Drysc responded strongly to some QQ over at the forums when a poster from Kil'jaeden -- a PvP realm -- ranted about being griefed by high level characters while leveling up. Drysc's uncompromising response? Get some friends and fight back. He reasons that if players roll on a PvP server, they should expect to be griefed as part of the leveling process. It's the same philosophy that has prevented Blizzard from allowing character transfers from PvE to PvP realms. It really only makes sense. If players roll on a PvP server, they shouldn't complain about players from the opposing faction taking advantage of the fact that they're flagged for PvP.
As Drysc explains, "the rules of war are based around attacking when the odds are in your favor". This could mean when opponents outnumber you, outlevel you, when you're low in health and/or if you're engaged with multiple mobs... the question isn't whether it's honorable or fair. It's war. In a PvP server, everything is fair game. There are no rules, and players certainly shouldn't bother sending tickets to GMs asking for any help (or sympathy). This should probably be common sense, but Drysc's somewhat provocative response is something of a surprise -- to many players a welcome one. While I'm all for etiquette (ganking a fisherman is just plain rude) and a personal sense of honor, players who roll on a PvP server know what they signed up for. Shape up or ship out -- character transfers, after all, are just a click away.
You may remember the raiding guild Risen, from the Alleria server, for their work in Naxxaramas back before The Burning Crusade, being among the first to grab Atiesh and the Corrupted Ashbringer. They're back at the forefront of WoW news again, but this time for a different reason. They've decided to tap out of raiding until WoTLK, and they aren't being very shy about telling us why, with a post on their website under the oh-so-witty title "World of Casualcraft."
Yes indeed, odds are that if you talked to a Shaman this weekend about patch 2.4, you got pretty much the same feeling that the video above conveys: Shamans, especially enhancement Shamans, aren't really thrilled about what we got out of the patch. We've been hoping for (finally) buffs, including an update on how Blizzard is going to deal with our totem and mana problems. We were hoping for shields to get reinvigorated and redesigned. We were hoping to see big changes to the class, and instead we got... a new Stormstrike icon, and a totem timer?
The biggest Shaman change is the one to Earth Shield (which only affects Resto, since they're the only ones that can use it-- it costs less mana, and lasts for six charges instead of 10 (not great for raiders, but not bad for PvPers), and there was a small buff to Healing Grace (now gives a chance to avoid dispells). There is one Elemental change-- Call of Thunder now gives 5% crit rather than crit only to Lightning spells. But those changes do nothing to alleviate Shaman concerns (and you might have heard that there were many), and the rest of the changes are bugfixes and UI updates almost no one was asking for.
Yes, yes, QQ more and all that, but the story here is that Shamans have been basically ignored yet again, even while Blizzard admits that there are problems with the class. So when are the fixes coming? Blizzard has already said they're not making sweeping changes to any classes in these content patches-- maybe our chance as Shamans will finally come with the expansion.
David Bowers wrote an excellent, thoroughly analyzed article about the map imbalance in Alterac Valley. His point is relatively simple: under the new Reinforcement mechanics, the map favors the Horde. He posits that, should the Horde play their best game, the Alliance will not be able to win in Alterac Valley. In fact, according to reports, Alliance in some Battlegroups have boycotted AV altogether. When I first read David's article -- a great read I highly recommend to anyone, by the way -- my initial response was a slight befuddlement. You see, in my Battlegroup, the Alliance win their fair share of Alterac Valley.
In fact, if we go over to Warcraft Realms, we'll see that the Alliance win quite a good number of AV games, too. Furthermore, in some Battlegroups, they completely dominate Alterac Valley. Maybe the Horde of those Battlegroups should read David's article. In it, David outlines how the new Reinforcement mechanic favors the Horde because the map design allows Horde players to reach Stonehearth Bunker, a key objective that awards +63 Honor when burned and eliminates 75 Reinforcements, before the Alliance can reach Iceblood Tower. The new Reinforcement mechanic also makes Iceblood Graveyard a critical defensive bastion that, if defended fully, supposedly prevents the Alliance from getting any Honor from Alterac Valley.
We all know which class QQs the most (I know, I know, low blow-- but it made me laugh), but which class smiles the most? Skrattin (who is actually a Warlock himself) speculates that it's 'Locks who are happiest with the game. Even though they've taken some nerfs (although they might still be OP, depending on who you listen to), they still seem to be pretty happy with their class and the game at large. And it's true-- I've never once heard of a Warlock protest out there on the realms.
I generally think of Warriors are pretty happy guys, but even they have had their problems. And while most Priests I know tend to actually be pretty cheery about being the first to die when aggro is lost and playing whack-a-mole all the time, they've had their problems as well. And while I do like my Shaman, I can't really defend my class-- we're pretty big whiners (even if it is justified).
So maybe it's true-- Warlocks just might be the happiest class in the game. It's not that there isn't Warlock QQ, it's just that, for most of the game, it's been about 'locks, not by them.
With Wrath of the Lich King looming on the (far) horizon, it turns out that Blizzard may actually care what you want in it! They've just opened feedback threads for every class on the official forums, asking players to list one or two sentences about their top three problem areas, and their top five problem talents/spells/abilities for their class, along with what talent trees you tend to invest in and what sort of content you play most (PvP, raid, solo, etc.). It's a highly structured format, and you're also instructed not to engage in discussion with other posters or put suggestions on how things should be improved. Just point out what you have a problem with.
The posts note that when they feel they have collected enough feedback, the threads will be closed, so make sure you get your opinion in before that happens. Here are the links for the various classes on the North American forums: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior. And here are the European links: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior. It's possible that all the players speaking their minds have brought down the forum servers, since I can't get them to load, but I'm sure they'll be back presently. And you may not be allowed to have discussion in the Blizzard threads, but feel free to use the comments on this post: what's wrong with your class? What do you think they should do to fix it?
It has come to my attention, as the kind of masochist who is trying to get Gladiator's gear for five level 70's before taking them into the Arenas (one team already created and one more incoming) that I run a lot of Battlegrounds now. And of all the BG's I play in, AV is the one that seems to have all that you need for a really exhilarating, awesome good time, full of close matches and hard fought victories.
Luckily my fellow players have often stepped in to prevent any enjoyment whatsoever. Out of a sense of gratitude, I thought I would compile some of the ways my fellow Horde or Alliance (depending on who I'm playing) have conspired to help keep me safely mired in a total bog of withering boredom.
Part One - We need more armchair generals, please.
Seriously, don't actually play the game. Don't make the mistake of going out there and capturing graveyards, defending towers until they burn, or even killing enemy faction players. Don't waste your time. You're a strategist. You have to share your time tested battle plans, preferable in all caps, and leave out as many vowels as you can when you do so. "Frgt IBGY, rsh RH, DON STOP FOR TWESR." While no one in the group will know who Don Stop is, much less why he seems to be running for the office of the Twesr of all Alterac Valley, you will have managed to convey your intricate strategems to the whole battlegroup. Money and accolades will no doubt follow. It is especially important to do this as a counterpoint to six or seven other people who are offering opposing battle plans in caps, how else will you convince them of the rightness of your cause?
In certain ways, playing a hunter is about depletion. You have to worry about running out of ammo, running out of mana (although not as much since Aspect of the Viper was introduced), running out of range to fire your weapon (though thankfully there's no longer a dead zone), and of course you have to worry about your pet running out of happiness. Which means we have to carry around stacks of food in our bag space, which let's not forget is one bag smaller because every hunter needs an ammo bag, and often some extra ammo on top of that. For some reason, I've never thought about this before: why do we need happiness at all?
Sure, it's a nice mechanic at first, adds flavor to the class, but I really like this suggestion by Killernuts (*cough*) of Arthas-H: remove happiness once your pet reaches the top loyalty level. After a while it just becomes a pain; at best I click an AddOn button every once in a while when the alert pops up, and at worst I have to take a break from what I'm doing to scrounge up some food. Or instead of removing it based on pet level, how about based on player level? Make a trainable skill at, say, 30 that keeps pets happy. You can use food to boost their happiness faster (useful with a newly-trained pet), but you don't have to.
At least one nice change is already slated for the pet feeding department: pets will be able to be fed in combat "at some point in a future patch" (Nethaera). So I guess that's nice, since indeed it does suck to lose what can be a significant portion of your damage just because you haven't been obsessively monitoring that little smiley face. Prior to 2.3 it was possible to feign death and then feed one's pet, but this has been "fixed".
If you've been reading our Shifting Perspectives druid column, then you'll probably remember our discussion of the way druids look as they level up and get newer gear. The druids over in Europe have found a new way to show Blizzard how they feel about it on their forums: in a post by Rawr, entitled "[Screenshot] Season 3 Set Looks So Awesome," they've not only highlighted how druids look in the latest arena gear (as pictured above), but they've shown compiled pics very much like all the the different gear they've had leveling up, from level 10 to level 70.
My druid looked something like this at level 10, which as you can see, is pretty drab. But once I got to level 45 or so, I completed a set I thought looked pretty nice. Now at 70, I have three sets for Bear form, for Cat form, and for healing. I don't mean to brag or anything -- my gear isn't the best in the world -- but one day I hope my druid can look like Xgeno does in his armor!
There are many players out there who may think druids' opinion on their looks is a petty issue that doesn't matter, but when you think about it, there are lots of people out there with very strong opinions on class-specific issues that other classes don't understand in the least. In an age when some players stage riots on their servers or spam forums to protest class problems, these druids have once again demonstrated that there are alternative ways to share your feelings on a particular issue.
For anyone out there who feels extremely angry, happy, or whatever, about any particular class issue, it makes sense to stop and think how you want to look in the eyes of other players before posting on the forums about it. Do you want them to get really frustrated because you're disrupting their gaming in some way? Or do you want them to read your post, then grin and say, "I see what you did there?"
[Thanks Lewi!]
Edit: Apparently the European thread Lewi brought to our attention has its roots in the US. The level 20 druid Pando showed everyone what her animal form looked like, and invited everyone to show theirs. Classic. [Thanks Delkral!]
Romn, a warrior over in Europe, had this great idea to put a "QQ&A" on the official WoW forums over there, which debunks a lot of the mistaken assumptions people have about new gear purchasable with heroic badges in Patch 2.3. The format basically poses the "QQ" question ("QQ" is somehow shorthand for "Cry a lot"), followed by the no-nonsense answer showing the reasoning behind the way things are.
His basic premise is that the new heroic trade-ins are not at all the same T5 raiding gear. Instead, they're just different, and depending on what stats you need most, you'll probably find that the raiding gear from Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep is still better. He says the new heroic sets certainly don't break the game or make raiding useless -- they just open the door to pretty good gear for people who can't get into those raids. Other people in the thread go back and forth with him for a bit, noting that for certain classes and talent specs, the new gear actually is the best gear in the entire game. The posters in that thread take the discussion even farther, and they present their ideas well.
Certainly there's a lot to discuss on this topic, but what I love about this post is the "QQ&A" format. There are a lot of reasonable complaints people can make about game issues, of course, but more often than not, even these reasonable complaints can get blown way out of proportion. I'd love to see more QQ&As about other topics on the forums as a way of helping players to reestablish their understanding of what's really going on in the game, and not get distracted by those who use smoke and mirror arguments to make light drizzles seem like hurricanes. It's only when you take away the over-simplified and over-hyped "QQing" than you can discuss a problem with a practical understanding of what's going on.
Does leet speak reduce your WoW playing enjoyment? Do caps lock and abbreviations set your teeth on edge? If so, Xkhan agrees with you and attributes it possibly to age. His list of pet peeves incites an interesting forum thread discussing in-game annoyances along with the etymological origins of some leet speak.
For example, did you know that GG stands for Good Game? While it is currently used sarcastically, for years it has been spammed at the end of FPS games as a show of good sportsmanship. Ah, playing CTF in Tribes II with the Hammer or something-or-other mod equaled hours of pure gaming pleasure. But I digress...
We've discussed pet peeves before and whether or not we are killing our language with leetspeak. Many mature players would prefer not to play with children who are incapable of forming grammatically correct sentences or playing their character properly. But do we get more upset with these annoyances the older we get?
We've covered this kind of thing a fewtimes before (quite a while ago-- man I'm getting old), but it's an issue that I find perpetually interesting. Tviokh over at WoW Ladies had to deal with a bad kid in her guild-- he constantly requested help for stuff that was easy to do himself, and constantly bugging the guild to try and fight a world dragon that no one really had any interest in fighting. Finally, the kid blew up in whiny 10-year-old fashion, and /gquit... only to pester another guild with his whining and begging.
Now, I should emphasize (since I am older, and have learned to be more and more patient over the years) that this is in fact a bad kid. While there are lots of younger players in Azeroth, not all of them are whiny beggars, and there are quite a few of them that are fun to have around. We've got a kid in our guild, and while he misses quite a few raids (because he has a little bit of a problem doing his homework sometimes-- his parents are in touch with our GM, and the fact that they keep him from playing when he shouldn't be only tells me that they're good parents), he's a fun guy to have around, and a respectable hunter.
Yes, he sometimes bugs us (as level 70s) to run Sunken Temple with him because it's his favorite instance, but in general he's a good kid. So Tviokh's experience isn't necessarily the norm.
Then again, there is part of me that still wants that adults only server, and I can definitely understand why some guilds don't allow younger players. But, as I'm sure WoW-playing parents will attest, not all kids are trouble.
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In certain ways, playing a hunter is about depletion. You have to worry about running out of ammo, running out of mana (although not as much since Aspect of the Viper was introduced), running out of range to fire your weapon (though thankfully there's no longer a dead zone), and of course you have to worry about your pet running out of happiness. Which means we have to carry around stacks of food in our bag space, which let's not forget is one bag smaller because every hunter needs an ammo bag, and often some extra ammo on top of that. For some reason, I've never thought about this before: why do we need happiness at all?
Does leet speak reduce your WoW playing enjoyment? Do caps lock and abbreviations set your teeth on edge? If so, 
We've covered this kind of thing 
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