Saturday, April 3, 2010

The Broken Game



So, to continue my barrage of postings.

Recently I decided to give healing a try on my druid. I've only played a healer class once and that was in Everquest 2 about 2 years ago. My understanding is that druids are some of the best healers in the game. Also, I had heard that the learning curve for a restro druid wasn't that bad. I decided that I would give it the old college try once I reached the Northred dungeons since I'd leveled up two tanks in those instances and I had a pretty good idea of what it would take to heal through most of it.

I've only been doing it for three days, but my overall success has been positive. I do over heal because I tend to be more nervous about players dying and them kicking me from the group than from me getting agro or running out of mana. This will all change once I get more confident and acquire better gear or better well geared tanks in my group.

I want to talk about the current incarnation of WoW players and what I've discovered since I switched to healing. Now, these aren't really new observations, but since I'm a veteran tank, I never got the kind of flack that I tend to get when healing.

I have discovered a good many things that I will share with you.

First, WoW players are now divided into two distinct groups. Those that want to help you and those that will call you any name in the dirty word dictionary if you fail at your job. There really is no in-between now. Also, those in the second group tend to always be in a hurry. Pull, kill, go, pull, kill, go. "No rest for the wicked" must be their motto. A Northrend dungeon, if things go well, can be done in less than 30 minutes. what is 30 minutes out of you're life? There is no need to break records, especially when your only level 73 and the healer needs to get mana back.

And what happened to waiting for the healer to catch up before pulling or checking with the healer to make sure they are ready for the next pull? When did that become obsolete? I don't get that mentality. You know, to be very honest, it is by the will of the healer that you stay alive in a dungeon, not the tank. The sole purpose of the tank is to keep the healer from getting killed by controlling agro, that's it. He's not going to save the dps, that is the healer's job. If the healer gets pommeled by mobs, it won't be the warrior or hunter that keeps the group alive then. No one seems to be aware of what is happening anymore. Its always rush, rush, rush.

Now, that's a section of the WoW community. The other side will take their time and they will make sure your ready because you're success is their success. But this group is becoming very rare these days. And I have to say, the only one to blame for this issue is Blizzard. They are the reason that MMO's have become so watered down, loot-centric, and "me" oriented.

Blizzard has streamlined the whole process of acquiring an epic piece of gear. Back in the day, people had to spend weeks or months camping a specific rare spawning mob and then pray their epic item dropped when it was killed. Now all of that can be done in days. There is no need to work hard for your epic when you can do a few quick heroics a day and boom, you'll have enough badges to cash in for that coveted epic gear. It used to be a status symbol to run around in all purple gear, now its as common as a penny on the street.

There is no game anymore, its just a production line for obtaining epic gear. The need for players to do as many heroic runs has pretty much churned out a bunch of horrible players. They don't need people who are slow or know what they are doing. If you can't keep up, we'll just kick you and use that new LFD tool to get someone else in. They want the most efficient way to do a dungeon so they can get their badges and their shiny status symbols. Strangers used to be considerate and help others in the game, now its about me and my goal to get the easy gear. They have no time to even say hello when they join a group. They just want to do their daily random, so they can get that frost emblem, which gets them closer to that epic item.

Where did the game go? There is no game in WoW anymore, or at least I can't see it. This is what I've learned by leveling up my druid. People just don't have time for anyone anymore. They can't be even bothered to say hello or be patient enough for you to learn your new healing spec. If your not doing it right, then your in their way.

I just want it to be over. Can someone please invent a WoW killer?

6 comments:

  1. If a WoW killer comes out then it will be because that gogogo section of players all started playing it. It's sad but, the take-your-time players are a minority.

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  2. But you're still playing, so they're doing something right, right?

    I was a healer for two years, but I quit about a year ago because I couldn't afford to pay the monthly fees any more.

    I rarely encountered the cruel groups you speak of, almost every encounter with new people was fun for me. And it seemed like my healing was always appreciated.

    Maybe you should try spending $15 on something else next month. I'm playing Neverwinter Nights these days. I DM a game weekly and I've gained a handful of consistent players. We have a ton of fun, doing full role-play. Power gaming isn't even applicable.

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  3. I do play a lot of Battlefield Bad Company 2 when I'm not feeling the WoW love.

    I would quit, really I would, but I've accomplished so much and spent so much of my time getting theses characters to 80 and I have several by the way, that it would be a sign of defeat to give them up now. It's the game I love to hate.

    Right after I made my post, I had a bunch of really nice runs with my healer and things seemed to right them-selves again. I was actually having a lot of fun yesterday playing. I even completed almost all of the Easter day events.

    Will I ever leave WoW? One day sure, but it needs to be for something different, not hard or complicated or even easy. To me a WoW killer is something not WoW but just as much fun and interesting as WoW was when if first came out. Will that happen, who knows.

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  4. The rush mentality ain't lost on the DPS either. As an ex-Healer, I know how much crap they can take, so I tend to heal myself if I do something stupid (like stand in the green goo on the floor).

    Just this morning I saw the best and the worst of tanks in two separate runs. One waited for the Healer to replenish mana and checked with everyone before the next pull, and the other just rushed through without even stopping to loot stuff. Guess which one didn't have a full party wipe?

    If there's all this backbiting out there for just 5-man instances, I can only imagine the drama in some of these Guilds and raids if someone is perceived as not pulling their weight.

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  5. Hey Oak yah my druid healer honestly I got tired so I go boomkin now and again. I mean if it wasn't for intervate I dont know what then it's always go go and DPS doesn't always wait for aggro. It's enough to drive you to drink..OH wait.. that's right no time for drinking lol.

    I love when it's all over and everyone goes wow that was awesome great job and I'm going NO it wasn't great! I am watching all your health we almost died a dozen times I barely managed to save our butts I'm stressed out and glad it's over so NO it's wasn't great lol

    Just wish everyone would make a healer and play them through the 80 level dungeons for awhile before they decide to make another class then maybe they would play with a little thought in mind to the one keeping them alive.

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  6. @Daisy - I feel the same way. Now I'm in a decent guild with some really good friends. We have a few people that tank and dps, so we make a good group. However, we have a saying... if we get a Pug and the PuG gets Lippy, the PuG gets the Vote Kick.

    I wasn't really keen on the idea of booting someone, but when you get so many Pushy Dps that don't understand that they are one of MILLIONS to choose from, then they should just sit back, relax and shut their hole.

    Now, normally, I'll just wait till one of my Tank friends gets on so I don't have to worry about the Tank going and going without waiting, but even they tend to forget I need mana, and when they do, they pay with a repair bill. I appologize but if your not willing to wait on the healer to catch up, then pray you can keep yourself alive long enough to get healed.

    The game has turned into one huge Epic Factor, with everyone and their mother doing just enough to get badges so they can get the loot. hell, even I have a gear score of 4800 after less than a month being at 80. This is sad since it took my Paladin Months to get that same score back before ICC came out.

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