[1:Local]: Perspectives on WoW past, present and future

We don't miss that at all
This Breakfast Topic, which looked back at the little annoyances we're not sorry have gone the way of the dodo, included plenty of nostalgia for the epic-length Alterac Valleys of old. Players claimed to have hated them back then – but they seem to miss them now that they're a thing of the past.

A number of readers pegged a different annoyance that early WoW players remember with chagrin. "One of the things I remember with the least amount of fondness is unconnected flight paths," noted lightningjynx. "There wasn't the clicking a destination halfway across the world and going to do something productive while you waited. No, you had to stare at your character flying to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time, unless you had all the flight path times memorized and played that way." "Wow, yeah, I had forgotten about that," agreed MadScientist17. "Had to try to remember which flight points went where."

We agree, too – but ultimately, we think Veil has the pointiest point: "Definitely don't miss old Andorhal. That place was an f'ing death trap."

No, really -- you are not prepared
Are you and your freshly-minted level 80 gear ready for heroics? According to readers, what's possible and what's practical are not always the same thing. "It needs to be understood that there are two issues here," wrote Roan. "One is blatant 'fail DPS,' i.e, freakishly well geared players who just don't know what to do, resulting in poor DPS and generally making life hard. The other is much more common at the moment, and that is simply poor itemization.

"My enhancement Shaman is suffering from this. It's not a lack of gear; it's a lack of vital PvE-specific gear – in my case, + hit. Reaching 80 with no hit means you are doing half to a third of the DPS you are capable of with your stats. Testing this in a heroic and on the heroic training dummy, I couldn't even manage to break 700 DPS with 2500 AP and 23% crit. With two or three +hit items equipped, giving me 100 + hit at the cost of a little AP, I managed to double that DPS to 1400.

"The catch-22 is that most of the early +hit gear drops from heroics! So I guess we need to all be 'lolfail' DPS for at least a few runs before we can wow the tanks with our awesomeness."

The ethics of a botched deal
Just how "real life" is the internet, anyway? Do you take advantage of others online because, well, because you can? Or do you conduct yourself with the same ethics and respect that you would in any aspect of your life?

A post about a Blacksmith who seems a little too free and easy about taking advantage of someone else's misfortune erupted into a two-part article and plenty of reader debate. In comments from the second post, Eversor scoffed at a commenter who attempted to label the entire affair a mere "video game drama": "This is a social game. In this game, you interact with people -- as in living and breathing people who are real (I will keep emphasizing this until you and every other smart guy out there will understand that). ... Have you ever heard a saying 'Time is money'? I bet you have.

"Now, count how much time you have invested in your character. ... Now add personal relations in the equation. Put in this time investment you have, all his wealth (that, again, holds a great value in your time spent), add douchebags like that scammer Blacksmith, and you get drama. It is not 'vidiya drama lolz.' It is real drama, because it hurts real people. Get this in your head.

"It just boggles my mind of how many people think this game is nothing serious. This is a hobby, just as legitimate as stamp collecting or ship-in-a-bottle making and collecting. I dare you to go out there and smash the collector's posessions and see how he reacts. Exactly the same feelings are involved in this game, and if you don't understand that, then you need to grow up and loose the damn 'intrnet iz srs bsns' attitude."

The new look of Northrend armor
Nobody wants to be a BC clown. Still, it's possible that Wrath has swung too far the other direction – too drab, too dark, too similar. "They should have let people dye their gear," observed MisterMoose. "... Have many, many color sets for piece (color is easy), and then you can pay a modest fee and have the colors redone. Heck, achievements, professions, quests, and other things could all be sources of new color schemes. That way, if a Paladin wants to be a shining white knight in Northrend, then he can."

Do you care about PvP anymore?
Judging from how many people reminisced in other posts this week about the epic Alterac Valley battles and informal Southshore/Tarren Mill rumbles of yesterday, it seems Matt Rossi spoke for quite a few players when he noted that the idea of PvP just doesn't wind him up like it used to. Midmainah replied to a commenter who opined that non-Arena PvP leaves something to be desired: "You are completely missing the point that there are many types of PvP (BG, open world, Arena, etc.), yet the Arena is the only one that awards gear. I think that is what bothers most people. ... PvPers should have a chance at PvP gear, simple as that. It shouldn't matter where they do it."

Felicia Day on having Microsoft as a guildmate
How cool is Felicia Day and The Guild? Some readers just don't get the connection, but Spark linked it up. "Sure, she's cute," he observed. "Sure, it's a web series based on WoW. But something everyone here isn't paying attention to is that The Guild is an example of 'new media,' something any blogger is going to have an interest in. As WoW Insider is in the business of new media, they're going to be drawn to The Guild. That probably doesn't mean much to most involved. But hey -- most people just live through revolutions; they're not part of them.

"One side comment: Felicia Day, as far as I can tell, is the real deal. She's a geek girl who games, reads, plays music, is into mathematics, etc., etc. I know it might shake the self-image of the kool kids, but despite the mainstream aspect of WoW, it is still very much part of geek culture. Seeing someone with some aspect of fame who's also steeped in that culture is going to gain attention."

The healer shortage (and how to fix it)
Just yesterday, Rinks sounded more than a little weary at the prospect of healing yet another AoE-happy heroic group: "Tank aggros the entire room, nothing CC'd at all, which means (as a Pally) nothing but full-out Holy Lights until everything is dead. Watching health meters plummet as we race from to room is not fun. AoE tanking is taking a lot of the strategy out of five-mans, IMO, since now we can just blame the healer if the tank doesn't survive four 81 elites banging on him."

We feel your pain, Rinks. Let it all out here at WoW Insider – [1.Local] is listening!