Dear Readers,
thanks for a wonderful year 2011. Have some nice Christmas days and a very good start into year 2012.
Thank you for all your visits, your comments and the feedback you've givne me over the last months. It was great and it will be great in the following year, too :)
So, grab your drink and have nice days!
Noc Ho Ho Ho
Monday, 26 December 2011
Monday, 5 December 2011
RP-Server and maturity
If playing a MMO, is the choice to play on a roleplayserver automatically a warranty for mature player? I had to read about it a lot of times and I still have my problems when reading about "maturity".
First of all because "maturity" in this context is often used for things people do not want to experience, such as all-time-jumping people like rabbits on crack. Or reading "Lol", "Rofl", see smilies in chat, strange names and so on. This is all true - you probably won't see such things on a rp server, because the rules are often strict. In Lord of the Rings Online, for example, you can get a temp ban for jumping with a mount from roof to roof. Or even sitting there and waiting. Those things can cause other to be very angry and often a ticket is written faster than a direct whisper saying "hey mate, please, it's a rp server, respect the rules".
On the other hand, "maturity" also includes the ability to face problems with others. And here I often see a terrible lack in ripeness, cultivation and respect for each other. Tolerance-level often reaches numbers below zero as time goes by. And the density and intensity of such arguments grow with time passing by.
I had to read often flames about global channels and why they exist - and never ever try to position yourself there, you are lost because you just failed when writing in them (as they could not exist as nobody can talk in that way, far to each other - beside via mail and other things, not happening in real time. If you say "well, we also are doing via chat" you are lost again).
Very often I had to see things like clearly readable cybersex chats in Lord of the Rings Online - that much that I gave it the name "The Prancing Porny". Is this suitable? Is this d'accord with the "heroism" and feeling of Lord of the Rings? I do not know.
Neither did the people that flamed about it. And really "flaming" as the fight went over chats into forums.
Also there was a forums war about guys riding in Thorin's Hall. Also a very rude discussion about the fact that a player used the wrong greeting. Another time because he made the error to know the name of the other before he could even mention it.
I do not give anymore a lot on "maturity" as the advantages you gain on a rp-server are eaten up by such behavior. On both server types, RP and PVE, you end up with the same squallers - the content may be different, the behavior remains the same.
So, in short, I just consider the types of servers as a sign on what kind of rant I will face. Do I like debates on principles every five minutes - then RP. If I like idiot names and chats - then PVE. Idiots have no barriers and trolls will go where there is food.
Noc
First of all because "maturity" in this context is often used for things people do not want to experience, such as all-time-jumping people like rabbits on crack. Or reading "Lol", "Rofl", see smilies in chat, strange names and so on. This is all true - you probably won't see such things on a rp server, because the rules are often strict. In Lord of the Rings Online, for example, you can get a temp ban for jumping with a mount from roof to roof. Or even sitting there and waiting. Those things can cause other to be very angry and often a ticket is written faster than a direct whisper saying "hey mate, please, it's a rp server, respect the rules".
On the other hand, "maturity" also includes the ability to face problems with others. And here I often see a terrible lack in ripeness, cultivation and respect for each other. Tolerance-level often reaches numbers below zero as time goes by. And the density and intensity of such arguments grow with time passing by.
I had to read often flames about global channels and why they exist - and never ever try to position yourself there, you are lost because you just failed when writing in them (as they could not exist as nobody can talk in that way, far to each other - beside via mail and other things, not happening in real time. If you say "well, we also are doing via chat" you are lost again).
Very often I had to see things like clearly readable cybersex chats in Lord of the Rings Online - that much that I gave it the name "The Prancing Porny". Is this suitable? Is this d'accord with the "heroism" and feeling of Lord of the Rings? I do not know.
Neither did the people that flamed about it. And really "flaming" as the fight went over chats into forums.
Also there was a forums war about guys riding in Thorin's Hall. Also a very rude discussion about the fact that a player used the wrong greeting. Another time because he made the error to know the name of the other before he could even mention it.
I do not give anymore a lot on "maturity" as the advantages you gain on a rp-server are eaten up by such behavior. On both server types, RP and PVE, you end up with the same squallers - the content may be different, the behavior remains the same.
So, in short, I just consider the types of servers as a sign on what kind of rant I will face. Do I like debates on principles every five minutes - then RP. If I like idiot names and chats - then PVE. Idiots have no barriers and trolls will go where there is food.
Noc
Monday, 14 November 2011
So I tried out Skyrim....
Honestly, there are a lot of bad, very bad RPGs out there. Mostly because of story stuff, others because of gameplay related things, but rarely because of graphics. Gfx stuff does not matter. Take Gothic - the higher the number of the sequel, the lower the votes. It seems that there is a strange correlation between sequel number and the votes they get. But today I will try out another game from which many people said and keep saying: "Woot, the best game in the world, directly after "Jesus Online" and "The End of WWII - Aftermath"!".
So I installed the game and had much fun to wait as Steam was having issues with their downloadservers. I am patient, very patient, thus I tried it ten seconds later. Eleven seconds and even thirty seconds later. Then five minutes later, fifteen minutes later, one hour later.
In short: Four hours later I could download Skyrim which took some time to get it on PC, causing interesting lags during the session of World of Warcraft. Those moments where you think "Oh, great, nobody in raid dies, nobody gets harmed, everything is fine... wait, something is strange" and the game suddenly continues and you realize you are dead...
Ok, so Skyrim finished downloading, the installer took some time to prepare the game and then... waiting. Thank God Skyrim loads in a fast way so I suddenly had the menu with a few things to click. No "NVoodooa - they way it's meant to be uninstalled" or "Optimized for people with too much money", no visual orgasm of a designer who wanted to express himself on the virtual kindergarden they call "intro". Just the developer, menu, finish. Good, very good.
Started the game, blackscreen. In the following first seconds I really thought the game would start with a crash as I only heard sound but saw nothing. While I was going to beat the display with my mouse and my keyboard and the cat which was passing by I "opened the eyes" and realized I was a prisoner. The guy in front of me was telling me something about who they are and the thief on my side and such things, which really interested me as much as the square-root of Pi. I was more focused on graphics which was really great. A little voice in me told me to pay attention: Good gfx offen means... Ok, shut up, voice, the guy has something to tell me!
Prisoner.... check
We gonna die.... check
I have no clue who I am... check
After arriving at a little... uh, camp which was only there to punish people by cutting off their head ("camp Haircut", I think it was the name). Thanks guys - five minutes of intro, had no opportunity to make something wrong but was going to lose my head. I think such troubles are pretty normal for a "Head start".
I had the possibility to create my character. Interesting... I was wondering how strange it would be if someone would ask me who I am and I would start to change my face and name till I'd say "So, finished, call me....".
But hey, this is a game so: let's take a look what we can do...
Ok, we are gamer so it does not matter how ugly we are as we are in reality, too. The perfect identification with the character I was creating was established, good. But for a woman having some sympathy for aesthetics and taste will have as much fun with the characters like Flipper had with a chainsaw. Really: Either the developers wanted to create the uggliest races ever or they designer simply hates people.
I decided to take the first style the game gave me and bam, I was ready to get my head off. But hey, did I hear a noise? Ah, no... let's continue, I want to die. No, wait, really, a noise.... aww, impossible. Not in Skyrim. Ah, there, another one...
Is it the wind? No
Is it a jet? No
Is it Superman? No
It is: super dwaggon coming down from the ceiling to land on a tower and play "Bob Loss - The Joy of Burning".
I was able to flee and landed in a tower. Then my worst enemy was my greatest fan: Here, come up. Here, run. Here, follow me.
Mate, sorry, but you wanted to kill me. Now I am here to follow you? Yeah? For sure. Go play with the raging dragon out there, greetings from hell, unlucky bastard.
But no, I had to follow. Well, later I got the possibility to get a sword and rush to the next village with my new best friend: Captain Head Off. He proposed me to join the army who wanted to kill me. Good idea, why not? I have far more good ideas - why not joining the Team Edward? The one with the dragon? I've got far more friends there than I had in the Camp Headache.
Ok, I went on, to the next village. There I learnt a new important thing about Skyrim: This game was made for consoled. The menu is as intuitive as nuclear physics for children. Tab to leave a menu - ok, but this is not always described so you have to guess. And E for taking something and R for taking everything - the same "R" you press to drop your item. But only one, not all items. Good to know - the idea of getting completely naked while talking to someone would be strange.
The textures are a little bit... "blurry", the engine is still the same like other games of Berthesda before. This could be a perfect mod created for Fallout 3. Some things are a little bit different...
The fights itself, for example. If you fight with a sword you sometimes get to see interesting slo-mos in 3rd party perspective giving you the feeling of being Conan The Barbar - or the guy of "crank" - or both.
There is no clear "class choice". You cannot say "Uh, I am a healer" or "Uh, I am a fighter" as you have to improve your character while levelling. Pretty good for guys loving to fight with a sword, mace or a big rat they found. But not for the magician who rather sets himself on fire than others. No matter what you do, you will soon learn to set things on fire, destroy them, smash them, whatever.
Because the main story of Skyrim is as interesting as two pounds mehl on a table. Most of the time you explore, do side quests, whatever. Imagine you were playing World of Warcraft, but without any other gamers. Well, imagine you are playing a former WoW expansion - now. This is Skyrim.
You are the Delta Force, dropped off on.. who ever knows they dropped you and now you are trying to find a way to entertain yourself. Welcome to World of Explorecraft - The Boring Crusade.
So after two hours of intensive gameplay I've got to admit that Skyrim is the better Oblivion. Sure, it has its problems, it's often boring (at least for me) as not everyone wants to talk for a lot of minutes to guys they never know and with other guys who some minutes ago wanted to cut off your head.
And yes, the concept of enemies levelling with you is as motivating as ten hours of grinding for a very rare item. But in the end that's the true flair of a world in which you have a lot of opportunities to die, pardon: to explore. To lose yourself and drop the reality, for people always wanting to know why they hate vikings. Or Sweden. Or both.
To sum it up: Skyrim is great for people loving this genre. If someone wants a tight story, with a lot of focus on strict character specialization and a well seen path to follow then Skyrim is as suited as a bycicle for a fish. Play something different, like Dragon Age (the first part, not the arcade mod they called "Dragon Age 2").
Side note:
I am wondering about myself, to be honest. I mean: I used to play those games very much, I loved Fallout 3 and I even loved Morrowind. What happened to me that I cannot get "stick" to Skyrim?
See you at the next "So I tried...." part.
P.S.: Here a very interesting way to steal. Should be doable in reality, too
Noc
So I installed the game and had much fun to wait as Steam was having issues with their downloadservers. I am patient, very patient, thus I tried it ten seconds later. Eleven seconds and even thirty seconds later. Then five minutes later, fifteen minutes later, one hour later.
In short: Four hours later I could download Skyrim which took some time to get it on PC, causing interesting lags during the session of World of Warcraft. Those moments where you think "Oh, great, nobody in raid dies, nobody gets harmed, everything is fine... wait, something is strange" and the game suddenly continues and you realize you are dead...
Ok, so Skyrim finished downloading, the installer took some time to prepare the game and then... waiting. Thank God Skyrim loads in a fast way so I suddenly had the menu with a few things to click. No "NVoodooa - they way it's meant to be uninstalled" or "Optimized for people with too much money", no visual orgasm of a designer who wanted to express himself on the virtual kindergarden they call "intro". Just the developer, menu, finish. Good, very good.
Started the game, blackscreen. In the following first seconds I really thought the game would start with a crash as I only heard sound but saw nothing. While I was going to beat the display with my mouse and my keyboard and the cat which was passing by I "opened the eyes" and realized I was a prisoner. The guy in front of me was telling me something about who they are and the thief on my side and such things, which really interested me as much as the square-root of Pi. I was more focused on graphics which was really great. A little voice in me told me to pay attention: Good gfx offen means... Ok, shut up, voice, the guy has something to tell me!
Prisoner.... check
We gonna die.... check
I have no clue who I am... check
After arriving at a little... uh, camp which was only there to punish people by cutting off their head ("camp Haircut", I think it was the name). Thanks guys - five minutes of intro, had no opportunity to make something wrong but was going to lose my head. I think such troubles are pretty normal for a "Head start".
I had the possibility to create my character. Interesting... I was wondering how strange it would be if someone would ask me who I am and I would start to change my face and name till I'd say "So, finished, call me....".
But hey, this is a game so: let's take a look what we can do...
Ok, we are gamer so it does not matter how ugly we are as we are in reality, too. The perfect identification with the character I was creating was established, good. But for a woman having some sympathy for aesthetics and taste will have as much fun with the characters like Flipper had with a chainsaw. Really: Either the developers wanted to create the uggliest races ever or they designer simply hates people.
I decided to take the first style the game gave me and bam, I was ready to get my head off. But hey, did I hear a noise? Ah, no... let's continue, I want to die. No, wait, really, a noise.... aww, impossible. Not in Skyrim. Ah, there, another one...
Is it the wind? No
Is it a jet? No
Is it Superman? No
It is: super dwaggon coming down from the ceiling to land on a tower and play "Bob Loss - The Joy of Burning".
I was able to flee and landed in a tower. Then my worst enemy was my greatest fan: Here, come up. Here, run. Here, follow me.
Mate, sorry, but you wanted to kill me. Now I am here to follow you? Yeah? For sure. Go play with the raging dragon out there, greetings from hell, unlucky bastard.
But no, I had to follow. Well, later I got the possibility to get a sword and rush to the next village with my new best friend: Captain Head Off. He proposed me to join the army who wanted to kill me. Good idea, why not? I have far more good ideas - why not joining the Team Edward? The one with the dragon? I've got far more friends there than I had in the Camp Headache.
Ok, I went on, to the next village. There I learnt a new important thing about Skyrim: This game was made for consoled. The menu is as intuitive as nuclear physics for children. Tab to leave a menu - ok, but this is not always described so you have to guess. And E for taking something and R for taking everything - the same "R" you press to drop your item. But only one, not all items. Good to know - the idea of getting completely naked while talking to someone would be strange.
The textures are a little bit... "blurry", the engine is still the same like other games of Berthesda before. This could be a perfect mod created for Fallout 3. Some things are a little bit different...
The fights itself, for example. If you fight with a sword you sometimes get to see interesting slo-mos in 3rd party perspective giving you the feeling of being Conan The Barbar - or the guy of "crank" - or both.
There is no clear "class choice". You cannot say "Uh, I am a healer" or "Uh, I am a fighter" as you have to improve your character while levelling. Pretty good for guys loving to fight with a sword, mace or a big rat they found. But not for the magician who rather sets himself on fire than others. No matter what you do, you will soon learn to set things on fire, destroy them, smash them, whatever.
Because the main story of Skyrim is as interesting as two pounds mehl on a table. Most of the time you explore, do side quests, whatever. Imagine you were playing World of Warcraft, but without any other gamers. Well, imagine you are playing a former WoW expansion - now. This is Skyrim.
You are the Delta Force, dropped off on.. who ever knows they dropped you and now you are trying to find a way to entertain yourself. Welcome to World of Explorecraft - The Boring Crusade.
So after two hours of intensive gameplay I've got to admit that Skyrim is the better Oblivion. Sure, it has its problems, it's often boring (at least for me) as not everyone wants to talk for a lot of minutes to guys they never know and with other guys who some minutes ago wanted to cut off your head.
And yes, the concept of enemies levelling with you is as motivating as ten hours of grinding for a very rare item. But in the end that's the true flair of a world in which you have a lot of opportunities to die, pardon: to explore. To lose yourself and drop the reality, for people always wanting to know why they hate vikings. Or Sweden. Or both.
To sum it up: Skyrim is great for people loving this genre. If someone wants a tight story, with a lot of focus on strict character specialization and a well seen path to follow then Skyrim is as suited as a bycicle for a fish. Play something different, like Dragon Age (the first part, not the arcade mod they called "Dragon Age 2").
Side note:
I am wondering about myself, to be honest. I mean: I used to play those games very much, I loved Fallout 3 and I even loved Morrowind. What happened to me that I cannot get "stick" to Skyrim?
See you at the next "So I tried...." part.
P.S.: Here a very interesting way to steal. Should be doable in reality, too
Noc
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Did you mean: "kindness"?
In the last week I've been doing some leveling with my druid and because I simply hate to quest with the 6th character through the lowlevel stuff I simply used the dungeon tool to have some fun. Well, at least I hoped it would be funny. After all it's not endlevel pugging, so what could ever happen?
A lot.
People often ask me if I know a guy that is nice during pugs. I tell them: "yes, me". And I really want to be it. Honestly.
But sometimes I beg for an earthquake or a lightning bringing those servers down so I can escape the group. Not because the group itself is unskilled or simply unable to achieve anything - this doesn't matter to me, after all it's not the highlevel dungeon. But there are people out there who make me feel nervous.
For example: I am healer. As long as people are happy or at least quiet I am focused and cool enough to stand every situation, no matter how stressful it gets. It's pure fun to heal people when they rely on our abilities and hope the end of the world they are suffering ends soon. Ok, so far, so good.
But sometimes there are guys in group who disturb my repose, my inner silence, balance,... Chi. Whatever. When a tank says "NOOB" to a dps or "stop being idiot" to another. Those things disturb me very much, they unbalance me, really much as I not only be worried about getting to read the same stuff about me...
... but also because it makes me angry.
What happened to the social aspect MMOs ever had? In Everquest, for example, realms were small and people had to play together. You saw them at least twice or even more often so nobody wanted to be the bad guy. There was something like respect for each other and when I came to talk about these nice days I often got to read that this was only because humans were forced to do so, not because they are nice beings.
I never believed this.
But now I'm starting to thing that a lot of people, at least the ones I met, are exactly those unfriendly guys, not able to be nice because they don't need to. After all it's a pug, right? You never see each other, especially after putting each other on ignore list.
This anonymity seems to tease out the worst side of some people. This results in one simple rule: If you want to know how some people really are if they could, just pug them. Not nice what you see.
Yes, former times weren't that perfect and being nice all the time was exhausting. Also it was not honest as there was a lot of backbiting going around. I don't want those times back. But I want at least the same respect for each other like people have for guys of their guild or at least: their realm. Is it that difficult?
I don't know. But I believe in Karma. Everything starts from you. If you are not nice, other people probably won't be nice, too. On the other hand: If you are nice, then it does not mean other turn to be nice, too. It's the most difficult way, but it may be that it is a signal for others. Something saying "the world is not that bad, stop biting around".
This is, at the end, why I do not leave those groups. I remain till end and do my job. If the tank or the dps gets rude I say what I have to say and if they have problems they can still kick me. Not my problem - it's theirs.
That's why I often hear music during fights and especially during discussions in group chat.
Nothing is more deescalating like a debate while you hear the theme song of The Smurfs.
A lot.
People often ask me if I know a guy that is nice during pugs. I tell them: "yes, me". And I really want to be it. Honestly.
But sometimes I beg for an earthquake or a lightning bringing those servers down so I can escape the group. Not because the group itself is unskilled or simply unable to achieve anything - this doesn't matter to me, after all it's not the highlevel dungeon. But there are people out there who make me feel nervous.
For example: I am healer. As long as people are happy or at least quiet I am focused and cool enough to stand every situation, no matter how stressful it gets. It's pure fun to heal people when they rely on our abilities and hope the end of the world they are suffering ends soon. Ok, so far, so good.
But sometimes there are guys in group who disturb my repose, my inner silence, balance,... Chi. Whatever. When a tank says "NOOB" to a dps or "stop being idiot" to another. Those things disturb me very much, they unbalance me, really much as I not only be worried about getting to read the same stuff about me...
... but also because it makes me angry.
What happened to the social aspect MMOs ever had? In Everquest, for example, realms were small and people had to play together. You saw them at least twice or even more often so nobody wanted to be the bad guy. There was something like respect for each other and when I came to talk about these nice days I often got to read that this was only because humans were forced to do so, not because they are nice beings.
I never believed this.
But now I'm starting to thing that a lot of people, at least the ones I met, are exactly those unfriendly guys, not able to be nice because they don't need to. After all it's a pug, right? You never see each other, especially after putting each other on ignore list.
This anonymity seems to tease out the worst side of some people. This results in one simple rule: If you want to know how some people really are if they could, just pug them. Not nice what you see.
Yes, former times weren't that perfect and being nice all the time was exhausting. Also it was not honest as there was a lot of backbiting going around. I don't want those times back. But I want at least the same respect for each other like people have for guys of their guild or at least: their realm. Is it that difficult?
I don't know. But I believe in Karma. Everything starts from you. If you are not nice, other people probably won't be nice, too. On the other hand: If you are nice, then it does not mean other turn to be nice, too. It's the most difficult way, but it may be that it is a signal for others. Something saying "the world is not that bad, stop biting around".
This is, at the end, why I do not leave those groups. I remain till end and do my job. If the tank or the dps gets rude I say what I have to say and if they have problems they can still kick me. Not my problem - it's theirs.
That's why I often hear music during fights and especially during discussions in group chat.
Nothing is more deescalating like a debate while you hear the theme song of The Smurfs.
Thursday, 10 November 2011
World of Warcraft lost 800k subscribers - incoming: the end
After the announcement about losing 800 000 subscribers (after the 300k and the 600k before) forums are full of "apocalyptic messages" around the incoming end of World of Warcraft. It seems as if World of Warcraft is really dying and all the skeptics are leaving their holes to tell that they have been always telling that. Good, let's clarify some points.
First: World of Warcraft is old. Not as old as Everquest 1, for sure, but old. Seven years are a long time - not only regarding gfx stuff, but gameplay, too.
Ever played chess for about seven years for at least two hours per day? If you would take a break this would be more than understandable.
But: What would happen if you would tell that your break is symptomatic for the problems chess has?
Honestly, it would be difficult to not laugh. But why?
Because it would be clear that you left because you got bored, not because chess is like chess has ever been. No one would change the rules to make it more appealing to you. And there will always be people playing chess. Good.
But what would happen if you mention other games? Like "Halma got a release soon, this will smash chess, believe me!". Again people would laugh. But why again?
Because diversification is a blessing, not a bane. The more different games exist, the more people are able to choose. Regarding MMOs this is much better as they can learn from each other which would be not possible if there would only exist one big game, World of Warcraft.
So learn to accept the truth that over 10 mio. subscribers are still playing a game, the same game, and that there is a reason for it: Either there is no other choice for them or because they are quite happy with the game, beside the bad aspects every MMO has. Pretty normal.
It has never been and will never be good for markets if only one company rules - we honestly need competition, we really need new ideas, new stuff.
So I've always have to laugh when someone writes that WoW has serious problems, often written by guys who already quit a long time ago. They seem to justify their decision, where nothing has to be justified: Play what you want, World of Warcraft is not made for everyone. And if you find something else, feel "congratulated" and be happy that you found something. Perhaps some of the remaining 10 million gamers still haven't. But also accept that a bunch of guys are happy, too, and that they could quit if they want. After all other MMORPGs have far less active subscribers - and I consider only Pay2Play as "Free2P(l)ay"-subscriber-numbers are a joke (create 10 accounts, costs nothing and you have a bunch of toons to play with).
These high amount of active subs means that even if WoW keeps losing players at that speed it might last some years till it would be really considered dead. Let's say the game would have reached a lifetime of ten years. Ten years... some games even exist for one year. And then? Will Blizzard shut down everything?
Probably not. It might get F2P and, before, there will be some server merging (which will take a while considering the high amount of servers out there). And even then Blizzard probably won't shut down WoW - they even patched Diablo 2 some time ago and this game is really old.
In other words: Do not panic. This game will last for a while and even if it might end one day, ok, acceptable. After all it's only a game. We play because it's fun, because of the people we've met. We play for the moment - not for family planning or house building purposes. We simply want to have fun. If someone plays only because he hopes the game will exist for a while he will never be happy - those times are over. The risk of server shutdowns is not abstract anymore, happening all the time. Some will say "yeah, the games deserved that", but never forget that there were players who had the same hopes like the guys now judging and laughing.
We're all in the same boat. We want the same following different paths but still marching in the same direction. Accept the truth of others and hug differences - they might help you, your game and helps you to quickly find new paths if you lose yourself during your walk.
First: World of Warcraft is old. Not as old as Everquest 1, for sure, but old. Seven years are a long time - not only regarding gfx stuff, but gameplay, too.
Ever played chess for about seven years for at least two hours per day? If you would take a break this would be more than understandable.
But: What would happen if you would tell that your break is symptomatic for the problems chess has?
Honestly, it would be difficult to not laugh. But why?
Because it would be clear that you left because you got bored, not because chess is like chess has ever been. No one would change the rules to make it more appealing to you. And there will always be people playing chess. Good.
But what would happen if you mention other games? Like "Halma got a release soon, this will smash chess, believe me!". Again people would laugh. But why again?
Because diversification is a blessing, not a bane. The more different games exist, the more people are able to choose. Regarding MMOs this is much better as they can learn from each other which would be not possible if there would only exist one big game, World of Warcraft.
So learn to accept the truth that over 10 mio. subscribers are still playing a game, the same game, and that there is a reason for it: Either there is no other choice for them or because they are quite happy with the game, beside the bad aspects every MMO has. Pretty normal.
It has never been and will never be good for markets if only one company rules - we honestly need competition, we really need new ideas, new stuff.
So I've always have to laugh when someone writes that WoW has serious problems, often written by guys who already quit a long time ago. They seem to justify their decision, where nothing has to be justified: Play what you want, World of Warcraft is not made for everyone. And if you find something else, feel "congratulated" and be happy that you found something. Perhaps some of the remaining 10 million gamers still haven't. But also accept that a bunch of guys are happy, too, and that they could quit if they want. After all other MMORPGs have far less active subscribers - and I consider only Pay2Play as "Free2P(l)ay"-subscriber-numbers are a joke (create 10 accounts, costs nothing and you have a bunch of toons to play with).
These high amount of active subs means that even if WoW keeps losing players at that speed it might last some years till it would be really considered dead. Let's say the game would have reached a lifetime of ten years. Ten years... some games even exist for one year. And then? Will Blizzard shut down everything?
Probably not. It might get F2P and, before, there will be some server merging (which will take a while considering the high amount of servers out there). And even then Blizzard probably won't shut down WoW - they even patched Diablo 2 some time ago and this game is really old.
In other words: Do not panic. This game will last for a while and even if it might end one day, ok, acceptable. After all it's only a game. We play because it's fun, because of the people we've met. We play for the moment - not for family planning or house building purposes. We simply want to have fun. If someone plays only because he hopes the game will exist for a while he will never be happy - those times are over. The risk of server shutdowns is not abstract anymore, happening all the time. Some will say "yeah, the games deserved that", but never forget that there were players who had the same hopes like the guys now judging and laughing.
We're all in the same boat. We want the same following different paths but still marching in the same direction. Accept the truth of others and hug differences - they might help you, your game and helps you to quickly find new paths if you lose yourself during your walk.
New World of Warcraft races for everyone
People often ask my what my opinion is regarding the newest expansion of WoW, Mists of Pandaria. Before I can even answer they start telling me why it will fail (which often seems as if those guys want to tell my why it _should_, it has to fail).
Well, after a while of listening I answer. Saying:
I accepted E.T. crashing with his ship into my BC garden. I suffered from palas on Horde side,... so why not Pandas. They fit far more into the wow lore than Dranei. Those guys caused a lot of headaches. But hey, why not invent far more new races? Why not...
... unicorns...
Well, after a while of listening I answer. Saying:
I accepted E.T. crashing with his ship into my BC garden. I suffered from palas on Horde side,... so why not Pandas. They fit far more into the wow lore than Dranei. Those guys caused a lot of headaches. But hey, why not invent far more new races? Why not...
... unicorns...
- Call them "UniCron", a time warped horse creature.
- Or Whalen - the marine life who decided to overjump some generation and got some legs, working for Mr. Burns - a self-igniting dragon.
- Bankdaren - the auctioneers and bankers get molten with their collected gold to a new race with the racial skill to get invisible during financial crisis.
- Antologists - the ant life form who realized that they are far more than all other players together. A race of bookkeepers, empowered by idle times.
- Kangoorox - the stone life. Has no arms, no legs, why should they - they are hills and mountains. But they can jump on others and have pets which do all the jobs the Kangoorox would need arms to.
- Forensicks - a strange life form, mainly present in the virtual realities engis found during their experiments which include the combination of an enema syringe, arcane dust and a mage. Their racial is "Tears from Heaven", a omnipresent killer wave of QQ runs through the whole zone destroying everything. Only counterspell is provided by the next race...
- Mosesmerize - a race that can divide seas, mainly called "GM class" but now a playable class, too. Often present in forums but because of the engi experiments also present in Warcaft (expansion: "Mists of Proctologia")
You see, it isn't that difficult to implement a new race. And it's very easy to make fun of ideas by just exaggerating. But what is really fun is the claim of reality in a game where you can transform yourself into a dragon, dance the moonwalk as nightelf and beat bosses being made of fire.
Guys, honestly: This is like travelling to Mars and wondering why there is no Fast Food restaurant there.
But who knows, perhaps there is one? We all know the famous class/race "Hamburglar". Sneaky class that travels from planet to planet to build up restaurants before any other species can claim the planet...
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Total burnout
Yesterday I had the opportunity to chat with someone about the topic "burnout". To make it clear: this is no modern word for not being motivated enough, and it's no way an excuse for simply being exhausted. This is very important as it means a lot regarding the whole life.
This wasn't the first time I talked about suffering a "burnout". Some years ago - I was playing Everquest 1 - our best rogue who not only played a lot and well, too, suddenly finished playing from one day to the other. No announcement, nothing. Later I met him, asking him what happened as we all were worried what happened (in Everquest 1 the guild was far more than a family only as it was crucial to have a group, a good group). The answer was: He was at hospital, because of a burnout.
He said that there were some symptoms before he simply ignored: The light feeling of being exhausted (which he could negate very well by simply ignoring it), the lack of motivation regarding everything else, the feeling of having to do something - against all inner odds. And the little voice asking him why he should go on doing what he's doing - and where the heck was the sense behind everything. He continued to play, driven by a obsessive behavior. The end was: Someday he had problems to leave his house, going to work, even to play.
This is the point where you already overstepped the frontier from being able to stop it. This is a very deep issue, nothing which can simply be stopped by saying "Oh, good, let me change game" or "hey, take a break" or "take it easy". It won't work, as those mechanism would have been better used much time before. Now it's too late, the lack of motivation has won and this is really evil. Because from now on it has _nothing_ to do anymore with a special thing - which led to the burnout - alone. Everything is now "senseless".
The line between why we should do what we do and why not is very thin. In short: If you're not able to find a proper solution nobody can give you a plausible answer. Yes, family needs one; yes, friends need one - but this is again what I call the "should-problem" - the imperative that led to the burnout itself.
So the answer is not a "should", but a "could" or "would": What often helps is to be more egoistic. Think about yourself, take your time. If you stop by a flower because you'd like to watch it for twenty minutes: do it. If you want to paint: paint - no matter if you're talented or not (abstract art is what you want it to be).
One of the most interesting persons I ever met was a guy telling me that he lost a lot of stress because during dialogues he simply stopped talking and begun to listen what the other had to say (instead of waiting for the opportunity to talk again). Honestly: It works. Everyone has to tell his own story, so the more you listen the more friends you'll get.
Or the other way around: If you have the feeling to talk, talk. If you've got the opportunity to find someone who listens carefully he might show you new paths or simply help you to clear your path by not talking and just listening. This could be a friend, this could be your dog or just your shadow. Or the shadow of someone else.
I do not have any solutions for burnouts, honestly. But the answer is hidden behind small steps. And those little steps are the one who will help as they helped the mate I talked about. As far as I know he never played Everquest again - I miss him, for sure. But it makes me happy to know that he is out there, smiling again and having the life he wants to. Because a burnout is the best chance for a "life reboot" - be thankful.
This wasn't the first time I talked about suffering a "burnout". Some years ago - I was playing Everquest 1 - our best rogue who not only played a lot and well, too, suddenly finished playing from one day to the other. No announcement, nothing. Later I met him, asking him what happened as we all were worried what happened (in Everquest 1 the guild was far more than a family only as it was crucial to have a group, a good group). The answer was: He was at hospital, because of a burnout.
He said that there were some symptoms before he simply ignored: The light feeling of being exhausted (which he could negate very well by simply ignoring it), the lack of motivation regarding everything else, the feeling of having to do something - against all inner odds. And the little voice asking him why he should go on doing what he's doing - and where the heck was the sense behind everything. He continued to play, driven by a obsessive behavior. The end was: Someday he had problems to leave his house, going to work, even to play.
This is the point where you already overstepped the frontier from being able to stop it. This is a very deep issue, nothing which can simply be stopped by saying "Oh, good, let me change game" or "hey, take a break" or "take it easy". It won't work, as those mechanism would have been better used much time before. Now it's too late, the lack of motivation has won and this is really evil. Because from now on it has _nothing_ to do anymore with a special thing - which led to the burnout - alone. Everything is now "senseless".
The line between why we should do what we do and why not is very thin. In short: If you're not able to find a proper solution nobody can give you a plausible answer. Yes, family needs one; yes, friends need one - but this is again what I call the "should-problem" - the imperative that led to the burnout itself.
So the answer is not a "should", but a "could" or "would": What often helps is to be more egoistic. Think about yourself, take your time. If you stop by a flower because you'd like to watch it for twenty minutes: do it. If you want to paint: paint - no matter if you're talented or not (abstract art is what you want it to be).
One of the most interesting persons I ever met was a guy telling me that he lost a lot of stress because during dialogues he simply stopped talking and begun to listen what the other had to say (instead of waiting for the opportunity to talk again). Honestly: It works. Everyone has to tell his own story, so the more you listen the more friends you'll get.
Or the other way around: If you have the feeling to talk, talk. If you've got the opportunity to find someone who listens carefully he might show you new paths or simply help you to clear your path by not talking and just listening. This could be a friend, this could be your dog or just your shadow. Or the shadow of someone else.
I do not have any solutions for burnouts, honestly. But the answer is hidden behind small steps. And those little steps are the one who will help as they helped the mate I talked about. As far as I know he never played Everquest again - I miss him, for sure. But it makes me happy to know that he is out there, smiling again and having the life he wants to. Because a burnout is the best chance for a "life reboot" - be thankful.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
The four types of gamers
I like and dislike the matter of fact that pugs are pugs. Those random groups are a bane, more than once, and can be a blessing for others who only want to do a quick heroic in a fast and clean way.
The bane, by the way, consists of the fact that those players are very honest - they do not feel the need of diplomatic answers, they do not think what other people may think and they do not care about the effect a kick can have on a player. Well, not everyone thinks that way, but a lot do.
This is a good occasion to study different types of gamers without having the need to sort out all the behavior people show when dealing with players they know. But it does not mean that there aren't players out there who do not hesitate to show their true side even when doing guild runs. Pugs are simply the best way as nobody there feels "being observed". It's not the zoo, it's the jungle. Welcome.
By studying those players I found out that there are four different major types of people. Not everyone fits well into one particular category, but it's fantastic how easy the world gets. Let's start with the first one:
The friendly incapable one
He does not know anything or has at least some weak points regarding his self-assurance. As he's smart enough to be away about this he tries to mask it with friendliness which works for a lot of other people. The friendly incapable one (called TFI) could be a good fella for drinking a beer with or having some nice party times, someone you suffer a hangout with or you can call at 4 o' clock in the morning asking for help regarding a riddle out of a newspaper you're trying to solve.
TFIs do a lot of errors and they do often do not hesitate in admitting their errors. They have a internal "firmware" in their brains explaining recording the fact that they are no "progamers". This makes it difficult for them to blame others for their errors as they are aware of the fact that they do errors, too. This is why they want to be accepted - they attack with friendliness and win other gamers' hearts - motto: "If you cannot bet 'em on playing skill, beat 'em on social skill".
Strength: Social skills
Weakness: Gameplay related stuff, responsiveness, situational awareness (move-out-of-the-bad-stuff...- now)
The unfriendly capable one
Those gamers spend a lot of time on focusing on their class and class mechanics in general. He knows everything and if he does not know everything then only because it's being evaluated in his brain.
The unfriendly capable (TUC) does not do errors, but if they happen they know that they happened because someone else did not do his job well. If it will ever happen that a TUC did a clear error on his own then he's fast enough to blame others before they can blame him. The motto is "Yes, we blame" - the more often the better it is as everything else, from light glitches to severe wipes can now be reduced on other people's errors. TUCs never admit errors, but if they will ever have no other choice they can still leave the group without any word.
But not everyone is that evil, at least not in a superficial way. Some of them simply know everything better and they do not hesitate to correct everyone else, especially leaders of groups or raids.
And sometimes they want to hide their weakness in social skills by using smileys, which has the same result as if a soldier opens up a can by shooting at it. It ends in a mess and often has the opposite effect: people get even more offended.
TUC rarely share all their knowledge with others and provide only 90 % of what they know.
Strength: Game related stuff, very fast gamer who has no problems to adapt to specific situations
Weakness: Social skills.
The unfriendly incapable one
Those gamers, called "TUI", are a widespread species. They do a lot of errors and they do a lot of wipes. They know it, but have problems to admit it plus they're not good enough in accepting that which means they blame everyone else for their errors rather than admitting that he or she has contributed a good amount of "WTF" to the wipes that happened.
He often does not want to learn anything and if it happens, which are rare moments, then on his own, hidden from the view of others and possibly in random groups where nobody can see and point at him.
If you want to have fun, try to get two TUIs into the group. You will get a lot of whispers from both sides, that's for sure.
Strength: Good in deceiving himself.
Weakness: Social and gaming skills
The friendly capable one
TFCs are a myth, like Nessie, the Yeti and honest politicians. If you ever find one then nobody will believe you. And often a lot of them simply turn into TUCs as soon as the group wipes. Never try to befriend them, they are like gremlins: As soon as they get fed with love after a specific time they get evil and have no problems to kick you, their friend or their mum out of the group.
There are gamers that seem to have found a TFC, but this is kinda unbelievable and it still lacks proofs.
Strength: Social and gaming skills
Weakness: Practically non-existent.
The bane, by the way, consists of the fact that those players are very honest - they do not feel the need of diplomatic answers, they do not think what other people may think and they do not care about the effect a kick can have on a player. Well, not everyone thinks that way, but a lot do.
This is a good occasion to study different types of gamers without having the need to sort out all the behavior people show when dealing with players they know. But it does not mean that there aren't players out there who do not hesitate to show their true side even when doing guild runs. Pugs are simply the best way as nobody there feels "being observed". It's not the zoo, it's the jungle. Welcome.
By studying those players I found out that there are four different major types of people. Not everyone fits well into one particular category, but it's fantastic how easy the world gets. Let's start with the first one:
The friendly incapable one
He does not know anything or has at least some weak points regarding his self-assurance. As he's smart enough to be away about this he tries to mask it with friendliness which works for a lot of other people. The friendly incapable one (called TFI) could be a good fella for drinking a beer with or having some nice party times, someone you suffer a hangout with or you can call at 4 o' clock in the morning asking for help regarding a riddle out of a newspaper you're trying to solve.
TFIs do a lot of errors and they do often do not hesitate in admitting their errors. They have a internal "firmware" in their brains explaining recording the fact that they are no "progamers". This makes it difficult for them to blame others for their errors as they are aware of the fact that they do errors, too. This is why they want to be accepted - they attack with friendliness and win other gamers' hearts - motto: "If you cannot bet 'em on playing skill, beat 'em on social skill".
Strength: Social skills
Weakness: Gameplay related stuff, responsiveness, situational awareness (move-out-of-the-bad-stuff...- now)
The unfriendly capable one
Those gamers spend a lot of time on focusing on their class and class mechanics in general. He knows everything and if he does not know everything then only because it's being evaluated in his brain.
The unfriendly capable (TUC) does not do errors, but if they happen they know that they happened because someone else did not do his job well. If it will ever happen that a TUC did a clear error on his own then he's fast enough to blame others before they can blame him. The motto is "Yes, we blame" - the more often the better it is as everything else, from light glitches to severe wipes can now be reduced on other people's errors. TUCs never admit errors, but if they will ever have no other choice they can still leave the group without any word.
But not everyone is that evil, at least not in a superficial way. Some of them simply know everything better and they do not hesitate to correct everyone else, especially leaders of groups or raids.
And sometimes they want to hide their weakness in social skills by using smileys, which has the same result as if a soldier opens up a can by shooting at it. It ends in a mess and often has the opposite effect: people get even more offended.
TUC rarely share all their knowledge with others and provide only 90 % of what they know.
Strength: Game related stuff, very fast gamer who has no problems to adapt to specific situations
Weakness: Social skills.
The unfriendly incapable one
Those gamers, called "TUI", are a widespread species. They do a lot of errors and they do a lot of wipes. They know it, but have problems to admit it plus they're not good enough in accepting that which means they blame everyone else for their errors rather than admitting that he or she has contributed a good amount of "WTF" to the wipes that happened.
He often does not want to learn anything and if it happens, which are rare moments, then on his own, hidden from the view of others and possibly in random groups where nobody can see and point at him.
If you want to have fun, try to get two TUIs into the group. You will get a lot of whispers from both sides, that's for sure.
Strength: Good in deceiving himself.
Weakness: Social and gaming skills
The friendly capable one
TFCs are a myth, like Nessie, the Yeti and honest politicians. If you ever find one then nobody will believe you. And often a lot of them simply turn into TUCs as soon as the group wipes. Never try to befriend them, they are like gremlins: As soon as they get fed with love after a specific time they get evil and have no problems to kick you, their friend or their mum out of the group.
There are gamers that seem to have found a TFC, but this is kinda unbelievable and it still lacks proofs.
Strength: Social and gaming skills
Weakness: Practically non-existent.
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Pandemonium
It happened to me to read some postings regarding the newest expansion Blizzard announced ("Mists of Pandaria"). So the thread derailed a little bit and they came up to talk about pandas and that pandas should have died long time ago for their way of living and because we are spending too much money on saving them.
This was thought-provoking. And it underlines they two main ways people think nowadays. But step by step.
First: To make it clear: There are two types of pandas - big and little ones. Let's discuss about the big ones. The cute ones, not the cat like ones (which are also cute, ok... ).
It is _not_ true that they only eat bamboo, while it's true that it's their main source. There are more than 20 bamboo species, so there is enough to eat for them (what they have to do, that's true).
The WWF used ice bears for publicity purposes and demonstrating how one particular species is endangered, which turned out to be not that true ;) Despite that Pandas are endangered, but not because of their low birthrate :) but also from the habitat loss they are suffering and some diseases they get by that loss, too (contact with new viruses from cats and dogs near the frontiers of their habitat).
A lot of money is invested to rescue Pandas, that's true. This makes some people angry.
We could say that the money would have been spent better for other things. And it's true that every day more than 30 (to more than 100) species exctinct every day. We could say "Well, why start with Pandas then?". Good question, I cannot give an answer to that. But that the protection of the environment would be difficult and expensive is well known. It's easy to kill life, it's expensive to save it - simple as that.
"Expensive" is, by the way, always a matter of perspective. For the scientists the LHC is important, for others too expensive. For some guys the space program is also too expensive. Or that it would be too expensive to help those guys where the uranium mining happens (they're mostly contaminated and when the mining finishes they leave the contaminated machines back for the people living there - '"take it, it's for free").
It might turn out that the extinction of life could be far more expensive than we can calculate now. Let's not forget that economists just have problems to really predict really well what will happen in the following year.
In the end we can decide: Start to re-invest money on earth or continue the earth fisting we call "progression". It's a free country, do what you want, but face the truth: Do not walk into the trap of the cognitive dissonance in which we try to base our decision of arguments we think could work (like "I had to by this phone because.. eh... it might be useful someday!"). Say like it is: I want to keep my luxury and have enough problems with my own life. But then life with the consequences.
If someone asks me what I think about all that I simply answer:
This was thought-provoking. And it underlines they two main ways people think nowadays. But step by step.
First: To make it clear: There are two types of pandas - big and little ones. Let's discuss about the big ones. The cute ones, not the cat like ones (which are also cute, ok... ).
It is _not_ true that they only eat bamboo, while it's true that it's their main source. There are more than 20 bamboo species, so there is enough to eat for them (what they have to do, that's true).
The WWF used ice bears for publicity purposes and demonstrating how one particular species is endangered, which turned out to be not that true ;) Despite that Pandas are endangered, but not because of their low birthrate :) but also from the habitat loss they are suffering and some diseases they get by that loss, too (contact with new viruses from cats and dogs near the frontiers of their habitat).
A lot of money is invested to rescue Pandas, that's true. This makes some people angry.
We could say that the money would have been spent better for other things. And it's true that every day more than 30 (to more than 100) species exctinct every day. We could say "Well, why start with Pandas then?". Good question, I cannot give an answer to that. But that the protection of the environment would be difficult and expensive is well known. It's easy to kill life, it's expensive to save it - simple as that.
"Expensive" is, by the way, always a matter of perspective. For the scientists the LHC is important, for others too expensive. For some guys the space program is also too expensive. Or that it would be too expensive to help those guys where the uranium mining happens (they're mostly contaminated and when the mining finishes they leave the contaminated machines back for the people living there - '"take it, it's for free").
It might turn out that the extinction of life could be far more expensive than we can calculate now. Let's not forget that economists just have problems to really predict really well what will happen in the following year.
In the end we can decide: Start to re-invest money on earth or continue the earth fisting we call "progression". It's a free country, do what you want, but face the truth: Do not walk into the trap of the cognitive dissonance in which we try to base our decision of arguments we think could work (like "I had to by this phone because.. eh... it might be useful someday!"). Say like it is: I want to keep my luxury and have enough problems with my own life. But then life with the consequences.
If someone asks me what I think about all that I simply answer:
"Sadly human lives for too long so he can destroy the world and he lives too short for suffering the consequences. "
Thursday, 29 September 2011
So I tried Rift...
Some days ago (I think even yesterday) Rift was on Steam for some little Euros.
Well, to make it short: I bought it. Just to check why people like it. At least I know what _I_ don't like...
For example: I don't like it if you buy a game and have, after activation, to buy playtime. But, my fault, I should have known the fact that there are two x two versions of the game. And two of them are without playtime. This decreases Steam's "big deal" to the magnitude of a coconut, seen from Alpha Centauri by a blind extraterrestrian mole far under the earth, by night.
Ok, no problem for me: I paid and, BAM, started the installer and... "UPDATES NEEDED - SHALL I?". What a question: If I press "No" I could only play "Rift - the Launcher Adventures", but that's not so funny and so I said "Ok guys, let's play Patchamon - gotta patch 'em all, hu?". So it did.... and did..... and did.....
PICACHUUUUUUU, finished.
And go. Right into the game - almost no loading time. Yes, ok, the RIFT-logo took some time, but I think the devs made it that way to remind oblivious gamers and pott heads (and probably: both) of what they loaded. We all know those situations when you start a game and look at tv and after some moments you think "Oh man, what did I start? Why is my screen black" and "Damn, I should have gone to toilet a couple of minutes ago... oh, too late". Problems that nto only raid player know.
Well, ok, I landed directly on the character screen. I saw some little buttons on the bottom and a nice building. Great. As I managed to forget for one second what game I started I thought I was watching on the screen of "World of Architecture Craft" or "Building of Conan" or "Lord of the Stones", which would also be a great music themed game. But in the end I realized I had to create a character.
I'm not one of those guys that are not uninformed when they play I game so I knew that I had only 4 archetypes of classes at the beginning. No problem: I created a mage, no, wait, a warr... no, rogue and... AHHHHH, forget it. Mage. Good. Now some detailed char settings. As I'm a professional I perfectly know what I want.
I wanted the random button and, tadaa, my char looked like the vegetarian vampires of the filmed female orgasmus called "Twilight". Good one, along with a white robe I'm as cool as a pinguin in a refrigerator at the north pole. Party on, ... wait, I needed a name. No problem, I've got a random generator. Ah, cool, pressed and...
What's that?! Is this a name or a disease? What is the purpose of having such a name? Does the random generator consist of facerolling the keyboard? When I put my keyboard on the ground and jump on it, I get better names. Even if my cat walks onto it. So I toke something with less than 95% consonants: Nocturnis. Good. Ok, right into the game. Ah, the movie begins...
In the following minutes I saw the story. As I was watching and zapping TV, too, the pictures merged and so I build up my very oft Rift story.
In short: "Osama Bin Regulos decided to start a final strike against.. whatever. I think against some blue guys jumping from tree to tree and plugging their wand into birds or something like that. Ok, no problem: The Not So United States of KickmyAssistan have no clue how to manage the financial crisis the God caued and so they're looking for answers.
Sadly their Gods - the guys who caused that damn crisis - turned very silent and now two factions think that THEY have the best solution. The one called "Bareback Obama" with his Democratwards and the other side, the Boston Defiant Party with their Failicans. While the Failicans say "No, wait, we need far more war as we need ressources to solve our problems, stupid!" the democratwards say "Aww, come on, finish your QQ and beat it: Nobody likes us as one bomb causes ten terrorist, idiot!". A big war started.
As it seems that I chose to be one of those democratwards I saw a body on the ground, rescued by some kind of Angel Dust drug promo figure like the Santa Clause of Coca Cola, I was taken to another place and a very strong voice told me that me - and the other 500 people that landed in the last two seconds - is / are the last hope of Whatsoeveria, the world I'm fighting for.
Good. Ok, understood so far. But then: 20 fps. 20?! I am playing Deus Ex on max resolution and settings and have far more than 60 fps. But I knew that I wouldn't be happy with my Intel Core Duo at > 3Ghz and my Ati 5870. So I activated the wonderful low renderer. This turned my Rift into a MineCraft with AntiAliasing. Well, better, but not that wonderful. I changed it back and took minimum details. Ah, 60 fps. Phew. And still better than the crap before.
Now I'm ready to play....
Let's take at the UI.
First I thought that I was playing an alt on World of Warcraft as I, closely following the story, forgot what I was playing. But I soon realized that I wasn't in WoW, but in Age of.. no, wait.. Aion.. no, wait... Rift, right. It seems that the UI concept is as established as round wheels and liquid water. Ok, no problem: Good things will survive. Like cancer or republicans.
To make it short: I had no problems to fit in into Rift. The only thing that disturbed and confused me was the fact that some things that are basically the same like WoW have other names. But this is also based on the fact that they _seem_ to be the same, but are a little bit different. For example: The soul concept: You get one build after the other, but every "tree" has roots and those roots get enabled for points you spent in the tree. The more points you spend on the tree, the more roots you get.
Linux user know: roots are important and nobody should have direct contact with roots. So like it's in Rift: You don't have all roots, you need to develop your character.
But: While World of Charcraft has different builds Rift has different "Classes". Every soul tree has its own class name. Regarding to a mage this would been that the fire mages could be a class on their own, like "The Magical Lighter" and the Frost mages "Refrigator of Death" and the Arcanes "1111111111112".
As I said, Rift is a little bit different and so you've got the possibility to pick two classes at the same time. Yes, in World of Buildcraft you can also spend points in different trees - but now (not l ike in the past) you need to spend a lot on one tree first before you can spread to another tree. In Rift you can spend points in all trees at the same time. Plus: You can have tree active builds, yes, but there are far more trees than only three. Having three activated is funny, but you can also change later (for an amount of gold) and try something different.
Ok, after these little differences - there are far more - I got my first quest, did my first quest and started to explore the world. The rifts are an interesting concept well knows from games like WAR. Situational quests that happen and everybody can join and take part. Nice graphics, that's for sure - but after some time it's a little bit boring, like always. I mean: Even Lotro got boring after a couple of minutes. But, like in Lotro, there are here and there nice new things that when you see them you stop and say "Wohoo!". Good, keeps game interesting.
After the short movie telling me what I've done - I dunno, I think I did something, closed a Rift or found a stone or took a breath - I landed under a bridge. Or near a bridge. Like in reality. You can save the world but later they forget you and you land under a bridge, alone.
But no, I wasn't alone, I had a quest giver and, BAM, party! Again.
The quests are mainly "kill x of these" and "collect y of those" and "click here!" and "save there...". But some quests are also like "Walk into the light". Good, as I'm catholic I've got problems to trust people saying to me "Walk into the light" but this time it was a good decision.
The zones are designed in a dynamic way. While I was selling some crap I got the message that I accepted a quest. Accepted a quest?! For what? Because I was selling items? Did I turn to the crap selling fairy Sellor Moon?
No, I was taking part at an invasion. As i'm living in Germany I decided to not take part at the war and to reap the fruit of other people labour. Perhaps I could go there after war and build up schools or fountains.
Without doing anything - I even had problems to figure out where the war was - I finished the quest. Great. I think that's how a real war feels like. Everyone cries, someone dies and you get the Silver Star.
Later in the night I finished playing. My first feelings were.. strange. On the other side a lot of aspects attract me. Other distract me. I mean: If I want to play WoW I could play WoW.
I will see if I will give it another go. I will update if so...
Well, to make it short: I bought it. Just to check why people like it. At least I know what _I_ don't like...
For example: I don't like it if you buy a game and have, after activation, to buy playtime. But, my fault, I should have known the fact that there are two x two versions of the game. And two of them are without playtime. This decreases Steam's "big deal" to the magnitude of a coconut, seen from Alpha Centauri by a blind extraterrestrian mole far under the earth, by night.
Ok, no problem for me: I paid and, BAM, started the installer and... "UPDATES NEEDED - SHALL I?". What a question: If I press "No" I could only play "Rift - the Launcher Adventures", but that's not so funny and so I said "Ok guys, let's play Patchamon - gotta patch 'em all, hu?". So it did.... and did..... and did.....
PICACHUUUUUUU, finished.
And go. Right into the game - almost no loading time. Yes, ok, the RIFT-logo took some time, but I think the devs made it that way to remind oblivious gamers and pott heads (and probably: both) of what they loaded. We all know those situations when you start a game and look at tv and after some moments you think "Oh man, what did I start? Why is my screen black" and "Damn, I should have gone to toilet a couple of minutes ago... oh, too late". Problems that nto only raid player know.
Well, ok, I landed directly on the character screen. I saw some little buttons on the bottom and a nice building. Great. As I managed to forget for one second what game I started I thought I was watching on the screen of "World of Architecture Craft" or "Building of Conan" or "Lord of the Stones", which would also be a great music themed game. But in the end I realized I had to create a character.
I'm not one of those guys that are not uninformed when they play I game so I knew that I had only 4 archetypes of classes at the beginning. No problem: I created a mage, no, wait, a warr... no, rogue and... AHHHHH, forget it. Mage. Good. Now some detailed char settings. As I'm a professional I perfectly know what I want.
I wanted the random button and, tadaa, my char looked like the vegetarian vampires of the filmed female orgasmus called "Twilight". Good one, along with a white robe I'm as cool as a pinguin in a refrigerator at the north pole. Party on, ... wait, I needed a name. No problem, I've got a random generator. Ah, cool, pressed and...
What's that?! Is this a name or a disease? What is the purpose of having such a name? Does the random generator consist of facerolling the keyboard? When I put my keyboard on the ground and jump on it, I get better names. Even if my cat walks onto it. So I toke something with less than 95% consonants: Nocturnis. Good. Ok, right into the game. Ah, the movie begins...
In the following minutes I saw the story. As I was watching and zapping TV, too, the pictures merged and so I build up my very oft Rift story.
In short: "Osama Bin Regulos decided to start a final strike against.. whatever. I think against some blue guys jumping from tree to tree and plugging their wand into birds or something like that. Ok, no problem: The Not So United States of KickmyAssistan have no clue how to manage the financial crisis the God caued and so they're looking for answers.
Sadly their Gods - the guys who caused that damn crisis - turned very silent and now two factions think that THEY have the best solution. The one called "Bareback Obama" with his Democratwards and the other side, the Boston Defiant Party with their Failicans. While the Failicans say "No, wait, we need far more war as we need ressources to solve our problems, stupid!" the democratwards say "Aww, come on, finish your QQ and beat it: Nobody likes us as one bomb causes ten terrorist, idiot!". A big war started.
As it seems that I chose to be one of those democratwards I saw a body on the ground, rescued by some kind of Angel Dust drug promo figure like the Santa Clause of Coca Cola, I was taken to another place and a very strong voice told me that me - and the other 500 people that landed in the last two seconds - is / are the last hope of Whatsoeveria, the world I'm fighting for.
Good. Ok, understood so far. But then: 20 fps. 20?! I am playing Deus Ex on max resolution and settings and have far more than 60 fps. But I knew that I wouldn't be happy with my Intel Core Duo at > 3Ghz and my Ati 5870. So I activated the wonderful low renderer. This turned my Rift into a MineCraft with AntiAliasing. Well, better, but not that wonderful. I changed it back and took minimum details. Ah, 60 fps. Phew. And still better than the crap before.
Now I'm ready to play....
Let's take at the UI.
First I thought that I was playing an alt on World of Warcraft as I, closely following the story, forgot what I was playing. But I soon realized that I wasn't in WoW, but in Age of.. no, wait.. Aion.. no, wait... Rift, right. It seems that the UI concept is as established as round wheels and liquid water. Ok, no problem: Good things will survive. Like cancer or republicans.
To make it short: I had no problems to fit in into Rift. The only thing that disturbed and confused me was the fact that some things that are basically the same like WoW have other names. But this is also based on the fact that they _seem_ to be the same, but are a little bit different. For example: The soul concept: You get one build after the other, but every "tree" has roots and those roots get enabled for points you spent in the tree. The more points you spend on the tree, the more roots you get.
Linux user know: roots are important and nobody should have direct contact with roots. So like it's in Rift: You don't have all roots, you need to develop your character.
But: While World of Charcraft has different builds Rift has different "Classes". Every soul tree has its own class name. Regarding to a mage this would been that the fire mages could be a class on their own, like "The Magical Lighter" and the Frost mages "Refrigator of Death" and the Arcanes "1111111111112".
As I said, Rift is a little bit different and so you've got the possibility to pick two classes at the same time. Yes, in World of Buildcraft you can also spend points in different trees - but now (not l ike in the past) you need to spend a lot on one tree first before you can spread to another tree. In Rift you can spend points in all trees at the same time. Plus: You can have tree active builds, yes, but there are far more trees than only three. Having three activated is funny, but you can also change later (for an amount of gold) and try something different.
Ok, after these little differences - there are far more - I got my first quest, did my first quest and started to explore the world. The rifts are an interesting concept well knows from games like WAR. Situational quests that happen and everybody can join and take part. Nice graphics, that's for sure - but after some time it's a little bit boring, like always. I mean: Even Lotro got boring after a couple of minutes. But, like in Lotro, there are here and there nice new things that when you see them you stop and say "Wohoo!". Good, keeps game interesting.
After the short movie telling me what I've done - I dunno, I think I did something, closed a Rift or found a stone or took a breath - I landed under a bridge. Or near a bridge. Like in reality. You can save the world but later they forget you and you land under a bridge, alone.
But no, I wasn't alone, I had a quest giver and, BAM, party! Again.
The quests are mainly "kill x of these" and "collect y of those" and "click here!" and "save there...". But some quests are also like "Walk into the light". Good, as I'm catholic I've got problems to trust people saying to me "Walk into the light" but this time it was a good decision.
The zones are designed in a dynamic way. While I was selling some crap I got the message that I accepted a quest. Accepted a quest?! For what? Because I was selling items? Did I turn to the crap selling fairy Sellor Moon?
No, I was taking part at an invasion. As i'm living in Germany I decided to not take part at the war and to reap the fruit of other people labour. Perhaps I could go there after war and build up schools or fountains.
Without doing anything - I even had problems to figure out where the war was - I finished the quest. Great. I think that's how a real war feels like. Everyone cries, someone dies and you get the Silver Star.
Later in the night I finished playing. My first feelings were.. strange. On the other side a lot of aspects attract me. Other distract me. I mean: If I want to play WoW I could play WoW.
I will see if I will give it another go. I will update if so...
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Comment and Rate
Writing a blog is as entertaining as reading it. But sometimes (and especially in the beginning) writing a blog is like yelling into the dark night - you don't know if someone on the other side is listening (or feels disturbed because he was sleeping).
I'm honest when I say that I need some kind of compass. Something that tells me "you're on the right way" or "get lost". In short: Please give me some feedback - a short comment or a star rating. It's not only for me, but also for you: If you want some special topics or hate something, just tell me so. Don't hesitate, but please be gentle and constructive.
A blog is a long term relationship and the more feedback I gain the easier and better everything gets. For everyone, not just for me :)
Noc
I'm honest when I say that I need some kind of compass. Something that tells me "you're on the right way" or "get lost". In short: Please give me some feedback - a short comment or a star rating. It's not only for me, but also for you: If you want some special topics or hate something, just tell me so. Don't hesitate, but please be gentle and constructive.
A blog is a long term relationship and the more feedback I gain the easier and better everything gets. For everyone, not just for me :)
Noc
Monday, 19 September 2011
Overpowered
Some days ago I was in a random group. The special thing about this was the fact that it was the first time as mage. As I had some proper training with some guild mates on training dummies I knew what to do + plus: I read the guides on the internet, so I was well prepared.
Well, after some minutes in group the hunter asked me in a polite and friendly way: "WTH mage?". I suddenly realized what the guy wanted so I answered with the power of my intelligence: "?"
He: "Woot, great damage!"
Ahh, a guy of the "human epeenalatus", those mixtures of humans, apes, a chronometer and a viagra pill. How to react? It seems he wanted to congratulate me, but for what? It was my first time in an heroic ZG and I knew the performance wasn't that good. I had a lot to learn. So I answered: "Well, my first time here, I've still got a lot to learn".
He: "Mages are so overpowered"
Aha? Ok? So mages are the new hunters. How many times did I have to read "hunters are sooo overpowered" or "destruction warlocks are sooo overpowered" or "death knights are soooo overpowered". No matter you tried to explain that it depended on fight, no, [class] has to be overpowered. Even when the guy you are playing was totally crappy skilled or playing, no: You, Sir, are officially overpowered.
But I tried to be fair and I answered: "Well, on short fights and without doublechecking mana and full burn cycles I certainly do a lot of dps but in long fights I'm not that good".
You see, basically I said "Aww, well, Mr. Nice Guy, here is the you-are-not-that-bad-door, take a fishing-for-compliments-pill and march through" or in other words "Guy, I am simply doing what my class was designed for".
He, being a smart guy, answered: "No way, mages are really overpowered"
At that point I had only two possibilities. First: Hoping that he was some personified gm joke or just on a very very bad LSD trip. Well, both possibilities did not include any good ways to escape this conversation as a winner. So I answered, again empowered by my intelligence: "Yo".
The "discussion" ended.
To be honest: After some hours of thinking I came to the conclusion that some guys simple need a solace, a hug, something that says "Aww, yeah, you could not do better, because... well, there are no rational reasons, no special circumstances like item level and so on when class X is better than class Y. My class is simply overpowered. "
Well, then just say "yes" and let 'em win. That's the power of pugs: You've never need to meet them again. Not because you /ignore them, but because there are so many other gamers.
And possibly a lot of overpowered guys.
Well, after some minutes in group the hunter asked me in a polite and friendly way: "WTH mage?". I suddenly realized what the guy wanted so I answered with the power of my intelligence: "?"
He: "Woot, great damage!"
Ahh, a guy of the "human epeenalatus", those mixtures of humans, apes, a chronometer and a viagra pill. How to react? It seems he wanted to congratulate me, but for what? It was my first time in an heroic ZG and I knew the performance wasn't that good. I had a lot to learn. So I answered: "Well, my first time here, I've still got a lot to learn".
He: "Mages are so overpowered"
Aha? Ok? So mages are the new hunters. How many times did I have to read "hunters are sooo overpowered" or "destruction warlocks are sooo overpowered" or "death knights are soooo overpowered". No matter you tried to explain that it depended on fight, no, [class] has to be overpowered. Even when the guy you are playing was totally crappy skilled or playing, no: You, Sir, are officially overpowered.
But I tried to be fair and I answered: "Well, on short fights and without doublechecking mana and full burn cycles I certainly do a lot of dps but in long fights I'm not that good".
You see, basically I said "Aww, well, Mr. Nice Guy, here is the you-are-not-that-bad-door, take a fishing-for-compliments-pill and march through" or in other words "Guy, I am simply doing what my class was designed for".
He, being a smart guy, answered: "No way, mages are really overpowered"
At that point I had only two possibilities. First: Hoping that he was some personified gm joke or just on a very very bad LSD trip. Well, both possibilities did not include any good ways to escape this conversation as a winner. So I answered, again empowered by my intelligence: "Yo".
The "discussion" ended.
To be honest: After some hours of thinking I came to the conclusion that some guys simple need a solace, a hug, something that says "Aww, yeah, you could not do better, because... well, there are no rational reasons, no special circumstances like item level and so on when class X is better than class Y. My class is simply overpowered. "
Well, then just say "yes" and let 'em win. That's the power of pugs: You've never need to meet them again. Not because you /ignore them, but because there are so many other gamers.
And possibly a lot of overpowered guys.
Sunday, 18 September 2011
WoW-Quotes [1]
Once upon a time raiding was a privilege, not a rightWell, once upon a time people got shot at a big wall. So: not everything from the past was good.
Monday, 12 September 2011
Nerfs in World of Warcraft - boon and bane
First of all: It's interesting that the word often used for "n00bs" offending is also a synonym for "blessing". But ok, that's not the point.
The topic is simple: Whenever content gets easier huge discussions start across chats and forums around the world. The ones that think that progression should be hard work and the others saying that progression means nothing - content means everything. Yes, nerfs have two sides. Let's take a close look...
The Boon:
Nerfs open the content gate, they inspire people to group more often and lower frustration level to a point at which more people are able to experience together new worlds. Like StarTrek, discovering new frontiers. But without the Klingon speech. Sadly...
Never forget the fact that progression provides a good feeling, something like "Hey, we do it, horray!"
Also true: When an item reset comes then old content gets nerfed, too. In item-centered MMOs a new tier set is similar to a huge nerf. But item resets take a while and so people do not have to wait for them to enter zones and get new updates, making it easier to come into heroic modes.
The Bane:
The content we're talking about is withing a single-digit-range. We are not talking about 50% or 25% or 10%. The rest of the game is still easy enough and playable, perhaps not that interesting, but still there. Also the actual content will be still there when new levels and items come into play.
And really: progression? What progression feeling is like when you get to kill a boss after a couple of wipes (as most bosses still need a good amount of dance knowledge beside of DPS and heal peaks) when you know you just killed a nerfed version of a boss?
Heroics almost get no nerfs which means that people doing the same content over and over never learn the perfect dance. This means that every nerf enlarges the gap between normals and heroics. This is like giving the poor people some money to prevent them to go to school, while the rich guys send their children to school and hold their line.
The Conclusion:
I still don't know if nerfs are the best answer. But to be honest: There is no real progression through the whole WoW. Everyone has the possibility to take a break for one year, come back, get the best gear while the other one has some more mounts and pets or any other achievements. For one group of people this might be great - but for the other side this is frustrating. But with this awareness it's much easier to accept nerfs. They are inevitable.
I still don't know if nerfs are the best answer. But to be honest: There is no real progression through the whole WoW. Everyone has the possibility to take a break for one year, come back, get the best gear while the other one has some more mounts and pets or any other achievements. For one group of people this might be great - but for the other side this is frustrating. But with this awareness it's much easier to accept nerfs. They are inevitable.
On the other hand it's much more difficult for devs to know the exact "difficulty level" for zones as people could get used to that concept and avoid doing raids until the first nerfs are released as it's a long term tradition of Blizz to nerf content down.
Well, in the end people have to decide for themselves if they want to wait or not.
I personally think that I will wait. That's pure "imho"
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Forum - when topic doesn't matter
If you're sad and generally in a bad mood, then it's time for some...
... forum!
Really, it works. Perhaps it's the way how forums work that impresses me that much and distracts me from daily problems. A good forum has always some really strange attributes that make reading interesting. Not because of the postings related to the topic - they are a minority. No, it's because of the whole rest. It seems people are following the same scheme all the time, no matter which forum it is...
FRISTtt!
The more people read a forum, the more important it is to be the first writing as many postings will relate to the first comment. Smart guys already realized that the important part is not the content but the fact that they are first. So just write "FIRST" and you win. If not the first, just edit the post later and write "second", "third" or simply "Sorry for necro-bumping this thread" .
A topic
Doesn't matter what the topic is about, if you've got a good idea, post it. For example: If there is a news about a guy running on the Mars' surface, take the opportunity to write something about your new shoes or the new cell you got in the nuthouse you were admitted to.
Clever guys use some starting points to have an excuse for derailing a topic. Regarding to the Mars example, write something like "Omfg, did you see his boots?! Yeah, here in Soviet Russia we need boots, too. By the way: look at this photo. Cool, huh?".
The Rant
Good topics always need one thing: An opinion. As many people have many opinions this is the perfect opportunity for you to show them how wrong they are. Remember: there is always one truth and you've got to destroy the infidels. If this means that you've got to start a verbal jihad, then it seems to be ok. Really. Don't let the others win the war they never started.
The Unknown
If you've got an opinion and also a flame war, then don't rely on others, they will hate you for the symbiosis of cleverness and repartee. This means: they will combat you. And people hating you are people not helping you. But what they don't know is: You've got the power of the InterneZZ!
So just register one to one hundred users who are all ready to follow you into war.
Perhaps others might think that these guys are all you, but they don't know so they will start a flame war. Beat them on their own field by a simple conversion. Say things like "If you don't have any clue you go into flame war? How infantile". BAM, it works.
With those hints posting is really fun and helps you a lot to understand how important it is to follow a topic: not at all. People want to small talk and it seems that nobody can prevent this.
Isn't that great? Not really. But for some it is!
At least for the one reading the comments :)
Is it that difficult to understand?
When I take a look at some discussions around raids and their difficulties I get very angry. Not because of the fact that forums often turn into a nightmare called "Trolliwood", no, it's more about the fact that there is a serious lack of empathy out there.
For example: Last day someone wrote about his wish to make raids easier. He wrote why and he wrote some ideas how to achieve what he would like to have. No rant, no personal attacks, no "damnit, raiders / progamers!", nothing. But the very first answer was: "L2P, LOL!".
I already mentioned my very complex fantasy. I don't have any control about it, no, the imagination seems to work on its own and suddenly I am thinking about a guy sitting in his room, with a big red head, eating chips, spitting them away and writing on the keyboard the only letters not covered by pieces of chips. Sometimes I also think about the stereotype of a gangster with some heavy gold collars writing with a 9mm. Or about the guy of the movie "Swordfish" who has a 9mm at his head and a woman deeper providing him a ....job while he tries to hack into the FBI computer.
Beside that I am starting to wonder why people are not able to provide ideas or arguments, reasons why the idea isn't that good. There may be people out there who read those questions very often, but the one guy they're ranting on perhaps asked it the first time. And who the hell use the search function in a forum which seems to be the verbal version of Dresden '45?
Well, anyways, let's clarify one thing: Yes, World of Warcraft is a MMO and that also means grouping. "Also", because "Massive Multiplayer" doesn't necessarily mean "Massive Grouping", but it means having a shared experience with others. This can happen via chat, via grouping, via auction house or trading, via roleplay and so on.
I am often wondering how a 25 men hardcore raid in which nobody really talks beside the raid facts and start to rant if someone's dps isn't that high as he expected, well, how these raids are more "MM" than five men helping each other by giving hints and being happy about achieving a goal: together, not because the e-peen of one is much greater than the one of someone else.
But that's another topic.
The fact that someone asks for an easier raid to get more people into the "boat" just to have it easier to form groups plus achieving something isn't that bad. And yes, people could mention the fact that there is already a "normal" and a "heroic" mode. But some "normals" are much harder than other "normals" and the only "fine adjustment" of the player is to be able to choose between two modes, nothing more. The designer is the one with the fine adjustments and this often happens months after release, in which non-pro-guilds often already got frustrated while the others being able to partially clean zones already are frustrated by "lowering" the achievements they hit by clearing the content pre-nerf.
The guys that really don't care that much and often are the first to post comments like "L2P, LOL" are the ones doing the heroic versions, so at last they shouldn't care about others doing content he or she does not prefer to ever do. Do not forget: the "heroics" also provide better loot and other achievements.
If someone of the "normal group" asks for more fine adjustment options, why the heck is it that difficult to understand or accept?
But that's not the only fact. Last time someone wrote that he fears that Blizzard would nerf every instance as it happened on WotLK. Not only he didn't mention the fact that everyone had to learn the boss dances and that nobody rushed through the heroic raids like a locomotive, but he also "forgot" to write, that many guilds didn't fully clear the heroic content, even with five more levels.
So in other words: If people want to have better and easier access to content they wouldn't ever see, then it's not that bad to simply accept what they want. It might cause a bad feeling for the guys thinking that raids should be an exclusive club mediterranee, but Blizzard is already on its process to provide everyone at least the normal "access" to take a look at these content pieces.
And guys, honestly: Many players in raid guilds put their pants on the same way as the guys they judge by not being in raid guilds. I often hear from raid guilds that the new guy they let in is the worst player they always seen. But as he learnt - and that's the difference - and got better equipment - that's another point - he is able to provide a good potion of DPS / healing / off-tanking.
So don't think those guys are all overpowered progamers, they often have other targets, put in more efforts and have another focus than you. Perhaps. And then, on the other hand, in a item centered World of Warcraft everyone can be a winner by only having a better gear - no matter if it's PVE or PVP content. But that's another story.
So don't think those guys are all overpowered progamers, they often have other targets, put in more efforts and have another focus than you. Perhaps. And then, on the other hand, in a item centered World of Warcraft everyone can be a winner by only having a better gear - no matter if it's PVE or PVP content. But that's another story.
What bothers me much more is the fact that not only a few of those gamers often have a terrible lack in empathy and patience. Not all, but it seems that this group attracts those kind of people. That makes me really angry, like it made me angry regarding to the example I provided.
And of course it won't be the last time I will read this stuff and ask myself: Is it that difficult to understand?
Saturday, 10 September 2011
Off Class Ranting...
I like random groups.
It's important to use that kind of introduction as I want to point out the importance pugs have to me. That's because of the fact, that pugs do not discuss, they do not talk much, they do the work needed because farming is what it is: boring. And the faster you get through it, the better it is for everyone.
But not always.
I sometimes ask myself why people not playing your role are the first in those groups to start a big rant. Last time, for example, I was asked by a healing priest why I'm doing that low dps as I should do more with my gear. More than this, I was also asked if this would be my character.
I wanted to help the priest who seemed to be confused so I pointed out that 20k for an affliction lock in a "burn the hell out of your manabar"-heroic isn't a bad value, especially when the rest of the other group also does a high amount of dps. The shorter the fights, the less time DoTs have to fully work.
But the priest seemed to be immune to rationality, which really astonished me, and so he continued by saying that he's got a hunter and he does more dps. Meanwhile I was eating my table, my chair and parts of my keyboard, so I wasn't able to really answer him. I tried to calm down and wrote only that he should not compare an affliction warlock with a hunter. And that I need long fights with a long 25% phase for full dps spread.
Meanwhile I got defended by the rest of the group, but the priest was like the Terminator on a bad Crystal Meth trip. I left the group and thought by myself: Why the heck did I talk to him? I mean: I was top of the dps, we killed every boss plus we cleared the zone(!) , so what's the problem?
I think the problem was simply: "Help me, my girl friend said that my little friend is too small and now I need some virtual viagra and possibly some comparison", nothing else. There is no other explanation. I mean: Really, guys, what's the point? Not enough "work" at home? Feeling depressed?
It's like leaving frustrated your home, going to a local gang member and telling him that his mother shortchanged for last night. Party on: Wayne!
Another idea crossed my mind some days ago: People that have a lot of sex are more balanced that guys without. I think it has something to do with the biological clock or some kind of evolutionary conscience, you know, like a devil and an angel sitting on your shoulders and both are telling you to do the base wok needed to spread humanity. That is really stressful!
And what are they doing? Playing... no wonder that they act like this. They are fleeing from the reproduction task deeply stored into their DNA. Good, to be honest: They do not flee, they _are fled_ as someone other decided they are not suitable for the job.
Well, to return to topic....
Some people simply have no clue and want to explain others their roles and ways to play, but if they would really be interested in helping you they would prefer to /tell those things to you and they would even have some experiences with the class you are playing. Does a pear tell an apple how the apple should look like? Hard to believe, also because a speaking pear would confuse me.
If those people don't do it like this way, why should you listen to them. Without any specific hints they are simply ranting or, if not, simply psychopaths unable to generate the needed amount of empathy to use the proper channel for the words. Those guys not only constrain you, no, they also are no help for the rest of the group who wants to progress instead of talking.
Good, there are other players who are able to even answer those people. I sometimes read things like "your dps is low" and the other guy, actually very smart and eloquent answers "die".
This is good because it's a simple win-win-situation.
The best way is to be confident, just say "Really? Awww" and contact a good player of your class. Keep contacts to him close and use those moments to learn or to verify your playstile. But do not automatically get discouraged. Don't give others the power to decide what you should do or not, as long as you are really doing your job well. Nothing else matters.
Thursday, 8 September 2011
The name of the blog - or: "It's a long way to hell"
I sometimes have real problems when it comes to be creative. Not that I don't have any ideas - I simply have to many, which makes it difficult to come to a conclusion. It is like telling to a lake "Eh, ok, I need H20, but.. wait, my H20 is.. eh.. this one. No, wait, this one. Ah, now: this one. Eh, naaah... forget it". Many lakes decided to desiccate meanwhile...
Well, anyways: One of those "I cannot decide"-days was the day I was looking for a name for this blog. I had many ideas, but no order on my mind, so I asked a friend. Who, in turn, said to consult some "think tanks".
Ok, I admit: at first I had problems to understand what he meant, but I was able to think logically and so I separated both words: think and tank. Tank and think. Good. Let's take a look:
- "Think": You think, I think. It's a process, sometimes ideas spread, sometimes rubbish, but it leads to a result: Good one!
- "Tank": Good that I know what a tank is as I am playing World of Warcraft. At the end I knew who to ask about real good ideas.
Back to World of Warcraft I joined a random group as I wanted to surprise my guild. When I was in the group - we sorted roles and buffs - I took my chance to ask the tank, a druid, about the name of my blog. As I knew that tanks need simple speech and, if possible, imperative phrases, I simply said: THINK!
One minute later I got kicked. I don't know why, but I suppose that my invitation to think distracted him from doing the real work in group. So I took my chance in another group, which, by the way, had another kind of tank: A warrior!
So again I said: THINK!
This time the answer was fast: "???" and I answered (I thought it was a question): "my blog". Answer: "lol". Ok, I realized this wouldn't lead to something. So I left the group and decided to be sad: Where the heck should I find my answer? Well, in the end I was so desperate that I asked everyone else.
I checked "World of tanks", but did not find any answers, but got a lot of headaches. Everything was so confusing, so strange, so new and it was the first time I had serious troubles with my power of imagination: Especially when I thought of the consequences for people wanting some virtual love affairs within MMOs. I mean: I've had some serious nightmares about tanks having sex...
Anyways, I thought of other possibilities. I contacted some veterans of the WWII about their knowledge about tanks. At the end of the day I had a lot of names for my blogs, but decided to not call it "DIE STALIN, DIE", "I need a rifle", "Oh man, not the bombs again" or "Rommel's Loft".
Some guys working for politicians told me to contact "spin doctors" working in a "think tank". The idea about guys turning around like a humming top exploded the last frontiers of my fantasy, broke my mind into pieces. Man, really: there are some things I'd never want to experience.
But it turned out that these ideas where all good. At the point at which everything is broken my mind was slowed down enough so I could follow the path of ideas and tadaa: Nocturnis. Good, yes, the name of one of my characters. And: Tadaaa, "World" as it's my "World" and not the world of anyone else. Nobody that wants to buy a melon is happy about getting an apple. At least he'd be surprised.
Well and then, after I realized that I was sitting in a room without any lights because I was so deeply thinking that I did not realize that I walked into the cupboard. So, as everything was dark: Hooray, new word: "Dark".
I gave every word a number from one to three and used a dice for the correct order. But "Dark World Nocturnis" sounded as wrong as "World Nocturnis Dark". In the end I decided to take the title you see above and closed everything - and opened the door of the cupboard as it was late and I wanted to sleep.
That was the short story of my blog's name. Many ideas spread out that way, often I write one sentence when I think about the weather and end up writing about rainy days when i only wanted to write about a kitchen towel. The results are strange and fascinating at the same time, especially for me.
But sometimes it works, like this time - I hope. If not: Oh man, I do everything, but I won't return to World of Tanks... not with those pictures in my mind.
Ok, here I am
Hi guys,
as I'm starting to get very active in writing English a mate of my guild in World of Warcraft (The Evil, I know) had the idea to start a blog. So: Here I am.
What people don't know is, that I'm already having a blog, but in German. As nobody wants to read the result of an automatic translation from German into English (/Dutch/Polish/Wolof/...) I decided to pick up the idea and to transform it into something real: Tadaa.
Good, step one is done, step two will follow: find topics to talk about. And as I'm having a "great time" in wonderful "World of Warcraft" I'd like and will like to write about things that happen there. Sure: Not everything will be WoW-related, expect some other topics, too.
The design is still something I'm checking out. Not easy to decide, but I think I will arrive to a conclusion, soon. So just keep visiting to see further updates.
That's all for the moment. Thanks again and see you soon!
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