The state of dungeons past, present and future

This post was originally a comment on Windpaw's most recent blog Blame the Casuals over at Shock and Paw, but due to its length I figured I might as well make a post out of it. In that post Windpaw talks about the reactions to the 'hardening up' as I call it of dungeon content in the upcoming Cataclysm. While Windpaw agrees that heroics in particular are very easy in Wrath often to the detriment of the playerbase, he (she? not sure...) correctly points out that this is the most profitable way for Blizz to operate as casuals make up the majority of wow players and as a result the majority of the money made. In the end it comes down to a happy medium of keeping both the casual cashcows (no offence intended, I am one of these) and the hardcore minority satisfied.

I couldn't agree more. Hopefully Blizzard finds that happy medium between the faceroll that heroics have become in the later stages of Wrath and the super hard progression of BC.

In the beginning Wrath heroics weren't easy and things like the faction specific boss in the Nexus could decimate a pug with a well timed whirlwind. As Len points out though, the ilvls of gear has inflated to such a degree that of course content designed to be a challenge with ilvl 200 blues and quest greens will be a breeze for ICC geared supergroups.

The problem comes through the fact that the new tier of badge rewards for heroics scales past the most recent raid content when a new patch drops. In BC you had to grind your way up through Kara and ZA etc in a logical progression to the next step - there were no shortcuts to the hardest raid of the time. Now that you can ding 80 and jump from quest rewards to ToC25 standard (or better) gear in a number of days without necessarily seeing the inside of a raid the disparity between 5 man heroics and the top content becomes that much more polarised.

In BC (on my server at least) the raiding guilds were fairly evenly represented across all levels of raids from the entry level Kara to the top-flight Black Temple/Sunwell. In Wrath these days there is no middle ground, you are either in the top available raiding content or getting cheap shinies through heroics to get into the top tier content. The only time I see people running a raid that isn't ICC these days is either for the weekly quest (which is a 5 minute blitz of one boss then everyone disappears in a puff of smoke), or to get mounts and achievements etc.

 One of many, many deaths in Karazhan

Having been alternately a hordcore 4 night a week raider and a casual zero night a week raider over my 3 years in wow I've been able to see both sides of this particular coin. The guild I was in in BC had to grind every inch of Kara beginning with weeks on the first boss Attumen and a slow progression through the entire place. Only after we had that well and truly licked could we move up and start again on the next level of raiding content.

Comparing that to my raiding experience in Wrath there is a massive difference. Take for example my 10 man guild's entry into ToC 10 when it was first released. The first few nights we struggled through, but by a month in we were knocking it over in under an hour, or running a full alt run and not going much slower thanks to the gear those alts could grab from a few days of heroics.

It is a tough balancing act to find a nice place between the hard grind progression of BC and the insta-gearing in Wrath.

I'm not sure that making heroics super hard is the answer here. It is inevitable that the longer an expansion goes on, the easier heroics will be to clear thanks to increasingly geared players and the individual boss strategies being ingrained in muscle memory after x number of runs. Sure hard heroics will be hard to begin with, but sooner or later they won't be hard any more.

What I'd love to see in Cataclysm is some method that finds players progressing through raiding content more instead of just skipping it all to zerg the latest and greatest instance. I'm not saying we should go back to the days of banging our collective heads against boss walls because they were the next step in the chain, but some method to keep content that is not brand new relevant would be nice. There are a number of things that could help with this:
- reduce the number of emblems (or whatever the new reward system is called) gained for each heroic/raid to slow the gearing process from its current lightspeed.
- reduce the frequency of new tier gear being released or at least limit some of it to raid drops only.
- make some raids sequential ie. in order to enter one raid you must have completed a certain assignment in the previous tier's raid (sort of like old-school attunements but not so rigourous and time consuming).

These suggestions may be totally unrealistic etc etc, but I feel stuff like this will help to stretch out content and keep it relevant. You will never be able to stop the uber guilds from blitzing through content the week it's released, and likewise other less skilled/time limited players will always struggle to some degree. However this way progression raiders will still get a challenge from cutting edge content, the middle band will progress at a slightly slower pace and casuals will still be able to see new content and progress and gear too, albeit slower than the lighning speed they are now.

What do you think?

-Seal

Once in a lifetime

Saturday was an incredible day. A once in a lifetime experience.

I happened to be one of the 100,018 people at the MCG who witnessed only the 3rd ever drawn AFL Grand Final, and the first in my lifetime. It was a truly incredible experience and I am extremely glad that I got up and queued for a seat at 4am the morning of. I'll be there again this weekend for the rematch and seeing that I am a supporter of neither St. Kilda or Collingwood (thank god) will happily cheer for another draw.

How does this relate to wow?

Well it got me thinking about the one-off events that occur in-game. I remember with great fondness the zombie invasion that preceeded the launch of WotLK. It was totally unique event whether you were desperately defending your home city against relentless waves of the living dead or (like me) laughing over the corpses of the Stormwind audctioneers before running off to turn more heroes into mindless killing machines. Basically it was full to the brim with win. It was fun.

 Darkshire has had its share of troubles in the past

Another one that comes to mind is the opening of the gates to Ahn'Qiraj. I started playing after BC was released so unfortunately couldn't get involved with this one but from everything I've read about it, the AQ questline and resulting world event was a truly epic undertaking. It took the cooperation of luterally hundreds of players and several months of effort to complete and all the way through was chock-a-block full of pure win.

The most players I've seen in the same place at the same time outside a city

What I'm getting at was the fact that these were truly unforgettable, once in a lifetime events. Compared to most other facets of the game they took unprecedented amounts of cooperative effort and caused world changing repurcussions. Running through a Stormwind almost totally devoid of players or NPC's only to be chased down by a pack of zombies gave me a shiver down the spine moment and I'm sure hordes of epic bosses pouring forth from the just opened gates of AQ would've done the same if I was there to see it.

The reason I bring it up is that I feel Wrath hasn't had one of these moments yet. The closest thing I can think of is the Wrathgate questline which culminated in an amazing cutscene movie and a quest into the depths of undercity with your respective faction's leaders. The difference however was that this questline didn't require the cooperation of even 2 players to follow to its epic conclusion. It was merely a series a single player quests with a super cool ending. The other one that springs to mind is the battle for Gnomergan (alliance side) which opened up a few weeks ago. This was cute for sure, but it felt fairly uninspiring. I didn't kill or even attack a single enemy and Gnomer was saved. There was no player cooperation or coordination required (although, staying behind Mechatorque did require coordinted yelling at various people) and the NPC's did all the work.

What I'm desperately hoping for is a throwback to these old-school epic server wide events. I'm hoping that the pre-Cataclysm event will be as awesome as the zombie infestation before Wrath and will engage the entire server. Blizzard is very very good at making things feel truly epic but I'd love something that captures the minds of entire factions on the server and shakes people out of the anti-social tendencies we've picked up as the game has become more and more streamlined. As much as I love 15 minute random heroics with 4 silent killers at my side sometimes it's just not enough.

The most rewarding things in life are those you have to work hardest to achieve.

-Seal

Nothing much happening - A call for topics!

In case you can't tell by the obvious lack of posts rolling out, there isn't much going on in wow at the moment. Along with almost everyone else out there I am more or less in a holding pattern until Cataclysm or at least 4.0.1 is released. I guess I've just lost that loving feeling for the time being...

The mustache/aviator combo: compulsory in every 80's movie

Having said that however, I have still been playing the auction house trying to stockpile some stuff to craft/sell in cataclysm (netherweave and frostweave for bags, glyphs for the big reshuffle etc) as well as making enough through sales of various whatevers to cover all my investments.

So anyway I am issuing a call for ideas for stuff to blog about. Throw anything you want me to tackle in a comment for this post. No topic is too small, none to broad. If you want to try and confuse me* so I chase my tail around the page for an entire post, have at it... the possibilities are endless!

*Ideas by Jonesy will be screened thoroughly before being accepted.

State of the economy/my wow wallet

Following up from my last post on the 3 stages of an expansion I have been hitting the auction house lately to keep things interesting in the winding down of wrath. I've continued in my attempts to goblin it up and make some nice cash before the Cataclysm release date is announced and the bottom falls out of the market faster than a redhead getting sunburnt on a hot day. I've enjoyed pretty good success and over the past week I've pulled in almost 15,000g which given the fickle state of the Nagrand AH and my relatively small knowledge the wow economy is an effort I'm very pleased with.

So what's been hard about it then you might ask?

Nagrand suffers from saturation and/or AH campers in most markets you can think of (glyphs rarely get above 4g etc) whilst mats that based on my reading around the blogosphere should be realtively cheap are very expensive almost all the time. An example of this is the fact that the combined price of saronite ore and eternal earth mean the saronite shuffle is only profitable if you luck out and get one-off cheap prices. Campers are a bit of a strange but annoying issue as they are very haphazardly hitting markets like glyphs, enchanting scrolls and runescrolls for a few days at a time and then dissappearing again. All in all this makes for a highly volatile market for most of the items that are bread-and-butter sellers.

How have I combatted these huge (small) problems?

The main strategy I've used is something that works as well in wow as in the real world: diversification. I have maxed (or near enough to it) tailoring, jewelcrafting, enchanting, inscription and alchemy (transmute spec) and I make and sell items from all of these instead of just focussing on one or two things. As a result, if the glyph and enchanting scroll markets are pushed down by a camper or for whatever other reason are not as profitable as I want, I can sell bags and gems etc and still turn a good profit. As you can see in the pictures below of my beancounter data on various items my profits are spread across a lot of different areas so if a particular market collapses I only lose a small portion of my overall earning power.

Along with crafting and selling up a storm I've also begun stockpiling a few things in preparation for Cataclysm:

- Netherweave bags: these currently sell for between 7.5g and 20g but given the massive number of worgen that are bound to be rolled there will be a massive increase in demand for these puppies and it is a goldmine in the making.

- Runecloth: the same goes for runecloth as for bags. A big number of those new werewolves worgen are going to want to rep up fast through runecloth turnins.

- Ink/glyphs: with the changes to glyphing in the new expansion there will be an explosion of demand for all glyphs at the start of Cata as well as a ridiculous increase in the cost of mats for a while so a decent stock of the various inks and glyphs is easy money.

So the basic moral of the story is that if you want to make money in wow ensure you every avenue available to you as putting all your eggs in one basket will always end in tears sooner or later. Oh, and also Cataclysm is an absolute goldmine in the making so get onboard the gravy train!

-Seal

The 3 stages of an expansion (denial and acceptance not included)

I know, I know, I haven't posted in ages so as an apology here's an extra long one.

I was talking to my GM the other day and he bemoaned the fact that I've been extremely lax and haven't posted in quite a while. I told him that if he gave me an interesting topic to write about I'd get off my proverbial and pump out some word soup. So here it is, a topic courtesy of Litter:

The game cycle from expansion to expansion.

This struck me as a particularly pertinent topic since we are all, as a wow community holding our collective breath in anticipation of a release date announcement from Blizzard for Cataclysm. Having rolled it about in my brain for a few days after the initial discussion with Litter, I decided that each expansion can be broken down into three key segments so strap in, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

1: Cataclysm's out KA-BOOM! (the post x-pac explosion)

General:
This one pretty much speaks for itself. The initial post expansion time is more or less totally insane. Servers' active populations go totally ballistic as old players come back to the game and current ones take time off work/school and basically do whatever they can to play as much as possible. Server instability can be an issue and don't even think of logging in without expecting a long queue (followed by a devastating disconnect if you happen to have logged previously in a major city). From a general play perspective this means you will never struggle to find a group for [kill random elite with 5 buddies] quests, random dungeons or whatever else and everyone is basking in the afterglow of masses of new content.

For a guild this is also an exciting time. Old guildies who took a break or stopped playing completely may be dragged back in by the lure of all the new shinies. There is a wealth of new content to experience together as you all rush to the new lvl cap and then furiously gear up for those first raids.
While its a great time to be in a guild with people you enjoy playing with, this time in the cycle can be tough on a guild's leadership as every man and his dog suddenly has the time and willingness to raid. It is often a very delicate process to determine the raiding make-up and it is almost guaranteed that at least one person will be unhappy to miss out.

This is also a crazy time for the in game economy as tradeskills receive an influx of new recipes to make and materials to farm. In this initial period mats in particular experience extreme inflation as all those with previously maxed skills push to the new trade-skill level cap. It's a great time to have gathering professions as even the most common items will sell for outrageous amounts. I remember when Wrath dropped I was selling stacks of borean leather for north of 80g, oh how I miss the good old days. In short: you can make a fortune early on with minimal effort or knowledge just ah everything you pick up.

2. The custard donut days (the smooth middle bit)

This period is the time where most aspects of play stabilise. There are daily quests to be done, random dungeons etc. and everyone knows what they're about. Servers are much better behaved with all the issues caused by massive numbers of players on at once a thing of the past.

These are the golden days for guilds. Typically this is a magical time for guild leadership as the core raid group is stable and bosses surrender their loot with willful abandon. Provided your guild isn't a complete mess you will progress to some degree and everyone will be happy. Foam sword fights in raid lobbies and pranks on druids by binding them on vent are frequent and hilarious.

This is also a great time to make money if that's your bag. The rampant inflation of the early days is over and prices settle down to some semblance of equilibrium so anyone with tradeskills and any amount of common sense can make gold.

Basically, the middle days are nice.

3. The beginning of the end (nope... that's pretty much it)

The third and final segment of the expansion lifecycle is like that girl you hooked up with at a random party and then dated for a little while: She seems pretty good to begin with, but soon the cracks (annoying laugh, slightly jealous etc) start to show and things degenerate until you've got a crazy stalker on your hands. Well maybe that was a bit over the top, but the general point is that for the most part its a downhill lside to the next expansion once the beta begins.

Everyone slows down because really, whats the point of grinding for that shiny new axe when the best weapon in the game currently will be replaced immediately by a blue or a quest green. For some guilds, the burnout experienced by running the same content for months on end is slow death-sentence. It's one of those unfortunate circumstances where guilds can be victims of their own success and implode once their goals are accomplished. It is extremely hard for officers to keep restless guildies motivated to raid the same content week in, week out for months on end (or a whole year in the case of ICC).

To Blizzard's credit they have gone some way towards combatting this by introducing achievements and hard modes into Wrath content. My own guild Scrubs n Nubs has been a beneficiary of this and I can appreciate the brilliance behind it. As a semi-casual 10-man raiding guild Scrubs had cleared all 10-man content with the exception of LK hard mode about 3 months ago. What followed was a two month headbutting contest with ol' frosty pants which ended with Arthas down and our raiders haveing cleared all 10 man Wrath content and sporting shiny new "Bane of the Fallen King" titles (a rarity on my server). Now if it wasn't for hardmodes being introduced (along with the strength of the guild's leadership), Scrubs would've completed all 10 man content 4 or 5 months ago and been stuck in that no-mans land between expansions.

Not only is there a raiding no-mans land before a new expansion hits, the economy also declines more and more rapidly as an x-pac approaches. This is both a problem and an opportunity as while the tried and true methods for making gold *cough* saronite shuffle *cough* slowly become unprofitable, there are endless opportunities for a shrewd investor to stockpile items that are cheap now but will skyrocket once the new content is available. (I won't detail stockpiling here as there are lists all over the wow blogosphere).

All in all, the nearer a new expansion gets, the more rapidly the winding-down effect occurs for the previous content and that is the third and final stage. Everyone who hangs around and doesn't take a break has different goals they want accomplished before new content drags them away, but these tend to be fairly insular and don't engender social play as much as activities in the earlier stages.


So there you have it! That's my take on the expansion life-cycle I hope you've enjoyed the ride.

-Seal

PS. In the interests of encouraging someone, (anyone) to comment here's a question: what's your stage 3 like at the moment and what are you doing in the lead-up to Cataclysm? (My next post will be what I'm doing until Cata drops)