community-blog-topic
Latest
Community Blog Topic Results: What's your endgame?
In last week's Community Blog Topic, we asked, "What's your endgame?" We got a wide variety of answers -- not just raiding. In a nostalgic look back at endgames throughout the life of the game, Alstanar at Cogitationes Astalnaris says My endgame these days consists of a heroic dungeon runs, and scenarios. I do a wing or two of Siege in LFR in course of the week. Depends on my patience. Every now and then, I go and do a quick level or three on my various warrior and paladin alts. I work on my old reputations that I neglected for years. Wrap up the quests in old zones I missed while I leveled up. I stay away from PvP and pet battles. Not my cup of tea.
Community Blog Topic: What's your endgame?
This week's Community Blog Topic is "What's your endgame?" In this expansion, my endgame is not really an endgame. I keep getting characters to 90 and then turning around and leveling up another character. The most I've done at max level is to hang out with the Tillers and farm a bit. I pet battle a lot, but I do that on leveling characters so that they can get the XP. Unfortunately, that means that I have extremely poorly geared characters when I decide to change things up and start questing again. Pet battles + Archaeology + gathering = leveling without getting any useful equipment. Happily, the Cataclysm gear vendors introduced in 5.3 have helped me when I get a character to level 80.
Community Blog Topic Results: Account-wide professions
Last week we asked "Should professions be account-wide?" We got quite a few blog posts and comments on the subject, ranging from no to secondary professions only to yes, please. JeffLaBowski at Sportsbard suggests a couple of methods. As a guild perk. There would be a an NPC to interact with, you open up a window, select the profession, put your mats in. The recipe would have to be unlocked by someone who has that profession in the guild. As GH mentioned in his tweet, they could be account bound. Either using the NPC method, like with example 1. or you would simply be able to cycle through professions from a drop down menu on your profession UI.
Community Blog Topic: Should professions be account-wide?
Recently Anne Stickney forwarded me this tweet and suggested it for a Community Blog Topic: @the4tracker Would love to see more discussion on this topic from players. Alts are cool, but alts just to get around the prof limit bug me. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) October 1, 2013 In Diablo 3, when you level up a crafting NPC, the level remains the same, regardless of what character you're on. But I wouldn't want to see each World of Warcraft character be able to level up all of the professions (or would I?). However, I would like to see a craft bench or something similar where you could access the professions you have on other alts.
Community Blog Topic Results: How long have you been playing WoW?
This Community Blog Topic asked a very personal question: "How long have you been playing World of Warcraft and what life changes have you gone through?" And we got some very personal answers. In fact, this week's results post looks like a testimonial to playing WoW while still leading or building a productive life. Omegahty at Ruhka's Demonic Palace I am not a social person – I like calm and quiet surroundings and I tend to not talk to people much – however, I am nowhere near as anti-social as I used to be, mostly because through the social aspect of WoW and raiding with my guild I have created a lot of my social skills. Without the friendly chatting and banter during raids and the casual conversations in guild chat, I don't know what I would be like today. Having that environment inWoW where there were people I could chat with and hang out with really helped my issues with socializing.
Community Blog Topic: How long have you been playing WoW?
Matt Rossi posted a story about time dilation in World of Warcraft. This prompted reader Fizzl to suggest this week's question: "How long have you been playing WoW?" I've been playing World of Warcraft since the open beta. During that time, I got pregnant and had a baby who is now in third grade. Time really, really does fly. I went from playing Alliance in a guild that included people from work, to playing Horde in a guild full of strangers and The Spousal Unit. I have collector's editions of all of the expansions and have become an unabashed Blizzard fangirl. (I liked both Cataclysm and Diablo 3. There. It's all out in the open now.)
Community Blog Topic Results: Most and least favorite expansions
Last week, we asked "What are your most and least favorite expansions?" We got a lot of responses as well as a request for polls. The reason why we don't put polls in the Community Blog Topics is that we are trying to encourage long form blog posts that we can spotlight the next week. Polls are just a button click. That having been said, I've put polls at the end of this results post so that we can see what the otherwise silent readers have to say about their most and least favorite expansions. Wrath of the Lich King was by far the most favorite and Cataclysm was by far the least. Both Burning Crusade and Mists of Pandaria took turns being most and least favorites. Astalnar over at Cogitationes Astalnaris likes Wrath of the Lich King best and Cataclysm least. A great expansion is one that is aesthetically pleasing, bright, with a story that makes us feel involved and in some sort of control. An expansion where gear is obtained with ease, yet you have to invest a bit of effort. Where reputation is gained with the faction by actually representing the faction. And where the villain is a known and established figure. I enjoy a good story of a fallen hero. I like the tragedy. Tragedy is cure for soul. As long as my Blood Knight is not a protagonist.
Community Blog Topic: What's your most and least favorite expansions?
I have a confession to make. When it comes to World of Warcraft, I'm pretty easy to please. Every time a new expansion comes out, that's my favorite one. Even and especially Cataclysm. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I loved the old world revamp and going through the questlines like Silverpine Forest still makes me happy. So my current favorite expansion is Mists of Pandaria. I love the monk class. I love the pandaren. I love the epic quest lines and the farm and pet battles and ... the list goes on. Though the Brawler's Guild isn't my cup of tea, I love watching The Spousal Unit battle it out against the various contenders.
Community Blog Topic Results: Persistent changes in Azeroth
Last week, we asked, "What do you think of persistent changes to Azeroth?" We talked of player driven changes, phasing, and permanent changes that come with expansions or patches. Player driven change SparkysShocker at Blood Sweat and Honor suggests As far as PvE player driven persistent change I always thought it would be cool if the world changed based on your guilds PvE progress. Lets say you conquered the Black Temple would could go to it in the world and see that it had been razed or maybe that the Broken had taken over, small changes like that would be neat.
Community Blog Topic: What do you think of persistent changes to Azeroth?
Southshore used to be Alliance and now it's Horde. Theramore is destroyed. The Barrens is split in two sections by a huge chasm. The Vale of Eternal Blossoms no longer has blossoms, eternal or otherwise. We've seen a lot of changes over the years we've been playing WoW, particularly during Cataclysm. But we as players didn't bring about these changes. They were written into the story and implemented in game. But players can make changes via phasing. Many places in Wrath of the Lich King and beyond change according to what quests the player has completed. These are permanent alterations made by the player, but its individual for each player. Changing the environment for one player does not change it for all. We, as players, can make changes to the world via world PvP locations. Halaa, for example, changes faction according to who battles there. But, unless you are on a PvP server, you have to flag PvP to do it and the changes are not even semi-permanent. They just last until the next occupation or battle.
Community Blog Topic Results: What is your spoiler policy?
In last week's Community Blog Topic, we talked about everyone's spoiler policy. It was particularly timely due to all the brouhaha with the Siege of Orgrimmar and what happens at the end. Many people say that it's the individual's responsibility to avoid situations where spoilers can happen, while others say it is the responsibility of the speaker or the site to warn of spoilers. SparkysShocker at Blood Sweat and Honor voiced a common opinion about the big warchief reveal. ... with the advent of LFR I think the safe time period to discuss major lore spoilers is once the last LFR wing is released, because at that point it is safe to assume that everyone who wants to see it for themselves has.
Community Blog Topic: What is your spoiler policy?
In patch 5.4 there is the big reveal of Garrosh's fate and who becomes the new Horde leader(s). But in order to get that knowledge, you either need to beat the Siege of Orgrimmar, watch the end cinematics, or read about it on fansites like this one. Many people want to wait to find out on their own, but others want to talk about it now. In the daily Queue column, we answer a lot of questions about a lot of things. And those who want to talk about the big reveal now ask now. Those who don't want to know yet get upset when they read the Queue and its comments. But how long after the information is known should we (or anyone) wait to talk about it without issuing major spoiler alerts?
Community Blog Topic Results: Expansion specific servers
Our most recent Community Blog Topic asked, "Would you play on an expansion specific server?" There were more nays than yays, but it sparked a lot of discussion as to nostalgia vs. reality as well as how Blizzard could or couldn't implement expansion locked realms. The blog buzz WoWmiri at Guarded by the Light says it's the people, not the expansion that counts. My memories are based around events that I did with people that I loved spending time with, not really about the content I cleared or the quests I did. If given the option, I would remain where I am–in current content, with the people I currently play with. Would I love some of my blasts from my past from my old raid teams to resurface? Yep–maybe that's a door I can open thanks to FlexRaiding. But I would never go to an expansion specific server if it was an option.
Community Blog Topic: Would you play on an expansion specific server?
In a recent Queue, Drindaar asked about expansion specific servers. Adam Holisky answered that Blizzard said they're never going to do it, but he thinks they'll have to eventually. I think at some point Blizzard is going to have to do this, even if it means limited support and no GMing, etc... Even now, do you know how many people would come back to play on a BC-only server? An absolute fracken ton would. The next day, Matt Rossi said, I don't think expansion locked servers would work or be a good idea at all... I'm more with Matt on this topic. I just don't think it would work. There are too many questions to be answered, and depending on Blizzard's choices, they may end up not pleasing the very people who want these kinds of servers.
Community Blog Topic Results: Which race would you like to become playable?
Last week's Community Blog Topic asked, "Which race would you like to become playable?" My choice was the Vrykul. There was some support for my choice -- sometimes for Alliance and sometimes for Horde -- but many other options were suggested. JeffLaBowski from Sportsbard presents the case for Ethereals and suggests a few racial abilities: Warp Speed- Combat haste and movement speed is increased for 8-12 seconds on a 3 minute cooldown. Portal up- Opens up a portal to your hearth location. This portal can be used by party members. Phase out- Target enters the Nether for 15-20 seconds where they cannot be targeted/attacked and heal for X amount. Any movement/actions cancel this effect. Reciprocity- Buying from a vendor grants you a discounted % when you sell with the same vendor. Discount lasts until daily reset and cannot exceed 15%. Does not stack with other discounts.
Community Blog Topic: Which race would you like to become playable?
Recently, Donald Hindle asked in The Queue about what races would be good candidates for becoming playable. Matt Rossi responded Sure, lots of them. Besides the often mentioned naga and ogres there are furbolg, arrakoa, vrykul (tell me you don't want to play as a giant viking), wolvar, sasquatch, ethereals, and then there's various sub races of established playable races to consider like broken, yaungol, taunka, dark iron dwarves, earthen, dark trolls, etc etc. Heck, I didn't even mention mantid, and mantid would rock. So this week's question is which race would you like to become playable? Though centaurs and tol'vir have been left off the list -- and I think they're groovy looking -- I would have to go with playing as a giant viking: vrykul.
Community Blog Topic Results: Do we need an ability squish?
For last week's Community Blog Topic, we asked, "Do we need an ability squish?" Many people who answered, like myself, listed some abilities we didn't use that could go away, but others insisted on uses for them. For example, Hibernate is not so useful in PvE, but is often utilized in PvP on shapeshifted druids. We got a few blogs and comments both in favor of squishing the number of abilities classes have as well as against. And many people had interesting suggestions. No Fizzl at Working Title says no to an ability squish, but suggests that WoW's UI could be improved. ... I don't think it would be nearly as easy to organize my spells and know what I'm doing without an action bar addon. Sure, I could make the best of it, but I think that the amount of abilities we have requires a degree of flexibility with placement that the default UI doesn't offer. I organized the abilities very specifically in my post, and I do so in game. I think a move-able UI and more bars are long overdue as part of the default package.
Community Blog Topic: Do we need an ability squish?
There has been a lot of discussion lately about abilities being purged or going passive. Stealing an idea from The Queue for this week's Community Blog Topic, do we need an ability squish? I am an altoholic, but I mostly play my monk or my druid and both of them have abilities overflowing my UI. I have some of them hotkeyed and macroed, but there's only so much my mouse and keyboard will hold. And frankly, particularly on my druid, I don't ever use some of the abilities. Soothe is one of those abilities. When it was called Soothe Beast, it was completely useless. Now it gets rid of enrage effects, but I normally just solo on my druid and never remember it's there. Hibernate is another. Because it can only sleep beasts and dragonkin, it's not very useful and I tend to AoE instead of use crowd control in situations where it might be useful.
Community Blog Topic Results: Do we need more levels?
Last week's Community Blog Topic was "Do we need more levels?" There were more yes's than no's in the comments and blogs this topic sparked, but there were also some innovative solutions for how leveling or progression could be handled in the future. JeffLaBowski started this discussion off over at Sportsbard, with his answer firmly in the No column. He gives several reasons for not having more levels, starting with questing: They would still have quests, but these quests would be more meaningful. They would tell rich tales full of lore and character development. New races would be completely and meaningfully fleshed out. No loose ends. No abrupt stops. They could even add max level class quests. There could still be dailies and reputation but you would work on these from the moment you set foot in the new zones.
Community Blog Topic: Do we need more levels?
JeffLeBowski over at Sportsbard brought up a very interesting topic: Do we need more levels? In other words, does the next expansion need to raise the maximum and provide a high-end leveling experience? Though he brings up some excellent points in his post, my answer to the question is a resounding yes. I enjoy leveling. Yes, leveling through the same content over and over can be a bore, but the first time or two leveling through new content is a real joy to me. And I know I'm not alone. Not everyone eschews the journey. Not everyone rushes to the end to get to the "good stuff." Some of us think the good stuff is the leveling -- at least some of it. I enjoy the Silverpine Forest experience every time I go through it. The same with Hillsbrad Foothills. Sholazar Basin and Mt. Hyjal are two other favorites, as is the Valley of the Four Winds. I'm an altoholic and that's partially because of the leveling experience.
