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Breakfast Topic: The trading card game
No, this isn't an announcement of a new TCG about our Breakfast Topics (but wouldn't that be fun? I see your flamebait, and raise you an intelligent comment!!). But I would like to get all your thoughts on the collectible card game based on World of Warcraft.Personally, I haven't really gotten that much into it, but since the Darkmoon Faire was in Chicago this past weekend, I went out there and obtained some photos and an interview or two for those interested to peruse. I learned to play the game and got to go one-on-one with one of the creators (his interview will be up today), and I have to say that the game itself is pretty fun-- lots of strategy, and plenty of inside jokes about our own little world of Azeroth.I don't see it taking over my life, however, mostly because I don't have anyone around to play with-- even my boardgaming and roleplaying friends haven't picked it up yet, and probably won't any time soon. But I can definitely see the draw, not only of learning all the strategies of different decks, but actually collecting the cards that make them up.So is it your thing or not? And why? If not, have you tried it and not liked it or just not tried it at all?
Breakfast topic: WoW in the world
It's been a while since we last did this, so let's do it again: Where have you seen WoW in your real life world?Umi on WoW Ladies sees BOP, and automatically thinks Bind on Pickup. I was once driving around looking for a party, and had been playing WoW so much lately that when I realized I was lost, my first thought was to type /1 (without a computer in the car, mind you), and ask where the party was in General chat. No one was in the car, but I felt pretty stupid after having a thought like that.And my favorite lately came from that post on boss quotes the other day. Here's what happened to commenter Thingy at work:Person 1: "How about we get that stuff in next week?"Person 2: "Too soon"Me: "You have awakened me too soon, Executus."*odd looks from the rest*Me: *finally realises what I just said*Funny. Where have you seen WoW in the world?
Breakfast topic: Neatest land mount
Land mounts may seem painfully antiquated, now that we're all soaring around on our gryphons or wyverns or netherdrakes. But there's still a ton of them around, and you need something to look cool on while standing AFK in Ironforge. Dudeydude (sigh) of Llane asks the forums: what's the coolest land mount? (A full list can be found here.) Of all the normal racial mounts, my favorites are the troll raptors and the gnome mechanostriders. Raptors just because they look cool and come in bright colors, and mechanostriders because they're ... mechanical! They fit so well with gnomes, and the black one looks really neat. For the rare drop mounts, my old favorite is the Zul'Gurub tiger. A tank I know has one of these, and I was always impressed with the big orc in full Tier 2 (back when that was cool) sitting on the tiger. Midnight, who drops from Attumen in Karazhan, is also neat-looking, but the sheer number of horse-type mounts in WoW means I still like the tiger better. What do you think is the coolest land mount? What about the worst? In an ideal world, what mount would you ride?
Breakfast topic: WOW plus other games
Recently, I've been playing a lot of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. This in itself is not surprising -- I picked the game up a year or so ago, became overwhelmed at the options, and then finally came back to it when I had a lot of spare time. I'm enjoying it, but it's beginning to mess with my WOW skills. Two fantasy-based RPGs do not always work well in sync. I've been pressing Ctrl to stealth, E to jump, and trying to hit C to cast spells. This leads to a lot of strafing and bringing up the character screen in combat. Oblivion has also left me with a marked aversion to clicking on anything or fighting in a city, despite most of WOW's guards being so clueless they couldn't recognize it if I stole their armor off of them. I've had this problem before, with Diablo when I first got into WOW ("I keep clicking, why isn't my sword swinging any faster?") and Knights of the Old Republic ("So I don't get punished for doing morally incorrect quests?") Have you ever confused the mechanics of WOW and another game you were playing at the time?
Breakfast Topic: Gambling with prospecting?
The other day I got a message in-game from Sigrdrifa. He mentioned that he had been spending the day spamming the trade channel offering his services prospecting ore. In his advertisement he stated that he could virtually guarantee a blue gem from each stack of Adamantite ore. Some players mentioned that this could never be a guarantee and so in a way he was gambling with other people's ore. Now, I'm not exactly sure if we could call this a game of three ore monty, after all he is saying that on average he receives a blue gem with every stack of ore. But it brings up an interesting idea. If there are possibilities of failure with prospecting, can you ask for tips for such a service? And if there is a gamble, could there by extension be a bet on such a risk? I don't know if this sort of thing is frowned upon by the devs or not, but I would definitely be curious to see how a betting system would work within the game. Not with actual money, but rather with virtual gold. Is prospecting more gambling than not? And if there are assumed risks in the game we deal with, would you ever consider betting on them?
Breakfast Topic: WoW outside of WoW
If you're reading this site, I'm guessing that you spend at least some time during the week playing the game World of Warcraft, amirite? But I'm specifically not asking about the time you spend in-game -- but the time out of it. How many times do you spend away from your computer talking to friends about how you leveled last night or the awesome new piece of loot that dropped for you in Karazhan? For my part, since my best friend recently decided to give in to the addiction (read: fun!) that is World of Warcraft, we rarely have a conversation that doesn't include references to the game. To the puzzlement of our non-playing friends, we'll have detailed conversations full of game references and in-jokes. So I ask you, dear readers, has the World of Warcraft crept into not only your virtual, but also your real life? Have you turned your homework into a series of reputation-grinding quests and do ordinary pieces of punctuation hold new and interesting meaning to you?[Image courtesy of Tom, who sent it in to Around Azeroth describing this New Jersey quest-giver.]
Breakfast Topic: Where will you take your orphan?
Children's Week has officially begun, and the world is overrun by small fry of all varieties. The quests ask you to play tour guide with your little charge, showing them the magnificent sights of around Azeroth and Outland. They ask to see the races at Shimmering Flats, and to bask in the glow of the naaru in Exodar. But where else will you take your orphan? Last year I recall running UBRS with an orphan, remember hearing of orphans summoned to defeat Ragnaros. I wonder, what plans do you have to extend your orphan's education of the lands? What is the most unusual place you have seen an orphan since they began Children's Week two years ago?
Breakfast Topic: How did you learn to PvP?
I fell in love with the Gladiator's War Staff as soon as I saw it, in all its shiny, spinning glory. And thus with a hopeful heart I joined a 2v2 arena team, eager to get my PvP on. Only, what I thought was PvP, that limited experience I had getting to the rank of Knight mostly in Alterac Valley, turns out not to be enough. I don't want to put my partner out, especially since they are so patient with me. Plus I really, really want that staff. And so I put it to you readers, to the great PvP masters out there. How did you learn to PvP?
Breakfast Topic: New battlegrounds
The Arena system is nifty and all, but part of me still really prefers the scale of Battlegrounds, in all their irritating glory, to what essentially feels more like a duel. I'm fully convinced that Arenas are a much better test of skill; unfortunately, I'm really bad at PvP, so that doesn't always work out in my favor. Therefore, I understand where Neia, of Malygos, is coming from when she draws up a long (and in my opinion, excellent if near unimplementable) proposal for a new Battleground, the Labyrinth. Her "TL;DR" summary:A maze-like Battle Ground, filled with temporary buffs, looted from randombly placed chests to grant the buff, then brought to the center of the maze to turn in for points. Multiple exits and entries to every room, tunnels, hidden passageways, closable doors. All made to help get your carrier to safety.The Burning Crusade only introduced one new BG, Eye of the Storm, with which many people are pretty unsatisfied. I would very much like to see one or two more BGs introduced in a future patch, and the Labyrinth is definitely a neat idea. What sort of battleground would you guys like to see? Or do you think the PvP selection is fine as-is?
Breakfast topic: Roleplaying
We don't do a whole lot with roleplaying here at WOW Insider. As far as I know, none of us has mains on an RP server, and it can be a tough thing to get into from a non-RP background. There seem to be few happy mediums between "You must be in character and follow all rules at ALL TIMES or you will be gkicked" and "RP is for sissy nerds who want to cyber with gnomes." (I never understood why non-RP players constantly make fun of RP players for being geeks. Is there a non-geeky way to pretend to be an elf for hours each week?) But having dabbled a bit on RP-PVP servers, I can see the attraction. Even without RPing in general chat, players on RP servers seem to be a little friendlier and more likely to spell correctly. And RP allows you to get a little more depth from the game than is offered by the quest text. It adds a whole new dimension to WoW, beyond simply raiding for phat lootz or PVPing to fulfill your bloodlust. Even though my blood elf paladin isn't on a RP server, I've thought a little bit about my motivations for playing her. I play my paladin as a good guy -- healing the sick, protecting my teammates, even helping injured Alliance. How can I reconcile that with draining the Light from a Naaru? Well, I find the Naaru sickeningly good, and I really like the current theory going around that the Naaru are actually evil beings setting us up for a fall, so I sort of transferred that to my character. Since the Naaru are bastards, it's totally cool to drain the Light from them, and my pally is still good. What do you think about roleplaying? If you play on an RP server, do you have a background for your character, or are you just there to enjoy the sights? Why do you RP (or why do you choose not to?)
Breakfast topic: Rescue me
Okay, I'll admit I saw this picture first and came up with this breakfast topic just so I could use it. In WoW, we often come across people in need. Maybe it's a lowbie being corpse-camped by a higher-level opponent, or a healer being beaten on by hard-hitting mobs, or even a member of the opposite faction who's pulled more than they can handle. And then you come riding by on your mount and have to make a choice -- stop and help, or watch them die? As an inveterate softie and rescuer of small animals, I almost always help. In the past few days, I've tried to escort a level 20 night elf who was lost in Feralas for some reason (actually, he got scared of me and ran off a cliff and died), assisted a team of Alliance in beating down some Incendosaurs, and of course helped any members of the Horde who were under attack by the Allies. I also enjoy going into lowbie areas and aiding with elite quests that I know are a complete pain to find a group for, and there's a shammie on my server who gets his kicks from hanging around the Ring of Blood and helping groups there. Why stop and help? Well, there's karma to worry about. What goes around comes around. If I'm nice to people, then they'll remember and will help me in the future (or at least not gank me.) Plus, I get that nice feeling of moral superiority that comes from being good. My help isn't unconditional, though -- if you yell at me, have previously been identified as a tool, or have a name like "Deeznuts", I'm going to let you die and probably spit on your grave. I've also noticed that people keep trying to come along and "save" me from the three or more mobs on me, which, as a prot pally, I can handle perfectly well. Do you help people in trouble, or do you let them handle it themselves? What about the opposite faction? How far have you gone to help a comrade?
Breakfast topic: Murphy's laws of WoW
Murphy's laws, the famous batch of cynical sayings about life, can be modified to fit almost every situation. So it's no surprise that someone has rewritten them for WoW.
