In the last couple weeks, I've been in PuGs for just about every raid, except Sunwell. Some have been successful, some haven't. But it's still amazing to me that they exist. On a server where the top Alliance guild was selling chances at tier pieces mere weeks after first downing the bosses themselves, and most of the inhabitants are just looking to get "epicced out" - regardless of the stats on the gear, it's somewhat refreshing to see people have complete PuG runs where rolls are simply mainspec first, then offspec.
All this freely available gear has set rumblings in the foundations of some guilds. I've seen a few 25-mans break into 10-mans, 10-man guilds split into arena teams, and arena teams disintegrate into individual battlegrounders. Of course, this might just be the result of pre-expansion restlessness spreading wanderlust that makes people test the waters of what they can accomplish on their own.
I have some very mixed feelings about these PuGs. On one hand, they get the bosses down (sometimes), and that's where the phat lootz come from. On the other hand, they're terrible players who are so sub-optimal at their roles that even after the patch boss nerfs, wipes are vastly more common than boss kills. So while I enjoy reaping the benefits of killing bosses in Black Temple, it helps to have a movie to watch during downtime, and maybe a game of solitaire going to keep my clicking finger from locking up.
On the whole, I think that more PuGs can only be good. They stimulate the interest in raids and heroics, and keep the game from becoming stale. But I'd like to see a return of attunements with the increase in PuGs. As easy as this game is, some people just aren't good enough at it to perform at the level required to do high-level content. To me, this is the challenge of game design: invent a natural content progression that cultivates building skills that will help you later in the game. Of course, this would effectively "lock out" some people from the end of progression, but I'm conceited enough to believe that I can perform well enough to make it to the "end."
This ties in to how I think that progression should depend on skill intead of raid size, but that's a whole different post. Perhaps later this week.
In the mean time, enjoy the free PHAT EPIXX L00TZ0RZ flowing out of PuGs.
29 October 2008
27 October 2008
WTS!: In-Game Loot Distribution
We're all familiar with the typical loot options in the game. I think the two that get used the most are Group Loot and Master Looter. I don't know anyone who uses Round Robin or Need Before Greed, and Free-For-All is pretty much a gimmick option for running lowbies through things, or similar off situations. I would like to see implementation of a loot system by Blizzard for raids, so there is a "standard" method - even if Blizzard makes it optional.
In my mind, a player should have an "edge" when rolling on items for his spec and professions, as well as when he hasn't received any loot from a boss (or raid) over multiple kills. Of course, this can't "carry over" between guilds, so each raid would have to be tagged for a guild or as "PuG" when entering, and each player would have a running tab of what amounts to DKP with each guild he runs with, while PuGs remain how they are now.
As an example of the mechanics, let's say that the bias for a player who can use an item is +5 to a roll, and the bias for not having won something yet is another +5 per boss. So in your Sunwell raid, the engineering goggle upgrade for your character's class and spec drops, and you haven't won any loot for 5 kills. So you have a total of 30 points to add to your roll. What I'm suggesting isn't a straight addition, but simply an increase of top roll - so (/roll 1-130) instead of the normal (/roll 1-100). These additional points would be "spent" on a winning roll, but retained on a losing roll. This puts a soft cap on the amount that you can effectively use, and so encourages people to roll often without making any points over a certain number useless.
This also leaves a large part of the loot to chance. The roll isn't being sold to the highest bidder, it's being biased toward the unlucky. There is still the chance for someone to show up, roll 100 on everything and leave, or for a dedicated raid member to lose every roll, even though he has a bonus of 500, but these are very unlikely situations.
Of course, a huge dilemma with this is that there is no "standard" system now, so how can Blizzard choose one to impose? That's why I suggest that it only be mandatory in a PuG setting, and can be turned off in a raid to allow a guild to use whatever system they're already using. I don't really expect to see this anytime soon, but here's hoping!
In my mind, a player should have an "edge" when rolling on items for his spec and professions, as well as when he hasn't received any loot from a boss (or raid) over multiple kills. Of course, this can't "carry over" between guilds, so each raid would have to be tagged for a guild or as "PuG" when entering, and each player would have a running tab of what amounts to DKP with each guild he runs with, while PuGs remain how they are now.
As an example of the mechanics, let's say that the bias for a player who can use an item is +5 to a roll, and the bias for not having won something yet is another +5 per boss. So in your Sunwell raid, the engineering goggle upgrade for your character's class and spec drops, and you haven't won any loot for 5 kills. So you have a total of 30 points to add to your roll. What I'm suggesting isn't a straight addition, but simply an increase of top roll - so (/roll 1-130) instead of the normal (/roll 1-100). These additional points would be "spent" on a winning roll, but retained on a losing roll. This puts a soft cap on the amount that you can effectively use, and so encourages people to roll often without making any points over a certain number useless.
This also leaves a large part of the loot to chance. The roll isn't being sold to the highest bidder, it's being biased toward the unlucky. There is still the chance for someone to show up, roll 100 on everything and leave, or for a dedicated raid member to lose every roll, even though he has a bonus of 500, but these are very unlikely situations.
Of course, a huge dilemma with this is that there is no "standard" system now, so how can Blizzard choose one to impose? That's why I suggest that it only be mandatory in a PuG setting, and can be turned off in a raid to allow a guild to use whatever system they're already using. I don't really expect to see this anytime soon, but here's hoping!
22 October 2008
WTB!: Commentary on RNG Loot Mechanics
I read a blue post this morning responding to someone complaining about the drop rate of the [Sinister Squashling] from the Headless Horseman. The Blizzard poster said that the drop rates were based on a person doing the event an average of five times per day (I'm assuming this is on a per character basis), and that even if the boss was killed those five times per day for the duration of the event, some people still would not see the pet drop. This is to be expected, since we're dealing with bell-curve fitting, but still discouraging.
It seems to me that just having an RNG determine whether something drops, and then another one to determine wheter you win that item is leaving too much to chance. However, if the chance is taken out of drops too much, then either everyone or noone will end up with the item. Well, that's not exactly true. The legendary weapons from classic WoW had only one part that was RNG based (from what I remember off the top of my head) and the rest of the parts were guaranteed drops from certain bosses. And these items are still very rare. I'd like to see more things like this instead of pure RNG drops. Oddly enough, the extreme difficulty of the achievement to get one of every mask is being dropped from the meta-achievement to get the title "The Hallowed" because of its reliance on RNG items.
Now, for an achievement that doesn't have a time limit (pretty much everything but the seasonal ones, from what I see), then having a large time component required doesn't hurt too much (think the Loremaster title for doing lots and lots of quests in every zone of the game). However, once a clock is put on the achievement, this is no longer workable. It makes the achievement too luck-based, or just flat out impossible. If RNGs are going to remain the prevalent method of item distribution, then some modifiers need to be placed on the drop AND the loot roll that follows.
The problem then becomes how to measure something to determine who should get a modifier. A quest line is probably too easy, but maybe simple is good in this case. The modifier doesn't even have to be large, but it would be nice to see preference given to people who are working towards the titles from achievements over those who are just there because they're bored and don't want to do anything outside the game.
It seems to me that just having an RNG determine whether something drops, and then another one to determine wheter you win that item is leaving too much to chance. However, if the chance is taken out of drops too much, then either everyone or noone will end up with the item. Well, that's not exactly true. The legendary weapons from classic WoW had only one part that was RNG based (from what I remember off the top of my head) and the rest of the parts were guaranteed drops from certain bosses. And these items are still very rare. I'd like to see more things like this instead of pure RNG drops. Oddly enough, the extreme difficulty of the achievement to get one of every mask is being dropped from the meta-achievement to get the title "The Hallowed" because of its reliance on RNG items.
Now, for an achievement that doesn't have a time limit (pretty much everything but the seasonal ones, from what I see), then having a large time component required doesn't hurt too much (think the Loremaster title for doing lots and lots of quests in every zone of the game). However, once a clock is put on the achievement, this is no longer workable. It makes the achievement too luck-based, or just flat out impossible. If RNGs are going to remain the prevalent method of item distribution, then some modifiers need to be placed on the drop AND the loot roll that follows.
The problem then becomes how to measure something to determine who should get a modifier. A quest line is probably too easy, but maybe simple is good in this case. The modifier doesn't even have to be large, but it would be nice to see preference given to people who are working towards the titles from achievements over those who are just there because they're bored and don't want to do anything outside the game.
13 October 2008
Weaksauce!? No, Just Equilibrium
I see a lot of people complaining on forums about their class being too underpowered with the release of the 3.0.x patch. The weird thing to me is that every class is saying this. And no class is getting weaker than they are now. So people are assuming that other classes are getting more buffs than their own class is. How paranoid can you get?
Having never been forced to sit out due to min-maxing, it's a lot easier for me to see the buffs at face value. I can understand how people would be worried that they will get side-lined, but if Blizzard's statement about role equity is taken as true no class will be sidelined. Only certain players will be sidelined. I support this change.
As I understand it (and have seen for myself), there will still be "specialization" among roles for each class, but these abilities won't be head and shoulders above the other classes in those areas. Since tanking is my "forte," I'll give some examples of that.
I can't see any reason for anyone to worry about their class not being wanted by a raid. Except perhaps healers, but that would be a rare case indeed and would require serious construing of raid makeup.
I admit that the ones hit hardest by the changes are dps players. With healers and tanks able to do some notable damage, dps have to bring some truly remarkable damage to be beneficial to the raid. But I think this is a great change. One of my biggest pet peeves is a dps class who can't do more damage (or dps) than my tank. Having a reason to push those players to do even halfway decent damage can be nothing but good.
So to all the people who think that they won't be able to get a spot in a raid after the changes, maybe you should consider whether the problem is your class, or your ability.
Having never been forced to sit out due to min-maxing, it's a lot easier for me to see the buffs at face value. I can understand how people would be worried that they will get side-lined, but if Blizzard's statement about role equity is taken as true no class will be sidelined. Only certain players will be sidelined. I support this change.
As I understand it (and have seen for myself), there will still be "specialization" among roles for each class, but these abilities won't be head and shoulders above the other classes in those areas. Since tanking is my "forte," I'll give some examples of that.
- AOE tanking - Thunderclap and swipe will now hit all targets, but consecration will still be more threat per target.
- Off tanking - Druids will still have a "larger-than-average" health pool, but paladins and warriors scale with stamina exceptionally well compared to non-tanks.
- Main tanking - Every boss will be tankable by every class. Warrriors still have the most tricks up their sleeves, but that gap is narrowing fast.
I can't see any reason for anyone to worry about their class not being wanted by a raid. Except perhaps healers, but that would be a rare case indeed and would require serious construing of raid makeup.
I admit that the ones hit hardest by the changes are dps players. With healers and tanks able to do some notable damage, dps have to bring some truly remarkable damage to be beneficial to the raid. But I think this is a great change. One of my biggest pet peeves is a dps class who can't do more damage (or dps) than my tank. Having a reason to push those players to do even halfway decent damage can be nothing but good.
So to all the people who think that they won't be able to get a spot in a raid after the changes, maybe you should consider whether the problem is your class, or your ability.
08 October 2008
To Raid or Not To Raid
One of my very few regrets with WoW is never having been in the "endgame." I went into Naxx yesterday for the first time and stealthed around as much as I could and it really hit me that I wanted the legendary [Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian]. I probably could have worked through Burning Crusade and picked up my 40 splinters, but I was getting my T4 and leveling my warrior and shaman.
With the reduction in raid size in Burning Crusade from 40 to 25, I was able to get into raiding. But this only garnered me one tier of gear before I gave up on the "hardcore" raiding in favor of hanging out with my friends. I briefly took my shaman into T5/T6 and was able to at least see the instances, but I hated the huge amounts of downtime and incompetence of the other raiders.
As WotLK advents, I think Blizzard is showing that they understand these frustrations, but also those of the extremely hardcore raiders by having dual-size raids. The hard jump from 40 to 25 man raids caused an almost universal wipe of guilds, with a few exceptions. By offering the option to continue on the 25 man path, these established raiding guilds aren't hurt. By dropping better gear than the 10 man versions, these guilds aren't trivialized. But by implementing these 10 man versions, just about everyone can venture into "engame" and complete the story arc of the expansion.
The only thing that is still up in the air is ZOMG LEGENDARIES!! In classic WoW, there were huge quest chains leading up to obtaining obscene amounts of materials to craft your own legendary weapons. In Burning Crusade, these weapons were just drops from the "end" bosses of the game in their respective patches. If this trend continues, the legendaries in WotLK will be kill-quest rewards. I don't think this will happen, but I am concerned that they will be 25 man only drops. While this is very fair, it puts me back in the same position that I'm in now. We all know that Frostmourne will make an appearance, but most likely only from hard mode Arthas 25.
Also of concern to me is the class restriction on these items. The huge uproar caused by the [Star's Fury] being given to a rogue over two hunters is well known. While I know this won't be a problem in my guild, I don't want Blizzard to react by restricting Frostmourne to Death Knight only.
I'm sure BlizzCon will shed lots of light on the situation, but until then, I'm on the edge of my plush gaming chair.
With the reduction in raid size in Burning Crusade from 40 to 25, I was able to get into raiding. But this only garnered me one tier of gear before I gave up on the "hardcore" raiding in favor of hanging out with my friends. I briefly took my shaman into T5/T6 and was able to at least see the instances, but I hated the huge amounts of downtime and incompetence of the other raiders.
As WotLK advents, I think Blizzard is showing that they understand these frustrations, but also those of the extremely hardcore raiders by having dual-size raids. The hard jump from 40 to 25 man raids caused an almost universal wipe of guilds, with a few exceptions. By offering the option to continue on the 25 man path, these established raiding guilds aren't hurt. By dropping better gear than the 10 man versions, these guilds aren't trivialized. But by implementing these 10 man versions, just about everyone can venture into "engame" and complete the story arc of the expansion.
The only thing that is still up in the air is ZOMG LEGENDARIES!! In classic WoW, there were huge quest chains leading up to obtaining obscene amounts of materials to craft your own legendary weapons. In Burning Crusade, these weapons were just drops from the "end" bosses of the game in their respective patches. If this trend continues, the legendaries in WotLK will be kill-quest rewards. I don't think this will happen, but I am concerned that they will be 25 man only drops. While this is very fair, it puts me back in the same position that I'm in now. We all know that Frostmourne will make an appearance, but most likely only from hard mode Arthas 25.
Also of concern to me is the class restriction on these items. The huge uproar caused by the [Star's Fury] being given to a rogue over two hunters is well known. While I know this won't be a problem in my guild, I don't want Blizzard to react by restricting Frostmourne to Death Knight only.
I'm sure BlizzCon will shed lots of light on the situation, but until then, I'm on the edge of my plush gaming chair.
07 October 2008
New Gear, Just a Year Too Late
Last night my guild did an odd thing for us: we voluntarily switched up our Kara run with several alts. And we didn't have any wipes (except for a dumb mistake on my part when I pulled a group before taking out the patting Stagehands on the way to Opera). This earned us a three hour (give or take 5 minutes) run, and 22 badges.
I used those badges to pick up the last piece I need for tanking on my warrior before WotLK: [Girdle of the Fearless]. I still have the [Devilshark Cape], but I don't see that going anywhere until I hit Northrend. [Slikk's Cloak] is better, but it's also another 35 badges. And I'd lose some of my ever-dwindling block value, so I think I'll just hold out for a WotLK variant.
I'd like to scrape together another 40 badges on my druid to get some [Grovewalker's Leggings], but I'm not sure if that'll happen before I make the plunge to the Icy North.
Incidently, it looks like with the change to spellpower, healing is ending up just barely on top. Presumably the +81 healing and +40 damage enchants are the "same" ilevel, but while the +40 damage just goes straight across, the +81 healing turns into +42 (or 43, I can't remember) spellpower. Since I want to heal anyway, it won't hurt my feelings to have gear itemized for that, but it's something to keep in mind before the patch.
Here's looking forward to achievements!
I used those badges to pick up the last piece I need for tanking on my warrior before WotLK: [Girdle of the Fearless]. I still have the [Devilshark Cape], but I don't see that going anywhere until I hit Northrend. [Slikk's Cloak] is better, but it's also another 35 badges. And I'd lose some of my ever-dwindling block value, so I think I'll just hold out for a WotLK variant.
I'd like to scrape together another 40 badges on my druid to get some [Grovewalker's Leggings], but I'm not sure if that'll happen before I make the plunge to the Icy North.
Incidently, it looks like with the change to spellpower, healing is ending up just barely on top. Presumably the +81 healing and +40 damage enchants are the "same" ilevel, but while the +40 damage just goes straight across, the +81 healing turns into +42 (or 43, I can't remember) spellpower. Since I want to heal anyway, it won't hurt my feelings to have gear itemized for that, but it's something to keep in mind before the patch.
Here's looking forward to achievements!
02 October 2008
Just Say "No" to PuGs?
I've taken to PuGing Kara with my warrior lately. He still needs 40-odd badges, and can get a few offspec upgrades in there as well. What I'd really like to do is see him in ZA, but he's nowhere near as geared as my druid and with the new content coming soon, it'd be a waste to have a "geared enough" tank in there in place of an "awesomely geared" tank.
With that said, are PuGs getting better now, or just more geared? I haven't had a Kara run not make it to Shade (even though that's about when everyone just gives up because it requires more than button-mashing) in a few weeks, and we've even gotten Illhoof down a couple times. I'd like to think that my hotness that is tanking makes a huge difference in that, but it's more likely that the gear level of the group is going up on average.
The thing about that being true that I don't understand is how I still manage to get in a group with at least the other tank in nothing but quest greens. And how Kara senses that this person needs gear so drops nothing but that person's spec/class loot.
I ended up running the show Sunday night, since I was apparently the only one who had been inside Kara before. We started with 4 (Count them! FOUR!) Ret pallies, so when we hit Maiden we only had a small issue with Holy Fire almost killing our healers. All our dps could cleanse it from themselves.
By the time we got to Curator though, we had lost all of the paladins, and the dps were having a hard time coping without Blessing of Salvation. I think we degenerated into name-calling and POM-pyroing around the 3rd flare from Curator, and called it after struggling with Illhoof, but killing him finally.
As frustrating as this was, in a normal PuG, or just a few months ago, I wouldn't have expected to get farther than Moroes. And this was all done with an offtank who effectively doubled his tanking gear value by picking up 3 pieces. Oh, and he thought that this [Good Luck Charm] was for rogues. I just about left the group after that comment.
The bottom line is that PuGs are geared enough now to accommodate just about any heroic or Kara. PuGing ZA probably would get a boss or two down. As long as you're willing to put up with a few wipes and don't expect anything spectacular, you can probably get a group for anything now that nobody's raiding.
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