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Magni Bronzebeard Returns?

An offhand tweet by Chris Metzen suggests that Magni may be coming back, possibly soon!

Transfer Gold Cross Realm

15 Minutes offers a tip for how to transfer gold to characters on a different realm – and how you can profit from this trick.

Wild Speculation About the Future

My predictions for the future are in. Dance studio – in! Player housing – out.

The new address is 15minutesofwow.alternateimage.net

This means that everyone subscribed to the blog, the RSS feed, or following it will need to update their subscriptions as this “.wordpress.com” will stop getting updates in the near future (and may someday be removed entirely).

There may be some errors and changes to the new site as the transition is made so bear with me, but right now all of the posts and comments should have transferred over. Let me know how you like the new layout!

Patch 5.1 brought forth a fantastic (or so I may have seemed at first) new feature – gear upgrades with points. This feature allowed a player to take their piece of gear (as long as it met item level requirements) and upgrade it up to 8 item levels with justice points for blues or valor points for epic pieces. This gave players the ability to continue to use their valor points long after they had already purchased or surpassed the valor gear available. In this way, players could keep gaining more power for their characters even if they have incredibly bad luck with drops. Heck, I’ve been able to upgrade my Raid Finder Sha Touched weapon to be nearly the item level of getting a normal drop and above the Mogu’Shan Vaults two-hander that I’ve had no luck on. So why, when I heard that patch 5.2 would remove the valor upgrade vendor, was I happy to hear about it? And why on earth would I hope they stay gone?

The Valor Pinnacle

Since the introduction of the points to gear system at some point in the raid tier, if you were active in raiding and gaining these points, you’d stop needing them. After gaining and spending points on gear and getting raid loot there would be no more pieces of gear that a character could use from valor (the same happens to justice points at a much quicker rate, usually). This means at some point – you’re done. This doesn’t mean you’ve beat WoW or that the game is over, but simply one grind doesn’t have to be pushed anymore. Some people use this time to take a small break, focus on alts or other activities like PVP and the recently implemented pet battles. It can be a nice moment to take a breath and not feel a need to continue doing dungeons you’ve done 20 times in the past month. Having gear upgradable via valor means that, in addition to the pieces you’d have already purchased, there’s a near infinite need for additional valor to keep upgrading those drops. 15 pieces of gear (for 2h users) x 1500 valor each is 22.5k valor and would take over 5 months of valor capping to reach. Never having a point where one can feel okay to take a break is a high cause of burnout.

Power Gain and Player Desire

It’s been proving time and again that if there is a way for players to increase the power of their characters that they’ll do it and call it mandatory. Now, I’ve always been pretty vocal that nothing in the game is “mandatory” and if you don’t enjoy it (or feel that it’s worthwhile for what you do enjoy) then you shouldn’t do it. As such, I don’t stress over reaching valor cap every week to maximize my upgrade potential – I don’t get enough enjoyment of having a few extra item levels on my pixels that makes the continued grind worth it. I do, however, understand the common player feeling that they’re being “baddies” if they don’t get their character as many upgrades as possible. I, too, would like to get all of those upgrades, but I understand my own rate of burnout and I wouldn’t be happier with the game as a whole if I did. Blizzard is fond of giving players meaningful choices to make (talents, specializations, gear progression options), but I can’t imagine they fully intend on the choice of, “do I feel bad that I’m not progressing as much as I could or do I burn out from grinding too long?” I stand fully behind the idea that it is better to stop the grind and give up some points if you’re not having fun so you don’t burn out, but it’s never a good feeling to “leave some on the table” so to speak. We want to be as strong as possible.

The Other Side

As always, every argument has an other side. What about players who want to keep progressing their main character? There are those who don’t really focus on alts or other avenues of entertainment in WoW and want to be able to keep working on their main – valor upgrades give them a way to progress regardless of loot drops or completed progression. They’re able to be even more prepared when entering the next tier of raiding and potentially get a leg up on their progression competition. The counter to this, however, is that I’ve yet to talk to anyone that straight up prefers having valor upgrades. So far, the most I’ve seen are those who are indifferent to having the upgrades available and will often use the argument above, without actually being someone who fits into the description. If you are not a high-end progression raider actually pushing server firsts, does it really matter to you and is it worth valor capping every week for a few extra item levels? Even then, for those racing to server first – are they really gaining any advantage? I’d have to assume that all serious “hardcore” raiding guilds expecting to get server or world rankings are going to be doing everything they can to get an edge. If everyone gets the same edge (8 item levels from upgrades) then no one has an advantage after all. If you are someone who fully supports valor upgrades and pushes yourself to valor cap each week without complain, though, feel free to drop a comment, I’d like to hear an opinion from the other side.

In short, it seems to me that valor upgrades are only going to add to player burnout rates by making players choose to either be “weaker” than they could or to keep up a grind months longer than would normally be necessary. Blizzard – after you remove valor upgrade vendors in patch 5.2 – please don’t bring them back!

So come one and all! Make your voice (or click) heard! This is your chance to help encourage (or stop) a new gaming channel and it’s content.

Feel free to leave any other feedback in the comments – what would make you follow a YouTube channel?

I’ve read a lot of posts since Mists of Pandaria was released that Blizzard killed players ability to have max level alts (multiple characters) and have to wonder what merit there is to those arguments. As a player who had leveled one of every class to max level I can safely say that I feel a similar burden of almost any altoholic. My goal is always to have my characters raid ready (at least entry-level raids) and took all of my 10 characters into raid finder at least once. So here we find ourselves in Pandaria, a land with endless adventure (or work as some call it) and an additional class. Blizzard removed the cap on daily quests and made reputation gains important, added pet battles, added challenge mode dungeons, put 3 raids in the first tier, added scenarios, added a farm (ridiculously addictive somehow) on top of what we already had. With so much to do, is there any time for alts? The answer that I’ve found: Maybe.

It’s So Much Work to Get an Alt Raid Ready

This is a common argument as to why alts are going the way of the dodo bird. I hear that first there is this incredibly long and tedious leveling grind in which Blizzard has forced us to do purely through questing, then it’s impossible to accomplish anything without running at least 3 hours of dailies every day. But is any of that really true? The extreme realm/world first levelers reached max in under a day.  Most of my guild had max level before the end of the first week after launch. So, it takes from 1 day to 1 week to get to max level from 85. We had a tank reroll to a monk and he reached max level in 2 days 4 hours played. All of these times, totally without the rested experience that alts almost always have. I leveled two alts from 85 at a rate of 4 hours per level or less – because rested XP is awesome. Well, what about the crazy daily grind? Just don’t do it if you don’t like it! Or don’t do all of them.  My warrior is nearly ready for LFR in item level and I’ve only played him 5-6 times for 2 hours or less each since reaching max level – no dailies required! Clear Dread Wastes, do a few dungeons, a couple of sha runs (guaranteed epic boots), and fill in the missing spots with justice gear and BAM! Ready for the Raid Finder (or a real raid, if you were wanting do to that with alts). Crafted gear, including the cheap PVP crafted gear can help make getting entry to LFR or PVP fairly quick and painless as well.

There’s Just too Much to Do

I find myself agreeing more with this line of thought. I play WoW a decent amount (usually 2-3 hours a night, most days) and could easily fill my time up entirely with my main. I raid two nights a week, do dailies occasionally, pet battles, check my farm and make sure to valor cap. If I did more dungeons, scenarios, or PVP I’d hardly have time for any alts. But, that being said, I still have 2 other level 90’s, a few over 85, and a monk in BC content. If you’re having fun doing everything you can on one character, is that a bad thing? I have so many alts because at various points in the game there was nothing I wanted to do on my main character. My alts exist primarily out of boredom with the first one. If I’m not bored on even one character, doesn’t that mean Blizzard is doing a good job? I still like to mix it up on different characters because I like the variety in-game play, but I don’t feel the need to alt as the only gaming solution outside of playing something else. If the practice of having an army of alts is dead, maybe it’s because Blizzard did a great job providing so much content? The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, while not an MMO, is an amazing game. There is so much to do, that I’ve yet to hear of anyone actually making more than 2-3 characters and playing them – but I’ve also not heard anyone tell me that Skyrim sucks because there was too much to do on their “main”. Having too much to do is great. It gives those with a lot of time the ability to keep playing and it gives those with limited time options for how they use it. If you like questing, gear through valor and dailies. If you just want to run group content, gear through LFD > LFR > Raiding. Of course PVP has a simple crafted gear > battlegrounds for honor > arena / rated bg for conquest. While this hasn’t really changed, it’s no worse than what we’re used to there.

What do you think? Do you still have an army of alts that you play or is there just too much to do?

Upcoming patch 5.1 is bringing with it a lot of changes and new content. One of the most controversial items seems to be the Brawler’s Guild. Despite the first rule of Brawler’s Guild being “don’t talk about Brawler’s Guild”, there is a lot of talking going on – primarily about the way that a player can gain access to this content. For those who don’t know anything about this feature, here’s the description from the patch notes:

Brawler’s Guild

• Underground fighting rings have sprung up in Stormwind and Orgrimmar that will give brawlers who have their mitts on an invitation a chance to earn bragging rights by testing their solo PvE mettle against some of the toughest creatures found in World of Warcraft.
• Players will prove their skill, and increase their rank with the Brawler’s Guild, as they win matches against some of the most difficult solo encounters in World of Warcraft.
• Entry into the brawler’s guild is by invitation only. Invitations can be found on the black market auction house or by invitation from somebody within the guild.
• As their Brawler’s Guild rank increases, players will unlock additional rewards and activities within the Brawler’s Guild.
• Brawlers on a realm will gather together into the blood spattered ring to watch as their peers face down their own opponents. They can watch the battles in progress to learn from hardened Brawler’s Guild veterans as they wait for their own turn to fight.
• If this is your first night at Brawler’s Guild, you have to fight.

Black Market Auction House invitations means that only the wealthiest players will have access to the Guild at first and has some people upset. I think it’s awesome and can’t imagine a better way to handle it.

More from Blizzard about the Guild

What Brawler’s Guild Is

• A fun, but small diversion that could grow in time
• A venue for a realm’s community to come together
• A unique way to earn some solo PvE bragging rights
• A cool place to hang out

What Brawler’s Guild Isn’t

• A means of solo progression
• A major patch feature accessible to everyone (at first)
• A way to earn lots of in-game rewards
• Proving Grounds where you can develop class skills (that’s a different feature arriving later on)

The Naysayers

Many complain that limiting access to content, particularly based on something like gold, is insulting to those unable to get in right away. On commenter on a recent WowInsider post said, “I’m sorry, but you can’t have “small, underground” features.  Not in WoW.  Not with official content.  Not with something that is announced in patch notes. With the invites going to the BMAH, this is literally a millionaires’ club.” The writer of the article herself questions Blizzard’s right to declare it a “minor aside” and not a big feature. Some have been getting excited about this new content and are very disappointed that there are any limitations to get in and start brawling. Are these valid concerns?

A Small, Underground Thing

When you think of a Brawler’s Guild or “Fight Club“, if you will, what do you picture? Aside from the actual space they used in the movie, I envision a shady (both in terms of character and light availability), sleazy basement/warehouse where the nondescript door is being guarded by someone as shady and sleazy as the venue. The kind of place you can’t find unless you know a guy who knows a guy. The kind of place you don’t want to accidentally find yourself without said connections. This is a place for wealthy businessmen to let loose their darker sides and for those who revel in the underground to make a buck (or a fortune) while working the game. Limiting the access keeps that illusion of a secret warehouse where the elite and the underworld mix. It keeps the illusion that you gotta know a guy. Well, in this case you really do have to, since there will be a limit of 10 people per day buying access and they can only invite 10 other people. Here we come to the core complaint. Should this content be available only to the wealthy? The answer: it doesn’t matter. 10 invites from the BMAH per day with the ability to invite 10 more people. This means, every day, 100 new people can gain access to the Guild. Http://wow.realmpop.com/ shows my server (classified as high population) as having 3744 level 90 characters (there’s over 90k in total, but only max level can participate and therefore are applicable). If 100 new people gain access per day, every max level character on the entire realm will have access in 38 days. This of course assumes that every level 90 is a unique person (or someone who wants multiple characters in the Guild) or is even interested. It is unlikely that anyone who cares about gaining access will have to wait more than a week or two, if that long. With this rapid accessibility, the cost of the actual purchased access will plummet in mere days. Have a little patience, wait a couple of days (will help avoid some bugs anyway), and get in when it’s cheaper. This isn’t really content for the elite of the wealthy, it’s not really that secret or underground, but at least let us keep the illusion of the dark, dangerous, elusive place.

The first boss I landed on was the last one. The group had wiped on that encounter previously though we had little trouble collecting our loot that time. It did at least give me the impression that everyone had to at least catch on to what was happening or the healers would have trouble keeping up. After getting into my next group and passed the first bit of trash, the actual first boss was a little tricky if the group isn’t paying attention. Half of the team was dead before the boss fell. The second boss, Elegon, is a titan defense machine those is a little unlike those we’ve encountered before. This was the only boss we wiped on. Most of the raid, maybe, fell to their deaths, or something. Otherwise, the fight was tough but manageable. It as well ended with the raid looking like it might fall over if there were a small gust of wind.

So, if these fights were of appropriate difficulty for a raid finder situation, then why is this post about things being too easy still? Because the first half is still, ridiculously, too easy. Sure, raids typically get progressively harder as you go down the bosses, but even raid finder bosses shouldn’t be as much of a set of pushovers as the first three were – particularly given the raid is still pretty new and people don’t know it yet. Maybe I’m mistaken, but I’d like to think that most gamers (of really any type) want some sort of challenge as part of their enjoyment. Instead, the first half of MV shows people it’s a place to go to get free epics then it’s a slap in the face when the second half makes them work for it a little. Although I’m hopeful that future raids don’t aren’t such a walk in the park (which may be insulting to the difficulty of walking through a park), I can’t quite understand why these particular bosses were balanced this way. Any ideas?

There are two main camps with very different rationale regarding dungeon loot etiquette – specifically in looking for dungeon (LFD) groups. These dungeons are queued up with an interface that, after a wait (much shorter for tanks and healers), dumps you in a dungeon with random players. Chances are you’ve never seen these other players before, they’re probably from a different server, and you’ll probably never see them again. Then, along with this new-found group of temporary companions, you proceed to trounce a bunch of enemies, bosses, and hopefully collect some loot. Here is where the issue comes into play. In a LFD group, the “Need” roll, or highest priority option, is limited solely by class. A Paladin in the group, regardless of the role they’ve chosen (tank, healer, or DPS), can roll need for plate tanking, dps, or healing gear (including rings/necks wither either intellect, strength, or tanking stats). The two camps of thought vary dramatically at this point. One side thinks that it’s okay to need on anything your class can use, anything at all that is an upgrade (as is allowed by the game system) while the other firmly believes that some courtesy should be shown and the player should limit their need rolls to the role they have chosen (unless the gear is not needed by the player filling the role). So which side is right and which side is a selfish, entitled, wanker?

If I Can Hit Need Then It’s Fair

Common arguments supporting needing any piece of loot that the button allows include:

• It does not violate Blizzards Terms of Service or it’s working as intended.
• It’s not yours until it’s in your bags.
• Anything that is an upgrade is legitimate.
• If you want a different loot system then form your own group – LFD is LFD.
• How else can I gear up my ___ offspec?
• Do to others before others do to you (someone else was probably going to need on anything they could so I should do it too/first).
• You can just run the dungeon again if you don’t win the roll

Let’s Have a Little Courtesy Here, Folks

Those supporting the idea of needing only on gear that matches the role you choose typically take a moral stance:

• It’s simply the right thing to do – otherwise it’s stealing.
• Main spec over off spec is the standard acceptable loot system anywhere else, why wouldn’t that social expectation apply to LFD?
• You choose the role you are in the dungeon and can choose a different role if you want loot for that spec.
• It’s being courteous to the other players in your group.
• It’s less likely to cause loot drama.
• It’s what is fair.
• It’s exceedingly frustrating losing main spec loot rolls to players gearing off specs.

A Quick Counter & A Difficult Resolution

The principle argument for those in favor of needing anything available is simply, “it’s okay because I can”. The counter argument from the other camp always boils down to, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Unfortunately, it will be very difficult for these two sides to ever agree. The problem lies in one comment I’ve read recently on a discussion of this topic. The poster said, “I don’t care about you. I’m in the dungeon to upgrade my character to raid with my guild. Why wouldn’t I need on something if it provides an upgrade for me?” Although, realistically the main arguments listed above for both sides are true (with the exception that it is really easy to build a gear set for an off spec without taking gear from main specs), the players that are willing to pass on OS gear for MS in a dungeon care more about their fellow players. They care more about being decent human beings. They understand that everyone in the dungeon is a team and you should try to be fair to teammates. Whether or not it is fair to call someone, who needs an off spec pieces that a main spec player could use, selfish – the truth is that they simply don’t care about the other player. They care only about their own progress and nothing for the person they will likely never group with again. Does that make the dungeon run or the overall game play experience more fun for anyone? I’d be hard pressed to find a way that it could be.
Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should

At first it may seem hard to argue with the logic that since Blizzard allows the need roll that it must be okay. It is also somewhat valid to say that it is unfair for one person to push their chosen self-limiting roll system on others. Then we must examine the consequences of accepting that it’s okay to need any piece of gear that Blizzards chosen system allows, regardless of the social or moral implications. I’ve seen many reasons people choose to pass on a piece of gear to another player: It’s for off spec; it’s better for you than it is for me, I already have one in my bank, it’s only a side grade (same level but different stats). If we instead apply the logic that “I will because I can” to these situations then it is acceptable to need a piece of gear: for off spec, even if the other player gets more benefit, if the stats aren’t really an upgrade, even if you already have one. If it’s okay because the button is there, then it’s okay to need a piece of gear that is already in your bags. If we back off just a little to the reasoning that it’s okay to hit need if it’s an upgrade (regardless of role) then what constitutes an upgrade? A higher item level or one with idea stats certainly fits the bill. But what about needing the piece of gear to disenchant? Sure, there is a DE option but you NEED those enchant mats for enchants to upgrade your gear. After all, often times an enchant is more of an upgrade than the slightly higher item level gear. What about needing for the vendor value? Yeah, greed can be used for vendor but it can also be used for off spec. If you can need then it’s okay, right? That gold you get from vending the loot can be used to buy upgrades in the form of gems, enchants, crafting materials or even pieces of gear from the auction house. Gold buys upgrades and therefore, in this context, gold is upgrades. I’d suspect that few would argue it’s okay to need for enchant mats and gold even though that makes the character more powerful, upgraded. If we’re going to apply player-made social construct limitations on Blizzard’s open-ended need system then the MS=OS system is no more valid than gold=upgrades yet the most accepted system in all contexts outside of LFD (and a great number of players running it) is MS>OS.
Solutions?

Player solutions have a few limitations. There’s no way to ensure or enforce that every player follows any set social limitation from MS>OS or even to not need gear to vendor it. Communication can go a long ways. At the beginning of a run, if there is any potential loot conflicts (cloth healer with cloth dps, plate tank with plate dps), then ask, “Are we going with MS>OS or just needing on whatever?” Then it could help limitation from denial of expectation (it’s worse to lose the gear that you expected to win because no one else has the role the gear needs than to know it’s a free for all and lose it). Of course, selfish people have a tendency to not be the most honest when it benefits them, but if loot rules are agreed upon there’s a little room to get Blizzard GMs involved. Alternatively, we could all shove decency and courtesy out the door and roll on anything. Finally, we could simply stop caring about the gear all together. Neither camp fits this mold though – one side cares about loot distribution and the other side just cares about all the loot. I know, even in a completely open ended structure, I’d have been really let down after healing the nexus over 30 times to get the mace from Keristrasza to have a ret paladin take it when it finally dropped.

Blizzard could implement a simple change or two to the loot system that would also end the debate and solve the issue. Need for current spec (system checks current role to determine item eligibility, need for off spec (system checks class), green and disenchant as they are. While this doesn’t stop a player from needing a piece of gear they already have (and shouldn’t always, sometimes a piece may be good for two specs but reforged and enchanted differently), it would make a fair system that prioritizes the role someone choose for the dungeon yet still allowing for an easy way to gain off spec gear.