Braaaainsss

There's been a bunch of QQing about the zombie invasion. I think I get what people are whinging about -- they want their wow to be a stable place with safe zones and to be able to control their experience, deciding when to fight and at the very least not to be pwned by some prepubescent ganker. I understand that, and I often retreat to the comfort of my pve server when I want some relaxation.

On the other hand, HOLY CRAP that was fun! Really. Thanks Blizzard -- the zombie invasion was a serious fun injection.

In the first days, I went to Booty Bay and clicked on the crate, then headed up to Grom Gol and took the place over.

Later, I grouped up with Twyla the rogue and Olias the priest and we shuffled our way through Ratchet and Theramore. We all were having more fun than we'd had in a long time. Some more guildies joined us and we took a run at Jaina. We were happily unsuccessful at that. She instantly summoned a bucketload of elementals and was pounding us for 30k a shot.

There was no pressure to it -- we weren't doing it for loot or achievements -- we were just having fun. Everybody's abilities were the same. Faction didn't matter. It was silly zombie fun.

I'm glad it's over and we can go back to the grind, but I'm really impressed that Blizzard pulled this off so well, and am stoked to take revenge on the Lich King.

Next time, maybe Blizz can give people a heads up about how long it will last or a way to opt out of it. They could leave some place untouched, like Darnassus, so people could still get to an auction house. Maybe have an NPC give free ports to Darnassus for refugees and add in a few event quests to give them something extra to do. They could make a trinket or consumable or astral form that gives some immunity to the disease, but prevents attacking.

Anyway, I dug it and I hope you did too.

Blizzcon!

I had the pleasure of going to Blizzcon this past weekend. My friend Carl was an awesome host and turned the occasion into a birthday present for me. My wife was awesome to take care of the boys while I got away for three whole days.

Carl is a brilliant game designer (and physicist) that I've known since our Red Storm days. We had lots of fun discussions about the future of WoW. Hopefully, I'll be able to post about that later.

Here's what I did:

• flew in on thursday morning
  
• after a slight snafu with my badge (they had my name spelled wrong), got into the show
  
• ate an overpriced mini-pizza
  
• watched a pvp match
• attended the class panel
• wandered around a bit
  
• went back to the hotel and played our level 35 dwarves
• woke carl up way too early to play the dwarves a little more
• went back to Blizzcon
• attended the pvp panel while Carl played Diablo 3
  
• stood in line for 1.5 hours, bought some t-shirts and elf ears
• took pictures
  
• attended the q&a session
  
• went to carl's home and introduced him and his wife to AV
• dwarfed a bit more in Dustwallow
  
• went for a walk
• flew back after a slight freakout at the LA traffic
  

I should relate my point of view. I play regularly on 3 different servers. I have 2 70's (decently-geared mage and poorly geared shaman) on a pvp server in a guild that started as friends and merged a couple of times so that we now have 150 members. I have a 60 rogue that I play in AV. I have a 56 warlock that I group with friends (Carl and his wife and their two friends) and a 39 hunter that I duo with Carl. I have a 59 hunter just for BGing on a server that had some friends who no longer play there.

As a stay-at-home father of 2 with a wife who works way too much, my playtime is unpredictable. If I wake up early, I can play for a bit before the baby wakes up. It might be 10 minutes, or it might be an hour. I might get to play while the baby naps, but that varies from day to day. I can usually count on being able to play after the kids are in bed, if I'm not too exhausted. When things aren't too crazy at the wife's office, she takes care of the kids one night a week so that I can group with my guildies. Some are on the east coast, so grouping with them means starting well before the kids are abed.

Stuff I learned at Blizzcon:

• Hybrids are gettin' a lot of love in this expansion. They'll apparently be doing as much DPS as my puritan mage, and can swap to healing whenever they like. They can do crowd control, and raid food can come from some cooking thing. Why bring a mage? Why roll a mage? I plan to level my mage, partly because I can't wait to tailor a flying carpet, but I'm thinking that my shaman will have a lot more utility.
• Apparently, the epic tailored items from BC were too good, and WOTLK will not have such stuff. That bums me out -- as a casual player, I was able to craft gear that kept me useful in Kara alongside people who got to raid a lot more than me. I didn't need a lot of drops there, but was in it to hang out with my friends. On the bright side, it sounds like we will be able to get gear that's useful in both PVP and PVE by doing PVP. I can make PVP fit my schedule.
• BGs may be much more fun. There's a buff that is applied when your side has fewer players. It scales your damage and reduces how much you take and is updated whenever the number of players changes. I've been in a lot of games that would have been more fun with this. I'm actually looking forward to being outnumbered so I can make some massive crits.
  
• Lake Wintergrasp is going to be really cool. I'm afraid I won't get to play in it though. It's apparently timed, running 30-40 minutes, with a 2.5 hour cooldown. I'd love to try it, but what are the odds that I will hit that window? If I do manage to get in there, will I be able to get into the associated instance too? My play-time is pretty constrained. We'll see how this plays out, but I'm concerned.
• Watching the arena competition was completely lame. There was no way to tell what was going on. They tried to present it like it was a wrestling match or something, but the tools were completely useless. They showed it from a player's perspective and switched often, making it utterly impossible for me to tell what was happening. The commentator seemed to be able to talk about what was going on, but didn't really help much. It's possible that going to a top down or 3/4 view that's not tied to an individual player, and having some graphical elements to clear up who's damaging or healing who (like faux spell effects linking combatants) could do it.
  
• What I really want to see for arena matches is a tool that lets you replay a match from any viewpoint, with pausing, rewinding, and slow motion. Unlike a wrestling match, you can completely capture the events of a game -- it's all in nicely compressed packets. Please, Blizzard, make something where you can log a match and replay it. It could be out of game, maybe accessible through the armory or a separate app. You could even sell access to important matches.
  

Overall, it was a fun experience. I didn't get to see many of the podcasters I'd hoped to, but did see Justin (or was it Jeremy?) from Outlandish ask a question in the Q&A.

I'm psyched about what Blizzard is doing in the expansion. I was happy to see that Ghostcrawler is an intelligent, well-spoken guy (although not a hot intelligent, well-spoken gal, as was rumored on the forums). Most of the WoW team was likewise intelligent and forthright. I feel like our game is in good hands.

Tips for PVEers coming to PVP land

Now that PVE-to-PVP transfers are available, I've been trying to convince one of my friends from the PVE world to come join us in PVP land. He had some questions about it, so I figure other people might too.

What makes PVP realms fun? I think it's the tension that comes from knowing that combat could happen just about any time. Mostly, that tension adds to the game. Occasionally it does get to be too much, and that's why I'll always have characters on PVE realms. After PVP, PVE realms seem extremely peaceful.

I play a fire mage, probably the squishiest class in the game. I've only been ganked a few times:

• in STV at 39 by a rogue (i actually won this one)
• in my 40s in badlands by a hunter and his lvl 70 buddies
• in hellfire peninsula at 61 by a rogue
• in hellfire peninsula at 61 by a pair of hunters
• in terrokar at 63 by a 70 hunter (repeatedly)
• in zangarmarsh at 64 by a warlock, while questing with my rogue buddy (foolish warlock)
• on the elemental plateau by a warlock
• while doing the quel danas dailies by a rogue and a warrior

I've probably forgotten a few, and I've omitted the times when I've come to a guildmate's defense, or gotten entangled in world PVP. Our guildies have also occasionally raided Tarren Mill, Splintertree Post, and Kargath. Good times...

As a mage, I don't really gank people. As a shaman in Hillsbrad and STV, I have to admit to crushing a few people just because I felt like it.

Ganking happens, but I have a selective memory and can easily forget the times I've lost. The best part is when you win -- that's unforgettable. As a 50ish enhancement shaman freshly geared from the 49 BGs, I was escorting Amy the robot ape out of her cave when I ran into an undead rogue. I was just about to wave at her when she hit me with a sinister strike. Storm strike! Windfury proc! Crit! Crit! The rogue just disintegrated. Good times.

What did I learn from my experiences? Here are a few things:

• Don't go alone. If you don't have a group or a buddy, try to fight near anybody in your faction. Maybe they'll help you if there's ganking, but at the least, gankers have to worry about it.
• Don't push it. Try to stay above half health at all times. Don't go AOE grinding and run out o mana. Be a little overpowered for your quests. Difficult quests are going to leave you battered and bruised and would be a great time for you to be ganked. Also, you should be slightly higher level than the guys on the other faction in the same zone.
• Plan an escape route. Be ready to jump off a cliff or into an instance or into the water. I can featherfall or blink to make a gentle landing and I have a staff that lets me breathe underwater (got it solo out of Gnomer). Follow me into the water and I will sheep you.
• Speed enhancements are good. Carrot on a stick, mithril spurs, gloves with riding enchant, riding crop -- it's all good. You're vulnerable when you're travelling, so keep your travel times short. Being able to outdistance chasers is very pleasing. Of course, once you get your flying mount, things get a lot easier.
• Listen to the environment -- turn off the music. You need to be able to hear that rogue stealthing or the fight on the other side of the hill.
• The more enemies there are, the more likely they are to jump you. You may be happily farming motes up on the plateau next to that warrior you waved at, but as soon as his buddy shows up, things will change. In any group of 5, somebody is going to be in a mood to fight. One time, my 5 man group was heading to an instance. We were happily chatting away over vent when we ran into a horde warlock. There was not even a break in the conversation as we mowed him down. Nobody said "go", we just squished him and went on. I think I've gotten into more fights waiting for Kara runs than any place else.
• After you get into a fight, you might think about moving to a different spot. More often than not, that 30 priest you just tusseled with has a 70 alt, a big brother, or a bored guildmate ready to come pound your face.
• BGs are a great place to hone your skills. Get your keybindings such that you can hit the important abilities and macro yourself an "I win" or "Oh sh*t" button. Save your cooldowns for when you get jumped. Sure, you might kill that mob a little faster by blowing a cooldown, but it'd be much more fun to have it when you really need it.
• Join the local defense channel. You might want to join world defense before you hop on a taxi.
• Playing in off-hours avoids lots of the gankers. You might not want to be in STV half an hour after school lets out.
• Some gear you might not otherwise use can be great for pvp. It's hard to target someone when their Barov servants are in the way. The green whelp vest that puts melee attackers to sleep is great for battling rogues.

Oh, another thing -- check out the server population before you move there -- if there's a big imbalance between the factions, you might wanna pick a different server.

Anyway, I hope somebody finds this useful. We'll see if it convinces my friend to come over.

podcasts galore

As a stay-at-home dad, I cook, clean, mow the lawn, chauffeur, etc. There's a lot of mindless drudgery. To keep my sanity and partially satisfy my wow cravings, I often listen to podcasts. If you don't, but would like to, here're some you should check out:

WC Radio -- this is the motherlode. they have live shows with irc chat support. when they're not running live shows, they stream archives 24/7. They have a variety of shows:

• the wow insider show -- wow insider has many great bloggers and multiple posts per day. the podcast recaps the week on wow insider. the hosts have a very good rapport.
  
• casually hardcore -- the casual perspective on wow. these folks may not be your cup of tea, but for me, it's like old home week. They're smart and geeky, happy grown-ups with a rambunctious kid in the background.
  
• blue plz! -- it's a cranky british guy named 'total biscuit' ranting about various things. He's the station owner of wow radio. If you like one of his shows, you'll probably like them all -- he's very consistent.
  
• world of theorycraft -- they haven't published much lately, but I have hopes that they'll ramp up soon. In the past, they've been very helpful in getting the most out of your character.
  
• wow things considered -- a couple of guys talking about wow and other stuff. They're generally pleasant. I subscribe.

There are some other shows on wc radio, but those are the ones I listen to. Here are some non-wc radio podcasts, in no particular order:

• The Instance -- these guys have great production values, pleasant radio voices, interesting guests (e.g. Curt Schilling).
• Big Red Kitty -- this curmudgeonly hunter does an awesome one-man show. We all know hunters are great at soloing...I just hope he doesn't run out of ammo.
  
• Legendary Thread -- it's a thrill when I see this one downloading. The hosts are game journalists and are wickedly funny.
  
• How I Wow -- Patrick the Frenchman and Sean the Basic interview interesting people about how they got into wow, how they play, etc. Thoughtful and intelligent, pleasant hosts.
  
• Epic Dolls -- two women, a variety of standard segments, not always well-researched, but generally worth listening to.
  
• Elune's Grace -- folksy, pleasant. I like listening to them. They're not afraid to talk about in-game goofs. I can identify because I've made the same mistakes.
  
• Outlandish -- funny Southerners. They do awesome commercials for add-ons. Consistently good, but you probably don't want to play this where your kids can hear it.
  
• Twisted Nether -- Two great hosts with pleasant voices and very good rapport talk about what people have been blogging this week and interview a blogger. They are intelligent and funny.
  
• World of Warcast -- Starman and Renata work well together. Starman's tales of his mage experience helped me figure out what to do with my own gear. I'll keep listening if they'll keep putting them out.
  

Ok, the baby's waking up. I'd better get going. Happy listening!