Changing the Game(s)
So, Blizzard has announced they're going to pull the auction houses from Diablo 3. Heh. The cynic in me would point out that their cut from the real money version has probably tapered off, so it's not much of a loss. Whatever the case, I'm with most commenters that I've read: it's just too late. Mind you, the overall experience of the game just wasn't enough for me to begin with, but the auction house(s) really did change the game from going out and finding cool gear drops to buying those drops, whether by gold or cash. I... don't really think the expansion is likely to bring me back in either. Most likely, I'll watch some cut scenes.
I've not logged into WoW in quite a while now. I miss it. I don't miss it. I don't know what to say, really. I miss the community experience - that hasn't really been replaced. I watched the end cinematic for the Siege and I'm not particularly excited by it. They handled the Horde/Alliance perspectives well, but a lot of things don't sit well with me, usually because they feel forced by greater game/narrative concerns. Jaina still feels too far out of character, forced there to play counterpoint to Varian's increasingly moderate stance. I don't know if Vol'jin would be a great leader, but he's about the only choice for new warchief of the Horde. Sylvanas' barest of nods fits her stance well. Varian and the Alliance walking away... ugh... As an Alliance player at heart, I'm glad to see the moral high road taken, but the certainty that there won't be peace sort of ruins the moment for me. Instead of a powerful gesture of peace and reconciliation, it feels like a plot-forced moment of idiocy thrown in because the Alliance might actually win if they chose to strike while the Horde was weak. Feh.
And GW2 dropped a patch last night that could be large or small depending on viewpoint. No huge invasions this time. The best part? Tweaking to a lot of the world "boss" encounters. The worst part? Tweaking to a few of the world "boss" encounters. Hmm.
I like the additions to most of them, really. 15-30 minute time limits are fine in my book. Spending that long on a boss fight tends to get a little grueling anyway, either due to boredom or due to constantly keeping track of mechanics. I like the increased difficulty to a couple of the lesser bosses I've seen, as it makes the fights more interesting and not over in thirty seconds.
The revamped Tequatl encounter, however, swings too far in the other direction for me, and demonstrates the difficulty of balancing world encounters. In a limited instance, you can expect a degree of coordination. In an open world encounter, you really can't. It's not fair to do so. So it's nice that there's more going on and things like the hylek cannons have an actual use now, but the tuning is so tight I went a whole fifteen minute encounter last night barely getting close enough to get any hits in on Teq directly (again, very melee-unfriendly) and I don't think the mass of players on the surely-filled map even managed 15% damage to the boss. The possibility of loss has value, but the near-guarantee of it does nothing but make people feel bad and say "fuck it!" I expect adjustments incoming.
The last few patches are also bringing up the problems with overflow servers again, as well. Neat idea. Technologically probably a good one. Experience-wise, however... It's not such a good thing to try to join in one of these big encounters only to end up in overflow where it isn't happening. That's very frustrating, actually.
I've not logged into WoW in quite a while now. I miss it. I don't miss it. I don't know what to say, really. I miss the community experience - that hasn't really been replaced. I watched the end cinematic for the Siege and I'm not particularly excited by it. They handled the Horde/Alliance perspectives well, but a lot of things don't sit well with me, usually because they feel forced by greater game/narrative concerns. Jaina still feels too far out of character, forced there to play counterpoint to Varian's increasingly moderate stance. I don't know if Vol'jin would be a great leader, but he's about the only choice for new warchief of the Horde. Sylvanas' barest of nods fits her stance well. Varian and the Alliance walking away... ugh... As an Alliance player at heart, I'm glad to see the moral high road taken, but the certainty that there won't be peace sort of ruins the moment for me. Instead of a powerful gesture of peace and reconciliation, it feels like a plot-forced moment of idiocy thrown in because the Alliance might actually win if they chose to strike while the Horde was weak. Feh.
And GW2 dropped a patch last night that could be large or small depending on viewpoint. No huge invasions this time. The best part? Tweaking to a lot of the world "boss" encounters. The worst part? Tweaking to a few of the world "boss" encounters. Hmm.
I like the additions to most of them, really. 15-30 minute time limits are fine in my book. Spending that long on a boss fight tends to get a little grueling anyway, either due to boredom or due to constantly keeping track of mechanics. I like the increased difficulty to a couple of the lesser bosses I've seen, as it makes the fights more interesting and not over in thirty seconds.
The revamped Tequatl encounter, however, swings too far in the other direction for me, and demonstrates the difficulty of balancing world encounters. In a limited instance, you can expect a degree of coordination. In an open world encounter, you really can't. It's not fair to do so. So it's nice that there's more going on and things like the hylek cannons have an actual use now, but the tuning is so tight I went a whole fifteen minute encounter last night barely getting close enough to get any hits in on Teq directly (again, very melee-unfriendly) and I don't think the mass of players on the surely-filled map even managed 15% damage to the boss. The possibility of loss has value, but the near-guarantee of it does nothing but make people feel bad and say "fuck it!" I expect adjustments incoming.
The last few patches are also bringing up the problems with overflow servers again, as well. Neat idea. Technologically probably a good one. Experience-wise, however... It's not such a good thing to try to join in one of these big encounters only to end up in overflow where it isn't happening. That's very frustrating, actually.
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