Friday, January 21, 2011

Rated BG's and you

So I have been running rated bgs for some time now. I currently lead the top rated team on my server (And while there is no real team, the top rated people are in my group)

Strangely enough, I do not actually kill things in a rated bg. I am brought entirely for utility... and because the group is mine. >.>

My main roles:
1. Scout
2. Fast Response
3. Ninja
4. Escort
5. CC

Scout
Pretty simple, track humanoids + eagle eye means I can give constant reliable information on enemy movement, which is EXTREMELY important.

Fast Response
Simple put, no one but a hunter can disengage from combat so reliably and consistently to leave a battle to get somewhere quickly. Feign Death is very powerful. Running to defend another base that is under attack, running to intercept an enemy flag carrier, or running to help a friendly.

Ninja
Yeah so.. I have found that no one is as good at taking a base as me. I can see very clearly how many people are defending, I can sit in stealth for as long as I need, wait for a respawn to leave, I can CC someone effectively to cap a flag. Trinkets or paladins don't stop me, I can just cc them once and run away from the base until trap is reset and re-attack, when they cannot trinket, and I can kill nearly anyone in a 1v1 if required. (a 1v1 in a bg with no duel range and me getting guaranteed openers is really stacked in my favor). Also, the fact that I can approach relatively stealthily means they will not get reinforcements. If only one person attacks, I find that they will not send more to defend (especially when it is only a hunter attacking) They will only rapidly come to defense if it is two or more.

Escort
As a class that has the ability to cc multiple people at once, as well as give freedom, paired with an immunity to crit cooldown and ability to be a fast responder, I can get to a flag carrier in a pinch and help him until we get help, and if he dies I can grab the flag, while I may die very soon, I am the only class that can be completely immune to damage (except dots) while still holding the flag, if even for a very short time. I also have the ability to give the flag carrier pack, which means we don't necessarily have to have a druid running the flag.

CC
My cc is no where near reliable as another class, it doesn't scale with spell pen and has a fairly long cooldown, but I can cc multiple people at once, or one person for a pretty long duration, and all of my cc abilities are instant cast so I can do it if someone is trying to stop me.

Regarding people crying about dungeon difficulty.

Stop complaining that this game "doesn't cater to causals". It does. Your definition of casual is the problem.

Casual: Someone who doesn't play very often.

That is it. That is all. Casual is simply that and nothing more.

Casual is NOT "I play what spec I like because I like it and to hell with the consequences"
Casual is NOT "I don't want to learn how to properly play"
Casual is NOT "I shouldn't have to understand the boss fight"

It is simply someone that doesn't play often.

Does that mean a casual player never does some of the things listed? Of course they do, but that is different from being a casual. Casual is a very, very, simple definition, and people here are applying it to WAY to many things, things that have stretched reality too far.

This game caters to casuals. Here is why:

1. There is a limit to how much you can accomplish in a week. Someone, for example, who logs on once to clear a raid and then is never seen again will advance at the same pace as someone who logs on 8 hours every day, because there is a limit to amount of raids you can do a week. Doesn't matter how much you play, the raid won't reset until Tuesday.

2. There is a limit to conquest points. Playing more PvP does not mean you will get more points than the weekly cap. Playing more might mean you get more points next week, but someone who wins 10 games and loses 0 will still advance more quickly than someone who wins 10 and loses 50, and in the end there is a maximum cap to how many conquest points you can actually earn a week (It is somewhere slightly over 3000)

3. There is a limit to honor. While the amount of honor you gain is directly related to how much you play, you are hard capped to how much gear you actually get from honor. One person might play a lot and get it all in a week, but then they cannot get any more. One person might take a month to get it all, but they still end up at the same spot. There is a hard cap to everything. This rule is for casuals who do not play as often, so they may get gear more slowly, but it is essentially impossible to be left behind. Slow and steady WILL catch up, eventually. You can only get so far ahead.

4. There is a limit to heroic gear. Same principle as honor. Someone who does more heroics might gear up faster, but you can only get so much gear from heroics. Once you have all the gear, you don't gain anything from heroics, because there is a hard cap enforced to prevent people who play a lot from getting past causals. The same applies to JP gain. There is a cap to the gear you can buy with it.

5. There is a limit to valor points. Similar to #1, raid lockout, you can only get so many valor points per week regardless of how much you play, and eventually you will even be capped out on what you can buy with valor points.

Essentially, it doesn't matter how much you play, you are all hard capped to the amount of gear you can actually get. Someone who plays more might get it a week or two before someone who plays less, but that is the extent of it.

So, please. Stop complaining that WoW does NOT cater to casuals, because it does. If you are complaining about something being "too hard" and thus doesn't cater to casuals you are flat out wrong. Difficulty has no relation to casuals, many casuals are very skilled.

If you are having a problem with difficulty of the game at any point, it isn't because this game doesn't cater to casuals or that you are "casual" because this game does. It is because you refuse to step up to the next level.

Blizzard will not dumb it down for you. Stop confusing "Casual" with "Bad" and improve yourself. Heroics are NOT hard.