This just happened...oh..maybe 10 minutes ago.
I walked into my local GameStop, where I'm somewhat well known to the employees. Not in a "This guy causes crap and needs to be feared" kinda way, but in the "We talk about our stupid customers to this guy" way. So I walk in, grab a copy of F.E.A.R. 2, 2 copies of Wrath of the Lich King(One for me, one for my wife), and I wanted to pick up a 60 day subscription card for myself.
Sorry, this particular one isn't for the website...but I may have another giveaway soon.
So I walk up to the desk, give the initial greetings and explain why I haven't been to the store in a few weeks. I then INTEND to ask for a World of Warcraft subscription card...instead I say...
" I need a World of Warcraft prescription card please. "
To explain myself. I work for 1800 Medicare, and thus I deal with medication and other health information daily. It was an innocent slip.
The employee looked at me funny, and I then correct myself and ask for a subscription card in which he replies by laughing his ass off, shaking his head, and telling me..
" No, you were right the first time. "
Epic Fail or Epic Accidental Joke? You decide.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Contemplating the MMO Experience
Since late last night, a question has been plaguing me. I couldn't shake it all day at work, on my drive home, or even now as I sit at my desk. I'm surrounded by the spoils of nerd war, and yet a question nags at me and I cannot begin to answer it.
Where better to write about my thoughts than my own site that is some strange lovechild of blogging and a pseudo attempt at video game journalism? Perhaps in the course of writing out my thoughts I'll discover the answer, or one of you, my readers, will assist me in some way.
I don't know where to go from here, with this website.
Forgive me if that sounds horribly depressing or extraordinary "emo". I don't mean that I have NO path to go, just too many to choose from. I would love to have a fraction of the hits and popularity of sites such as WorldofMatticus, yet there are so many paths to go from there to reach that that I stand at the crossroads.
Should I go the route of paid advertisement on sites, GoogleAdWords, and others? Should I continue the route of posting on other peoples forums/sites/twitter/and other social networking? Should I do both?
I apologize if this is coming off as whining, I'm simply saying my options are a bit overwhelming in the terms of how many I have. I know the end result which is to have a respectful, interesting, and somewhat cult popular website. Perhaps even make actual money writing in some type of career in the future.
I will end with this. The most insightful information I've learned regarding blogging and websites in general have been from others. So I'm asking for your insights or opinions as I try to see how to make The MMO Experience grow. After since my first giveaway I've really wanted to make this successful to do fun things like that in the future, with perhaps a much larger number of participants. Let me know, and thanks in advance for both your patronage and your wisdom.
Danshir
PS: To make this MMO related and to kill the somber mood...
Where better to write about my thoughts than my own site that is some strange lovechild of blogging and a pseudo attempt at video game journalism? Perhaps in the course of writing out my thoughts I'll discover the answer, or one of you, my readers, will assist me in some way.
I don't know where to go from here, with this website.
Forgive me if that sounds horribly depressing or extraordinary "emo". I don't mean that I have NO path to go, just too many to choose from. I would love to have a fraction of the hits and popularity of sites such as WorldofMatticus, yet there are so many paths to go from there to reach that that I stand at the crossroads.
Should I go the route of paid advertisement on sites, GoogleAdWords, and others? Should I continue the route of posting on other peoples forums/sites/twitter/and other social networking? Should I do both?
I apologize if this is coming off as whining, I'm simply saying my options are a bit overwhelming in the terms of how many I have. I know the end result which is to have a respectful, interesting, and somewhat cult popular website. Perhaps even make actual money writing in some type of career in the future.
I will end with this. The most insightful information I've learned regarding blogging and websites in general have been from others. So I'm asking for your insights or opinions as I try to see how to make The MMO Experience grow. After since my first giveaway I've really wanted to make this successful to do fun things like that in the future, with perhaps a much larger number of participants. Let me know, and thanks in advance for both your patronage and your wisdom.
Danshir
PS: To make this MMO related and to kill the somber mood...
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Art of DPS - Also an MMO Rant
An interesting post found by Holy Discipline made me think about today's post, which is the first since my first giveaway here at The MMO Experience. The post is regarding some basic rules that DPS classes must follow to be "good" at their class. While for the most part they are really common sense (Which doesn't mean people FOLLOW them, they're just common sense for anyone with a brain.) , the entire thought of guidelines for a person to follow just seemed to click in my head with something I was thinking about throughout the day yesterday.
I'm not going to be so arrogant and tell you I'm some paragon at ANY type of game, or any aspect of life. I've never understood how people could go to someones website and feel as if they are in the virtual presence of someone greater than themselves because said person is recognized as a great player. However I will state that I have played 3 Rogues and 1 Hunter, got them both to "high" end raiding status, and was known to at least be considered "good". (If anyone says differently, stating something along the lines "Danshir used to wipe us constantly, don't listen to his delusional nonsense"....urr...pay them no mind!)
What these various guides do not tell you is how to go beyond a typical "good" player. It's all well in good to know that one of your LEAST priorities as a DPS class is actually focusing on the damage aspect, but going from good to great is....what?
I can give my opinion on it.
A good hunter will trap on pulls, making sure to pull the target away from the group to avoid AOE damage, and time his trap so he can get 2 down to maximize how long the monster will be taken out of combat. A good hunter will use misdirection and all his tools available to ensure the aggro stays where it needs to be, on the tank, and not gank aggro himself. That and having a decent amount of damage in between these various tasks will mark you as a good hunter.
However you won't make people shocked and stunned with JUST that sadly. How do you go beyond that and truly make you it a work of art for people to praise you for? (Again, only my opinion, my person experience, and what SOME probably disturbed minds have said about me.)
A GREAT hunter, or any dps class really, will focus on all those tasks as WELL as keeping his dps high. Recognize the limits of your group/raid. For example, on my rogue if I was grouped with someone that seemed to be a decent tank, I would start using Blade Flurry and see if I could gank aggro on the 2nd monster.
If I ganked, I stopped using it. If I didn't then I had just made a note in my lil brain that I don't have to be so cautious with aggro, even on secondary monsters. This enables more options to increase your dps WHILE maintaining the unity of the group. (IE You're not constantly ganking dps and making everyone mad.)
Of course it's easy to say you need to do this WHILE maintaining your DPS as high as possible, but in execution it's rather difficult. Especially if you're participating in a "Pick Up Group" where you never know how good a tank is until the group has started and you've probed a little bit. So here is my set of guidelines to not only be a GOOD dps class, but to excel and have people make you their friend in case they need DPS for a heroic instance. (This practice is generally reserved for Healers/Tanks, as DPS classes are a dime a dozen. However I've had quite a few people make me their friend not because I was INSANE dps, but because I was a good player with good dps at the same time. At least that's what they said. I'm still under the firm belief I epic fail. Though on one occasion the rogue in our group had 500k dmg over all, I had over 1 million. *toots own horn*)
1: Always see what limits you have to work with. Bad tank? Hold back a little until you find a good pace. Great tank? Let loose and go insane!
2: Always verify with the group leader which icon they want you to pay attention to for whatever (if any) type of crowd control you need to perform. Do it quickly then resume your dps
3: No matter how squishy you are, if the healer is about to get sent to the abyss, take one for the team and take aggro if you can. The healer is almost ALWAYS more important than a dps class in terms of group survival.
4: Don't get lazy. There will be times that a situation calls for an entire switch of play styles. A great example is back in BlackWing Lair when all the tanks fell down dead on Vael, and I, the wittle Rogue, became a tank. You can either stay where the DPS goes and wipe the whole raid, or you can show that you listened to the WHOLE raid strategy and go where the tank needs to go, pop evasion, and become a hero. (I didn't, I did the former and wish I hadn't became lazy. Learn from my mistake eh?)
5: The Number 1 Rule for a DPS class is this: Your DPS is 0 if you're dead.
--------------------
Today's discussion has nothing to do with my rambling that you've just read. If you learn anything from what I've typed above, then you've learned something from a madman! Good for you! Anyway, today's discussion is about parts of group edict in MMOs. What made me think of this was today I was invited to heal a Razorfen Kraul group. I was the last person they needed. However we couldn't start the dungeon because 2 members of the group continued to delay stating they were off doing something else and we would have to wait.
What is your opinion on people making the whole group wait while they do something by themselves? Should they be booted from the group? Should you wait on them in silence? Is that proper group conduct? Discuss =).
I'm not going to be so arrogant and tell you I'm some paragon at ANY type of game, or any aspect of life. I've never understood how people could go to someones website and feel as if they are in the virtual presence of someone greater than themselves because said person is recognized as a great player. However I will state that I have played 3 Rogues and 1 Hunter, got them both to "high" end raiding status, and was known to at least be considered "good". (If anyone says differently, stating something along the lines "Danshir used to wipe us constantly, don't listen to his delusional nonsense"....urr...pay them no mind!)
What these various guides do not tell you is how to go beyond a typical "good" player. It's all well in good to know that one of your LEAST priorities as a DPS class is actually focusing on the damage aspect, but going from good to great is....what?
I can give my opinion on it.
A good hunter will trap on pulls, making sure to pull the target away from the group to avoid AOE damage, and time his trap so he can get 2 down to maximize how long the monster will be taken out of combat. A good hunter will use misdirection and all his tools available to ensure the aggro stays where it needs to be, on the tank, and not gank aggro himself. That and having a decent amount of damage in between these various tasks will mark you as a good hunter.
However you won't make people shocked and stunned with JUST that sadly. How do you go beyond that and truly make you it a work of art for people to praise you for? (Again, only my opinion, my person experience, and what SOME probably disturbed minds have said about me.)
A GREAT hunter, or any dps class really, will focus on all those tasks as WELL as keeping his dps high. Recognize the limits of your group/raid. For example, on my rogue if I was grouped with someone that seemed to be a decent tank, I would start using Blade Flurry and see if I could gank aggro on the 2nd monster.
If I ganked, I stopped using it. If I didn't then I had just made a note in my lil brain that I don't have to be so cautious with aggro, even on secondary monsters. This enables more options to increase your dps WHILE maintaining the unity of the group. (IE You're not constantly ganking dps and making everyone mad.)
Of course it's easy to say you need to do this WHILE maintaining your DPS as high as possible, but in execution it's rather difficult. Especially if you're participating in a "Pick Up Group" where you never know how good a tank is until the group has started and you've probed a little bit. So here is my set of guidelines to not only be a GOOD dps class, but to excel and have people make you their friend in case they need DPS for a heroic instance. (This practice is generally reserved for Healers/Tanks, as DPS classes are a dime a dozen. However I've had quite a few people make me their friend not because I was INSANE dps, but because I was a good player with good dps at the same time. At least that's what they said. I'm still under the firm belief I epic fail. Though on one occasion the rogue in our group had 500k dmg over all, I had over 1 million. *toots own horn*)
1: Always see what limits you have to work with. Bad tank? Hold back a little until you find a good pace. Great tank? Let loose and go insane!
2: Always verify with the group leader which icon they want you to pay attention to for whatever (if any) type of crowd control you need to perform. Do it quickly then resume your dps
3: No matter how squishy you are, if the healer is about to get sent to the abyss, take one for the team and take aggro if you can. The healer is almost ALWAYS more important than a dps class in terms of group survival.
4: Don't get lazy. There will be times that a situation calls for an entire switch of play styles. A great example is back in BlackWing Lair when all the tanks fell down dead on Vael, and I, the wittle Rogue, became a tank. You can either stay where the DPS goes and wipe the whole raid, or you can show that you listened to the WHOLE raid strategy and go where the tank needs to go, pop evasion, and become a hero. (I didn't, I did the former and wish I hadn't became lazy. Learn from my mistake eh?)
5: The Number 1 Rule for a DPS class is this: Your DPS is 0 if you're dead.
--------------------
Today's discussion has nothing to do with my rambling that you've just read. If you learn anything from what I've typed above, then you've learned something from a madman! Good for you! Anyway, today's discussion is about parts of group edict in MMOs. What made me think of this was today I was invited to heal a Razorfen Kraul group. I was the last person they needed. However we couldn't start the dungeon because 2 members of the group continued to delay stating they were off doing something else and we would have to wait.
What is your opinion on people making the whole group wait while they do something by themselves? Should they be booted from the group? Should you wait on them in silence? Is that proper group conduct? Discuss =).
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Winner of The MMO Experience Giveaway!
We have a winner! Number 7!It's official! The number drawn *you can see proof of that from the picture above* was lucky number 7. Which happens to be RavenPhoenix, so congratulations to her! She's already received the card number and made sure it works, and all emails sent to me with your physical addresses were deleted.
So there will be NO evil plots being hatched by yours truly using them. I swear...would I lie?
I must say I truly enjoyed running this event. It was a blast to organize it, get all the stuff together, and finally roll the dice. I fully plan on doing this again, though WHEN is a question I can't answer at the moment.
Due to some medical issues going on, I'm having to fork over $1200 more than I thought I would have to, which is the reason why there are no runner-up prizes like I wanted to do. I do apologize for that. However I did the budget to where I could still purchase the card, as I had promised to do the event and I didn't want to let you (my readers) down.
So the next giveaway will probably occur just when I can afford it. If you're feeling generous you can donate to the site, which will go toward hosting events like this in the future. However it is not necessary in any way.
Again, congratulations to RavenPhoenix for winning The MMO Experience's first giveaway!
Tomorrow will begin normal topics/discussions. One of them being my first time healing in an instance!
So there will be NO evil plots being hatched by yours truly using them. I swear...would I lie?
I must say I truly enjoyed running this event. It was a blast to organize it, get all the stuff together, and finally roll the dice. I fully plan on doing this again, though WHEN is a question I can't answer at the moment.
Due to some medical issues going on, I'm having to fork over $1200 more than I thought I would have to, which is the reason why there are no runner-up prizes like I wanted to do. I do apologize for that. However I did the budget to where I could still purchase the card, as I had promised to do the event and I didn't want to let you (my readers) down.
So the next giveaway will probably occur just when I can afford it. If you're feeling generous you can donate to the site, which will go toward hosting events like this in the future. However it is not necessary in any way.
Again, congratulations to RavenPhoenix for winning The MMO Experience's first giveaway!
Tomorrow will begin normal topics/discussions. One of them being my first time healing in an instance!
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