Category Archives: Frivolous Friday

Weekend challenge: Guess the MMO developer!

Rebuses (is there even such a plural?) are fun. I always wanted to make an MMO rebus, so finally here’s the world premiere of the “MMO developers rebus” quiz exclusively brought to you by me! In case you don’t know the rules of a rebus, ‘-/+’ indicate the subtraction/addition of letters or words and ‘=’ signifies a switch of letters. That’s about it, as long as you’re good at wordplay and have a bit of imagination.

I don’t think I made them too hard, although some might not be as obvious as others. So, happy guessing everybody – and no, I won’t give you the solutions anywhere, muaha – although I will acknowledge the first person to guess all 5 of them correctly (there’s a cookie in it for you)! A weekend toast to y’alls!

How well do you know your MMOs?
(click picture to enlarge)

P.S. Apologies for a late edit on this.

Looking for adventures

The mighty Kleps had a recent topic up about how sometimes when you lose something, you’re really winning and that got me thinking deep thoughts about the duality of things, how we never quite get what we want in life and that endless, futile chase for perfection. Yep, all of that by reading one post, impressive huh? I guess that’s more a tribute to him than me though.

Lately, I am enjoying the more personal blogposts loads more than gaming news ones, although that is not to say that I’m not ever-eager to read and comment where whim strikes me and my favoured bloggers are discussing the wind of change in the world of MMOs or scrutinize design and market development. Nils is telling me too, that “as long as it’s interesting”, someone’s always going to read it – which is basically so true, but gosh, the pressure!

And I really can’t say that this is going to be an interesting post, but I have decided to keep writing anyway. The truth is, I need help for I am desperately looking for adventure – adventureS in fact, after yet another long and delightful night of book reading and not sitting at a PC. I realize that I miss stories, have been missing them for a long time and I’d really just love to play a game again that is heavy on narrative and simple, standing pictures to stir your own imagination, that one true escapism. So, I’m not thinking classic RPG here, I’m thinking back to the roots – point&click or graphical adventures with lots of text to read, choices to make and atmospheric descriptions. Monkey Island naturally springs to mind and before that a game called the Grail I used to dabble at on Atari ST and that drove me mad with frustration. It also looked like this (and I don’t mind to play something slightly better looking FYI).

Do these even get made anymore? And where would I start looking? I’ve no idea and I cringe at picking a random one from google….so your suggestions are appreciated. It seems like the only thing to do gamewise while I wait for that utopian, next AAA+ MMORPG that might never get released because all games are now MMOs and it prints money. And a good weekend to you as usual!

P.S. This article was also an excuse to post that beanstalk; I love beanstalks, don’t you?

The things we miss

It’s a brilliant Friday, almost too brilliant to be working. The morning started rather late for me, as the local public transport is on strike (kinda) and so I spent much longer than usual waiting on buses and trams, enjoying the morning sun. Then, opening our guildforum page which I still keep an eye on, retired or not, a thread put a smile on my face, reminding me of the fun we’ve had together in days past. In fact it had me choking with laughter, so strong and silly was the memory that probably only those can understand who share it with me.

The things we miss

The other night, Stumps mentioned to me that it’s quite a long time now since I left WoW, but then I realized it’s actually roughly 4 months since leaving Syl behind at that lakeside in Elwynn Forest. Four months are not a long time, but I have to agree it feels long, much longer than that. I’ve always asked myself what it really is that keeps people playing a game like World of Warcraft for so long – the state of the game, or the community established, and where the boundaries lie between playing a game for yourself and playing it “for other people”.

I never quite found the ultimate answer for myself or rather, for me it’s always been about balance. I know that many of today’s WoW players hang in there for their guilds more than for the game. And I think to some extent that happens for everyone that has established a place for himself, spent years among the same bunch of people and shared countless adventures together. Community is a big factor and sometimes that’s all you need.

At the same time, we all start a game solo; because we like MMOs, because the game seems appealing, because we’re curious and everyone’s talking about it. At those early stages, it’s all about the game. If it doesn’t convince us, we’ll most likely quit. Later, quitting will never be as easy again as it is during that initial “solo period”. There are ties now and fun generated through and by other people, rather than just a developer’s script.
There are also: shared memories that have the power to carry players through “periods of doubt”. It’s the dynamic MMOs capitalize of. It’s quite the struggle too for those feeling they should leave the game but are torn by conflicting emotions.

In the end it’s about what you’re looking for in these games and that’s never the same for each person. It can also change a great deal over time. For me, the balance needs to be there, I play for myself and feel it should always be like that. On the other hand, a bunch of trusted mates are what make a good game not just enjoyable, but make it a great deal more. Without them, things are just not the same. I told those who asked me that I haven’t looked back once since leaving and it’s true; I’ve never had regrets playing WoW and I haven’t had regrets quitting. I haven’t missed my character nor raiding (backpains) for a single day. That simply tells me one thing: that it was the right time and right decision. And to be fair, I think I’ve played the game for way too long to miss any of these things, I haven’t missed out on anything in WoW.

Yet, there are things I can miss, or rather things that make me feel fuzzy inside and nostalgic; they’re locked in funny screenshots and moments remembered. They’re all about the people that were with me when I was still playing and having fun in WoW. I know that if we all went back right now, we still couldn’t bring back those times – for those times, were those times. But the shared knowledge and memory of them is a very fond one and it shows me why I really played the game for as long as I could and what really set it apart from others.

And that will always be true and never fade, locked in the eternal snowglobe of our memories. Mine has a place in the sun and everytime I go there and shake it, the gold flakes inside will dance and glitter as if no time had passed at all. In a way there is great comfort in knowing that nothing can touch the past and some things are preserved forever.

A good weekend to all of you – especially old friends, guildmates and brothers in arms.

Never give up, never surrender

Before the weekend, a little comic I played around with (I added a link to the original version in the caption, just so my copyright infringement guilt feels a little lighter).

(Original version)

To end the week on a somewhat lighter note, two links you all want to look into:

Altnotes.com where Gilded has recently set up camp with a new MMO blog. He focuses on analyzing and discussing modern MMO design and mechanics in general, adding a new voice to the circle of blogging MMO critics in the blogosphere. In the spirit of supporting our newcomers, check his thoughts out sometime, it’s worth it!

Rift: The little things over at massively; I’ve always been one to look for the little things in my MMOs, the silly, fun and secret along the way which are all too easily missed in the rush. A formidable list with the very same focus, saves me creating one for Rift then, I guess!

Enjoy your weekend everybody, be it inside or outside those virtual worlds we all love so much!

Significant Friday

It’s Friday everybody! That sweet fifth day of the week we look forward to so much, that gateway to the weekend and blessed relaxation. Yet of all the days of the week, we tend to pay Friday the least reverence. Yes in fact, we often completely omit the existence of Friday, talking about how it’s already the weekend or “thank God it’s Thursday tomorrow, finally the week is over!”. And that sucks for poor old Friday. Freya would not be pleased. Where’s your Friday appreciation?

Fridays are usually celebrated with a Frivolous Friday post on this blog. Which is a great excuse for me to write rambly texts, bombard the world with silly pictures or links that made me laugh for one reason or another and generally be not so SRS. You need to give your week a break sometime.

But not today. Today there will be no sillyness here – today I shall (and so should you), in quiet contemplation and gratitude, honor Friday as is its due.

Thank you Friday, for being my last day of work every week. Thank you for an empty office in the morning, so I can enjoy my coffee in peace. Thank you for generally being less of a pain in the ass than your brothers and sisters, especially Monday and Thursday. Thank you for an early leave in the afternoon, because I need to go and buy stuff for tomorrow’s barbecue. Thank you for another episode of Grey’s Anatomy, latest season. Thank you for less traffic on the road and less smelly people in my tram and bus. Thank you for the last afterwork drink in the evening and first toast to the weekend. Thank you for staying up as late as I like, because Saturday mornings are for other people. Thank you Friday for always being there, each week on time.

Have a good Friday everybody. And remember to appreciate your days.

The invincible mage

Ever since my article of last week, I had this idea for a comic in my mind and last night I finally found the time to have a go. I’m not a versed comic maker like Liala (check out her awesome Orc detective story), but it seems like a great way to close some of this and last week’s hottest blog discussions (and was loads of fun to create). I don’t think much explanation is needed. 😉

A very happy weekend to you – and all you tanks, healers and damage dealers out there!

Frivolous Friday Roundup

It’s Frivolous Friday time and I dare say the blogosphere needs it, what a gloomy week it’s been in places. Or maybe you took time off from it all and had fun exploring the world of Telara, like I did – but that doesn’t really solve the issue of the major apathy and disillusionment WoW players are currently facing over Cataclysm. Is this really all that’s left of World of Warcraft? 25man raiding dying, guilds struggling to recruit, Blizzard recycling old content while a few more vanity items and achievements are being installed on the side?

“Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like wind in the meadow. The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow. How did it come to this?” [The Lord of the Rings, King Theoden]

How did it come to this? What has happened to Azeroth, that colorful, perfect second world for so many players worldwide, once so filled with wonder, camaraderie and adventure? Is the time of WoW coming to an end, as so many of us have felt on a personal level lately – or have we as a generation of longtimers simply outgrown the game? Every MMO, even one as popular as World of Warcraft, can only attract a playerbase for so long. No doubt this is not the end for Blizzard, but maybe it’s simply the end for many a veteran who feels let down by Cataclysm.

Frivolous Friday Roundup

Well, some bloggers are still enjoying themselves out there in Azeroth. They choose to focus on what’s there rather than on what there is not – on little things, mysterious and cheerful as can still be found by those who look for them. Among all the gloominess their posts have stood out to me this week, so entirely untouched by what almost sounds like the end of days. It’s not all bad raids and lackluster patches. And since my own Frivolous Friday contribution would only convince you to buy Rift and go dye all your gear in various colors, I shall let these three speak for me this time. (I will tell you about those wonderful dyes soon enough!)

While the future of WoW might be uncertain, one thing you can always count on is Issy putting a smile on your face. Sunny and cheerful, she lets her readers in on what makes WoW real to her and still worth playing, so check out her most recent articles of this week.

Strange things are afoot and Zinn has a special gift to spot them. While countless players are rushing through the game, never taking a moment to ponder the world around them, Zinn keeps her own mystery files on what’s being quirky and odd in Azeroth – from floating catheads to strange glowing men, uh oh!

Angelya is saving baby murlocs in Blasted Lands, a quest I must admit I never heard of myself. As the murlocs embark on their journey across the sea, she wonders about what might lie across, distant places yet to be discovered on the landmap of WoW. To think that we might not have seen and explored all of that world is a strangely encouraging thought, a space to dream in this otherwise so exhausted fantasy.

A good weekend to you all – be it on Azeroth, Telara or planet earth. Wherever you are, don’t forget to take a look around sometime for the little things that make your world good and special, no matter how tiny or silly they may be.

25man blues, Holy goodness, oh noes I look like Aladdin, Critternation, I still don’t PuG and community highlights

I’ve been wanting to produce one of those ‘incredibly long topic list’-titles like Spinks does so well for a long time now and today I finally got the chance. That’s another goal for 2011 out of the way, go me!

25man blues

Times are being so-so in WoW at the moment; it appears that 25man raid guilds have pretty much disppeared from the face of the earth which makes recruitment for Adrenaline a bit of a MAJOR PITA right now. We assumed it was gonna be harder in Cataclysm, but by now I’m amazed how Blizzard has managed to kill off the 25man mode so completely and it’s not just happening on our server. It makes me sad and wonder if people really do only raid for loot…What happened to more epic scale battles? Or is the hassle of trying to coordinate a stable 25man team just too much work for people nowadays? That second reason I can understand at least. All that said, I miss you 40man WoW! We will see what happens, I guess.

Raiding goodness

On the bright side, Adrenaline first raidweek has been very successful, 4 bosses went down for us in BoT and BWD and also: holy is officially awesome! While we really didn’t look so great in the new heroics, holy priests still rock the raidhealing boat and there’s lots of holy love to be shared in these new encounters. I’m not surprised to see PoH get a minor nerf soon; it’s already very powerful and my mastery rating isn’t even very high yet. All in all we got some really sweet patches incoming (Chakra, SoL, CoH) and the slight nerfs to PoH and our regen will matter little in the long run, even if we might feel them right now.

I got my first epic loot drop too and…oh noes, I look like Aladdin! The matching carpet was the obvious consequence. Matching dress and shoes – so last season!

“A whole new woooorld…”
(and I’d still rather be sitting, srsly!)

Critternation

In other news, I have successfully coerced enough of our guildies to join me on a 50k CDSC (critter death squad campaign) this last Sunday – finally my subtle convincing attempts paid off. It took us approximately 8 clears of Terrorweb Tunnel in Eastern Plaguelands which is swarming with bugs and spiders aplenty. We had jolly good fun on ventrilo, even if most of us realized later on that we can’t buy the armadillo pup yet, lol!
If anyone of you is looking to get this achievement done with his guild soon, I can really recommend that spot. Respawn time is every 3-4ish minutes and easily adds another 5k+ to that body count in a raid of 15 people. The more you are, obviously the faster you’ll be. And no bunnies or squirrels involved, promise!

Community highlights and another guest post

The WoW healing community has been spilling over with the whole “healing heroics, yay or nay”-topic these past few weeks and I’ve been following many articles with great interest, especially one by Ophelie where she tells us how healers can make a difference in PuGs. I’m always amazed to read how fellow healers still put up with the LFG madness in Cataclysm….I can’t say I do (I know, it must come as a shock to you) and so naturally, I had to share how much of a difference I’m not making:

Watch me NOT healing any PuGs over @ World of Matticus where Matt has been so kind to publish another one of my articles (and not just that, I’ve officially gotten my own mugshot on the page, how cool is that?). I had great fun writing it and I’ve tried to include all the related and inspiring articles I came across myself before (though I clearly failed to mention them all), so you might find yourself link-loved!
Judging by some of the reactions and also a look around the blogosphere this morning, the topic will definitely keep WoW healers and bloggers occupied for a while to come.

Another highlight of the week were definitely also Larísa’s PPI Awards for 2010, so in case you missed her great summary of what’s been hot and steaming around WoW and the blogging community in 2010, there’s your chance to catch up! A very detailed and informative read with many great nominations and well-deserved winners, and this silly blogger here even got mentioned too. I can’t say more than thanks to everyone who might have mentioned my articles or this blog, thank you so very much indeed whoever you might be, the bloggers linking us and all our regular readers (you’re sure this is the blog you’re meaning to read, right? just checking!). It’s a great joy to have been included.

Now let the weekend come, it’s already been the perfect week. Congratulations again to all winners and enjoy your weekend everybody! ^^

The LFG Fail

I’m working at this wonderfully relaxed place now where a large portion of my work consists of running errands for others and taking care of correspondence and where nobody only shows up for work because his parents forced him to. I got my own little office and when I started off in December, our IT support told me to “make sure you’re installing Skype”. The entire company is handling their everyday communication over Skype – how cool is that? I get to be online there all day long and I’ve totally not added a single one of my buddies to my contact list…

Anyways, correspondence. When you’re writing several E-Mails in a row to reply to some business associate or contact, the mind switches off at the oddest times (or maybe it’s just my mind which is an entirely valid possibility). Most business is done in English and so I’m taking care to honor the code and include all those nifty, standard greeting and closing formulas, à la “Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need further information” or “Please find enclosed…” and so forth. Corporate language, I has it.

In between handling those letters, I also get to send a lot of short notes or reminders to my co-workers which are frequently in different languages, namely German or French. And that’s when it happened.
When you’re writing more casual types of Emails to friends or colleagues in German, it’s pretty standard to use acronyms like ‘LG’ (liebe Grüsse) or ‘MFG’ (mit freundlichen Grüssen) to replace “kind regards” as a closing line. This has even made its way into more formal letters by now, depending on what the subject is or for how long correspondents have known each other. So naturally, when I was asked to send a short request for booking confirmation out on a workmate’s behalf a few days ago, I didn’t hesitate to end the Email in that way (you need to assume this would have been in German):

[actual message here]

Please contact me if you require any further information.

LFG, Silly Goof

LFG…
I actually wrote LFG!
A splitsecond after sending that Email (figures), I realized it.

/facepalm

And I know why of course: I spent a large portion of my free ‘blogging and blog-reading time’ this week on reading about Cataclysm’s 5man runs, the fail and glory of them, especially in regard to being a healer. There will also be a contribution of my own to that topic pretty soon, so MY BRAIN IS IN LFG MODE!

It’s days like these when you realize you’re having enitrely too many thoughts on WoW. Have a good weekend everybody and be careful on those heroic runs!

How to track down an Orc mage

I guess most of you have had some guild achievements flashing up on your screen the past weeks since Cataclysm launched and maybe you’ve shared my feeling of “wut? what happened there?”, followed by trying to find out who did what exactly and what reward the guild might have got.

The new guild perks system is a double-edged blade: not only due to the guild size issue, but overall it feels very underwhelming to see flashy pop-ups coming up ever so often, without having been part of anything – frankly the guild part of the achievement is lost on me there. I know I’m not alone in this, many guildies feel excluded when one, dedicated “achievement hunting team” goes out on the very first days of the expansion to get as many guild achievements as possible and while the rewards are for everybody, it doesn’t feel like a group effort at all.
That said, I don’t nearly care enough about achievements to whine about it and most of them don’t come with noticeable rewards either (the really big part is guild ranks and mass effort achis), but I simply don’t think Blizzard implemented the system very well.

I’ve only just started to explore the new guild tab in the achievement window a few days ago, mostly to check which of them actually come with something useful. Now, as a pet collector I’d love to get the Armadillo Pup, but that one is far away still with our 10k kills out of 50k total. We’re not the biggest guild and I also suspect there’s a natural resistance in many to go and hunt down fluffy bunnies and squirrels! For those among you, here’s a little motivator.

Tracking down the elusive orc mage

Killing horde on the other hand – works fine for most. I’m certainly not shy to PvP and I always enjoyed the achievements that require you to hunt down certain class-race combinations in WoW, either to slay them or put bunny ears on their heads or whatever (see how there is darkness and light inside me!). As a priest especially, you’ve got awesome tools for this kind of mission. So, when I realized that all our guild was missing for the Horde Slayer Achievement was an orc mage, I decided to have a look around AV – it couldn’t be so hard, surely…

…Riiight! Apparently orc mages are the least popular class-race combination ever on horde side. I’m not sure why that is, whether it’s racials or the fact that orcs are generally associated with being “brutes”, so not exactly the educated smart or spiritual kind. The WoW census is rather clear on this: counting all EU servers together a baffling 2%-3% of all horde mages are orcs, already less than there are goblin mages. That’s even worse than the percentage of dwarf rogues on alliance side – honestly, would you rather see an orc in cloth or a hairy dwarf in leather? Anyway.

It took me several nights to finally spot an orc mage in AV and I gotta say, I felt a little sorry for the guy! Having your face on a wanted poster all over an entire battlegroup – NOT FUN! Bad times for orc mages. But then, the system is enforcing this really, because you can’t get the achievement done by killing anything less than a lvl 85, so arranging for an alternative of your own quickly isn’t an option.

Well then, if you happen to be a priest and are looking to do this guild achievement, here’s how to do it the BG way (and I promise you won’t have to PvP any more than absolutely needed):

Queue for an AV and once inside, browse the BG chart to check whether there are any orc mages in. If not and you absolutely hate to PvP, /afk out and repeat in 15mins.
Once you’ve spotted your orcish friend, create a /target + name macro to make sure you spot him right away on the battlefield.
Follow the main rush and stay in midfield on Field of Strife. This is where most alliance and horde cross in the beginning and there’s a very high chance your orc mage will be among them. Spam your target-macro at all times.
Once you got your target, follow the horde rush at a distance and try to spot the player to see where he’s going. It might prove tricky, so what you want to do now is to retreat to a safe spot quickly and throw a mindvision before you’ve lost him.
After you’ve located him, track him down and keep a focus on him to see whether he’s already in combat, winning or dying (in which case he will release at the closest horde GY). Throwing a DoT is enough to get the kill count if he’s already battling someone else. If you have to take him on 1vs1, good luck!

I was lucky because in my case the orc mage was on his way to Stonehearth Bunker and already engaged in a flag fight when I arrived. He was at 50% health and too surprised at my arrival to react, so a quick Penance and SW:Death finished the job. And I realize just how this sounds – I’m really sorry Dag-something, Blizzard made me do it!

On the bright side, we got the guild achievement and with it comes the Guild Page companion which is actually quite useful for non-collectors too: it’s your very own mobile vendor and allows you to clear all the trash from your bags during questing which is rather handy at the moment. Unfortunately he only lasts for 5 mins and is on an 8 hour cooldown, just like the other guild vendor items……/facepalm

Anyway, should you get tired of questing or heroics sometime, give PvP achievements a go, they’re actually a fun distraction and you do not need a PvP kit either to get them, especially in AV. The tracking tactic obviously works for any class-race combination you might be after. For the Alliance – For the Horde! Enjoy your weekend and a happy New Year from Raging Monkeys everybody!