World of Warcrack

Ok, first, let me say, I realize that the title is derivative and overused.  Let’s get past that.

Are we good?  Ok… I need to say something.

Blizzard really knows what they’re doing.

I jumped off of the World of Warcraft wagon about 10 months ago, right around when Star Wars: the Old Republic came out.  At the time, I was a bit bored with WoW; my guild was in the early stages of death and there wasn’t much for me to do with my main character without them.  I didn’t have much interest in starting over with a new group of people, trying to earn my spot in raid groups for endgame content.  Also, as doing the same quests over and over can only not be boring the first couple times, starting new characters in the game was also not much of an option. 

So, when greener pastures with light sabers and space ships appeared, I jumped the fence.  It hasn’t all been sunshine and puppies in the galaxy far, far away, but that’s a story for another time.

2 weeks ago, Blizzard sent me a “baby come back” email.  They offered me a free week with WoW to help me prepare for the new expansion (read: to get me hooked on the crack again).  At first I pooh poohed this - what would a week do?  What would be different?  What have you done for me lately?

7 days ago, I cashed in my free week, curious to see what, if any, changes had taken place in Azeroth in the 10 months I had been away.   

That first night, I didn’t do much, and wasn’t very impressed.  I logged into my main character – a level 85 Orc Hunter that I’ve been playing since about 2007.  Initially, I was disappointed: 2 years ago, before the last expansion (Cataclysm), there were quests and daily events leading up to release that tried to get you involved in the story; this time, there was none of that.  I spent an hour or so playing as a lower level character I had abandoned a year and a half ago thinking that nothing had changed, other than a tweak to the talent system.  I was underwhelmed.

I didn’t even log in on day two.

By day 3, I decided to log back in as my “main.”  I thought I would try the raid finder tool (an addition that went into effect after I defected) to maybe get a crack at the big bad of the last expansion, a dragon by the name of Deathwing.

 

I wanted to fight this guy... isn't he cute?

 

I was a bit bummed to find out that my gear was not good enough to queue up for the raid this way, and since my guild had finished its death throes in my absence, I wasn’t likely to get into a group for this raid as random people I had never played with would have more stringent gear needs than the raid finder.

I decided to try to run a few random dungeons to pass the time, and I found a new option in the raid/dungeon finder screen: Scenarios.  The only scenario available: Theramore’s Fall.

Rather than queue immediately, I decided to look up what this entailed.  Basically, scenarios are new to the Mists of Pandaria expansion.  They play out like dungeons, but are tuned to be done with 2 or 3 people instead of a full party.  Also, they are open to any party configuration, so waiting on a tank or a healer isn’t necessary.  And, rather than the 45 minutes to an hour that a regular dungeon can take, these are usually able to be completed in 20 minutes.

Then I saw the loot table: there were 2 significant upgrades that my hunter could use that were possible drops from this mini-dungeon.  Also, as this was only a “preview” of the scenario, it wouldn’t be available after the 24^th to anyone under level 90.  I logged back in and queued up for my 1^st crack at Theramore’s Fall.

OMG... so much epic-er than my shit!

I found a group in less than a minute.  This in itself was a treat, since, as there are a glut of damage class players, usually we are stuck waiting 30 minutes or more for a full group to get together for a normal dungeon.

20 minutes later, the scenario was over.  It was a quick, fun diversion, I earned some “justice points” (currency you can use towards gear), but did not get either of the 2 items I was hoping for.  I also re-discovered something: WoW has a ton of charm and I missed this world. 

So I queued up again.

And did so at least another 15 times over the course of the next 4 days.

I ended up getting both items I was hoping for; the 1^st about halfway through my runs, and the other on my last attempt.  I also had accumulated enough “justice” to buy 2 other upgrades to my equipment.  I even started running regular dungeons again and ended up with another upgrade.

Bear in mind that this was all for gear on a character in a game I haven’t played/paid for in about a year.  Gear for a game that I wasn’t sure I was going to keep playing after my free time ended.  Gear that, if I did get the expansion, would be obsolete in a few levels.

Today is the release date of the new expansion, and it’s been on my mind since I woke up this morning.  It has me seriously considering dropping $55 today - $40 for the game, $15 for a month of play time. 

I’m pretty sure I’m going to cave in – I ran into an old guild mate last night that is trying to lure me into his new raid group.

And you get to play as Jack Black in this one... no , really.

Well played, Blizzard pusher-men.  Well played.

MASS EFFECT 3 "FANS": ENEMIES OF STORYTELLING

Spoiled, entitled, whiners.

This is how I would describe the “fans” of Bioware’s Mass Effect series.

Let me clarify: I have fans in quotes, because I’m referring to the small but extremely vocal pocket of players that have been crying about the ending to Mass Effect 3.  I know there are many fans, like myself, that feel the ending was either good and made sense in terms of the overall tale, or didn't like it, but didn't feel the need to "occupy Bioware" to get the story changed.  This post is to address the childish group of players that continue to make noise as if they've been personally wronged and are owed reparations for these crimes.

For the uninitiated, the Mass Effect series is the story of Commander Shepard, a human space marine tasked with saving the galaxy.  One of the selling points of the game is customization; your character can be male or female, you can choose his/her personal history, and choices you make in each game carry over and are reflected in the story of the subsequent titles.  As such, you can be forgiven for getting a little attached. 

Earlier this month, the third installment of the series was released.  Finally, Shepard’s battle against the forces threatening the entire galaxy would be concluded – the space opera six years in the making would come to a close.

The game dropped, and less than a week later, the interwebs were flooded with unheard of amounts of nerd rage.

“PLOT HOLES!!!” they cried.  “NO CLOSURE!!!” they screamed.  “I DON’T FEEL LIKE ENOUGH OF A HERO!!!” they whimpered.

Do a quick Google search of Mass Effect 3.  Scan the comments.  You won’t be able to get through 5 comments without some overly entitled jackass complaining that the ending sucked.  Petitions were generated and signed to get the ending changed.  One geek in particular even went as far as to report BioWare and EA to the Federal Trade Commission and BBB. 

I get it.  You're invested in the story.  But petitons?  Complaints?

I say grow the fuck up.

First of all, it’s a video game.  Maybe instead of protesting the ending to a game, you crybabies could mobilize behind causes that actually mean something and do some good.  Or attempt to get laid – and I don’t mean hooking Shepard up with Garrus you pixel-pervs.

Secondly, despite the customization, despite the money you paid for the game, despite the hours you’ve logged playing the series, the story belongs to Bioware.  A large portion of the gamer community wants video games to be considered art; to have the same protection of creative expression that books, films and other “accepted” art forms possess.  If this were a book or a film, you may be disappointed in the ending, but bitching about it would do little to change the result.  George Lucas doesn’t consult you when he wants to make his 1,000^th change to Star Wars and Stephen King didn’t ask for your opinion on how to end The Dark Tower – Bioware doesn’t need to get your input on how to wrap up their story.  They don't owe you anything.

Unfortunately, it appears as if Bioware is going to cave somewhat, saying that they are already looking into downloadable content that “will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey. You’ll hear more on this in April. We’re working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we’ve received.” 

As someone that values storytelling in the games he plays, I see this as a huge step back and a terrible precedent to set.  What if we could get every story changed that didn’t cater to our idea of a proper ending?  I just started reading The Hunger Games…. If all these kids don’t survive, I’m starting a furious letter writing campaign to get the whole series changed. 

The point is, while the game is interactive, and you help move the story in this medium, you are not the storyteller – you’re a participant.  Bioware gave you enough freedom with your choices to let you have some small effect on how the story unfolds, but ultimately the scenario and story arc would be the same.  Let them tell their story.  Let them have that freedom as artists. 

If you don’t like the outcome, don’t buy the next game they make.