WRUP: Feb. 3, 2012
Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, ” W hat a r e yo u p laying this week?” — otherwise known as: WRUP . Join us to see what we’re up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you’re playing, too! Today is Feb. 3, 2012. That probably doesn’t seem exciting now. But someday in the future — probably somewhere around April 12, 2038 (give or take) — the idea of revisiting Feb. 3, 2012, will be so exciting. A trip to the past! What pop culture relics would our future selves uncover (and then mock)?! The idea of a non-self-aware Facebook will seem quaint. We’ll be in disbelief that we still powered our cars on dead dinosaurs. And Lana Del Rey ?! What fools we were. There’s one thing we can take solace in, though. No matter what aspect of 2012 those time travelers from 2038 see, nothing can be as ridiculous as that song I posted above with the dancing robot. Nothing. (OK, maybe Lady Gaga compares.) Enough about the past and future. It’s Feb. 3, 2012. And dammit, we’re going to WRUP in the here and now. This week’s bonus question: Who is your favorite in-game NPC? Continue reading WRUP: Feb. 3, 2012 Filed under: WoW Insider Business WRUP: Feb. 3, 2012 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Phat Loot Phriday: Lovely Undercity Card
When we last left our heroes, the fearsome foursome were sneaking beneath the bowels of shattered Lordaeron. They wore Iron Dwarf costumes from Wrath of the Lich King because I said so, that’s why. “I hate the way this place smells,” Lolegolas complained. He stroked his iron beard. “It’s like every angry poo-poo in the world cried out at once in terror and came here for refuge.” “Undead,” Throgg said, as if that explained it. “Halt!” a voice cried out. Actually, crying out is what the voice attempted. What it accomplished was kind of a dry, rasping croak. An undead guard waddled up to the intruders. “Who goes there?” “Aye, laddie! We’re to be seeing stout the Lady Sylvanas Windrunner pilsner,” Lolegolas replied quickly. “We have a lager invitation and proof of her porter affection!” “Well, you sound like a dwarf, but you’re clearly not Alliance,” the undead rasped. “Do you have any proof?” Throgg quickly held out a small red card. He would have spoken, but he didn’t have the blood elf’s mastery of beers. “Oh, a Lovely Undercity Card ,” the guard muttered. “Fair enough, then. Go on about your way.” Lovely Undercity Card Type Inventory item, like a potion. Use Increases Intellect for 1 hour, increases as you level. Flavor text “From the Banshee Queen, Lady Sylvanas Windrunner.” How to get it Bring a gift to the Banshee Queen . Stay tuned for how Throgg got his. How to get rid of it Just use it, and it will disappear. Phat Loot Phriday brings you the scoop on some of the most … interesting … loot in the World of Warcraft , often viewed through the eyes of the stalwart Throgg and indelible Lolegolas. Suggest items you think we should feature by emailing mikeg@wowinsider.com . Filed under: Phat Loot Phriday Phat Loot Phriday: Lovely Undercity Card originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read
The Lawbringer: A very special cake
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer , your weekly dose of WoW , the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, and esoteroic topics that slip through the cracks. Welcome back to The Lawbringer, where any esoteric or wacky topic concerning Blizzard gets a home or at least some tenuous connection to the law or rules in some fashion. Today’s column is not the continuation of last week’s column, which will be coming up soon, but rather addresses a very interesting email about a very special cake. Reader Luotian sent me an email with a very special question. Luotian has a question regarding the ability to take an image/screenshot of a World of Warcraft character and have it placed as the design on a birthday cake. The cake shop says that it won’t do copyrighted images, but Luotian really wants this WoW cake. I think you guys will like this topic. Oh, and Kil’jaeden is at the top of the article because if I had to choose who to have on my WoW cake, it would be him. Continue reading The Lawbringer: A very special cake The Lawbringer: A very special cake originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
The Burden of Leadership, Lodur bares his thoughts
There are a lot of folks out there that think being in charge, or in a leadership role, of a guild is a big fun thing. You get to set permissions, invite, kick and all that other cool stuff! Truth is, at least for me, it’s another job. Being in charge means that, like at every other job, you are responsible for those beneath you and how they perform. On top of that you become involved in the day to day running of something larger than yourself. This is especially true if you are among the leadership of a raiding guild.
After leaving Unpossible after 5 long years, I had put the officer mantle in the laundry bin to be cleaned pressed and put under glass. Circumstances did not allow me to leave the mantle alone for long, and I find myself in a leadership role again. Over the last two tiers I’ve had a lot on my plate between being in game, my podcast For The Lore, still consistently writing for WoW Insider, and also writing a novel that I’m submitting for publication consideration in the following weeks. On top of various other personal things, it’s been a hell of a long year and I find myself with an over abundance of ideas on the topic of leadership in a raiding guild. So, bear with me here, because I’m about to dump my thoughts a little.
The burden
The wear and tear
The hard choices
Truthfully it wears on you over time. You have to make a lot of hard decisions that are not always easy, and certainly aren’t popular with everyone. Lets take on the topic of friendship in real life, and raiding in game. I’ve talked about it before, but it’s something that keeps rearing it’s ugly head over and over again. Being someone’s friend does not make you immune from being included in those hard choices a competitive raiding guild faces. This includes officers and the rank-and-file of the raid team. Sometimes, you have to look at someone’s performance, and if found wanting must bench them or otherwise remove them from a fight or raid, until performance can be fixed. It’s for the good of the entire team, and the progression of the raid, and ultimately if that’s your goal that’s what matters most. Don’t take it personally, it’s not a slight against you as a person, it’s just that the numbers aren’t where they need to be. I’ll use myself as an example here.
Firelands was not very kind to restoration shaman. The fights were ones that didn’t let us take advantage of our strengths and as a result other healers tended to do better than us. In our raid team, there were many fights where I would sit myself for the other healers because they were that good and the numbers worked out better. I did the same thing with the second restoration shaman in our group. Do I think I’m a crappy healer? Do I think the other restoration shaman just sucks? No, I don’t, it was just better numbers to configure our raid healers a different way to optimize success.
When you have to bench someone who is a friend of yours, especially in real life, sometimes it’s hard for that person not to be upset by it. I understand that, I get that, but it’s not personal. It’s not that they aren’t your friend, or that you suck at the game, it’s just that things needed to be done a different way. It’s not an easy decision to make, but sometime’s it’s the necessary one You have to separate the leader from the friend when those decisions are handed down the same way you would if your friend was your boss at your 9-5 job. It’s not easy, but it is what it is.
A sellers market
Make your own choices
Evaluate your position
There’s a saying that “it’s my game time and I’ll play how I want to play.” That’s all good and true, I mean you are paying to play the game. Consider, however, that you might not be in the best place to play the game the way you want to. A progression raiding group is going to be looking for a pretty solid set of criteria. These include, but are not limited to the following
- Are you willing to change your spec, gearing, chants and reforging to a more optimal setup?
- Are you willing to play a spec you don’t normally play?
- Are you willing to be benched if it’s for the good of the team?
- Are you open to criticism about your performance and information to help attempt to improve your output?
If you answer no to any of these, then you should probably not try to get into a progression raiding guild. If you don’t want to budge on how you play your game it’s just not the right environment for you. Blizzard has made a big deal out of “bring the player, not the class, or spec or cooldown” etc. For the most part that’s true, but when you’re edging into hard mode encounters, or sometimes just a normal encounter in itself, and you want to get through it quickly and efficiently, then it simply isn’t always the case. See above where I benched myself for the good of the raid on a fight. No matter what, there’s always going to be an optimal setup. Whether it’s a raid full of paladins, or nothing but druid healers in a group, there will always be a tweak. Can you do the fights without the optimal group? Sure, but it becomes harder and harder as you progress through content. Sounds counter intuitive, but I assure you it’s true.
Another truth here is that right now it’s a sellers market. What do I mean by that? Cataclysm has royally screwed recruitment over pretty badly. Finding new members to add to your guild can be a pain and prove rather difficult, especially when you’ve something specific in mind. It’s not that “beggars can’t be choosers” or anything of that nature, but a progression raiding guild might not be keen on accepting that applicant in normal Cataclysm blues and can’t spell their own name when the group is trying to kill heroic Deathwing. There’s a guild for everyone out there, and you need just look if you want to play a particular way that you aren’t allowed to where you are.
LFR
Doing what it takes
Better for the guild as a whole
This is something of a recent development, and something that irked me a little bit. A lot of guilds out there do LFR weekly as a group in order to obtain set bonuses for raiders, gear up new recruits and sometimes just to get a feel for the fight. It makes sense really, it’s an easy way to gear up and see the fights, and still have a bit of a safety net. Hell, my guild even did it for a few weeks to get some set bonuses in action. As a group we were going to go in, and just pound out the 8 bosses on LFR and then go back and do normal raiding. With the raid as geared as it was, LFR should have been easy and would do nothing but help everyone.
What got me about it was that some folks just simply said no and refused to participate in the LFR runs, even if it would help them and the raid as a group. I understand having a preference, I myself am not a huge fan of LFR any longer, but even I showed up for those runs because it allowed people to gear up, see fights and did nothing but raise the entire guild higher and help with normal raiding. What got me was that those same people wanted priority on invites to the normal raid, and expected to get the normal equivalent gear. When neither happened, they complained.
Not going to say someone should be forced into doing something they don’t want to do, but the way it was handled was bad. Immaturely logging out, refusal to listen to reason, and claiming that there wasn’t anything in it for them so they wouldn’t do it. Even when it was needed most, refusing to help the guild by tagging along. Like above, you have to be willing to give a little, especially in a group who wants to accomplish progression raiding. Sometimes you’ll be asked to do something you don’t want to do to help the group. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet, and if you can’t, then maybe you’re in the wrong place.
In the end
This is what’s been on my mind for two tiers now. Working out ways to do what needs to be done, and convey that the decisions aren’t personal, that the raid group as a whole is a larger organism thriving on everyone in the group working to the same means. It’s hard sometimes. It’s frustrating, and borderline infuriating some nights. But, it is what it is. At the end of the day, it’s the officers who bear an incredible amount of burden. Now, I’m not quitting or burning out mind you, just needed to gather my thoughts and get them out “on paper” so to speak. I appreciate my raiders and the ones that not only give me their all but also do more than that. The ones that send me funny tells in raid to keep me laughing or just making sure we’re progressing, I appreciate their actions and what they do for us the officer corp, and for the raid group as a whole. Sorry for the brain-dump folks, but hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the skull of ol’ Lodur here.
“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”
- Wayne Gretzky
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Originally posted here: The Burden of Leadership, Lodur bares his thoughts
Third faction or logistical nightmare?
In the beginning, there was Azeroth and there was Draenor. The two worlds clashed together repeatedly over the course of three RTS games, each with expansions. But it didn’t stay Azeroth vs. Draenor — the orcs of Draenor had made Azeroth their new home, and the feud between the Alliance and Horde was forever etched in Warcraft history. And when World of Warcraft was released, players could choose either side” the native races of Azeroth, united as the Alliance, a group of good guys, or the orcs and other castaway races, thrown together as one motley group of bad guys, the Horde. Each side has its own justifications for what they view as right, just, and honorable. Yet there are races on either side that seem more neutral than anything, whether it be the peaceful draenei, the equally peaceful tauren, or even the blood elves, who have spent time on both sides of the faction fence. These races participate in the battles and bloodshed as readily as any other, but their motives never seem quite in the right place. And that’s caused more than one person to wonder: Just what exactly would happen if World of Warcraft created a third faction? Continue reading Third faction or logistical nightmare? Filed under: Analysis / Opinion Third faction or logistical nightmare? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Blizzard celebrates 7 years in Europe with 50% off for a limited time
EU players will be happy to know that for the seventh anniversary of World of Warcraft in Europe, Blizzard has slashed the price of World of Warcraft yet again , bringing the cost of WoW down even lower for a limited time. Remember, United States and assorted North American nations, these are EU copies and versions of the game. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — lowering the cost of the barrier to entry to WoW is not a choice but rather a grave necessity. When 90 levels starts looking like a lot of content and too big of an endeavor for a new player, it doesn’t matter how good the 85-to-90 content is, because people will never see it. The last thing you want is for price to be an issue when there are so many other factors to consider about the relative uniqueness of the MMO industry. Here are the EU seventh anniversary sale prices: World of Warcraft Battle Chest EUR 7,49
WoW Moviewatch: WoW Meets Dubstep
I hear there’s this dubstep music all the kids are into nowadays. Being an old man of questionable taste, I phoned some of the local teenagers for a primer. Their advice was to “listen for the drop.” I kept listening for the drop, but I couldn’t really hear it. Nonetheless, WoPairs created WoW Meets Dubstep as a way of bringing this newfangled music into good old Azeroth. I don’t really know if it was successful, since I kept waiting for the bass line to stop gently weeping. If you have trouble making sense of this video, don’t worry. It’s meant to be random, I’m told. Interested in the wide world of machinima ? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch ! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com . Filed under: WoW Moviewatch WoW Moviewatch: WoW Meets Dubstep originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read
The Queue: A sudden increase in prudishness
Welcome back to The Queue , the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft . Mike Sacco will be your host today. “Finally,” you’re saying right now, “Sacco is back with more YouTube videos of songs he likes.” Yer darn right! Puntable asked: I’m not sure I really want to ask this question, but here goes. Blizzard has been changing a lot of the armor models on females, such as black mageweave leggings, to cover more skin. Why the sudden increase in prudishness after 6 years? Well, Black Mageweave Leggings haven’t changed since launch. What other instances of an “increase in prudishness” can you provide? If you need evidence that Blizzard hasn’t stopped putting in revealing armor for women, check out rogue season 11 gear. Continue reading The Queue: A sudden increase in prudishness Filed under: The Queue The Queue: A sudden increase in prudishness originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
