Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Year that Was, 2011.



Paladins -
Kind of a lack luster year for Pally's in general. We didn't get the big nerf, nor did we get a buff. All in all we got more nerfs than buffs but really we hold strong where we started the year, as a very viable tank who isn't a "face roll" (all tanking is kinda) and we aren't so strong that everyone wants only Pally's.

Blizz did take our walking heal away from the prot and ret tree's making WoG a 20 second cooldown. With this they also changed the way Holy Shield works, making it a slight cooldown and adding to the challenge for us to block cap. Ultimately Blizz didn't nerf any tanks Mastery which was good for all tanks. I think Mastery is pretty nice for all tanks currently.

The buff to threat was surely a head scratching moment! Why on earth would you buff threat making it a non factor in game? Oh, I know why, the game killer strikes again. LFG/LFR had long que's for tanks, people who join LFG forget what manners are and they berate the tank because they have attacked the mob prior to tanks saying hello. I wish there was a way Blizz could buff the player base's common sense instead of dumbing the game down.

What I would love for the new year is a quest line everyone must do prior to entering LFG/LFR - your class/spec must run an attunement chain before you can que for either. Not sure how they would do this but something along the lines of the elite bear quest in Grizzly Hills. That would much more of a help in knowing what your roll in a 5 man or raid is than ilvl.

Game / Patches -
We have seen far to much glitz and glamor in game, to much reused stuff and nerfing of content way before its time. Cata hasn't been a great expansion for many, you can see that in the lose of subscriptions and negative feedback.

FL, ZA and ZG came out with a puff... I can't speak to the quality of the raid for FL, I've yet to walk into it and I never will...EVER! It put a halt to my days of raiding, well that and my computer.

ZA and ZG made a return to the floods of tear from everywhere, those that were geared enough knocked it out easy and told those who weren't geared they were bad for not having fun spending hours trying to finish it. I really liked ZA being back. I loved the original and for a brief while it felt like we were back in TBC.
The Troll heroics got old FAST and Blizz is putting out a poor business model, over promising and under delivering. Its supposed to be the other way around right?

Deathwing released and with it, they brought out three new 5 mans, a new raid and epic gems and patterns....oh, and one thing I forgot, a little thing called LFR. Looking For Raid, a puggable version...oh hell, you all know what it is, problem is no one knew what to expect. I don't think anyone thought you could walk in, push few macros and watch the raiders complain about everything and watch bosses fall. Its what we wanted, and its what we got. I didn't mention the loot, yes the loot.

The loot mechanic that was so poorly set up, it took a few of the top guilds down because they were allowed to roll on it. That is almost understandable, things happen. If the game allows you to do it, why not, right? Well the really nasty issue came when the ilvl greed bore its ugly head, you had classes rolling on weapons, just because it had a higher ilvl and they "could".

Blizz spilled the beans -
Now they are on MoP up duty, did you see what I did there?
At Blizzcon we all got to see the future of the game. A revised talent system, Monks and Pandarian as playable toons and the Far East theme.

My feelings on this? It is one thing I'm optimistic about with the game. So far, Cata  has missed the mark, or wait, let me rephrase that, Blizz keeps moving the mark on what the game should be. I do want to see the new zones, how the Monk works with the support and how many versions of "Sadpanda" run around zones or PVP.

2011 as a whole was a turning point, not only me but how I view the game. Now really, its a time sink that allows me to spend some time remembering the history I have with the game. I go quest, do dailies and view what I've missed in the past always wanting to raid.

My last post was a question "am I opening a goodbye" I can't answer that right now, I can say it probably won't be because SWToR blew me away, which it hasn't. I can tell you what is moving me out faster than anything...the people. The community is gone, the friends I once had have moved, cancelled, or don't raid. I have 3 people on my friends list. This game is ugly, its a virtual bar fight any time you sit in a city. The boredom of people brings out the ugly, and the simple fact that people will talk shit to you, then ignore is way beyond fun any longer. There is ZERO accountability about your actions or disrespect in this game. Blizz took that away from us with the LFR/LFG. It used to be if someone was a bone head,  your realm knew that and would run with him. Now, you can play with anyone and will probably never see that person again, so hey...why not just act like a total tool?

My next post will be another LFR hall of fame addition.

Everyone have an amazing new year and enjoy your time in game!

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