A blog Q&A with various WoW players and encounters with the community!
15/$15/15 Xav <Premonition> - Warrior
Talked to Xav a couple weeks ago and asked if he'd be interested in my 3rd Q&A blog entry. He so kindly obliged (sp?) and here we are. I don't want to make each set of questions the same each ~week so I've been juggling some around. I'm also working on finals and am going on 3 hours of sleep since Friday because of a Bachelor party.
In Game:
1. Why do you play a Warrior? Do you feel that the introduction of DKs has fixed "tank shortages" and taken away jobs from average joe tanks?
I originally played warriors of my various friends, years ago. I never had my own, but ended up PvP'ing extensively, providing most of the honor needed for rank 14 back then. A couple of years ago I ended up making my own warrior as an alt, and loved it. I've enjoyed tanking ever since, because it's very involved.
As for DK's, I don't think they've helped the "tank shortage" much because I didn't see it as a problem to begin with. Paladins were redesigned at some point to make them the easy to play tank class, and there were tons of them in TBC because of it. DK's pretty much have been the rerolls of various classes who were unsatisfied with what they were doing, or their previous class. A tank's job isn't taken away by a class, it's taken away by being outplayed. The same droolers who may have rerolled DK's will be just as incompetent now as they were then.
2. What has been your favorite boss fight while leveling and at the level cap?
Archaedas in Uldaman, originally, was excellent. Back when instance level ranges were really screwy, and you'd start off a little higher level than the entrance mobs, and the final boss would be 7-10 levels higher than you. Doing it at that level was pretty epic, I think we were looking at like 10 minute fights, or at least it felt like it. True delegation in a 5 man, someone (or two) on adds, a tank on Archaedas, some DPS to help bring him lower for phase transitions, some kind of plan for handling the bigger elite golems that spawn towards the end, etc.
For the level cap, probably M'uru. Having tanked the blood elf elite waves, Sentinels, and Entropius, it was really enjoyable and challenging tanking. At the time threat wasn't easy at all to keep at that gear level, so getting it to all come together properly and not have people explode was awesome. Plus it allowed for basically every warrior ability to be used, Spell Reflects, intervene, stuns, lots of movement and positioning importance... fun stuff.
3. Sen'jin is a newer server compared to Alleria (I think that's your correct server history). Do you feel that a big name guild such as <Premonition> ultimately helps boost pops and make a server better as a whole? I've noticed that your server doesn't provide much competition is this a let down?
Not sure on the actual age difference, but Alleria certainly was a release server, and Sen'jin was newer; we did that much homework at least (I've forgotten the details). I do believe high end guilds attract people to a server, as I've seen it in person. When I was raiding in DnT on Korgath, I definitely had several of my friends transfer to the server in hopes of joining the guild, and we had several people from other servers already transfer to Sen'jin. I think it's great for the servers, too, as a very high density of alluring guilds on a server will just be flourishing with people trying to join the guilds, hopefully raising the average skill level a few notches. There was a noticeable difference of "average" player/pug ability on Korgath compared to Sen'jin.
Sen'jin not providing much in the way of competition from other guilds goes completely unnoticed. I've been detached from all server-related issues (like server firsts, racing other guilds, intra-server recruiting and guild drama), for a couple of years now. It's more of a nation/worldwide scale, everything else is just blissfully irrelevent!
4. What keeps you playing? What was your WoTLK release night like?
I keep playing because I genuinely enjoy raiding and the guild I'm in, and I like the interaction with Blizzard. Experience in the field you're interested in is always good, too, you know?
WoTLK release night: I went to GameStop and picked up 3 copies of Wrath, 1 for myself, 2 for guildmates. I drove home and gave them their keys, and we converted our Beta installations over to Retail with a simple fix. A 3rd guildmate was already on and we made our 5 man leveling group, except we were lacking our 5th. Since we wanted to level at the same rate, we waited. And waited. An hour after Northrend had been active, we finally got our group together. Then we were up for some obscene amount of hours grinding instances. Blur.
5. If you could change one thing realistically in-game what would it be?
Different rulesets for PvE and PvP. Not just things like CC, Cooldowns, diminishing returns, blah blah blah. But causing abilities to behave very differently in PvP and PvE to allow for radical balance changes in one or the other without always having to think, "Is this going to (further) break PvP?" or vice-versa.
6. Briefly describe your feelings towards Ulduar thus far and progression races. I know many people out there are very competitive/serious when it comes to new content.
Ulduar has unfortunately not been the most enjoyable new content launch. New content is great, and the content itself is fun, however, the way they went about doing it could have been improved. Being that there was tremendous feedback on the PTR's about encounter difficulty, tuning, etc, it makes no sense that the initial versions of all of the fights were almost all undertuned. Hard modes were tackled the first week, and in a knee-jerk reaction they were astronomically buffed, some to impossible levels, some to "just right". And that only came after a few waves of other changes. Ultimately it just disinterested a lot of people in some progression races because of how much free time people gained/items gained by getting "hard" mode kills earlier than anyone else, before they received their buffs. My suggestion was to launch all of the hard modes at an impossible difficulty, and then monitor progress on the live realms, adjusting as necessary, with very slight number tweaks, until people are killing them.
It's not all sour, though. So far we've had a blast on some of the hard modes as they're genuinely, extremely challenging and enjoyable, and further push the raid's cohesiveness to levels we simply haven't been needed to.
7. What has been a big "noob" moment for you or your guildmates?
I let "FULL ON NERVES" get the best of me on our would-have-been first Brutallus kill (which also would've been the first) and accidentally flicked my Taunt key when I wasn't supposed to taunt, demolishing my side with a 4th Meteor Slash and a quick wipe.
For the rest of the guild, well, we have a running joke to "try disarm". On M'uru progression, when I was tanking Sentinels (and hadn't yet tanked one of the elf sides), our warrior offtank and DPS warriors were thinking of ways to make the incoming damage easier to handle, after a few hours/days of wipes. I nonchalantly asked them if they were using Disarm on cooldown, and they were like "Uh, no?". They didn't realize they could be disarmed, but only because they had never even tried.
8. What advice do you have for someone who is looking to become a better player or join a better guild?
Look at the more successful players, many of them. See what they have in common, in terms of gaming habits/playstyle/gearing/guild style/etc. Study, learn everything you can about your class, and make sure it's from a source that is credible by the previous mentioned people. Then, work your way up. Just like many individuals progress in their careers to bigger and better opportunities, you have to start somewhere - it's simply unrealistic to be in a "top 2000" guild and apply to a top 10 guild and expect to be thoroughly considered.
9. Do you have any raiding traditions, recipes or music that are a must while playing/raiding?
Past few months my weak spot has been Buffalo Chicken Subs. I get them from Publix, a south eastern grocery chain. Buffalo tenders, provolone, mayo, lettuce. If, for some reason, I want to be extra kick ass on a particular day, I will have one of these before the raid. (I also had one on Ulduar launch and a few hours later when I woke up from a nap, the next day). As for music, I put winamp at 2% and play through either a bunch of techno mixes, all my Nonpoint albums, or a variety of Hip Hop, depending on mood.
10. Have you ever had a piece of loot that's eluded you or your guild?
My rogue needed Geddon's binding (for Thunderfury) for ages, and I never obtained it. My warrior needed the same binding for over a year, when I originally soloed Garr (yes, I was the first, god damnit) and got that binding a few months later, I kept coming back every week with a few guildies killing Geddon until it dropped. "Fake" thunderfury to be sure for my warrior, but it makes up for never getting it on my rogue.
Out of Game:
11. What is your favorite TV show? Movie?
TV Show would be Lost, by far. It's also pretty much the only show I watch!
Movie.. 28 days later, or Resident Evil Extinction. Yeah, I'm crazy for zombie-esque movies. Extinction is also kind of bad, but I'm just really entertained by it, and Alice's flame thrower scene never gets old.
12. What is your favorite sport to watch and/or play and/or athlete?
I was athletic in High School, and then I met WoW. I haven't been interested in much since, but I keep in shape. San Francisco lost their charm to me when the era of Steve Young was over.
13. If you could date any person who would you pick and why?
Shakira. She's an awesome fucking person. Besides having a ridiculously perfect body and dance, she's rather admirable if you read some biographical information on her.
14. Do you have any other hobbies or passions?
I've basically abandoned my breakdancing / martial arts interests, but yeah, that's what they were. YouTube "joe eigo" for what I was crazy in to.
15. What prize are you interested in? $15 of Pizza (What toppings), $15 or a Game Card?
Ah damn, I haven't had pizza in weeks. Pizza. Pepperoni.
In Game:
1. Why do you play a Warrior? Do you feel that the introduction of DKs has fixed "tank shortages" and taken away jobs from average joe tanks?
I originally played warriors of my various friends, years ago. I never had my own, but ended up PvP'ing extensively, providing most of the honor needed for rank 14 back then. A couple of years ago I ended up making my own warrior as an alt, and loved it. I've enjoyed tanking ever since, because it's very involved.
As for DK's, I don't think they've helped the "tank shortage" much because I didn't see it as a problem to begin with. Paladins were redesigned at some point to make them the easy to play tank class, and there were tons of them in TBC because of it. DK's pretty much have been the rerolls of various classes who were unsatisfied with what they were doing, or their previous class. A tank's job isn't taken away by a class, it's taken away by being outplayed. The same droolers who may have rerolled DK's will be just as incompetent now as they were then.
2. What has been your favorite boss fight while leveling and at the level cap?
Archaedas in Uldaman, originally, was excellent. Back when instance level ranges were really screwy, and you'd start off a little higher level than the entrance mobs, and the final boss would be 7-10 levels higher than you. Doing it at that level was pretty epic, I think we were looking at like 10 minute fights, or at least it felt like it. True delegation in a 5 man, someone (or two) on adds, a tank on Archaedas, some DPS to help bring him lower for phase transitions, some kind of plan for handling the bigger elite golems that spawn towards the end, etc.
For the level cap, probably M'uru. Having tanked the blood elf elite waves, Sentinels, and Entropius, it was really enjoyable and challenging tanking. At the time threat wasn't easy at all to keep at that gear level, so getting it to all come together properly and not have people explode was awesome. Plus it allowed for basically every warrior ability to be used, Spell Reflects, intervene, stuns, lots of movement and positioning importance... fun stuff.
3. Sen'jin is a newer server compared to Alleria (I think that's your correct server history). Do you feel that a big name guild such as <Premonition> ultimately helps boost pops and make a server better as a whole? I've noticed that your server doesn't provide much competition is this a let down?
Not sure on the actual age difference, but Alleria certainly was a release server, and Sen'jin was newer; we did that much homework at least (I've forgotten the details). I do believe high end guilds attract people to a server, as I've seen it in person. When I was raiding in DnT on Korgath, I definitely had several of my friends transfer to the server in hopes of joining the guild, and we had several people from other servers already transfer to Sen'jin. I think it's great for the servers, too, as a very high density of alluring guilds on a server will just be flourishing with people trying to join the guilds, hopefully raising the average skill level a few notches. There was a noticeable difference of "average" player/pug ability on Korgath compared to Sen'jin.
Sen'jin not providing much in the way of competition from other guilds goes completely unnoticed. I've been detached from all server-related issues (like server firsts, racing other guilds, intra-server recruiting and guild drama), for a couple of years now. It's more of a nation/worldwide scale, everything else is just blissfully irrelevent!
4. What keeps you playing? What was your WoTLK release night like?
I keep playing because I genuinely enjoy raiding and the guild I'm in, and I like the interaction with Blizzard. Experience in the field you're interested in is always good, too, you know?
WoTLK release night: I went to GameStop and picked up 3 copies of Wrath, 1 for myself, 2 for guildmates. I drove home and gave them their keys, and we converted our Beta installations over to Retail with a simple fix. A 3rd guildmate was already on and we made our 5 man leveling group, except we were lacking our 5th. Since we wanted to level at the same rate, we waited. And waited. An hour after Northrend had been active, we finally got our group together. Then we were up for some obscene amount of hours grinding instances. Blur.
5. If you could change one thing realistically in-game what would it be?
Different rulesets for PvE and PvP. Not just things like CC, Cooldowns, diminishing returns, blah blah blah. But causing abilities to behave very differently in PvP and PvE to allow for radical balance changes in one or the other without always having to think, "Is this going to (further) break PvP?" or vice-versa.
6. Briefly describe your feelings towards Ulduar thus far and progression races. I know many people out there are very competitive/serious when it comes to new content.
Ulduar has unfortunately not been the most enjoyable new content launch. New content is great, and the content itself is fun, however, the way they went about doing it could have been improved. Being that there was tremendous feedback on the PTR's about encounter difficulty, tuning, etc, it makes no sense that the initial versions of all of the fights were almost all undertuned. Hard modes were tackled the first week, and in a knee-jerk reaction they were astronomically buffed, some to impossible levels, some to "just right". And that only came after a few waves of other changes. Ultimately it just disinterested a lot of people in some progression races because of how much free time people gained/items gained by getting "hard" mode kills earlier than anyone else, before they received their buffs. My suggestion was to launch all of the hard modes at an impossible difficulty, and then monitor progress on the live realms, adjusting as necessary, with very slight number tweaks, until people are killing them.
It's not all sour, though. So far we've had a blast on some of the hard modes as they're genuinely, extremely challenging and enjoyable, and further push the raid's cohesiveness to levels we simply haven't been needed to.
7. What has been a big "noob" moment for you or your guildmates?
I let "FULL ON NERVES" get the best of me on our would-have-been first Brutallus kill (which also would've been the first) and accidentally flicked my Taunt key when I wasn't supposed to taunt, demolishing my side with a 4th Meteor Slash and a quick wipe.
For the rest of the guild, well, we have a running joke to "try disarm". On M'uru progression, when I was tanking Sentinels (and hadn't yet tanked one of the elf sides), our warrior offtank and DPS warriors were thinking of ways to make the incoming damage easier to handle, after a few hours/days of wipes. I nonchalantly asked them if they were using Disarm on cooldown, and they were like "Uh, no?". They didn't realize they could be disarmed, but only because they had never even tried.
8. What advice do you have for someone who is looking to become a better player or join a better guild?
Look at the more successful players, many of them. See what they have in common, in terms of gaming habits/playstyle/gearing/guild style/etc. Study, learn everything you can about your class, and make sure it's from a source that is credible by the previous mentioned people. Then, work your way up. Just like many individuals progress in their careers to bigger and better opportunities, you have to start somewhere - it's simply unrealistic to be in a "top 2000" guild and apply to a top 10 guild and expect to be thoroughly considered.
9. Do you have any raiding traditions, recipes or music that are a must while playing/raiding?
Past few months my weak spot has been Buffalo Chicken Subs. I get them from Publix, a south eastern grocery chain. Buffalo tenders, provolone, mayo, lettuce. If, for some reason, I want to be extra kick ass on a particular day, I will have one of these before the raid. (I also had one on Ulduar launch and a few hours later when I woke up from a nap, the next day). As for music, I put winamp at 2% and play through either a bunch of techno mixes, all my Nonpoint albums, or a variety of Hip Hop, depending on mood.
10. Have you ever had a piece of loot that's eluded you or your guild?
My rogue needed Geddon's binding (for Thunderfury) for ages, and I never obtained it. My warrior needed the same binding for over a year, when I originally soloed Garr (yes, I was the first, god damnit) and got that binding a few months later, I kept coming back every week with a few guildies killing Geddon until it dropped. "Fake" thunderfury to be sure for my warrior, but it makes up for never getting it on my rogue.
Out of Game:
11. What is your favorite TV show? Movie?
TV Show would be Lost, by far. It's also pretty much the only show I watch!
Movie.. 28 days later, or Resident Evil Extinction. Yeah, I'm crazy for zombie-esque movies. Extinction is also kind of bad, but I'm just really entertained by it, and Alice's flame thrower scene never gets old.
12. What is your favorite sport to watch and/or play and/or athlete?
I was athletic in High School, and then I met WoW. I haven't been interested in much since, but I keep in shape. San Francisco lost their charm to me when the era of Steve Young was over.
13. If you could date any person who would you pick and why?
Shakira. She's an awesome fucking person. Besides having a ridiculously perfect body and dance, she's rather admirable if you read some biographical information on her.
14. Do you have any other hobbies or passions?
I've basically abandoned my breakdancing / martial arts interests, but yeah, that's what they were. YouTube "joe eigo" for what I was crazy in to.
15. What prize are you interested in? $15 of Pizza (What toppings), $15 or a Game Card?
Ah damn, I haven't had pizza in weeks. Pizza. Pepperoni.
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