L 2 Kite

It doesn't matter what class you are, at some point or another you will have to kite - this goes for you PvE'ers out there too.

I've brought a number of new gamers to the WoW scene (who hasn't?), and it seems the #1 thing they have a problem learning is the concept of kiting. For those of you who don't know the terminology, let me explain. To "kite" is to maintain constant movement at a specified distance from your opponent. This is what you're seeing when that hunter you are chasing won't let you close the gap between you and him - when you move foreword, he moves back, if you stop, so does he. That my friends, is kiting!

This works best for ranged classes when fighting any melee class. The more the melee opponent has to work to close the gap between you and them the better! If you are a cloth wearer, you never want to sit there with a melee person beating on you. There's many means of increasing the gap between you and the melee player, and once that gap is achieved, do everything you can to maintain it.

I play a Mage, so it's best if I speak from that perspective. The easiest way to kite a melee character with a Mage (or any class) is to have some instant cast spells set to your mouse. If you have a standard mouse with no buttons you can still use the mouse middle button as a keybinding (my mouse middle button is set to Ice Lance).

The reason you want your instant attacks set to your mouse is so your left hand can concentrate on movement with the WASD keys while your right hand only has to hit the attack button. After you have the keybinding set to a mouse button and you're ready to learn how to kite, head out and find a melee NPC to practice on.

The goal of the practice exercise is not necessarily to kill the opponent, but to sustain damage without letting them catch you. Start the fight at max range with a rank 1 Frostbolt, then immediately turn 180 degrees and run the opposite direction of the mob. While running away from the mob hold the right click button down and hit the space bar to jump and face to your right 90 degrees. In the middle of your jump (still in the air) you will be able to hit your opponent with an instant attack (mouse button). This has to be done very quickly as you want to be able to turn back facing away from your opponent before you hit the ground - this is why you only turn 90 degrees in mid-air instead of the full 180.

If you do this right the MOB will not be able to catch you and you can continually jump + shoot without ever letting the MOB diminish the distance between you two.

Now this just gets you introduced into kiting, there is a ton more to it when it's applied to PvP. You have to factor in other class's abilities to close that gap, such as blind, charge, frost shock, scatter shot, etc etc...
A good thing to note is that the PvP trinket removes all immobilizing & slowing effects now, so make sure to use it when the opposition try's a maneuver to slow you down and close that distance.

Now get out there and make those melee classes cry when they can't catch you!

Creating an Individual, not a Character

I was thinking back to previous game titles and noticed an interesting niche found in a few games - gender specific classes. These classes were restricted to a particular gender. In the prehistoric age of gaming there was usually only a male character available for play, regardless of class, but with the technology advancements and political correctness came the option to pick your gender. We're also seeing more and more girl gamers. ^^

Then came the games that restricted you to a gender - the Valkyrie from Gauntlet comes to mind. With the addition of MMO's and the social presence of other players came the diverse options in character creation. In today's games the more options that go into your character the better, but why must all options be merely aesthetic? I would like to make the decision of my race just as important as the selection of my class. In WoW there are racial abilities, but they aren't powerful enough to affect a players selection in most cases.
What if there were more than just race / class choices in the creation of your character?

Could you imagine having to select from multiple choices from a wide range of criteria? These selections could therefore make your character even more unique. Not all of these would have to affect stats - some could be aesthetic.

I guess what I'm getting at is I'd like to be more than just a Human Mage; I'd like to be the Decrepit Human Mage from Felwood. Just those two extra tidbits (the adjective & noun) could have been selected by me and gave my character a more unique feel.

This brings me to the second part in my title, Character Spaces. In the game Ultima Online there was a blank sheet you could write anything you wanted. This sheet was viewable by other players and had a wide range of uses. While some people used the space to sell items, advertise guilds, or even make a kill list, the best use was when people would write a back-story to their character.

Now I'm not one for constant roleplay, but I would love to read a back-story to a character rather than just view their gear. This feature alone would be easy to implement and would add tons to a characters' individualism.

To end this post I'll ask you this question I've had on my mind; if you could select any 2 active racial abilities in the game, which would they be?

Ding! #100

Well, I've had this blog since December 2006 and I've reached 100 post (yay me). I started the blog because I like to write, and MMOs are a hobby of mine. My original goal was to provide PvP tips to other players since PvP is really all I do. I literally rushed my way to 60, and then 70 after BC and never did much questing / raiding - probably why I'm so poor!

My goal now with the blog is to just write what comes to mind in reference to WoW and other MMOs, and to chronicle my experiences inside these persistent worlds. I'd still like to give out some PvP tips, but WoW is such a cut & paste game that there's not much new to learn. The PvP in WoW is centered a lot around gear + class matchups. So, my PvP tip to you is gear up and avoid Warlocks - lol!

On a serious note... I would like to see my WoW characters in a Counter-Strike map such as DE_Dust2, or any new map for that matter. How hard would it be to change the skin in Alterac Valley from snow to green grass?

Dual Classes

If you've ever played Guildwars then you know how this works. The basic idea is that you pick two classes - one primary, and one secondary. Which one you pick as primary or secondary makes an impact on the character, for example a Warrior / Priest is different than a Priest / Warrior.

In the Guildwars dual class setup you can only pick 6 abilities, but they can be from either abilities pool from the classes you picked. So while you might be a Warrior / Priest, you could technically go into battle with all 6 slots filled with Priest abilities.

While I don't like the instanced game world of Guildwars, I do like it's dual class setup. I know nothing like this would work in WoW because it would be a balancing nightmare, but it's fun to speculate.

So, if you could be a dual class, and only pick 6 abilities from the classes you picked, which would they be?

I'll start this off...

I'd pick Mage / Warlock, and my 6 abilities would be...

1. Fear
2. Blink
3. Frost Nova
4. Ice Barrier
5. Ice Lance
6. Frost Bolt

Ok, so maybe 6 is a low number... I'd like to get more from the Warlock than Fear, heh.

Anyways, what's would be your class combo, and six abilities?

/Cast [target=focus] Polymorph

As a Mage in arena PvP, especially 3v3 & 5v5, your main goal is CC followed by burst DPS. This requires two targets - the sheep, and the DPS.

The easiest way to go about this is to set two simple macros (if you don't know how to set a macro, then type /macro and click "new", then just type a name of your macro, select a picture and paste the following in the text portion of the macro. After that you can drag the icon out to your toolbar like a normal spell).

Set two macros for the following...

/focus

and...

/Cast [target=focus] Polymorph

Then you want to put these somewhere easy to get to, I have mine set to keybindings. What these allow you to do is set your polymorph target in the beginning of the match. When the match starts, you or whoever the caller is, will call the sheep target - immediately target that person and hit the first macro "/focus"

After this is done you want to switch your target to the main DPS and prepare to unleash the fury (always save burst for 50% or lower thou).

Now you are able to sheep the /focus target without untargeting the DPS target. This allows you to easily watch the DPS targets health and apply burst when needed without missing a beat on the sheep.

LF MMO Blogs!

I want to split my blog list up into various games since it's getting kind of long as it stands. I'm looking for some good MMO blogs for other games out there, such as EQ2, CoH, Vanguard, etc...

If anyone knows of some good MMO blogs, please let me know; I'd like to create an extensive list of good MMO blogs regardless of what game it is. WoW is my current focus, but I love reading about how other games are doing from a players perspective.

WoW Journal

I've put all my alts on hold since I really want to get Keystone up to par on his arenas. To do this he needs to be geared; in WoW it doesn't matter how skilled you are, you won't get far without gear.

I've farmed all the Veteran's BG gear except the boots, which I should have by Saturday. I've started enchanting my gear too. I have 2800 arena points to spend, but I'm still contemplating what to get. I think I'm going to get the season 2 head piece since I already have my 18 stam / 5% stun resist meta gem (what good is the gem if it's sitting in my bag).

I'm getting close to being satisfied with my gear - enough so that I can compete in a higher bracket. The only problem that exist now is a team. I have my current teams, but the players are either poorly geared, or they have the gear without the skill to back it up. I want to concentrate on 3's since it seems more manageable than 5's and less rock, paper, scissors than 2's.

I've done a ton of research, but I'd still like some feedback. Anyone have any suggestions on two classes / specs that would do well with a Frost Mage in arenas?

New Design & The Self-Resurrecting Paladin

Well, as the title implies, I have implemented a new design, I hope you all like it. If it's not pleasing to the eye, or anyone has any suggestions, then please let me know. I'd like to give many thanks to Daikon over at http://warcraftwallpaper.blogspot.com/ for his contribution of the title graphic - thanks man!

Now, for the second part of the title... a self-resurrecting paladin you say, what gives? Well, it started out a simple 2v2 arena game of my team consisting of two frost mages against a team of a rogue + paladin. We decided to burn the paladin down while CC'ing the rogue (thanks to detect magic + winter's chill we were able to force the paladin into a global cooldown war). Well we took out the paladin and started on the rogue. Then in the blink of an eye the paladin was alive with 75% health & 20% mana. I started yelling at my teammate for not finishing him off, but then I realized that we *BOTH* finished him off and I saw him fall with my own eyes!

We ended up winning by the thread of our robes, but I'm still flabbergasted that the paladin either A) self-ressed (is this even possible in arenas???), or B) faked his own death, maybe a /sleep command, but then how did he break my sticky target?

My guess is it was a server glitch since we BOTH thought he was dead, but boy did that freak me out!!! Anyone else ever see anything like this?

PTR Mage Season 2 Upgrades...

So instead of +6 Stamina from S1 -> S2 we get +13 Stam?

http://www.mmo-champion.com/images/news/2007/july/mageseason2.jpg

Ignoring the other stats, which had some minor increases, I see a trade off of 1000 armor for +7 Stamina...? Oh well, I'm King Kite himself, so the armor was almost worthless since I'm a running fool.

Either way, the S2 Mage set looks like crap imo, so I'll still stick to the original plan of...

Season 1 - Robe, Shoulders, & Gloves
Season 2 - Head, Legs

For you Mages out there, do these new stats change your Arena gear plans?

Trivia Qustion...!?

I always ask friends this one, and while it takes them awhile, they usually get it right. It's not hard, just interesting...

What is the ONLY race that cannot roll a healing class?

...5 blog points to the first correct answer!
(I have no idea what a "blog point" is, but I assume it's like those useless Koolaide points we all collected as kids!)

MMO Free Trial List found at Subcreation Forums

Some of these trials are probably out-of-date, but I found the list interesting enough to post it.

http://forums.subcreation.net/viewtopic.php?id=2269

Turtle Soup - Alterac Valley Style

I know everyone here has experienced the defensive bunker stance in Alterac Valley known as a "turtle". If you're unfamiliar with the term or the condition, then let me explain. A "turtle" is a game where one team goes so heavy on defense that it results in a stalemate, or an un-winnable game for either side. These games last an exorbitant amount of time and result in much less honor than a quick game allowing you to requeue for the next one faster.

The majority of people are against turtles because they don't net as much honor, but what they do net is a ton of plain old fun from PvP kills. First off, I'm as efficient as the next player when it comes to taking the shortest route to the best rewards, but I also love to PvP. There's just more PvP to be had by playing defense, which is why I'm always in the backfield in AV. As it stands now the longer the game goes, the shorter the amount of honor gained. This is the problem, not the people playing defense because they get more PvP action.

I would like to see a change made so that a "turtle" won't have a negative effect on a person's honor gain. Some people will still not like the long games, but without the argument of efficiency I won't have much sympathy for them.

I don't really have an alternate suggestion, that's where you guys come in - what is a good alternative to honor point rewards to eliminate the honor hit from long games such as "turtles". The only thing I can think of would be a timer in which honor is gained so the longer games still generate honor - any other suggestions?

The Alt Choices of Certain Classes...

Why does a Hunter decide to roll a Rogue, or what drives a Warrior to start another melee class? I've been wondering why certain classes typically end up with the same alts. I know a ton of people that have 70 Hunter / Rogues, or a 70 Warrior / Paladin combo. What is it that makes these classes flock to another particular class...?

There's always the case of a melee character tired of chasing people and wanting to test his hand at a ranged class, or maybe a healer tired of being behind the lines and out of the action. I've seen people leave their first character after hitting 60/70 because it wasn't what the same as when they started it.

For me, it was the a combination of the things I mentioned. I first rolled a Paladin (the only reason I picked Alliance). I loved leveling up my Paladin, and things were great. I then hit 60 and noticed my role was to heal and heal only, and if I didn't then people hated me. I also noticed the weakness against ranged classes with the ability to kite a Paladin, this was VERY frustrating. There were so many times I would have someone ALMOST dead and they would lock me down and take off running and I had no way of catching the person (this was before Hammer of Wrath). Things have changed since then, but I digress.

Since I was tired of melee, and tired of healing with no DPS, I ended up rolling a Mage and haven't really looked back since. I've dabbled in all the classes since my Paladin / Mage, and I can't say any class interest me as much as the Mage.

My question for you is what class did you start with, and what reasons did you have for leaving that class? Why did you pick the next class you rolled?

Weekend Update - PvP

I spent all weekend in AV farming honor; I alternated between offence & defense to keep things interesting. After all was said & done I ended up with 40k honor. I now only need (2) more epic BG gear pieces, the bracers & boots. I have the Shat Jumpers with decent gems for my boots, and some nice stam bracers, so it's not as much of an upgrade as the other pieces I attained, but an upgrade none-the-less.

I'd say my 5v5 team is all but dead since half the people left and the other half is never online, so I'm in the market for a new team in that bracket. As for the 3v3 we tried a few matches with our new Elemental Shaman and it didn't go so well. I don't know if it's his HORRID level 66 green gear or if it's just a different class makeup and we have to get used to the new strat, either way we sucked it up bad!

Oddly enough, in the 2v2 the new Elemental Shaman and myself almost had a 10-0 run if not for a few unlucky matches against some seriously geared people. I just wonder how some teams with so much gear could be in such a low bracket rating? I can accept my measly 1600+ rating because I'm just in 70 blues with a few BG epics, and my teammates are still sporting greens, but why would a team of such geared people be in a low bracket?

Anyways, the Shaman and I went 8-2, and the other Frost Mage and myself went 8-2 as well, but when those two teamed up they lost 5 in a row and hurt our rating. We're still 1600+, so it's ok; however, I'd like to break into the 1700 bracket and that would rely on that Shaman getting some gear. I kept on him about farming AV honor this weekend, but he kept getting bored, so we'll see how fast he attains gear - he did *JUST* hit 70, so not like he's been slacking... yet!

I'll leave this post on a question...

If they introduced a 1 vs. 1 arena bracket, which class do you think we'd see the most of in the higher ratings? I would have to say Warlock, or Megs to be more specific ^^

The Importance of Player Housing

The topic of player housing has been discussed before with both sides of the argument displaying their opinions. On one hand you have the anti-housing players that bring up arguments such as, "What's the point to player housing, what purpose does the house serve?" Then you have the pro-house community that recognizes the possibilities of player housing and knows it can only better the game.

As you can tell from the title and introductory paragraph, I am pro-housing. I've played 20+ MMORPG's and I can honestly say that housing adds a whole new layer of possibilities, depending on the way it's implemented - I'll get back to this point.

The reason player housing is important is not because of what it offers the player, but what it offers the community. Housing offers a centralized custom location for private groups, such as guilds, to congregate. At this point if you just thought to yourself, "that's what town is for", then I wonder if you've experienced an MMO with a good housing system.

There's two major factors that keep players subscribed to a game...
1. Friends & Family within the game
2. The strive to advance (currently found in gear, mounts, & titles)

These two factors are both amplified by player housing. Players are able to share and even customize living quarters with their family & friends, increasing their over all staying power.
With housing comes displayable items, things outside the spectrum of gear. Blizzard at this point could add rare items for house display, and having these items would show a sign of advancement and give collectors something to spend their currently worthless gold on.

On top of the previous mentioned reasons, there's also the crafting element and different displayed items that could be crafted for the soul purpose of display within a house - another form of advancement.

Also, as the blog name represents, there's the PvP possibilities. Now you're probably asking yourself, "How could player housing add to PvP?" The answer is simple, house skirmishes in non-instanced houses. If a certain guild is on your KoS list, then why go wondering around aimlessly looking for them when you could go straight to their guild house and reek havoc. The guild that was attacked has the added defense of the house, but the attackers can still cause some damage by killing people coming in / out of the house. The guild that was attacked can also launch a counter-attack and get revenge. The possibilities are endless and I don't have enough room to write about all the awesome experiences I've had through house PvP.

I know housing doesn't fit WoW very well, but I think it's the next step if the game wants to increase longevity. Players will eventually get tired of the constant character advancement and seek other areas to advance, such as their estate - hence the player housing.

Do you think player housing is in the future for World of Warcraft, or do you think it's not a feature worth the implementation?