Also made a static page for the template.

This link to the PSD file should work, let me know if it does not.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4y5GhWFJQHtWDYtNnhFQTM5Ukk/edit?usp=sharing

I added a 8.5 by 11 template for card stock.  It is centered on the page so should be able to be printed on both sides.

I am writing this quick summary as I listed my blog and twitter account in the other form field when I canceled my subscriptions as places to check for additional feedback since 255 characters is nowhere near enough to actually post a reasonable explanation.

I will most likely also be making followup posts hopefully in a Blizzard “Soon”TM time frame going into greater detail on some of the topics below.

So to begin what is it I would normally like to do in WoW, that I did in tBC, Wrath, and Cataclysm that I am not really doing in MoP.

1. Craft gear for alts, guild members or for sale on AH
2. Work on alts which would receive said gear.
3. With alt army gather, sell, trade materials essentially play the AH.
4. Do guild runs of dungeons, raids or other content, on a more casual basis.

Crafting

While I really liked how some of the professions worked with the random item stat generation at the same time it really sucked that there was not a way to make sure a blue item.  This could easily have been done by adding a few additional patterns that create random secondary stats but with an extra crafting material will always generate Intelligence, Agility, Strength or Spirit items.  This would need a slightly different crafting panel one which had 2 more spots for optional materials to be used such that you could a mote of harmony to make sure a blue quality item for normally green patterns and as I previously mentioned an item that would influence the Primary Stats on the item, thus decreasing randomness with an increase in material cost.  Hell uncut green quality gems would be perfect for this.

Alts

This IMO has been the most Alt unfriendly content in the games since Vanilla where Vanilla is the ultimate unfriendly Alt environment.  My interests in game change constantly depending upon well anything else in or out of game.  Some days I like to melee, rarely tank anymore, usually I like to range dps, and occasionally heal.   Certain classes I like more than others for each of those roles so having the army of alts available and geared meant that when I logged in I would be able to do what I wanted depending upon which class/role combination I felt like playing at that moment.  4.3 was great for this which is why MoP is such a kick in the balls.

The added benefit of having an Alt army was that no matter what the class developers did there should be at least 1 combination of class and role that I should feel like playing.  This is not true anymore because with the current raid design even in LFR there is no way in Hell I will tank them ever.

AH

Not much to say here other than after the first month or so the expansion the AH was dead as a door-nail even on the mid population server that Elune-US usually finds itself as.

I have many theories on this and only Blizzard has the data to verify it unfortunately.  My theory is that since the number of Alts being played and the initially gear and entry in to normal mode raids was so brutal that most are only playing one character maybe 2 now with  some exceptions.  Since for a very long time only 1 character needed items and most of the gear early on was very socket limited we had not turn over on gems.  Additionally since all the crafting patterns were locked away behind pain in the ass reputations only available once you hit 90 you had very few who had access to crafting crafted gear which severely limited how much was available on the AH.  Additionally once those items were posted on the AH the cost of them were such that very few could afford them which limited the supply even more because if they would not sell at a price the makers felt justified the weeks of Rep hell to get the patterns the market imploded into an even greater depression.  I could go further here but will not as even what I have theorized I have no way to prove or disprove.

Casual Guild Runs

Casual raiding guilds are dead, my current guild, one which I helped to form, to survive has become much more hardcore.  That is all I am going to say about the guild.  Now for the content that caused this crisis is simple. The tuning on all raid content since ICC, with the exception of Dragon Soul, has been way over-tuned.  In the past and on Twitter I have gone on about this extensively and am not going to bother expanding upon it here.  However it was worth mentioning.

It is not that I don’t have opinions on the current content and game systems in WoW, it just does not seem worth it anymore.  I have been concerned about item level inflation for several years now.  Early in Cataclysm IMO saw it as something to be concerned about and would lead to completely stupid levels of gear/damage inflation.  Well we are either there now or will be by the end of this expansion.  I really would like to see Blizzard be pro-active and not reactive.  The only proactive thing I have seen them do in Mists was the complete and total overhaul of the Talent system.

Don’t get me wrong I liked the overhaul, and as far as class play goes I like how most of them play.  I don’t like active tanking but I am giving up on that fight, other than to say that it just is one more way that artificial walls are being put in place to limit access to content.

IMO game design should be about making inclusive content that everyone can take part in to  some extent.  So far since Cataclysm Blizzard appears to have done their damnedest to segregate the player-base.  Even if it is not their direct goal, it is the net effect of all the other content design decisions they are making and refuse to change.

In a world of infinite resources for development, I am sure Blizzard could create completely equal 10 and 25 man content which has more than just Normal and Heroic or binary difficulty.  So we could once again have 0,1,2,3D Sarth on both 10 and 25 man versions, hell on top of it a 25 man LFR version of 0D Sarth to boot. That would result in 9 different versions of the fight with 5 different levels of difficulty since 10 and 25 would be equal of course.

To say that 10 and 25 man can be equal difficulty when there is only 1 size of the room yet in one mode 2.5 times as many players that need to spread out on certain mechanics is complete fucking joke.  But enough about raiding since I have not actually “raided” since I Firelands.  I have run LFR and enjoyed it in 4.3, but did not really like the MV -> HoF & TES change up, and ToT LFR don’t get me started.  I essentially only run ToT LFR with a guild run or when there are at least 6-8 other guild members in the group before queuing.

Size of Market

Yes given the size of the WoW Playerbase a “One AH to Rule them All” is not really doable given the number of auctions and number of active users would be about the size of eBay on size of scale.   A good first step for all servers would be to make all of the AHs run by a neutral faction like void storage and other newer services.  If we need a lore reason I am sure one could be made up with the increased war efforts all of the previous merchant vessels and shipping lanes have been conscripted into the war effort making it a prime vacuum to be filled by neutral Goblins and the Consortium.  Or even better the Black Prince moves to take over this hole extending the equivalent of the Black Market AH to AHs.

At the initial level the Alliance/Horde/Neutral Auction Houses were combined into one that would at least help the minority faction on servers that are heavily unbalanced.  Yes, there will be market disturbances based on this but Blizzard has shown that they are willing to piss in everyone’s cereal if they think it is for the betterment of the game and this would be IMO another case where they should.  The initial effect is going to be greater deflation on the price of raw materials with a follow through with end products.  However as a large supply propagates through the markets were things were much higher than the other market that they are being combined with over all a new average price will result.

This leads me to the next place IMO Blizzard messed up in MoP.

Market Volatility, Supply & Demand, and the quest for more Purples (BoP, BoA, BoE and the AH)

Lets be honest the in the end the goal of every player is to have fun and feel like they are not just wasting time.  There are many ways to measure this some more popular than others.  One of the most popular methods is to compare iLevel of gear, followed closely by looking good in the gear we have.

One of the things I like to do in all the games I play is make stuff.  Gear, Food, whatever is available to make I will end up with a bunch of crafters.  I found the cloth in Cata and now MoP to be infuriating especially when comparing it to Leather and Metal rare materials.  Because the Cloth is BoP and the others are BoE.  This means that Tailors have to commit to a daily regimen of cloth production with their cooldowns, save it all and then craft the item either for themselves or to sell.  The other crafting professions have the joy of being able to pull resources across many players to quickly create 1 item for themselves, their guild or for profit.

On top of that one of the general resources is also BoP, I have hated BoP crafting material throttling as a gearing cock block since I started playing the game and first encountered them.  I like open markets and free trade, and nonsensical restrictions make my blood boil.

A side effect of this which was really prevelent in Cata before Raiding started to die a slow and painful Death was all of the classes that could gear up with communal resources did and left the poor clothy DPS and Healers behind as they had weeks of cooldowns to use before they could fill the slots that Blacksmiths, Leather workers and others could fill with a few borrowed cooldowns.  Now with all the other casual and crafting alt reputation hell that players must go through there are very little BoE gear on the AH, which means players are not buying and or crafting the gear because the market is so limited.  Then since there is not the gear churn for mains and alts the secondary consumable market is now imploding on itself as there is an over abundance of supply with little demand since alts and raiders are just saying screw it, not worth the time investment.

The faster it is to gear an alt or to switch mains the more robust the market is because gear and consumables are being used and upgraded.

Tag to Faction

This was just a follow-up to the new world bosses being now tag to faction.  This is joyous as I have played GW2 almost exclusively since new years when I decided to give it a go.  It is remarkable how much nicer players are towards one another when they don’t have to compete with your own faction over kill tags.  There is just no description other than glorious, because to be honest in WoW, hell is other players in the area you are.  If they are it means longer quest time and few resources as you compete over everything, with a few rare exceptions.   In GW2 where everything is cooperative it actually makes you happy because that means things will get done faster for you and the other person rather than longer.  You then start to look forward to others joining in and not wishing you could go global pvp flag and kill them.

Problem the First: Multi-layered Gating Mechanics

Specifically in this case Justice/Valor Gear Vendors being Reputation Restricted.  Now I realize that a few of the restrictions have been loosened and some of the item levels have been increased after the fact but let’s get down to the basics.  Gating content is acceptable, and needed in some regards we all understand that, however for each gating mechanism there really should be X+1 ways to earn or bypass said Gate.

Problem the Second: Level Cap or Don’t Bother

In previous expansions some of the end-game factions were available to gain rep with before reaching the level cap.  This was useful because if you knew you wanted to get rewards from that faction you could then focus a nice part of your leveling content doing the normal quests for them.  In MoP with the un-rested xp rate acquisition and xp needed to level being so tight there was little wiggle room and flexibility as to which quest hubs you skipped.  Unless you leveled with full rested xp the whole time you were either going to have to go through some or all of the Wilds or deal with the hell that is Dread Wastes prior to being able to fly, again.

Problem the Third: Factions Locked Behind Factions (Worst of Problem the First and the Second)

So this the real problem with the basic design of End Game in MoP if you are not a raider or if you play more than one character regularly.  The amount of time required to push through to 90 and then be hit with a wall that is an even greater time investment just to get sub-par rewards adds insult to the injury.  I would elaborate more but several weeks have passed since when I started this post and now finishing up this part.  In the mean time I have come across several other games that I find much more enjoyable to spend time playing.

Two of them were single player games and one other is a MMO that I am really grooving on the systems as far as crafting, exploration, alt interplay and general leveling.  That MMO is Guild Wars 2, and I am surprised by how much I am enjoying it since I found the first Guild Wars many years ago to be very lacking.

1) The character is Human +10% Rep = Win where dailies are the only way to get rep and dailies suck.

2) The dailies in many cases are a major pain in the ass if you do not have at a minimum, the mitigation of a non-tanking plate wearer.  The mobs just hit too damn hard for content that is supposed to be completable solo and when not geared in full 463 blues or even epics.

That is it about why I play that character over the Mage, Priest, Druid, and Warrior that I also have at 90.

So now that the summary is out-of-the-way let’s get into what I really don’t like about MoP, and the following statement sums up pretty much all the current end game content.

It is not worth my time.

Or to elaborate a little.

The amount of effort and time required to get just 1 character ready for LFR and the crafting patterns I would want to use to gear up that and future characters is too great that by the time I would get there with my gaming habits I would not need the rewards.

This second part is pretty much the one problem I have found with every god damn MMO.  For some unexplained reason the ability to craft useful gear for the level your character is at only occurs if you are raiding at end game and you can get a raid drop crafting pattern.  Every other item made is damn near useless or you have better obtained via another method first.

I will end here for now, the next one I may grump about will most likely be travel and the corpse running annoyances.

After reading BBB’s post “Does Blizzard hate their players?”, it made me think about all the little things that have pissed me off about this expansion.  It is an expansion that I like at least story wise for the most part and I like how for once the game is not super depressing which after Wrath and Cataclysm, let’s be honest the game has been a downer for years.  I like the farm and the pet battle systems but liking some of the mini-games when the main part of the game makes you hate it, it was time to re-evaluate my subscriptions.  I may keep the accounts open with time codes but that will be on a needed basis based upon how I feel about the game at that time.

I could go on about some of the things that annoy me with the game at the moment to bring this on but honestly I am too pissed and will just spit acid and have nothing constructive to give as feedback.  I will follow this up in a few days when I am cooler and calmer.

It just amazes me how Blizzard can do so many things really well and then just completely fuck it up with a few stupid design choices.

Elder Charm of Good Fortune

There are a few issues with the LFR loot system which is also used for the 2 current World Bosses.  The main one being that if you would win an item the second time defeating the boss you are taunted by the system showing you the loot and saying “If this had been the first time you did this you would have one this item.  Sucks to be YOU.”

The Elder Charms allow you to get an extra roll for loot on all boss kills even if you would not normally be able to loot from the boss in the case of LFR and World Bosses.  In normal and heroic it is my understanding that you can use them to get an extra chance at personal loot and not the normal drops and loot system that your raid is using.

My suggestion is that for LFR and World Bosses that the Charms are expanded to be such that in the case where you would have one item X but it was your second kill you should be able to spend the Charm to get that item and not just getting a random roll.  Hey if people then run LFR and World bosses until they get the item they want to drop for them the 2nd, 3rn, Nth time then hey that is 1 person helping others get their 1st, 2nd Nth time.

It would be a win/win, more people running LFR more regularly and then you don’t waste the 90 dailies worth of effort on gold equal to 2 dailies.

Cataclysm

The Bad

• Too Linear and Phased Questing between 80-85
• Initial Heroics and Initial Raid Tier Tuned to High for Introductory Content
• Poor Information Reports Raid Kills – At Character and Guild Level
• 10 & 25 on Same Raid ID – Extra Rules on Normal/Heroic/10/25 Toggles
• Nothing to do in game other than Raid, PvP or Level and Alt

The Good

• Complete Revamp of Primary 2 Continents in Azeroth
• Questing between 1-60 updated to New Mechanics and Technology
• Guild Level System and Guild Rewards
• Have Group Will Travel added to the Game

Mists of Pandaria

The Bad

• Have Group Will Travel removed from  the Game
• XP Required to Level 88, 89, and 90 still a little to steep without full rested XP.
• BoP Crafting Materials as World Drops (Motes/Spirits of Harmony)
• No Flying Until Level 90 – On Each Character
• Same Raiding Setup as Cataclysm so no Systematic Changes
• World Bosses
• Cross Realm Zones
• Too Many Reputation Grinds that Can Only Begin at Level Cap

The Good

• Several Mini-games added to the Game
•  Interesting and Interactive Quests introducing you to the Story when Traveling to Pandaria
• Quest progression somewhere between tBC and Wrath, not as linear and phased as Cata
• Multiple Starting Raid Instances
• The Landscape is Amazing

To my farming Page.  I may expand this with more information about the dailies and such but I did not get a character to 90 on the Beta so that will all have to wait until after MoP launches.