Taking up a subject that can be a point of contention amongWorld of Warcraft raiders, Ghostcrawler (aka lead systems designer Greg Street) posted an interesting commentary on raiding progression, difficulty, and the nerf bat.
Obviously, one’s own raiding point of view will help determine whether they approve of or disapprove of a nerf. But there’s some common sense mechanics behind it that, no matter your stance, are pretty much unavoidable.
Greg “Chostcrawler” Street on dungeon and raid nerfs
Raid encounters, to some extent, nerf themselves. This is because every week, the raid members acquire more and more gear. Secondarily, the community acquires more and more knowledge and experience, which translates into better videos, strategy guides, or even UI mods, as well as just more players who have experienced the encounters firsthand.
But it seems that this form of a natural nerf isn’t what players disapprove of. Instead, it’s the ones that take an actual hand from devs. I’m thinking of the ICC raid and gradual increase of a player’s buff for the instance. Yes, it was completely optional, but those players who wanted to stay on top of the competitive game, or those who wanted to quickly get through the content that they had already conquered without said buff, felt justified in accepting the offer. Hell, I did, too. If that’s what it took to see the content, I was all for it.
It seems the the developers have a similar stance, according to GC. Continue Reading
By now, we’ve probably all seen the character models that Blizzard, at long last, released this month showcasing the female worgen. They’re still lacking hairstyles, but regardless those models, I must say, look quite sharp.
So, why did it take so long for Blizzard to release any information on what the female model looks like? Well, certainly part of that has to do with building up anticipation for Cataclysm, but I suspect part of it also has to deal with the fact that they’re dealing with a subject that has been largely ignored in popular culture.
Werewolves have been terrorizing people in folklore with their super-human size and strength, not to mention fangs and claws, for hundreds of years. The phenomenon of their transformation from man to wolf still remains pervasive in pop culture today — but that’s just the issue at hand. The transformation usually is from man to wolf, yet rarely woman to wolf.
Let’s poke at some of these pop culture references, take a look at a thesis for the reasoning of why this is and talk a bit more about Blizzard’s role behind the cut.
It’s time to kick this serious mount collecting business up a notch and see how lucky I can get with the dice. First stop – Obsidian Sanctum for a 25-man pug Sartharion zerg — with three drakes up, of course, since we’re after the Twilight Drake. Can a pug really pull this off? And can I manage to pull out an epic roll if we do?! Enjoy this episode of For the Hoard as I test my luck.
Taking up a subject that can be a point of contention among World of Warcraft raiders, Ghostcrawler (aka lead systems designer Greg Street) posted an interesting commentary on raiding progression, difficulty, and the nerf bat.
