Leafshine: Lust for Flower

Sometimes the best way to get enthusiasm back…

…is to do something pointless, cute and fun.

Secret Santa: Dr Jones, Dr Jones!

'twas the night after Winter's Veil, and all through the realm, not a druid was stirring…

Yes, it's BlogAzeroth Secret Santa time again, and this year, my secret santa is Lady Erinia of Moments in the Life of a Death Knight, who brings me a gaily-wrapped post, possibly inspired by one of Aqua's earliest hits:

Sit back,and enjoy:

Dr Jones, Dr Jones!

If you have ever done the level 70 10-man instance Zul’Aman located in the Ghostlands, odds are you have met Harrison Jones. Dr. Jones is a lovable rascal that is modeled after a certain adventure series that contain archaeology bits and Nazis. 

Meet Dr. Jones

Harrison Jones has certainly been around the block a few times in WoW. He always seems to want to, um, “explore” some type of ruins and “discover” and “protect” some treasure. Well, it’s better him than some goblin like Schnottz right? 

After supposedly perishing in Zul’Aman, he popped up again Northrend in the Drakil'jin Ruins for some more…treasure hunting. With the addition of the archaeology profession in Cataclysm, Dr. Jones decided to don his professorship hat and train some would-be adventures in the new profession, but only if said adventures are members of the Alliance.

I’m the coolest Professor you’ll ever know.

All hope is not lost though. If you are Horde, you still get to do the wickedly fun Harrison Jones questline in Uldum which is modeled after a certain Indiana Jones movie. 

His Hat is awesome.

I highly recommend doing the Harrison Jones quests at once when you have time because there are cut-scenes and references galore. You might even get to star in some of the cut-scenes! You’ll get to witness Dr. Jones using his whip to swing around and destroy precious statues, participate in a dogfight (an airplane fight, not a canine fight), and save the Ark of the Cov….I mean the Coffer of Promise from the Naz..errr…Commander Schnottz and Deathwing’s minions.

Long story short, if you are an Indiana Jones fan, then this questline is for you! Who knows? In a thousand years, even you might be worth something! I had a great time doing the quest line and I cannot wait to do it again with my next toon.

What Blizz Wants To Give Raiders - And What It Doesn't

If you weren't a designer, but a hardcore WoW raider, do you think you would think the game was too "casual" these days?

Quite possibly. I have this theory that, when you're a really elite hardcore gamer, what you really want - what drives you - is that sense of competition; really having that gap between you and the less skilled, and more casual. That's what drives you, and that's not different no matter what game you're playing: WoW, Counterstrike, Warcraft III, games like that. You strive to make the gap as big as possible.

So I certainly think that there is that sense that "Hey, I remember back when I had to walk uphill to school in snow both ways, and other players don't have to do it as hard as I did!" There's naturally going to be some resentment, but in the bigger picture, it doesn't diminish their accomplishment at all. They're still better and more skilled - but the gap has changed.

via www.warcry.com

That's from an interview with Rob Pardo of Blizzard, that I've had open in a browser tab for days, but have only just got around to reading. I think it's a really telling quote in light of our recent discussion about the state of WoW.

The short of it is this: Blizzard is interested in providing you with challenges as hard as they have every been, but not in pandering to a sense of extreme superiority over others.

Now you can argue about how well Blizz are doing at providing that challenge - and it seems to be clear that there's a certain segment of the market they're not pleasing at all - but it seems very clear that vast differentials in gear and access between the most committed and the average players are a thing of the past.

The Guild: Singing Avatars

As re-posted by just about everybody:

The thing I love about this little MMoRPG subculture of ours is that it can support creativity and art like this, because new media has brought down the cost of producing and distributing professional-level art, and also created a ready-made system for letting people know about its existence - by reposting it on their blogs. ;-) Oh, and there's enough of us out there to make it financiall viable.

The actual song and video are really nice pieces of work - both an accurate spoof of modern mainstream pop and absolutely spot-on gags in the lyrics that hit the spot for gamers. It's almost like a highly-niche version of a Wierd Al track.

And I'll never, ever look at the phrase "tank and spank" the same way again.  

Anyway, you can snag the video from iTunes and the track from Amazon: (Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar (feat. Felicia Day).

The Wit and Wisdom of GMs

So, have you noticed how often Space Goats get stuck behind old world terrain? Poor old Ularia, my space goat pally got trapped behind some scenery in Ashenvale recently, and I was forced to summon a GM to my aid. I obviously crited my summon roll, because I got a witty GM...

And you would think that would be enough. But, no, Gnatashi was better than that:

It's wee touches like that that make it a please playing (and paying for) this game. Thanks, Gnatashi!

Are You Ashamed of WoW?

I was reading my once-and-future guidie Psia's blog, when I came across this little admission:

And so I came to the clothing section. And here’s where I get to the nub of this post (I know, I take a long time to make a point!). I wasn’t prepared to buy any clothing because I am ashamed to publicly declare my love for the game. There, I said it. Ashamed of something that I spend hours on. That I enjoy in a social context with a lot of my friends.

Psia is ashamed of WoW? For shame!

Are you? I'm not.

Now, I wouldn't wear a WoW t-shirt, but that's not through any feeling of shame at being a WoW player - it's just because I think they look faintly ridiculous on a guy in his mid-30s. I don't wear t-shirts at all anymore - I'm strictly a shirt or structured top kinda guy. But, if I did, I'd more happily wear something like one of Phae's t-shirts, which are much less in your face about the WoW connection. To those who know nothing about the game, they're just an odd design, to those who do, they're a point of common conversation. The default Blizz designs are just a little too much like paying to wear advertising…

But I'm certainly not ashamed of my WoW-playing. A substantial number of my collegues at work know that I play, and there will be a small aknowledgement on my main blog when I post here. I've often interlinked between the two. MMoRPGs feel like they're in the same place blogging was in a few years back - many people were ashamed to admit that they were involved, but they were rapidly becoming part of the mainstream. Just as with blogging, I treat WoW like something ordinary and mainstream, and that makes it a non-issue for others.

Does that match everyone's experiences?

World of Warcraft is a Social Operating System

Blah, blah, blah, World of Warhammercraft. Blah, blah, WoW killer. Sorry, it ain't gonna happen - at least, it ain't going to happen fast. It will take more than a good game to displace WoW from the top of the MMoRPG food chain, and any developer trying to do so faces a horrible uphill struggle to do so.

Here's the problem they face: WoW is no longer just a game. WoW has become a social operating system.

WoW as a Social OS

Now, you're probably saying "sounds good, Leafy, but what the hell does that mean?" Well, it means that WoW has become as much a place to hang out together as it has a game per se. Take the guild I left nearly a month ago, and nay be rejoining soon. The guild is, in essence, a bunch of real life friends who are prevented from meeting up too often in the flesh by little things like time, distance and families. Most of us are in our 30s, with all the responsibilities that entails. We don't get to go down the pub very often, but we can jump in game, or on Vent, and enjoy a wee chat, or a bit of fun in an instance. It becomes a new form of social life, one that complements our existing one, and that reinforces social bonds.

I've played around 40 minutes or WoW in the last month - by far the least amount of playtime I've racked up since I joined the EU beta well over three years ago. There are multiple reasons behind this, but, however lovely the current guild Leafy's in are, they're not people I've known for half my life. I've lost that feeling of bantering with mates, even if I don't find anything useful to do in game.And without that feeling, I've little interest in the game.

Now, I'm sure there are plenty of serious gamers out there, who switch guilds and servers to achieve what they want in the game and whose guildies became friends after they became guildmates. But I'd also lay odds that a good solid core of WoW is made up of people like us - people who are essentially friends playing together, from the couple who sit down in WoW rather than vegging out in front of the telly, to the continentally-displaced friends who find Azeroth the easiest way to meet up online.

In other words: the gameplay is secondary to WoW as a social environment. As long as the gameplay promotes socialisation, you're good.

Blog Azeroth

I'm distracted. Partially I'm distracted by Guild Drama (TM) after Tuesday night's Kara run. (Long story, not for airing in public.) But mostly I'm distracted by Blog Azeroth, which is a stunning wee idea from a couple of our favourite WoW bloggers, Phaelia and Valenna.

It's a community for the growing number of WoW bloggers to meet, chat, share information and resources and just debate stuff. And it's shaping up really well. If you have a WoW blog, or are thinking of starting one, it's well worth signing up for. See you there!