[1.Local]: No one plays WoW because of clams

My city of ruins
We suspect that reader Vektorix may have a bright future as a developer. Confronted with the state of Quel'danas today, he offers an idea that meets with resounding approval from other readers: "I really think that after all the work that was put in to taking and holding the Isle, killing Kael'thas and banishing Kil'jaeden, Blizzard should declare the war won and Quel'danas should become WoW's first resort. Beautiful golden sun, pleasant environment, no mobs -- it'd be the perfect sanctuary for weary adventurers. Who would hang out in Dalaran or Shattrath when there's a beach!!?"

How hard do hardcore players want it?
Nothing makes a juicier read than a good, old-fashioned Hardcores vs. Casuals throw-down. This week's iteration was marching along nicely until killjoy (we kid, we kid) David Kotsonis swooped in with a downright rational perspective: "I would classify myself as hardcore. ... What infuriates me aren't casuals. My closest WoW friend is very much a casual. She specs in a way that she enjoys rather than what's optimal, she doesn't put any time into researching the game, etc., etc. She just plays to play, whereas I get my rocks off with math and modeling and optimization.

"What does infuriate me are people who contradict the hardcore ethos idea of personal responsibility. People who stand in fire, wipe the raid, and say 'Whatever' and then do it again. People who, instead of spending three minutes on Google, badger others to explain an optimal spec point by point. People who get frustrated and log off when we wipe twice due to a dc or a new encounter.

"What some people don't understand is that when a hardcore player wants the base instance to be harder, it's not because they want to lock someone out. I'm fairly sure that every top raider I know would agree that a world where everyone had the skill to do pre-nerf Sunwell would be a better world. But I like being challenged, like being held to a higher standard of play.

"We don't want to have the door shut on other people. We want the door to be shut on us, and for all our skill to be needed to get it open."

The affliction of the Affliction rotation
The days of Warlock supremacy have passed. Nobody seems interested in keeping up complex Affliction DoT rotations – or are they? "I've played my 'lock as my main since 2005," notes Hohen. "I actually like the complex affliction rotation. While it's not for everyone, I like it as is. I would rather the Affliction mechanics that are broken were fixed, so we might experience DPS payoff worthy of the work one does during a boss fight. Keeping up seven DoTs and moving is working harder than a cat burying a turd on a marble floor. I don't have to be top of meters, but to be out-DPSed by classes who are not keeping seven dots up is just a bit much.

"I just have a feeling (a not-un-Warlocky feeling) that their well-intentioned cocking around will screw us over in the long run. I cheered at the destruction of the Shadow Bolt spam DemoSac/Destro spec I had to do in Sunwell. It was too good not to ... but it was boring. It also attracted mouth-breather FOTMs. I had hoped 3.0 heralded a return to the old days, when fewer played the class and the class was known as a bitch to play but had some payoff."

Overachievers, rejoice!
Achievement hounds – we've got your Mecca, right over here. Make a beeline for our new weekly feature on achievements, The Overachiever. Be sure to read through all the comments, as well, including helpful tips like this one from soon-to-be-Loremaster Aggrajag: "I'm six quests from completing Loremaster for the whole game. I have four in my log for Icecrown, but they're all 80g5, and I'm damned if I can get a group. I'm hoping that when I finally do, they will lead on to two more quests and then I will get my title. My observations about Loremaster:

• Dailies do not count, although if the first time you do it the exclamation is yellow, then it will count that once.

• Each zone seems to have about a 5% margin, i.e., you may need 100 quests for the achievement, but in the zone there are 105 quests.

• There is no fixed pattern about which zone gets the quest count if you pick it up in one zone and hand it in, in another.

• Some zones you need to leave (via a quest chain) and return to complete the achievement.

• Instances usually do not count. They do for Seeker, but not Loremaster."

A copper for your thoughts
We love the flavor text on all those coins in the Dalaran fountain – and we love readers' ideas of what they'd put on their own coins, too. The denizens of [1.Local] came up with quite a few thought-provoking, silly and RP-appropriate choices, but we think Silverlynx35 had a point when he observes, "This is what I picture on the blank coins if that were allowed:

"'Congrats on finding this gold coin. For even more gold, please visit our website at www.goldsellingjerks.com.'"

Tight as a clam
This week's last straw comes from, well, from Last Straw. In the course of a classic QQ rant, poor Last Straw comes out with what may just be one of the Great Truisms of MMORPGs: "No one plays WoW because of clams."

"stuff like this just pisses me off

"these jerks are worried about clams? are you serious? noone plays wow because of clams

"i play for pvp, and i am about to delete my account cause it is a broken, neglected system, that will not sort it self out

"dks are OP
"ret pallies are OP
"clothies get 2 shotted, 3 if they good

"warlock have to use 20 slots for 20 shards, the idoits talk of a whole new mechanic, make them as cool as *ing clams and ur problem is solved
"this may be the last straw."