LFR & Loot

I thought today I would ramble a little about the LFR in Warcraft.  Basically, if you don't know what the LFR is, it's a "looking for raid" tool that pairs you up with twenty four of the biggest nubs in the game and allows you to complete easier modes of the raids.  In these dumbed down raids you have the chance at acquiring lower item level gear.  Players have a "love/hate" relationship with it.  Many feel it is a useful system that gives you another way to gear up for "real" raids.  While others just love to complain about it.  What's there to complain about??  This may take a while...

Part 1: Let's Discuss How Loot Works

The LFR made its first appearance in Cataclysm for the Dragon Soul raid; dividing the raid into two separate parts.  When this feature came out, it still used the Need/Greed/Pass system for loot; however, you were restricted on some of the items you could roll on.  Some of the restrictions ended up being a little funky, and certain classes were able to roll on things they had no right in rolling on.  With that being said, that wasn't the most frustrating part of this loot system.  What had begun to happen was certain players were needing on gear they already had.  Upon winning this gear they would announce to your raid that they would be willing to trade it for the piece that they were in there for.  For example you've been running these raids for weeks now trying to get your tier shoulders to even drop, and when they finally do Player X needs on them and wins them.  Upon inspecting him, you see that he already has those shoulders (usually the "normal" raid version).  Player X announces to the raid that he will trade those shoulders he won for the tier chest... if it drops.  This was ridiculously frustrating!!

The next problem with this loot system was winning something while playing an "under-performing" character.  I'm sure all of us who run alts have that one character that you're just not that pro at.  By the end of Cataclysm I had seventeen level 85's; ten of which I played quite often.  Three of them I was pro on, four of them I was average, and 3 of them I should have just deleted and re-rolled.  I'm going to use my warrior, Tadaka, as the example here.  Tadaka was one of my average toons.  I wasn't great on her, but I managed.  Never top of the meters, but never bottom.  However, the minute she won anything, it would announce it in chat and the entire raid would rage.  I was booted from a ridiculous amount of raids because I was considered an "under-performing" toon that was winning all the gear.

So, how did Blizzard fix this?  Now, when we down a boss, a few lucky individuals are rewarded a piece of gear for the spec they are currently playing in.  The rest of us win a bag.  At the beginning of Mists of Pandaria that bag only contained gold; however, as of patch 5.2 it now has a chance at also containing a piece of gear, motes or spirits of harmony, flasks or potions, pets or mounts, lesser charms of good fortune, greater charms of good fortune, or a rune of fate.  On top of that loot being rewarded you can use your greater charms of good fortune or your runes of fate for an additional chance at loot... or gold.  This system is frustrating for people because they feel like they're downing these bosses and not getting anything from it.  It doesn't announce in chat that anyone got anything, and many people go weeks and weeks without winning a single piece of gear.  I keep telling myself at least I'm not losing it to some "jack-ass" who's needed on my gear while having better.

Again, how is Blizzard fixing this?  Patch notes for 5.3 were released a week ago and it stated that those of us with our "unlucky" streaks will soon be protected.  The more times we use our coins or runes for the extra gear chance and lose will give us an increased chance to win something.  This is one of the changes I've been waiting for.  By the end of patch 5.1 I had stopped acquiring my greater charms of good fortune because it was a complete waste of time.  My extra rolls were rewarding me nothing but gold.  In patch 5.2, Blizzard upped the drop chance of gear in Mogu'Shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, and Terrace of Endless Springs, so I began collecting my charms again.  As for runes of fate, I could care less at this point.  If I manage to get my three for the week, than good for me, but I'm not going out of my way to do so.

Now lets discuss winning gear for an offspec.  Even back in cataclysm it was tough to win offspec items in the LFR without being in that spec.  It's become a little fuzzy, but I believe the way the loot system worked was certain gear items were restricted to certain specs, but it was vague.  So, say you play a holy paladin.  Holy paladins can use intellect shields, so this meant that all holy paladins can need on all shields.  A tank shield drops, the holy paladin can take it which was incredibly frustrating for many classes.

Your catching on to the trend, right?? How did Blizzard fix it?  When they took away the option to roll need/greed/pass on the items and replaced them with the possible loot/most likely a bag of gold system, they made it so that the piece of gear you may win can only be used by your spec.  Now what this has done is made people come into the raid in the "wrong" spec so that they can get the gear they want.  We end up with DPS specced as tanks and even healers specced as DPS... it's a mess.

How will Blizzard fix this?  Hooray for Patch 5.3, am I right??  I can now check a box (I believe) that says I'm DPS'ing, but am rolling for tank gear.  Finally, I have a reason to be running through Mogu'Shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, and Terrace of Endless Springs again.

So, the next time you feel the need to complain about loot in LFR, just take a look back at the way things used to be and breathe a sigh of relief.  It may be hard to believe at times, but the system is far better than what it was and is improving as we go along.  If you have an idea on how to improve the loot system or any other feedback, feel free to leave a comment below.  Next week, I'll be discussing the other players and how to deal with them.  Don't forget to follow me on twitter @akadarcee and on Facebook.  You can also subscribe to my Twitch so you can always catch my livestreams.  If you have an idea for an article, news story, or want me to try out a game for a review please let me know.  Thanks for reading and I'll catch you all next time.

Foreshadowing?

I saw something I had never seen, as of yet, while I was logging into Warcraft.  I was waiting on the loading screen and glanced down at the little blurb underneath the loading screen art.  Usually, I read something along the lines of "Don't stand in fire" or some other random piece of advice.  Today I read, "Tip: Nobody has seen Alleria and Turalyon in years.  I'm staring at this and getting myself far more excited than I should.  

First of all, how is this a tip?  Usually a Warcraft tip is along the lines of "Companion pets are account-wide. If one of your character has a pet, all your characters can use that pet."  You know what I think, this is more foreshadowing than a normal game tip.  They are leaving us trails of hints and clues to what the upcoming expansion will be. 

I had originally thought we were going to have another Burning Legion expansion, along the way we would stumble across Alleria and Turalyon.  But here's what I'm thinking now.

We are not ready for another Burning Legion expansion.  We are not ready for Sargeras, so I'm pushing that aside.  I have a few different scenarios for how this is going to play out, all of which involve the old "dark portal" crew.  

Several possible scenarios can unfold for Danath Trollbane.  He is currently sitting in Honor Hold as we speak in the same loop with Alleria and Turalyon's son, Arator the Redeemer.  Scenario #1: Danath and "little Arator" (who's not so little anymore) set out on an expedition to find Alleria and Turalyon.  This may lead us to new zones in the Outlands.  Scenario #2:  Danath Trollbane takes back Stromgarde giving the Alliance another major city (a matching Horde city will also pop up somewhere in the world).  Scenario #3:  This one I've been wondering about for quite some time.  When Deathwing ransacked Stormwind, one statue fell over.  It was the statue of Danath Trollbane.  I always considered this to be an omen and Danath is going to die somehow.  Whether its in scenario 1, 2, or elsewhere.  I know that the statue has been fixed, but I still think of this as an omen.

Khadgar is currently located in Shattrath.  I don't think he's going to return to Dalaran and be with the Kirin Tor, but he will be their representative in the Outlands.  If anyone has read any of the Warcraft books, you probably came across this juicy little fact.  Khadgar witnessed or dreamt his own death.  He knows that he dies beneath a sky of orange.  When he first stepped through the Dark Portal he realised that the Draenor sky was the sky he saw in his vision.  There really aren't too many scenarios for Khadgar.  If Danath and Arator go off in search of Turalyon and Alleria, he is coming along.  We may or may not see his death yet.

Kurdran Wildhammer has jumped around a fair bit, so its hard to say if he would make his return.  He was in Shadowmoon Valley at the Wildhammer Stronghold, but during Cataclysm moved to Victor's Point in the Twilight Highlands.  If he is involved in the future expansion in any way, he's probably the one who's going to come across the information of their whereabouts.  

Originally, I had thought that we would be battling the Burning Legion in the same expansion, but after pondering it awhile I really think that having Turalyon and Alleria back before this happens would make things so much better.  Having an expansion where we find these heroes again would be fantastic, but what would the horde do??  I have my own prediction for this, but first I want to know what you think?  Let me know in the comments below.

As always I hope you enjoyed this piece of random ramblings.  If you would like, follow me on twitter @akadarcee and send me a like on facebook: here.  These are the two places that are updated with everything I do, whether its streaming on twitch or posting on youtube.  It would also help to subscribe to both of those as well.  If you have any questions that you would like me to cover feel free to send them in via facebook, twitter, or email (akadarcee@gmail.com).  Catch you guys later.

Gaming News!!

I'm really not going to keep to any kind of schedule, but I would like to start posting a weekly mash-up of interesting news worthy stories.  So... here we go.

Another SWTOR Server Merger

Only this time the Asian servers are merging with the American servers.  Bioware community manager, Eric Musco stated that the decision was guided by community feedback. "One common theme from suggestions, which we heard clearly, is that everyone wants the opportunity to play on higher populated servers.  With this in mind, we have evaluated all the options and determined that the best solution, that will offer the best long term play experience, is to merge the APAC servers with higher populated North American Servers."  No date has been announced for when the merge will happen.  

Square-Enix CEO Yoichi Wada Is Stepping Down

Remember those days where a new title was announced and you knew it was going to be good because you saw the name Square-Enix.  Well things have very much changed in the last few years, with the problems that Final Fantasy XIV brought them and how Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution did not meet their sales "expectations."  Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada is stepping down after thirteen years with the company.    So what's next for Square Enix?  Twelve year Square Enix employee, Yosuke Matsuda, will be taking his place and hopefully the company will be getting an over-haul.

 Counter-Strike Map Resembles A BC School

It's the same story.  We have a massive tragedy and the finger pointing begins.  If its not guns then it must be video games.  But, I'm choosing to not debate this , instead I'm going to tell you about a counter-strike map that was made resembling Port Moody Secondary School in British Columbia, Canada.  While there are no students or teachers being killed it still feels a little wrong to me.  I don't know if its because the map looks so close to the actual school or if its because the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting is still fresh in my mind.  The map's developer has stated that he was working on this project before the December 14th incident and that there are dozens of counter-strike maps that are other schools.   "Port Moody Secondary is a great school. We certainly did not single it out for malicious reasons. . . . Its architecture and design is rather ideal for the game’s tactics,” the developer says.   During a time where violent video games are again being questioned, something like this feels like its just "fanning the flames."  I want to know what you think, debate it out in the comments below.

PAX East Highlights

PAX East was this week, March 22nd - 24th, and there were tons of announcements and highlights.  While I didn't get to go (stupid passports), here's some of the announcements that excited me.  Bioware announced that they are making a new fictional universe.   What do we know about it?  Very little, actually.  I'll try and keep you posted as more news surfaces.  Diablo 3 is coming to PS3 & PS4.  Most everyone had already heard that, but there we go it's been announced.  I personally found Diablo 3 fun, but boring at the same time.  I beat it once and never played it again.  The idea, however, of being able to sit on the couch and play it with four of my console gaming friends is kind of intriguing.   Blizzard announced their secret project that was not a sequel, expansion, or the rumoured Titan project.  While I was really hoping to see Blizzard All Stars, the announcement they made was just as exciting.  It's almost what I call a "guilty pleasure" game.  You will be able to play the Warcraft trading cards game on your PC, Mac, and iPad.  I will be doing a full write up of everything we know on this because there is just too much for right here.  Capcom, I think, surprised everyone by announcing the return of... Ducktales!!  While similar to the Nintendo version, you are Scrooge McDuck and you are working your way around the world treasure hunting.  My son is going to play the crap out of this game!!  Again, I will keep you posted as more information surfaces.

That's it for this week.  If you have any comments please leave them below.  Don't forget to follow me on twitter @akadarcee.  I've slowly begun to stream a little more over at twitch.tv/akadarcee and some of highlights are being uploaded to youtube.com/akadarcee, so don't forget to subscribe to those.  I just, just made a facebook page, which is pretty empty right now, so head over there and give me a like facebook.com/akadarcee.  I also really appreciate it if you have a story you want me to cover.  Get a hold of me on twitter, facebook, or send me an email akadarcee@gmail.com.  Thanks for reading guys!!

Broken Realm: A Crystal Saga Chronical

  Is it just me, or does it feel like all these “new” browser based MMO's are just the same thing over and over again? I'm at a point where I'm barely paying attention to the dialogue/story anymore. I just don't care. It looks the same and it feels the same.

  So, let's take a look at Broken Realm by R2games. I had never even heard of this game until I was searching through a list of open betas I'd like to try and the name caught my eye. I scanned their page and really found no information on what the game was about. The most I got from it was that Broken Realm is a medieval-fantasy MMORPG. Upon searching through other pages and scanning other peoples reviews, I now know that it is a follow up to Crystal Saga: Origins. To briefly sum it up, the beloved Queen has died and we now have a new King. We join his army and work our way up to find out everything is not as it seems. I made it 11 minutes in.

  Now, don't get me wrong. I have full intentions of playing this game and getting further in. You never know, it could get better.

  But, lets forget about my whining and complaining and lets talk game features. Character creation is mediocre, but was exactly what I expected for the type of game. Each class is pre-made. You just click on what you want to be and that is who you are, no custom made dilly-dallying. There are four classes: Barbarian, Archer, Paladin, and Mage, and you can choose to be male or female. I chose to try the paladin.

  The graphics are 2.5D, which has been feeling like the trend for browser based games. While I tend to enjoy a more cartoony style, as opposed to realistic graphics, this style of game tends to bore me. I really don't feel like I'm part of the game.

  Autopathing!! I've played other games where autopathing felt all right. I could chat on the phone and still quest. I never felt like I was missing out on any story and I still felt involved. In Broken Realm it does not feel right. I think this is because you begin with autopathing already turned on. So, I get into the game and my character is running from quest giver to quest giver and I barely know what's going on. Yes, you can turn it off and I eventually did. As it turns out, you only get one hour of autopathing (as a free to play player).

  Combat is pretty straight forward and probably the most fun for me. I just pointed and clicked and my character did the rest, alternating between my various abilities. Before I knew it, I was level 5 and had no idea how I got there. After a bit of research, I discovered that Broken Realm has a high experience gain, so levelling does go by quite quickly. There are dungeons available to explore and I hope to give them a try in the near future. Same goes for their PVP.

  What did I enjoy? The music!! It really made the game feel like the medieval-fantasy game it is supposed to be. Not once did I feel the need to turn it off or down a little. While it's not something I'm going to listen to all day, I definitely didn't need to pull up iTunes.

  Should you play it? It's free to play, so its not like you'll be out anything but your time. Personally, from what I've read about where the story will take us, I really want to keep my eyes on this game. Perhaps, a few changes will be made that will keep my attention.

  If you would like to keep up on any of my reviews, blogs, or just want to hang out then you need to subscribe. Follow me on twitter: @akadarcee, youtube.com/akadarcee, twitch.com/akadarcee and I now have a Facebook page that is pretty dead right now facebook.com/akadarcee. Hopefully, I will be posting, streaming, and making a lot more content for you guys. Thanks for reading!!

Livestream and Random Thoughts!!

Hey Guys!!  It's been a bit since I've really been on here.  This year has been crazy for me, and I just haven't found the time to sit down and tell you about the games I'm playing... and refusing to play.

So, my real reason for this post is to tell you about my livestream.  I finally got my twitch.tv stream going and you can find it at here.  I seem to only be streaming late evening, only because I'm noticing my guild isn't too comfortable with it right now.  I am streaming a lot of World of Warcraft because Mists of Pandaria has super, super impressed me and I can't seem to be able to stop playing it.  I have re-installed Star Wars (now that its F2P), Warcraft 3 (just as fun as its always been), and I will be taking another poke at League of Legends (so much fun, but I'm really bad).  

In other words, please subscribe!!!  Thanks for popping back on to my page.  If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or email me at akadarcee@gmail.com.  Don't forget to follow me on twitter: @akadarcee and check out my livestream: twitch.tv/akadarceee (maybe subscribe, too).  Catch you all later.

Extra Life: Play Games. Heal Kids

Hey Guys,

I'm just taking a moment to let you all know that my friend, Tristin Bueckert, is participating in Extra Life again this year.

Hi everyone!

I just want to say Thank you for taking a moment to read this letter and check out our fundraising page.

I'm on a mission to save kids through video games, and I need your help.

My local Children's Miracle Network Hospital (BC Children's) treats thousands of children each year, regardless of their family's ability to pay. These kids are facing scary stuff like cancer, cystic fibrosis, and injuries from accidents to name just a few.

On Oct. 20th, 2012, I'll attempt to play an epic 24 hour video game marathon and it's my sincere hope that you'll find it in your heart to support me with a monthly pledge or one-time gift that will go directly to my hospital.

Your donation is tax-deductible and ALL PROCEEDS go to help kids.

Last year, Extra Life raised more than 1.2 million dollars to save kids, but in 2012 our goals, just like the needs of the kids we serve, are much, much higher.

I can't do this without your help. Donating online is safe and easy! To make an online donation please click the "Support This Participant" button on this page.

Thank you for caring for our kids!.

Tristin :)

If you are interested in donating to this great cause or would like to more information I've provided the link right here =====> Apocalypse Pwnies Ride Again!

Beta, Beta, Beta!!!

As you all should know by now, Mists of Pandaria Beta has gone live.  There are tons and tons of youtube videos, livestreams, screenshots and info out there.... so I thought I'd start sharing what I have.

I started my beta experience by making a Pandaren Monk for obvious reasons.  I would have taken screenshots of the character creation, but it was bugged at the time. 

Now, I had decided early on that when the expansion when live I would not be rolling a Panda.  My monk was going to be human, and that was that.  This was going to be my taste of the Pandaren starting zone.  Here's what I logged in to.

That is an overwhelming amount of Panda's.  Scratch that... that's an overwhelming amount of Panda's all gathered around the starting quest giver.  I seriously moved a few paces and the game crashed.  So.... I will revisit the Panda starting zone at a later date.

Currently I am testing out the Jade Forest on Darcee (retribution paladin) and am loving it.  The scenery is beautiful and the quests feel all right.  I was worried that Blizzard was going to pick up on a few of the newer MMO's questing ideas.  I like that it still feels like my Warcraft.

 

As you all should know by now, Mists of Pandaria Beta has gone live.  There are tons and tons of youtube videos, livestreams, screenshots and info out there.... so I thought I'd start sharing what I have.

I started my beta experience by making a Pandaren Monk for obvious reasons.  I would have taken screenshots of the character creation, but it was bugged at the time. 

During questing I was noticing that I would stop and stare at the view.  It is stunning.

I will keep everyone posted as new content is added.  Pet battles have yet to be implemented, and I will for sure be checking that out. I'm going to leave you for now with some "glitch" screenshots. The first one looks as if the ground just hadn't loaded up yet.  It was like that for quite some time. 

 And this last one is a hunter pet glitch.  Hunter pets, for whatever reason, are the size of buildings. 

Well, that's it for me.  As always leave a comment below and follow me on twitter @akadarcee.