Hybrid Theory

I came to an epiphany the other night and realized why I prefer dedicated classes over hybrids. It's as simple as specialization, in that, a hybrid is locked down in his/her specialized talent tree once gear is achieved.

I have a Druid friend that now wants to dip into the cat-tastic world of the feral tree, but all his gear, including epics, are catered towards healing. It's not a matter of a simple 50g respec fee, it boils down to the fee + days upon days of achieving new gear.

As a dedicated DPS class, I can use my current gear regardless of spec. There would be some minor changes needed, but nothing that goes beyond re-geming certain pieces.

So why bring this up, you ask? It's simple, why should hybrids be corn-holed into a specialization? I would like to see, on PvP gear for example, an exchange system that would allow you to exchange a piece for an equivalent piece. There could be a fee associated with the exchange, or maybe just the cost of losing enchants + gems would be enough. In any case, this would greatly increase my appeal towards playing a hybrid.

I understand that hybrids are suppose to specialize to avoid being awesome in any tree at any time, but the cost of re-geming / enchanting pieces, added to the cost of the respec should be enough to keep a person in check, but not corn-hole them out of months of gear achievements.

I would like to get some hybrids opinions on this, do you think something like this could work, or does it not bother you either way?

Rating: 1833

My 2v2 team is still a point farmer for friends & family that don't have higher ranked teams. We still teeter in the 1600's.

On the other hand, my 3v3 & 5v5 team both topped out at 1833 this weekend, but dropped back down after a couple loses. I don't mind dropping back down, as it shows that the teams are capable of the 1800 range.

I spent most of the weekend playing tennis & catching up on some reading. I have a ton of books I'm reading, and I would like to start finishing them one-by-one. I haven't given up on WoW yet, but I have to admit, it would be awesome to get into the level grind again, and alts are out of the question as I've already played every class to level 30, and going beyond that for a class, such as a warrior, would be worse than watching paint dry. I can't wait for WoTLK to come out!

Anyone else planning on trying Tabula Rasa? The reviews sum up the game as fun to play, but not enough depth. I wouldn't mind that, as sometimes I just want to have fun and not worry about stats, enchants, potions, repairs, classes, & gnomes. I'll give the game a chance, and surely write my individual review, but who knows if the game will stick.

We plan to get our 3v3 team back into the 1800 bracket before point tabulation tomorrow - I'll keep you informed.

If you like art, then check out this article, I found it interesting...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20533287/

EQII - First Impressions

I downloaded the 7-day trial for EQII the other night and was able to spend only a few short hours in the game, so when I say first impressions, I mean it!

I'm not sure why, I assume because it's a trial, but you cannot create certain races when making your character, which is fine as there's many to choose from. I ended up picking an Arasai, the dark version of the Fae (think tinkerbell, but macho).

You then get to pick your class, name, appearance, and server. I chose the highly populated PvP server, Nagafen. I went with the Wizard class since it most resembled a WoW Mage, and I love caster DPS.

The game drops you in a starting outpost with plenty of NPCs to talk to, and trust me, they have alot to say. If you're interested in story, the NPCs will talk your head off, but it's entirely optional in most cases as you can select your responses to them. You could easily select something like, "I'm not interested in that, where's the work!?"

One thing I really liked about the game is there's no need to visit a trainer, and you get new spells every level. The new spells will automatically fill a spot in your toolbar if there's an empty space, otherwise you access your abilities book.

The combat seemed interesting enough, but I was lagging badly. I don't blame the game for this, as I hope it's my older system causing the lag. The controls are similar to other MMOs and can be figured out quite easily. I haven't run into the extensive learning curve other bloggers are talking about - yet.

All in all I like EQII and I might continue playing it between Arena matches while waiting on WoTLK. The free trial doesn't even require a credit card, just a Station ID, which is just registering with SoE. Also, if you've ever played an SoE game, then you can use your old Station ID, which is what I did.

PvP Rant!

This is the response I left to Tobold's post on the future of PvP, I would recommend checking it out if you have any interest in Player vs. Player combat...

http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2007/09/future-of-pvp.html

I don't understand how people have a problem with gankers. I play on a PvP server in WoW, and I have to say that every class has abilities to get away, and if you combine those abilities with potions, it's not hard to escape. I mean, do you sit there and not move when you get ganked? I usually carry Swiftness + Invis potions and I never have trouble escaping.

The occasional 70 might one shot me, but you can bet your bottom dollar he won't kill me again after I res and chug some escape centric potions, or use an ability.

I'm tired of fair fights being based off numbers. I want more skill based PvP with less of gear & numbers being the deciding factor.

Back when I played Ultima Online I could take out a group of 3 badly skilled players by myself - in WoW those 3 players could beat me in full epics while drooling at the keyboard. I'm not saying I was the greatest in UO, as there were players that could eliminate a whole opposing force of 5 or more people. Bring back skill-based PvP!

I think the problem with ganking is the system in every game supports the gankers. There should be a penalty system that encourages people to kill the said ganker. What if an epic dropped off a player after he ganked 10 or more people? Do you think a group would gather to squash that person?

I just hope devs take an interesting approach to the future of PvP instead of throwing a set number of people on a small map. If I wanted that I would play an FPS - I play MMOs for the immersion of a world, not a small map.

AV Weekend Update

Ok, so AV weekend fell on a holiday, thanks Blizz! I decided to spend more time with the family than playing WoW, but I did get in a few matches.

We snagged a few 3v3 matches with out mage, war, pally combo. We went 7-3, and the teams we lost two both had a priest, shaman, x for the lineup. The priest was the healer, but I can only do so much to lock him down. The shaman was the DPS target and would heal himself while the priest was locked down. A few times the shaman was low with a heal and would get countered, but the priest would pop out of sheep and get the heal. It's hard locking down 2 healer teams. I think next time we'll DPS the priest and force the shaman to primary healer to sink his low mana pool.

We ended the night with a 1758 rating. If we could all stay on for more than 10 games at a time we could rise above 1800.

I haven't PvE'd, farmed, or did any BGs in about a week. I see myself only logging on for arenas now. I for one am looking forward to the expansion - and it's about time they add more snowy environments!

Not much else to report; we're looking to get some 5v5 in tonight, so I'll let everyone knows how that goes!