Rarely do I care enough about a game to go through the effort of typing up a list of functionality I wish were there. To their merit, They've already added at least half of the things that were on my list before I got around to typing this up. This means they're paying attention to their customer base and I have hopes of seeing at least some of the following in game.
In no particular order:
Except this one, which is the most important to me:
Being able to Undo Transmutes
While grinding for every set in the game has certain appeal, In the meantime, I'd like to be able to change this hideous gear I have on to look like something else, then change it back later so i can make it clear that I went through the grind to get it :) Just another stone to undo would be fine. A Looks tab would be ultimate, but I'm sure they can come up with something that fits in their view of the game that works.
Previewing from the AH
While it's possible to go get item codes to link to yourself in game so you can preview an item before spending your hard-earned gold on it, it would be so so much nicer to simply be able to preview it right from the Trading Post list!
Bags of loot
PvP bags should be added to inventory instead of left on the ground where you stood before you were completely annihilated inside an enemy's base, where you won't be able to get before they despawn. I'm sure I'm not the only person who cares more about survival or finishing what I've started to run around mid-battle collecting little bags of loot. rarely am I standing still long enough to pick them up while they're in range any way, given the high mobility demanded by pretty much every encounter. I would love it if these little bags of glory would magically appear in my bags.
Map completion from other zones
Being able to see zone completion stats on mouseover would be fantastic. Having to travel to each zone to check completion statistics is very inconvenient and often costly (over 3silver per destination at level 80).
While we're on completionist neuroticism: Achievements
I would love to be able to easily see the last achievement completed because I'm often absent-minded when the little award pops up above my minimap. I'd like to say that I love that achievements existed at launch, though, unlike that other game, which added them long after I completed them all without awarding proper credit after the fact. I like being able to care about achievements in this game without being pissed off at the same time!
Tradable general goods
So often have either my husband or I run out of gathering tools or salvage kits. It would be so nice to be able to say "Hey! I Have some you can borrow!" without immediately then saying "Oh yea... can't trade. You're SOL. I'll wait while you run through all those veteran exploding risen chickens to get more tools. Muahahaha"
Items automatically stacking into and out of the Bank
Can't really say much about this. My bank is so incredibly disorganized that I'm not sure what I have in there! it would be nice to just double click and "oh! that was added to a pre-existing stack! I have 103 of those suckers!"
Separating/Combining stacks of salvage kits
Maybe i'm the only retarded person who clicks from different stacks them tries to combine the leftovers to no avail. No can do!
Chosen categories and sort order reset on Guild Roster
If I add an achievement point column then sort by it, it doesn't remember how cool it was like that and reverts back to default every time I re-log.
WvW Repair Costs
While I'm sure those on consistently winning servers like Henge don't have as much of an issue with this, but I'd like to at least break even in PvP. I can take one look at the map and tell if I'm going to make gold, break even, or lose gold. While I understand the repeated beating I took while being bent over at AH broke straight through my pants, paying for it over and over gets a little tiring. Especially because I was too dead to pick up those little goody bags (see above).
Speaking of PvP, Queue Pops don't seem to persist
There may be a trick to this that I'm not aware of, but on several occasions, my queue has popped right as I click on a vista or something, then doesn't reappear. I open the PvP tab and don't see anything like a Join Match button or anything. And I'm wondering if there's some sort of penalty for not accepting immediately because my queue seems to last forever after this happens.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
SWTOR / WoW Update
I know I said it wasn't worth paying a subscription fee, but I changed my mind after playing SWTOR when it went live.
I enjoyed leveling my first toon to 50, as the dailogue really did make leveling enjoyable, but the second or third times through the quests, even making different alignment choices or clicking through all the content, was just painful.
I have yet to see any endgame content and am not sure I'm going to because my husband is too annoyed with some of the game mechanics (and bugs) to proceed with any zeal at all and is on the lookout for something else for us to focus on (besides Warcraft or Rift, both of which, we've seen enough of).
We don't usually make good guildies, as we haven't yet been in a guild not of our own making that has good leadership, but we thought we'd give it a go. We Joined a guild that seemed like a good fit - their raid days didn't conflict with our Warcraft/Taekwondo schedule and the leadership just came from leading a 25-man heroic-mode warcraft guild, which meant they had some idea what they were doing and could probably understand what their abilities do. That guild decided the day we joined to change their raid days to days we couldn't make it, then 3 days later rerolled republic on an RP/PVP server. So... that didn't work out.
I just joined another guild that is starting to form their first raid group. They're not new to guild- or raid- leading and seem like nice and fun people, so this may be a good fit. I or we, should the hubby decide to give raiding a chance in SWTOR, won't have to fight for raid spots and can earn our keep from the start, which is definitely preferable to having to be an alt until a spot opens up.
I'm still subbing to Wow, as the friends I have there are definitely still worth the $15 a month, but I haven't bothered to max-out all my alts this time around. I'm just to the point where I've found real life things to do instead of seeing the same content over and over again and am getting more and more annoyed with blizzArd for reusing content - armor, mob, environment models, etc... Their customer base has definitely paid them enough for them to change pretty much everything. How about some dynamic lighting effects? Did they learn nothing from Rift? How about some new caves?! Come on. If MOP doesn't offer unique and interesting content, I'm going to have to cancel my subscription on principle alone. Those who really are my friends can friend me on facebook to keep in touch. Fuck blizzard for being opportunistic little assholes.
That's about all I have to say on this lovely Monday morning. Kidding... it's completely grey and brown outside - I'm going back to bed.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Warcraft Looking for Raid
So I gave the LFR tool a few goes this week. In order for the LFR tool to populate any raids for you, your average item level needs to be 372. The gear the new raid drops is level 384, so by the time you can get into any raids via this tool, anything you get there will only be marginal or lateral upgrades. Even the tier items that drop are item level 384. You will still get your set bonuses from these items, but the stats on them are lower than the tier you'd get from killing bosses outside the LFR tool.
That being said, It was a chance to see watered-down versions of the first 4 fights in Dragon soul. Each week, you can gain 250 valor points and have a chance to roll on loot off each boss one time. this means that if you kill every boss the first time you go, there is no point in going again that week, as you will not get valor points or loot (I did it twice just to confirm this). It also means if you get added to a raid that's downed any bosses, you can go again to get a chance at the loot from the bosses you didn't kill, which explains why 5 or 6 people leave after each boss dies - why stay if you have nothing to gain?
That being said, It was a chance to see watered-down versions of the first 4 fights in Dragon soul. Each week, you can gain 250 valor points and have a chance to roll on loot off each boss one time. this means that if you kill every boss the first time you go, there is no point in going again that week, as you will not get valor points or loot (I did it twice just to confirm this). It also means if you get added to a raid that's downed any bosses, you can go again to get a chance at the loot from the bosses you didn't kill, which explains why 5 or 6 people leave after each boss dies - why stay if you have nothing to gain?
Monday, November 28, 2011
SWTOR LOLReview
Let me start by telling you I have no business writing a review of any game given my relative lack of experience and shoddy-at-best writing ability.
A priori info: I am not a SW buff. I enjoyed the movies, but can't even give you a good synopses of the story. I am not a lore hag, as I've never cared much for stories. I'm a fact kinda girl and stories are for people who have creative minds or at least the capacity to remember them a week later. While I've played many more games than most women my age, my history is mostly in fantasy games and MMO's.
SWTOR let me, and anyone else who had even a remote interest, participate in an open beta weekend, wherein I started to level a Jedi Knight. Aside from the obvious bugs (lights extending through an entire plane, people missing from their close-up dialogue cut-scenes, terrain that's in my way, but not visible at all, etc...),It plays very much like any other MMO - all the UI elements are in the normal places (or somewhere else really obvious), settings are accessed via the same hotkeys, movement works the same, combat works the same, etc... Nothing new here at all, which will make for a super easy transition for people who've been playing other MMO's. The UI graphics are nothing special.
This game is very talky-talky, as a friend put it. I'm normally not one for a lot of talk, but the story is engaging and the dialogue is well-enough thought- and acted - out to merit listening to. It's a good thing too, because if you don't sit through it, you don't get your quests!
I found the sounds overall to be of high quality, but a little annoying and unfitting. When all I'm doing is one-shotting 5 enemies with a single AOE spell, I don't need a dramatic accompaniment. The walking sounds are a little too crisp and often not what you'd expect for the terrain you're crossing. By default, all sounds are at 100%. I'd suggest turning them all way down unless you're truly excited about every step you take in this game, which I was not.
Having been spoiled by Rift's graphics - lighting, bump-mapping, terrain availability (I kept thinking to myself "I could climb that if this was Rift"), and textures, nothing is this game is even remotely impressive - not the characters, nor armor; not the environment, nor UI; not anything - it's all pretty sucky comparatively. I wouldn't think it fair to compare this game to Rift if it were not also an MMO. Skyrim, obviously, is not a fair measuring tool. With all the money and hype associated with this game, I truly expected more and was constantly disappointed.
Gameplay is very similar to other quest-driven games. You talk to this person, who tells you to talk to another person who will either tell you to talk to yet another person, go retrieve or destroy items, or kill x number of bad guys. You walk your ass over to the area marked on your map and easily complete your quest(s), then make your way back to your quest giver.
One thing I did notice was respawn times on the mobs was just about perfect... you could go all the way into the cave to do your quest, then all the way back out without fighting the same mobs twice, which is a welcome change from WoW or Rift where you almost always have to stealth by or fight mobs you just freakin killed. Quick travel makes it much less of a pain to get around (assuming you've gotten all of your travel points, which I did not).
The major difference between the game design of SWTOR and those from whom it hopes to steal market share is, as I've mentioned, that the dialogue is rich and engaging as are character development and story lines - no this is not just some random Night Elf sending you off to waste some time; It is a very important mission given to you by a very important person and here's why... The voice acting really makes you feel like you're part of something and not just some fool with too much time on their hands.
Overall, I'd say it's worth buying, but not worth paying a subscription fee. Good thing there won't be one or they might not make back the money they spent making this game. It's definitely worth a good spin if you're a SW fanboi or just looking for something to make you feel better about the other games you're playing (like Aion did). You'll have to be willing to overlook their relative lack of beauty, sophistication, and detail in graphics and accept that this is a talky-talky lore-driven game with light sabers. According to some who know more about Bioware's history than I do, This is on par with expectations of Bioware products.
A priori info: I am not a SW buff. I enjoyed the movies, but can't even give you a good synopses of the story. I am not a lore hag, as I've never cared much for stories. I'm a fact kinda girl and stories are for people who have creative minds or at least the capacity to remember them a week later. While I've played many more games than most women my age, my history is mostly in fantasy games and MMO's.
SWTOR let me, and anyone else who had even a remote interest, participate in an open beta weekend, wherein I started to level a Jedi Knight. Aside from the obvious bugs (lights extending through an entire plane, people missing from their close-up dialogue cut-scenes, terrain that's in my way, but not visible at all, etc...),It plays very much like any other MMO - all the UI elements are in the normal places (or somewhere else really obvious), settings are accessed via the same hotkeys, movement works the same, combat works the same, etc... Nothing new here at all, which will make for a super easy transition for people who've been playing other MMO's. The UI graphics are nothing special.
This game is very talky-talky, as a friend put it. I'm normally not one for a lot of talk, but the story is engaging and the dialogue is well-enough thought- and acted - out to merit listening to. It's a good thing too, because if you don't sit through it, you don't get your quests!
I found the sounds overall to be of high quality, but a little annoying and unfitting. When all I'm doing is one-shotting 5 enemies with a single AOE spell, I don't need a dramatic accompaniment. The walking sounds are a little too crisp and often not what you'd expect for the terrain you're crossing. By default, all sounds are at 100%. I'd suggest turning them all way down unless you're truly excited about every step you take in this game, which I was not.
Having been spoiled by Rift's graphics - lighting, bump-mapping, terrain availability (I kept thinking to myself "I could climb that if this was Rift"), and textures, nothing is this game is even remotely impressive - not the characters, nor armor; not the environment, nor UI; not anything - it's all pretty sucky comparatively. I wouldn't think it fair to compare this game to Rift if it were not also an MMO. Skyrim, obviously, is not a fair measuring tool. With all the money and hype associated with this game, I truly expected more and was constantly disappointed.
Gameplay is very similar to other quest-driven games. You talk to this person, who tells you to talk to another person who will either tell you to talk to yet another person, go retrieve or destroy items, or kill x number of bad guys. You walk your ass over to the area marked on your map and easily complete your quest(s), then make your way back to your quest giver.
One thing I did notice was respawn times on the mobs was just about perfect... you could go all the way into the cave to do your quest, then all the way back out without fighting the same mobs twice, which is a welcome change from WoW or Rift where you almost always have to stealth by or fight mobs you just freakin killed. Quick travel makes it much less of a pain to get around (assuming you've gotten all of your travel points, which I did not).
The major difference between the game design of SWTOR and those from whom it hopes to steal market share is, as I've mentioned, that the dialogue is rich and engaging as are character development and story lines - no this is not just some random Night Elf sending you off to waste some time; It is a very important mission given to you by a very important person and here's why... The voice acting really makes you feel like you're part of something and not just some fool with too much time on their hands.
Overall, I'd say it's worth buying, but not worth paying a subscription fee. Good thing there won't be one or they might not make back the money they spent making this game. It's definitely worth a good spin if you're a SW fanboi or just looking for something to make you feel better about the other games you're playing (like Aion did). You'll have to be willing to overlook their relative lack of beauty, sophistication, and detail in graphics and accept that this is a talky-talky lore-driven game with light sabers. According to some who know more about Bioware's history than I do, This is on par with expectations of Bioware products.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Raid Rift Loot - Mage
This post is intended for personal use, but if you happen to be a Mage, this is a concise list of what you can pick up in the various raid rifts if you, unlike me, can manage to win a roll.
| Life - Growth of Aelfwar | Earth - The Golden King | Air - Winds of Chaos |
| Barkskin Slippers Primal Handwraps Knowing Seeds Corrupted Growth (Lesser) |
Goldcord Cinture Goldcord Mantle Seeing Stone (Lesser) |
Aelaa's Belt Aelaa's Mantle Static Buildup (Lesser) |
| Death - Terror of Undeath | Fire - The Drakith Hatchery | Water - Hunger of the Deep |
| Dark Collar (Neck) Dark Cabalist Handwraps Adorned Shdeshard(Greater) Grave Knowledge (Lesser) |
Dragonsworn Handwraps Radiant Inferno (Lesser) Focused Heat (Lesser) Rekindled Flameshard (Greater) |
Gharel's Slippers(Trinket) Phorthos' Band Hailstone Tideshard (Greater Chloro) Oceanic Force (Lesser) |
Raid Rift Loot - Tanking Warrior
This post is intended for personal use, but if you happen to be a tanking Warrior, this is a concise list of what you can pick up in the various raid rifts if you, unlike me, can manage to win a roll.
| Life - Growth of Aelfwar | Earth - The Golden King | Air - Winds of Chaos |
| Battle Trunk (Lesser) Vinsula's Ring Primordial Faeshard (Greater) |
Aurocorus' Shoulders Grawl's Belt Azurite Ward (Lesser) |
Stormlord's Girdle Screaming Stormshard (Greater) |
| Death - Terror of Undeath | Fire - The Drakith Hatchery | Water - Hunger of the Deep |
| Night Terror Necklace Dragonian Claws Death's Shadow (Lesser) Endless Horror (Lesser) |
Legate's Badge Celestial Flameshard (Greater) |
Arkryon's Mirror (Trinket) Bonecrusher Sabatons Steelscale Ring Flood Gates (Lesser) |
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Raid Rift Loot - DPS Rogue
This post is intended for personal use, but if you happen to be a DPS rogue, this is a concise list of what you can pick up in the various raid rifts if you, unlike me, can manage to win a roll.
| Life - Growth of Aelfwar | Earth - The Golden King | Air - Winds of Chaos |
| Deadgrowth Ring Deadgrowth Boots Living-Barrier (Lesser) |
Gold-Studded Shoulders Gold-Studded Belt Rolling Stone (Lesser) |
Qeloo's Shoulders Qeloo's Belt Lightning Motion (Lesser) Whirling Charge (Lesser) |
| Death - Terror of Undeath | Fire - The Drakith Hatchery | Water - Hunger of the Deep |
| Death's Head Pendant Terror Flesh Gloves Final Cut (Lesser) Shade Slice (Lesser) |
Dragonsworn Gloves Flash Burn (Lesser) |
Bone Crusher Ring Phorthos' Boots Abyssal Flood (Lesser) |
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Warcraft Class-Homogenization
WoW's talent trees certainly have gone through many overhauls and with each change, classes become more homogenized. I know this is an overused term, but it's a perfect fit :)
Intentional or not, Warriors were the native tanking class. Paladins and Druids were usually healers or DPS. It was simply a limitation of their abilities and stat scaling. Some were clearly far better than others for specific jobs. Then Paladin and Druid tanking talents and scaling were majorly buffed (one a bit too much) enabling them to take the same beating a warrior took and generate threat just as well. Then DK's were added and tweaked so they could tank everything too! So now we have Warriors, Paladins, Deathknights, and Druids capable of tanking multiple mobs and single target mobs effectively. There are some very minor distinctions between the 4 that make them unique and all 4 have abilities that are missed when playing another tank, as follows:
> Warriors are very mobile. Their intercept, intervene, and charge abilities are now their niche.
> Dk's have death grip, which is, indeed, my prefered way to deal with casters or loose mobs.
> Paladins have their shield, which is the best way to pull non-cc'd mobs out of a group wherein others are cc'd. And... it has a built-in silence effect!
> Druids are BEARS!!! They can do just about everything any other tank can do, but get to be big, fuzzy bears whose attacks leave claw marks on your screen! Bears don't have a ranged interrupt or silence, though, which can be a minor annoyance when other people are stupid.
I enjoy playing all the tank classes and feel they have equal capability to deal with almost any situation and are just too similar. With proper cooldown use, they can all take heavy physical or magical damage. With proper rotaions, they can all keep threat on packs of mobs. Cross-Homogenized - Every class can do everything.
They did the same thing to healers. Priests no longer are assigned to the tanks by default which often necessitated greater-heal-stopcasting (/snooze), for instance. Druids have an OOC rez! I have seen healers of all types deal with all situations. Tank healing? AOE healing? They can all do it! I still put Pallies on tanks because their cooldowns and strong single target heals make them slightly less awesome at raid healing, but they certainly can raid heal. I play a priest right now and, unlike tanking, I haven't healed on every class this expansion, so I don't have as much to say about it and what I do know just comes from my experience watching other healers do their thing. There have been people I wouldn't give certain jobs, but it's always been because of limitations of their abilities as a player, not their class.
Anyway, all the changes they've made to homogenize all current classes makes me wonder how the new talent tree excavation is going to work. - self-homogenization? I mean, if the only thing that's to separate one priest from another is whether or not they can aoe fear, that is not enough. I need to look further into these changes!
Intentional or not, Warriors were the native tanking class. Paladins and Druids were usually healers or DPS. It was simply a limitation of their abilities and stat scaling. Some were clearly far better than others for specific jobs. Then Paladin and Druid tanking talents and scaling were majorly buffed (one a bit too much) enabling them to take the same beating a warrior took and generate threat just as well. Then DK's were added and tweaked so they could tank everything too! So now we have Warriors, Paladins, Deathknights, and Druids capable of tanking multiple mobs and single target mobs effectively. There are some very minor distinctions between the 4 that make them unique and all 4 have abilities that are missed when playing another tank, as follows:
> Warriors are very mobile. Their intercept, intervene, and charge abilities are now their niche.
> Dk's have death grip, which is, indeed, my prefered way to deal with casters or loose mobs.
> Paladins have their shield, which is the best way to pull non-cc'd mobs out of a group wherein others are cc'd. And... it has a built-in silence effect!
> Druids are BEARS!!! They can do just about everything any other tank can do, but get to be big, fuzzy bears whose attacks leave claw marks on your screen! Bears don't have a ranged interrupt or silence, though, which can be a minor annoyance when other people are stupid.
I enjoy playing all the tank classes and feel they have equal capability to deal with almost any situation and are just too similar. With proper cooldown use, they can all take heavy physical or magical damage. With proper rotaions, they can all keep threat on packs of mobs. Cross-Homogenized - Every class can do everything.
They did the same thing to healers. Priests no longer are assigned to the tanks by default which often necessitated greater-heal-stopcasting (/snooze), for instance. Druids have an OOC rez! I have seen healers of all types deal with all situations. Tank healing? AOE healing? They can all do it! I still put Pallies on tanks because their cooldowns and strong single target heals make them slightly less awesome at raid healing, but they certainly can raid heal. I play a priest right now and, unlike tanking, I haven't healed on every class this expansion, so I don't have as much to say about it and what I do know just comes from my experience watching other healers do their thing. There have been people I wouldn't give certain jobs, but it's always been because of limitations of their abilities as a player, not their class.
Anyway, all the changes they've made to homogenize all current classes makes me wonder how the new talent tree excavation is going to work. - self-homogenization? I mean, if the only thing that's to separate one priest from another is whether or not they can aoe fear, that is not enough. I need to look further into these changes!
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