Tag Archives: World of Warcraft

Transmog Addiction, the Dire State of Raiding, and Becoming a Real Writer

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Transmogrification Addiction:

My rogue in her first transmog setIt’s funny. When Blizzard announced transmogrification, I thought, “Well, that’s neat, but kind of pointless.” I figured I’d transmog my rogue and maybe my mage to their leftover Wrath of the Lich King gear and then forgot about it.

But then came the reaction from fans. People were more excited than I’d ever seen them about anything in the game. I saw people come up with dozens of clever, unique, and striking outfits, and then I got infected with the excitement.

Now, I’ve got more sets than I do characters. My paladin has one main set, with slight variations for tanking and healing.My paladin in her tanking transmog setThis is the tank version. The healing version is the same but with Lightbringer Greathelm and Lucky Old Sun.

I originally planned to mog my rogue into my beloved VanCleef’s Battlegear, as seen above, but then I got an idea for a lovely “ranger”-inspired look, focusing on green gear, and now I’m grinding Outland heroics for the pieces to it. I’ve already got Mantle of Autumn and the green weapons from Zul’Gurub, and now I just need some legs from Slave Pens and maybe a head piece (if you know of any rangery leather helms, let me know).

I’m torn for my mage, too. I made him a great vanity set back before transmog was even announced (he’s a Blood Elf; he needs to look good), but I also really love T11 and found that Keleseth’s Blade of Evocation matches it perfectly.My mage's transmog setMaybe I’ll just switch between sets, though that’d be a hassle and costly. Maybe I’ll have to pick and choose. On the plus side, it’s giving me something to do until 4.3 drops. I’m also working on sets for my warlock and shaman, which are still works in progress.

The Dire State of Raiding:

Calculatedly melodramatic title is calculated.

According to a new survey done by MMO-Champion of the number of characters clearing normal mode Firelands, very few people have beaten the Firelord, even weeks after the instance was given a brutal 25% across the board nerf.

You can click the link if you want the exact numbers, but to make a long story short, they estimate 5% of the game’s population has killed Ragnaros.

Now, take this with a grain of salt. They surveyed characters, not players, so the fact that many of the toons not completing it may have been glorified bank alts could mean more people have actually done Firelands, and the fact that many of those toons completing it could have been alts could mean that many fewer people have actually done Firelands.

That said, I think this is still strong — if not necessarily conclusive — evidence that Blizzard’s nerfs are not succeeding in getting people to see the content. Even if four times as many people have killed Ragnaros as this indicates, that would still leave a whopping 80% of players who haven’t.

These numbers don’t upset me, or even surprise me. It just proves what I already knew: the raiding system in this game is seriously screwed up. We can only hope the Raid Finder provides a lasting solution to the problem.

I’m a Real Writer Now:

I just got my first novel rejection letter from a major publisher. Yay me.

Mists of Pandaria Wishlist + New Graphics

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Mists of Pandaria Wishlist:

Blizzcon is just around the corner, and at this point, I think we can all be honest with ourselves and accept that it will bring with it the announcement of Mists of Pandaria as the next World of Warcraft expansion. Since pointless speculation is the national sport of nerds and geeks everywhere, I thought I might indulge in some and give a run down of what I’d like to see from this expansion.

#1,  Asian-themed continent: This is the most obvious, and the one we’re most likely to get. While many of the Cataclysm zones were cool individually, they lacked a feeling of cohesion, and there wasn’t the same sense of progression and exploration Northrend brought. I want to explore an entirely new continent again.

Plus, I think an Asian-themed expansion would just be neat. I want water garden pagodas, I want my rogue to be dual-wielding katanas, and I want my paladin in samurai gear. They could even include some South Asian-inspired zones, maybe. A zone based on Hindu mythology would be awesome.

#2, New hero class: I love making alts and experimenting with new classes, but at this point, I’ve tried every class at least once. The time has come for a new class.

Based on the supposed Asian theme, most people speculate MoP (best acronym evar) to include monk as a hero class. For those not familiar with the archetype, monk is generally interpreted as a melee DPS/healer hybrid, most likely resembling a cross between a rogue and a priest.

Monk is not my first choice, but it’s not my last, either. I do like the idea of a new healer class. But if it were up to me, I’d make it a Titan-inspired class with Algalon powers (“The stars come to my aid!”) or a ranged weapon class that doesn’t use pets. I love the archer/ranger archetype, but I hate pet classes, so I could never get into being a hunter.

#3, (Non-playable) Pandaren: I don’t want Pandaren to be a playable race. For one thing, I think six races per faction already borders on the ridiculous, and there are several that really never needed to be there. You know who you are. Plus, making Pandarens playable would over-expose and ruin them, just like it did to the formerly awesome Goblins.

That said, Pandaren are probably the Best Thing Ever. They’re giant, drunken, fire-breathing, pun-spouting, deadly panda people. What’s not to love? And it’d be a letdown to do an entire expansion set in their homeland and never see them.

I’d like for them to be a friendly neutral faction, similar to the Tuskarr in Northrend.

#4, Enhanced customization: I’m not sure what form this would take, but more ways to customize our characters is always a good thing. Blizzard’s already said that transmogrification is but the first of many new options they want to implement, so this is something we’re likely to see.

One idea is adding more appearance options for existing races. For example, why not let Orc players have brown skin? The Mag’har are now commonly seen in the Horde as NPCs. Hell, the warchief himself is Mag’hari.

Another possibility is more options on how to display our gear. Personally, I’d like to have the option to sheath my weapons on my back even if they’re not two-handers or freakishly huge. I like the look. And there’s not a hunter on this earth who wouldn’t be happy to be able to show off their bow outside of combat.

#5, Endgame solo content: This is another thing that I’m not sure what form it would take. The best examples of this currently in-game are the Molten Front and the soloable version of the Nexus created for the Tarcegosa’s Rest chain.

Yeah, yeah, I know: it’s an MMO. But not all of us like it when the endgame requires you to be in a group just to pick your nose. I like grouping, but I like to play on my own once in a while. It’d be nice to not have to play an alt to do this. I know a lot of people didn’t like the Molten Front, but I loved seeing the solo game get as much love as a raid or a dungeon.

This is also something Blizzard has hinted that they want to do, so it may not be as far-fetched as it seems.

#6, A clear goal: The great thing about Wrath of the Lich King was you knew what you were there to do from the moment you stepped off the boat. We were there to kill Arthas. Everything we did was a lead up to that.

None of the other WoW incarnations really had that. Classic didn’t have any single villain or story. Burning Crusade’s story was so messed up that even today people can’t agree on why exactly we went to Outland, why we killed Illidan, or who the expansion’s main villain was. Cataclysm seems to have a clear goal on paper — end Deathwing’s reign of terror — but the zone storylines are too disconnected from each other, and Deathwing himself is almost entirely absent, which sucks the urgency out of it all.

When I arrive in Drunkenpandaland, I want to know why I’m there, and I want the new baddie (smart money is on Queen Azshara, and/or the Drowned God N’zoth) to be in my face and making me hate their rotten guts.

#7, Kul Tiras: This may seem a minor one, but it’s always nettled at me that World of Warcraft barely makes mention of what is possibly the largest and most powerful human nation left on Azeroth. We finally got a peak at Gilneas; now let’s head to Kul Tiras. Since we’ll probably be taking to the sea to reach Pandaria, this would be the perfect time to implement it.

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And what of you? What are you hoping to see when the new expansion is announced? Are you clamoring for a new hero class, or are you dreading the balance problems one might bring? Are you just hoping it doesn’t turn into a giant Kung-Fu Panda parody?