There are still awesome leaders in this world, one of them is named Blacksen.
Blacksen and his guild, Imperative, took it upon themselves to thank "Red Shirt Guy" in a way that the rest of us would never be able to - took him on a 12/12 ICC HM run. They gave him offspec shinies he might not otherwise get, and the winner of the roll for Arthas' horse, Invincible, gave up his shot at the mount in favour of donating it to Red Shirt Guy (who was quoted as saying that Arthas' "... loved that horse more than he loved Jaina Proudmore", yeah I think that was worth it).
Red Shirt Guy has had to deal with a lot of internet tough guys taunting him and attacking him. The video in question was brought to my attention by my partner (a reddit addict, and not a WoWer. He plays minecraft, and I don't ever want him to play Eve as I would never see him again). We both watched the video, and came to 2 conclusions - that the guy had a touch of aspergers (which red shirt guy later confirmed... I mean, his passion and attention to lore detail was amazing!) and that Red Shirt Guy had never used a PA system where there is a delay on hearing yourself talk. If you are not used to it, your automatically Slllloooowww dooownnn youuurrr talkinnnngg because your brain wants you to finish hearing yourself before going onto the next sound. If course, in your own head, this works just fine. On a PA system with a delay? Well, you just start talking slower and slower as the delay will never catch up and you quite often sound like you have a speech impediment of some kind (and sound pretty much exactly like Red Shirt Guy).
This delay technique is being used in a scientific manner as well. People with stutters find almost immediate relief from a lot of their stuttering as soon as you feedback their own speech with a slight delay into their ear. Why is that? For the exact same reason Red Shirt Guy sounded like he had a problem with talking - it slows you down, it tricks your brain into waiting. Stuttering is often caused by your brain going too quickly and getting stuck (of course it is vastly more complicated than that, but I am not a neuroscientist!).
I made my thanks known to Blacksen personally, but I think he and his guild deserve a public shout out. Thanks from all of us who didn't hate, who quietly admired Red Shirt Guy for getting up and asking the question in front of literally thousands of people, for putting up with the ridicule, who understood what happened on that day to his voice and who are the silent majority who noted the event and moved on.
Leaders are not just people who can lead their group, but they lead the way within the community as well. Blacksen has shown that he is not just a good leader within the context of competetive PvE content (Imperative are one of the best PvE guilds in the world, a piece of notable leadership in and of itself) but the guild and ALL its members are leaders within the WoW community at large by extension of this position. What they do is what everyone else will try to emulate. Their behaviour is watched and it is counted - every single member of that guild (and guilds in similar positions) are leaders.
This single act of kindness shows me that Imperative are the kind of leaders I want to be at the top of the game, showing the rest of the world that not only can you be badass (as Blacksen puts it) but you can be AWESOME and still be kicking butt and taking names.
So, thanks Blacksen and Imperative for being non elitist, hardcore PvE leaders.
Showing posts with label Brain Droppings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brain Droppings. Show all posts
Monday, November 8, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Of PUGs, Mages and tangents
This is a bit of a (long) Story Time with Aunty Brang, but I was so excited, I had to share. I won't be offended if you just skim it and click "read" on your RSS feeder, I also wont know but SHHH...
I am generally not a LFD-er. I am not a fan of the people you get in pugs from that tool. Generally people are silent, and when they do talk it is because you screwed up, or they are telling you to wait for mana or demanding a buff of some kind. The anonymity and randomness has made people forget their manners, on the whole. Occasionally, the LFD tool has sparks of awesome. This is the tale of one such awesome point in an otherwise boring time of levelling. There is one moral from this story, one point that I keep trying to make over and over... communication is key. If you communicate, then people are a lot more tolerant of you, as you will see in the following dialog.
I was levelling my little mage, Dhaliri, trying to catch up to some of my friends who had overtaken me so we could go do some instances together. With some trepidation, I hit the LFD key, and start questing. Within minutes I was being ported into Utgarde Keep "I WILL PAINT MAH FACE WITH YOUR BLOOOOD!" (Sure Ingmar, whatever you say).
It didnt take long for me to realise that something good was about to happen:
So with out much further ado, we charge into the instance. The DK Tank is pulling like a champion, taking large groups of mobs (but not too many) and the rest of us are carving up the AoE. We all seem to know what we are doing, waiting for the DnD to go down before we start wailing on everything. Then... this happens...
At this point, I think I had a massive crush on the hunter...
Uh oh! Could we possibly have a cocky, annoying tank?
*blink* SERIOUSLY? This tank was saying that the wipe was partially his fault! I think I have a crush on the tank now too! He even took the priest seriously with the next comment:
Hunter is giggling his head off at all this, and so am I.
Ah Hunter - how I love thee, let me count the ways. And thus we proceeded to completely smash the instance. Then, the Tank DK dropped the bombshell:
We enjoyed that run so much, we decided to go again, but with a new healer. This healer has a rather... LOW mana pool. AAAAAAAAAAaaaand we wipe. Now, read the following interaction:
There was a bit more to the conversation than that, but it is pretty boring to read. The upshot it we identified what went wrong and we corrected it. The only thing the druid had to say was "I died". The rest of us were trying to figure out what happened and how it occurred. I didn't pull aggro again, I watched the DnD and made sure my AoE was in the right places... however, the druid kept dying, generally, it seemed from a lack of mana (as the Tank DK was starting to look after himself), or not realising that DnD wasnt going down sometimes and pulling healer aggro.
And the Druid decides to leave after the first boss. However, while we were waiting for him to run back one time, us Dranei entertained ourselves by telling jokes to the mobs.
Did I mention that this group rocked? Anyway, the new healer rocks up and we see the following exchange:
Yep, that was pretty much one long exchange as we pulled into the next boss. We smashed through the instance and queued up again. This was worth it just for Youngling's random comments while we waited for the next healer to sort out a mod:
Finally, the shammy logs back on... we charge in...
And disaster strikes as the tank comes crashing down...
I pull aggro and decide Ice Block is my friend.
(I would if I HAD invisibility at that level...) I decided that advancing in a negative direction was the best thing for me to do right now... but I didn't count on LFD putting awesome people in my group a third time running.
And Youngling was just as entertaining as previously. Unfortunately, I had to leave after this run... but I couldn't be let go without a passing shot from the crowd...
I am generally not a LFD-er. I am not a fan of the people you get in pugs from that tool. Generally people are silent, and when they do talk it is because you screwed up, or they are telling you to wait for mana or demanding a buff of some kind. The anonymity and randomness has made people forget their manners, on the whole. Occasionally, the LFD tool has sparks of awesome. This is the tale of one such awesome point in an otherwise boring time of levelling. There is one moral from this story, one point that I keep trying to make over and over... communication is key. If you communicate, then people are a lot more tolerant of you, as you will see in the following dialog.
I was levelling my little mage, Dhaliri, trying to catch up to some of my friends who had overtaken me so we could go do some instances together. With some trepidation, I hit the LFD key, and start questing. Within minutes I was being ported into Utgarde Keep "I WILL PAINT MAH FACE WITH YOUR BLOOOOD!" (Sure Ingmar, whatever you say).
It didnt take long for me to realise that something good was about to happen:
14:46 [Tank DK]: Try to keep up
So with out much further ado, we charge into the instance. The DK Tank is pulling like a champion, taking large groups of mobs (but not too many) and the rest of us are carving up the AoE. We all seem to know what we are doing, waiting for the DnD to go down before we start wailing on everything. Then... this happens...
14:53 [Priest Healer]: I don't get the trend for tanks to totally disregard that the healer needs mana...what is that?
14:54 [Tank DK]: I wasn't disregarding, I just wasn't paying attention
14:54 [Hunter]: an s on their chests now??
14:54 [Hunter]: lol
At this point, I think I had a massive crush on the hunter...
14:55 [Tank DK]: The very last time I ran this, I ran it with a druid who said he could faceroll
Uh oh! Could we possibly have a cocky, annoying tank?
14:55 [Tank DK]: I wasn't mitigating properly, usually I can heal myself a bit
*blink* SERIOUSLY? This tank was saying that the wipe was partially his fault! I think I have a crush on the tank now too! He even took the priest seriously with the next comment:
14:55 [Priest Healer]: no idea what that is
14:56 [Tank DK]: It's so easy, he could roll his face over the keyboard and it would workl
14:56 [Hunter]: lol
Hunter is giggling his head off at all this, and so am I.
14:58 [Tank DK]: Mana?
14:58 [Priest Healer]: thanks
14:58 [Hunter]: no ty i am good lol
Ah Hunter - how I love thee, let me count the ways. And thus we proceeded to completely smash the instance. Then, the Tank DK dropped the bombshell:
15:13 [Tank DK]: This is my second character, right next to the 55 warrior I dropped to make this one
15:13 [Tank DK]: I just love tanking
15:13 [Tank DK]: I'm gonna make a druid and a pally too
15:13 [Hunter]: u r good at it
15:14 [Dhaliri]: yeah, you are doing really well at tanking for your second character
15:14 [Tank DK]: =D
15:14 [DPS DK]: ya :D
15:14 [Tank DK]: My buddy has played WoW for about 4 years
15:14 [Dhaliri]: Im watching your threat and its solid
15:14 [Tank DK]: I learn a lot from him
15:14 [Dhaliri]: well, hes a good teacher
15:15 [Hunter]: yes
15:15 [Tank DK]: Thanks =D
We enjoyed that run so much, we decided to go again, but with a new healer. This healer has a rather... LOW mana pool. AAAAAAAAAAaaaand we wipe. Now, read the following interaction:
15:25 [Tank DK]: What happened?
15:26 [Dhaliri]: I pulled aoe
15:26 [Druid Healer]: i died
...
15:27 [Tank DK]: I screwed up the positioning of my DnD
There was a bit more to the conversation than that, but it is pretty boring to read. The upshot it we identified what went wrong and we corrected it. The only thing the druid had to say was "I died". The rest of us were trying to figure out what happened and how it occurred. I didn't pull aggro again, I watched the DnD and made sure my AoE was in the right places... however, the druid kept dying, generally, it seemed from a lack of mana (as the Tank DK was starting to look after himself), or not realising that DnD wasnt going down sometimes and pulling healer aggro.
15:40 [Dhaliri]: healer down
15:40 [Tank DK]: How?
...
15:41 [Tank DK]: I didn't think they'd be a problem, little babies hit a lot when they're many
15:41 [Tank DK]: I just blood boiled and assumed I'd have aggro thil they died
15:42 [Dhaliri]: druids pull healer aggro pretty hard
15:42 [Dhaliri]: something to be wary of on aoe pulls
15:45 [Druid Healer]: sorry guys, sik of running bak
15:45 [Druid Healer]: gl
15:46 [Dhaliri]: mmm so ... odd healer is odd?
15:46 [Hunter]: strange
15:46 [DPS DK]: did he was hurting himself ? xD
And the Druid decides to leave after the first boss. However, while we were waiting for him to run back one time, us Dranei entertained ourselves by telling jokes to the mobs.
15:43 [DPS DK]: ajajajaj draenei talks like russians lolol.. sorry my first ally char
15:44 [Dhaliri]: Kind of
15:44 [Hunter]: was just gonna say that
15:44 [Dhaliri]: Ever heard of Babylon 5?
15:44 [DPS DK]: ya
15:44 [Dhaliri]: The dranaei are based on the boneheads from that show
15:44 [Dhaliri]: their prophet is even named Velen! (in Bab 5 its Valen(
15:45 [DPS DK]: im gonna check them out later :)
Did I mention that this group rocked? Anyway, the new healer rocks up and we see the following exchange:
15:46 [DPS DK]: hi !
15:46 [Dhaliri]: Hi there
15:46 [Hunter]: hi
15:46 [Tank DK]: A DROOD
15:46 [Youngling]: Hello noobs and noobetes
15:47 [Youngling]: :P
15:47 [Youngling]: joks
15:47 [Hunter]: lol
15:47 [Dhaliri]: You are going to fit in JUST FINE
15:47 [Youngling]: lol?
15:47 [Youngling]: im scared now
15:47 [Dhaliri]: I would be
15:47 [Hunter]: for sure
15:47 [Youngling]: Just cause im a druid
15:47 [Youngling]: adn your a mage
15:47 [Dhaliri]: And you like dragons
15:48 [Youngling]: :O
15:48 [Dhaliri]: I SAW THAT MOVIE
15:49 [Youngling]: i made this toon when i was like 10
15:49 [Youngling]: then i got it to liek 15
15:49 [Dhaliri]: (oh man, I feel old right now)
15:49 [Youngling]: and stoped playing it for like 5 years
15:50 [Youngling]: adn now i am 15 and i decided to play it again
15:50 [Youngling]: lol how old are you
15:50 [Youngling]: 40?
15:50 [Dhaliri]: not THAT old
15:50 [Tank DK]: 23!
15:50 [DPS DK]: 26
15:50 [Youngling]: lol
15:50 [Dhaliri]: 32
15:50 [Hunter]: 38 here
15:50 [Youngling]: Lol
15:50 [Dhaliri]: oops 34
15:50 [Youngling]: lol u old people
15:50 [Dhaliri]: getting senile in my old age
15:50 [Youngling]: Lol
15:51 [Hunter]: young wippersnapper
15:51 [Youngling]: and you are a Femlae or a male :P
15:51 [Dhaliri]: One day YOU WILL BE OLD JUST LIKE US MUAHAHAHAAAA
15:51 [Youngling]: lol
15:51 [DPS DK]: same as my char
15:51 [Dhaliri]: ditto
15:52 [Hunter]: same here
15:52 [Youngling]: Finkle bottom saggy tits :P
15:52 [Youngling]: sorry :(
15:52 [Dhaliri]: lol?
15:52 [Youngling]: lol
15:52 [Youngling]: you should be CONFUSED
Yep, that was pretty much one long exchange as we pulled into the next boss. We smashed through the instance and queued up again. This was worth it just for Youngling's random comments while we waited for the next healer to sort out a mod:
15:58 [Youngling]: when i run sideways it looks like i am running foward
16:00 [Dhaliri]: Tree is for Fight
16:01 [Youngling]: yeh
16:01 [Youngling]: GUESS WHAT
16:01 [Dhaliri]: what? (dare I ask?)
16:01 [Youngling]: CHICKENS GO MEOW WHEN PEOPLE ARE NOT LOOKING!
16:01 [Dhaliri]: how do you know?
16:01 [Youngling]: cause i videod it
16:01 [Youngling]: :P
16:01 [Dhaliri]: SS or it didn't happen!
16:03 [Youngling]: Feel my suductive dance
16:03 [Youngling]: :P
16:03 [Dhaliri]: that damn moonkin dance makes me lol
Finally, the shammy logs back on... we charge in...
16:03 [Tank DK]: Here we go16:04 [Tank DK]: Get ready for epic heals
And disaster strikes as the tank comes crashing down...
16:04 [Youngling]: lol16:04 [Tank DK]: WELL I NEVER!16:04 [Youngling]: Moments like this you need a Minti16:04 [Youngling]: lol
I pull aggro and decide Ice Block is my friend.
16:05 [Youngling]: Mage get back16:05 [Youngling]: if worst com e to worst use Invisiblility16:05 [Tank DK]: If worst comes to worst
(I would if I HAD invisibility at that level...) I decided that advancing in a negative direction was the best thing for me to do right now... but I didn't count on LFD putting awesome people in my group a third time running.
This was the very first pull of the instance. How many people would have just quit? But NOT US! We trooped on!16:05 [Shammy Heals]: you know what...that's my bad sry...16:05 [Dhaliri]: I ran16:05 [Dhaliri]: what happened?16:05 [Shammy Heals]: my comp got freeze again16:05 [Youngling]: lol16:05 [Ret Pally]: I tanked16:05 [Youngling]: :P16:05 [Ret Pally]: we won16:05 [Dhaliri]: AH16:05 [Dhaliri]: I saw!16:05 [Tank DK]: It's okay =D16:06 [Dhaliri]: I froze, then ran, then ran back and helped!16:06 [Ret Pally]: lol16:06 [Tank DK]: runn!16:06 [Youngling]: Lol you didnt help shit16:06 [Tank DK]: loool16:06 [Dhaliri]: I DID!16:06 [Youngling]: :P16:07 [Dhaliri]: Im helpy mcHelpPants
16:22 [Dhaliri]: LOL so used to being a tank healer - on the tanks heels all the time16:23 [Youngling]: lol16:23 [Youngling]: what a noob16:23 [Youngling]: :P16:23 [Dhaliri]: You wish you were as noob as me16:23 [Youngling]: fuck yeh16:23 [Dhaliri]: see?
And Youngling was just as entertaining as previously. Unfortunately, I had to leave after this run... but I couldn't be let go without a passing shot from the crowd...
16:29 [Dhaliri]: ok Im off guys - cheers for that16:29 [Dhaliri]: GL with the levelling!16:29 [Youngling]: *cough* noob *cough*16:29 [Youngling]: :P16:29 [Dhaliri]: haha16:29 [Tank DK]: =D
Thursday, October 21, 2010
4.0.1 and initial Holy Pally reaction
So, I spent 2 hours patching then another 3 hours readjusting my UI and figuring out my spec (which I am still not happy with) and wondering what on earth is going on with glyphs. Oh man, I wish I were an inscriptor, they were raking in the money! RAKING IT IN.
But this is a holy pally post - a very bad, I haven't raided yet, wtfamIdoing post.
First of all, I would like to welcome my new Holy Rogue style of play to my keyboard. I can't tell you how immeasurably happy I am to have my 2 favourite classes smooshed together in such a way. I was leaping around my chair with excitement. It seems blizzard are finally pushing paladins back into melee. I never understood why Holy Paladins all stood at range to heal. It doesn't fit the lore, or the class. I was always in the thick of it, seal twisting depending on what I needed at the time, health or mana, and by doing that, allowing myself to use different stats to other paladins. I could value crit higher. Bring on the Combat Medic, I say. I am looking forward to raiding encounters in Cata which will allow this to happen.
I am going to ignore anything about spec and glyphs for the moment. I am not convinced mine are right and I need to play a little to figure out what I think is useful in terms of spells before I tweak in any way yet. I expect to be spending some gold on respecs.
For reference, I have a spec something like this.
First of all what do we have to use as a holy pally now?
The very first thing I noticed was I have a lot less on my bars, but a lot more that I need to look at. I have moved from 1 bar under my feet with OHSHIT buttons and a GCD timer from quartz, to 2 bars and a holy power meter and quartz to manage everything I feel I need to watch constantly.
It seems things are now grouped into 3 catagories for healing.
Heals
Holy Shock - This seems to be our bread and butter heal. I keep it on CoolDown (CD) at all times. It was reasonably cheap and generates Holy Power (HP). If it is not on CD, why not? As far as I seem to play, it is always on cooldown.
Word of Glory - This is a free heal. Again, if you have HP and it is not on CD, why is it not on CD? Use it at every opportunity you have, generally on the tank, but really whatever needs it. 3 HPs mean the heal gets up to 5k.
Divine Light - This is our heavy hitting heal. Seems to me to be a little underpowered for the mana cost at the moment. I am sure this will get balanced out at 85 as we scale up. For the moment, use sparingly and only in emergencies.
Flash of Light - Ok, so this is our upside down heal. What used to be a quick small cheap heal is now a quick EXPENSIVE middling heal. Bigger than holy light. I seem to be using this a lot in heroics, its fast and fights dont last long enough for me to run out of mana.
Lay On Hands - This is unchanged from 3.x, but now the CD is 10mins base. Which is pretty much one per fight. Looks like every pally took the glyphs/talents to reduce the CD on this, so Blizz decided to just reduce the CD. Smart move.
Holy Light - What used to be the staple for healing is now probably going to gather dust till we hit 85. It is REALLY cheap now, like ludicrously so, but it heals like you are drinking water as a placebo. I suspect it is designed to be our average damage evener-outerer (the math design says that is the case).
Light of Dawn - This has a great graphic! The conal area of effect will take some getting used to, but this will be a great melee healing device. Wont work so well on ranged, they generally don't like standing in any position which will make this at all useful.
Beacon of Light -Despite the nerf, I found that bacon should be on the tank at all times regardless of anything else. We have so many more instant and free heals to throw around, that requiring this to be 100% I feel certainly would have been over powered. The HP talents that go with this make it even more attractive as it will generate a free heal for every 3 casts.
Seal of Insight - Go forth and be a combat medic. Hit shit the way Paladins were meant to! FINALLY! So happy about this change.
Holy Power Generation
Crusader Strike - Combat Medic strikes again. If you get a free cycle, throw up a crusader strike and generate HP. Hitting stuff is fun.
Judgement - old faithful. Use it when you can.
Holy Shock - Yep, should always be on CD and always generating HP for you.
Mana regeneration
Divine Plea - Seems this is pretty much unchanged from 3.x in terms of how and when you would use it (which is obviously, use early, use often)
Seal of Insight - Again with going in and being a combat medic, this seal regenerates not just health, but mana too.
UI changes?
We have a lot fewer spells to deal with now, but there are a lot more things to watch. All our spells are on odd cooldowns, and we need to keep track of HP to be sure to use Word as often as we can. I came up with a bit of an odd idea - I have a mostly opaque bar under my toon's feet with all my heals on it, behind that I used a mod (in this case, IceHud) to place the holy power bar behind that, so I could see at a glance which of my heals were ready to use, and how much HP I currently had.
However, I have now decided that is a terrible idea and simple have a counter next to that healing bar instead.
So, that's my initial reaction to what we now have to play with. I have some idea of how to use it now, but really, I have a nasty feeling that our gimpedness now will not be an issue at 85. We are in pre-cata patch testing... the talents and abilities we have now are not designed to be ready for 80. They are designed for 85 raiding. So, if you feel your incapable of being useful in heroic LK, have a break! Don't cry and say that your class is broken and you are going to reroll, and blizzard doesn't love you and all that other QQ I am seeing at the moment. I cant recommend more that you play an alt and go see what HEALING TALENTS classes have in their trees now. Judgement of Light might be gone, but it has been absorbed as talents in just about every talent tree I have looked at. Little things like that. Go see what syngergies are out there now for you. Yeah, so you will have less HPS on the healing meters, SO WHAT? As long as your targets stay alive and the boss dies, does it matter if you are at the top or the bottom of the meters?
Go play an alt. Go play the auction house. Have a break! You have earned it.
But this is a holy pally post - a very bad, I haven't raided yet, wtfamIdoing post.
First of all, I would like to welcome my new Holy Rogue style of play to my keyboard. I can't tell you how immeasurably happy I am to have my 2 favourite classes smooshed together in such a way. I was leaping around my chair with excitement. It seems blizzard are finally pushing paladins back into melee. I never understood why Holy Paladins all stood at range to heal. It doesn't fit the lore, or the class. I was always in the thick of it, seal twisting depending on what I needed at the time, health or mana, and by doing that, allowing myself to use different stats to other paladins. I could value crit higher. Bring on the Combat Medic, I say. I am looking forward to raiding encounters in Cata which will allow this to happen.
I am going to ignore anything about spec and glyphs for the moment. I am not convinced mine are right and I need to play a little to figure out what I think is useful in terms of spells before I tweak in any way yet. I expect to be spending some gold on respecs.
For reference, I have a spec something like this.
First of all what do we have to use as a holy pally now?
The very first thing I noticed was I have a lot less on my bars, but a lot more that I need to look at. I have moved from 1 bar under my feet with OHSHIT buttons and a GCD timer from quartz, to 2 bars and a holy power meter and quartz to manage everything I feel I need to watch constantly.
It seems things are now grouped into 3 catagories for healing.
Heals
Holy Shock - This seems to be our bread and butter heal. I keep it on CoolDown (CD) at all times. It was reasonably cheap and generates Holy Power (HP). If it is not on CD, why not? As far as I seem to play, it is always on cooldown.
Word of Glory - This is a free heal. Again, if you have HP and it is not on CD, why is it not on CD? Use it at every opportunity you have, generally on the tank, but really whatever needs it. 3 HPs mean the heal gets up to 5k.
Divine Light - This is our heavy hitting heal. Seems to me to be a little underpowered for the mana cost at the moment. I am sure this will get balanced out at 85 as we scale up. For the moment, use sparingly and only in emergencies.
Flash of Light - Ok, so this is our upside down heal. What used to be a quick small cheap heal is now a quick EXPENSIVE middling heal. Bigger than holy light. I seem to be using this a lot in heroics, its fast and fights dont last long enough for me to run out of mana.
Lay On Hands - This is unchanged from 3.x, but now the CD is 10mins base. Which is pretty much one per fight. Looks like every pally took the glyphs/talents to reduce the CD on this, so Blizz decided to just reduce the CD. Smart move.
Holy Light - What used to be the staple for healing is now probably going to gather dust till we hit 85. It is REALLY cheap now, like ludicrously so, but it heals like you are drinking water as a placebo. I suspect it is designed to be our average damage evener-outerer (the math design says that is the case).
Light of Dawn - This has a great graphic! The conal area of effect will take some getting used to, but this will be a great melee healing device. Wont work so well on ranged, they generally don't like standing in any position which will make this at all useful.
Beacon of Light -Despite the nerf, I found that bacon should be on the tank at all times regardless of anything else. We have so many more instant and free heals to throw around, that requiring this to be 100% I feel certainly would have been over powered. The HP talents that go with this make it even more attractive as it will generate a free heal for every 3 casts.
Seal of Insight - Go forth and be a combat medic. Hit shit the way Paladins were meant to! FINALLY! So happy about this change.
Holy Power Generation
Crusader Strike - Combat Medic strikes again. If you get a free cycle, throw up a crusader strike and generate HP. Hitting stuff is fun.
Judgement - old faithful. Use it when you can.
Holy Shock - Yep, should always be on CD and always generating HP for you.
Mana regeneration
Divine Plea - Seems this is pretty much unchanged from 3.x in terms of how and when you would use it (which is obviously, use early, use often)
Seal of Insight - Again with going in and being a combat medic, this seal regenerates not just health, but mana too.
UI changes?
We have a lot fewer spells to deal with now, but there are a lot more things to watch. All our spells are on odd cooldowns, and we need to keep track of HP to be sure to use Word as often as we can. I came up with a bit of an odd idea - I have a mostly opaque bar under my toon's feet with all my heals on it, behind that I used a mod (in this case, IceHud) to place the holy power bar behind that, so I could see at a glance which of my heals were ready to use, and how much HP I currently had.
However, I have now decided that is a terrible idea and simple have a counter next to that healing bar instead.
So, that's my initial reaction to what we now have to play with. I have some idea of how to use it now, but really, I have a nasty feeling that our gimpedness now will not be an issue at 85. We are in pre-cata patch testing... the talents and abilities we have now are not designed to be ready for 80. They are designed for 85 raiding. So, if you feel your incapable of being useful in heroic LK, have a break! Don't cry and say that your class is broken and you are going to reroll, and blizzard doesn't love you and all that other QQ I am seeing at the moment. I cant recommend more that you play an alt and go see what HEALING TALENTS classes have in their trees now. Judgement of Light might be gone, but it has been absorbed as talents in just about every talent tree I have looked at. Little things like that. Go see what syngergies are out there now for you. Yeah, so you will have less HPS on the healing meters, SO WHAT? As long as your targets stay alive and the boss dies, does it matter if you are at the top or the bottom of the meters?
Go play an alt. Go play the auction house. Have a break! You have earned it.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Loot as a Skinner box
Last night, my fellow officer was explaining our guild concept to a new guildie. He is studying psychology and he mentioned Skinner boxes in the explanation. No, I don't mean you skin a mob called a "box" and get epic loot from it. I mean, a something called a "skinner box", but not a REAL skinner box, a software one. One of the most famous skinner box conditioned mammals are Pavlov's dogs - who were conditioned to slobber at the ring of a bell. I realised that I had not explained why our guild is doing what it is doing on this blog. So, here is why.
Disclaimer - I am not a psychologist. I am a trained scientist and I am using my skills learned within that to apply critical thinking and research to something I think leaders should understand at some level, or at least be aware of. I am sure that the below article will be contentious, and please comment if you have opinions or experiences to share! There are a list of links to read if you are interested in more information at the end of the article. If you read nothing else, read the one from cracked.com.
How is loot a software Skinner Box?
So the basics of the skinner box experiment are thus (I am going to assume you read the link above): Rat A in the skinner box is rewarded every time they press the button. Rat B in another skinner box is rewarded randomly when they press the button. Rat B will press that button more and more in hopes of gaining a reward, eventually just pressing that button continuously regardless of how much reward they actually have.
According to Skinner, Rat B displayed behaviors similar to a gambler. The next press might give them the thing they are after. It becomes less about the reward itself and more about obtaining the reward. I can easily see how this would extend to WoW and loot. Clearly, the lever is killing the boss and the reward is the Phat Lewtz we gain from the boss.
Reinforcement
There are many levels of reinforcement within WoW (and other games and MMO's) to keep us coming back for more. There is simple randomness "Will my item drop?" then to compound that once it does drop, "Will I win that loot?". That is one nasty lever! Not only are you being conditioned by a random drop, you can SEE that random drop (which proves that the drop exists) but then that random drop is randomly allocated within the raid.
Now let's take it one step further, I assumed that the boss died every time - it may not. So, not only are your random elements "Will my loot drop?" and "Will I win it?" but also "Will we kill the boss?". And one more element to that "Was I there when the boss was killed this week?" because perhaps you were unavailable that night, perhaps you were benched or perhaps the leadership team decided to not kill that boss that week.
Just think about all those variables for a moment. All of those things that can affect whether or not you get the reward. To use the schedule terminology, WoW raiding loot is a mixture of Fixed interval (ie weekly resets), variable interval (which bosses are killed a week, whether or not that boss has loot you want), variable ratio (who is in the group that week and your loot drops at a fixed percentage), and continuous ratio (raid loot drops every time, BADGES oh the Badges!). It has several levels of reward abstraction (ie after the loot drops, it is still some ratio as to whether you get it or not). It has multiple levels of concurrency and complexity. Simply put, it is the most complex and amazing skinner box I have ever seen and I was completely sucked in by it for some time. It is even incorporated into our jargon - Farming anyone?
Breaking Bad Boxes
There are many things that are done to break parts of the skinner box. The main reason to break parts of it is that the skinner box makes you feel slightly out of control (well it did to me). You don't know when the next "fix" is coming, when that next big win will happen. This causes friction and frustration between guild members. Good guild leaders understand this at some level, even if they don't understand why it is happening. There are a few basic methods to break the mechanisms to keep your guild ticking along smoother than the average guild.
The first and most prevalent one is (obviously) be in a guild. Reducing the number of people competing for the loot fixes the variable nature of allocating loot. LFG system actually exponentially increases this variable. If you want to gain an item, fix the group that you are going to be pressing that level. Randomising the people you go with will increase the randomness of you gaining the item, and increasing the effectiveness of the skinner box around you.
Following on from fixing the group of people around you, comes using a loot allocation system (like DKP). Making it clear when you will get that next piece of loot relative to other guild members removes a level of complexity to the system and calms people down. It changes the Variable Ratio loot allocation to an Interval Ratio (In random kills, but x drops, I will get item y). It would not have been hard to implement a DKP system within WoW, but they didn't. They chose to keep the two level variable ratio.
Further to that is planning ahead - letting people know what your raiding schedule is. What are you planning to kill when? Who needs to kill which boss for their push at the reward lever? How many badges do they need to upgrade an item?
The hardest thing to do is to create a culture where loot is no longer a reward, but a tool. Loot is what you need to kill the next boss and the reward is working together as a team to overcome a challenge. WotLK has made this VERY difficult to do, as they have created an environment that causes this challenge to have been removed placing emphasis back on loot as a reward and reinforcing the loot skinner box. I think this last point sums up why I enjoyed TBC vastly more than WotLK.
Using the Skinner Box for your own reasons
Having tools to break the box and the knowledge that the box exists means you can manipulate these tools to create or break morale in your guild. If you need people to turn up to raid nights? take away the predictability of what bosses you are doing when - add that element back into the skinner box of raiding and condition your guild to respond to that. You can take it away at will and put up schedules again, but as soon as the members start slacking off, add it back in and they will be pre-conditioned to respond and turn up to raids again.
This is not as nasty as it sounds.
Understanding how this works is a wonderful way to break the conditioning on yourself. Once you can break it on yourself you will be much more objective and strategic in how you run your raids and how you run your guild. It also allows you to break the subscription model the skinner box promotes and ensure you have a good balance of gaming versus Real Life. It is another tool in your guild leader arsenal to use, or to leave in place. It is your choice.
Given how well constructed this skinner box is, I am not surprised that there has been very little written on the topic. Here is a quick link spam to articles I have read in the past (and could still find links to) on the topic.
Mecha the Slag - from July 2010
Tobold from 2007!
Moose Bites from 2009
Nick Yee on the EQ skinner box
Gamasutra from back in 2001!
Cracked.com from this year with some great links I recommend you read including some I already had read and linked above.
Disclaimer - I am not a psychologist. I am a trained scientist and I am using my skills learned within that to apply critical thinking and research to something I think leaders should understand at some level, or at least be aware of. I am sure that the below article will be contentious, and please comment if you have opinions or experiences to share! There are a list of links to read if you are interested in more information at the end of the article. If you read nothing else, read the one from cracked.com.
How is loot a software Skinner Box?
So the basics of the skinner box experiment are thus (I am going to assume you read the link above): Rat A in the skinner box is rewarded every time they press the button. Rat B in another skinner box is rewarded randomly when they press the button. Rat B will press that button more and more in hopes of gaining a reward, eventually just pressing that button continuously regardless of how much reward they actually have.
According to Skinner, Rat B displayed behaviors similar to a gambler. The next press might give them the thing they are after. It becomes less about the reward itself and more about obtaining the reward. I can easily see how this would extend to WoW and loot. Clearly, the lever is killing the boss and the reward is the Phat Lewtz we gain from the boss.
Reinforcement
There are many levels of reinforcement within WoW (and other games and MMO's) to keep us coming back for more. There is simple randomness "Will my item drop?" then to compound that once it does drop, "Will I win that loot?". That is one nasty lever! Not only are you being conditioned by a random drop, you can SEE that random drop (which proves that the drop exists) but then that random drop is randomly allocated within the raid.
Now let's take it one step further, I assumed that the boss died every time - it may not. So, not only are your random elements "Will my loot drop?" and "Will I win it?" but also "Will we kill the boss?". And one more element to that "Was I there when the boss was killed this week?" because perhaps you were unavailable that night, perhaps you were benched or perhaps the leadership team decided to not kill that boss that week.
Just think about all those variables for a moment. All of those things that can affect whether or not you get the reward. To use the schedule terminology, WoW raiding loot is a mixture of Fixed interval (ie weekly resets), variable interval (which bosses are killed a week, whether or not that boss has loot you want), variable ratio (who is in the group that week and your loot drops at a fixed percentage), and continuous ratio (raid loot drops every time, BADGES oh the Badges!). It has several levels of reward abstraction (ie after the loot drops, it is still some ratio as to whether you get it or not). It has multiple levels of concurrency and complexity. Simply put, it is the most complex and amazing skinner box I have ever seen and I was completely sucked in by it for some time. It is even incorporated into our jargon - Farming anyone?
Breaking Bad Boxes
There are many things that are done to break parts of the skinner box. The main reason to break parts of it is that the skinner box makes you feel slightly out of control (well it did to me). You don't know when the next "fix" is coming, when that next big win will happen. This causes friction and frustration between guild members. Good guild leaders understand this at some level, even if they don't understand why it is happening. There are a few basic methods to break the mechanisms to keep your guild ticking along smoother than the average guild.
The first and most prevalent one is (obviously) be in a guild. Reducing the number of people competing for the loot fixes the variable nature of allocating loot. LFG system actually exponentially increases this variable. If you want to gain an item, fix the group that you are going to be pressing that level. Randomising the people you go with will increase the randomness of you gaining the item, and increasing the effectiveness of the skinner box around you.
Following on from fixing the group of people around you, comes using a loot allocation system (like DKP). Making it clear when you will get that next piece of loot relative to other guild members removes a level of complexity to the system and calms people down. It changes the Variable Ratio loot allocation to an Interval Ratio (In random kills, but x drops, I will get item y). It would not have been hard to implement a DKP system within WoW, but they didn't. They chose to keep the two level variable ratio.
Further to that is planning ahead - letting people know what your raiding schedule is. What are you planning to kill when? Who needs to kill which boss for their push at the reward lever? How many badges do they need to upgrade an item?
The hardest thing to do is to create a culture where loot is no longer a reward, but a tool. Loot is what you need to kill the next boss and the reward is working together as a team to overcome a challenge. WotLK has made this VERY difficult to do, as they have created an environment that causes this challenge to have been removed placing emphasis back on loot as a reward and reinforcing the loot skinner box. I think this last point sums up why I enjoyed TBC vastly more than WotLK.
Using the Skinner Box for your own reasons
Having tools to break the box and the knowledge that the box exists means you can manipulate these tools to create or break morale in your guild. If you need people to turn up to raid nights? take away the predictability of what bosses you are doing when - add that element back into the skinner box of raiding and condition your guild to respond to that. You can take it away at will and put up schedules again, but as soon as the members start slacking off, add it back in and they will be pre-conditioned to respond and turn up to raids again.
This is not as nasty as it sounds.
Understanding how this works is a wonderful way to break the conditioning on yourself. Once you can break it on yourself you will be much more objective and strategic in how you run your raids and how you run your guild. It also allows you to break the subscription model the skinner box promotes and ensure you have a good balance of gaming versus Real Life. It is another tool in your guild leader arsenal to use, or to leave in place. It is your choice.
Given how well constructed this skinner box is, I am not surprised that there has been very little written on the topic. Here is a quick link spam to articles I have read in the past (and could still find links to) on the topic.
Mecha the Slag - from July 2010
Tobold from 2007!
Moose Bites from 2009
Nick Yee on the EQ skinner box
Gamasutra from back in 2001!
Cracked.com from this year with some great links I recommend you read including some I already had read and linked above.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Everybody knows.....
It was announced on the Blizz WoW twitter feed last night that Cataclysm is going to be available on December 7th 2010. This fits with MMO-Champion's datamining finding that Season 9 will be starting on December 14th.
Well, I know what I am buying myself for my birthday!
What surprises me is that no one seemed to have noticed that little announcement on twitter. I was surprised that it slipped by the people I follow.
Anyway, Happy Cata!
ETA: I originally predicted June as a release date for Cata. When it became clear that was not on the cards, I revised my date to late November/early December. However, 7 December makes me happy, because I will be back from sydney in time to enjoy Cata!! The next question - do I try to get a collectors edition?
Well, I know what I am buying myself for my birthday!
What surprises me is that no one seemed to have noticed that little announcement on twitter. I was surprised that it slipped by the people I follow.
Anyway, Happy Cata!
ETA: I originally predicted June as a release date for Cata. When it became clear that was not on the cards, I revised my date to late November/early December. However, 7 December makes me happy, because I will be back from sydney in time to enjoy Cata!! The next question - do I try to get a collectors edition?
Friday, October 1, 2010
RealID headsup
Pewter just posted about RealID as announced by WoW Twitter account.
You can now log into battle.net, go to "account", then Communication Preferences under settings (I will have pictures up later, but for the moment my work firewall is not letting me upload them) and you will see the options there for RealID.
I recommend doing this as soon as you possibly can.
(Edit - due to working and health issues over the weekend, I failed at putting up pictures, and I am still having firewall issues now)
You can now log into battle.net, go to "account", then Communication Preferences under settings (I will have pictures up later, but for the moment my work firewall is not letting me upload them) and you will see the options there for RealID.
I recommend doing this as soon as you possibly can.
(Edit - due to working and health issues over the weekend, I failed at putting up pictures, and I am still having firewall issues now)
Friday, September 17, 2010
Copping it sweet: taking criticism as a leader
It has been a long day at work or school. You get home, ready to organise your guild into what is going to be the most epic adventure of their pixelated lives, because tonight you are going to finish that raid instance. Last night went really well and your team is all prepped and ready to go. But for some reason, it's not coming together; people are standing in fires, adds are not being managed, people are pulling aggro and there are a lot of people dying to dumb stuff.... and you lose your cool. You were so sure that you were going to get that boss down and so was the rest of the guild. Tempers start to flare and people start criticising each other, both fairly and unfairly, and then someone finally turns their criticism to you. A flood of blame comes your way as everyone unloads all the pent up frustrations in a full blown attack fest at you.
What did you do to deserve that and how do you deal with it?
I am making a few generalisations in here, please remember that they are exactly that - generalisations. There will always be exceptions!
How did it get to this point?
Well, you probably didn't do anything much at all. The thing is, being "in charge" means that people are much more loathe to approach you with issues about you. You might hear whisperings that you are unapproachable, or that things are not well, or general disquiet. Most people don't feel comfortable going straight to the person they have the issue with, they will prefer a third party to talk to for validation of their feelings. In just about every other case, that third person will be within the leadership group. When the issue is about the leadership group, it is much more likely that the person will ask their fellow what they think about the leaders. This will start to spread dissent in the ranks. People will swallow those thoughts because on the whole, you are probably a good person and working hard for the guild and trying to do your best by everyone. So, they won't say anything. The thoughts build up until some event snaps someone and it all comes pouring out - either in a raid, on the forums, in guild chat, in vent... something will open the flood gates. It can be overwhelming to endure and it will hurt, no matter how much you think this is just a game. It might be one person unloading or might be more than one. It doesn't matter, the effect is still the same.
What on earth is happening?
Ok, you had a bad day, so you are possibly overreacting. The hardest thing right now is the thing you have to do - don't take it personally. Don't yell back, don't name call, don't do anything negative. Let them have a vent at you, because they need it. One thing about this being an online game is that you can not respond and no one will know that you are actually out the back punching a tree (yep, one of my guild mates does that, it is quite hilarious). You can shoot steam out your ears, get it ALL out of your system and then take a deep breath and talk calmly, nicely and politely to the person going apeshit at you. You must not take them personally, I cannot over state this enough. You need to be ready to listen to them - no matter if they are being reasonable or not. If they are name calling, let them finish, but you cannot react in kind. They need to say the things they are saying and they need to be heard by you. Give them respect and time.
Handle with care
This situation is an opportunity to really shine with leadership, to really cement that you are the right person for the job. These people who are upset and angry with you are presenting you with a chance to really make them loyal to you and the guild. How you deal with the situation could make or break your time as a leader, because this will not only affect those criticising you, but those who are not criticising you will be judging you silently.
Batter up!
The first thing you need to do is identify within yourself the problems they are expressing - There is no easy way to explain this other than to try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. How might you be perceived? Get yourself in a receptive mode for criticism (hopefully it will be constructive, but don't bet on it) Really get them to open up and explain what they are talking about if you are at all unsure about it. Remember, whether they were right or wrong about your intentions, you need to understand how they perceive you. Be prepared to hear some hard things - this is not going to be easy. Taking criticism, let alone criticism not necessarily delivered in the best way, is hard at the best of times. Give yourself credit for getting this far without resorting to gkicking everyone who is dissenting! And don't forget, you have emotional and tactical support in ochat or in whispers to a fellow sympathetic officer. Use them to get another view and to get a sanity check.
You pitch...
Get examples from them about what you have done and what they thought about that. If they cant give an example, get them to talk in general terms about the general issue. It is completely ok for them not to have an example, but to be caught up in an impression of someone as this impression colours every interaction you have with them. Once you have established the boundary of their grievance, you need to very quickly assess whether or not you intended. There are 2 major outcomes to this situation, either the guildie is suffering from miscommunication in some way, or they are out of line. The former means you need to do some work on your communication skills, the latter means they might not be suitable for you guild.
They swing....
Are the examples and impression they have of you not what you want from your guild members? Are they misinterpreting things you are saying and doing? Once they are a bit calmer, talk to them about their impression and what you actually meant. Listen to them and try to understand how they came to the conclusion they did.
Outcome 1: Home Run!
Ask them how you can improve your communication to help them enjoy their time in your guild. Give them the opportunity and the power to make a change in guild culture. Make sure you are humble, and apologise for not realising the frustration you are causing. Take the faults back onto yourself, but also don't let them get away with walking all over you. If they resorted to name calling, say something like "I didn't deserve to be called a so-and-so, that was unfair". A little bit of shaming is not a bad thing if you felt a line was crossed. Just make it clear where that line is, politely. Try to nail down what the miscommunication was and get both parties working on the solution.
From my experience, some of the best solutions to problems have come from situations like this. The guild member has been incensed at some decision that was made in the past. When it happens for the third or fourth time, they went hell for leather at me on the forums in a PM. For me, it came completely out of the blue, I had no idea that there was this problem in the guild. I let them rant, I talked to them to figure out what the actual problem was - and they were right, it was an issue that I simply was not aware of. We worked together and we put together some new policies in the guild that were enacted at the next raid, and I gave credit to that guild member for pointing it out and making the corrections. Not everyone was of the same opinion as this guild member, but not because they didn't care, but because the situation didn't apply to them, so they didn't mention it. The new policy was enacted and a guild member who was on the verge of gquitting came around and stayed an active and strong member of the team, contributing excellent ideas and keeping my decisions in line with the guild aims and the team needs.
Outcome 2: You're OUT!
After discussing with them what they think and finding the root cause of your issue, you both find that it comes down to a clash of goals or ideals or even personality. They simply do not agree with your choices or style but actually understand them, it is ok to part ways. Not everyone is going to suit your guild, and you shouldn't always keep someone in the team because they are a really good player. Sometimes ideals will never mesh and the person(s) need to leave for the good of the morale of the team and most importantly their own enjoyment of the game. What counts, however, is how you deal with this. You need to maintain reasonableness and approachability not just for the exiting person (although that will help your reputation in the wider community) but for the people staying put. The last thing you need is to be seen as some crazed lunatic with a gkick macro bound to your spacebar because someone dared to contradict you. That is not good for anybody.
Again, from my personal store of experiences, this can be seen out in 2 ways - the mutual respect/parting of ways. The person leaving has been calmed down and you both agree that you don't suit each other, and you pass on a recommendation to their next raiding guild. They continue to be an advocate for your guild, even while in a competing guild. They have a very good idea of the type of person that would suit your guild and will certainly recommend you to people who they think would fit. They bump your recruitment threads, and might even stay in touch on the forums. This really is the idea outcome for this situation.
There is a less positive outcome for the exiting person, and that is the raging gquit with crazy yelling and screaming in whatever medium they have access to. In this situation, you need to make sure that your other guild mates are on your side and that you communicate with them to ensure they understand that you did everything you reasonably could to keep the situation under control. The exiting person may try to exact revenge so it would be prudent to perhaps change some passwords (eg vent passwords or lock forum accounts) and be prepared for them to trash talk you in general chats on server and on the blizzard forums. As long as you don't rise to the bait, they will eventually run out of puff and stop bothering you and your guildies. Be professional, be polite and do not engage their trash talking game. Keep that moral high ground!
WHEW!
This is a complex topic; I keep rereading this post and being dissatisfied with what I put in there, but honestly, I think this is as good as it gets in terms of clarity. If I edit anymore it will just get confusing and lose what little coherence there is. The above are my experiences and opinions on how to deal with this, but since this is such a subjective topic, I am very interested to hear other people's anecdotes and stories on how they dealt with situations like this - leader or not, this is a common thing to deal with. If we share some stories, we will increase our arsenal of tools at our disposal in future situations.
What did you do to deserve that and how do you deal with it?
I am making a few generalisations in here, please remember that they are exactly that - generalisations. There will always be exceptions!
How did it get to this point?
Well, you probably didn't do anything much at all. The thing is, being "in charge" means that people are much more loathe to approach you with issues about you. You might hear whisperings that you are unapproachable, or that things are not well, or general disquiet. Most people don't feel comfortable going straight to the person they have the issue with, they will prefer a third party to talk to for validation of their feelings. In just about every other case, that third person will be within the leadership group. When the issue is about the leadership group, it is much more likely that the person will ask their fellow what they think about the leaders. This will start to spread dissent in the ranks. People will swallow those thoughts because on the whole, you are probably a good person and working hard for the guild and trying to do your best by everyone. So, they won't say anything. The thoughts build up until some event snaps someone and it all comes pouring out - either in a raid, on the forums, in guild chat, in vent... something will open the flood gates. It can be overwhelming to endure and it will hurt, no matter how much you think this is just a game. It might be one person unloading or might be more than one. It doesn't matter, the effect is still the same.
What on earth is happening?
Ok, you had a bad day, so you are possibly overreacting. The hardest thing right now is the thing you have to do - don't take it personally. Don't yell back, don't name call, don't do anything negative. Let them have a vent at you, because they need it. One thing about this being an online game is that you can not respond and no one will know that you are actually out the back punching a tree (yep, one of my guild mates does that, it is quite hilarious). You can shoot steam out your ears, get it ALL out of your system and then take a deep breath and talk calmly, nicely and politely to the person going apeshit at you. You must not take them personally, I cannot over state this enough. You need to be ready to listen to them - no matter if they are being reasonable or not. If they are name calling, let them finish, but you cannot react in kind. They need to say the things they are saying and they need to be heard by you. Give them respect and time.
Handle with care
This situation is an opportunity to really shine with leadership, to really cement that you are the right person for the job. These people who are upset and angry with you are presenting you with a chance to really make them loyal to you and the guild. How you deal with the situation could make or break your time as a leader, because this will not only affect those criticising you, but those who are not criticising you will be judging you silently.
Batter up!
The first thing you need to do is identify within yourself the problems they are expressing - There is no easy way to explain this other than to try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. How might you be perceived? Get yourself in a receptive mode for criticism (hopefully it will be constructive, but don't bet on it) Really get them to open up and explain what they are talking about if you are at all unsure about it. Remember, whether they were right or wrong about your intentions, you need to understand how they perceive you. Be prepared to hear some hard things - this is not going to be easy. Taking criticism, let alone criticism not necessarily delivered in the best way, is hard at the best of times. Give yourself credit for getting this far without resorting to gkicking everyone who is dissenting! And don't forget, you have emotional and tactical support in ochat or in whispers to a fellow sympathetic officer. Use them to get another view and to get a sanity check.
You pitch...
Get examples from them about what you have done and what they thought about that. If they cant give an example, get them to talk in general terms about the general issue. It is completely ok for them not to have an example, but to be caught up in an impression of someone as this impression colours every interaction you have with them. Once you have established the boundary of their grievance, you need to very quickly assess whether or not you intended. There are 2 major outcomes to this situation, either the guildie is suffering from miscommunication in some way, or they are out of line. The former means you need to do some work on your communication skills, the latter means they might not be suitable for you guild.
They swing....
Are the examples and impression they have of you not what you want from your guild members? Are they misinterpreting things you are saying and doing? Once they are a bit calmer, talk to them about their impression and what you actually meant. Listen to them and try to understand how they came to the conclusion they did.
Outcome 1: Home Run!
Ask them how you can improve your communication to help them enjoy their time in your guild. Give them the opportunity and the power to make a change in guild culture. Make sure you are humble, and apologise for not realising the frustration you are causing. Take the faults back onto yourself, but also don't let them get away with walking all over you. If they resorted to name calling, say something like "I didn't deserve to be called a so-and-so, that was unfair". A little bit of shaming is not a bad thing if you felt a line was crossed. Just make it clear where that line is, politely. Try to nail down what the miscommunication was and get both parties working on the solution.
From my experience, some of the best solutions to problems have come from situations like this. The guild member has been incensed at some decision that was made in the past. When it happens for the third or fourth time, they went hell for leather at me on the forums in a PM. For me, it came completely out of the blue, I had no idea that there was this problem in the guild. I let them rant, I talked to them to figure out what the actual problem was - and they were right, it was an issue that I simply was not aware of. We worked together and we put together some new policies in the guild that were enacted at the next raid, and I gave credit to that guild member for pointing it out and making the corrections. Not everyone was of the same opinion as this guild member, but not because they didn't care, but because the situation didn't apply to them, so they didn't mention it. The new policy was enacted and a guild member who was on the verge of gquitting came around and stayed an active and strong member of the team, contributing excellent ideas and keeping my decisions in line with the guild aims and the team needs.
Outcome 2: You're OUT!
After discussing with them what they think and finding the root cause of your issue, you both find that it comes down to a clash of goals or ideals or even personality. They simply do not agree with your choices or style but actually understand them, it is ok to part ways. Not everyone is going to suit your guild, and you shouldn't always keep someone in the team because they are a really good player. Sometimes ideals will never mesh and the person(s) need to leave for the good of the morale of the team and most importantly their own enjoyment of the game. What counts, however, is how you deal with this. You need to maintain reasonableness and approachability not just for the exiting person (although that will help your reputation in the wider community) but for the people staying put. The last thing you need is to be seen as some crazed lunatic with a gkick macro bound to your spacebar because someone dared to contradict you. That is not good for anybody.
Again, from my personal store of experiences, this can be seen out in 2 ways - the mutual respect/parting of ways. The person leaving has been calmed down and you both agree that you don't suit each other, and you pass on a recommendation to their next raiding guild. They continue to be an advocate for your guild, even while in a competing guild. They have a very good idea of the type of person that would suit your guild and will certainly recommend you to people who they think would fit. They bump your recruitment threads, and might even stay in touch on the forums. This really is the idea outcome for this situation.
There is a less positive outcome for the exiting person, and that is the raging gquit with crazy yelling and screaming in whatever medium they have access to. In this situation, you need to make sure that your other guild mates are on your side and that you communicate with them to ensure they understand that you did everything you reasonably could to keep the situation under control. The exiting person may try to exact revenge so it would be prudent to perhaps change some passwords (eg vent passwords or lock forum accounts) and be prepared for them to trash talk you in general chats on server and on the blizzard forums. As long as you don't rise to the bait, they will eventually run out of puff and stop bothering you and your guildies. Be professional, be polite and do not engage their trash talking game. Keep that moral high ground!
WHEW!
This is a complex topic; I keep rereading this post and being dissatisfied with what I put in there, but honestly, I think this is as good as it gets in terms of clarity. If I edit anymore it will just get confusing and lose what little coherence there is. The above are my experiences and opinions on how to deal with this, but since this is such a subjective topic, I am very interested to hear other people's anecdotes and stories on how they dealt with situations like this - leader or not, this is a common thing to deal with. If we share some stories, we will increase our arsenal of tools at our disposal in future situations.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Follow up to WTFBBQSEXISM
Today, it seems, I got my blog groove on. Don't ask me how that happened, it just kind of did. Yet again, another comment on a blog that got out of hand - so I decided to post it here. But first some background. (for those disinclined to read this wall of text or follow links, there will be a TL:DR at the end)
Chastity at RighteousOrbs posted this in response to the inspiration he gave to Pewter the 'Mental Shaman's post here (I originally read her post on geek feminism, but it started getting some serious linkspam at some point around then, including inspiring my post on the topic earlier on this week. Pewter has a list of great posts on her site of women writing about feminism in a geek context, specifically WoW). Adam, the noisy rogue, seemed to take exception to the entire thing and posted on his blog in several chunks starting here. I read all of this and in a fit of pique at work commented on RighteousOrbs here. This, apparently, achieved some notoriety somehow, and I made it to the front page of Adam's blog with a nice piece of selective editing.
On the Righteous Orbs comment I made, I was employing (it was at work, so hastily) mimicry and parody. Also, a bit of reductio ad absurdium, calling Adam out on his argument from authority, a good straw man, a bit of baiting and quite a few other logical fallacies thrown in for good measure as much as I could think of in the time I had, because that was pretty much exactly what I read in not just his comments and posts, but in just about everyone who agreed with him, and also from the side agreeing with Chastity (but far less frequently). I was trying to be amusing, and outrageous and look where it got me! Adam even called my comment extreme, which was exactly the intent of it. Honestly, I was a bit stunned to see my words quoted back at me and dissected (not terribly badly either) when I idly went back to his site to see if there had been any more interesting comments made on any posts. No one reads what I say! I just shout into the black void of the internetz (... etz ... etz.... etz.....)
But now, my response to the blog post "Boxed In"
OK, so I got the Sydney bit wrong, it was an educated guess that Adam grew up there, I did make an assumption - and consciously too. However, as Chastity called me on, and I agreed with, I also do not normally like to assume things, but I thought... bugger it, Adam's doing it, so I will to make a point. However, I never said he was living there now (because I did read his about me page and it does say that he lives in Italy and has done so for 10 years).
I was actually trying to throw some context around the privilege - an attitude as a female working in Australia in IT (I wonder if he assumed I was male on purpose to get a response? It is exactly the type of baiting I would do in his position) I deal with in my face on a daily basis. I also happened to have opened on my browser the UN article I linked to. I thought it should be read, as it was relevant. We, as Australians, are racist and sexist. Me too. I am racist (ETA Sexist too), I don't mean to be, I try my hardest NOT to be, but I am.
I 100% agree that critical thinking is important; I am a card carrying member of the James Randi Educational Foundation and my partner is a member of the Australian Skeptics. My new guild is called Pastafarian. Critical thinking is something I pretty much live and breathe. So, of all the comments he could have chosen to use as an example, I am very glad it was mine. His dissection of my points was accurate, but brief, and apart from the fact my attempt at the explanation of Australian privilege was to partially mollify not incense, pretty spot on with the intent of the comment.
I agree with every point Adam makes about my list:
Opinions in these situations are not going to be changed. As someone pointed out somewhere in the comments I read (I apologise, I cant actually find the comment, let me know if you do so I can link it, I suspect it was Pewter, but my mind may be playing tricks on me and I might be thinking of a completely other thread) they respond not to change the mind of the person they are debating with. They argue to inform the person who is NOT commenting, but is reading to learn more and inform that silent person. This is exactly why I poke and prod. This is why I post and comment. This is why I blog.
TL:DR - Some people yelled at each other about sexism in the geek world. I stuck my head in and made fun of one particularly blustery protagonist. He singled me out as an example of the bad. I may have accidentally on purpose trolled him, but honestly wasn't expecting a response. *headdesk* He pointed out all the things I did. He was right, but... I was trolling.
We agree critical thinking is important.
The end.
Chastity at RighteousOrbs posted this in response to the inspiration he gave to Pewter the 'Mental Shaman's post here (I originally read her post on geek feminism, but it started getting some serious linkspam at some point around then, including inspiring my post on the topic earlier on this week. Pewter has a list of great posts on her site of women writing about feminism in a geek context, specifically WoW). Adam, the noisy rogue, seemed to take exception to the entire thing and posted on his blog in several chunks starting here. I read all of this and in a fit of pique at work commented on RighteousOrbs here. This, apparently, achieved some notoriety somehow, and I made it to the front page of Adam's blog with a nice piece of selective editing.
On the Righteous Orbs comment I made, I was employing (it was at work, so hastily) mimicry and parody. Also, a bit of reductio ad absurdium, calling Adam out on his argument from authority, a good straw man, a bit of baiting and quite a few other logical fallacies thrown in for good measure as much as I could think of in the time I had, because that was pretty much exactly what I read in not just his comments and posts, but in just about everyone who agreed with him, and also from the side agreeing with Chastity (but far less frequently). I was trying to be amusing, and outrageous and look where it got me! Adam even called my comment extreme, which was exactly the intent of it. Honestly, I was a bit stunned to see my words quoted back at me and dissected (not terribly badly either) when I idly went back to his site to see if there had been any more interesting comments made on any posts. No one reads what I say! I just shout into the black void of the internetz (... etz ... etz.... etz.....)
But now, my response to the blog post "Boxed In"
OK, so I got the Sydney bit wrong, it was an educated guess that Adam grew up there, I did make an assumption - and consciously too. However, as Chastity called me on, and I agreed with, I also do not normally like to assume things, but I thought... bugger it, Adam's doing it, so I will to make a point. However, I never said he was living there now (because I did read his about me page and it does say that he lives in Italy and has done so for 10 years).
I was actually trying to throw some context around the privilege - an attitude as a female working in Australia in IT (I wonder if he assumed I was male on purpose to get a response? It is exactly the type of baiting I would do in his position) I deal with in my face on a daily basis. I also happened to have opened on my browser the UN article I linked to. I thought it should be read, as it was relevant. We, as Australians, are racist and sexist. Me too. I am racist (ETA Sexist too), I don't mean to be, I try my hardest NOT to be, but I am.
I 100% agree that critical thinking is important; I am a card carrying member of the James Randi Educational Foundation and my partner is a member of the Australian Skeptics. My new guild is called Pastafarian. Critical thinking is something I pretty much live and breathe. So, of all the comments he could have chosen to use as an example, I am very glad it was mine. His dissection of my points was accurate, but brief, and apart from the fact my attempt at the explanation of Australian privilege was to partially mollify not incense, pretty spot on with the intent of the comment.
I agree with every point Adam makes about my list:
- There were massive assumptions just like point a on both sides.
- There was meaningless chatter as in point b (HA! I actually was thinking of a fictional literary character called Salamander as I was writing that comment, who was dubbed a "chattering elf" so I really liked that Adam chose to use the word chatter in commenting on that point)
- There were more assumptions in the guise of information and reasonableness just like in point c.
- There were misquotes and paraphrasing and twisting of words to suit the purposes of the author, just like in point d. However, it seems that Adam missed a secondary point of d - that your intent, no matter what you think you meant, must be clear. Reading his about me section where he correctly realises what I was referring to means that he understands how something like that can be read, but he unfortunately assumes that people are capable of reading sarcasm or willfully give others the benefit of the doubt. BTW, I believe he is a bigot based on his posts and comments recently.
- He curiously leaves off point e in his dissection, where I say his attitudes disgust me (to clarify, his intolerance disgusts me more than anything) but that I was trying to put a bit of context around where some of his opinions and attitudes may have come from. I very much doubt that he is much different in age to me, and growing up in Australia in the 80s and 90s I am fairly sure would have shaped his opinions and attitudes that he is digging his heels in about now. The context was relevant.
Opinions in these situations are not going to be changed. As someone pointed out somewhere in the comments I read (I apologise, I cant actually find the comment, let me know if you do so I can link it, I suspect it was Pewter, but my mind may be playing tricks on me and I might be thinking of a completely other thread) they respond not to change the mind of the person they are debating with. They argue to inform the person who is NOT commenting, but is reading to learn more and inform that silent person. This is exactly why I poke and prod. This is why I post and comment. This is why I blog.
TL:DR - Some people yelled at each other about sexism in the geek world. I stuck my head in and made fun of one particularly blustery protagonist. He singled me out as an example of the bad. I may have accidentally on purpose trolled him, but honestly wasn't expecting a response. *headdesk* He pointed out all the things I did. He was right, but... I was trolling.
We agree critical thinking is important.
The end.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Mementos
I haven't really felt moved to write on a BlogAzeroth shared topic before, but this one piqued my interest.
It was asked (and I paraphrase): What keepsakes have you got in your bank that you wont throw away and why?
I don't have anything in my bank that I am not happy to throw away. I have DE'ed all my previous tier gear due to space requirements. I do have a bank full or random crap like seasonal holiday clothes (which I think are a bunch of fun), mats, gear swaps, food, gems and useful things like that. But there is one thing I will be keeping and will never DE, and that is my Mace. My guild (RIP) forced me to take the shards. Ok, I say forced, but they did yell at me over vent until I looted them to myself. No one would accept them, every time I asked. After 10 to 15 minutes of umming and ahing by me, and "Just take the damn fragment, Brang!" by my guildies, I took it. We then worked on getting that mace made, and we did. I still use it now, the bubbles' power scales with the rest of your gear very nicely, keeping the item current. It now has a bunch of sentimental value attached to it because of the memories: It was the last thing we did together and achieved, it represents the gratitude that my guildies had for me and my work, it showed their faith in me that I would continue to be a valuable contributor to the guild and to raids, it reminds me how special I am every time I see the orange.
Sometimes, you need to be reminded of these things.
The other thing I keep for sentimental reasons is a title: ", Hand of Ad'al". It is the title I have above my head at all times. Back when the restrictions on attunement were relaxed for getting into Black Temple and Mount Hyjal (in Caverns of Time), the title I mentioned was created for people who had the attunement. My guild missed out by weeks on getting that in time, however, since we all had the original quest and Vashj's vial, we were working on Kael'thas in Tempest Keep. We forewent heading straight into BT and MH for the free loot from the first couple of bosses, and stayed and worked on Kael. Morale was low, Kael was a hard boss. Once, we rewarded the people coming for a night of work on Kael with a fun run into MH (for shits and giggles). The next week, (I think), Kael died.
We earned that title with frustration and dedication. We earned it old school. And we went back and we got everyone in the guild that title. Everyone who worked on Kael had a shot at killing him and we got as many people as possible their full sets of T5. We were PROUD of that title, and we wore it for the entire rest of TBC. I didn't keep my Pink Power Ranger suit, but I do wear that title in remembrance of what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.
These things are pixels. They have nothing tangible about them. But if you think that you are completely missing the point. They are visible reminders of friendships, time spent, achievements gained together, a team I led, and a team I miss.
WoW might be just a game, but the people are real.
It was asked (and I paraphrase): What keepsakes have you got in your bank that you wont throw away and why?
I don't have anything in my bank that I am not happy to throw away. I have DE'ed all my previous tier gear due to space requirements. I do have a bank full or random crap like seasonal holiday clothes (which I think are a bunch of fun), mats, gear swaps, food, gems and useful things like that. But there is one thing I will be keeping and will never DE, and that is my Mace. My guild (RIP) forced me to take the shards. Ok, I say forced, but they did yell at me over vent until I looted them to myself. No one would accept them, every time I asked. After 10 to 15 minutes of umming and ahing by me, and "Just take the damn fragment, Brang!" by my guildies, I took it. We then worked on getting that mace made, and we did. I still use it now, the bubbles' power scales with the rest of your gear very nicely, keeping the item current. It now has a bunch of sentimental value attached to it because of the memories: It was the last thing we did together and achieved, it represents the gratitude that my guildies had for me and my work, it showed their faith in me that I would continue to be a valuable contributor to the guild and to raids, it reminds me how special I am every time I see the orange.
Sometimes, you need to be reminded of these things.
The other thing I keep for sentimental reasons is a title: ", Hand of Ad'al". It is the title I have above my head at all times. Back when the restrictions on attunement were relaxed for getting into Black Temple and Mount Hyjal (in Caverns of Time), the title I mentioned was created for people who had the attunement. My guild missed out by weeks on getting that in time, however, since we all had the original quest and Vashj's vial, we were working on Kael'thas in Tempest Keep. We forewent heading straight into BT and MH for the free loot from the first couple of bosses, and stayed and worked on Kael. Morale was low, Kael was a hard boss. Once, we rewarded the people coming for a night of work on Kael with a fun run into MH (for shits and giggles). The next week, (I think), Kael died.
We earned that title with frustration and dedication. We earned it old school. And we went back and we got everyone in the guild that title. Everyone who worked on Kael had a shot at killing him and we got as many people as possible their full sets of T5. We were PROUD of that title, and we wore it for the entire rest of TBC. I didn't keep my Pink Power Ranger suit, but I do wear that title in remembrance of what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.
These things are pixels. They have nothing tangible about them. But if you think that you are completely missing the point. They are visible reminders of friendships, time spent, achievements gained together, a team I led, and a team I miss.
WoW might be just a game, but the people are real.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The amusement is high already
When you have gchat conversation like this, I know I made the right decision. (for the record, lazmoj is my baby shaman I am leveling in Pastafarian - my new guild)
17:44 [Rasmin]: nah Zuldarn told me to sign up to it
17:45 [Lazmoj]: OH I would be careful then
17:45 [Lazmoj]: you never know with Zuldarn
17:45 [Zuldarn]: yeah, im the shittest carnt
17:45 [Lazmoj]: dodgey as
17:45 [Anarr]: /nod
17:45 [Lazmoj]: Oh Anarr can you do me a favour?
17:45 [Zuldarn]: sexual favour?
17:45 [Anarr]: Sure
17:45 [Zuldarn]: if so, no he cant
17:45 [Lazmoj]: can you invite my DK into the guild
17:46 [Anarr]: np
17:46 [Lazmoj]: No i dont want anything resembling sex from anarr anywhere near me
17:46 [Zuldarn]: good lass.
17:46 [Anarr]: !
17:46 [Lazmoj]: *nods*
17:46 [Lazmoj]: Neither do you Anarr, so dont worry
17:46 [Anarr]: I'm a sexual tyrannosurus!
17:46 [Lazmoj]: ...
17:46 [Anarr]: :D
17:46 [Lazmoj]: BRB
17:53 [Lazmoj]: guild chat is entertaining again
17:44 [Rasmin]: nah Zuldarn told me to sign up to it
17:45 [Lazmoj]: OH I would be careful then
17:45 [Lazmoj]: you never know with Zuldarn
17:45 [Zuldarn]: yeah, im the shittest carnt
17:45 [Lazmoj]: dodgey as
17:45 [Anarr]: /nod
17:45 [Lazmoj]: Oh Anarr can you do me a favour?
17:45 [Zuldarn]: sexual favour?
17:45 [Anarr]: Sure
17:45 [Zuldarn]: if so, no he cant
17:45 [Lazmoj]: can you invite my DK into the guild
17:46 [Anarr]: np
17:46 [Lazmoj]: No i dont want anything resembling sex from anarr anywhere near me
17:46 [Zuldarn]: good lass.
17:46 [Anarr]: !
17:46 [Lazmoj]: *nods*
17:46 [Lazmoj]: Neither do you Anarr, so dont worry
17:46 [Anarr]: I'm a sexual tyrannosurus!
17:46 [Lazmoj]: ...
17:46 [Anarr]: :D
17:46 [Lazmoj]: BRB
17:53 [Lazmoj]: guild chat is entertaining again
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Err... so Holidays! and Motivation
The promised PP strat hasn't come because I randomly ended up going to FEEEJEEE for a much needed holiday away from the Cold of South East Australia and off to the warmer climes of the South(ish) Pacific! I just returned last weekend and, you know when you go away from work how other people are supposed to cover the slack of the time you take away because you are a team and ... well ... I got back to a massive pile of work.
I really must dust off that HM PP strat from my files and start writing it again. But motivation is at rock bottom.
Motivation issue? You NER? What's going on??
Yeah, me. ICC has been out for about 8 months now, Cata isn't looking like release till at least the end of the year. Frustation with raiding is at an all time high. I don't know about you guys, but I am seeing people retire for cataclysm left right and centre. What does that mean for guilds? I means that possibly more and more guilds are moving backwards. They are having to recruit people who are not necessarily the best fit in order to keep raiding. This will annoy and upset the longer term members who are watching what they consider their hard earned gear leave the guild. For example, we have had 2 Shadowmournes vanish almost as soon as they were acquired - one quit (then came back, then quit again) and the other converted to tanking to cover off a loss of MTs. The guild's only earned Valan'yr is gone, Mine is still there, however it was earned with my original guild.
I feel that this slump is worse than the TBC slump. This is because of incredibly poor planning of WotLK. 8 months of the same instance (Ruby Sanctum was barely a blip on the raiding surface) with the "challenge" being do the same fights but harder. There is only so much repetition people will stand for, and I think those limits are being tested right now.
This lack of motivation is expressed in multiple ways: retiring as mentioned, emoing, and rage quitting to name a few.
Retiring I can understand, people stop wanting to play and that's fine. You let us all know, we wish you well and you are welcome back when you feel the need to raid come up again in your life. We all know we can always use good players, and especially ones that we have already trialed and said "youse gud enuff dude". Good luck to everyone that has done this recently - I hope we see you again in Cata!!
But this brings me to the negatively expressed versions of tension and frustration. Namely "emoing" (inc emo quitting). Now, emoing comes in several flavours, but the one that is most destructive is yelling at each other. I just can't see how screaming at someone that they are shit, or that they are wasting your time is at all constructive.
Last night, we had 2 emo rage quits in one night. TWO. One came back, the other didn't. But the one who came back complained that he was sick of idiots wasting his time. Um, huh? Honestly, if you are worried about having your time wasted, then why on earth are you playing a computer game? That IS kind of the point... to waste your time... or have I got this whole thing completely arse about?
Yelling at each other just makes the rest of us not want to play which exacerbates an issue we are already struggling with; Numbers and Dogging (Dogging is a term which I don't know how wide spread it could be. Within our guild jargon it means simply not showing up to something because you can't be bothered or have a last minute commitment) . When what we have going for us at the moment is "fun" why would people want to turn up to raids if everyone is depressed, negative and at each others' throats for dumb things?
So, why are you still raiding, NER?
I raid with people, it is the people that bring me back, it is the people that make me laugh, it is the people that create my raiding fun. I have 2 main purposes in playing WoW and raiding - smooshing pixels into the ground and having a laugh with my friends. The latter is far more important to me than the former. If I am enjoying myself, I can put up with a lot of dumb stuff happening in raids, I can deal with nuffers standing in fires - Explaining and creating strategies for those nuffers is where this blog came from!! Creating explanations that everyone could understand using terms that were amusing and simple and not complicating things with technical details of the mechanics of the fight.
Recently, everyone that I am having fun with is leaving the guild I am in; retiring or simply changing their game faces and not being the people they used to be. This is very sad. I am not one for transient friendships, I collect people and I keep them. When people I consider "collected" drift away, that makes me really sad. This has happened to me with a couple of people in the last 6 months. So why am I still raiding? I very much doubt I will be for much longer in the form it currently takes.
My Cataclysm guild is looking more attractive as an early start than ever. And you know what? That is both wonderful and depressing.
I really must dust off that HM PP strat from my files and start writing it again. But motivation is at rock bottom.
Motivation issue? You NER? What's going on??
Yeah, me. ICC has been out for about 8 months now, Cata isn't looking like release till at least the end of the year. Frustation with raiding is at an all time high. I don't know about you guys, but I am seeing people retire for cataclysm left right and centre. What does that mean for guilds? I means that possibly more and more guilds are moving backwards. They are having to recruit people who are not necessarily the best fit in order to keep raiding. This will annoy and upset the longer term members who are watching what they consider their hard earned gear leave the guild. For example, we have had 2 Shadowmournes vanish almost as soon as they were acquired - one quit (then came back, then quit again) and the other converted to tanking to cover off a loss of MTs. The guild's only earned Valan'yr is gone, Mine is still there, however it was earned with my original guild.
I feel that this slump is worse than the TBC slump. This is because of incredibly poor planning of WotLK. 8 months of the same instance (Ruby Sanctum was barely a blip on the raiding surface) with the "challenge" being do the same fights but harder. There is only so much repetition people will stand for, and I think those limits are being tested right now.
This lack of motivation is expressed in multiple ways: retiring as mentioned, emoing, and rage quitting to name a few.
Retiring I can understand, people stop wanting to play and that's fine. You let us all know, we wish you well and you are welcome back when you feel the need to raid come up again in your life. We all know we can always use good players, and especially ones that we have already trialed and said "youse gud enuff dude". Good luck to everyone that has done this recently - I hope we see you again in Cata!!
But this brings me to the negatively expressed versions of tension and frustration. Namely "emoing" (inc emo quitting). Now, emoing comes in several flavours, but the one that is most destructive is yelling at each other. I just can't see how screaming at someone that they are shit, or that they are wasting your time is at all constructive.
Last night, we had 2 emo rage quits in one night. TWO. One came back, the other didn't. But the one who came back complained that he was sick of idiots wasting his time. Um, huh? Honestly, if you are worried about having your time wasted, then why on earth are you playing a computer game? That IS kind of the point... to waste your time... or have I got this whole thing completely arse about?
Yelling at each other just makes the rest of us not want to play which exacerbates an issue we are already struggling with; Numbers and Dogging (Dogging is a term which I don't know how wide spread it could be. Within our guild jargon it means simply not showing up to something because you can't be bothered or have a last minute commitment) . When what we have going for us at the moment is "fun" why would people want to turn up to raids if everyone is depressed, negative and at each others' throats for dumb things?
So, why are you still raiding, NER?
I raid with people, it is the people that bring me back, it is the people that make me laugh, it is the people that create my raiding fun. I have 2 main purposes in playing WoW and raiding - smooshing pixels into the ground and having a laugh with my friends. The latter is far more important to me than the former. If I am enjoying myself, I can put up with a lot of dumb stuff happening in raids, I can deal with nuffers standing in fires - Explaining and creating strategies for those nuffers is where this blog came from!! Creating explanations that everyone could understand using terms that were amusing and simple and not complicating things with technical details of the mechanics of the fight.
Recently, everyone that I am having fun with is leaving the guild I am in; retiring or simply changing their game faces and not being the people they used to be. This is very sad. I am not one for transient friendships, I collect people and I keep them. When people I consider "collected" drift away, that makes me really sad. This has happened to me with a couple of people in the last 6 months. So why am I still raiding? I very much doubt I will be for much longer in the form it currently takes.
My Cataclysm guild is looking more attractive as an early start than ever. And you know what? That is both wonderful and depressing.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
To RealID or not to RealID?
THAT is a burning question on everyone's minds at the moment. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a need or want. Some of us care that you know who we are, some of us don't.
For a quick "how to do internets" I recommend you go read Ophelie's blog post here. She beat me to the punch with that one *shakes fist* I had mine all half written, and BAM work slammed me in the face and I didn't get time. Anyway, go read it, it's everything I was going to write. The short version for anyone on the internets is "Don't put anything on the internet that you would not want your enemies to see and use against you" I highlighted that in this post where someone tried to troll me for gkicking their sorry butt out of my guild.
RealID is here, like it or not. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it. Pretty easy, huh? Well, not so much. Until very recently Forums V2 were going to use your RealID as well. Blizz thought this for a few reasons which I will very briefly go through and slam with a big slammy thing.
The main reason, it seems, was to prevent trolling on the forums. This move seems to come out of fear and desperation. Motivating people to not troll each other because the "know who you are" is going to create an atmosphere of fear to keep people in line. Fear, while effective in the short term, will never engender the environment they are looking to create - one of constructiveness and harmony or some othe hippy concepts.
The other reason was to encourage people to know each other. I am going to let that statement hang itself.
So, how do you make forums nicer, then?
Blizz, you are doing it all arse about. Don't expect flowers to grow in a garden when you keep stomping on everything that looks even a little bit like a weed. We will not self regulate in an environment where we fear real world retribution for trolling. You need to create an environment where self regulation is the rule. Forums like Reddit, metafilter and even 4Chan (as scarey as that place can be) are entirely anonymous and can do amazing things because the community self regulates. Stupid posts (and posters) are down modded and you cant see them. Good posts (and posters) are up modded and their words given weight.
If you are still worried about trolls, then make sure that posters cant hide behind their alts. Simply put a tooltip in where you click on that poster, you can see all their toons. Or, don't give people a choice in their "posting" avatar. You get one avatar for the forums. That's it, no hiding on that level 1 alt you made just to flame that guy. It's you - warts and all - and your one avatar.
The last thing that needs to happen is less banning - counter intuitive, I know. Blizzard need to actually stop banning people for the tiniest little upset person on the internet. Half the issue of trolling has come about because people want to see how far they can push their comments before getting banned by Blizzard or get a response from a "blue". It is a game to them. Remove the incentive, remove (some of) the issue. Simply having people downmod comments so you cant see them, or any posts they make, and eventually after they have experienced people not reading their posts because they are a dick, then remove people with consistently low mods.
Encouraging people to know each other?
This is the part where I get into realID in game.
I don't know about you guys, but I have managed perfectly well so far to communicate with people without having my real name plastered everywhere. If I like someone, I ask them for their MSN, their email address, their blog, their phone number. I ask them to join my guild. I get them on my guild forums. There are multitudinous ways to communicate with people if you think they are worth your time. But the point is, I ask them for the way in which they want me to contact them. Having it forced on me that people know my real name is removing a choice from me. Personally, I don't mind if people know who I am. I have no issues with people knowing me - but I get to choose who those people are. I do not like that Blizzard has taken it upon themselves to tell me that the guy I want to chat with on that other realm when he is on standby for a raid I am running has to know my real name to get whispers from me. It isn't the anonymity, it is the implication that I don't know how to do my own social networking. It is the arrogance that I am incapable of forming relationships if Blizzard doesn't hold my hand.
There also comes into this the issues of minors; this was actually the kicker for me. What of all the people under the age of 18 who have accounts in their real name? What options have their guardians to protect them? The fact that you cannot change Bnet account names easily, how are those people going to deal with this very real privacy issue. Just pause and think about this for a moment. Can you imagine the stink caused when everyone now knows you are a girl and underage?
Which brings me (briefly) to feminism and girl gamers.
From a feminist point of view, it is sometimes hard enough in a game to be yourself. You play a male avatar, you dont talk in vent. No one knows you are a girl. And why is that? Because the gaming world has a looooooong way to go with feminist issues. I am not going to go into the details here, it's tangential and there are plenty of resources to go read on the plight of girl gamers. RealID will force this vulnerable group to be even more exposed and vulnerable if they want to use it. Women will not post on the forums, they will not use realID and their options in game will become even more limited and marginalised than they are now. It removes our ability to play a game for the fear of people knowing who we are, the fear of backlash, of harassment. There is a fear of this because it happens!! Forcing this out in the open is, I believe, discriminating against these people.
So what do you propose NER?
I want choices.
I want to be able to turn off "friend of friend" in game. I want to be invisible to some people if I want to. I want to have the option to "show real name" or default to a BNet Avatar/handle that is directly linked to me and my forum posts. I want +/- modding on the forums so the community can self regulate. I want less reward for bad behaviour (ie blue attention/banning).
Don't get me wrong, RealID is great! I use it. But I am very wary of who I add (at the moment only people I already know in Real Life(tm) or explicitly trust to not harass friends of friends) because of all of the reasons above. I want my options and I would use RealID a lot more.
It is so close to being great - add a few more features so we can choose how we use it, Blizzard. Let us make our own decisions and choices on these things. Give us options.
ETA:
Blizz have backed down on the forums using RealID, although your account "real name" is still being used for the ingame chat. I do not see that they will change their long term goal of having people use their account names for forums (fora?) anytime soon.
They have not yet described what they are going to do instead in their V2 forums. THAT will certainly be interesting, I dare say. Will they just let people get used to the idea ingame first, then change it over later? Who knows. But I tell you what, it is interesting... no doubt about it.
For a quick "how to do internets" I recommend you go read Ophelie's blog post here. She beat me to the punch with that one *shakes fist* I had mine all half written, and BAM work slammed me in the face and I didn't get time. Anyway, go read it, it's everything I was going to write. The short version for anyone on the internets is "Don't put anything on the internet that you would not want your enemies to see and use against you" I highlighted that in this post where someone tried to troll me for gkicking their sorry butt out of my guild.
RealID is here, like it or not. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it. Pretty easy, huh? Well, not so much. Until very recently Forums V2 were going to use your RealID as well. Blizz thought this for a few reasons which I will very briefly go through and slam with a big slammy thing.
The main reason, it seems, was to prevent trolling on the forums. This move seems to come out of fear and desperation. Motivating people to not troll each other because the "know who you are" is going to create an atmosphere of fear to keep people in line. Fear, while effective in the short term, will never engender the environment they are looking to create - one of constructiveness and harmony or some othe hippy concepts.
The other reason was to encourage people to know each other. I am going to let that statement hang itself.
So, how do you make forums nicer, then?
Blizz, you are doing it all arse about. Don't expect flowers to grow in a garden when you keep stomping on everything that looks even a little bit like a weed. We will not self regulate in an environment where we fear real world retribution for trolling. You need to create an environment where self regulation is the rule. Forums like Reddit, metafilter and even 4Chan (as scarey as that place can be) are entirely anonymous and can do amazing things because the community self regulates. Stupid posts (and posters) are down modded and you cant see them. Good posts (and posters) are up modded and their words given weight.
If you are still worried about trolls, then make sure that posters cant hide behind their alts. Simply put a tooltip in where you click on that poster, you can see all their toons. Or, don't give people a choice in their "posting" avatar. You get one avatar for the forums. That's it, no hiding on that level 1 alt you made just to flame that guy. It's you - warts and all - and your one avatar.
The last thing that needs to happen is less banning - counter intuitive, I know. Blizzard need to actually stop banning people for the tiniest little upset person on the internet. Half the issue of trolling has come about because people want to see how far they can push their comments before getting banned by Blizzard or get a response from a "blue". It is a game to them. Remove the incentive, remove (some of) the issue. Simply having people downmod comments so you cant see them, or any posts they make, and eventually after they have experienced people not reading their posts because they are a dick, then remove people with consistently low mods.
Encouraging people to know each other?
This is the part where I get into realID in game.
I don't know about you guys, but I have managed perfectly well so far to communicate with people without having my real name plastered everywhere. If I like someone, I ask them for their MSN, their email address, their blog, their phone number. I ask them to join my guild. I get them on my guild forums. There are multitudinous ways to communicate with people if you think they are worth your time. But the point is, I ask them for the way in which they want me to contact them. Having it forced on me that people know my real name is removing a choice from me. Personally, I don't mind if people know who I am. I have no issues with people knowing me - but I get to choose who those people are. I do not like that Blizzard has taken it upon themselves to tell me that the guy I want to chat with on that other realm when he is on standby for a raid I am running has to know my real name to get whispers from me. It isn't the anonymity, it is the implication that I don't know how to do my own social networking. It is the arrogance that I am incapable of forming relationships if Blizzard doesn't hold my hand.
There also comes into this the issues of minors; this was actually the kicker for me. What of all the people under the age of 18 who have accounts in their real name? What options have their guardians to protect them? The fact that you cannot change Bnet account names easily, how are those people going to deal with this very real privacy issue. Just pause and think about this for a moment. Can you imagine the stink caused when everyone now knows you are a girl and underage?
Which brings me (briefly) to feminism and girl gamers.
From a feminist point of view, it is sometimes hard enough in a game to be yourself. You play a male avatar, you dont talk in vent. No one knows you are a girl. And why is that? Because the gaming world has a looooooong way to go with feminist issues. I am not going to go into the details here, it's tangential and there are plenty of resources to go read on the plight of girl gamers. RealID will force this vulnerable group to be even more exposed and vulnerable if they want to use it. Women will not post on the forums, they will not use realID and their options in game will become even more limited and marginalised than they are now. It removes our ability to play a game for the fear of people knowing who we are, the fear of backlash, of harassment. There is a fear of this because it happens!! Forcing this out in the open is, I believe, discriminating against these people.
So what do you propose NER?
I want choices.
I want to be able to turn off "friend of friend" in game. I want to be invisible to some people if I want to. I want to have the option to "show real name" or default to a BNet Avatar/handle that is directly linked to me and my forum posts. I want +/- modding on the forums so the community can self regulate. I want less reward for bad behaviour (ie blue attention/banning).
Don't get me wrong, RealID is great! I use it. But I am very wary of who I add (at the moment only people I already know in Real Life(tm) or explicitly trust to not harass friends of friends) because of all of the reasons above. I want my options and I would use RealID a lot more.
It is so close to being great - add a few more features so we can choose how we use it, Blizzard. Let us make our own decisions and choices on these things. Give us options.
ETA:
Blizz have backed down on the forums using RealID, although your account "real name" is still being used for the ingame chat. I do not see that they will change their long term goal of having people use their account names for forums (fora?) anytime soon.
They have not yet described what they are going to do instead in their V2 forums. THAT will certainly be interesting, I dare say. Will they just let people get used to the idea ingame first, then change it over later? Who knows. But I tell you what, it is interesting... no doubt about it.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The importance of communication
Right about now, I would suspect that there is a lot of burnout and frustration in ICC progression raiding teams. There certainly is in mine. People making simple mistakes are causing massive explosions of arguments, and fingers are getting pointed. People taking breaks, recruiting people well behind the curve, necessarily dropping standards; this is all leading to a slight backwards step in progression.
This is frustrating.
As people are generally frustrated, they take it out on each other. Small arguments get blown out of proportion, and things start getting said to your face in not the most pleasant way. I was a victim of this last week.
For some reason, people think I am unapproachable - this could be because I a) talk back and b) require evidence of theorycrafting and the math to back it up. If a minor change is minor, don't expect me to toe the line if my personal preference is for something else. If you are going to tell me "You are wrong, you should be doing this" I will question you, I will ask for proof, I will not just take it on your word that you are right. So, don't sidle up to me and subtly try to change my mind. I don't take kindly to manipulation, mostly because I do a lot of manipulating myself and zomg icwotududther HAHA.
I am a unique and special snowflake as a holy paladin, and DON'T forget it.
For 4 years my healing style as a paladin was hybrid, as a GL, and healing leader, I was generally doing all the jobs and covering people's arses. I was paranoid about mana usage (still am) and my goal was to have the lowest % overheal I could possibly manage and still beat the boss or have my healing assignment still standing.
Now, new guild has a new way of doing things. Fine, I will try to fit in. I ask questions in the healing channel and get radio silence in response. I ask more questions, again nothing. In the end, I give up asking questions. I just keep the tanks alive in the method I have grown accustomed to - minimal mana usage, minimal overheal. I am not in the "healer group" in the raid, I am not getting innervates or mana tides benefits, I have to tank heal and manage myself solo. I am also not getting communication because all the healer communication was occurring in party chat in the "healer group".
OK, got that set up?
Now, fast forward to last week. I had an inkling that there was resentment towards me, to the point that I was about ready to quit raiding. I was sick of the snide half remarks and bollocks pointed at my healing style. Not a single person would outright talk to me about anything. It was all "why don't you..."s or "You should..." without a shred of evidence or reason as to why I should. So, I would always counter with logical sound arguments: "I have to mana manage on my own, so I use flash a lot more...", "If I do that this will happen and that's bad" and so on and so forth. No one countered my arguments to my satisfaction, no one convinced me with good reasons to change my style. All I got were other classes QQing that I was flashing, to which my response was "Are tanks dying? No."
This all came to a head last week when the GL said "Can you please just use HL all the time on the tanks?"
...
Uh... Where did that come from? Are tanks dying?
No, but people are complaining that you are using Flash too much.
So, why don't they tell me that?
Apparently they are?
No, not in so many words.
Can you just do it?
FINE! I will be an OOM meter whore for you then, but this is silly and a waste.
I then proceeded to come in the first 1,2 of effective healing done on the meters, and ran dry early on in the fights. I played dumb, not smart, and that shut people up. It was ridiculous.
After the raid, I was pulled aside for "a chat". I was told that I needed to tank heal more. I proceeded to tell the GL what happened from my pov, the issue wasn't that I was healing wrong, I was healing right with the complete lack of information I had about my healing team and given zero communication to me about what my role was and how I fitted into the team. No one tells me, raid to raid, what people are doing in our healing team, who is healing tanks with me, what I am supposed to do in special circumstance fights (ie heroic saurfang) - because I am not in the healing group in raid. Those guys all talk about that stuff within party chat, they bitch moan complain, work out healing strat all that stuff, each and every time forgetting that I am not psychic and have no idea that they have changed what they are doing. I have to watch tanks die, or key assignments die, get blamed, then work out from looking at meters that people had changed their roles, and that I needed to adapt.
It was never a healing "fault" on my part, I could always do what they wanted me to do - it was a communications fail on their part, and to some extent mine for giving up on trying. The last time I had a long chat with officers and healers, I completely changed my spec (to a style I didn't really like) to cover off short falls in our raid team! I am not adverse to doing things differently, but you need to back it up, give me a good reason to be running myself dry, that blah has your back, tell me that blah is your go to person for innervates, and they will save them for you. That you are tank healing with this person, to give you someone to bounce off when there are issues with tanks. They finally explained how everything worked and where I fitted into that, I finally got through to them how alienated I always felt and the next raid, you know what? I didn't have to try to be psychic, I was told what was happening, in the healing channel, and strangely enough everyone else noticed the difference. I was no longer a mushroom, sitting in the corner of the healing channel in the dark second guessing what I had to do.
Half the reason I was miserable raiding was that I was an island, and I was in quarantine, no one talked to me. It was quite demoralising. I felt isolated and on the outer - all because I was the 6th healer, placed in the tank group and no one on my team talked to me about the important things, like being a team member.
This guild does not have specific "section leaders" and I tell you what, I am REALLY noticing that not having them makes for isolation within the raiding team. I very strongly recommend that you have officers with jobs - section leaders - who make sure each section is looked after and communicated with. It is so very, very important. Talk to each other... now more than ever. The thing that is going to get you through the frustration is communication and a feeling of belonging, because right now, progression is hard to come by.
This is frustrating.
As people are generally frustrated, they take it out on each other. Small arguments get blown out of proportion, and things start getting said to your face in not the most pleasant way. I was a victim of this last week.
For some reason, people think I am unapproachable - this could be because I a) talk back and b) require evidence of theorycrafting and the math to back it up. If a minor change is minor, don't expect me to toe the line if my personal preference is for something else. If you are going to tell me "You are wrong, you should be doing this" I will question you, I will ask for proof, I will not just take it on your word that you are right. So, don't sidle up to me and subtly try to change my mind. I don't take kindly to manipulation, mostly because I do a lot of manipulating myself and zomg icwotududther HAHA.
I am a unique and special snowflake as a holy paladin, and DON'T forget it.
For 4 years my healing style as a paladin was hybrid, as a GL, and healing leader, I was generally doing all the jobs and covering people's arses. I was paranoid about mana usage (still am) and my goal was to have the lowest % overheal I could possibly manage and still beat the boss or have my healing assignment still standing.
Now, new guild has a new way of doing things. Fine, I will try to fit in. I ask questions in the healing channel and get radio silence in response. I ask more questions, again nothing. In the end, I give up asking questions. I just keep the tanks alive in the method I have grown accustomed to - minimal mana usage, minimal overheal. I am not in the "healer group" in the raid, I am not getting innervates or mana tides benefits, I have to tank heal and manage myself solo. I am also not getting communication because all the healer communication was occurring in party chat in the "healer group".
OK, got that set up?
Now, fast forward to last week. I had an inkling that there was resentment towards me, to the point that I was about ready to quit raiding. I was sick of the snide half remarks and bollocks pointed at my healing style. Not a single person would outright talk to me about anything. It was all "why don't you..."s or "You should..." without a shred of evidence or reason as to why I should. So, I would always counter with logical sound arguments: "I have to mana manage on my own, so I use flash a lot more...", "If I do that this will happen and that's bad" and so on and so forth. No one countered my arguments to my satisfaction, no one convinced me with good reasons to change my style. All I got were other classes QQing that I was flashing, to which my response was "Are tanks dying? No."
This all came to a head last week when the GL said "Can you please just use HL all the time on the tanks?"
...
Uh... Where did that come from? Are tanks dying?
No, but people are complaining that you are using Flash too much.
So, why don't they tell me that?
Apparently they are?
No, not in so many words.
Can you just do it?
FINE! I will be an OOM meter whore for you then, but this is silly and a waste.
I then proceeded to come in the first 1,2 of effective healing done on the meters, and ran dry early on in the fights. I played dumb, not smart, and that shut people up. It was ridiculous.
After the raid, I was pulled aside for "a chat". I was told that I needed to tank heal more. I proceeded to tell the GL what happened from my pov, the issue wasn't that I was healing wrong, I was healing right with the complete lack of information I had about my healing team and given zero communication to me about what my role was and how I fitted into the team. No one tells me, raid to raid, what people are doing in our healing team, who is healing tanks with me, what I am supposed to do in special circumstance fights (ie heroic saurfang) - because I am not in the healing group in raid. Those guys all talk about that stuff within party chat, they bitch moan complain, work out healing strat all that stuff, each and every time forgetting that I am not psychic and have no idea that they have changed what they are doing. I have to watch tanks die, or key assignments die, get blamed, then work out from looking at meters that people had changed their roles, and that I needed to adapt.
It was never a healing "fault" on my part, I could always do what they wanted me to do - it was a communications fail on their part, and to some extent mine for giving up on trying. The last time I had a long chat with officers and healers, I completely changed my spec (to a style I didn't really like) to cover off short falls in our raid team! I am not adverse to doing things differently, but you need to back it up, give me a good reason to be running myself dry, that blah has your back, tell me that blah is your go to person for innervates, and they will save them for you. That you are tank healing with this person, to give you someone to bounce off when there are issues with tanks. They finally explained how everything worked and where I fitted into that, I finally got through to them how alienated I always felt and the next raid, you know what? I didn't have to try to be psychic, I was told what was happening, in the healing channel, and strangely enough everyone else noticed the difference. I was no longer a mushroom, sitting in the corner of the healing channel in the dark second guessing what I had to do.
Half the reason I was miserable raiding was that I was an island, and I was in quarantine, no one talked to me. It was quite demoralising. I felt isolated and on the outer - all because I was the 6th healer, placed in the tank group and no one on my team talked to me about the important things, like being a team member.
This guild does not have specific "section leaders" and I tell you what, I am REALLY noticing that not having them makes for isolation within the raiding team. I very strongly recommend that you have officers with jobs - section leaders - who make sure each section is looked after and communicated with. It is so very, very important. Talk to each other... now more than ever. The thing that is going to get you through the frustration is communication and a feeling of belonging, because right now, progression is hard to come by.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Hardmodes
There are a few hardmode I have under my belt and deserve a delta writeup.
I just have not had the time to do it! Work has me under the pump at the moment, and I need to get that under control before I write too much more.
That said, there is not a lot of change between normal mode and hard modes. The general idea is "hard modes hit harder" and that's about it really!
I wont even BOTHER with heroic loot boat because., honestly, if you can do normal loot boat, heroic is just a bit slower.
I think my favourite hard modes thus far are marrowgar (which actually requires skill) and Valithria (which is just plain fun as a healer). The other hard modes are pretty much business as usual with 264 loot. They feel a lot like normal modes did when we walked into ICC the first time.
Which leads me to a quick commentry on how this all works.
Hardmodes are not new content. I don't get the excited feeling walking up to a hardmode boss, because I have done it before, you know? I have killed these pixels already! Let me walk up to hard mode cold - give me uldar hardmodes! I still believe ulduar was how it should be done. Dont force me to run normal before I am allowed to make things hard, let me be the judge of that. If I think I can turn up the pressure and not boil, then I should be able to do that. Forced gating/attunements are a silly idea in this capacity when we only have "current content" to be done.
When there is more raid content available than we are able to achieve, sure, put on a simple attunemet (ie in order to get to Tier N+1 you need to have defeated the end boss of Tier N) but note I say tier content. Hard modes are not new tier content, they are increase difficulty on CURRENT tier content - don't gate them.
But I am coming down with a cold and my brain is wafting around on the winds. Looking at the ideas with cataclysm, I am not convinced that it will work the way we all hope.
I have 2 happiness quotients out of it though: 1 ID per instance no matter the size, 2 emblem levels, this content and that content. I hope this will sort out much of the problems of burnout and gear gaps for newer players. The ID should force people to make a decision about what content they enjoy doing. This I can only see as a positive thing.
Anyway, ramble over. Expect new strats in the coming week for hardmodes.
I just have not had the time to do it! Work has me under the pump at the moment, and I need to get that under control before I write too much more.
That said, there is not a lot of change between normal mode and hard modes. The general idea is "hard modes hit harder" and that's about it really!
I wont even BOTHER with heroic loot boat because., honestly, if you can do normal loot boat, heroic is just a bit slower.
I think my favourite hard modes thus far are marrowgar (which actually requires skill) and Valithria (which is just plain fun as a healer). The other hard modes are pretty much business as usual with 264 loot. They feel a lot like normal modes did when we walked into ICC the first time.
Which leads me to a quick commentry on how this all works.
Hardmodes are not new content. I don't get the excited feeling walking up to a hardmode boss, because I have done it before, you know? I have killed these pixels already! Let me walk up to hard mode cold - give me uldar hardmodes! I still believe ulduar was how it should be done. Dont force me to run normal before I am allowed to make things hard, let me be the judge of that. If I think I can turn up the pressure and not boil, then I should be able to do that. Forced gating/attunements are a silly idea in this capacity when we only have "current content" to be done.
When there is more raid content available than we are able to achieve, sure, put on a simple attunemet (ie in order to get to Tier N+1 you need to have defeated the end boss of Tier N) but note I say tier content. Hard modes are not new tier content, they are increase difficulty on CURRENT tier content - don't gate them.
But I am coming down with a cold and my brain is wafting around on the winds. Looking at the ideas with cataclysm, I am not convinced that it will work the way we all hope.
I have 2 happiness quotients out of it though: 1 ID per instance no matter the size, 2 emblem levels, this content and that content. I hope this will sort out much of the problems of burnout and gear gaps for newer players. The ID should force people to make a decision about what content they enjoy doing. This I can only see as a positive thing.
Anyway, ramble over. Expect new strats in the coming week for hardmodes.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Recruitment - the story
Something that has cropped up recently as a topic in my guild is recruitment. But first, a story of how I got into the next more factual post.
I was out doing some trade spam to garner some new recruitment through our application process, I got a couple of bites and I had a chat to them. They seemed like nice people but possibly not up to the technical standard we were looking for. I told them to apply on our forums anyway, as the officers of the guild told me to.
I then mentioned in vent that a few new apps were up and could the appropriate class peoples eyeball them.
This elicited a rather interesting response behind my back, and not one I am entirely comfortable with as a guild member. I have come to realise that in my attempts to try to help out, that people are polarising with my efforts. Many people know I ran a guild for a long time - and I have a lot if information and experience on how to do things. What works? what doesn't work? And I am vocal in passing on my opinion and experience in the guild forums, but always trying to make it clear that the officers are the ones who make the decisions and it is up to them. I am also active in trying to get people into the guild in whatever way the officers say I am allowed to. At the moment, I have permission to trade spam. So, since I don't get time to get into a lot of pugs, I have been doing said trade spam to help out with recruitment. I also bump our realm recruitment thread and keep it active. I do this because I want to raid, not for any ulterior motive. The more guild members help out, the better the guild becomes. It really is very easy to sit back, do nothing, then complain when people don't show up or numbers are low or whatever. WoW is an MMORPG - that means dealing with people as well as pixels.
But back to the story, one of the class peoples I mentioned above obviously started talking after I left vent last night about my trade spamming activities. They then posted in our forums their displeasure at trade spam in general (leaving my name out of it, but it was very clearly a direct result of my actions) saying that trade spam for a 12/12 ICC guild was effectively beneath us, and by extension, my behaviour was almost out of line with his vision of the guild. In fact, it seems that they were almost inciting a backlash to what I was doing deliberately, but passive aggressively. I hate passive aggressive so I said that I was the trade spammer in the thread and that I had officer approval (which I did).
This has been compounded by the fact that the officers are talking about "a shakeup" and inviting new officers into their team for some new blood up there. Quick piece of advice to officers out there? NEVER say there is going to be a "shakeup coming" and "new officers" until you know who they are and promote them straight away or are immediately ready to put the officer selection process in place. The bitching and disquiet created by people thinking they are the one in mind is not worth it.
Unfortunately, there has been one person who has been saying out loud that they think I am the person that they should take. I have told him to STFU but... it's not working. Person complaining about trade spam is quite active in the guild, is reasonably new, and could quite possibly be thinking that they are a candidate for that position and sees me as a threat. That last bit is complete speculation on my part, I could be completely wrong and it is based in my paranoia.
*sigh*
If I were offered the position, I would actually suggest someone else instead and not me, but I am getting off topic.
There are a lot of strong personalities in this guild (including me!), it is very interesting to see them posture around each other. I am also learning a lot about how important communication is within a guild.
I was out doing some trade spam to garner some new recruitment through our application process, I got a couple of bites and I had a chat to them. They seemed like nice people but possibly not up to the technical standard we were looking for. I told them to apply on our forums anyway, as the officers of the guild told me to.
I then mentioned in vent that a few new apps were up and could the appropriate class peoples eyeball them.
This elicited a rather interesting response behind my back, and not one I am entirely comfortable with as a guild member. I have come to realise that in my attempts to try to help out, that people are polarising with my efforts. Many people know I ran a guild for a long time - and I have a lot if information and experience on how to do things. What works? what doesn't work? And I am vocal in passing on my opinion and experience in the guild forums, but always trying to make it clear that the officers are the ones who make the decisions and it is up to them. I am also active in trying to get people into the guild in whatever way the officers say I am allowed to. At the moment, I have permission to trade spam. So, since I don't get time to get into a lot of pugs, I have been doing said trade spam to help out with recruitment. I also bump our realm recruitment thread and keep it active. I do this because I want to raid, not for any ulterior motive. The more guild members help out, the better the guild becomes. It really is very easy to sit back, do nothing, then complain when people don't show up or numbers are low or whatever. WoW is an MMORPG - that means dealing with people as well as pixels.
But back to the story, one of the class peoples I mentioned above obviously started talking after I left vent last night about my trade spamming activities. They then posted in our forums their displeasure at trade spam in general (leaving my name out of it, but it was very clearly a direct result of my actions) saying that trade spam for a 12/12 ICC guild was effectively beneath us, and by extension, my behaviour was almost out of line with his vision of the guild. In fact, it seems that they were almost inciting a backlash to what I was doing deliberately, but passive aggressively. I hate passive aggressive so I said that I was the trade spammer in the thread and that I had officer approval (which I did).
This has been compounded by the fact that the officers are talking about "a shakeup" and inviting new officers into their team for some new blood up there. Quick piece of advice to officers out there? NEVER say there is going to be a "shakeup coming" and "new officers" until you know who they are and promote them straight away or are immediately ready to put the officer selection process in place. The bitching and disquiet created by people thinking they are the one in mind is not worth it.
Unfortunately, there has been one person who has been saying out loud that they think I am the person that they should take. I have told him to STFU but... it's not working. Person complaining about trade spam is quite active in the guild, is reasonably new, and could quite possibly be thinking that they are a candidate for that position and sees me as a threat. That last bit is complete speculation on my part, I could be completely wrong and it is based in my paranoia.
*sigh*
If I were offered the position, I would actually suggest someone else instead and not me, but I am getting off topic.
There are a lot of strong personalities in this guild (including me!), it is very interesting to see them posture around each other. I am also learning a lot about how important communication is within a guild.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Death to the Lich King!
Last night, I got my Kingslayer title!
This means, I have a working strategy to write up in the next few days with lots of tips and tricks to get things moving (literally).
Stay tuned. And hopefully, soon, Hardmode tips and tricks!
This means, I have a working strategy to write up in the next few days with lots of tips and tricks to get things moving (literally).
Stay tuned. And hopefully, soon, Hardmode tips and tricks!
My Webmaster is awesome
Even though my raiding guild has all but bitten the dust, I still have an alt as a GM and there are still a lot of old guildies that hang out on our forums.
So, it's april fools, and my webmaster contacts me on MSN:
--
Thursday, 01 April 2010
Folks, it has recently become apparent that more of our members are spending time on Facebook, in fact, a lot of time on Facebook, more than playing WoW.
As a result, Harvesters of Sorrow is changing to a FarmVille guild.
Come join us, search for Harvesters after you log into FarmVille and send an officer a message for an invite.
Lets get those piggies squealing and work towards the biggest land grab FarmVille has ever seen.
Forum thread for discussion is here.
--
--
Webmaster: As mentioned on the front page here, Harvesters goes Facebook, Harvesters of Sorrow has a new direction.
Discuss!
Brangwen: about time too
I know we have all been in the closet about this great game, now we can all come out and be proud.
Dunte: i dont want get addicted to an online game again! noooooooooooooooo!
Can you grow epics?
Seany: Most embarrassing front page story ever.
YOURE ALL CASUALS
EDIT: Just realised what day it is. You got me!
« Last Edit: April 01, 2010, 01:18:21 PM by Seany »
Keaper: Oh thank fuck lol
Hairyhippy: Read this after midday, so no fair in fooling me.
Webmaster: Quote from: Hairyhippy on April 01, 2010, 02:52:00 PM
I was going to take it down after QLD midday. Got told to put it back.
Seany: It's too good to take down.
Gnoob: hahaha good work!
i read the post before the front page though =[
lol
--
And myself and my awesome sauce webmaster continued to lol at our friends:
Thanks guys, We still love HoS!
So, it's april fools, and my webmaster contacts me on MSN:
10:00:59 AM Webmaster: hey i really didn't have time to do it. but you might get a laff anyway. i had a plan for april 1st this year to put a clickthrough page on [our front page] that portayed HoS as a FarmVille guild.So, with that small amount of encouragement, he wanders off and creates a front Farmville page anyway:
10:01:10 AM Brangwen: ahaha
10:01:33 AM Webmaster: come harvest with us on facebook, etc.
10:02:48 AM Brangwen: lol
10:02:51 AM Webmaster: i made notes about it in february. but ran out of time.
10:02:55 AM Brangwen: oh damn
10:02:59 AM Brangwen: that woulda been cool
10:03:06 AM Brangwen: woudld have freaked me out for sure
--
Thursday, 01 April 2010
Folks, it has recently become apparent that more of our members are spending time on Facebook, in fact, a lot of time on Facebook, more than playing WoW.
As a result, Harvesters of Sorrow is changing to a FarmVille guild.
Come join us, search for Harvesters after you log into FarmVille and send an officer a message for an invite.
Lets get those piggies squealing and work towards the biggest land grab FarmVille has ever seen.
Forum thread for discussion is here.
--
10:25:56 AM Webmaster: try the front page.Over the course of the next couple of hours, a few more guildies get wind of this prank, and being the awesome lovable people they are, generally BELIEVE IT in the forum thread:
10:26:03 AM Webmaster: published it.
10:26:55 AM Branwen: LOL!
10:27:25 AM Webmaster: was going to put a link to a forum thread for discussion.
10:34:54 AM Webmaster: "hey Brang, have you unlocked the sheepdog trials yet? "
bit much perhaps... maybe i should delete it from shoutbox.
10:35:12 AM Brangwen: lol nah leave it haha
10:37:01 AM Webmaster: seany appears to be at the site atm too.
10:37:20 AM Brangwen: orly I guessed good then
--
Webmaster: As mentioned on the front page here, Harvesters goes Facebook, Harvesters of Sorrow has a new direction.
Discuss!
Brangwen: about time too
I know we have all been in the closet about this great game, now we can all come out and be proud.
Dunte: i dont want get addicted to an online game again! noooooooooooooooo!
Can you grow epics?
Seany: Most embarrassing front page story ever.
YOURE ALL CASUALS
EDIT: Just realised what day it is. You got me!
« Last Edit: April 01, 2010, 01:18:21 PM by Seany »
Keaper: Oh thank fuck lol
Hairyhippy: Read this after midday, so no fair in fooling me.
Webmaster: Quote from: Hairyhippy on April 01, 2010, 02:52:00 PM
Read this after midday, so no fair in fooling me.
I was going to take it down after QLD midday. Got told to put it back.
Seany: It's too good to take down.
Gnoob: hahaha good work!
i read the post before the front page though =[
lol
--
And myself and my awesome sauce webmaster continued to lol at our friends:
1:21:43 PM Webmaster: i should pull the joke now. after noon.--
1:22:27 PM Webmaster: oh dear. we actually got seany.
1:22:59 PM Brangwen: LOL poor bastard
1:24:45 PM Brangwen: leave it for a sec - sic wants to look
1:24:46 PM Webmaster: ok, forum post is still there, article has "p.s. april fool" added to it and is no longer front page, but still reachable by the link.
1:25:49 PM Webmaster: it's still there.
1:25:59 PM Webmaster: just not front page
1:26:10 PM Brangwen: put it back up seany is sad
1:26:46 PM Webmaster: ok, is back
1:30:59 PM Brangwen: YAY!
1:34:06 PM Webmaster: um, we got keaper too?
1:34:31 PM Webmaster: his forum post expressing relief.
1:39:56 PM Brangwen: yeah they are both guillable
Thanks guys, We still love HoS!
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