Tinker Town: Vanilla Unitframes in 4.0.x

In this column, I'll discuss user interface modifications and some tips and tricks I have picked up along the way. I have developed my own addon (SavedInstances), and while I'm hardly an expert I certainly have glimpsed behind the curtain more than once.

Those who played beside me back in The Burning Crusade will remember me as something of an addon-addict. I had several hundred installed at one point. So it may shock you to learn that my resolution for Cataclysm is to level all the way to 85 without any addons installed! Why the about face? Well, I've been watching the developments in the Cataclysm Beta (and more recently on the PTR) and it seems Blizzard has definitely revamped the vanilla interface in several important ways.

Unitframes are probably the most obvious element to replace. Unitframes are how we refer to the player, party, raid, boss, arena, pet, target and focus frames collectively. Does it have a health bar? Can you click it to change your target? Then it's probably a unitframe.

Blizzard's vanilla unitframes have never been especially exciting for the following reasons:

• locked in the top-left corner of your screen, can be far far away from the action
• health (and power) bars are thin enough to make triage by healers somewhat difficult
• raid frames are even less legible than party frames, mostly useless for hardcore healing

Take a look at my new party frames on the PTR, accomplished completely without addons. The differences are more than skin-deep:

• party frames can be set to behave like raid frames
• fully adjustable size (although the minimum is still a little large)
• displays incoming heals 
• raid frames (and thus, party frames) can be re-positioned
• lots of ways to personalise and customise
• can group players in several different ways

Unit Frames options

Raid Frames options

While the player, target and focus frames don't seem to have received the same overhaul, their size has not changed so they are still quite legible. My only complaint is that their position still seems a little unhelpful.

When raiding (on the PTR), players can now explicitly mark their role. Forming raids and remembering who can tank and who can heal is definitely going to be easier moving forward. No more asking for healers to type "1". and hopefully fewer raids that fill up without healers or tanks. :P

I obviously can't wait for Cataclysm, but it isn't just the story and the new spells, talents and loot that I crave. It will be interesting to see what other cues Blizzard have taken from the addon community. Blizzard have certainly made efforts to provide us with an interface that needs less replacing.

Killing Machine: Tipping The (Mad) Hat

As previously discussed, I took a bit of a break from WoW for a few reasons: I was moving inter-state and didn't want to make commitments I couldn't keep, and a serious of guild collapses had left me emotionally drained. Since then I'd logged in just frequently enough to disqualify myself from any re-subscription discounts.

This week, I put my tiny foot down and decided I that it was time I came back for real. I reached out to the mega-guild and found a friendly Icecrown Citadel 10-man group that would give me a chance. I had a few days to prepare, but found that nothing had changed with my class. I quickly flipped through boss strategies and the only encounter I had zero experience with didn't seem particularly noteworthy on paper. At this point I am feeling confident. Almost too confident.

Now, I would describe myself as being 95% reliable and a fairly decent player, but with a rare tendency to fail spectacularly. This is something I probably should have shared with the Mad Hatters before we started last night. 

Little did I know how true-to-form and red-faced I would be only minutes into the very first encounter. Half-way through, I am feeling relaxed enough with my rotation that I can mix it up and start weaving Unbreakable Armor in. Of course, the recommended way to do this is with Blood Tap, which I keep right next to my Death Grip button. Yes.

I am still grateful that this did not get me instantly kicked. I taunted Marrowgar, he spun around, cleaved and took out 4 of us, and this was while I was tapping my UA button not realising how out-of-sequence I was. Seconds later we were all in spectral form returning to our lifeless bodies. My spectator knew what I'd done and laughed at me from the couch. I was in total disgrace.

My form for the rest of the night was pretty decent, I thought. I played my role adequately and I don't recall any major issues. We had fun all night, and left only the Lich King alive for Saturday. I am especially impressed by the Mad Hatters break policy, which I think goes along way to keeping everyone relaxed and having fun. I even won that frustratingly rare amazing melee DPS trinket.

Reputations are funny things. In the old days I was remembered as the tank that fell screaming over the edge while facing off with Kologarn. Now I am "the Death Grip guy". /shrug

Here are some automatic screenshots from the achievements. You'll note that my button bars were temporarily re-organised for the safety of the group. :P

I'm on a Boat

The Plagueworks

The Crimson Hall

The Frostwing Halls

Beyond Azeroth: HoN vs LoL

Once the Heroes of Newerth free-to-play beta terminated (with the full release) I started playing League of Legends which is free-to-play. Having played both for at least a few weeks each, I feel I am in a position to share some observations (and judgements) on the subject.

Gameplay

Both HoN and LoL derive much of their mechanic from DotA, and there's no shame in that. They do differ somewhat in competitive design and learning curve.

Every death in HoN significantly alters the game in favour of your foe, via experience points and gold earned (or not earned). I'm definitely a "noob" for being in a position to notice this, but it will take several deaths in LoL to have the same detrimental effect on your team as it would in HoN.

I would like to see HoN lower the stakes just slightly and such that new players have a chance to find their groove. A skilled player can be completely undermined by another player's deaths (known as "feeding") and I think this is a little unfair at times.

While I have had fun playing LoL, I sometimes crave the often hectic experience than HoN offers. So the pressure to perform is a little higher, but it's not altogether a bad thing.

Verdict: draw.

Graphics

The clear winner here is HoN, but with some caveats. HoN looks and feels terrific. The animations are smooth and the spells are shiny. WoW players will feel quite at home as the art style seems very much inspired by Warcraft 3 (which spawned DotA). All the characters have a distinct appearance without any of them being harder to click on or easier to spot.

I have heard comments that intense conflicts in HoN can become confusing with all manner of bright spells flashing back and forth. It is a valid concern, but it's one I don't particularly share.

LoL doesn't look terrible. However, if you've been playing WoW for years, and HoN for a few weeks, then there's definitely a visual adjustment when playing LoL. The characters seem cell-shaded almost, auto-attack animations are indistinct. LoL seems more zoomed-out than HoN, though, which probably helps with player awareness.

Verdict: HoN wins.

Meta-game

This is an area where the stand-alone nature of both HoN and LoL really allows them to differentiate themselves. DotA was simply a multiplayer map pack for Warcraft 3, so it just wasn't possible to build some of the features that HoN and LoL provide to their players.

I like LoL's the most at this level. While you are earning levels in-game for your character in order to win the match, between matches you are earning levels for your player profile. These meta-levels control your access to abilities, characters and other configurable perks such as Runes and Mastery points. There just seems like there's more to do when you aren't actually competing, creating a desire to progress.

There's even a LoL store where you can spend points that you have earned to unlock new characters and costumes. And if you don't have the time to earn the points in the ring, you can swipe your credit card or PayPal account for instant access. I no longer feel averse to micro-transaction games, provided they are at least as thoughtful as it seems to be implemented here.

HoN has a ranked ladder system that is not unlike the Arena system in The Burning Crusade. Your position on the ladder effects the other players you are grouped with by the automatic match-making system. Custom matches feature a team-balancing function that works of this personal rating as well. And that's all. Striving to be your best in HoN isn't as specific a goal as aiming for a new character in LoL, and goals definitely help incentive me to play.

Verdict: LoL wins.

Software implementation

HoN has some very strong cross-platform support. They make simultaneous releases for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. As a player who won't be paying the Microsoft tax anytime soon (or the Apple one, thank you very much) this is extremely important to me. The HoN team would have made this decision very early in their development process, and I am grateful they didn't succumb to platform-specific ideas.

LoL just feels like it's been put together in a strange way. When hopping between the lobby and a match, the lobby "program" disappears and for a few seconds it feels like it just crashed. Then the match pops up. There's probably a good reason for this, maybe it was just easier to do, maybe not having the lobby code floating around makes the game play more efficiently, I don't know.

Disappointingly, LoL only works on Windows. I realise there's a tremendous effort required to support Mac and Linux, and it would appear they've already gone part of the way by using Adobe's AIR cross-platform framework. This is all the more frustrating because my partner prefers LoL and we are unable to enjoy the game together. I won't be rushing out to spend $300 on Windows just so I can play LoL.

Verdict: HoN wins.

Conclusion

These games are very similar, and they both add meaningful between-match features to the winning DotA formula. If LoL worked properly and easily under Linux and had HoN's graphic quality and style, then it would be my first choice. The problem is it doesn't, so my choice is basically made for me on the Linux issue alone.

At a time when game developers are transitioning to the console, it does seem a little rich for me to be sitting here with my alternative PC operating system crying for lack of support, but there it is. Many of the other games I enjoy can be experienced under Linux with little issue, and I hear even StarCraft 2 can be played with only a little effort under Linux.

Until the LoL developers commit either way on this subject, I'll wait with baited breathe. Blizzard and HoN can keep me warm until then.

Filthy Tricks: Return to the Shadows

Well, it happened. I stopped playing WAR for a few weeks, because I was tired of not having a real computer to play it on (a luxury my better half enjoys in lieu of myself). This last week has seen a few key hardware purchases, however, and hopefully within a fortnight we'll both have decent rigs. This will mean, of course, that we'll be playing WoW together. /yay

WTB AoE?

So I logged back in and brought Taraka up to level 50 with a few mostly-painless dungeon runs. If I have complained about this before, I apologise, but seriously: Fan of Knives at level 80? What is a low-level rogue supposed to do until then? I tend to blow my first five combo points getting one target as periodically damaged as I can manage before finding something else to stab. /yawn

Scheming and Planning

I am quite pleased with Shadowstep, as it most embodies my desired character theme: to be as much like a ninja as possible. My next talent points will go into Honor Amongst Thieves, which will be the turning point in PvE effectiveness for this toon. Even though Combat and Assassination both offer officially-supported damage output, I won't be abandoning the subtle path anytime soon.

I was most appalled to discover that my locksmithing skills are quite dated. Enemies have started yielding lockboxes far beyond my ken. The thought of grinding really doesn't appeal, but the thought of abandoning it altogether until I reach max-level seems even worse. I will probably end up murdering pirates (a ninja's arch-enemy) in Tanaris while waiting for Dungeon Finder to pop.

We're thinking of switching to Horde on these toons so we can experience a slightly different Outland (and beyond). I am a little lost when it comes to choosing Horde races. There currently are no Horde Gnomes, so my default choice doesn't apply. If only sneaky cows were possible, I would definitely pick the bovine folk. Any ideas?

Azeroth: The Sequel

I've taken a quick look at WowHead's latest Rogue Cataclysm Preview. What I am seeing is a handful of good talents are being moved from other trees to Subtlety, which will make spending at least 51 points (to get maximum Mastery) a bit more practical. In fact, the deep end is looking so tasty that I can't see myself spending less than 61 points there. Here's hoping people will stop laughing at me and my favourite talent tree. :P

I plan on having all my current toons waiting at level 80 so I can make a last-minute swap, although at this stage I think I'll be playing Vocah when the expansion hits. In between being shamed over and over again in StarCraft 2, that is.

I am looking forward to a certain Gnomish world event too. ;)

Hiatus: April Supplement

So, it would appear that my break from WoW is becoming more and more indefinite. Or should I say that my return to WoW is becoming less and less definite?

Massively Distracted

My partner and I have been playing Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning for the last couple of weeks and we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. I am a Chaos Zealot, a scary and hunched-over religious creep who's name means "blight". It sounds deadly, but the class is much better at healing than anything else, which suits me fine. I'm paired with a Dark Elf Black Guard, whom I hide behind (literally, because positioning somewhat matters) whilst our foes are whittled down into bloody tatters.

The game doesn't really seem to have evolved much since I last played (a few months after launch). The graphics are just stunning in some areas, but spell animations can be a little glitchy if you mash your buttons. However, the number of subscribers is nothing like it was at launch, and there are constant reminders (like the fact there are now just 6 servers).

If you are looking for a good cry read, I highly recommend this depressing tell-all by a former Warhammer Online GM. I still wish this game was doing better financially, because there are some really great differences between WoW and WAR where it leaps ahead. Public Quests and lairs are world-PvE opportunities that I wish Blizzard copied. The ability to target a friend and a foe simultaneously allows for some really interesting ability design.

I am finding the change of pace refreshing, since leaving WoW. WAR is definitely worth a look, especially since the first 10 levels are free. Note that WAR now has a Mac client, so now you can play a different game while you "think different". We're hanging out on Gorfang, so come on down and celebrate the mercy of murder.

The Glorious Strategist

I'm still occasionally plugging away at the StarCraft Brood War campaign. The end is in sight, however, as I'm halfway through the final Zerg story. This really isn't a terrific way to skill up for StarCraft 2, however, since the campaign AI is so predictable and not especially aggressive. I've given myself carpal-tunnel by crossing my fingers for a beta key for too long.

I ended up grabbing Supreme Commander 2 and while I find it okay to play on occasion, it's really inferior to the original in many ways. I don't mind the graphical simplification (so modern computers can actually play at full settings, yay!) but the gameplay has been "sexed-up" such that skirmishes are faster and research is less satisfying. The spiritual successor to Total Annihilation has been morphed into the popcorn of real-time strategy.

I was looking forward to the Chaos expansion to Dawn of War 2, but haven't been able to afford it yet. On a side note, the job-search is really depressing and I think I may soon turn to prostitution (ie: telemarketing). They stripped all the base building out of DoW2, which I sorely miss, but there are plenty of armies and new combat mechanics to distract you. Worth a look if you thought the original wasn't fast-paced enough.

Promises, Promises

Anyhow, that's all for now. I'm fairly certain I'll come check out Cataclysm, and maybe even the Ruby Sanctum. Ciao for now, WoW cows. :)

Brief WoW-Hiatus

My raiding guild stopped raiding a few weeks ago, and Obsolete was probably the most progressed guild I have been in. It might be the most progressed guild I will ever be in. So with that guild announcement, I have started looking beyond WoW for my entertainment and I definitely feel better for it.

I've played through BioShock 1 & 2, saving Little Sisters and resisting the thirst for vengeance (thus yielding the super-good endings). I thoroughly enjoyed both games, and Rapture certainly continues to be a terrific setting for storytelling. I have yet to try multi-player (available in the sequel, only) but I hear it's a successful complement to the solo game.

I am currently working my way through StarCraft (the original) without cheating. In the past I've been a little too quick to skip missions and I aim to better myself in this respect. I've almost finished the original Protoss campaign, and then I'll move on to Brood War. I was not one of the incredibly lucky recipients of StarCraft 2 beta keys, so this is how I'll get my fix. I pray to Blizzard every night before going to bed. :P

I am moving house in a few weeks, so I'm trying to stay out of WoW until I've settled into the new place. It wouldn't seem fair to apply to a new guild (or sub-guild) and then suddenly be unavailable while I wait for the new ADSL connection. Also, I hear my favourite Death Knight tree, Frost, will be getting some love in 3.3.3, so until that patch is released I would just be /sighing alot.

So I'm continuing my little break for the next few weeks. Until I return, may all your /rolls be 100.

Killing Machine: It Slices, It Dices

In a continuation of my Death Knight column (focusing on the class in general, as well as my very own Vocah) I am delighted to announce that my [Shadow's Edge] has now tasted 1000 souls harvested within Icecrown Citadel! NOMNOMNOM! I got a few hundred from a farming run (resetting the raid before reaching Lord Marrowgar) and quite alot during attempts on Valithria Dreamwalker.

The next three tasks require me to steal essence from the Unholy, Blood and Frost wings in that order. I have to hop back into the guild queue for this, so it might be some time before I see much progress in this regard. After that, we're back in a familiar situation to [Val'anyr], with bosses (25-man only) having a chance to drop 1 of the 50 [Shadowfrost Shards] required for the final phase.

In a related matter, I won a [Battered Hilt] a week or so ago, and today I took the final plunge and subdued [Quel'Delar, Cunning of the Shadows]. I currently have it paired with the [Frost Giant's Cleaver], and I'm a bite-sized, slashing, chopping little maniac with them. :) Some people recommended I just sell it, but I figured my Frost build could use an upgrade and there's an achievement that I'd otherwise never ... umm ... achieve.

The quest-chain is fairly epic, requiring you to gather reagents from the Pit of Saron, temper it in the Forge of Souls, and finally face the blade itself when merely bringing it near Frostmourne in the Halls of Reflection causes it to go on a murderous rampage. I was quite moved when asked to participate in the re-enactment of Thalorien Dawnseeker's last stand before the Sunwell.

My only gripe is Quel'Delar doesn't mount on my back. I'd really like a checkbox to force weapons to mount on my back or my waist. That would be great, Blizzard. Go to it.

Killing Machine: The Feast Begins

I finally completed The Sacred and the Corrupt last night. Great big thanks to Naboo, Gadiyus, Cloria and Prostyles, without whom I would have had an even tougher time coming up with all those darn Primordial Saronite. Of course, I wouldn't have been able to do this at all without my guild: Obsolete. Thanks to all who had a part in allowing me to build Shadow's Edge. :)

I've already begun the lengthy Feast of Souls quest, in continuation of the legendary quest line. Last night I managed to feed this hungry weapon a whopping total of 18 souls before the guild succumbed to latency issues. With the current pre-3.3.2 timing involved with Blood Queen Lana'thel's Vampiric Bite, we try not to waste attempts on particularly laggy nights, which unfortunately makes progression more difficult than it really needs to be. :S

Just a reminder to anyone else suffering on Barthilas: be sure to report latency issues as often as they occur using the in-game tool, so Blizzard knows that they really have to do something about the Oceanic realms and the Bloodlust battle group. I normally rest on anywhere between 250ms and 350ms (I refuse to engage a tunnelling service on principle), and I post reports whenever it's over 600ms.

Filthy Tricks: Enter Taraka

In an effort to become more self-sufficient in certain other endeavours, I decided to roll a Rogue. All the guides and all my friends cautioned against it, but I had long fantasised about specialising in Subtlety from the very beginning so that's the path I chose. As is my custom, I tend to focus on the single-point talents in my primary tree, then fill in the secondary talent tree, then come back and fill in my final points.

His name is Taraka, after an order of assassins in my favourite TV series ever: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This was an opportunity to play a female Gnome, I suppose, but I just couldn't bring myself to switch the gender setting. I've never been entirely comfortable roleplaying the fairer sex, and the fact that so many boys and men are is a source of confusion to me. :)

Even at this low level I think I have a new fondness for Rogues. The play-style is pretty fun, especially since the low raid performance of Frost DKs goes unaddressed by Blizzard for the time being. I'm definitely getting my dual-wielding fix here, stabbing enemies rapidly is lots of fun.

Levelling with the Dungeon Finder: 15-30

The Dungeon Finder is a little hit-and-miss at these low levels. The main issues are that these dungeons (Deadmines and Gnomeregan in particular) are extremely trash-heavy, and they feature miles of distance to cover from start to finish. I've been in a random group for Gnomeregan twice so far that ended up disintegrating halfway through. Also, I think some DPS fail to appreciate how hard it can be to tank with such limited pools of abilities.

Dungeon Finder Bliss: 30-?

Once I dinged 30, adventures at the Scarlet Monastery were suddenly available and suddenly I found myself in groups that could actually finish a dungeon run. I can't say much for this bracket since I've just reached it, but I have a feeling this bliss is short-lived. These short dungeons can't get me all the way to 58 and I dare say there are some hardships ahead. I'll keep you guys posted should anything interesting happen in the meantime. :)

New Year's Resolution / Dungeon Tips

I suppose it's a little strange having a New Year's resolution for WoW. Regardless, my new mantra this year is:
Never lie to the Dungeon Finder.
That means if I can tank and/or heal, then I am definitely ticking those boxes. DPS is so easy sometimes, but the Dungeon Finder only works if everyone contributes. Besides, playing an in-demand role can shorten your queue times significantly, so why not?


Tips for New Tanks

If any low-level and/or new tanks are reading this, here are a few suggestions on how you might improve your experience when using the Dungeon Finder:

• Stand still as often as possible: melee DPS classes are ideally supposed to be attacking enemies from behind, and this is impossible when the target is following a dancing tank. Your healer(s) will never lose line-of-sight or range either.
• Keep enemies in front of you: player-controlled characters are unable to avoid (dodge or parry) or block damage from enemies that are behind them.
• Mark a DPS order: I have the raid markers (skull, cross, etc) keybound to my F*-keys. This makes it trivial to mark up enemies, and helps your DPS find the targets they are supposed to be killing, which should make it easier for you to maintain threat on everything.
• Master "the pull": there's quite a lot of finesse to tanking, but once you figure out how to get enemies on your good side, everything will suddenly become smooth and shiny for the whole party. :)
• Mind your healer: if your healer is frequently running low on mana, make sure you let them drink-up between each pull. It might be a good idea to "pop your cooldowns" (meaning your damage-soaking self-buffs) at the start of a pull, or whenever your healer is having trouble.

Rules for DPS Players

Low-level DPS players are in too great a position to spoil an experience for tanks. Here would be my suggestions for the death-dealers in a party:

1. Don't die: your ePeen is worth nothing when you are dead. Resurrections and grave-yard runs steal valuable time from the whole group.
2. Watch your threat: this is one of those very simple tips. Reign in your compulsion to kill for just a few seconds while your tank gets a situation under control. Tab-target often so you know you are killing the enemy with the lowest health, which should hopefully be the same target the tank is concentrating on. 
3. Obey raid markers: the convention is to concentrate on the skull-marked enemy first, followed by the cross. I am amazed at how often unmarked enemies die before marked ones.
4. Crowd-control early, interrupt often: the moment your tank pulls, you may have a few moments to CC some of the enemies before they reach him. Depending on the strength of the group, this could save you lots of hassle and make the pull easier on everyone. Enemy casters should be interrupted and/or silenced as often as possible by anyone able to do so. Note that you should never immobilise an enemy when a nearby patrol will come and notice.
5. Defend the healer: if there is an enemy attacking the healer, by all means stop it. You could pull threat on the enemy or CC it, or use healing or defensive spells on the healer. Remember, sometimes the best way to CC an enemy is to just tank it yourself for a few moments.
6. Help your tank: if you have any threat-sharing abilities, you should be giving them to your tank whenever they are available. This is especially necessary if you are approaching or exceeding the tank's level of threat on your target.

Gorloc Tribe: Cracked!

I've been religiously hatching my Mysterious Egg every single week since convincing The Oracles that I could be trusted with them. My weekly ritual (the inspiration for my neglected addon: EggTimer) has involved breaking open my Cracked Egg filled with hope, falling rapidly into despair when the contents are revealed, taking the long flight over to Sholazar Basin to get a new egg, and then getting on with my life for another week. I have had over a year of disappointment with enough Aged Yolk to make a stinky omelette the size of Sholazar Basin.

Cut to this morning, when I was pleasantly surprised to find the Reins of the Green Proto-Drake emerged from my Cracked Egg. Finally, my devotion to the long-tongued has paid off and I will never hatch another egg (on my Death Knight). Off to help the mean puppy-men now, to get my Frenzyheart Brew.

Gnome Responsible for Icecrown Boss Gates

There's a great little post over WoW.com: Further explanation for Icecrown's delayed gating. I'm about to shamelessly rip it off, but at least you know. :)

Muradin Bronzebeard, the dwarf that accompanied Arthas to Frostmourne and was long thought dead, is part of the leadership heading the assault on Icecrown Citadel. His all-star team of international lock-picks and door-openers consists of just a single fellow. This fellow:

This little Gnome is the reason we can't find our way past Deathbringer Saurfang at the moment. Maybe we should lend our support? Petition Muradin to send in more Gnomes? I'm obviously proud that one of my kin is the specialist tasked with paving the way for us all. However, I'm afraid by under-staffing this critical department, Muradin might have unwittingly set Gnomes up for even more prejudiced treatment in the long-term.

How many Gnomes does it take to open Icecrown Citadel?

The Warlock Diaries: Sholazar Basin

A short time after Vocah (my main) reached the level cap, I swapped Mining in exchange for Blacksmithing (retaining Engineering, don't you worry) and started work on Hus so I'd still be able to gather ore when I needed to. I was sitting on two level 80 toons long before 3.1 and I had completely forgotten all about my Burning Crusade main that I left back on the blasted remnants of Draenor.

With 3.3 looming on the horizon, I finally dusted off Gachnar a few weeks ago and he is currently working through the quests in The Basin. Something I've noticed is that most of the terrifyingly higher-level Horde players in the zone are too busy farming to stop by for a little murder. Sometimes I can actually survive for more than a few internecine moments in my mish-mash of Black Temple loot and heirlooms.

This is now only the third time I have had the pleasure of working through this zone.

• having an Artisan-speed flying mount is just terrific
• Nesingwary's quests are a great way to gain levels when fully rested
• it really is just like Un'goro Crater, but better

A few thoughts about the process of levelling a Warlock now:

• heirloom experience bonuses are awesome
• the Dungeon Finder is amazing, I owe at least half of every level to it
• Demonology is just wonderful and fun, I can't see myself ever leaving this talent tree
• part of the last point: I'm confused about whether or not I should pony up for Dual-Talents
• Hunter and Warlock pets should probably get Expertise from somewhere
• I can still get myself into trouble with "aggressive" pets
• ignoring raiding and the economy, Engineering is definitely the best profession :P
• Gnomes should learn to enter water less enthusiastically so we don't all drown :)

I think my next character will either be my Priest or perhaps a Rogue. I haven't really decided, but my Priest is already at level 70. Hmmmm.

Patch 3.2: Over and Out

After reading Vok's post over at Unreal Realities, I got to thinking about this last content patch and what it meant to me. I thought I'd take this opportunity to go over the goals I wanted to accomplish and just general feelings about how the game continues to shape up.

Patch 3.2 brought us the "Call of the Crusade". Right off the bat I was quite a bit less nervous and much more excited than I was when 3.1 brought us "Secrets of Ulduar" (the patch that killed The Pacemakers, once upon a time my first and only raiding guild). I was in a position to experience the content from day one and for a time all was well. :)

I really regret not starting the Argent Tournament dailies right away. I didn't realise just how many mounts, pets and tabards they would eventually have on sale. I currently have 5 mounts, 5 tabards and 1 pet that I still need to buy, totally 790 Champion's Seals. It sounds ridiculous and at times I feel like I'll be doing these dailies for the rest of my life. :S

Trial of the Champion was so very promising at first, and now it is my bane. I PUGed for weeks trying to get myself the Banner of Victory trinket (which would still be a decent upgrade for Vocah). I have since ceased advertising my ability to tank. Many players can be disobedient and incompetent (myself included on a bad day) but this just felt like my efforts to get a good trinket were being sabotaged at every turn. To date I have yet to actually even see the trinket drop. :(

The gear introduced in Trial of the Crusader was very nice indeed. From a plate DPS perspective, it seemed like there was actually only a single upgrade for each slot, so building my loot wish-list was easy as pie. It did mean that there was a little more competition for certain pieces, so the fact that I am bringing gear available at Wrath's launch into Icecrown Citadel does get me down a little. I am generally happy with how the new gear went, especially since Onyxia increased our chances at getting somewhat decent melee weapons. :)

Raiding in 3.2 and 3.2.2 was extremely repetitive. I didn't even raid Onyxia's Lair back at level 60, and I became quite bored of her within a few weeks. There was very little incentive to experience Onyxia's Lair more than once. Trial of the (Grand) Crusader took place in the same single room as Trial of the Champion /yawn. Our guild had connection issues during Heroic Northrend Beasts, the gatekeeper to the more difficult variant and thus also all the good loot and achievements waiting further in. :(

I was very excited about the changes to Death Knights, especially the dual-wield Frost tree that wasn't over-powered. In fact, it turned out to be slightly under-powered compared to Blood and Unholy, but I'll only shelve my one-handers for Shadowmourne. I was hesitant to dual-wield weapons before 3.2 because it was overly imbalanced at launch and then completely nerfed into nothingness. 3.2 made it possible to play my Death Knight the way I wanted to. Hint: Gnomes look awesome with two weapons during Heroism. :D

So, in summary, Patch 3.2 "Call of the Crusade" was worth :D :) :) :S :(. That's basically a storm cloud consisting primarily of silver linings. I was certainly kept busy during the this latest patch, and the things that really mattered to me (Death Knight balance and new raid gear) were addressed fairly well, even though I did feel bored for much of it.

Well Read?

I recently finished the Well Read achievement. Hooray for me!

I do feel like I completely missed the whole point of the achievement though. I certainly went all around Azeroth clicking on books, but I must confess that I did not actually read any of the text. It was so easy to simply click the Quest Helper check-box on the achievement and follow the dotted line to completion.

However, I do know a good portion of WoW lore, but mostly from looking up characters and items of interest whenever I encounter them in-game. There are probably many websites like this, but WoW Wiki is definitely my favourite. The comments at WoW Head are also very informative, but they have to be attached to actual items and NPCs, so it can be difficult to find information about historical events.

WoW.com (formerly "WoW Insider") has a several columns that deal with the lore of Warcraft. If you are like me and have not played every single Warcraft game, and have not carefully read and completed every single quest in WoW, then these are a great way to get all caught up. Whenever they have a new post available, I make sure to read the Ask A Lore Nerd and Know Your Lore columns.

Gnomes of Newerth?

I have recently found myself spending most of my farming time (in World of Warcraft, you silly, I am no agriculture-Gnome!) playing the closed beta of Heroes of Newerth. HoN is a Defense of the Ancients clone that is its own standalone game.

In case you've never heard of DotA or HoN, the gameplay has the standard God-perspective that most real-time strategy games use, and you command a single hero to move around the battlefield, cast spells and attack. Each battlefield is divided between the two factions (Legion and Hellbourne) with defensive structures placed along the main roads. The goal of the game is to destroy your enemies' headquarters before they destroy yours. Computer-controlled "creeps" are rudimentary soldiers that spawn regularly in your base and fight their way along the roads.

Now, if you are a seasoned DotA player, then you will not find any new gameplay here. However, because HoN is not simply an addon for Warcraft 3, it can offer player-focused DotA-specific features, including:

• a more modern graphics engine with better details and effects
• built-in voice-chat
• dedicated matchmaking system
• tracking of player ratings, ranks and statistics

I am fast becoming a fan of the gameplay. Of course, this does not imply that I am actually any good. Presently, my rating tends to rest between 1300 and 1400, although today it dipped below 1200 due to some really bad decision-making on my part. There is definitely some finesse required to play this game well, and I hope to cultivate this over time. So far I've discovered that melee characters are especially difficult for me to master, so for now I try to steer clear of them when choosing from the 57 different heroes available.

I have yet to find a Gnome amongst the otherwise varied roster. There are three unreleased heroes as I write this, but the likelihood of one of them being a Gnome is low. Gnomes are comparatively small creatures, and it would be unfair and uncompetitive to have a hero that is difficult to see and click on even before game mechanics and abilities are applied. Still, I hold some hope, as there are already heroes in the game that ride on various geometry-expanding mounts, something I am sure would help increase a Gnome's profile.

I heartily recommend checking out the game if you can. Keep your ear to the ground and act quickly when the next batch of HoN beta invites are available. The game is already extremely polished and enjoyable (even with my utter lack of skill). Once the entire hero roster is finished, the open beta cannot be too far off.

Oh yeah, and WTB more Gnomes. :)

Showing your colours, WoW-style

If you've spent enough time in WoW, especially in parties and raids, you'll have learnt how to identify a character's class simply by looking at its colour. Each character class has its own distinct colour, so that they can easily be identified in the Raid window and throughout the user interface. Below is a table of the character classes in WoW with their corresponding hexadecimal colour code:

Death Knight	C41E3B
Druid	FF7D0A
Hunter	ABD473
Mage	69CCF0
Paladin	F58CBA
Priest	FFFFFF
Rogue	FFF569
Shaman	2459FF
Warlock	9482C9
Warrior	C79C6E

What I've done in the above table, is actually use the class colour code on the text in the first column. How you do this is specific to the sort of place you use the code. For example, BBCode is a particular content format that is widely accepted in many different forums, and you can use the code like this:

I really like dealing damage with [color=#C41E3B]Vocah[/color], but I also like healing with [color=#FF7D0A]Hus[/color].

That above line will actually be displayed like so:

I really like dealing damage with Vocah, but I also like healing with Hus.

Notice how even though I don't specify the classes, experienced players will automatically know which classes I am referring to? The important part is the colour code, and figuring out how to specify font colours in the document format you are using.

You can actually download the official Interface Addon Kit and find out more about how Blizzard's user interface is put together. If you are a tinkerer at heart, then this is a good place to begin. I actually appropriated those precise class colours from the FrameXML/FontStyles.xml file found in the kit.

This was a little off-topic, but I've always found this handy and I hope you will to. I find these colours can be a simple way to enhance discussion of multiple characters or spruce up a forum signature without much effort.

Phase 3 = Profit

It seems Blizzard took their first steps into a world of microtransactions. This has been covered in tonnes of places, and my friend Vok mentions it over at Unreal Realities, but in case you've been busy tinkering with your gadgets you should know that Blizzard is offering vanity pets for cash (not in-game currency, US dollars or Euros).

I love vanity pets. I spent a month farming for the Disgusting Oozeling so that Vocah could summon it the day he was freed from the Lich King's service. I bought the Firefly from a guildie for 500g back when The Pacemakers were working up the courage to face Magtheridon. And just recently I purchased an adorable baby Murloc in a Spacemarine outfit for real Australian dollars.

Blizzard's decision to do this has got me thinking about a hypothetical situation in which they allow us to purchase in-game gold through their store. I realise that Blizzard has not announced such a move, and even if it were coming I doubt we'd see it until the expansion after Cataclysm. Back to my fantasy (or nightmare), let's take a look at the positives:

• Third party gold-sellers and the seedy eco-system they foster, including account-theft and all forms of in-game spam, might be completely eradicated.
• Assuming most of the highly-desired rewards (eg armor and weapons) are still earned through playing, money and time will still be no substitute for skill and dedication.
• We would no longer have to do daily quests (or otherwise spend lots of time) to earn gold.
• The many fixed and running costs of levelling and maintaining a character (eg skills, training, mounts, repairs, flasks) can be conveniently covered by players too busy to save in-game currency.
• Players with real-life commitments will have one less barrier to keeping up with other players.

For good measure, here are a few negative consequences:

• In-game inflation harms the economy, and measures introduced to combat this may be unpalatable.
• Activision Blizzard might be tempted to offer any in-game item or perk for sale, defeating the purpose of cultivating player skill.
• Skilled or dedicated players who are accustomed to feeling superior will resent players with real-world money.
• Blizzard's official stance is that buying and selling gold is against the terms of service, and a sudden reversal of this policy may make them appear silly or frivolous.
• Trading currency in this fashion may make the game illegal to play in certain countries.

I feel very uneasy about the idea of officially-sanctioned gold-buying, but there is a compelling case in its favour. The first items on each list are really the big issues. On one-hand, we have the possible end to account-hijacking and spammers luring players away from "acceptable use". On the other hand, we have a completely broken in-game economy with everything on the auction house costing millions of gold.

This topic will be an interesting one to watch. I can't wait to see what Blizzard will sell next. In case any of you wondered, I am definitely going to be picking up those pets soon, along with a few authenticators. So, are you hopping mad for vanity pets? Is the Blizzard Store your next stop? How would official Blizzard gold change your life?

PS: WoWenomics is a blog that keeps a good eye on the state of our virtual economy. There was an interesting post that shows you how to determine your gold-making skills, and I believe I ended up being an Apprentice.

Patch 3.3 versus Cataclysm

I've been discussing this with friends recently and it just occurred to me that this is exactly the sort of topic that would make an ideal blog post. Allow me to just start this post by saying that Cataclysm excites me more than Patch 3.3. Now that my bias is disclosed, allow me to elucidate further.

These are the following parts of the next content patch that I care most about:

• new APIs for quests that will vastly improve the quality of quest-related addons
• the display of auras is improved so that important buffs can be seen while less pertinent ones are collapsed or hidden
• nameplate visibility is changing, I don't know if they'll be better but I'm definitely curious
• possible closure of the Frostmourne story, and believe me I'm only mildly curious about it

Meanwhile, Cataclysm promises the following personal highlights:

• significant changes to the Warlock class, I might actually want to level up the one I left back in The Burning Crusade
• new races to consider rolling / switching
• new racials for existing races, I can't wait to see what Gnomes get 
• Gnomes can be healers, and I plan on switching my Night Elf Priest to a Gnome as soon as this is possible
• flying mounts that work everywhere in Azeroth, and not just the few secret places we currently enjoy
• Deathwing is a much cooler and vastly more powerful being than The Lich King
• new Path of the Titans personal progression

The fact that an expansion has more interesting changes is obviously expected. What I find surprising is how little I care about the content patch. The only new material that even registers the mildest interest is the storyline. I do like the appearance of the new tier pieces, but I do not think they outweigh the awfulness that tier 9 forced upon us.

With the exception of long-term class evolution (like the Warlock overhaul), I am not interested in the monthly tuning of class balance and am actually relieved that Death Knights seem fairly stable. Not having to learn how to play my class all over again is quite nice. I do not have a Hunter on my roster, but if I did I would likely be very much intrigued by the big Hunter changes too.

As a small-time addon developer, I am quite interested in any changes Blizzard make to the API. The more we are allowed to tinker with, the richer our potential UI configurations can become. Everyone has a different idea about their perfect UI, and Blizzard should be congratulated for the lengths they have gone to in this area. If I could have it my way, Blizzard would uncouple content and interface patches, so that we could get our juicy new code faster. It also means we could get our new content without having to wait for last-minute changes to the interface (in-game voice-chat ring a bell?).

This post is starting to get long, so I'll leave it there. Have I left out anything that you are really looking forward to? Besides the closer release date, is there anything that makes Patch 3.3 more interesting than Cataclysm for you?

Vocah the Hallowed!

I have been fairly anxious all week, this being the in-game holiday known as Hallow's End. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the achievement for participating in this holiday was the last one I needed for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. The reward for completing this year-long commitment is an "extremely fast" Violet Proto-Drake, which is the only extremely fast mount that can be obtained without considerable skill in the Arena (PvP) or the co-ordination required for many of the most difficult raid encounters in the game (PvE).

My progression through this holiday was reasonably straight-forward. Much of the effort was simply remembering to pester an innkeeper as regularly as possible. I was somewhat lucky and my first Trick or Treat resulted in a Toothpick for That Sparkling Smile. This is certainly the sort of treat that would earn uncontrolled quantities of toilet-paper in real life, but of course it is novel and charming in Azeroth. :P

Over the next few days I hopped between inns and flight paths for the Tricks and Treats of Azeroth, completing the holiday quests and engaging in a daily battle with the Headless Horseman himself. In short order I had completed almost all of the prerequisite achievements and it was then that I reached an impasse: Sinister Calling. The completion of this last achievement is completely random. The pieces required are rare loot from the encounter with the Horseman. I could feel panic settling in.

Every day I joined a Headless Horseman party and it seemed like that last little vanity pet would never emerge. I happened to be in a guild group on the sixth day when the Sinister Squashling dropped. Grimreefer, to whom I owe my shiny new purple friend, won it and cheerfully traded it to me. Thanks again, Grim, may lots of Shadow Priest gear drop this week for you!

Without further ado, here are the glamorous shots:

So, did you manage to get your Violet Proto-Drake this year? If not, what holiday are you missing? Was it bad luck with loot?