Where Dech got his groove back

 

I was thinking this morning, which as I have repeatedly stated is not my strong suit before I have my morning coffee.

What was I pondering you ask?

I was thinking about why I have had so little motivation recently.

It’s not that I have not been playing the game, it’s just that I have not been really excited about it.

Hitting 85 was supposed to be a milestone, not a millstone.

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I had it all figured out, you see. I Leveled my Druid first, since I was having such a time getting used to using the  Focus mechanics that Hunters had adopted.

Also, that character would have the advantage of being able to fulfil any role in a group with a quick change of gear and the swap of a spec.

It all made perfect sense, in fact it still does. 

As it turns out I find I am spending the vast majority of my playtime goofing around on other characters.

Once that Druid hit 85 I got him a bit of AH gear, specced him for running 5 mans, and waited for the group of friends I was planning to run with to be on.

I tried healing a pug… which I could probably do a better job of if I worked at it.

I tried tanking a pug… Screw that, it will be a long time before I tank a pug again.

I even pugged as a lazerchicken a bit while I waited for my friends.

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I eventually got tired of waiting.

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I want to play in group content, simple as that.

Yes, I can go solo things, work on achievements, level Archeology, (the profession that makes the old Wintersaber grind look tame), or any of a dozen other things.

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The more I think about it the more it becomes clear, the point being driven home by my failed attempt at tanking. 

My lack of motivation, particularly in playing my Hunters was based on raiding with them. Being at the top of my game, knowing my class so well that everything just kind of happens when I think about it, like driving a car or walking through the house.

Once upon a time I was there, and now I’m not. Thats what got to me.

I was not so much frustrated with the game as with having to start learning to play my character all over again.

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I have played a Hunter ever since Karazhan was progression content. A Hunter was the first of my characters to get his mount. The first to get an epic drop. The first to see a raid boss die. The first max level, and a host of other things.

I have no real desire to change.

So I won’t.

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If I am not good enough for Raiding I simply won’t go, i’ll run heroics instead.

If I am not yet up for Heriocs I won’t run them either, i’ll run normals.

If I am not the best Hunter in an LFD normal, well then, I’ll be the best Hunter I can be and leave it at that.

The game is supposed to be fun, and I am going to take my fun where I can get it. 

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I am what I am.

A Hunter is my main.

I don’t have to be the best Hunter out there, I don’t have to be perfect.

I just have to be good enough.

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Ever since that clicked for me the game has started being fun again.

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I was thinking

This originally started as a comment over on The Wayward Initiave. We were discussing WoW (go figure) and touching on why Cata does not really seem to be doing so well. It ended up graduating from comment to blog post at some point, so I moved it here.

During the Wrath life cycle we saw the introduction of the LFD. This was a wonderful tool for those (like me) that take their WoW in short segments when it can fit into their day.

The downside of this tool was that the servers “PuG” community of those that would put together a friends list and build 5 man groups from it all but evaporated. It was quicker and easier (at least in Wrath) to queue up and go run something than it was even to build a guild group in many cases.

The LFD was a huge success in getting people to run instances instead of sitting in Dalaran bored. It was also an unmitigated disaster from a social standpoint. People lost that connection to the others in the game.

In my experience, it actually encouraged people to be asshats. Well, asshats, Silent Bob, and the GOGOGOGOGO kiddies.

I have always said people come to WoW to play the game, but stay for the friendships they have found. Thats the only reason I still play to be honest.

I also think that with guild leveling and the perks that go with it Blizz (unintentionally I think) encouraged people to abandon small friend based guilds in favor of larger ones. It became easier to find a dungeon/raid if you were in a larger guild. Actually, I have heard (but can’t confirm) that some guilds are requiring members to do all their heroics as guild only activities to maximize guild leveling.

Take away (or just weaken) those in-game friendships while making the game more time consuming and less accessible all at once and you have a recipe for a segment of your player base to get frustrated and leave.

The people that were mostly there for the social network.

Yes, I understand that there will always be people who are not happy with the game, there are simply too many of us to please us all. What I think they did not realise is how much the willingness of people to continue to pay $15 a month for a game is very dependant on that underlying social network.

Maybe they should call up that Zuckerberg guy and ask for some advice.

I hear he’s pretty goo with that whole social network thing.

So easy a blogger can do it

You know, I had a really long convoulted post going on. So complex in fact that I had to go back and reread parts of it to make sure it all made sense together.

I scrapped it.

If it’s so flippin complicated that the author has trouble following it, no one else will either.

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Here is the gist of it, without all the confusing stuff. After all, I want to try to keep this real simple on the off-chance anyone from Blizz actually reads it.

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Dech’s number one quality of life change Blizz could make in less time than it took me to write this. (yet they won’t)

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Make Bind on Account items actually bound to the account, not to the server.

Want to do this real easy?

Simply allow the transfer of level one characters for free (or at a much reduced cost, say $5), provided they carry nothing but heirloom items. No gold, no bags, no nothing. Strip them down to their skivvies, load up the backpack, and send ’em over.

Hell, even put a cap on it. Say, one transfer per account per week, or make the transfer take a day or two. You already put restrictions on money and such based on level, and you already transfer toons, so the framework is already there.

Seriously, someone could have this coded today if they sat down and tried.

Possibly before lunch.

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It pisses me off to no end that I have enough heirlooms on one server to equip two Pallys (and then some) and I am leveling a Pally elsewhere without them.

Yes, I am aware that I could grab me a level ten alt and pay $25 to transfer the stuff over.

My point is this, The items are supposed to bind to my account, not to the specific server.

Even Blizz has said they plan to set it up so the transfers are possible. Then again, the team that’s working on the dance studio might have this one on their list as well.

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So how about it Blizz?

Can we fix this?

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Or have you just gotten so used to that extra $25 you can squeeze out of people that you decided not to?

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