WI's Community Blog Topic 8/30/13

This weeks Community Blog Topic as provided by the lovely staff over at WoW Insider is, Which race would you like to become playable?

The easy answer for me as a Tauren a heart would be the Tauren subraces Taunka and Yaungol and even those we may have yet find. However I agree with Matt Rossi that as a whole the subraces would be awesome.

Now as far as currently unplayable races the Isectoids of Azeroth are interesting but I would much rather have to separate races for Alliance and Horde and so far all 3 of the know Insectoid races would be more aligned with the Horde.

Etherals would be obvious and they could use the same neutral then faction pick system they did for the Pandarean.

Another option would be to have Horde get Ogres and Alliance Furbolgs they have been in the game since Vanilla and both races have intriguing stories.

My order for new "races" in the next expansion would be finish new character models with the sub races included, and then Etherals. And if the next expansion is The Dark Below then it kinda leaves only Naga if they do plan on adding a new race.

Bloated Warrior (Buttons)

Let me preface this by saying I could cut a lot of my button bloat by bundling abilities together in macros, however if Blizzards goal is to make the game more playable for everyone we should not need to use macros just make the game playable in a manner that doesn't require 10 inch long fingers or $150 peripherals. I personally use a shift modifier with the G keys on my Logitech G15 or my Razer Naga. Even after 3 years with the Naga I still can't ditch the G15.

For a list of all abilities check this out over at wowpedia.

For my thoughts on removing some of Warrior's button bloat, take the jump.

More After The Jump!

This Weeks Hot Topic: Gear the Good, the Bad, and the Not So Ugly

This weeks the hot topic over on WoW Insider is Gear and whether it is is an outdated mechanic for player progression in WoW.

According to WI staff gear serves 2 main purposes,

1. Form
2. Function

While you can read there arguments for and against gear as well as a suggestion on how to remove statistical elements from gear here.

I tend to be one who thinks gear is fine the way it is now agreeing that gear provides a needed slider to help players that aren't quite as skilled as those in the top 10 guilds in the world ease into content. Where as those against it could argue that the stat benefit provided by new gear is not meaningful as to progression.

Both camps for and against gear mentioned that gear provided the form factor of allowing to build your character the way you see them, especially with the advent of transmogification  Neither camp wanted to see gear go bye bye completely for this very reason.

After the break I will talk about how Gear isn't the problem it is the way gear is delivered in terms of the random number generator system.

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The Hot Topic: WoWs Current Loot System

Since the release of Mists of Pandaria the Loot System in WoW has been under heavy criticism. Whether it be the gating of Valor gear behind reputation grinds that could only be doe through dailies, or the LFR system of loot.

This Expansion Blizzard decided to give us a new way to obtain loot, by giving us Lesser Charms of Good Fortune. By collecting 90 of these thing, through dailies, you could then turn them in for 3 tokens which grant a bonus roll on a boss. This system for the first tier of raiding was under scrutiny because of the frequency that you got gold from it, especially if you got gold from your normal loot roll as well. People dont see it as a bonus roll they see it as something that should guarantee them loot, as the old saying goes the only thing guaranteed in life is death and taxes, and for a WoW player that just means death and lots of time (the tax) grinding.

The last couple days there has a been a heated debate between EU forum posters and Blizzard Blue Draztal (summary found here), about the need for a better way to guarantee PvE loot to players, this case weapons, much like the PvP loot system.

After the break I will talk about my thought on the subject.

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Tanking With the General Public

A Tanks Guide To Surviving LFD/LFR:

So we all have been there, whether as a Tank, DPS, or Healer, that point in a LFG where we realize some of the people in the group clearly have no understanding of what they are doing let alone the mechanics of the dungeon/raid. We have also been witness to or been the person who's sole goal is to get in and out as quickly as possible but have made it slower by causing a wipe.

Today we will go over ways to survive in the wonderful tool known as LFG

More After The Jump!