Tag Archives: beta
The Legend of Beta Part III: Finale. Be the solution.
So comes the final sequel of this 3 part monster. As always, many thanks to everyone who commented / tweeted with feedback, it’s always much appreciated. Another awesome blogger, ThatShortGuy, did a reaction to the Beta ideas with an interesting view on social networking and transparency during testing phases. Check it out.
Fixing the Attitude
We are all very aware that there is tension in the relationship between gamers and developers. What it is about gamer mentality that triggers the “unwarranted self-importance” sector of the brain, I don’t know, but I’d guess it something to do with thumb movement. There’s so many small annoyances but overall it feels like so many players have it in their mind that this game is -for them- and if they find something wrong or displeasing, it should be changed so that they are happy. This is a source of major frustration and even aggravation from both the peers of these players and the developers.
Nothing sucks more than having some punk basically tell you how to do your job, or that you’re miserable at what you do. It’s unfair, hurtful, and really, really annoying.
Here’s our 12 step program in fixing the attitude of gamers towards developers and games.
1: Be aware that, no, the universe does not revolve around you. Shocking, I know.
2: Learn the difference between real imbalance and personal preference.
3. Differentiate between whining/bitching and constructive criticism.
4: Understand that game developers are not gods. They are human. This means that they eat, sleep, need breaks and vacations just as much as you. Likewise, they won’t give you anything special if you suck up to them. Be respectful, treat them as equals, and you will earn their respect back.
5: Most game company employees make crap money, and don’t get paid enough to listen to gamers whine and cry.
6. If you make ridiculous demands or insulting comments about them or the game, they have every right to bitch back at you. Customer service can only go so far. Don’t be shocked if they publicly put you in your place.
7: Game developers happen to be gamers, so yes, they know a thing or two about how games work.
8: In fact, many of them went to college for this, so just because some of you know how to action script flash animations doesn’t mean you can do their job better. If you think you can, get a degree and apply for it.
9: Betas are incomplete versions of the game. Things will be broken. Things will change. The point is to fix bugs. Don’t complain and cry malarkey if you see something wrong. Report it so they can fix it.
10: They have every right to ban you for exploiting or abusing their ToS, whether on beta or live.
11: Beta and other forms of public testing are a privilege and responsibility, not a right.
12: Contrary to popular belief, game developers are not after your blood, sweat, and tears, but rather put a lot of their own into making games great for you. Respect and appreciate this very important fact.
Once gamers can come to terms with this hard to accept but very real facts of e-life, then they can more aptly prepare themselves for being a good beta tester and player overall.
How to be a good Beta Tester.
Now, say you’ve accepted the 12 steps but you still want to get into a beta. Deep down in your heart, even though you’re thrilled to be invited, you want to make sure you’re also contributing. You also like the idea that good testers sometimes get invited back in future tests.
If you’ve come that far, I could shed a tear of happiness.
So what exactly makes a good tester?
First of all, pick an area in the game you think you’d be good at testing.
• If you’re big on mechanics and key-binds, focus on testing basic game-play.
• PvP or group play, skill balance might be your thing.
• If graphics and visuals are important to you, checking for texture glitches, UI, and clipping is a great focus.
• Explorers do great finding possible exploits or unstable terrain that cause disconnects or falling through the world.
• People who enjoy questing and leveling can report on how those aspects of the game flow.
• Lore buffs who like to read quest text might find they’re good at picking out typos.
• Social butterflies can test out the chat systems and guild controls.
Obviously, you don’t -have- to pick just one area but it helps keep you focused and is great for the company if you report on mundane things that most people aren’t really interested in. Combine them.
I’m a graphics / explorer kinda gal. Back in the Lich King beta I spent hours just flying around taking screenshots of the terrain and reported on a few bugs I saw with textures. Simple but fun, easy, and constructive.
If you see something wrong that’s stationary, try to get screenshots from different angles. Re-log and see if it persists.
Something that’s an event is harder to report, so do your best to replicate what you did to cause it as much as possible. Use different variables. Did you disconnect when walking to a certain spot? Does a specific spell cause this glitch but not another? Is it just your class? Make use of the scientific method from grade-school. The more you can re-cause a glitch, the better, and likely easier to fix.
When you report a bug, be as detailed and organized as possible. Make use of bullet points and listing, and break down your report into sections.
• Brief description of the issue.
• How it happened as detailed as possible.
• Your experiments afterwards in trying to re-cause the glitch.
Next, organize your media and outlet sources. Be weary of NDAs. You don’t want to release information if it’s against their ToS.
But definitely make use of things like recording game-play and screenshots.
Most importantly, though, do have fun. Betas are a responsibility to testers but also a joy on the down-time. Make friends, talk to developers in-game or in forums, and get to know the community.
Which leads me to the last and most important part.
Creating a solid Beta Testing community.
I think one issue is that there’s no real central spot for prospective testers and those seeking testers to converge, and there needs to be one.
The idea I have involves a forum with sections for recruitment and requests. But the most important feature it would need is a resume / rating system.
This is also the most difficult to implement, I imagine.
There are different levels of testing. Yes, you have the gamers, but QA/QC (Quality Assurance / Quality Control) are the professional version. These guys are usually employed by a company but there’s no reason you can’t have professional free-lance testers, right?
In my dream beta site, everybody would have a profile that would detail all the things a game company might need to know to find beta testers. System specs, past experience, genre preferences, and a rating. When a developer finds a certain tester particularly useful, give them a gold +1. Other gamers who think they were good on reporting or answering questions can give them a blue +1. That way at a glance people can see and find exactly what they’re looking for.
Said site would make extensive use of social networking to promote new games, betas, and exclusive previews.
It’d be great, and if I had money and programing experience I’d start it. But alas. I’m just a small fry with big dreams of a gamer utopia!
Well that’s that. Thanks to everyone who’s been commenting and discussing these posts here and on twitter. You guys rock.
And sorry for the long wait. Blame my job.
~Izzie
The Legend of Beta Part II: Demos Vs Beta
Before I start, I wanna give a shout out to Hunter’s Insight. He made a post on betas a few days before me and it’s definitely worth a read over here: To Beta or Not to Beta?
Second, fellow blogess Kaae of Way Too Serious and commenter Winter both offered some great input, some of which I already had in my head for part two and other points that I’m going to borrow from, so I thank both of you for the awesome. Kaae also did a great reaction / reflective post on her more positive experience in betas and why she feels they are not gonna die out: Concerning betas.
(As an aside, I also don’t believe betas will die out. My multi-post write-ups usually include a lot devil’s advocate, apocalypse conspiracy theories in part I, and I adress the issues and solutions in the later posts. So I’m not that crazy, really!)
"Give me the precioussssssss....."
So now that we’ve laid out the issues with what betas are becoming currently, it’s time to set the mold for how to fix it. There are several steps in this process and like mending any relationship, it requires compromise, communication, and respect from both ends: developers and gamers. We need each other through this process. Gamers need to game like crack-heads need their fix, and developers know there are some aspects of the game that just need that massive player influx to fully test. So, on that note, let’s hold hands and make up.
Developers. From Alpha to Release: Don’t forget the Demos
The process of testing a game once it’s playable generally follows the A-B-D-R format: Alpha, Beta, Demo, Release. Then each step usually has all it’s little sub-steps to go with it. Internal Alpha (Developers), Friends and Family Alpha/Beta, Closed Beta (Invite-Only), Open Beta (Opt-ins, pre-orders or open weekends), Private Demo (events/media), Public Demo (downloadable/dics/weekend events), Release.
How many instances of each and how long they last really depends on the game, progress, and the company producing it. One common problem, though, is that game developers are skipping the Demo parts, or in some ways confusing the demo and the beta step, and that’s where a lot of the issues with the abuse of actual betas come from.
As Kaae put in her comment, not everybody scrambling to get into a beta is doing it for the fame and status: many non-testers are either just fans of the franchise or wanting to test the game before it comes out, since it will often be the only real chance to do so. I’d put myself in this category more often than not. When I’m in a beta, I try my best to report to the developers as I see things, but I’m not actively looking to test most of the time. I just want to try it out. If I knew the game would have an open demo even if it’s close to release, I’d rest easy and skip the beta all together.
Let’s face it: dropping 50/60 dollars on a game you might not enjoy is a big risk, and with consumers of all areas being more money-concious, it’s not unwise to be skeptical about buying a game you didn’t really try (I, for one, very much regret buying Aion).
If developers invested some time into releasing a public demo close to release date, they’d get rid of a decent population of beta-players who really just want to try the game to bypass the beta stage. It won’t be everybody, sure, but a lot of them would.
Demos are both simple and not to create. Technically if a game is ready to ship, a demo is possible, but there’s usually limits that have to be implemented. Perhaps a low level-cap (usually before the game gets super grindy, haha) or a limited time (weekends). ArenaNet’s open beta weekends for Guild Wars Factions and Nightfall were basically demos. At the point of release, the games were pretty much done, with just later content being added and last minute skill balances. Many demos are available through pre-ordering and offer bonus’ to players, like reserving names and characters or getting a head start when the game releases.
There are many instances where a company will call a beta such, when really it’s a demo. The game is close to complete and all they want to see is last minute bugs and stress tests. This isn’t truly a beta, not in the full sense, so in a lot of ways we -are- getting demos already, just under another name. Another common mistake is using an early beta as a marketing tool. In my honest opinion: game companies should never, ever market a beta for promotion. Gamers will take that as a serious representation of a game, and will be in that mindset when they play it. Mistakes, flaws, and bugs will be frowned upon.
If developers want the players to experience the game at an early stage as a promotion / marketing tool, they should borrow from ArenaNet’s practically flawless Guild Wars 2 demo platform: a limited, dumbed down version of the final product that showcases the best and most developed aspects of the game.
What we got at Pax and Gamescon was a small piece of the pie, but it was the yummiest, most deliciously filled icing slathered piece they could offer. Two races out of five, four professions out of eight, and 40 minutes of two different leveling tiers. What we saw represented only a fraction of what the final game will offer, but it gave us exactly what gamers want to see in a early preview : beautiful graphics, intuitive mechanical gameplay, and insight into the leveling experience.
So for companies to insure that the beta will provide quality testers and rest easy about pre-mature conclusions, there needs to be a specific divide between the demo and the beta. They can overlap, for sure. Demos can come before open betas if done right. But by making the clear distinction of purpose between the two, they will effectively split the community as well. Those interested in testing and tecnical groundwork will opt-in for betas. Those that just wanna give the game a test-drive will go for a demo. As long as the company makes it clear there will be both, the community will do the rest.
Coming up in Part 3: Gamers. Loose the ‘tude and become a part of your gaming experience.
Anti-Lurk Q&A: What other aspects from the development side do you guys think could be used to further encourage actual testing in beta tests? Do you think the beta vs demo model would work and is realistic? And of course any other thoughts and comments.
The Legend of Beta Part I: WTF Happened?
There are certain key words that have become natural triggers for people who are gamers: free, epic, loot, newb. But none have the lasting power or influence over our minds that that one, magical four letter word: Beta. Say it at convention and 20 heads will turn your way. Mention it online and your traffic boosts by 10%.
At PAX, I must have gotten 30 different invites and codes to sign up for them. But there is a huge loss that is hidden behind those enticing strings of digits. What has come lately is a huge shifting mindset regarding beta-testing from gamers, and more importantly, developers. Times have changed as gaming becomes more popular and mainstream. Infiltrated with twelve year old boys with tender egos and attention-whoring house wives, this sub-culture of the hardcore gaming comes with it’s own set of social rules, heirarchy, and bragging rights. Just like high-school all over again, everybody’s trying to be the cool-guy and forget the point of school is to learn. Well, once upon a time the point of betas was to test a game and improve on it. But that has been completely ruined: now betas are feared by developers and savagely sought by gamers, and for all the wrong, unfortunate reasons.
The issue is that Beta invitations have become a status symbol in recent years. As the popularity of PC gaming grows, so does the desire to be “in the know” and on the inside of exclusivity. Everybody’s blogging about it, posting about it, tweeting about it, and they are driven to be the one of the firsts to get their hands on it. And no matter who you are, if you’re an online gamer, you have definitely experienced that uncanny urge to Beta. I know I have. I am part of this pandemic. And so are you.
“So why is this a problem?” you ask. Because when status among peers becomes a driving force behind something, that something loses it’s “something”. See: teenage sex. See: iphones. They do it just to do it, they buy it just to buy it, because they want to be the cool guy and the object of envy from their peers. The real meaning and merit is lost in this struggle for status. We forget sex is supposed to be meaningful. We forget iphones are supposed to have utility in day-to-day life. That’s what betas have lost. The “testing” got dropped and hasn’t been able to find it’s way back, and it’s killing this important part of online gaming.
“So what’s this about developers being scared?” you ask.
The first issue is that gamers don’t respect NDAs. NDA Stands for Non-Disclosure Agreement: that’s a binding pact that during certain phases of testing, no information or media regarding said game is supposed to be coming out. You will always inevitably have that guy, or those guys, who ignore this and post screenshots, videos, and bits of information.
In small amounts this isn’t too big a deal. In fact, it’s even a good thing. Small leaks often keep the masses craving more. In droves, however, it becomes dangerous. It’s kind of like the density of water. It shrinks a bit before expanding. Likewise, for a small moment in time, leaked info is ok but then it becomes a problem that leads to the next big issue:
Gamers prematurely base their opinions on betas, and developers have become all too aware of this. How many times have I heard “Ugh, is that armor clipping?”, “How come these animations are so glitchy?” “WTF? LAG ON MY BETA SEVER? I’m not buying this game.” and I cringe every time. One of the biggest reasons Betas are postponed closer and closer to release is because people decide before it comes out whether or not it’s worth time based on glitchy, laggy, incomplete versions of the game. Sometimes they haven’t even tested it: they’ll make conclusions based on a screenshot and some angry guy’s blog post. Soon enough, if not already, having an open beta early in development will be marketing suicide and companies won’t be able to do it even if they wanted to. The suits will forbid it.
Gamers don’t fucking test in beta testing. Seriously. While I don’t have any official numbers, just from experience alone I can safety bet no less than 75% of players who get into betas haven’t contributed an ounce of useful information to the developers. All they do is cry in public chat. So basically there’s these droves of people posting screenshots and videos and running around wasting data and sever space just to say they can, will, and have.
That’s like having painters come over to work on your house and all they do is sit around, eat your food, order porn on your TV, and kick your dog. Wouldn’t you be pissed? Can you understand why developers are fed up?
Once upon a time, the point of a beta was to break a game. Testers purposefully pushed the client to it’s limits, and the developers wanted this. They wanted you to overload an area, they wanted you to walk through walls and fall through the world. And once upon a time, the bragging rights wasn’t about who was -in- the beta but rather who was able to find and report the weirdest bug and best exploit. It’s called beta testing after all, not beta leeching.
The only company that can pretty much put out a beta whenever they want is Blizzard because if someone complains about something, they can basically say “Fuck you, it’s beta, if you don’t like it, there’s 3,000 other people willing to take your place.” Blizzard has a large enough following that by sheer numbers, there are enough reliable testers around to make it worth the 80% of others who do nothing but spout bullshit about low-res textures and nerfs to their class.
It’s a crying shame, too, because with technology and social networking being what it is, there has never been a better time to test out games and help developers dig up the sorts of bugs only players have the magic ability to find.
We’re likely to find in the next few years that game companies no longer release open betas at all. Instead, fans are likely to get a “demo” a few weeks, maybe a month or two, prior to release when the game is essentially done and simply needs the sort of en-masse testing for stress, servers, and population issues. And we only have ourselves to blame. Yes, our number-crunching, epeen evny-ing, status obsessed selves.
Anti-Lurk Q&A: Have you ever beta’d without testing (DO YOU FEEL GUILTY? J/K)? Do you think companies are right to worry? How do you feel about the impending Death of the Beta?
Strategy: Strand of the Ancients – Defense and Offense (Work in Progress)
In AV, a handful out of 40 players who know a good defensive strategy can make or break a game. Strand, however, is roughly the travel size of AB (maybe even slightly bigger), with 5 less people to defend six key points, not including graveyards. With ties currently being the most common outcome, it’s important to keep in mind that a team needs everyone to work together to pull off a full victory (assuming you’re not facing a team of total morons).
Here I offer my (wordy) advice on how to achieve this.
This is a work in progress, and I’m completely open to everybody’s opinions and thoughts on the battleground as well as what I’ve written here. So please, leave a comment =D
Thanks, enjoy the read!
Defense
Keypoints in a Nutshell:
-Siege tanks are prime targets. Get them down before they’re close enough to gates to do damage. They are vulnerable from behind, dangerous from the front. Melee DPS classes are the most effecient at this.
-Ranged classes play an extremely important roll as defenders. Ranged should focus their efforts on DPSing down or CCing enemy players. Lock dots currently do not work on siege tanks.
-Gates should always have their defense cannon manned if the one before on the same side has fallen. Additionally, once an outer gate has fallen on either side, players should prepare to fall back and defend inner gates.
-Players who rez should always take a moment to patrol mid field, making sure enemy players aren’t taking graveyards or manually bombing gates.
-The inner gate cannons CAN reach graveyard flags and WILL interrupt a player trying to cap them.
-Keep checking to see which gates have fallen, and call out fall backs when necessary.
-Do not allow yourself to be distracted by big player fights unless you’re positive it’s safe to do so.
-Hand planted bombs are also easy to interrupt, but have fast charges.
-Generally keeping players / weapons as far away from gates as possible is key.
If a team follows the keypoints, they will successfully defend their base. The more in depth parts will help to gain additional achievements, IE keeping offense on the beach the entire time.
InDepth Overall Defense Strategy:
The Beach:
At the start of the game, have the entire team go down to the front lines. In a full team of 10, each outer gate should have both cannons manned (preferably by ranged / casters who can dismount and add to damage control if needed. Hunters are great here). The other six players on the beach should be ready to do as much damage to the tanks before they get within firing distance of the gates.
High single target DPS melee (rogues especially) with a dedicated healer can take care of this fairly easily, while ranged casters (mage / lock) and tanking dps (ret pallies) should help keep enemy players CC’ed and off the melee. Meeting the offense right as they land on the beach and fighting them as close to the boats as possible serves as a huge advantage. The closer to the “start” the tanks are when you attack, the more time you have to break them down before they reach gates.
Keep in mind offense will also rez closer to the gates than the boats they come off on.
If the tanks come within firing distance to gates, there’s a good chance melee players have been killed. Ranged DPS and casters at this point will want to focus fire on the tanks, trying to keep the players at bay when possible, but prioritizing DPSing the weapons down.
Offense generally does not split evenly; most times one tank per gate will be dispatched, with the majority of players rushing one side. If you’re short players, one manned cannon + ground fighters on the heavy side, and two manned cannons on the other should suffice. One extra ranged attacker on the light side can also be helpful, but only if the defense team is not outnumbered by a large margin.
Ideally tanks are destroyed before they damage gates and defense manages to keep offence on the beach.
The best defense is a good offense, in the words of the wise Woulverine.
Midfield:
It’s clear the outer gates will be taken down if the tanks are within firing or ramming range with full or high health. At this point, players should fall back in prep for defending the inner gates. Ideally two players port in before the gate is destroyed and run back to man the next set of cannons. Meanwhile, current cannon players should still be using the weapons on tanks, or using their ranged attacks on enemy players. If the D team’s “offense” players, however, are taking a beating or already dead, the current cannoneers should abandon ship and take over the inner gates.
Repeat the basic strategy of keeping enemy players busy and destroying siege tanks before they get to the gate. Added troubles include making sure they don’t cap the midfield graveyards which cannot be recapped by defense, and keeping them from getting new tanks / bombs.
Keep in mind that the cannons from the inner gates will reach the graveyard flags and can be used as interrupts to keep enemy players from capping. If there aren’t any tanks in view, this should be your focus. Bombing enemy players on foot is pretty worthless. The damage is so-so, and they will generally run out of target range before the cannon hits.
Midfield is 80% of the time where an average successful defense SHOULD end.
Deep Defense:
If offense breaks through the 2nd set of gates, everybody NEEDS to fall back into the chamber and keep tanks from getting near the final gate. Again, the key is to get tanks down ASAP, and keep bombing players from getting near the final gate.
Forcing enemy players to burn their cooldowns is always a good idea at this late in the game.
IF the teams are evenly matched, or time is on your side (less time = better for D) one or two sneakier players (droods or rogues) can lag behind and try to keep new tanks from making it into the chamber. If the midfield graveyards haven’t been taken by O, it might also be worthwhile to have these players keep them from capping as long as possible. This is helpful mostly if offense resses and attacks in small groups or individually instead of a group. Buying time is always a good thing as defense. However that late in the game, chances are eventually they will get the graveyards.
If not, they’re morons.
The Final Stand:
If offense breaks through the final gate with a tank, they win. Without a tank, and with something obscene like 10 seconds to go, it’s somewhat possible to CC them (mass fear chaining, frost nova, etc.) and hold them off. This, however, is highly situational depending on your classes, organization, and time left.
In other words, good luck with that.
Mistakes
The MOST COMMON MISTAKE D makes after the first gates are down is continuing to focus the majority of their force to one side, leaving the other completely open to attack. Offense can take easy advantage of this by having the majority of their players keep the D group busy. Meanwhile 1 or 2 players can grab a tank and completely charge the other side unnoticed. In the event they ARE noticed, with nobody manning the defense cannons, one or two D players will have a tough time taking down the tanks on their own. Even if they do, there’s a good chance whatever gate was being assaulted has been broken down already, if not destroyed. There are also manual bombs that can be placed at gates to take them down.
This is why, if you’re playing defense, it is absolutely key to pay attention to the prompts that tell you what has been attacked / destroyed. Checking your map has never been so important.
Once the two inner gates have been taken down, defending the final gate becomes key. Everybody, no matter what they’re doing or who they’re fighting, should drop what they’re doing and high tail their asses to the final gate. Hell, dying and ressing at the home base may even be considered a good idea.
Remember: Even if one side has the beach gate still up, as soon as they break through even the FIRST gate on the second side, it’s time to fall back.
80% of the defense rounds I’ve lost has been this exact situation. By the time anybody notices one side is open, they’ve got both gates on one side down and are charging the final one with two tanks.
Don’t let this happen to you.
Offense
Keypoints in a Nutshell:
-Time is against you as offense. Keep this in mind at all times when choosing your moves.
-Team should be split between those who fight off enemy players, and those who focus on taking down gates as fast as possible.
-Never send a tank in without one defensive player on foot. Keeping the tanks up as long as possible is key to victory.
-DPSing down the defense cannons, especially preemptively, can buy offense a lot of time.
-Capping the mid-field graveyards will automatically bring players waiting to res to it, even if they’re on the beach.
InDepth Overall Offense Strategy:
The Beach
For both sides, what happens in the initial clash on the beach is usually a good indicator of how the round will turn out. This is especially true for offense. Defense can somewhat easily come back from a crappy initial push, especially if they’re waiting on more players. Offense, however, is fighting the clock and being held back on the beach for extended periods of time will cost them greatly.
While tanks can hold up to 3 players, I’d recommend that only one person drives, while other players prioritize defending it. Offense is not impossible without tanks, but much more difficult. Keeping as many of them up as possible is important.
Melee DPS classes should focus on keeping enemy players away from the tanks. Ranged DPS and casters would do well to crowd control anyone coming to attack, and killing their healers, if any.
If defense cannons are manned, one or two high powered casters or ranged (mage is ideal, destro lock, hunters, or even a ShS rogue are also good choices) can rush the gate and start DPSing down the cannons. They’re fairly easy to take down with good burst damage, and getting out of LoS of their firing range isn’t too hard either. Have both players focus on one at a time. Two still working cannons at half health vs one down and another up… you can do the math.
This is an often overlooked strategy that amounts to buying way more time than people think. You’ll have to watch out for counter ranged / casters who might be stationed on the platform to take you out.
If they are unmanned, they can be ignored, especially if the tank has advanced close, but there will always be the risk someone might hop on late. It’s at the discretion of the players.
Midfield
Once offense has managed to break through the outer gates, the midfield is where they’re most likely to gain huge advantages, which is important. Here, they can get new tanks, cap graveyards, and prey on a most likely broken defense. Midfield is the make-or-break stage of the fight for D. Right after a break though, chances are they’re spread out and far from where they need to be to defend the inner gates.
The likely scenario as offense is this: the “light” side of the fight, or the outer gate least defended (usually the east / right side of the map), will have been been broken through. Your s-tank will be advancing to break the inner gate. Meanwhile the defending team will be piled on the opposite side, either still fighting the rest of offense or waiting to res.
If your siege tank doesn’t already have 2 or 3 escorts, get on that. One of these escorts should also grab the graveyard on your attacking side.
Meanwhile the rest of the team should be doing everything in their power to keep defense busy and away from defending the opposite gate. This usually means camping the graveyard, and generally is pretty easy cause of PvP mentality to kill everyone in sight.
On that note, do not cap both mid-field graveyards until you have broken through an inner gate. Otherwise, they rez right where you don’t want them: on the other side of the gates you’re trying to knock down. Good ol’ SFGY philosophy.
This is also a scenario where taking out the cannons, manned or not, could prove advantageous is you’ve got an extra body to do the job. That’s because if someone decides to hop on later, they can destroy backup tanks or interrupt a gy cap.
Eventually D will catch on. You’ll notice when they start fleeing like animals towards the gate. This is when you’re O team is gonna have to push aggressively to make sure they don’t stop your s-tank from doing its job. Hopefully, though, by “catching on” it’s when they realized the inner gate is already downed and the s-tank is advancing towards the final gate.
By now, dispatch a 2nd tank, possibly 3rd if the main one has taken a beating. The Chamber / Keep is arguably the toughest fight.
Deep Offense
Depending on how much time it took you to get there, you will either meet extreme resistance or none at all. If you find that you ARE getting a lot of defense players trying to slow you down, have someone run and cap the southern graveyard (also the defense spawn point), forcing D to rez farther away from the battle. Doing so will grant you some time, and at this point you may need it. 80% of the time D will be in a state of chaotic panic if O manages to get this far.
This is where having more than one tank will come in handy. As always, focus on keeping people off and away from them. Anybody who has any sort of CC abilities, use the hell out of it. The final push is a race against time and pretty much a battle of skill / will. Breaking through the final gate will ultimately result in a win for offense.
Rogue Professions for Lich King ?
Out of guilt for ignoring my rogue, I hopped on to Elitist Jerks, who’ve always been PvE centric in their discussion. My love for raiding on my rogue just kind of exploded back into gear. And in the long run, I feel I’m just naturally better at this class than Lock(for PvE at least).
Who to level first…? I’m still torn.
Now, there’s an interesting discussion starting out on page 125/126 of the EJ Wrath Rogue thread about professions. Right now it’s mostly just speculation based on the new built-in prof buffs that we’re getting, which lends itself to some interesting theories.
In BC, the use of drums and ability to craft your own BoP items made LW pretty ideal up until t5. BoP learned spells were already under the gear I was getting from raiding, and the BoE recipes I got from Hyjal and BT were… well, BoE. I still had to pay for the matts, the only advantage was being able to make them myself. I felt, for the most part, the useful BoP LW recipes were for druids, not rogues.
Chanting was one that persisted to be good, since everybody needs chants and you got the bonus ring buffs. Engineering provided the best craftable headslot in the game for rogues, replaced pretty late in raiding. Everything else was good, but not as good.
For Lich King / 3.x, professions are getting some added “passives” which contribute to the diversifying of game play. Gathering professions offer stat bonuses and crafting professions are getting some self-buff additions.
>>> So for rogues, what will be the ideal combo?
Leatherworking is offering several self-only bracer buffs, AP of which is definitely up there. This is extremely powerful given the current state of Shiv/Instant Poison (IP will be scaling based on AP). There are also several LW only leg armors (which I found a little curious, tbh, given previous ability to offer kits to others). Also factoring in the inevitable starter epic BoP sets at max, this continues to be a solid prof for rogues.
Blacksmithing is adding extra sockets, which means extra gems. Very awesome. Again there’s the question of what weapons will be craftable. This prof is geared more towards plate wearers, but any class who can use “Metal” weapons will probably benefit, at least early on / leveling.
Enchanting is enchanting. Not much to be said. Great overall, you get a special self-bonus, and the added ability to sell enchants on AH offers the possibly for profit.
Last major consideration here is alchemy, specifically the “Mixology” passive which offers +50% effective bonus and double the buff duration.
>>>For the start of end-game raiding / casual 10 man raiding, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that LW / Alchemy will be a top combo for rogues (or other melee DPS classes), offering the most useful utility for raids. Drums becoming raid-wide is a major plus, but beingn-chainable is kind of lame.
A close 2nd would be Enchant/LW.
Once more serious end game raiding starts, Blacksmithing may become more beneficial, especially once epic gems become readily available. Depending, of course, on exactly how much added AP you get from gems, plus socket bonuses. It’s going to be a close call here. I get the feeling that epic AP gems may eventually outweigh the LW bonuses, but it really depends on which Leg / Wrist enhancements you wind up getting from LW, or if an Enchantment may be better for bracers than LW (unlikely). Chances are BoP craftible items from LW will eventually be surpassed by raid drops / tier gear as it was in BC. Blacksmithing weapons, still not sure about.
As far as a partner to BS for end-game, I still feel strongly that the Mixology buff will continue to prove a huge advantage (especially money-saving) during raids. BS/Alch may be the top choice for higher tier end-game raiding. BS/LW is a close 2nd. As always, Enchanting also makes for a top contender as well.
For PvP rogues, BS/Ench I feel would be the most beneficial all around. Added resil/crit gems may prove to be game-breaking in highly competitive PvP. I imagine most people aren’t going to use pots/elixirs for bg’s or world pvp, and they can’t be used in arena. I’m aware ‘chemists are getting arena-pots, but as far as I know they’re not going to benefit much from Mixology (definitely room to be wrong here, though, I haven’t looked much into exactly what the arena-pots do). There aren’t many other combos I can think that would benefit PvP Rogues (or most PvP players) than BS/Ench.
Other general thoughts on professions:
Inscription is still up in the air for me right now. The only self buffing mechanic in this profession is the Rune system, which I’ve yet to see fleshed in beta or PTR. As such, I’ve left it out for now. However, once more information about this becomes available, it’s quite possible it will be a big contender as a desirable end-game profession.
Engineering is for the most part as it’s always been: a fun profession that offers random and sometimes helpful buffs. Hunters, however, may find the +40 range crit enhancement useful, depending on it’s rival enchantments.
Interesting to note, however, a lot of the item enhancements added in Wrath could prove useful in Battlegroundsl/World PvP, making Ench/Engin a possible contender for desirable profs. Specifically, being able to turn a cloak into a parachute, an alleged unending-until-canceled speed buff to boots, a belt clip that stuns mechanicals (EXTREMELY useful in witnergrasp/strand of the ancients, assuming this applies to siege weapons as well), among other things.
Whether or not it would be useful in Arena depends on the likely event they are not even useable in there.
Jewelcrafting is a big money maker, and doing it yourself is a money saver. But as far as I know, it doesn’t offer much else in the way self-buffing that would provide any bonuses.
>> In conclusion, it’s still pretty early to really decide on what profs will be the best for rogues. A huge factor weigh in will be once a more composite list of what high-level epic recipes start dropping and offer as far as gear / weapons.
Definitely fun to think about.
PvP Videos / Thoughts on Strand of the Ancients / Wintergrasp
I made two short PvP videos from Strand. The first is of Holy Priest, build can be found in this entry. THe quality of that video is extremely terrible. I had to use my mac’s in-game movie capture, and the lag was… well you can see what it was. I’m probably going to take it down as soon as I can make a better one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZV7JfwnSn4
only a link cause it’s not worth embedding XD
Second is deep Affliction lock. Quality is way better, Frap’ed from my PC (which i didn’t want to do cause of the lack of ground textures) and I uploaded a big file so there’s the “high quality” option on youtube as well.
People are freaking angry on the internet, btw. Comments so far have been “you suck” or “You suck, and the fact that you killed people means they suck more.”
Wow, can’t win. XD Especially since I think it’s pretty obvious the video was for fun.
Cest’la’vie!
Link for high quality : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8d_JIiitM0
Ah, Strand of the Ancients. Where to start….
After doing some thinking to write out my in-depth strategies for the BG, I noticed that this is strinkingly similiar to a certain competetive pvp match in Guild Wars (coughFORTASPENWOODcough), which is my favorite.
Two sides, one with siege weapons, and two sets of gates to break through, plus a final one.
Hmmmmmm….
The battleground itself is fairly fun to play. Obviously the new weapons (siege tanks and defense cannons) bring a whole new level of experience and a welcome relife form “capture the flag / node” monotony of previous battlegrounds.
There are still a lot of downsides, though. The set up is way too forumlated. You start as either defense or offense (from my experience, horde seems to always start defense in round 1), and fight to either capture or defend the keep. You have a set ammount of time to do this, and then it’s on to round two in which sides are switched. Very repetetive and this gets dull after a while.
Outcomes are either:
-Both sides defend and it’s a draw, which is the most common outcome from what’ I’ve seen.
-One team defends as well as captures the enemy keep which is a full victory.
-Both sides capture the keep (I’ve yet to see this happen).
I’m not sure if it’s a glitch or not, but I only have 2 Strand marks on my lock, out of all the games I’ve played. Either this is a bug or you only get a mark for a complete loss or three for a complete win, and none for draws (that doesn’t quite add up to me).
I don’t mind it overall, it’s definitely fun. Just needs to be fleshed out a little more.
More Northrend Exploration / Videos
Since my mac loads ground textures, I did some more exploring around the Borean Tundra mostly, with a few shots of the Nexus, the very badass Warsong Hold (SAURFANG <333) and a few scattered shots from the Dragons Blight. Screens at the end of the post and soon to be added to the slide show.
While flying, I noticed a strange vignette screen effect when going over the shores of southern Borean Tundra, specifically over Gorrash’s Landing and Riplash Strand.
This is what it looks like:
And a video of it in action:
o_O http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOGOOk_ZxCY
Anyway, on to the pretty:
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Intro to Northrend Screenblog / Texture Issues
Unfortunately, I’m one of the many players with older computers using the Radeon 9000 series video cards that are having issues loading ground textures.
This problem’s been around for the past 2 patches or so, for at least 2-3 weeks. It’s really lame/frustrating for me cause I never got passed the DK starting area before the glitch. I finally hopped on some premades to check out Northrend and Dalaran, and low and behold, it’s broken.
Either way, my friend let me hop on beta on his laptop and I was able to do a little exploring. Blizz did a wonderful job with the environments and architecture, and the new graphics engine makes everything look fabulous (fire and woooosh effects!). It reminds me of the soft/glowy feel from Guild Wars.
Anyway, here’s a quick preview of I’ve been up to on beta, on and off the past few weeks.
Dreanei DK: Wings NOT included
Riding in Style
Cube Mal’Ganis does not approve.
Stag Bison fighting for some putang.
And a series of screenshots from Northrend: Howling Fjord and the Grizzly Hills.
        
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Ramblings on Wrath builds
So i’m playing around with the WotLK talent calculator, basically trying to figure out on my own what might be some good builds for leveling my lock and rogue. Most of the builds posted online are for 80′s and don’t account for leveling 
I figure going pure PvP or Raid spec like most 70′s won’t work too well!
Either way, I’m still not an expert at my lock, but I came up with a few fun ideas for her first.
37/14/10
Bizarre to spread points out in all 3 trees without going deep into any. BUT:
I figure from Demo I get the survivability advantage of SL/SL plus the stam, int, and armor bonus’.
Affliction as always gives a ton of bonus damage for my dots, self healing, and chance for instant shadow bolts. No longer a real need for Dark Pact, a good relief I think.
Destro, put points into impvoved SB for obvious reasons, bane for a faster SB. I originally had a point in Shadowburn for the extra insta-cast finisher, but realized that would hinder going deep Affliction without a respec before 80, so took that out. Might be an option if respeccing is not an issue.
As far as putting points as one levels before the final respec, I figure continue into affliction:
2/2 improved CoA or Life Tap, Finish filling out contagion, grab UA. 3/3 Death’s Embrace, and 3/3 Eradication will bring us to level 80.
Obvious losses would include not getting the final 2 skills in Aff. But, for leveling, I think this build combines some of the strongest low point talents from all 3 trees to make killing enemies (especially more than 1) easier.
35/36/0 = terrible attempt at an 80 PvP build.
From the Beta lock Forums
60/11/0
My vote for the most popular PvP spec. If you really want CoEx, sacrifice a point in Eradication.
54/17/0
Backup Affliction spec in case 1 pet isn’t enough.
0/17/54
Destruction PvP.
9/51/11
Meta with Felhunter PvP. Could probably be tweaked better, not too much thought put into this – Maybe the raw damage of a Felguard would be better.
Quick ref for level 80 priest builds
Holy>>>20/51/0
Disc>>> 56/15/0
Rogue (3.0 70 Builds)
EJ Spreadsheet
EJ Skill DPS Breakdown
51/5/5 Mutilate A
51/5/5 Mutilate B
