Matt's Note: I'd like to introduce another writer. Ryan "Doc Holiday" has been a friend for many years. He also plays World of Warcraft with a Hunter as his main. He'll usually post one or two days out of the week (to help give me a break when I need it). His columns can be found under Ryan's Rants on the side. Unlike my writings which are concerned about Priests, Shamans, and Guild management, his pieces will take a general roll. Think of him as the next version of Peter Griffin blogging on what grinds his gears for WoW. Enjoy!
5. Heroic Dungeons
Now to be honest I'm not wholly against the idea of "beefing" up instances and offering up some decent epics but... something got lost in the translation. I don't think it was Blizzard's intentions that heroics become a nightmare of micro management for CC classes but thats what they got much to the chagrin of any non CC class in the game. Not only that its a nightmare for priests (2 shot wonders) or Druids (I wish i had some aggro management or at least let me cast heals in bear form) but the testing for heroics had seemed to be play tested with a group consisting of tier 6 Warrior, Holy pally, Mage, Mage, and a Mage. Now people are going to tell me "Hey Heroics are a success" and they probably would be right but that doesn't stop me from hating it anyway.
How I would fix it
Making trash hit like a brickhouse and have a ton of health doesn't make the game more "epic". Well designed instances and fun encounters do. e.g...black morass. Whoever made Black Morass I would promote him and see what they could do with Heroics cause its got to be better then whatever fool suggested mobs that hit for a billion and have more health then Tidewalker.
4. Epic flying Mount
I can't think of a bigger time and money scam then the epic flying mount. Question. Why would you spend 5000 gold on something that is completely irrelevant to game play? Oh people come back with "It helps me farm faster"... Really if you're good enough to farm 5000 gold then why do you need an epic flying mount? This one item has basically done two things: Inflate the cost of everything on the auction house and keep gold farming companies in business. The first thing is probably good for Blizzard it keeps people playing longer. The second is well not good for Blizzard unless they secretly own the gold farming companies.
How I would fix it
It should be some grand quest that believe it or not... Takes time. The idea for daily quests is a good one but could be put to better use with a grand quest spread out over weeks or even months. Only the truly dedicated would complete these "epic" quests. Is it truly awe inspiring to see Johnny McCreditcard or Bill the Overpowered Warlock Mote farmer of doom flying his epic flying mount around all the other thousands of people with theirs? Truly epic indeed.
3. Time equals Gear
What ever flavor it comes in, Arena, Battlegrounds, or Reputation gear. Rewarding someone by simply playing is too me the lowest form of mediocrity. I would think as a 2000+ rated arena team its pretty degrading to see that hard earned arena gear on some team that maintains a even record. Yes the drive to be good is kept alive in wow. Want to earn gear? AFK in a Battleground, repeat, get easy epics. Grind Mechanar on easy mode, get an epic. Thats right people don't excel because we know your too stupid to do anything that requires the smallest amount of skill.
How I would fix it
First and foremost: Arena teams must achieve and maintain a certain rating for certain gear. Failure to do so means you cannot wear that gear or purchase that gear in the future. No more points for "winning" or "losing" a Battleground. You get points for doing what you should be doing. Whether its dpsing or killing blows to healing or flag capturing or flag defending. No more Reputation gear. It would be replaced with Hero Gear. Tired of shadow labs? How about doing it without CCing anything? doing it in an hour or 45 minutes or 30 minutes? Reward people for the skill that is required to do these feats because you would be in fact training them to be better players and maybe just maybe you would have more then .01 percent of the total wow population doing the things you spent a lot of time developing like the Black Temple.
2. The Forums
I cannot think of a bigger cesspool and waste of time as the official forums of WoW. Trying to find useful and helpful information is harder then finding a needle in a haystack. Is everyone that plays wow a crystal meth addicted moron? If you read the wow forums the answer would probably be yes. What should be resource for the 9 million subscribers has turned into a never ending forum for trolls, criers and flamers. On the plus side it has created a huge offshoot industry of websites offering dedicated wow gamers the things they really need.
How I would fix it
Scrap the forums. Blow them up and start again. Hire a ton of moderators and have them deal with troublemakers right away. For those helpful and talented wowers out there give them a job and have them contribute full time to help make the game more enjoyable for everyone. There are plenty of great websites out there that do just that, for those that are for beginners (<a href="http://www.wowinsider.com">WoW Insider</a>) or to the more advanced (elitist Jerks).
1. Trash
Oh lord give me strength after this wipe to battle through another hour of trash clears so that I do not take my own life in rage. You know I listened to Blizzard's raid discussion and their attempt to defend the amount of trash in its raid and I just wanted to scream BS the entire time. No one can tell me that more trash is better or equal to less trash with more difficulty. The idea of putting trash into an instance to let you know that if your not ready for this instance yet is ludicrous. Bosses should be the test for guilds not trash. End of story period. Time after time again the thing that ends raids for almost every guild is a re clear of trash in starter raids of SSC and TK. You would think they would have learned something from the most successful raid instance of all time and no I'm not talking about Naxx I'm talking about BWL. Two quick boss encounters that were challenging some nasty trash that tested your tanks, dps and gear, a timed room clear that kept everyone on there toes to a boss that was tied into those timed rooms. Follow that up with some new and interesting trash 3 quick dragon bosses, the big doggie, then the end boss and what you had was 3 or so hours of fun. Now its an hour of trash followed by 2-4 attempts on a boss thats very unforgiving with mistakes.
How I would fix it
I am not saying eliminate trash but what I am saying in its current state is it either needs to be reduced or have its re spawn time increased. I once heard a Blizzard developer say that trash should be "relaxing". Well I don't want my pallies relaxing when I get poisoned and they don't cleanse me instantly so i die. I don't want my tanks relaxing when enraged Murlocs are running around 1 shotting healers. In the future, trash should be either tied into a boss encounter in a 15-20 minute cycle or removed entirely. Attumen is a good example of how trash affects a boss encounter, it adds a sense of urgency to the encounter without making it seem horrid if you have to do it again. If there is no trash then boss encounter should be difficult or long. Razorgore is a perfect example of a encounter that was interesting, chaotic and long. It felt truly epic and was followed up by a short but difficult encounter in Vael. How many times did you wipe on Vael? I know some nights it would take hours to down him but the important thing is it kept making us come back no matter how long it took.
