gating
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The Nexus Telegraph: How to fix WildStar
It's been a quiet couple of weeks for WildStar, which could be taken as indicating the team is making major changes, or it could just be pre-patch preparations that are taking half of forever. It'd look the same either way. We know the next patch is coming, and we have some idea of what it's going to contain, but we still haven't gotten anything resembling a release date. Still, leaving aside the obvious shift in patch schedules, I'd like to think this is the start of a paradigm shift for the game's development as a whole. This ties into the last column's topic quite well. The game has issues at the moment; it's not hitting the notes or player numbers it wants. What can actually be done to address this? How can the game draw players back and keep them engaged, especially when it's in need of some pretty serious server consolidation so early in its life?
The Daily Grind: Do you think gear level should gate content?
When I returned to World of Warcraft a few weeks ago, my more hardcore guildies were in a rush to show me the newest sights and latest dungeons. I don't blame them; they didn't want to run regular dungeons when they could be doing the shiniest heroic content and most cutting-edge encounters. But in modern WoW, one thing stood between us and that instant gratification: item level. Because I'd taken breaks from the game, my max-level Shaman had fallen behind in power as the seasons wore on. And that official item level stamped on her gear was more than just a marker that I wasn't elite; it literally gated the dungeons unless I sacrificed rewards (counterproductive) or got a bunch of new gear fast. It didn't take but a weekend or two to catch up, but it was still an annoyance that slowed everyone down, especially since my guildies were overpowered enough that a few more points on my gear weren't going to make or break our success. And while I understand that item level is a useful shorthand for judging your readiness for content, it's a bit disheartening to realize that gamers are being encouraged by the game to see each other only as a numerical gearscore. What do you think -- should items and item levels gate dungeons and other content? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Ask Massively: Mind tricks are the lazy way of doing things edition
Recently, I've become enamored of the Bavarian Fire Drill. For those who don't want to click on that link (it's work-safe in the sense that it contains no cursing and not work-safe in the sense that you'll be clicking for hours), it's the art of infiltrating a building by carrying a clipboard and acting like you're supposed to be there. Sure, you could just wave your hand and tell people that these aren't the droids they're looking for, but wouldn't you rather have the chutzpah to just walk around like it wasn't a thing? That leads very naturally to this week's installment of Ask Massively, in which we discuss whether or not leveling mechanics have worn our their collective welcomes in MMOs. As always, if you've got an urgent question for a future week, feel free to leave it in the comments or mail it along to ask@massively.com. Questions may be edited slightly for clarity and/or brevity.
Battle resurrections may get increased cooldowns
This was actually an offhand remark of Ghostcrawler's a few days ago, but it didn't seem to get much attention. In a thread devoted to the possibility of extending buffs like Blessing of Kings to additional classes in Cataclysm, Ghostcrawler mentioned the following: Ghostcrawler Obviously things like Rebirth can't just be handed to out to more classes unless we did something like a second exhaustion mechanic for battle rez or whatever. For now we're going to try the cooldown at 30 min again. In Icecrown's world of limited attempts, a 30 min cooldown likely meant you just cooled your heels until the cooldown was available again. In Cataclysm the hope is sometimes you'll have the benefit available but not every time, which scales back on how much of a game-changer it is. An alternative to a longer cooldown for Rebirth is something where one druid using it would trip everyone's cooldown for a few minutes. That it's a bit gamey, but might solve the problem. Also keep in mind that Rebirth is much more useful in today's game where people tend to die from massive damage. In a world where people sometimes die because the healers have run out of mana, then Rebirth doesn't buy you quite as much. source
Thoughts on Icecrown Citadel and gating
A month after patch 3.3 and Icecrown Citadel dropped, Lume the Mad weighs in on its raid content with mixed feelings. Icecrown's story, art, music, and general encounter design are all fantastic, he observes, but Blizzard's approach to "gating" content is having an ugly effect on raids. When you've only got 10-15 shots at killing specific bosses, small issues rarely stay that way for long. "I have to pressure people with lag to sit so as not to potentially lose a shot at killing the boss," he writes. "And when someone makes the most innocent of mistakes, people get pissed off. It's not fun for them. And it's not fun for me as a result." That's the part of the gating system -- "Raiders (having) the fear of God struck into them for wiping just once," as Lume puts it -- of which I'm not overly fond myself. A key raider lagging or disconnecting can result in a wipe on much of this content, and more particularly on the two bosses (Putricide and Lana'thel) for whom limited attempts currently exist. Both command very high DPS requirements, so even if you can easily afford the loss of a laggy DPS or two on something like Festergut (which is pretty baldly a DPS check in its own right), a single person going offline on Lana'thel-25 can wreck both the attempt and peoples' nerves. Losing 4 Blood-Queen Lana'thel attempts last week due to the bug with Kinetic Bombs aggroing her through the ceiling during the Council fight was equally frustrating.
Wrath 101: Attunement & Gating in patch 3.3
There are a lot of questions out there about how gating in Icecrown Citadel will work, and how attunement to the 5-man instances will function. We've collected some of the most common questions and put them in an F.A.Q. format for you to look at. After the break we'll answer them, or you can click on the links to be immediately taken to the answer. How do you define gated content? What content is gated in patch 3.3? Can I do heroic Icecrown right away? How long until Icecrown Citadel is completely open? When will I be able to fight Arthas? What content requires attunement in patch 3.3? I'm still confused about the 5-man attunement, can you phrase it another way? Will the Dungeon Finder let me ignore attunement (or other requirements)? What quest chains do I need to do to get access to the heroic version of the Icecrown Citadel raids? What quest chains do I need to do to get access to the normal or heroic version of the 5-man Frozen Halls dungeons?
