Warcraft Ink

Breakfast Topic: What moments in WoW would you like to relive?

Posted on December 3, 2011 by admin

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider’s pages.

Nostalgia is a very strong thing. Even in the short lifespan of World of Warcraft, we often look back to better times or particular events with much pleasure and longing. For some, it may be the good old days of 40-man raiding, when every boss downed seemed a great triumph. For others, it may be a particularly hard-won Battleground fight, where, at the end, you knew you gave it your all. But it doesn’t have to be that particular. Maybe you miss a certain guild or a group of friends who are no longer in the game. Maybe it was more about the time and the place … a certain expansion and questing zone. Some of the best times may not involve fighting at all … just sitting on Vent and laughing with friends.

While I’m enjoying all the friends I have now and like the current expansion, I do long for certain times from the past. I miss the wonder I had when I first stepped through the dark portal and slowly learning just how my class worked (and that it could actually be quite powerful) as I picked up some great questing gear. I miss the group of friends who all played together in Wrath. Some play less now; one has gone off to school and hasn’t played on WoW since, one has gone off to another server, and one just hasn’t shown up in months. I miss the lighthearted banter, the constant playful insults amongst them, and a lot of laughing I heard over Vent.

Sometimes, I would love to go back to those days and relive them. I would also love to go back to the first very moment I stepped from the relative greyness of Auberdine into Ashenvale — the colors brightened, the music becoming beautiful and ethereal. I felt like I was truly in a magical place.

Do you have a particular time in WoW that you would love to relive? What makes that moment in time so special for you?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts

Breakfast Topic: What moments in WoW would you like to relive? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 03 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Breakfast Topic: What moments in WoW would you like to relive? – Joystiq

Posted on December 3, 2011 by admin

Breakfast Topic: What moments in WoW would you like to relive?
Joystiq
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Nostalgia is a very strong thing. Even in the short lifespan of World of Warcraft, …

Breakfast Topic: How would you revamp Outland? – Joystiq

Posted on November 5, 2011 by admin

Breakfast Topic: How would you revamp Outland?
Joystiq
After a few years of playing the original World of Warcraft, people were really ready for new places to explore, and BC really delivered. Now, however, leveling through Outland now is kind of a jarring experience. After moving up through the revamped …

Breakfast Topic: How would you revamp Outland?

Posted on November 5, 2011 by admin

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider’s pages.

A lot of players remember The Burning Crusade expansion fondly. After a few years of playing the original World of Warcraft, people were really ready for new places to explore, and BC really delivered. Now, however, leveling through Outland now is kind of a jarring experience. After moving up through the revamped old world content that Cataclysm has provided, the level 58-to-68 experience in the remains of Draenor is really showing its age.

Blizzard has expressed interest in revisiting Outland some day to update the content. If it were to do this, what would you like to see? Should the BC zones support a new expansion of high-level content, as opposed to a reworked 60s leveling experience (perhaps through phasing)? Could we see some more Draenei lore and storyline involvement, something really missing from the last two expansions?

What do you think the Outland of the future would look like? Would Zangamarsh swell with water again now that Lady Vashj and her Naga have been defeated? Who would sit in Tempest Keep? What have Akama and the Broken done with the Black Temple in our absence? Do the Naaru still reside in Shattrath City? What stories are there still to tell beyond the Dark Portal?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts

Breakfast Topic: How would you revamp Outland? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 05 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Breakfast Topic: What item would you design for WoW?

Posted on November 1, 2011 by admin

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider’s pages.

You have to wonder what a fun job it must be to be the person in charge of creating items in WoW. I mean, for example, you have the new engineering item Flintlocke’s Woodchucker as a great example of this. Basically, it’s an addon to any bow or gun that shoots “rabid critters” at the target.

I can just imagine the meetings where this was pitched. Comments like “Well, what would it be like to add in a mechanism that would launch rabid animals on top of normal bullets?” must have gotten a laugh around the conference table, but you know coders had fun with programming it. And the fun for this item went all the way to the patch notes, where they stated DHETA had protested, so now the Woodchucker only launches chickens. I was a bit disappointed when they changed that piece. I would have loved to shoot rabid squirrels at my targets, or maybe killer bunnies!

What would you create if you had the ability? Would you make a new gun, mace, or axe to run into battle with? Or would you go with something a bit more cosmetic or lighthearted? What are some of the mechanics you would use? What kind of flavor text would you use?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts

Breakfast Topic: What item would you design for WoW? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Breakfast Topic: What class would you bring to WoW?

Posted on October 30, 2011 by admin

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider’s pages.

WoW has survived for almost seven years now, and like Darwin predicted, it did so by adapting. I remember my first experience with this; Blizzard integrated the addon DoubleWide into the standard UI in patch 3.2. As someone who’d only ever played console games, the thought that developers would add changes to the main game after the fact was simply mind-boggling. And I began to wonder: What else could WoW add? What else has it added? To Google I went.

As it turned out, WoW had added a lot. What drew my attention was the most recent addition: death knights. The new kid on the block, they were an oddity due to their unique resources and mechanics, like runes, diseases, Death Grip, and Raise Ally. They were just as resilient as paladins, while not as defensively oriented — a bit like necromancers, but not really like them. Even the Warcraft RPG’s runemaster could be seen in them. There was nothing like the death knight.

However, I constantly jump between games. After a while, I went and found other MMOs to play. MapleStory, Guild Wars, DDO — the one true constant was the class selection. Warrior, wizard, rogue, archer … WoW had a version of every class, and every game had a version of WoW’s classes. And then I remembered death knights and realized I was mistaken.

There are many classes that aren’t represented in WoW’s ranks. The one that springs most readily to my mind is the mesmer, a class from Guild Wars that specializes in spell interrupting, delaying, and reflecting, punishing their opponents for action or inaction, and directly manipulating their opponents’ resources. Or maybe the fan-created chronomancer is more to your taste? Or maybe the bard?

If you could pick any class, which one would you want to bring to WoW, and how would it play?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts

Breakfast Topic: What class would you bring to WoW? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Breakfast Topic: How would you design a true hybrid role? – Joystiq

Posted on September 25, 2011 by admin

Breakfast Topic: How would you design a true hybrid role?
Joystiq
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Lately there has been a lot of talk in the World of Warcraft about the state …

Breakfast Topic: How would you design a true hybrid role?

Posted on September 25, 2011 by admin

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider’s pages.

Lately there has been a lot of talk in the World of Warcraft about the state of the holy trinity of class roles in the game. There have been talks on whether to add extra support roles such as CC classes to a list of available roles (this being difficult due to the hurry-up-and-grind mentality of much of the community). My thoughts for the day are what I see as a potential revamp in the way the game currently handles hybrids.

I have always been a fan of bizarre specs. In Wrath, I had a dual-wielding resto shaman who utilized Maelstrom weapon procs to churn out instant Chain Heals to the group while maintaining a semi-respectable DPS output. When Cataclysm came out, I was thrilled at the aspect of an priest Atonement build to churn out DPS while aiding the group with a few smart heals. Once again, the Holy Trinity reared its ugly head, and I realized that due to being a disc build, I would be forced into a healing-only role with DPS in the downtime.

If you could change any mechanic for a class to facilitate the ability to perform a true hybrid playstyle, what would it be? One example I can personally think of would be change the balance druid Eclipse mechanic to boost healing done while under an increase to nature damage. This would not apply to Moonkin form due to casting restrictions in form, but this would lead to easier balancing as well. Stick to boomkin to nuke out DPS, or stay in caster to throw out some solid, boosted heals.

What would you change up to make hybrids more hybrid-y?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts

Breakfast Topic: How would you design a true hybrid role? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 25 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Breakfast Topic: What skills would you like to see in WoW? – Joystiq

Posted on September 17, 2011 by admin

Breakfast Topic: What skills would you like to see in WoW?
Joystiq
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. I won't lie: I cheat on World of Warcraft. It happens, but she's a forgiving game. …