere) have chosen to “overhaul” the glyph system instead.  The welcome news (at least from my point of view) where those that followed on the heels of this news…

“Medium glyphs will be fun/cosmetic glyphs.” – Blizzard

If nothing changes with Cataclysm but what we see in the video above, and being able to play a goblin, I will be one happy camper.

You see, from my perspective, not everything has to be an uber sword of uberness in order to be desirable. It doesn’t always have to enable me to sink the Aircraft Carrier Nimitz in a single blow.  Sometimes it’s good to remember why we play games in the first place. Now I do understand that there are many players into the minutiae of pvp that play to dominate people that might otherwise hand them there ass if they were to meet the player in person.  But for me the goal has always been to have fun. Sometimes fun is just charging into someplace like Molten Core with forty drunken dwarves seeing how long they can all survive. Sometimes fun is just zipping around Northrend and Outlands on the back of a broomstick cackling gleefully while you threaten to “get” players and “there little dog Toto too”.

More importantly it goes to show that Paul Barnett was right (gasp!) when he was on our show and talked about revealing plans for future development too soon.  He told us that as a developer, if you tell players you are “working” on something they will tell themselves (and everyone else) “O.K. it will be released next Thursday.”  Grandmother put it another way…Never count your chickens before they’re hatched.

So if all  Blizzard does (and here I use the term “all” facetiously) is re-cast the old world in a new light, with new art, a new landscape and 2,000 more quests I will be overjoyed.  But that isn’t all…oh no.  As I have always maintained (and said so on previous shows before Cataclysm was even announced) if Blizzard brings goblins to the game I will come back to WoW. Now, of course, our claim is that Blizzard is creating goblins as a playable race because Rob Pardo listens to our show.

That’s our story and we are sticking to it.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

(posted by the Webmaster for Julie Whitefeather)

Fran: Yes, you left the iron on.

Julie: What?

Fran:  Your thousand mile stare – its either combat fatigue or something’s on your mind.

Julie: I think Rob Pardo is trying to steal my soul.

Fran: Pardon?

Julie: It’s the only explanation.

Fran: For what?

Julie: I’m going to start playing wow…

Fran: Again?

Julie: Again.

Fran: And this from the woman who would rather drill her own teeth than play WoW? The same woman who, instead of playing WoW, once said she would rather crawl to and from work over broken glass and hot coals, uphill both ways?

Julie: Both ways…yep

Fran: What about free to plays like Allods?

Julie: Cash shop too expensive.

Fran: Age of Conan?

Julie: Frame rate too low.

Fran: Everquest? Warhammer?

Julie: You could set off a Claymore mine in the middle of the guild and not hit anyone.

Fran: Aion still too grindy?

Julie: Like a mill stone the size of Texas…and yes I know about perceived leveling speed – that’s how I perceive it.

Fran: Lord of the Rings Online, Star Trek Online?  Hit the level cap?

Julie: Like a brick wall.

Fran: I don’t have to ask about Eve Online – your love/hate relationship swings back and forth like a metronome on speed.

Julie: Tyrannis – not until June 8^th.

Fran: Guild wars? Dungeon and Dragons Online? Global Agenda? Final Fantasy? Lineage? What about Fallen Earth?

Julie: Nope

Fran:  None of them? Didn’t you just get done telling me you would rather remove your own appendix with a rusty spoon than go back to WoW?

Julie: Yep.

Fran: Know what I think?

Julie: What?

Fran: Rob Pardo is in league with the devil.

Rob Pardo?

But why Rob Pardo, you might ask? Why not Bobby Kotick – someone whose public persona makes him a more likely candidate to actually be in league with the prince of darkness?

The reason “why Rob Pardo” is because he led the team that designed World of Warcraft (WoW). In 2006 Time Magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. At the 2007 Blizcon, Michael Michael Morhaime, co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, described him this way in the opening speech:

“Because of your support, World of Warcraft has quickly grown to be the most popular on line game in the world. Since we were last together in Blizzcon ’05 the global population of World of Warcraft has actually doubled. There are now more than 9 million residents of Azeroth – that is bigger than half of the countries in the world.” – Michael Morhaime

 

Obviously we here at No Prisoners, No Mercy (NPNM) are not really inferring an association between anyone at Blizzard and the infernal legions.  Still, despite the many  times I have held a cursor hovering over the delete character button I am still paying a parking fee of $15.00 per month for not playing WoW – and I am certainly not alone.

Why WoW?

 

What is the Siren’s call that pulls so many to WoW? I have heard many reasons why. When Paul Barnett was on the NPNM Show he claimed that WoW was simply a fluke – in the right place at the right time. Someone in the Virgin Worlds Collective, who shall remain nameless (simply because I can’t remember who it was), argued that Wow “isn’t a great mmo, it’s a great game” (I am still trying to figure out what that means). Brad McQuaid tried to crush WoW back in his Sigil Games days.  Mark Jacobs (former Mythic General Manager) argued about virtual tourists from WoW in the early days of War.  The general chat channels of just about any mmo I have every played has trolls lurking about alternately singing praises or their hatred for WoW like some lovelorn or jilted lover. And the term “WoW clone” has been uttered so often I believe a large portion of the gaming populous has it tattooed on their forehead in reverse so they have to read it each morning.

We can debate the question “Why” until the mountain really does come to Mohammed and we are likely to have as many answers as WoW has subscribers – and that is more than the population of half the world’s countries.

My reason?

WoW is McDonalds.

Think about it.

I have been to McDonalds all over the world and I always know what to expect.  The famous “Scottish” food may not be the best, and certainly not the healthiest, to ever cross a dinner table.  It may not be elegant, but it is palatable and always consistent.

And WoW is the same way.

We all expect an MMO to launch on a sea with at least a few ripples in it.  Yet how many times have we seen a game reach the one year mark and still have more bugs than an “Orkin Man” sees in a year? Whether it’s to try and lure back wayward customers, squeeze more money out of the game, or inadvertently throw good money after bad we even see developers/publishers release expansions when the basic game is still not stable.

Yet whether it’s an expansion for WoW or Star Craft II you won’t find a DRM (digital rights management) that looks like a policy that was issued by a prison system. It may look like it was drawn by Disney instead of DaVinci, but the game always runs as smooth as a puppies bare behind, even with a video card that is beneath the latest generation of Nvidia graphic cards.

So in the end, Rob Pardo certainly isn’t likely to be in league with the devil, but he just may be in league with McDonalds.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

Post by The Webmaster for Julie Whitefeather

When Paul Barnett was on the No Prisoners, No Mercy show one of the topics that he talked about was parking fees.  No, not the type that you pay to rent a small space in a crowded city that could otherwise pay a mortgage at the end of the month.  The type we are talking about here are the fees for playing an MMO.

Case in point World of Warcraft (WoW)

I remember when I first approached the virtual doors to the underground city of Ironforge.  I was awestruck! It was amazing! It was three dimensional (I had just come from Ultima Online). Back in those days the highest level was 60 and the hardest dungeon was Molten Core.  Playing a paladin seemed the greatest thing since a free meal back then, and I hadn’t even heard the words, “get in the back row with the healers and buff.”  Things have changed a bit since then and now paladins (as long as they are holy or protection spec’d) are back in style.  I played WoW to the exclusion of all other games in those days.  Then came time time that a young novice (well maybe not so young) was playing WoW in the convent office when a voice came from the next room…

“Do you have room on your account for me to try the game?”

Shock of shocks! Mother Superior wanted to play World of Warcraft?  And guess what happened? This…

And what’s more I shared her enthusiasm. We ended up getting two accounts so we could both play WoW at the same time.

But then the age old problem occurs. It is something that developers and publishers of mmos alike must face – what do you do to keep players interested beyond the end game.  This is where one of Roger Eberts arguments that video games are not, and can never be art falls flat on its face…not all games can be won.  It has always been interesting to me that so many members of our ever growing mmo community consider a game that is “skill based” rather than “level based” is what will hold the game back at best, and the first nail in the coffin at worst.  When Turbine was question about this they simply said that they will deal with end game by continuing to add content (hint, hint Turbine…you will never be able to come out with content fast enough to address this issue that way).  The ever fascinating Richard Garriott once faulted WoW’s end game as simply being “a system of inventory management” (and did so, ironically, perdicting the downfall of the 800 pound Blizzard Gorilla). So what is a poor game publisher to do.  How do they avoid this…

I eventually drifted away from WoW.  A time or two my mouse button hovered over the delete character key, an attempt at closure beyond the reach of recall on my part.  As our listeners know I have always said that each time I feel like quiting, Fran tells me to lay down until the feeling goes away.  And so I continued to play my hunter, despite my beast master hunter being removed from the top of the DPS charts and plunged to the bottom.  “After all,” I told myself, “Neither I, nor anyone else can ever earn the pvp title “Bloodguard” again – that which I proudly wore as I ventured about Azeroth.  And so I set goals for myself, such as acquire a dragon mount with which to fly the now “my little stary pony” crowded skys of Northrend.  But even those goals reached an end and the though of leveling 55-68 (at which point you can go to Northrend) let alone 1-60 quite frankly sent me screaming each time I considered it.  But Fran’s tale of woe, or shall we say “like/hate”, where Wow is concerned is different…

Fran and I both love alts. The difference here is the application – Fran actually levels the alts.  In fact while my alts languish at rarely any higher than 37 she has several that are at the level cap. The situation she faces is one that no matter how valiently Blizzard trys to controll the situation, they cannot.  Namely, WoW pick up groups (pugs) seem to draw asshats like political action committees during a presidential election year (yes that means alot)  Rarely does a WoW play session pass for Fran that is not fraught with dismay (at least those that include pugs).  Yet when you question her about why she stays, she will simply tell you that she likes playing the game.  And that a classic example of a like/hate relationship with a game. Either that, or Fran is possessed by the spirit of Rob Pardo, which is hard to believe since, doubtless, Rob Pardo is actually using said spirit himself.

So what is the solution?

At least for me, the solution is somewhere within the game with which I have my own hate/like/like/hate relationship…

Much to the dismay of the fans of the “wild west” crowd in Eve Online the times are changing.  The folks at CCP are paying attention to the industrials.  You know us. We are the ones that so many call (and always with a sneer) “Carebears”.  But whilst those few of players are busily typing “nom,nom, nom carebear tears” in offical forums, the “carebears” are the players paying the bills with their fees.

However, no matter how you feel about the direction that Eve Online may or may not be taking with the expansion due out on May 18th, one thing is a certainty – CCP has solved issue of how to keep players interested in playing a game by successfully making a game with no top end.  They have proven that all those in the mmo community who feel that a skill based game can never work are wrong; no matter how loudly they shout it.

Parking Fees

In the end, there will always be players who, like me, dutifully pay their parking fees. Perhaps it is the nature of human beings. After all, as the old adage goes, “hope springs eternal.”  Even when our favorite game gets as dry as a government regulation we keep hanging on hoping things will get better.   Developers and publishers know that.  Blizzard, like many others, waves the changes in our collective faces, trickling out information on what is to come bit at a time, hoping to string us along.  The time may come, however, when the famous Blizzard “It’s done, when it’s ready” attitude will no longer suffice.

Time will tell.

(posted by The Webmaster for Julie Whitefeather)

In between breaks from wrapping presents, decorating trees and plowing snow this last weekend, I stopped to ponder some of the virtual Christmases I have experienced.  Everquest 2 regaled me with an instance filled with rainbows, reindeer, frolicking elves and Christmas crafts.  World of Warcraft (WoW) had me unwrapping gnomish toys, baking cookies and rescuing reindeer for an Azerothian Santa.  Eve Online was a bit better – they had snowball launchers to replace missiles (although I always seemed to miss out somehow).

Yes, the saturation of sweetness that fills virtual holidays is enough to sicken a herd of Yak. It puts me in mind of the time that the master of horror fiction, Rod Serling, appeared on the Tonight Show back in the days when it was hosted by Johnny Carson.  Rod Serling spoke of the challenge of creating the proper mood, building up the suspense to a crescendo only to have it ruined by a commercial break with “10 bunny rabbits dancing around with toilet paper.”

And then there’s Fallen Earth…

If there is no place like home for the holidays, there is no place like post-apocalyptic Arizona for the virtual holidays. 

Now our listeners are used to the interaction between my co-host and I…in fact it is one of the strong points of our show.  Our long time listeners have often heard Fran complete my sentences; so often that I have wondered if I have a glass head.  Yet we don’t always agree on everything when it comes to gaming, and World of Warcraft is one of those places where we often hold diametrically opposed viewpoints.  For example, while she may now laud the praises of the new “Looking for group” tool, it is that same tool that has (at least when I use it) become a “Looking for someone else besides you” tool.  It’s bad enough for other players in a pick-up group to tell me I don’t have good enough armor, but when the system itself does as well?  Let’s just say that not only does it feel like Activision/Blizzard has buried my hunter under a ton of dingo dung…now they aren’t even bothering to tell me to try and eat my way back out.  Now it is as if Jeff Kaplan and Rod Pardo have personally teamed up to send me a special delivery telegram that says “We don’t want YOU. Just leave your money on the counter and get the hell out!”

But when World of Warcraft and Activision/Blizzard doesn’t want me, Fallen Earth and Icarus studios welcomes me with open arms. Not only do they welcome me, but they have give me the perfect way to feel better about not being wanted by WoW – a Fallen Earth holiday season.

Yes, there is nothing that says “Happy Holidays” like a shotgun blast in the back of the head to one of the post apocalyptic ELFS (Emissary for leaving free stuff).  Or as I summed up my session of holiday revelry and mayhem

“HO-HO-HO THAT NIGHT ELF!!!”

See you online,

The No Prisoners, No Mercy team.

Artwork credit:  The wonderful montage of images, and accompanying artwork is by our own Fran Kosac…note the shadow the nun casts (the nun and the elf weren’t in the picture to start with). Note the highlighting of the night elf and the oh so appropriate (in our opinion) pool of blood under the night elf!

Let’s talk about Blizzard – after all, just about everyone is today.  But let’s not start where everyone else does. No, let’s start with pugs. Not those cute little dogs with turned up noses and a sweet disposition. Instead let’s talk about the kind of pug that has 10 legs, averages six feet tall and has a nasty disposition.  That sounds like one heck of a beast doesn’t it?  And let me tell you, these days when I run an instance with a “pick up group” (PUG) they DO have one nasty disposition.

Julie has a rule. She never groups with anyone outside of her guild (No, Julie hasn’t suddenly start talking about herself in the third person, this is Fran). Now you may think that having a rule about not running with anyone outside the guild is an imposition, but considering the gaming group we belong to has 14,000 members that’s not all the big of a hardship. What has started to become a hardship, is running an instance with a pick up group (pug).  Now, as many of you who listen to our show know, my game of choice is World of Warcraft, so that is the context here.

Having finally reached level 80 on my Troll priest I assumed that filling half of the oft heard “looking for healer, looking for tank” would put me on a pedestal when it came to running an instance, especially a heroic instance. These days, however, that appears not to be the case…

Sherman set the wayback machine for 2 nights ago. The setting is right after our instance wiped because the Tank took off on his own, and ran out of range of the person keeping him alive – ME!

Tank:    “Way to go priest, how long do we have to carry you?”

Me:      “You’re carrying me? And here I thought you had your hands full with just being the tank.”

Tank:    “What?”

Me:      “Well you must be quite the player who can tank, heal himself and the entire party at the same time. Wow, talk about an ‘army of one’! You really ARE an army of one. With that sort of talent all the rest of are sort of extraneous aren’t we?”

Tank:     “Did you buy your character? Why did you let me die?”

Me:       “Is it my fault you decided to tank a Northrend Instance by way of Tanaris desert? Next time you might want to at least stay close enough so I can see you with a telescope.”

(The boss is looted and cloth armor with a healing bonus drops. I roll need)

Tank:    “What you doing? Why did you roll need?”

Me:       “We started with need or greed loot rules. I’m the only class here who wears cloth armor, and the only healing class. What’s the problem?”

Tank:     “I wanted to roll on it. Listen homie, we don’t roll need on blue items here.”

            (long pause)

Me:       Did you just call me “homie”? That strikes me as being a little like Pee Wee Herman calling Will Smith homie”

Tank:     What if I wanted the gear?

Me:      “Cloth healing gear? Too bad it’s bind on pick up, otherwise I would give it to you – as a protection spec’s fighter you make a great healer.”

And that’s why THIS “homie” doesn’t like pugs either…

Now let’s turn from pugs to pets – not the four legged kind, the cute cuddly furry kind (although the first two pets in question only have four legs between them). Here is the quote of the day that has so many people up in arms:

“Today we’re pleased to introduce the Pet Store for World of Warcraft, a new way for players to obtain in-game pets to join them on their adventures in Azeroth. Two brand-new companions are now available for purchase exclusively at the Pet Store in the online Blizzard Store: Lil’ K.T. and the Pandaren Monk.”  – Blizzard poster, Nethaera (available here)

Whether or not the 800 pound Blizzard Gorilla gets it’s big furry behind kicked out of China, I can’t say. However, Bobby Kotick (Director of Activision/Blizzard) doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who takes even the slightest chance that there will be the words “fourth quarter loss” in a financial report.  As anyone who knows business will tell you (and even if he isn’t a gamer Mr. Kotick knows business) if an investor sees the word “loss” in a financial report, it won’t matter if it is followed by a profit and loss statement that reports a net profit the size of the gross national product for an entire nation. All they will see is the word “loss” and, especially in today’s economic climate, will run around screaming “all is lost, all is lost.”

I have noticed that Blizzard has tried to soften the blow to the egos of its more suspicious consumers with the following:

“For every Pandaren Monk that finds its way to a player’s side between now and the end of the year (December 31, 2009 at 11:59 PDT), we’ll donate 50 percent of the $10 purchasing price to the Make-a-Wish Foundation in an effort to brew up a little hope, strength, and joy in a child’s life.” – ibid

Now it is unlikely that the Blizzard Gorilla will be swinging high forever. Still, no matter how many bloggers and columnists are upset about the opening of a new virtual pet store, the chances are that nay sayers will have about as much effect as the “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” boycott!  Go ahead and tell me that you won’t be there to at least check out the “Cataclysm” expansion because of a micro-transaction or two – I will know it’s a lie!

Bless you all,

Fran

Hang ‘em High… 

“He did it. He actually did it!”

Brighde’s eyes were barely open when they were assaulted with a collage of colors that looked as if someone had set off a bomb in a warehouse full of paint. She knew instantly that what she had scoffed at a moment before was now pure, unadultarated, undeniable, and unfathomable fact.

The evening before Brighde met a creepy old wizard in the depths of Ironforge,  in a place no decent dwarf ventured called the “Forlorn Cavern”.

“That creepy old bugger actually did what he said he could” she repeated to no one in particular. 

She struggled to her feet, her head feeling as if it had been flattened by a steam tank.  Her feet, in fact, where the second thing she noticed – they were much further from her head than they should have been. Not only that they were much smaller.  Her eyes focusing, she glanced around her at surroundings that appeared as if they were decorated by a half crazed night elf…

“OR A BLOOD ELF!” she screamed suddenly.

Yes Virginia (or whatever your name happens to be dear reader) faction changes have finally come to the land of Azeroth.  Myself I have been playing both sides of the “faction fence” for years now. There are some of you out there, however, to whom the horde or the alliance are the soul source of “ass-hatery” in the land of  Azeroth.  Now is the chance for everyone to find out if they were right, or oh so terribly wrong…

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