World of Warcraft: What's All the Fuss - Part II

Yesterday, I published an opinion article about World of Warcraft, and received quite a bit of feedback from the community.  And, as promised, today we have a response from one of our own WoW Zam staff members, Brian "Wordaen" Kincaid.  Take a moment to read them both, and see what you think!

Well, Autumnkiss has some great points as a new WoW player. I remember my starting days in this game and I have to say, I do see some parallels in her mindset as compared to mine when I first started. The initial login is full of some oohs and ahh’s as you see the spectacular graphics and ease of movement in the game world.

Now, as is pretty common with all new players, she mentions the issue that we all run into at least once and usually more at the lower levels…your death in an MMO. Now, to be fair, running back to collect yourself after taking a beating is emasculating to any player but Blizzard has done something differently than other MMOs I have played, and that is the introduction of the Spirit Healer at strategic locations to ease that embarrassment somewhat. In addition to having one at all, the spirit healer does something in this game that no other game has so far. It offers you two choices – run to your corpse where you take a 10% durability hit and no exp loss or rez at the graveyard and take a 25% durability hit and lowered stats for 10 minutes. Either way, you are in ghost form while you make this decision and are protected from something that might think you are a tasty snack.

In some of my past games, such as the original Everquest (which I still play incidentally), not only is there the dreaded experience loss, which can even lead to losing your newly acquired level but you also have to do your corpse retrieval naked starting from your last bind spot. And that can seriously suck. Now, depending on the location you are bound at and where you died, this can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours and there is no spirit healer to give you the option of running as a ghost completely safe from aggro to where you bought the farm or rezzing right at the graveyard and starting from there. I vividly remember the days of running the wall in Kithicor forest at night because I couldn’t get a bind in East Karana or someplace and being bound in Kaladim, hoping to all the Gods of Everquest those decayed footmen wouldn’t spot me. In fact, I recall losing my level on my shaman not once but 3 times trying to recover my corpse before it occurred to me to bind closer…

Even more recently, in the original Guild Wars, every time you died, your damage and stats were lowered incrementally and coupled with an experience penalty you had to make up for to get back while you remained in the instanced area. The only way to bypass this was to either kill enough mobs to overwrite the death penalty or restart the instanced area you were in. If you were doing this solo with only henchmen, this could be extremely frustrating. Even grouped, if you wiped, it was a serious hassle and you still needed to collect your corpse. Personally, I prefer the option that is given in WoW over something of that sort after seeing some of the higher end content and being a “raider” of sorts.

Now, while you DO in fact take a durability hit on your armor either way, should you choose to use the spirit rez and “pop” right at the graveyard, the effects are considerably worse using this feature. Not only is the durability hit higher (25% as opposed to 10%) but you have all of your stats lowered for 10 minutes while you recuperate from this nasty death (which is very similar to the original D&D rules of resurrection). Fortunately, unlike most other MMOs, there is no level or experience loss regardless of how you choose to rez. To me, this is a serious improvement for gamers, since the standard sandbox game mentality is instant gratification and lowered difficulty to “progress” faster. Since I recently started EQ back up, I thought I would compare the two as a “newbie” and see exactly how different they are. So I rolled up a little necromancer and started heron her way. I also have a little mage on WoW that I have not done any “sharing with” from my higher level characters. On my Everquest character, I have now caused her to lose her level 3 times due to corpse retrievals and aggro from running to the locations where she died, which are all level appropriate or even a level lower. Now, I don’t really mind getting killed, it’s more of an inconvenience but I lost xp each time I died and had just recouped the lost xp after the corpse retrieval before I died again. Were this kind of penalty to be used in WoW, I think the current playerbase would be a lot different and they would not have the subscription numbers they do now.

And also, in the case of a PvP server, where you can be corpse camped and usually are by a much higher level player or group of players, having to run naked to your corpse provides a highly unfair advantage to the camping enemy player and can seriously frustrate even the most patient of players. If you add in durability loss and possible experience loss, that can literally make or break the game for some players. As I see it, Blizzard chose the lesser of two evils and gave players a small boost by allowing the use of a spirit healer and no experience loss here.

Now, Autumnkiss brings up a good point as to why you cannot choose where to revive at. Her thought is:
“Why can't I have a choice of where to revive? Maybe I'm stubborn and want to continue again and again with the mobs I'm actively trying to beat, and in World of Warcraft, I have to run all the way back across the map to get where I was. I much prefer being able to choose the location of where I revive from a variety of areas around the map...

In WoW, there is no choice. There are Spirits in select areas around the world and that's it. You revive there. Period.”
Well, in that respect I do agree, spirit healers are often not in the best area, take Stranglethorn Vale and Stonetalon Mountains for example, absolutely horrendous graveyards given how some of the quests are laid out. And sometimes I do wish they were closer to where I am questing but honestly, compared to WoW even a year ago, there have been substantial improvements in their locations and the addition of both flight points and spirit healers for the players. Now again, the benefit to them, regardless of where they are placed, is that a run back from one typically takes less than 10 minutes, which is roughly half the time it would take a player to run for the first time from The Crossroads to Thunderbluff in Mulgore, generally speaking. And the entire time, the run back can be done in complete safety, as even if you are flagged for PvP the opposing side cannot touch you until you click the resurrect button. Now in fairness, if the player were to rez right there at the specific graveyard, then yes, the 10 minutes you would need to wait until your lowered stats recover can be a detriment to limited game play as well as the higher durability hit. From a personal standpoint as a long time vet of MMOs back to the PnP days, I prefer to spend that an extra few minutes running to a corpse in safety instead of taking three times as long trying to duck mobs while I am naked, taking an excessive durability/stat hit or losing my hard gained experience.

Overall, there is a large amount of realism in the game, even with the fantasy style and Autumnkiss has some good points about these. Similar to some other MMOs, the game requires the use of food, drink and potions to survive, excel or simply perform some tasks at a better than normal speed. Spell casters regain mana faster, warriors regain health faster and all players benefit from potions both in general game play and specific group settings, such as raids or running to an instance.

She mentions her dislike of slow running prior to mount level. I have to say I do agree with that myself. Running is a serious pain in the keister in any game. I miss Spirit of Wolf that was available to Shaman, Beastlords and Rangers in EQ but honestly, this statement of hers I have to agree with 100%:
“…In EQII, players can make or purchase totems that will grant the user a limited run-speed buff. It's magical, for sure... but I think I prefer the actuality of natural speed. Yes, I know... once you're level 30 and all that jazz. And there are some potions that you can buy. But still, for total immersion, natural run-speed is the way to go in my book. And even if you're not seeking immersion, at least you'll appreciate that mount or potion all the more once you're able to have it!
Rather than artificially enhance players like other games have and thus lower the accomplishment factor for some things like a mount or travel form (available to druids and shaman only) Blizzard has opted to instead add in some carefully staggered movement increasing abilities or skills. Player have to be specific levels or skill levels to utilize certain things which helps keep the majority of the game on a more equal footing in that regard. And like I said, while I will always miss my “Spirit of Wolf” from my EQ days, I still feel that keeping a few things on a realistic level, such as run speed and eating/drinking, give the game a more immersive feel and keep it from being simply a “button mashing” type of MMO.

For example, in Anarchy Online, I am not required to eat or drink, sleep or rest in any fashion and to me that detracts from “getting into” my character. To me, that character is just a collection of 1’s and 0’s and I really feel little or no affinity with the character or “pride” when I accomplish something with it. I felt very similar with characters I played in Guild Wars and some other MMOs. Now, in EQ and WoW, there is a definite feeling of accomplishment when you achieve something, as it takes real work to get to a certain point, such as a required level for wolf form (for shaman) or a reputation level with a certain faction for a specific enchant or piece of armor. All of these little things allow me to “feel” pride in my character and what I have accomplished in a game on him/her.

Of course, the basic thing is also that having to use my virtual legs for so many levels and getting run down by people all the time does make me more appreciative when I do reach the level I can get that mount.

Now, since we are on the subject of realism in gaming, the aspect of, as Autumnkiss says,
“…regenerating health and power by sitting to eat and drink is another quality that, while annoying, is still based somewhat on reality. Granted, in today's society we tend to eat on the run…”

“But in truth, in the time of the world in which we choose to play, this was not the case. People ate while sitting down. Even in Lord of the Rings, Frodo sat to eat his elven bread with his buddy Samwise, and the ever-plotting Golem.”
I do kind of like the aspect of having to eat and drink to regain health/mana but it is extremely irritating to not be able to do this while on the move. Now in the middle of a fight I can kind of agree with because really, I wouldn’t be eating a cheeseburger while something wanted to kick my teeth in but if I am walking, why can I not eat or drink something? I can drink a potion in game so why is that ok but food isn’t?

Now, as any new player will attest, the quest system is one of the biggest draws to a game, matched only by PvP and crafting. And in this regard, WoW is no different. There is a lot of lore and a decent storyline surrounding many of the quests for both Horde and Alliance players. Now Autumnkiss states she does find the scrolling quest text a tad cumbersome and is not as big on the lore as some gamers are. The nice thing here is that there is an option to bypass the quest text if you are like me and really don’t care how much information Guard Sillyman needs to tell you so you can go get the chrome plated peanut butter serinigating valve from Manny the Ogre. You can go to your game options and check the “instant quest text” option. Voila, no more endless scrolling and waiting.

Now, I’m not a big fan of the scrolling quest text either but having played on role-playing, PvP and regular servers, I have found that if you are really into role-playing your character, this option gives you a lot more immersion and really lets you get into the “meat” of the game. Overall, I really think Blizzard has done a great job incorporating that into the quests and giving the players a sense of the conflict that is just under the surface, waiting to boil over.

And, in order to make it easier to do the quests and, in general, make your way around the worlds of Azeroth and Outland, Blizzard has one of the best map systems available “out of the box” for gamers in WoW. I agree with Autumnkiss when she says that “…The fashion in which it is presented to the player is very friendly and pleasing to the eye, as it doesn't force you to remember where things are, it just shows you.” But I also agree that, from a starting player standpoint, it can be very frustrating having to grab add-ons to do some of the more mundane things in game, such as herbalism or mining. But I think that this is more a product of the overall gaming mindset of instant gratification, as other games did not have anything of the sort and, for the most part, still don’t. Heck, in Lord of the Rings Online, you can skin your interface to look a little different but there are no add-ons allowed. Have a question on a quest or where something drops? Better hope Allakhazam’s or some other fansite has a user submission or you are kind of dead in the water. Blizzard has the take that allowing users to modify the client side data improves player appreciation and leads to prolonged subscription rates by allowing the myriad of add-ons. Many users like Autumnkiss do indeed prefer, as she words it, “…a bit of ease to my game play as I have limited time with each title I get involved in.”

Now, while I like the map system compared to most of the other games I have played, it would be nice to have more customization possible without the need for add-ons, such as marking where you find nodes or where quest mobs are and tie it in to the account itself in the form of .lua data so if you have alts who have not yet done a quest etc, then you can easily refer back to it. Blizzard does continue to refine and streamline the game options however so who knows; maybe they will incorporate some of that in later patches.

Brian "Wordaen" Kincaid
Senior Content Manager
World of Warcraft Allakhazam

Comments

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Fuss
# Jul 14 2008 at 7:55 AM Rating: Decent
I am kinda disappointent in Blizzard because they keep making things easier and easier. The new lower mount level means either they are giving in to the whiners or that they dont expect their subsciption base to grow very much more and are making things easier for all of us with alts. Now having gotten to 70 on 3 different toons, I still the feel the same thrill of getting my 4th toon her level 40 mount. Of couse it didnt take as long as the first cause the quests were done before and I could plan them out better than ever and the xp rate was increased recently, but it still felt like an accomplishment. Now the level drops to 30 and I have 3 more toons that can go get a mount immediately with out the sense of accomplishment.

I dont see how people can complain about having to run a few minutes in ghost form to get their body is a huge inconvenience. The old school MMO's were insane at this process. Origal EQ corpse runs sometimes took a whole party to take care of. But even they realized how crazy it was and started making easier. Now they made rediculously easy to do. You dont even have to leave the main city and poof body with equipment right before your eyes. Before you had to run to wherever it was and then re equip all your gear one piece at a time.

Now I love this game and they have made some great improvements but they are starting to make things a little too easy lately. No more attunements for raids, BoP's, becoming BoE's, T6 equivelent badge gear (and yes I have some). I dont know what the solution is but I dont see how caving in all the time is going to improve things. But then I would bet they are all Horde that are whining since this is World Of Hordecraft.
Whats All The Fuss- Part II
# Jul 11 2008 at 4:25 PM Rating: Excellent
As I read your article, there were some points where I both agreed and disagreed. I didn't have a Allakhazam account until today of course but I felt that I should just share my opinions about World Of Warcraft. Seeing how this spirit healer and resurrecting your body is the hot topic that most of the comments here talk about I might as well share my opinion as well. I've owned WoW for about a year now and I only have one 70 that I spent alot of time on as many of you probably have 2 or maybe even 3 70's that only took you a year to achieve. But in that time on my one character, I explored the world (of Warcraft :P ) and I find that alot of hard work was put into this game seeing all of the different areas and such. But back on topic, dieing and turning into a ghost and the fact that you have to run back is tedious and time consuming. However, the fact that Blizzard at least came up with the idea of a spirit healer just made things a little easier to deal with. Sure there is durability reductions and stat reductions for at least 10min but it IS your choice. Like Autumnkiss said it would be nice to have a choice, but that would make things TOO easy. Like if one tries to solo a group quest and dies, it sort of in a way tells the person that it's called a group quest for a reason. However if you die doing a solo quest that may contain either enemies too high your level or enemies just at your level it just gives you a message to have common sense. Sure dieing sucks on a relatively easy quest and sure running back is time consuming but just play smart. It is of course relatively impossible to not die once during the game but the fact that Blizzard had the decency to place spirit healers around a number of locations just makes the game easier in its own way.

And the fact that you recover by eating and drinking food and drinks while sitting down is time consuming but at least like some other online games I've played you can only eat THEN drink(wasting more time). However in WoW, they allow to eat and drink at the same time. Sure it takes 24 or less seconds of your game time away but if you are impatient, that's just being lazy. Drinking potions in battle or using them for effects in battle may seem a little odd seeing how you can recover in battle by potion and not food or drinks but that's exactly why potions were made in the game. Without that feature of drinking one while in battle there would be no point of having them in the game and instead there would be exotic items that require you to sit and eat them in order to attain an effect a potion would simply give you.

And for the final topic I will share my opinion with is the mounts. At level 10 when I saw and found out about mounts, of course I wanted one. I thought they were the coolest things in the game. But later on I had to find out that I had to be level 40. Sure I was bummed out about that fact but at least while I leveled further in the game I knew I was one step closer to self gratification of completing the goal of getting to 40,60 etc. As I leveled new features and moves were open to me while which kept myself going further and further into the game. Then, BC was released when I was only level 40 and then what first came to mind is, "I was so close to the final levels of WoW! Now I gotta wait another 30 levels for the raids and amazing armor sets!" Then after awhile I found out that flying mounts were now available and new moves came out. The fact that the WoTLK is coming out soon and that Blizzard lowered the mount level to 30 did annoy me but I understood that Blizzard wouldn't be doing this unless they had a reason to and I think I know what they were aiming for. The fact that new players and just discovering what to do in this game and it may take them (some more than others) to reach level 30 until finally WoTLK comes out. What would you think? With a new level cap raised only making you another step further from being the highest level in the game? Sure you would be annoyed but at least now you have a mount that can keep you going to places faster and finishing quests quicker which in return levels you up quicker. Sure I was mad at first for this new mount riding level lowered but at the same time I saw it as a Win-win situation for new players and veteran players as well.

New players= Early mount= Instant gratification.
Veterans=New characters= Don't have to wait and pay as much as they used to

Overall, Great article. It explains alot about the game so if any of you just started, take a read and learn something behind the scenes of World of Warcraft.
Re: What's all the fuss
# Jul 09 2008 at 2:42 AM Rating: Good
All very good points about MMO's. If I can throw my two cents in: If you are a ghost, you should be able to fly!! This would add a wonderful element to the game.
Death
# Jul 06 2008 at 4:38 PM Rating: Good
Wordaen wrote:
Now, Autumnkiss brings up a good point as to why you cannot choose where to revive at. Her thought is:

“Why can't I have a choice of where to revive? Maybe I'm stubborn and want to continue again and again with the mobs I'm actively trying to beat, and in World of Warcraft, I have to run all the way back across the map to get where I was. I much prefer being able to choose the location of where I revive from a variety of areas around the map...


I was just thinking about this and came up with an idea that would be cool. At the spirit healer you click the dialog and get 2-3 options for your resurrection. First is at the spirit healer, second is at your corpse (you are transported to the area and resurrect as normal, no running back), third you can resurrect at your hearthstone location or nearest Inn. Each option except the corpse one has resurrection sickness and larger 25% durability loss. It could just be a quest completion type screen where you just click the option you want then click resurrect.

One game I played if you died you lost all the gold you were carrying and resurrected back at the starting location. That sucked balls if you were carrying all the gold you had.
RE: What's All the Fuss - Part II
# Jul 06 2008 at 1:36 PM Rating: Excellent
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3,339 posts
Quote:
She mentions her dislike of slow running prior to mount level. I have to say I do agree with that myself. Running is a serious pain in the keister in any game. I miss Spirit of Wolf that was available to Shaman, Beastlords and Rangers in EQ but honestly, this statement of hers I have to agree with 100%:


I sort of have to disagree here. Maybe it's a little less of a thing now with WoLK coming out soon (and Blizz has recognized that by allowing mounts earlier in the game) but the achievement of a mount provided a milestone. Without it, the game really is just a race to the level cap but by providing certain milestones for everyone or just certain classes (Dual Wield, Travel Form, etc) you break it up and give someone who's level 15 or 20 something that seems within reach. Telling someone at 15 to wait until 70 could very well just take the wind out of their sails. By the same token, giving someone at level 1 the level 20, 30, 40 etc abilities removes those milestones and it really does become a "You're only 10 now and you won't get anything really exciting for 60 more levels. Have fun slogging!" sort of deal.

Milestone measure advancement and Achievement. To complain about not having a mount at level 1 because it's annoying that you can't travel as fast as you want to is the same as saying "Well why can't I get my T6 from Ramparts? It's annoying that stuff can still kill me."

When you level everything out there becomes little to look forward to.

edit: kant speel

edit2: Why was your whole write-up a defense of AK? I was really hoping (and thought it would be interesting if) it would be about your experience with it, not a "rebuttal" or "bolster" of the original article.



Edited, Jul 6th 2008 5:41pm by Celcio
Spirit of Wolf/Eagle
# Jul 06 2008 at 9:51 AM Rating: Decent
"And like I said, while I will always miss my “Spirit of Wolf” from my EQ days"

I miss "Spirit of Eagle" even more. Camped that drop for quite some time because I was too cheap to pay the amount of platinum that was being asked for it in the Bazaar.

Ex-61 Druid of Kane Bayle (now Antonius Bayle)
RE: What's All the Fuss - Part II
# Jul 06 2008 at 6:39 AM Rating: Good
/snip
In some of my past games, such as the original Everquest (which I still play incidentally), not only is there the dreaded experience loss, which can even lead to losing your newly acquired level but you also have to do your corpse retrieval naked starting from your last bind spot. And that can seriously suck. Now, depending on the location you are bound at and where you died, this can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours and there is no spirit healer to give you the option of running as a ghost completely safe from aggro to where you bought the farm or rezzing right at the graveyard and starting from there

...

uh.. when exactly IS the last time you played Everquest? Players get an innate ability to rez ALL of their corpses with 100% xp once a week... and can go summon corpse by the guild hall. Ever since SOE implemented the summon corpse feature I don't really see anyone doing corpse runs...much less taking several hours to do so... yeah.. EQ doesn't have spirit healers, but they do have corpse summoners... get it right...

As for getting mounts at 30... that's just plain ridiculous. Why keep lowering expectations? There are accomplishments that are supposed to be just that... accomplishments.

If people don't like the speed of running at lower levels... then level up. Don't cry and moan about it, level up and earn the mount. Where is the fun in playing a game and earning things like mounts and armor sets if Bliz just starts giving them to you at lower levels? What's next, Arena sets for turning in wool in IF?

I've heard all the arguments... "but quests are far apart... I need a mount at 30"... blah blah blah... yeah, they may be... but if we're going to sing that tune... how about letting us use our Netherdrakes in old world zones? If people get a mount at 30 because they don't like the natural run speed... how about letting us use the speed we earned exhaulted rep AND paid 5000 gold pieces for?
RE: What's All the Fuss - Part II
# Jul 06 2008 at 8:57 PM Rating: Default
walerwen wrote:
As for getting mounts at 30... that's just plain ridiculous. Why keep lowering expectations? There are accomplishments that are supposed to be just that... accomplishments.


I have to agree -- I've earned my mount at lvl 40 on all my toons thus far, and I dislike the fact that everyone who creates a new toon in the future will be able to get a mount at lvl 30. It cheapens the value of the mount, in my opinion. That'd be like Blizzard suddenly lowering the price of an Epic Flying Mount from 5,200g to 3,200g or something like that -- I'd be REALLY ticked off then! I paid that much for an EFM, and if someone else a few months later was able to buy the exact same mount for 40% less, I'd better get a 2,000g refund!
RE: What's All the Fuss - Part II
# Jul 10 2008 at 4:30 PM Rating: Decent
I think that the mounts were put in at 30 so that certain areas that are largely underused will be used more. Nothing is more depressing that running through Desolace and rarely seeing anything, player or otherwise, and spending 30 minutes to do so.

Although I think that it would have been better to put in a mount that emulated ghost wolf, increasing movement by 40%, at level 20, and moving travel form for druids to 20, and leaving mounts as they are now (40, 60, 70)
RE: What's All the Fuss - Part II
# Jul 12 2008 at 11:34 PM Rating: Decent
Fuhen wrote:
Although I think that it would have been better to put in a mount that emulated ghost wolf, increasing movement by 40%, at level 20, and moving travel form for druids to 20, and leaving mounts as they are now (40, 60, 70)


Now THAT is an excellent compromise! I really like that idea -- why didn't Blizzard think of it!
RE: What's All the Fuss - Part II
# Jul 06 2008 at 11:19 AM Rating: Excellent
walerwen wrote:
uh.. when exactly IS the last time you played Everquest? Players get an innate ability to rez ALL of their corpses with 100% xp once a week... and can go summon corpse by the guild hall. Ever since SOE implemented the summon corpse feature I don't really see anyone doing corpse runs...much less taking several hours to do so... yeah.. EQ doesn't have spirit healers, but they do have corpse summoners... get it right...


Actually, I just started playing EQ again as well as WoW. I know there is a collection option, which I had indeed forgotten about but I was pointing out the differences in the death feature in EQ as opposed to WoW. However, I did forget to mention that in my response. Good catch :)

Quote:
As for getting mounts at 30... that's just plain ridiculous. Why keep lowering expectations? There are accomplishments that are supposed to be just that... accomplishments.

If people don't like the speed of running at lower levels... then level up. Don't cry and moan about it, level up and earn the mount. Where is the fun in playing a game and earning things like mounts and armor sets if Bliz just starts giving them to you at lower levels? What's next, Arena sets for turning in wool in IF?

I've heard all the arguments... "but quests are far apart... I need a mount at 30"... blah blah blah... yeah, they may be... but if we're going to sing that tune... how about letting us use our Netherdrakes in old world zones? If people get a mount at 30 because they don't like the natural run speed... how about letting us use the speed we earned exhaulted rep AND paid 5000 gold pieces for?


For me, the running is a pain in the butt and I do miss my mounts my 70s have. However, I realize the reasoning behind having to level up and that's the way it goes so I don't stress it. I would have to say that I agree with you that we should be able to use our fliers in old world. Obviously I don't see Blizz doing that :)
penalties of life vs penalties of wow
# Jul 06 2008 at 6:18 AM Rating: Decent
in real life, if i do something wrong, there is generally some sort of penalty to pay....get caught speeding: pay for the ticket....fall out of a tree: break a bone....enter a junkyard with a mean guard dog: get mauled....step on a snake: get bit....jaywalk: get hit by a car....run with sissors: fall and stab yourself....run in the woods naked: get scratched in strange places...play RPGMMOs for hours/days/weeks/months on end: get fat

the scenarios are endless....

so, when my character in wow dies (usually because i made a stupid decision somewhere or got in way above my head), choosing the supposed embarrasment of making a corpse run (and i don't understand why this is embarrasing) and taking some damage, or simply choosing to rez at a graveyard with greater penalties (which are easily paid for with silver/gold and time) seems easy....

and if your corpse is camped, i've found the easiest thing to do is wait or simply log onto another character and play that for a while....people get bored when you don't feed their need and move on, eventually....

so when people complain about the problems about dying in wow, i have to wonder if maybe the problem is really that they just like to complain....






Edited, Jul 6th 2008 11:25am by ritamerlot
Rezzing
# Jul 05 2008 at 12:51 PM Rating: Decent

Good original article and response. Regarding death and rezzing: Having played the original EverQuest back in the day when the /consent command allowed another player to loot your corpe as opposed to having it dragged like a sack of potatoes, and all the experience loss and heartache that accompanied it, I'll say that the rezzing in WoW is light years better than that.

I've always thought that WoW had a great idea with the Flightmasters and that maybe that mechanic could be incorporated into graveyards: You can visit a graveyard and click on a tombstone (or something of that nature) which would then give you access to that graveyard in the future. When you die, you get to choose which graveyard you are rezzed back in based on the ones you have already visited. The further away your corpse is from the graveyard you choose, it would cost you more of something (money, stat decay time, amount of item durability loss, etc).

Anyway, just my two cents. Carry on.
In WoW, death doesn't mean much
# Jul 05 2008 at 8:08 AM Rating: Excellent
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1,225 posts
In days of olde, when graphics were text and MMOs were MUDs, some realms had such things as death traps. If you were stupid enough to venture into one, you had no corpse to retrieve, your gear was just plain gone.

In WoW, it's a 10% repair bill if you can get your corpse back, 35% repair bill and up to 10 minute rez sickness if you can't? We have it so very easy.
Rez points
# Jul 05 2008 at 5:45 AM Rating: Good
45 posts
oops double post.

Edited, Jul 5th 2008 8:46am by wendyladym
Rez points
# Jul 05 2008 at 3:28 AM Rating: Decent
One thing that also can easily catch you out.

When you die, you appear at a rez point. Call it Rez point 1. You decide that there's a rez point in that town you need to get to over there, so you spend 5 minutes running over and try to rez there instead. Call it Rez point 2. However, no matter what rez point you use, you will always come back to life at the initial Rez point 1. This has caught me out more than once. (silly me).
Rez points
# Jul 05 2008 at 5:44 AM Rating: Good
45 posts
Quote:
One thing that also can easily catch you out.

When you die, you appear at a rez point. Call it Rez point 1. You decide that there's a rez point in that town you need to get to over there, so you spend 5 minutes running over and try to rez there instead. Call it Rez point 2. However, no matter what rez point you use, you will always come back to life at the initial Rez point 1. This has caught me out more than once. (silly me).


To get around that just log out and back in before you rez at the second rez point. The game doesn't remember where the closest graveyard to your corpse was at that point so it will rez you at whatever graveyard you're at.
Durability
# Jul 05 2008 at 3:11 AM Rating: Good
You actually take the 10% loss upon death, not resurrection. This means choosing to resurrect at a spirit healer is in fact a 35% durability loss.
Finally!!
# Jul 04 2008 at 9:16 PM Rating: Default
Drama Nerdvana
******
20,674 posts
I for one am glad these subjects were covered. I know that my biggest questions whenever I enter a new MMO is that of running. This really answered it all for me and really brought the discussion out in the open so all the teeming thousands who sat on the edge of choosing but were left with the nagging question "do I get to choose my rez point" now have an answer. You editorialized the troof and really dug deep into the issue.

Kudos

Edited, Jul 5th 2008 1:17am by bodhisattva

Edited, Jul 5th 2008 1:18am by bodhisattva
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Bode - 100 Holy Paladin - Lightbringer
Finally!!
# Jul 04 2008 at 9:36 PM Rating: Excellent
/pets troll

I'm so glad you're here for me, bod.
Finally!!
# Jul 06 2008 at 11:22 AM Rating: Excellent
Awww, AK, you are finally part of the admin club, you have your very own troll!
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