Why I won’t be playing Mists of Pandaria
Mists of Pandaria launches September 25, but I won't be playing -- at least right away. World of Warcraft and I have had an off and on again relationship over…
Mists of Pandaria launches September 25, but I won't be playing -- at least right away. World of Warcraft and I have had an off and on again relationship over…
Diablo 3 open beta began this weekend. I wish I could say it went off without a hitch, but it took five hours before I was able to best the…
I've been asked to comment on the news that Diablo 3 will not have PvP Arenas at launch. I don't know whether to be glad that Blizzard was wise enough…
When World of Warcraft launched in November 2004 is was new, it was shiny, but it really wasn’t as polished or infallible as people think of it today. Aside from WoW’s launch issues, which mostly stemmed from Blizzard not anticipating the demand, WoW had issues that crop up in most contemporary MMOs.
WoW was evolving constantly back then, and surprisingly continues to evolve regularly even today. There were itemization issues, stat issues, and content issues. End-game wasn’t clearly defined. PvP was anything but defined. It was clear that Blizzard was learning like the rest of us how their future would unfold. I was there for all of it.
I remember playing and having discussions in general chat with the other players about raids. All we knew at the time was that there was a raid. Looking back at the 40-man raids of WoW’s launch and all they entailed, then looking at the raid finder experience of today, it’s truly mind blowing how WoW has evolved. If you played the entire time, you’re even more aware of how many changes the raiding system has gone through and different systems/mechanics/features/implementations the content has seen over the years.
Then there’s the PvP system, which started out … actually it didn’t. There wasn’t a “PvP system”.  There weren’t battlegrounds, rewards, titles, or gear. It was just the ability to kill other players in zones like Hillsbrad. Evolving just like raids, PvP has gone through countless changes over the years.
What am I getting at by giving you this history lesson? (more…)
I'm oddly fascinated by the Battle.net Balance program. First, here's a quick official statement describing the Battle.net Balance system: Battle.net Balance is a new Battle.net feature that will allow players…
It’s Blizzcon time again. Time to be reminded of my weak resolve, get hyped, and agonize over a wait that will surely feel infinite.
Mists of Pandaria was confirmed, as if it wasn’t already. I am done with WoW. I swear, I am. Really. I mean it. Yet… Panda… Monk…want… No, I’m done. Maybe it was the music in the trailer or the open-fist fighting styles of those pleasantly plump kungfu pandas that sucked me in and took captive my mind. I am a slave to my own desires for polish. It looks great. A zone on the back of a turtle for crying out loud!
Maybe the coolest part of the opening ceremony was watching the Diablo III and Heart of the Swearm trailers. I feel like we can piece them all together and make a real movie. I have this fear that Diablo 3 is never going to release because the day it does the world might stand still.
People are up in arms about Blizzard's decision to allow their Guardian Cub to be purchased from their store (with real cash) and traded to other players in-game. The issue…
You're living under a rock if you haven't seen the news about Blizzard creating a player to player real money auction house for Diablo 3. Players will be able to…
I've been really getting into StarCraft 2 the past week. I watched the NASL grand finals, never miss a Day9.tv daily, and watch streams on a regular basis on the…
Some haters might be celebrating the fact that Blizzard dipped to 11.4 million subs, down from 12 mill, but I'm celebrating for a different reason. In the earnings conference call…