Fist de Yuma - December 7, 2004

This and That I have a little more about WoW on this column. Cannot be helped, as that has got me hooked right now. I see it no more than some of the stand-alone games I have played over the years. They take up a lot of time, but soon I'm back playing AC. In fact, I did play some AC this week. That really emphasized the things I like about both games. The hard part to get use to was the graphic in AC. Even the lettering seemed out of focus. Old eyes love WoW. I have a lot of complaints about WoW, but for some reason I cannot put it down. So, despite the problems, it is very addictive. It is a good balance for AC, as they are so different that one is a break from the other. My main worry was having a column this week. Then a few things came up in AC, the WoW servers went down, and I suddenly had a column. It is not as long as some I have, but I think it turned out ok. How lucky we are After spending a week playing WoW, I have gained the impression that we have some of the best players around. This is not only in skill, but also in attitude. It is not fair to gauge players after just a week, but the difference is so stark that I think I'm on safe ground. There is no way I can gauge people's solo abilities, except when they are fighting close to me, so I'll focus on team play and player interaction. In AC, people understand their roles. This means, a mage knows he or she will supply ranged power and debuffs. Archers understand they are best in support of the melees, and the melees understand that they are often more a shield than a weapon. Of course, this is a generalization that does not fit all groups, but you get the idea when I say the players understand their roles. In WoW, everyone wants to get the kill. For that reason, priests are few and far between. This focus is so fixed, that it is often hard to get a group formed, even when grouping is to great advantage. Even when you get a group, you have everyone rushing into battle. Rogues are not trying to get back shots. Mages are not on the wings or in the rear. Hunters are standing next to the fighters, with their pet just an added melee. Trying to balance this kind of play is difficult. I will generally die after joining an unknown team. This could be the reason it is so hard to get a good team together. There are many quests where you must kill 15 to 30 monsters. A single hunter must kill them all. A group needs to kill the same amount. So a group of six can kill off five each, and be done with the quest. Instead, you seem then fighting over the same monster, hoping to get in the first blow, so it is tagged to them. Trying to convince them that grouping would make things better is like talking to a brick wall. AC is much more of a solo game, and yet, you can get a group forming for any hard quest at the drop of a hat. If six people find themselves in VoD, they will quickly become a group. The advantage is less in AC, but the players understand that advantage. Then there is the attitude players. I use to think that AC had more than its share of bad players. Boy was I wrong. Whereas the odd griefer plays AC, this type is prevalent in WoW. Sadly, WoW gives this type of player an advantage over the honorable players. I'll give you two examples. My Paladin is a miner. There are places where Ore pops up from time to time. My Rogue is a herbalist. He is always in search of plants. When either finds what he is looking for, there are generally some guards around. You have to clear those, as you need about five seconds of uninterrupted time to get the ore or plants. I saw some copper ore on a mountainside. There was a narrow path leading to it. On that path was a nasty flying fire-breathing monster. I moved up the path, and engaged it. The second I was locked in battle, another player ran past and started mining the ore! When I asked him why he was doing that, he gave the lame excuse that he did not know I wanted the ore. Sure, I was moving up the path for my heath. The same thing happens my Rogue all the time. If there is anyone around that can steal, they will. There have even been complaints that players are camping quests, so they can steal the rewards when other engage the monster. I have taken to asking players nearby if they want the ore or plant before going after it. Mostly that just gives the guy in back of me time to run and loot it, but I feel better. My Hunter is a Skinner/Leather worker. This allows him to skin monsters that others kill. The key is not to attempt to skin a monster until the person leaves. They may have killed it to skin themselves. A guy was fighting a Tiger, and looked to be in trouble. I helped him kill it. Because of the way the system works, I got nothing for doing this. It was just a good deed. After he looted, he stopped to thank me. I was typing, asking if he was going to skin it or not. Before he could thank me, or me ask permission to skin it, someone else ran up and started skinning. He did not say a word, and was not involved in the battle at all. Strangely, this is accepted by most of the players. When I made a point that it was not fair play, I was cursed out. Very strange. Of course, AC had its share of schemers and scammers. To me, the key difference is the response other players give such. The players quickly ran Shortly Portman out of the game. The Mote and Shard Mule is still vilified to this day, 4 years after he disappeared from the game. There will always be bad people, is how the players respond that tells the true story. The best I get from WoW is a shrug. I have met my share of good players. It is always the bad ones that stand out and leave the biggest impression. Still, we AC players are blessed with some of the best. Pace I am finding that there is a big difference in pacing between WoW and AC. AC is fast past and action orientated. If I had to pick one word to describe the pacing of WoW, it would be, "Plodding". There are few modes of transportation, and even those are slow when compared to AC's portals. They look great, more than great, but it is still slow. The only thing to compare to an AC portal is a stone that will recall you to the inn. Even that can only be used once an hour. The rest of the time, you are plodding along on foot. The speed of running is also quite slow when compared to AC. You sort of feel like an overweight mule. When I was running Fist someplace after playing WoW, it was like he was a turbojet. There is no way to speed up this running, and everyone runs the same speed. Combat is better paced, but far shorter than your typical AC battle. In WoW, you must win fast, or you will lose. This is especially true with solo battles. After slowly picking out a monster at a time in WoW, I was truly having a blast taking on wave after wave of Olthoi. Something I would like to see in AC There is something WoW has that I would like to see in AC. This is rewarding players for not playing. That may sound strange, but it works well in practice. What they do is give you an Xp advantage for logged off time. This advantage is best if you log in the Inn, or one of the major towns. What happens is you get a point to which you get double Xp. When you gain the amount that puts you over the line, your Xp returns to normal. This allows the player who does not have a lot of time to play, to keep up with those that play a lot. It is not equal of course, as a power leveler will gain far more, but it gives them a small boost. I'm sure there is a limit to this. I know it will go past levels, as I leveled and was still gaining double Xp. This is also an advantage to players like me, who want to play many players. I can play one for hours on end, and than have a nice little bonus when I go back to my main player. Others are still shooting past me, but I'm at least keeping them in sight. Role Playing I have picked up a new role in WoW. As you read last week, I play my Paladin as stoic and my Rogue as disdainful of all, including himself. I just created a Gnome Warlock. This is a fun class, with a lot of advantages, including a summoned monster that fights for you. He is far smaller than the other players. That is one of the "Cool" factors in WoW. I decided that he is a little pest. He greets the groups he finds, with, "Hi big people." He will then add in, "Whata doing?" Of course I know exactly what they are doing most times. I'll then make comments like, "That is a big sword", to the two handed sword players. Given that the sword is twice his size, I figured it would be his reaction when see sees one. To my surprise, few players get this. Some really thought I was some little kid playing WoW. You would think that players on a RP server would be a little more open to fun. I'll keep at it, as players will get it in time. Then it will be a lot more fun. Don't waste your salvage Turbine has teased about this for some time, but is looks like it will be happening. They are creating higher wield weapons! What this means is; our hard earned weapons are all going to be obsolete. Of course, this will be a boon to those who are not pushing levels. The value of 325 wield weapons will be dropping. Soon, "to die for weapons", will be given away, or sold cheaply on a vendor mule. Meanwhile, don't waste your current salvage material on current 325 weld weapons. On average, we will need three bags per weapon type. For those of use with multiple accounts, and sundry players, this is a nightmare in the making. Of course, it is one I gladly welcome. Gaining power One big thing I have noted as I have gained power with my players, is how hard things can become easy. I can remember when a good group of players would have a hard time with the mage armor upgrade quest. Today, three of us did the last two parts of this quest. I did it with Deadeye Fist, and the other two were a lot weaker than him. Nevertheless, the three of us walked over the quests with ease. This is likely a combination of greater gear and experience, but it is quite amazing to compare yesterday to today. Yesterday; big group and lots of trouble. Today; little group, and no trouble at all.