Good for us? certainly a goldmine for Blizzard

I was sitting in the maintenance shop this morning, waiting for something to break. As I was waiting I was thinking, mostly because it beats staring at the wall counting the number of cinderblocks they built the place out of.

I thought about a lot of things, but one thought that struck me really hit hard. As in, hard enough to get me to kick the dust off this blog again and do some writing.

Instead of wandering thru the thread of how my mind came to be asking me this question, I’m simply going to put forth the potential goldmine Blizzard is not tapping and see what you folks think.

In the game World of Tanks there are three kinds of XP to be had. Locked, Free, and Convertible.

Locked XP is exactly what it sounds like. It’s XP earned by a given tank that must be spent on that tank.

Free XP is a bit different. 5% of all XP earned is automagicly granted as Free XP, which goes into a pool that is available to be spent on any tank you wish. It doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up after a while.

Convertible XP is any XP earned by a tank that is already maxed out on leveling. It goes into a separate pool that can be converted into Free XP, if you desire, for real world cash.

Now imagine that Blizzard adopted a similar plan for WoW.

Locked XP earned by anyone leveling.

Free XP earned as a 5% bonus on top of any XP earned on any toon.

Convertible XP earned on any toon with it’s leveling locked. At max level players would get the choice of the extra gold per quest or earning convertible XP.

People that want to level the normal way would not be effected at all.

People that have more money than time could convert XP earned on their main to quickly level an alt to play with friends. 

People that are on their 38th alt and simply can’t make themselves level thru Wrath again could “Free XP” past it and move on to Cata.

Say for instance that the only thing you play for is high end PvP, or end game raiding… say that you despise leveling and just suffer thru it to get to play the actually content you want. Well, this would let you spend this expansion banking convertible XP that you could use to bypass the questing next time out. (For a price of course)

Thats only one example, I’m sure others can think of lots more.

As to the argument that it would have characters showing up at max level without a clue how to play their class, it’s not a good argument for many reasons. Here are two: 1) leveling thru questing is primarily a solo Dps exercise. It doesn’t teach group tactics, healing skills, or tanking ones for that matter. 2) You can already grab pet battling at level 5 and (in theory at least) level to max using nothing but that.

This is not to say that people won’t get to max and not know how to play, it’s simply stating that it already happens.

All in all it would give Blizzard another knob to tweak on the leveling process to adjust the speed while at the same time giving them what could be a very solid revenue stream once WoW finally does go free to play.

Just a thought, but seriously, why hasn’t this happened yet?

Confessions of a Gencon virgin

An event long-awaited is finally coming to pass. After decades of reasons I couldn’t make it I’ll be headed off to Gencon in just a few days. Actually, with just a bit of thought I could tell you the hours until we leave, since it’s just over three days from now as I write this.

To say im looking forward to it would be an understatement along the lines of “Houston, we have a problem”. On the other hand I’m just a bit nervous as well.

For starters I don’t know a whole lot of what to expect. Granted, I know it will be big, and I don’t doubt I’ll have a blast. I also realise I wont be able to do everything in the time I have there. There is simply too much to do.

Sounds like a perfect excuse to come back next year as well. =)

Anyhow, I figured I would post a bit about what I am planning. After the con I’ll come back and post a bit more about how those plans worked out (of blew up in my face…)

For activities I did see a whole lot of things I’d like to do. I did try to listen to the advice of friends and made an effort not to book myself into a corner though.

Thursday will be kinda busy with three activities I’d like to do. Friday and Saturday each have one thing I’m planning on attending, and Sunday is left completely open.  It remains to be seen what will actually happen.

There are a few people I’ve met thru gaming that are going to be there. I’m hoping to meet up with a few, hopefully that goes well. (I don’t see why it wouldn’t, but one never knows). If you happen to be going as well and would like to say hello, drop me a comment here or a message on Twitter (@Dechion) and we’ll figure out a time and place.

I have read some really good advice about the kind of things to pack, which I intend to follow. The readers digest version of what to bring goes something like this:

1. A change of clothes for each day,
2. Whatever toiletries you need,
3. Comfortable shoes,
4. A comfortable backpack,
5. A water bottle,
6. Snacks,
7. The basic gaming supplies for your games of choice. 

I’m adding a few odds and ends to that list as well. For instance, I plan to bring something to flavor my water with and a basic first aid kit (with a few band aids, some Tylenol, pepto chewables, and immodium.) With that i’ll add in a spoon and some hand sanitizer and I should be just about set. 

I also decided that I’m going to leave my contacts at home and wear my glasses during the con. I won’t have to worry about losing a lens and being blind for the rest of the time there.

Well there it is, the most basic of outlines of a plan. We shall see how it all works out.

Dusting off the blog

Well, its been a while. Too long in fact. I love to write and just kind of stopped when I stopped playing a game that there was something to write about.

Over the next week or so that’s going to be a bit different.

You see, I’m headed for gencon.

Its kind of a bucket list thing for me, and I’m quite excited.

The plan is to post a bit about the experience here,  post pic, make notes,  that kind of thing.

I’ll also be tweeting about things quite a bit I’m sure. If you’d like to follow that feed its at @Dechion.

Anyhow, lunch is over so its back to work.

Later I think ill post about what I’m planning to pack.