December 3rd, 2008
This is, of course, referring to World of Warcraft and the recent expansion to the game, Wrath of the Lich King.
The life of Warcraft lore-fans like me took huge steps to better with the new expansion, Blizzard really got it right, there's so many great quest lines which bring a lot more than any previous quest in WoW or TBC ever did for us, most of which aren't obvious or even noticeable to Average WoW-Joe, that I can't even really start to list those here.
But one quest line definately needing a special mention is the Wrathgate-line. I mean, epic is just a too weak word to describe it! It takes the whole term "epic" to a damn Brann-spanking-new level!
Of course there's downsides to the expansion too, at least for some. Many feel that the "wellfare epics"-trend has gone too far with the new raid-instances, Naxxramas specificly, being too easy. However, this isn't too shocking, not to me anyway, Blizzard said that they will be easy, they will be "Molten Core" of WotLK, back to basics, teaching the people pve-raiding, which of course feels far too easy for those of us who have raided most if not all
of the previous pve content of the game. And don't forget that many of you were also familiar with the encounters beforehand due the old Naxxramas 40-man raid-instance - while the new Naxx is tuned for 10 and 25-man raids, it's still essentially the same.
So I wouldn't be too worried, sure, they're easy and puggable, but already Eye of Eternity gives a bit harder challenge compared to them, let alone Onyx Sanctum if you keep the extra-drakes up. Even having just one drake up raises the encounter difficulty significantly, let alone having two or three drakes up.
Ulduar, coming in future content patch, is only the 2nd "big raid instance" in the game and it should be a challenge for most of us. Sure, it will probably be cleared quite swiftly by Ensidia (ex-Nihilum & ex-Curse (SK-Gaming) combined) and few others, but not as swiftly as Naxx was and definately will take some time for the "normal hardcore" guilds, let alone semi-hardcore or semi-casual guilds.
And Ulduar won't be the last either, Icecrown of course will be the last instance in the expansion, but there's rumors that at least Uldum might be included in the game before it, and who knows what other instances they'll come up with.
Showing posts with label warcraft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label warcraft. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Game Over! But Blizzard still has it!
February 24th, 2007
Game over, like said, Illidan down, no new content yet.
Luckily 2.4 isn't too far away anymore, and there will be a lot of new content in it.
But let's cut to the point - Blizzard still has the magic in their hands, and they're using it right.
After the initial dissappointments in last.. november I think it was, when we had our first proper tries on Illidan, we didn't get him down. Too big portion of the guild went on vacations or just quit, so we had to start recruiting - then christmas came, more vacations, and after christmas break again more people had left, so again we needed more new recruits. Needless to say, new recruits aren't quite as good as the old folks, so we went on painful road of training them to suit our needs.
Today, it finally paid off, Illidan dead.
And the magic Blizz still has, I mentioned earlier?
Well, the kill, and the few moments before it, were just as ecstatic as the first big boss kills ages ago, Onyxia, Ragnaros, Nefarian - Illidan felt just the same!
I do admit that for example Vashj didn't have the same feeling to it, but luckily that's an exception to the rest.
Game over, like said, Illidan down, no new content yet.
Luckily 2.4 isn't too far away anymore, and there will be a lot of new content in it.
But let's cut to the point - Blizzard still has the magic in their hands, and they're using it right.
After the initial dissappointments in last.. november I think it was, when we had our first proper tries on Illidan, we didn't get him down. Too big portion of the guild went on vacations or just quit, so we had to start recruiting - then christmas came, more vacations, and after christmas break again more people had left, so again we needed more new recruits. Needless to say, new recruits aren't quite as good as the old folks, so we went on painful road of training them to suit our needs.
Today, it finally paid off, Illidan dead.
And the magic Blizz still has, I mentioned earlier?
Well, the kill, and the few moments before it, were just as ecstatic as the first big boss kills ages ago, Onyxia, Ragnaros, Nefarian - Illidan felt just the same!
I do admit that for example Vashj didn't have the same feeling to it, but luckily that's an exception to the rest.
What happened to the gaming World (of Warcraft)?
Damn, missed one when posting these old blog entries, so this isn't in the right place date wise, sorry for that.
October 10th, 2007
World of Warcraft - it would be hard to find someone who hasn't heard from it.
In November 23. 2004 - the 10th Anniversary of Warcraft franchise - World of Warcraft, a eagerly waited MMORPG to rule them all was released, few months later it was unleashed for europeans as well. Those two releases have changed the world of many, including mine.
The game has consumed lives, marriages, relationships, I've witnessed it all even though not for myself, but for people I know.
The game is a drug - it's more addictive than heroin for many - one might ask why?
Why does the endless quest for glory and more shiny epix lure people to play endless hours of the same, repeating instances, quests, mobs, over and over again?
What did WoW do that others didn't, why did it became so succesful?
It made it easy to start. You don't need to be expert with computers or computer games of any sort to get hang of it, but still, for the people who play more, it's hard to master, there's always something improve in your own gameplay, more places to discover (thanks to constantly growing world, getting new instances in patches etc)
But that's only a small part of it - the biggest draft in the game is the social side - many times I see myself and others logging in just to chat, somehow it's more fun in WoW than it would be over IRC or MSN or something similar to those.
The bonding between long time guildmates, gone from getting your very first kill on Lucifron in Molten Core to killing Illidan at Black Temple is a strong emotional bond, it shouldn't be looked down compared to "real friendship" as some call the relations in "real life" - I see it different, I see them just as much as my friends as the people I am with in the "real life" even if I can't see them face to face (excluding meetings people arrange, and those few living near enough to meet every now and then or more often).
People might think of it as "meh", they're just people writing over net, who cares? Well, the people doing it care - spending endless hours with 39 (or 24 later in BC) others in a raiding instance practising new bosses will make you know others no matter if you want it or not.
Many times it's also easier to speak of some things online, seemingly anonymous even if the other would know you in person aswell. I'm especially thankful to the two "long distance friendships" I've built during my years of playing, one living in Sweden and other in Norway - those two, even though I've never met them (hoping I will sooner or later, though, we might get a meet up at some festival for example, they're QUITE close after all), mean a lot more to me than many I know in person, I've talked with both of them in WoW, in phone, over MSN etc from everything between the ground and sky, they know me better than most, I know, or at least believe I know, them quite well too.
But, this has all been a bit off the topic I was thinking when I started writing this.
What did World of Warcraft do to the gaming World (of Warcrat)?
Well, that question has to be answered of course by each of us to ourselves - but to me, it changed it for good.
Before I played many, many single player games over and over finding new stuff etc - now I just rush through the few I even bother trying, only putting serious time to the few gems in the pile of what I now see as junk. Many new games are now in my eyes just nice tech demos, but that's it.
I have the normal urge to upgrade every now and then, but I'm not making any real effort towards it, I'll upgrade when I have the money if I feel like it, I won't start saving for it or anything - my computer runs WoW fine, and that's enough for me as of right now. Without WoW, I would have for sure upgraded now once, if not twice since getting my current rig - just to run all the newest titles at maxed out candies and good framerates.
For me, even though I have to pay ~13€ per month to play WoW - it's clearly worth it. I've bought less games since, and saved money on not upgrading my computer so often - and built several friendships, which can't be measured in money.
October 10th, 2007
World of Warcraft - it would be hard to find someone who hasn't heard from it.
In November 23. 2004 - the 10th Anniversary of Warcraft franchise - World of Warcraft, a eagerly waited MMORPG to rule them all was released, few months later it was unleashed for europeans as well. Those two releases have changed the world of many, including mine.
The game has consumed lives, marriages, relationships, I've witnessed it all even though not for myself, but for people I know.
The game is a drug - it's more addictive than heroin for many - one might ask why?
Why does the endless quest for glory and more shiny epix lure people to play endless hours of the same, repeating instances, quests, mobs, over and over again?
What did WoW do that others didn't, why did it became so succesful?
It made it easy to start. You don't need to be expert with computers or computer games of any sort to get hang of it, but still, for the people who play more, it's hard to master, there's always something improve in your own gameplay, more places to discover (thanks to constantly growing world, getting new instances in patches etc)
But that's only a small part of it - the biggest draft in the game is the social side - many times I see myself and others logging in just to chat, somehow it's more fun in WoW than it would be over IRC or MSN or something similar to those.
The bonding between long time guildmates, gone from getting your very first kill on Lucifron in Molten Core to killing Illidan at Black Temple is a strong emotional bond, it shouldn't be looked down compared to "real friendship" as some call the relations in "real life" - I see it different, I see them just as much as my friends as the people I am with in the "real life" even if I can't see them face to face (excluding meetings people arrange, and those few living near enough to meet every now and then or more often).
People might think of it as "meh", they're just people writing over net, who cares? Well, the people doing it care - spending endless hours with 39 (or 24 later in BC) others in a raiding instance practising new bosses will make you know others no matter if you want it or not.
Many times it's also easier to speak of some things online, seemingly anonymous even if the other would know you in person aswell. I'm especially thankful to the two "long distance friendships" I've built during my years of playing, one living in Sweden and other in Norway - those two, even though I've never met them (hoping I will sooner or later, though, we might get a meet up at some festival for example, they're QUITE close after all), mean a lot more to me than many I know in person, I've talked with both of them in WoW, in phone, over MSN etc from everything between the ground and sky, they know me better than most, I know, or at least believe I know, them quite well too.
But, this has all been a bit off the topic I was thinking when I started writing this.
What did World of Warcraft do to the gaming World (of Warcrat)?
Well, that question has to be answered of course by each of us to ourselves - but to me, it changed it for good.
Before I played many, many single player games over and over finding new stuff etc - now I just rush through the few I even bother trying, only putting serious time to the few gems in the pile of what I now see as junk. Many new games are now in my eyes just nice tech demos, but that's it.
I have the normal urge to upgrade every now and then, but I'm not making any real effort towards it, I'll upgrade when I have the money if I feel like it, I won't start saving for it or anything - my computer runs WoW fine, and that's enough for me as of right now. Without WoW, I would have for sure upgraded now once, if not twice since getting my current rig - just to run all the newest titles at maxed out candies and good framerates.
For me, even though I have to pay ~13€ per month to play WoW - it's clearly worth it. I've bought less games since, and saved money on not upgrading my computer so often - and built several friendships, which can't be measured in money.
New recruits, uh oh
December 3rd, 2007
We had some people getting almost nervous breakdowns on our Illidan attempts, so it's better they moved to at least a vacation, if not completely off the WoW.
So there we were, not enough players to raid, raid break, here we come.
Luckily for those who still wanted to raid, it only lasted for less than a week, skipping some, 3 raids or so, until we got enough new recruitments.
We have now 9 new players in the guild, I think, we had to "waste" couple days clearing SSC & TK for their Hyjal / BT attunements, but after that, the progress has been damn good, I seriously wouldn't have believed that we would be, only on the 2nd week with the new recruits, going for Illidan again.
Fresh blood seems to have really spiced some things up for us, sure, their gear isn't as good as those who left, but that doesn't seem to slow us down too much, they've learned the encounters quite quickly even though we've had some frustrating moments with couple bosses just not going down as they should, but nevertheless, they went down.
What's the point of this? I don't know - maybe the lesson that you really need to quit in time so you won't get those nervous breakdowns, or maybe that you shouldn't be afraid as a guild to get new recruits even if it would require you to waste that day or two in SSC & TK for their attunements.
We had some people getting almost nervous breakdowns on our Illidan attempts, so it's better they moved to at least a vacation, if not completely off the WoW.
So there we were, not enough players to raid, raid break, here we come.
Luckily for those who still wanted to raid, it only lasted for less than a week, skipping some, 3 raids or so, until we got enough new recruitments.
We have now 9 new players in the guild, I think, we had to "waste" couple days clearing SSC & TK for their Hyjal / BT attunements, but after that, the progress has been damn good, I seriously wouldn't have believed that we would be, only on the 2nd week with the new recruits, going for Illidan again.
Fresh blood seems to have really spiced some things up for us, sure, their gear isn't as good as those who left, but that doesn't seem to slow us down too much, they've learned the encounters quite quickly even though we've had some frustrating moments with couple bosses just not going down as they should, but nevertheless, they went down.
What's the point of this? I don't know - maybe the lesson that you really need to quit in time so you won't get those nervous breakdowns, or maybe that you shouldn't be afraid as a guild to get new recruits even if it would require you to waste that day or two in SSC & TK for their attunements.
Want to buy Flask of L2P for half the raid
November 5th, 2007
Well, not really, but sometimes it really feels like it.
A night of training Illidan tonight, 2 hours done, some progress, but I have a feeling that Flask of L2P for some would really be appropiate at this point, so newbieish mistakes they shouldn't be making anymore.
And then there's the newerending fighting on where should Player X be positioned in phase 3 because from point Y he can't do this and point Z he can't do that and from point W no-one can heal him.
Oh well, only 3 hours to go.
Well, not really, but sometimes it really feels like it.
A night of training Illidan tonight, 2 hours done, some progress, but I have a feeling that Flask of L2P for some would really be appropiate at this point, so newbieish mistakes they shouldn't be making anymore.
And then there's the newerending fighting on where should Player X be positioned in phase 3 because from point Y he can't do this and point Z he can't do that and from point W no-one can heal him.
Oh well, only 3 hours to go.
A day in the Temple
October 29th, 2007
Another raid day in the Black Temple, everything going rather smooth, Reliquary of Souls on 3rd try, not bad, not perfect, sucky loot as usual.
Onwards for Mother Shahraz, down on first as expected, quite good loot I guess, even "my" shoulders, but couldn't really loot them, I'm saving with a fellow shadowpriest for T6 chest (and in addition, to Zhar'Doom), we're leading the DKP-list with quite a gap to the next.
On Illidari Council, which went down on 3rd, again quite good but nothing spectacular, I got to show my epix looting skills, and looted the Cloak of the Illidari Council, the raid cheered! Too bad I already had better cloak, but one of our mages got quite happy from it.
During the fight, I was wondering how the hell do I have this little mana, and why am I going OOM so quick (and why the hunter in the group is going OOM too) - well, hooray for raiding tired, I still had the shadowres gear on from Mother Shahraz fight :D That's 2k lessmana, ~400-500'ish less dmg.
Oh well, proper gear on, and let's hope the Illidan Phase 2 tanks have learned to use the space so we could actually down him, too.
Another raid day in the Black Temple, everything going rather smooth, Reliquary of Souls on 3rd try, not bad, not perfect, sucky loot as usual.
Onwards for Mother Shahraz, down on first as expected, quite good loot I guess, even "my" shoulders, but couldn't really loot them, I'm saving with a fellow shadowpriest for T6 chest (and in addition, to Zhar'Doom), we're leading the DKP-list with quite a gap to the next.
On Illidari Council, which went down on 3rd, again quite good but nothing spectacular, I got to show my epix looting skills, and looted the Cloak of the Illidari Council, the raid cheered! Too bad I already had better cloak, but one of our mages got quite happy from it.
During the fight, I was wondering how the hell do I have this little mana, and why am I going OOM so quick (and why the hunter in the group is going OOM too) - well, hooray for raiding tired, I still had the shadowres gear on from Mother Shahraz fight :D That's 2k lessmana, ~400-500'ish less dmg.
Oh well, proper gear on, and let's hope the Illidan Phase 2 tanks have learned to use the space so we could actually down him, too.
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