Brewfest activities.

One last update for the day – I finally got to take a trip to see the Brewfest boss, Coren Direbrew.

Group makeup:

Elemental Shammy (Level 68 - he later came in with his mage to get in an extra summoning.)
2 x Combat Rogues in PVP gear (me being one of them – there is nothing here I want for my mage, but Im after a decent mount for my rogue, and the damage trinket would be awesome.)
2 x Druids. (Tree(wife) + Bear)

The encounter was a lot easier than I was expecting, but was pretty good. I wont lie and say the encounter was fantastically good fun, but it was nice to be grouping back with friends in the guild as we have been busy with other things for the last couple of weeks.

Everyone got a direbrew mug trinket (the one that summons the black brew maiden) and the healer picked up the healing trinket, and also the caster trinket for leveling in the expansion.

Good times, I plan another excursion tonight as the festival ends tomorrow.

-Velk

The Instance Episode #122

Fresh out last night, I have just finished listening to this episode featuring Scott + Randy with Curt Schilling and Patrick as their guest-hosts.

I found this a particularly entertaining episode, and it is quite insightful into their opinions of WAR. I’m glad to see I am not the only one with the views on WAR that it is a great game but no WOW killer – and that as a stand-alone game, it should do quite well.

Oddly enough though, it makes me want to log in and play more WAR!

Another topic they go into is the PVP Badge + Honour reset pledge being withdrawn. I agree with Randy on this one - if you have bought anything since the announcement - put in a ticket and ask for the marks + honour to be refunded (unless the item is enchanted of course) just to see what happens. This is something that should have been thought out properly before announcing...

-Velk

Another mind-boggling velk-blog post.

Reading, re-reading, editing and reading the “game styligs” post, I thought it best to put up a follow up before any flame-throwers come out :p The “categories” seem like they could come across as elitist noodling, or prejudice in some way, and that was never my intent.

The post is meant in a light hearted manner, as a way to group up different styles of gaming people see out there. No style is “perfect” even if I make it appear that “power gamer” is the “best” way to play. Every style has its disadvantages. Naturally if you make no to learn or work with people, others are not going to want to go near you, but at the other end of the scale, if you are a power gamer, there is a good chance you are spending way too much time in the game. Your self-confidence in this category is likely to be your downfall, thinking you can handle higher risk situations and risking your group/raid. Bad :p

Anyway, thinking over the different categories, there really should be some sort matrix of styles. For example, you may be a “power gamer” in that you squeeze every last drop out of your character, but you may play on your lonesome, or you might only work well in a group. You might be naturally talented, or you might spend way too much time in game optimizing your skills. At the same time the “rucksack” can be a difficult category to place someone in. I was generally thinking of people that don’t want to put in any effort, but there are those that may have real-life distractions or problems that may make them appear useless when they are having an off-day or something.

Perhaps I should have the catergories be on a scale?

Natural talent: 1-10 (1 being unable to pick up the basics, 10 being a master of them. Not really something that is teachable.)
Theorycrafting: 1-10 (For the min/maxer, and also knowledge of the basics. 1 = Someone who doesn’t put any thought in, or is perhaps unable to grasp the maths – 10 being someone who can right a huge blog post in detail on mana usage over a boss fight based on a certain gear and talent set.)
Trolling: 1-10 Don’t know where I am going with this one, but lets say 1 = doesn’t throw up controversy or make others feel bad, 10 = someone who constantly flames or whinges and is a right old pain in the rump.
Enabler: 1-10 1 = A hinderance on a group, 10 = someone who drives the group – perhaps a particularly effective raid leader.

Hmm, or maybe not.

I dont know what my greatest strengths are in this game, but I do know one of my many weaknesses is that I AM an elitist asshat ;) I feel very uncomfortable getting into pugs for fear of the worst. Me and my wife pugged to 60 with our rogue + druid pairing back in the day, and only had a few bad experiences, but Im just mortally afraid of runs that prove to be complete wastes of time. I know Im not unique in that, but I do see it as something that interferes with my gameplay :p

Its probably the same reason I tend to avoid the official forums...

Another mind boggling Velk-blog entry.

Gameplay stylings.

What type of gamer are you?

I have been thinking about different playstyles that you see when it comes to MMORPGs, and decided it might make an interesting post. If not… hell, it’s a content filler :p

Here is some gamer-types that I can fling off my mind. Which category do you fit into? And are there any other types you think you can make?

Power Gamer:
This category of gamer tries to squeeze the highest amount of efficiency from their character. They are not necessarily the best geared, but they will look at the most efficient way of squeezing every last drop of goodness out of their gear that seems feasible. When they get a new ability their thoughts lay in “how do I make the most efficient use of this”, or “How can I modify a spell/attack rotation to accommodate this, if it’s any good”. They are not afraid to completely ignore an ability if it doesn’t help them get the biggest numbers, or efficiency. They can naturally pick up most classes quickly and learn how to get the most out of it. These are the people you want around you at all times, assuming they don’t try to tell you how to play, or disrespect you if your not one of their clique.

Breakdown:
DPS: Tries to get the highest DPS they can, and/or the highest DPM when you don’t want to go all out.
Healers: These are the people that are not afraid to let you drop to 25% health if they feel they can confidently give you one big heal and have the most mana regen time possible. When the rest of the raid is going OOM they are probably the ones taking over whilst you take a break.
Tank: These are the people that can tank half a dozen mobs at once with a warrior, never lose aggro unless an idiot is in the group and always have their best abilities on cooldown, or available when needed. The best warrior tanks in the game are likely in this category as it is a fairly tough class to play, and a hell of a task to master.
Min/Maxer:
Similar to the Power Gamer, but perhaps less of a natural at squeezing the best from their gear, they are likely to be constantly seeking the best upgrades and gear enhancements they can find, and trying to get the biggest numbers they can, although it may not always be for the best.

Breakdown:
DPS: Expect big numbers, but at the risk of pulling aggro or going out of mana.
Healers: Perhaps they like to keep everyone at max health, or top the healing meters by cutting off that poor druids hots?
Tanks: Not to be classist, but your likely to find a druid under this catergory. Huge health, and armour numbers. Likely to be found with stupidly high stats, but not necessarily a whole lot of skill. The gear compensates for lack of ability – a fantastic tank to be sure, but when things go wrong, they may not be able to make the snap judgment’s required to save a wipe.

Casual gamer:
This type of gamer may have a good grasp on the basics, but does not do their all to max their abilities. They may not use cooldowns when ready, or at all, they might not optimize their gear. There is nothing wrong with this, it is often a case of “altitus”, restricted play hours or just lack of practice that makes them not bash them cooldowns as soon as they are ready, or use abilities in the right situations. (For example, I know a good warrior – but on a pull they use their taunt, instead of reserving it for when they lose aggro to get it back. May seem like a good idea (sticks the target to you) but could be used better.)

Breakdown:
DPS: They may be doing less damage than their gear disctates is possible, or not be able to cope when the going gets tough.
Healer: May be inefficient with their cast rotations resulting in early OOM, or may handle the situation ineffectively, for example, trying to heal a whole raid instead of a designated set of targets.
Tank: Adequate for most situations, especially with a good group makeup, but not likely to make MT in a raiding guild.

The rucksack:
For lack of a better title, this is the gamer that regardless of their gear or experience tends to need carried everywhere. They don’t bother to optimize their gear (or don’t know how) it is often a case that they don’t see the point because they are going for better gear, don’t have the experience or just cant handle the mental work required in doing so. The best example I have hear is a hunter that badgers the guild constantly to get into Kara runs, and when he is in is often /afk, or does significantly lower DPS than he should. He has better gear than most of the raid, but has zero enchants, and refuses to get them because he is “waiting on upgrades” this results in irritation for the RL, constant badgering and guilting of them makes them not want to take him, and when he does come – he doesn’t pull his weight. The leaders are too scared to tell him straight in case of scandal. *sigh* We all know someone(s) like this.

Breakdown:
DPS: regardless of gearing, will not do the damage expected, or will not be able to manage what they do dish out pulling aggro, attacking the wrong target, using wrong abilities (for example, AOE against a group of elites that the tank is struggling to hold) and generally causing more harm than good.
Healer: you’ve seen them. The Circle of healing priest that spams heals for the first 30s then is out of mana and begging for an innervate. This is a prime example.
Tank: Yeah… You wont get far.
Im sure there are many more groupings we can devide into, and this list seems a little extreme, but I was just thinking of people I have grouped with – be they in PuG’s or raids, and thought about how they might be classified.

It would be rude of me to ask such a question without answering myself, so here is my response:

I see myself as a semi-Power Gamer. I dont min/max my gear, although I try to get it optimised as best I can for a reasonable price, I seem to be able to take any class and play them with at least a reasonable degree of skill, and always seem to get more DPS than my gear + spec would predict. Im far from perfect, and I know this – and I strive to learn and pickup new skills and try them out. I know a warrior that can tank pretty much anything, little groups, big groups, tough targets, is well geared and optimized for the position. As another blogger once quoted "He's Wowwiki on Vent". Knows the game inside out.

I know a damn good druid tank, but in many situations does standard bear tanking tactics instead of using the other abilities such as cast-pulls like hurricane to tank groups. Same with another warrior - he has often main tanked raids, but cant hold aggro against multiple mobs.

I know many many casual gamers, they spend much of their time dead, and lack much of the knowledge of the game, but they give it their all and generally do ok. They are happy with their lot and play for fun, and are usually good to group up with, and often, are eager to learn more.

Of course, we all know the rucksacks. These are the gamers you go out of your way to avoid working with – at least once you give up trying to help them. *flutters eyelids* It is not always their fault, just their attitude may seem like one of “I cant be bothered, you do the work and give me the lootz!”

Remember, as long as your having fun, how can your class be bad!

-Velk

WAR!

My family visitors have been and gone now, and during their visit I got the chance to try Warhammer Online, so as promised – here are my thoughts on WAR!

System Demands:
First off – I need a PC upgrade. I am stuck running the game at something like 1700 x 1100 resolution, (a bit demanding for my PC, but cant lower it.) overall the graphical settings are set quite reasonable and the game looks pretty good – but everything other than my graphics card is so out of date, the pc struggles regardless.

For any interested here is my system:

AMD 3700Xp

Asus An8-Sli deluxe Motherboard

1Gb PC3200 RAM

37" HDTV (running 1080p)

Graphics:

From a visual perspective, the game looks a lot like EQ2 – its got similar looking textures and colour palette from what I can remember of it. Its certainly not bad, but it’s a far shout from Crysis graphics, and I prefer Wows if I must be honest.

Game play:

The game feels like a good blend of Everquest 2, Star Wars Galaxies and World of Warcraft. The UI is WOW. The screen messages and graphics are EQ2 and many of the implemented features (Im looking at you, “Flee!”) are straight out of SWG.

Overall impression:
The character I chose to try this out with was a Black Orc. (Basically a greenskin tank – and from what I gather the closest to the traditional tanking class you get on the Destruction side.) I chose this character for a number of reasons. Firstly, he was ugly. I knew I was not going to have a pretty character, and decided to make one ugly brute. He looks like he has tanked with his face on many an occasion. Secondly, the Orcs + Gobbos have always been the comic relief in Warhammer, and I figured it might be entertaining. So far it has not disappointed. In my experience its also the most Role-played race on the destruction side. You find when you interact with someone – be it party, local chat or a whisper – “You and da boyz speak like dis!”

The quests that I have done so far have been entertaining and quite humorous. Public quests are an awesome implementation. I see them being problematic down the line when a newbie has to try to do them on their lonesome, but at this point, there is usually enough people running around an area with a public quest that when the “grind” stages are done there is enough people to take down the bosses and get themselves some nice Loots!

PVP scenarios remind me so much of counterstrike but with a third person button mashing perspective. It’s entertaining, but against “dem stunties” – it’s a tough show. (So many Rune Priests!!)

Whilst it is a very good game standalone, it doesn’t grasp me as much as WOW does. I have been given free access to my mothers account as long as she is not logged in, so I have been enjoying slowly doing the quests and exploring, but I don’t see me getting too far involved. In my opinion it is a nice break from WoW – will get a good sized population as it is a great standalone game, but in my opinion, is far from being a wow-killer. It’s a completely different feel of game.

I would give it an 8/10 – with wow being a 9/10. It is strong on PVP, roleplay, and exploration value. All in all though, pretty damned good.

Note: My opinion may swing either way as time goes by and I start doing higher end content, and get used to the game mechanics. Expect more updates if I continue to play.

-Velk

Siha's Inscription guide.

Siha at Banana Shoulders put up a fantastic guide to leveling inscription.

Using this guide I plan to drop skinning on my priest and take up Inscription. I heartily recommend you take a look - even if your not interested in trying it out.

In my case, I was NOT interested in leveling an Inscriber… but now I am!

I have a herbalist mage that can easily stock up everything, and will be working with my wife who is a herbalist throughout northrend.

-Velk

Levelling as a non-shadowy priest.

It’s been all go in the real world, but I thought I would take a short time out to give an update of what I have been doing in WOW.

Hunter:
The bulk of my time has been spent on my hunter. She is now 48 – and happily wielding her Maraudon blues – including a new gun that ROCKS! Damn things like a machine gun, but the damage output me and Nimmy (my cat) are doing is pretty brutal.

Priest:
I respecced my priest away from Shadow. I’m actually finding it easier leveling as discipline with a good dose of holy. This is because I level alongside a suicidal mage (My wife’s alt) and we AoE grind our way through the outlands.

As shadow I could pick a target, and quickly burn it down. This fed back some mana and health for us, which was fine, but when I’m able to throw an enhanced shield, an enhanced renew, heal when necessary to keep her up and join in the AoE with holy nova, we are going through the levels twice as fast. For the record – don’t holy nova until the enemy are low on health :p you cant kill a mob of the same level without going OOM – its just a damage boost to help the mage not go OOM and it heals them to boot. Your better sitting at the side healing and perhaps chucking in a few spells to thin the enemy ranks.

As a bonus, one of the “leveling group” that we worked with has re-specced his shaman to Elemental and is loving the grind as DPS. He wanted to be a healer all through the game so I went shadow to do DPS, but now we have swapped around and we are both happier. Should make for some fun instance runs, I like healing. Its why I’m a priest darnit!

-Velk