Overpowered
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Walmart's homegrown gaming PCs are surprisingly good
Walmart is getting into the gaming PC business. The retailer has announced an exclusive line of three laptops and three desktop towers under the name Overpowered -- and the specs are actually pretty good. The machines, available only from Walmart, have been designed in partnership with Esports Arena.
MMO Mechanics: Comparing vertical and horizontal progression
MMO players strive to obtain some kind of tangible progression each play session, but the method by which that progression is delivered varies greatly across the genre. Archetypal themepark titles frequently rely on level-based progression that culminates in climbing through gear tiers at endgame, but the freeform nature of sandbox MMOs lends itself to a more open progression system that focuses on the holistic development of characters. These two progression systems are described as vertical and horizontal progression: Traditional gearing or leveling is commonly described as a vertical climb, while wider choice-based progression is more often expressed as a non-linear journey. The relative merits of these two diverging approaches to progression are commonly debated by modern MMO players. Many players wish to see a blended hybrid approach to progression that emphasises the horizontal, multi-faceted growth of their characters over rattling through yet another gear tier. Despite this, players still favour a goal-oriented attainment system and perhaps progressive gear that doesn't require a long run on the grinding treadmill. This balance can be very hard to achieve, so titles such as Guild Wars 2 have taken some knocks on the path towards perfect horizontal and vertical progression balance. In this week's MMO Mechanics, I will look at what is meant by both vertical and horizontal progression, how they are mechanically implemented in MMOs, and what each type of progression means for the playerbase.
Do warlocks bring too much utility to a raid?
Over the years Blizzard has created more and more overlap between certain aspects of different classes so as to allow more flexibility in choosing who you bring to a raid. For example, as a long-time druid raider, it still makes me an itty bitty bit sad every time I see a paladin overwrite my Mark of the Wild with Blessing of Kings. I remember the days when those were different buffs, dangit! On Twitter, players have been venting their frustration at Ghostcrawler about just this kind of thing: @ugadawg9288 @tehstool That is true of everyone but warlocks, who probably bring too much. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) July 2, 2013 Now, that's an interesting response, and it got us at WoW Insider thinking. Do warlocks really bring too much utility? In my 10-man raid team, our guild leader nearly always plays his warlock, and there are certainly a number of perks to that. Summoning is very nice, and saves us a run back out the instance if we need to bring in a different toon halfway through. Soulstones have brought me back to life on a number of occasions, the raid constantly asks for Healthstones, and both warlocks themselves and their minions bring various buffs and forms of crowd control that always come in handy. And portals! Portals make many, many things much more convenient.
Lichborne: 3 popular death knight requests that won't (or shouldn't) be fulfilled
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. Death knight complaints and requests can change with patches, dealing with current issues or balance problems, but there are other death knight requests that come up time and time again, and will probably be asked about until the day they finally shut down the servers for good. This week, we're going to look at three requests that probably will be around that long, just because it seems very unlikely Blizzard will ever fulfill them. The power of the hero class The "hero class" moniker has a long and storied history. It comes from Warcraft III, where hero units like paladins and death knights towered over the rest. By design, you only had a few of these every game, and they had more powerful skills that allowed them to dominate the battlefield when deployed. When WoW came around, rumors of the hero classes spread throughout beta, but in the end, Blizzard went away from the model. Paladins, a hero class in WCIII, were made a regular class, for example, while other hero class mechanics, such as the Far Seer's Chain Lightning, went to regular classes.
Breakfast Topic: We all want to play the overpowered class, right?
'Splain this one to me, breakfast crew: Do WoW players really want to play overpowered characters? I mean, we all joke about wanting to be the OP flavor of the month. And if you're trying to level quickly or you know you're going to be playing primarily on your own, sometimes you really do need a particularly sturdy character. It's one thing to have a toolkit that works especially effectively in certain situations. I consider that to be flavor, not a sign of OP-ness -- the dungeons with DoT-based encounters that simply cry out for strong HoTs, or the bosses that demand more interrupts than some melee classes can reliably produce. But some players seem to want characters that can bully their way through whatever the game can dish out. It's that kind of gameplay, in my mind, that turns what should be a glorious adventure into a one-note to-do list. But maybe that's not the way you see it. Maybe you think being OP feels more like a reliable, rewarding way to heroically master whatever the big bads can throw at you. Does being "overpowered" make you feel capable and satisfied with the game, or do you feel hungry for a real challenge after chewing through content with ease? Do you think most players really want to play an "overpowered" character that can manhandle most of the content without breaking a sweat? Do you? What is being "overpowered," and is it a good thing or not?
Breakfast Topic: What's the most overpowered class in the game?
As a PvP player, I'm very aware of the constant complaints that one class or another is overpowered, or OP as the popular jargon calls it. One moment it's feral druids, the next it's rogues, then mages, then you throw a legendary staff into the mix and all of a sudden, out of nowhere it's balance druids and shadow priests! But then, once you start to play one of those apparently OP classes, you suddenly realise what they're up against to achieve their OP state, and you might begin to realise how to counter their moves, and suddenly you're back on what feels like a far more level playing field with that class, but a whole bunch of other ones are OP. And the notion of an overpowered class can translate into PvE as well, just as nicely. Some healers have it easier than others, some DPS might too, some tanks have more in their toolkits or different abilities that cater better to some situations than others. So, that being said, what is the most overpowered class in the game? Are there genuine imbalances at this late stage of the expansion? Or are things just ticking along nicely? My nomination would probably be either mages or rogues from a PvP standpoint. Both have high burst DPS and a good amount of crowd control, which can be a pretty nasty combination to come up against. In battlegrounds, I might change my response to paladins, particularly healers. They have so, so many get-out-of-jail-free cards! And in PvE, hmm, much more tricky. I would say that Blood DKs are in a really good place right now. And perhaps arcane mages -- it feels like their relatively simple rotation ought not to yield such high DPS! What about you? What do you think? And tell me, how many of you think that the class you play as a main or second character is completely overpowered. Is the grass truly always greener?
Behind the Mask: What does unbalanced even mean?
One of the major criticisms of Champions Online is a lack of game balance. People claim that the phrase "your own hero, your own story" doesn't cover the fact that your hero might be a gimp compared to someone else's. Although archetypes have their own balance issues (even among themselves), this complaint most commonly leveled at the freeform game where there are millions of possible characters. However, I think that most armchair game theorists have a terrible understanding of what "balance" even means. Decades of competitive gaming (yeah, I'm that old) have given me a comprehensive understanding of what the term means, and I think it's worth looking at how CO stacks up.
The Soapbox: The impossible task of balancing PvP
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. PvP in MMO games often comes with a whole slew of ill-defined requirements for balance. As impossible as such a thing is, we often hear the mating calls of noobies everywhere, sounding out their ineptitude with words like "overpowered" or "nerf." Those same types of players can often be found asking questions like, "What is the best class?" as if by some chance, they'll cheat the very system of balance they yearn for when they cry about every defeat they suffer at the hands of class X. In that respect, I can't blame them, either. Oftentimes I've found myself looking for a channel through which to vent my frustration or expressing my nerd-rage by disconnecting altogether. But you won't see me trolling forums, stating that one class has more power than another. I might take part in discussions of parity -- maybe. I can probably even be found taking part in debates of factional equality -- sure, in a theoretical sense, why not? But realistically speaking, balance in PvP is just an ideal. It is little more than a philosophical illusion to be debated but never fully realized. Follow along after the break as I discuss the sheer absurdity of balance in a PvP game.
Eurocom serves up GTX 480M SLI and HD 5870 CrossFireX options, seasons with Core i7-980X
It boggles the mind to think that one Fermi GPU could be fit inside a laptop, but two? Eurocom has just outed its 17.3-inch Panther 2.0 mobile gaming station -- which looks like a straight rebadge of the Clevo X7200 -- with the most overpowered set of component choices we've yet seen. You can go SLI with the GTX 480M or NVIDIA's more professionally minded Quadro 5000M, crank up CPU speed to 3.33GHz and beyond with the Core i7-980X from Intel (yes, the desktop variant), stash up to 24GB of onboard RAM, and jack in up to four storage drives, our preference being for the 2TB of SSD goodness option. Of course, if you prefer ATI's Evergreen side of the fence, dual Mobility Radeon HD 5870 GPUs are on tap as well. Sadly, we've no idea how much these spectacular specs will set you back, but launch is set for later this month and you can always call up and get yourself a quote; we're guessing it'll be in five figures.
The Daily Grind: Which class is your arch-nemesis?
Admit it: even the nicest amongst us have a deep-rooted grudge against a particular class. Our foe. Our bane. Our arch-nemesis. It's the class we squint at in anger whenever we see them pop up on the battlefield or in our PUGs. It's the class that gives us physical hives whenever we come into close contact with one of their members. It's the class that we gladly devote a nine-page rant against on the official game forums, calling for their extermination, or at the very least, to be neutered. So what's your arch-nemesis class? Is it a class that repeatedly stamps all over your face in PvP? A class that is -- obviously -- so OP that you can't stand it? Perhaps it's a class that does whatever your class does, but better and with more flair. Maybe your arch-nemesis class seems to attract more mentally unstable and emotionally immature players than usual. So get it off your chest today -- which class is your arch-nemesis?
WoW Insider Show Episode 114: Live on location
I think this might be one of my favorite things we've ever done (though all credit must go to Turpster, as usual). Last week on the show, he asked listeners for pictures of where they're listening to the show, and we got a nice gallery below of all of you in different places (many of you at work, which makes us worry a little bit), all listening to the WoW Insider Show all over the world. If you take a picture this week, feel free to send it along to theshow@wow.com, and we'll add it into the gallery below. In the meantime, here's a new episode, featuring said Turpster and myself, along with Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington, talking about what's coming up in patch 3.3, including the new looting system, paladin changes aplenty, and hints at the next expansion. And as usual, we answer your emails and just generally have a fun time. Enjoy -- and be sure to send us a pic while you listen! %Gallery-77044% Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes. [RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. Listen here on the page:
Ghostcrawler respondes to balance questions
Our buddy Ghostcrawler has appeared on the forums answering (or re-answering, as he says) a few concerns about the balance of the game. Most of his answer is about PvP: he says that Death Knights and Holy Pallies are overpowered, but that while Blizzard does believe there are more imbalances, debate is still raging about exactly where they are. And he does say that while burst damage is still a concern, he feels that Blizzard did a lot to combat that when they started Season 5, and that the bigger concern now is getting mana pools under control. Too many fights now have healers just going and going, and while they don't want fights to end super fast, they can't all drag out, either.He also talks more in-depth about the balance between gear you can get from PvP and PvE and how it needs to be fixed: he straight out says that 25-man Naxx is too easy to PuG, and agrees that Ulduar and future PvP weapons "should ideally require the same amount of investment." Likewise, when Blizzard tried to reset the resilience stacking at the start of Season 5, they had players facing very powerful weapons from the PvE raids like Kel'thuzad, which lead to, as he says, "a perfect storm for fast Arena deaths." Which is probably why so many players left the Arenas.The plan for the future? Ulduar's hard modes will be way tougher than Heroic Naxx, so players won't be able to PuG PvE and then go kill in PvP right away. Of course Death Knights are still cruising for a nerfing, if patch 3.1 doesn't bring them down off their high Deathcharger. And GC suggests that in the future, starter PvP gear may beef up resilience at the cost of offensive stats, so that players don't begin with gear that has great defense and offense right away.
Be careful what you ask for
Amidst all the excitement surrounding the coming of Wrath and the beta testing revelations, I have a question. Does anybody care that Death Knights will be OP? I disagree with my fellow bloggers when they surmise that the upcoming Wrath world will not be overpopulated by Death Knights. On the contrary, I think you won't be able to sneeze without three Death Knights around you to say Gesundheit. And what's more I think they won't be a flash-in-the-pan like the Blood Elves and Draenei overpopulations were.I believe this because I hate tanking and have never liked playing melee classes (my main is an elemental shaman and my highest alt is a warlock) and yet I'm having HUGE fun in the beta realm playing a Death Knight. I've played the class PvE to level 65, trying all three specs multiple times. I no longer fear dueling. I solo group quests that are above my level. I can approach elites one level higher than myself, alone and with no fear. I just run into a group of mobs with little strategy and almost always survive. Although I think the clarity of the purpose for each spec is still a bit muddy, I see Death Knights mostly filling a tanking role. (Perhaps this was Blizzard's response to the tank shortage? Make a tank so fun to play that lots of people will play them?) And yet Death Knights have soloing capabilities like warlocks and hunters -- only they survive better. They are by far the best soloing class I've tried. For illustration purposes, I even made a goofy movie showing how badly you can play a Death Knight and still take some serious names without dying once.Blizzard has proved that it knows what it's doing over the last four years. However, the current class system even without Death Knights has always had complaints about balance. As even Blizzard itself has admitted, adding a new class is not easy. Perhaps I am wrong and the tweaks they are making to the existing classes for Wrath will make everyone feel like they are overpowered. As it is, though, playing my new Death Knight gives me such a feeling of power that I've never had in the game before that I can't imagine that there won't be a lot of other players like me when Wrath hits the shelves this fall. Will this be good for class balance? More importantly, will anybody care?
More Death Knight news and clarifications
Having had a few hours to sleep and then a few more to digest the new information on the Death Knights, I'm finally getting a clearer picture of what the Death Knight will be able to do and how they'll fit into the existing hierarchy of classes, and I have to say, I'm still just as excited. There's a lot of questions that have risen from a lot of corners, but new information has come to light that may answer at least a few of them. First, let's look at some of the clarifications the CMs have been offering, and clear up some other questions from the comments of this morning's article about how creating a Death Knight will work:
Unbalanced PvP in EVE Online
Nate Combs over at Terra Nova has another piece up in his PvP series, this time about EVE Online and the "asymmetry of PvP." In a game like World of Warcraft, the devs have said that they're aiming to keep players as equal-- if you take on another player at your level with your level of gear, you've each got a pretty good chance of winning, and the game is designed to set it up so that you can both show up on a level playing field. But in a game like EVE Online, that plan goes out the window-- players can attack each other anywhere and anytime. There are consequences and advantages to attacking at certain times, and it's up to players to decide when and where PvP works for them-- it's an asymmetric system that leaves it up to players to find balance.I've just recently starting playing EVE Online, and I can tell you that the system has its drawbacks-- yesterday I had to log off because I had a wartarget camping my station, and if I left, I would have gotten blasted to pieces. Later in the day, I was mining and had another enemy warp in on my location with a much more powerful ship than mine-- I had to hightail it out of there, losing my ore completely. But on the other hand, a complex system like this leaves a lot of options open, too-- if I wanted to, I could buy my own powerful ship, and go and hunt that guy down when he least expected it.
WoW Moviewatch: Just so OP
Nyhm is a blood elf warlock who is just so Over-Powered that he wants to sing about it. In the spirit of Weird Al (you might recognize the tune) he brings us his declaration of just how OP he is. The thing I like about this is how he pronounces "OP" as if it were "oappie" or "oh, pee." It's a good song to bring a smile to your face.
Ask WoW Insider: Why are you overpowered?
It's time once again for our weekly edition of Ask WoW Insider, wherein we publish your questions and solicit your peers' feedback. This week's question comes from Marshall, who wants you all to introspect and fess up about why your class is overpowered: "I always see people in the comments (here and on the forums) talking about about how other classes are overpowered. What I want to know is, what class do you play, and why is your class overpowered? It goes without saying that I'm looking for honest answers here :)" Dig deep, self-examine and admit it: what makes your class overpowered? Without you, Ask WoW Insider is nothing. We desperately await your questions at ask AT wowinsider DOT com.
