Tapping multiple content sources

With the developers of WoW, LotRO, and AoC all churning away at content upgrades and improvements there shouldn't be much to complain about in terms of lack of stuff to explore. And if you throw in the upcoming games like Warhammer Online and Stargate Worlds plus "oldies" like Everquest II and EVE Online then it gets downright scary. So much content, so little time to play.

One side-effect of this abundance of content might become that fewer people will go for endgame treadmills such as raiding or faction grinding. For people who like to explore new stuff it makes sense to switch to another game when running out of easily accessible content. Some will find it impossible to resist the temptation of unexplored places.

Maybe it is the WoW burnout still affecting me, but I can't imagine ever going back to raiding 3-4 evenings a week. Raiding occasionally is still fun for me, but the constant farming of the same raid instances to gear up is not going to lure me back into hardcore raiding. And daily quests? I can't believe I thought these were a good idea.

Why should I do the same stuff over and over again? I could be off exploring in another game instead! If I run out of content in one game I stop my subscription for it and switch to another one that has had a content upgrade while I was away. Kind of a crop rotation system that prevents burnout with any single game.

I think the raiding guilds/kinships in WoW and LotRO are going to be in an especially rough spot for a few months. There will be a high outflux of experienced players.

Hopefully the game companies will adjust to the higher amount of competition. LotRO will probably be hit hard over the next few weeks while AoC is new and shiny. Later on this year AoC's player base will shrink when WHO hits and the other games release their expansions. And even for Blizzard the easy days of a growing playerbase without real effort might be nearing their end.

Age of Conan looks like a keeper

It looks like the Early Access for Age of Conan is a success. All reports indicate that the servers are working, clients are mostly stable, and the game seems to offer some fun.

What it doesn't appear to be is a "WoW-killer". At least not in the PvE parts. The gameplay is the usual mix of playing an errand boy, do "kill ten rats" quests, finish the storyline quest-arcs, and all the other typical MMORPG stuff. My impression from the early reviews is that it is basically a solid WoW clone with a different style of graphics. And that is fine with me!

Fresh content and a gameplay that doesn't suck makes it is a winner in my book. I won't rush out and buy it asap, but will rather give it two or three months to mature. There is still a lot of content for me to explore in LotRO till then. And I will probably need a new computer to enjoy the gorgeous graphics as more than a five-frames-per-second slideshow.

Waiting for the next big MMORPG

The early access phase of Age of Conan is starting tomorrow and I am kind of giddy with anticipation. Not because I am participating (I am not), but because I am interested in hearing how it goes.

I hope the game gets off to a nice start and is fun to play. Any competition to WoW can only help the genre. And it would provide me with a game that is worthwhile to try out when I get tired of LotRO.

The time couldn't be better for the release of a big MMORPG. Many of the WoW players are sick and tired of the game after three years. Other titles such as Warhammer Online, Stargate Worlds, or addons like Wrath of the Lich King and Mines of Moria are still months away. There is a good chance for a success if the game is solid.

But the reports from the beta about stability and performance have been very mixed and some of the concepts of the game seem flawed to me.

As far as I know every character starts in the same area, a town called Tortage, and is stuck there for the first 20 levels. For an explorer-type person like me who also likes to create lots of alts this sounds like a very very stupid idea. I hope they make that part optional after you have the first character out of the starting area.

Another thing that has me worried is the game's focus on PvP. I am a carebear and not overly interested in PvP. I haven't really read up on the distinction between PvE and PvP servers yet. To get me to try the game it has to offer a ganking-free environment on the PvE servers. From what I know the PvP server are free-for-all PvP without any factions. Every other player is a potential enemy. And that sounds like pure hell to me. I pray that the PvE servers are far less hardcore.

As many others out there I am now waiting for the first reports from players to trickle in. I can't do much more than wish Funcom good luck - don't screw it up! Another successful MMORPG to play would make me happy. And probably a lot of hardware vendors as well since the system requirements for the game are kind of insane.

Insta-cast goodness

Minstrels in LotRO are the primary healing class. But they also have pretty good soloing abilities. One thing I love about dps'ing my Minstrel is the huge number of ranged instant-cast nukes that I've got. Basically every single dps skill is a insta-cast. The ability to use dps skills while moving makes for a very mobile gameplay - a stark contrast to most other casters I have played so far. And I have to say that I absolutely love that.

If I get back to WoW then I will probably have to give moonkins a serious try.

Another thing is that the Minstrel skill-system is nicely designed. You have to think a bit instead of just spamming a single button. All the dps skills have a short cooldown. And they all have a buff or debuff component that makes picking a spell rotation interesting. Do I want the attack speed buff, more armour, or the extra damage debuff on the target?

Kirana, the hobbit minstrel

For the last few weeks I have mainly been playing Lord of the Rings Online. I actually started playing it about a year ago while I had my last WoW-burnout, but then took a long break again when the burnout symptoms subsided. Now I am back and enjoying my stay in Middle-Earth.

I can say that LotRO is a whole lot of fun. As a Tolkien fan I was blown away by the atmosphere, especially in the Shire. The hobbit NPCs do "hobbitish" things and give quests that are very fitting for a hobbit lifestyle. It simply looks and feels great - a place where I would like to settle down and enjoy the beer and food.

And the contrast in the atmosphere from the serene Shire to scary places like the Old Forest is very striking. The screen gets darker, the background music changes to ominous tunes, and the whole world seems to close up around you, trapping you in fog and the encroaching trees. A hobbit stumbling in there for the first time will surely shake in his boots, err ... have the hair on his feet stand up (yes, Kirana is going barefoot as is proper for a hobbit).

I find myself standing awestruck a lot while exploring the world, whether from the beautiful sight of a rainbow while standing in front of Bags End, or the feeling of dread in the Barrow Downs.

The instances I have visited so far, mainly as part of the epic story quest line, are also beautifully crafted. Unlike most WoW instances there is always a story going on inside the instance, with NPCs and scripted events leading from one encounter to the next. The only WoW instance that comes close to this feeling of an actual storyline is Old Hillsbrad, while most of the others WoW instances are just places where a boss happens to wait for you to come and kill him for loot.

My favourite instance so far was the level 15 class quest for my Hobbit Minstrel. That one involves a hobbit who had his lunch stolen by brigands. You help him face the thieves, reclaim his roast, and later write and perform a song about this little adventure. I don't want to spoil it - it is so funny that I was roaring with laughter by the end.

The Blizzard sleeps tonight

I still have hope that Blizzard might finally pull their thumbs out of their asses and add some new content. WotLK should have been out ages ago if you consider the original plans for "one expansion each year". I think they are dragging their feet since there is not much in terms of competition from other MMORPGs at the moment. The upcoming releases of Age of Conan and Warhammer Online might trigger some frantic content upgrades by Blizzard.

The current list of known features in WotLK is kind of underwhelming, especially considering the insane amount of money that should be available for the development. Hopefully Blizzard will put some more beef on the table, since 10 new levels worth of content and a single new class are slim pickings when you stretch it out over the amount of time that the content probably has to last for.

There are still tons of areas of WoW lore left to explore, like the Emerald Dream, or the Maelstrom. And the Caverns of Time are the perfect device to replay each and every major encounter of the Warcraft history. I really hope Blizzard switches development into a higher gear soon.

What is left?

There are still some things left for me to do in WoW outside the raid progression. I could start PvP. But I never really liked PvP, so it is unlikely that this is the answer.

Or I could level up more alts to 70 to get to know each class better. But having to drag another character through the same old content doesn't really appeal to me at the moment. I already tried to do some multi-boxing (playing several characters on different accounts at the same time) to spice up the levelling but while this is new and exciting in a technological way it didn't really satisfy me. There is no chance that you really learn to master a class while using the synchronized macros required for multiboxing.

And there are still a few areas I could explore and quests I didn't do. So far I almost exclusively played horde characters. My highest alliance character is a level 17 mage that I started ages ago. The alliance side still has fresh content that I have never seen before, areas I have not been to, quests that I didn't finish ten times already - hurray!

But of course there is a downside to playing alliance. It might as well be a different game, since due to the lack of communication between Alliance and Horde I am instantly cut off from my social network in the game.

Killing time

Over the last few months my enthusiasm for playing WoW has been fading. And now I have reached the point where there is no doubt anymore - I am burned out on WoW. I log on and do the same dailies every day, raid the same instances, do the same quests that I did last week on a different alt, ... basically I am just killing time. It is not so much the repetition that gets to me, it is the lack of new stuff to do, new areas to explore.

A lot of my time is usually spent raiding. The normal schedule of my guild is three nights with 4 hours each, plus some time before and after to prepare or to squeeze in a "last attempt". This is a lot of time, but it is necessary if you want to get through all the raiding tiers in WoW. There is fresh content in the raid instances, but it requires a huge amount of dedication to unlock that content.

While raiding the progress usually is glacially slow. Lots of raids are spent bashing your head against the same boss over and over again. Whatever was unique or cool with the encounter is soon replaced by the feeling of "not again". And after you beat the encounter you still get to do it over and over again every week for months - to gear up.

If I am not raiding then I am often levelling up my alts. But questing on an alt is been-there-done-that - there hasn't been much in terms of mid-level content additions apart from the upgrade of Dustwallow Marsh. There is simply no new content to explore after you levelled three characters to 70, one of which basically has done every quest there is in the game. The only new content gained by playing alts is from class specific quests and from gaining new spells and talents.

And the rest of the time in WoW was spent doing dailies for gold and reputation. The 2.4 patch was exciting for about a week with new daily quests. But doing the dailies over and over again? All the gold I earn doesn't buy me new content to explore.

Maybe it is best to cut down drastically on my WoW time and go into "hibernation". Drag out one of my characters for an evening or two each week and do some instances or a raid with my friends.

Friends list improved

The built-in friends list has its limitations, but luckily the WoW interface is very extendable by addons. And there are several that try to address the issues mentioned above. Unfortunately all of them are outdated and buggy.

I've played around with addons like Karma or NoteIt, but none of them was what I was looking for. And every single one of them was ancient and apparently unmaintained.

A real social interface would allow me to add private notes about any character I encounter. I do a PuG with someone - I add a note to that character. Someone says "thank you" when I do a drive-by buffing and even buffs me back - another note. Beggar in Orgrimmar - note it. Stealing my resource node from right under me while I fight a mob - note. Horrible tank that thinks two-handers and Deathwish are the way to go - note!

The notes have to be shared between all characters on the same account and server. An idiot I met on my main stays an idiot when I log on one of my alts. The note should be displayed on mouseover and when shift-clicking the player in a chat window.

And in times of server transfers and name changes a pure matching by name isn't enough. The race and class of the character should be recorded automatically, so I notice if I meet a completely different idiot just with the same name than the idiot I met a year ago. And the guild of the characters should be stored. While I don't judge a player by their guild tag, it does give a hint about the quality of the recruitment.

Since none of the existing addons fit my requirements I've started to tweak the simplest one, NoteIt, to my needs. NoteIt provides a simple notepad ability where you can assign notes to a player or item and have it displayed on mouseover.

So far I have extended it with an "info-stamp" that adds some extra info whenever I save a note, like the current time, the name of my logged on character, and the race, class, and guild of my current target.

So when I target someone and type /ni or /noteit then an edit window pops up that allows me to set a note, for example "repeatedly jumped into my fishing bopper". When saving it some data about my character and the targeted player get added like this:

-- Kirana - 2008-03-17 - Thunder Bluff:
-- male level 17 orc warrior
repeatedly jumped into my fishing bopper

Not perfect, but works well enough to be useful to me.

The next steps will be integration into the chat window so that the note appears when I shift-click a name in chat as well as handling /who queries when adding notes for players that I don't have targeted at the moment.

Friends list limitations

Why oh why can I only have 50 friends on my friends list? Is Blizzard trying to tell me something? Maybe something in the line of "These are not the friends you are looking for"?

In my opinion the social interface in WoW is too limited for an MMORPG. Limitations like 50 friends or 500 members in a guild? Are you kidding me? You call that Massive Multiplayer? There is no sharing of friends lists between your alts on the same server. And the default interface doesn't even allow you to add notes to your friends or ignored people. In short - the social interface of WoW stinks. These artificial limitations are plain and simple a disgrace for such a great game.

For me the friends list in the default interface is almost completely useless. With the amount of alts my friends have I can barely squeeze in more than a handful of "real people". And even then I have a hard time to remember which real player is linked to which alt.

Luckily the WoW interface is very extendable by addons, but more about that in my next post.

Player titles

One feature that I really liked in Lord of the Rings Online was collecting player titles. You can gain titles for things like finishing quests, killing mobs, mastering trade skills, or simply exploring the area. After a while you have a long list of titles that showed your accomplishments. You can select one of the titles and have it displayed together with your name.

The titles have no real gameplay effect and are just for show - a roleplayer gimmick. Collecting titles is another time sink for a completionist like me. It is fun to switch to "Kirana, Slug-squasher" while mindlessly grinding or to "Shire Brewmaster" when I am drunk.

WoW has player titles as well, but they are rather rare. There are two for PvE, "Champion of the Naaru" for finishing the Trial of the Naaru and the ultra-rare "Scarab Lord" only available to the openers of the AQ gates. From the arena you can reach one of Challenger, Duelist, Gladiator, or Rival. Reaching exalted reputation in all battlegrounds gives another. And if you PvP'ed before the 2.0 patch abandoned the old honor system then you kept your highest lifetime title.

Patch 2.4 will add two new titles. One for finishing the Black Temple attunement questline - a great accomplishment in my opinion and well worth a title. I am looking forward to getting it. And a second title that you can buy for 1000g at exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive. That one stumps me.

Buying a title - are you serious, Blizzard? Will you offer a degree from the unaccredited University of Warcrafting next? Having to buy the title after putting a lot of effort into getting to exalted is an insult in my opinion. Titles are something you earn. The price tag devalues the title and people who have it will probably be laughed at. Reaching Exalted will be a long and hard struggle, but the thing most people will be reminded of when seeing the title is that you paid 1000g to feed your vanity.

Memorabilia

Blizzard is devaluing the previous accomplishments of the players with each expansion. The gear reset pretty much wipes out everything you have achieved in the game before. You killed Onyxia, Ragnaros, Hakar, C'thun, and dozens of others? Too bad, nobody will know. Here is a new batch of bosses, kthxbye. The simple reason is that gear is almost always the only reward you get for killing a boss.

WoW is missing something like player-titles or housing with some kind of memorabilia display. I would love to have a collection of treasures from the various adventures I had over the years. A claw from Onyxia, some bubbling lava from Ragnaros, maybe the head of one of the bloody Sons of Arugal that run around near the Sepulcher - on a spike ...

I treasure some old things too much to throw them away, like my Benediction staff or my first mount for example. It would be great if I could store them somewhere other than in the small bank.

Give me a house where I can put old gear-sets on a dummy. Give me a cozy fireplace with Onyxia's head mounted on the wall above. Give me one of the dancing skeletons from Razorfen Downs as an anatomical exhibit in my library. Give me copies of the various books filled with the warcraft lore. Give me a kitchen where I can prepare a filet of the Lurker Below and some murloc sushi. Give me a stable for my old mounts and my various mini pets. I am tired of PETA members trying to free them from my cramped bags!

Warlocks and Shadow Priests - guilty until proven innocent

No, this post is not about demonic sacrifices of baby orcs...

... just about my reactions to self-mutilations by casters of the shadowy persuasion.

Lifetapping warlocks can scare the shit out of me with the self inflicted health deficits they use to regenerate mana. And the backlash from a shadowpriest critting Shadow Word: Death can be even worse.

The aggro indicators in Grid or other raid-frames just aren't fast or accurate enough to distinguish between such self-inflicted damage that can be healed at leisure and "zomg that noob pulled aggro again - spam heals and pray"!

For safety reasons I assume the person in question is a noob and about to be mashed into a bloody pulp. In 5-mans I might notice in time that the mobs are still firmly attached to the tank and just throw a single Renew for topping them up. But in the chaos of a raid everyone is 'guilty of overaggroing until proven innocent' and causes me to prepare for a full-blown healing spam while I mutter curses under my breath.

Not that it matters in most end game encounters where random attacks outside of the good old aggro table seem to be the norm instead of the exception. There everyone is 'considered dead unless immediately healed to full'. And my curses in such encounters often go way beyond the "under my breath" threshold. ;)

Kibbles 'n Bits (updated)

There are several special food items in the game that increase the stats of your pets. And not just hunter pets, but other pet types such as the warlock minions and mage's water elemental as well.

From the Sporeggar there is the Sporeling Snack created from Strange Spores that drop from sporebats and striders in Zangarmarsh. The snacks increase the Stamina and Spirit of your pet by 20 and last 30 minutes. Not too shabby.

And from the daily cooking quest you can get the recipe for Kibler's Bits. These are made from Buzzard Meat and increase the Strength and Spirit of your pet by 20 and also last for half an hour

These pet treats don't count as normal food that you can use with the "feed pet" skill of the hunter. They are "Use" items that will buff your current pet when right-clicked.

Apparently you can also use the food buff on Mind Controlled mobs, but doing so breaks the Mind Control since it counts as an action by you. I wonder if duelling someone to buff them with Strength would work. Something new to try out!

Update: Our guild's main tank complained about being abused in such a way and being treated like a pet, but sacrifices have to be made in the name of science. The result: He came out miffed at me, but strengthened by the experience!

The quest to complete all quests

I am currently trying to complete all kinds of questlines that I skipped earlier. Two of them that I started to clean out this weekend were the Fallen Hero of the Horde questline in Blasted Lands and the Greatmother Geyah questline in Nagrand. Apart from being great questlines the later also gives loads of gold at level 70.

There are tons of earlier questlines that I finished already over the last few weeks. For example the low level quests in Ghostlands. They are perfect for the wait time before a Zul'Aman run. Many of them give reputation, either for Tranquillien or in many cases for Horde factions. And one of them leads to one of my favorite events - Lady Sylvanas' Lament of the Highborne - an incredibly haunting song ...

... Belore

The "you can turn of the loading screen hints" hint

Why oh why is there a hint on the loading screen that tells you that you can turn off these hints?

Why? I don't get it. Whoever came up with the idea for this option and the corresponding hint must be really emo. It is a stupid and unnecessary option to have in the first place. But the existential angst in the loading screen hint? Way over the top.

Spirit Tap misconceptions

The priest talent Spirit Tap is one of the best talents for soloing. After you land a killing blow on a mob you get a buff for 15 seconds that doubles your spirit and allows 50% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting. The effect only procs if the killed mob or player would have given you experience or honor, but that usually is the case anyway.

A common recommendation among priests is to wand the mob for the last few seconds before the killing blow, so that you are out of the 5-second-rule for the full duration of the Spirit Tap buff. I used to blindly follow that advise to maximise the amount of mana that I regenerate, but luckily some priests pointed out that this is a misconception.

It sounds surprising at first, but being in or out of the 5-second rule (FSR) when Spirit Tap procs has no influence on the extra mana regenerated from it!

Without taking into account other talents Spirit Tap gives the following:

If you are out of the FSR while Spirit Tap is running then you get the full 100% mana regeneration rate at double your normal spirit. Instead of 100% regeneration you will get 200%. So Spirit Tap gives you extra mana equivalent to 15 seconds at 100% mana regeneration.

If you keep casting instead and stay inside the FSR for the proc then you get 50% mana regeneration at double your spirit. Instead of 0% regeneration you will have 100%. In this case Spirit Tap gives you extra mana equivalent to 15 seconds at 100% mana regeneration.

So being in or out of the FSR for Spirit Tap makes no difference for mana regeneration. Spirit tap adds a flat 100% extra on top of your usual mana regeneration. Please note that time spent out of the FSR is still a good thing. You just don't have to worry about Spirit Tap with regard to it. Take a regeneration break whenever you need and don't be a slave to Spirit Tap.

Taking into account talents like 'Improved Divine Spirit', 'Spiritual Guidance', and 'Meditation' makes casting while Spirit Tap is running actually better than wanding. Improved Divine Spirit and Spiritual Guidance benefit from the doubled spirit and give you extra +damage/healing. If you keep casting then you can use this benefit, but if you are wanding instead you are wasting the +damage. Meditation also benefits from the extra spirit, but only while you are *in* the FSR.