The proposed Shared Topic over at Blog Azeroth caught my eye this week. I must say I've been lazy with these, always saying I wanted to write something up but never getting around to it. Well this topic marks my triumphant return to the Shared Topic! Let's all pause while the choir of angels rejoices.

Ok then! Now on to the purpose. As a DPS, I find that I have two main jobs in a raid. The first is what I would consider the most obvious. I bring damage . . . per second, as it were. Hence the name DPS. But what I would consider the most important is the second job. I should be minimizing the damage that I take. Many casters possess powerful defensive cooldowns. Damn you, mages, I'd love an iceblock. It's easy to learn a rotation or read up on maximizing gear and damage potential. It's much harder to stay aware in the raid setting and minimize the damage that is being taken.

In the end, we're not brought to the raid because of our ability to press buttons. We can all press buttons and like I said, that's the easy part. What is it that makes a DPS worth taking? Raid awareness and the ability to avoid or reduce incoming damage. That said, I'm about to spin a very grim picture of when a healer ought to let a DPS die.

In most fights, there is some incidental damage. This damage is usually either very focused or some type of aura. Healers should be expected to handle this type of damage. But a DPS should be left on their own if they aren't doing what they need to in order to minimize that incoming damage. If there's a firebomb, you might get hit with it. But if you're still standing in the fire 1 second later, finishing that cast or scratching your bum, the healer should cut the cord on you. If there's a cleave and the boss gets turned but you're too lazy to reposition, the healer should cut the cord. If it's a dragon and you're getting smacked by the tail, the healer should cut the cord. If there's a big wave of fire, some deadly poison, ice raining from the sky, rocks falling down, or otherwise unhealthy beams of light, and you, as DPS, don't get out of the way, you deserve to take that death. And don't even breathe angrily at the healer because you were failing at your job.

Unfortunately, in today's world of splash healing, DPS have been encouraged to form bad habits. AoE healing tends to slip into a healer's rotation and keep up poor players. But a little birdie tells me that in Cataclysm, AoE healing will be reserved for AoE healing situations. Additionally, mana management will be a concern again, so spam healing the DPS dipstick who isn't doing his part to minimize damage taken won't be viable.

When it comes down too it, if the healer in the raid/group is keeping everyone else alive and the same DPS keeps dying, the blame doesn't lie with with healer. Most encounters are designed so that gross incompetence is rewarded with death. Healers should not have to try very hard to prevent that from occurring. So like the great Eric Clapton says: "Before you accuse the healer, take a look at yourself!" . . . leastways I think it goes somethin' like that . . .

I couldn’t help but steal my title from an Alfie Kohn book that delves into the results of reward driven motivation versus intrinsic desire. This concept (maybe even philosophy) is tied very closely to any voluntary act. Why choose to do the things we do? Nobody is forcing the millions of players that play WoW to log on, so why do we continue to log on? Moreover, will those factors that get us into our chairs for hours of raiding ever reach such a diminished point that we will no longer find the reward worth the effort expended researching fights and pouring over combat logs and loot lists? Let me break down some of my initial stances.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within. Embodied by doing what you want because you want to do it, intrinsic motivation often acts as the most powerful motivator for many individuals. Players with intrinsic motivation to play will continue to play irregardless of gear or boss kills. They don’t mind farming for days or weeks. They don’t need to see all of the content of the game because they aren’t logging on to beat the game. They are logging on because they want to spend some time in their virtual world playing their virtual hero. For them, that is enough. Everything else is just gravy!

Extrinsic Motivation

This is the proverbial carrot on a stick. Sometimes a task is only worth doing if there’s something in it for you. Who cares about the trip when there’s a destination. The majority of competitive progressive raiders fall under this category. Gear, boss kills, server rankings, hell even world rankings drive these players to repeat battles to a point where tedium barely begins to express the repetition. These players are fiercely loyal to the game until the carrot disappears. Then they often find themselves “burnt-out” or “disenchanted” with the game.

The Battle of Motivators

I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve nodded your head to what I’ve said above, as it is all pretty self-evident in my opinion. Here’s where things get interesting. Extrinsic motivation decreases intrinsic motivation, even if we like doing what we’re doing. At some point in time, the carrot overpowers our internal desire to do whatever we like. Yes, this is a blanket statement and yes there are exceptions, so consider it a generalization.

Now, consider the nature of WoW’s reward system. You are rewarded for completing the same quest every day through financial means. You are rewarded by engaging in and successfully completing battles through gear and achievements. You are rewarded for tenaciously seeking every quest in the game through achievements. There are even rewards for battling and defeating other players that can only be achieved through such actions. Everywhere you turn in WoW there is a positive reinforcement waiting to pat you on the back and say “Great job!” This sort of extrinsic motivation begins to eat away at our desire to play the game for the sake of the adventure. We start logging on to kill X boss who drops Y loot so we can better our virtual selves.

Penalty System

So WoW rewards the crap out of you. How about negative reinforcement? Well let me say that had I written this before ToC came out, I would have been full of blood, piss, and vinegar. Now I’m probably less acidic. The penalty system in WoW has been slowly decaying since the launch of the game. Players don’t like to be penalized for dying. They don’t like having to travel long distances to complete quests or even switch zones. Players don’t like spending all of their gold repairing their gear. But is not liking something reason enough for developers to cave to every whim? Spirits move faster now, travel routes have been reworked, hearthstone cooldowns reduced, more portals implemented, faster flying mounts, the list goes on. Even repairing gear has become a trivial matter. I repair and spend 60 gold with a shrug. Hell, I don’t even care if its with an exalted vendor. Dailies make that kind of gold a drop in the bucket and easily recoupable.

The advent of ToC tribute runs has brought back the penalty system in what I feel is an appropriate way. A penalty system should not discourage a player, but rather encourage a player to excel. The ToC tribute system does just that, placing the emphasis on the quality of an attempt and troubleshooting between attempts as opposed to raw attempt numbers hoping that everything will click together after enough chances. Players are honing their individual skills in an attempt to complete the tributes in as few attempts as possible. This penalty system encourages players to take more care and better their individual efforts.

Should Players Be Penalized?

It’s tough to say yes or no to this, as penalties and negative reinforcement both can deter players from attempting parts of the game or cause unrest. I do feel that there should be a separation of tiers. I also feel that the defining factor between seeing these tiers should be skill, not time. Granted, a minimum amount of time would always be required, but that should not be the single defining factor between an endgame raider and a casual player. The term “casual raider” should not exclude a player from downing Yogg or seeing Algalon, yet it tends to do just that. Raid lockout extensions do allow a casual player to artificially bolster their “weekly play-time”, and in some ways I really like the concept. But that’s a work-around for the real problem: Content takes too much time for a casual player to consistently clear. Even when I was in my former guild pushing server firsts, we took multiple nights to clear Ulduar. I see this as an unfair penalty (a caste system based on playtime).

Get ready to hate me. I’d love to see a death timer with upwards of 1 hour times. I’d love to have to pay for lodgings or earn them in some manner. I’d love to see travel time at least remain the same. I want to see less gear, less epic, less rare. Rewards in WoW are starting to lose their glamor for me. And I think it is due entirely to the over-abundance of rewards. Bring back some punishments, bring back the grind. Sure I will complain, but in the end, I'll be all the more proud of my accomplishment as it becomes non-trivial. This is exactly why I am working on the Insane achievement. Sure, I probably won't finish it in time, but I have put in many hours and invested lots of gold to seek out an accomplishment that is not your average accomplishment.

I see now that I have wandered well off topic so allow me to conclude by simply asking every player to evaluate his/her motivation for playing and if the "hardships" they endure while playing are frivolous or amplifiers to the accomplishment beyond. Happy gaming you psychological puppets!

We were given some license this week to choose the instance we want to spruce up. I picked Ragefire Chasm (map) because it's an instance that I used to ghetto-hearth all the time and it never got the respect it deserved from me. Also, it's massively accessible in much the same way the Stockades are massively accessible to the Alliance.



Here's a little back-history from Wowikki.com

Ragefire Chasm was first discovered by Chief Goblin Engineer Gazlowe, during Rexxar's visit to Orgrimmar. Beneath the city of Orgrimmar lies this fiery chasm. Recently, a clan of troggs known as Ragefire Troggs have begun to appear in the chasm, from deep below the lava-filled tunnels. Magatha the Seer, of the tauren people, attempted to make peace with these creatures, but was met only with hostility. It was clear that these troggs were not interested in diplomacy, and could potentially overwhelm the entire Horde if left unchecked.
A sect of the mysterious Shadow Council has also taken refuge in this chasm. This sect is known as the Searing Blade, and is led by Taragaman the Hungerer, a felguard; Jergosh the Invoker, a powerful warlock; and Bazzalan, a satyr. From their dark hiding place, they plot to overthrow and destroy all that the Horde has built for themselves in these lands.

If you haven't run RFC, you should. The very first thing to do in RFC is go find the corpse of a Maur Grimtotem. His earthly remains are guarded by his assumed assailant Oggleflint. For shame, Maur. Who gets killed by someone named Oggleflint?!?

From there, you mosey on over to kill a felguard named Taragaman the Hungerer. What a great name. Next in line is an Orc Warlock named Jergosh the Invoker. He's a leader of the Searing Blade and prototypical angry/demonic orc. He gives orcs a bad name! (yes, you should be singing Bon Jovi) Finally, you trek up to Bazzalan, a Satyr who also acts as a leader of the Searing Blade. All in all a fun time with several different feeling bosses. Good trash packs too!

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And then, the mountains were sundered and the lava pools below burst forth, also allowing the release of some very dark magics planted in the deepest bowels of the Ragefire Chasm by none other than the nefarious warlock Jergosh. In the midst of violent magics and tremendous forces, the Ragefire Chasm thrust through the crust of Azeroth and pushed towards the sky, bringing with it the remains of those killed previously.

Jergosh the Invoker returns as Jergosh the Cursed, an undead warlock of immense power. He summons to his side the Satyr Bazzalan, rotted and decayed but held together by powerful dark forces, this Satyr knows no remorse or mercy and will gladly sacrifice parts of himself to smite his enemies.

Unintentionally resurrected in the chaos was the brave spirit of Maur Grimtotem. His spirit ripped from the serenity of the afterlife, Jergosh quickly realized his power and imprisoned him in a chamber deep inside the Ragefire Chasm. Maur is in grave danger of being consumed by the dark forces swirling in the ever-rising lava, where his soul would be destroyed and lost forever from the light.

Adventurer's are moved by the plea of Magatha Grimtotem, who sensed her clansman's spiritual return and torment. Magatha places a bounty on Jergosh's head and a reward for the safe return of clansman's soul.

10 Changes:

1. Rising Magma - This is the biggest change. Much like Molten Core, you would be working your way down into the heart of Azeroth to free Maur of his confines. The magma seeping into the Chasm will destroy his prison and his soul in 25 minutes after you enter the instance. Possible Achievement or special mount here.
   
   
2. Rescuing Maur is a new Daily Heroic Dungeon quest.
   
   
3. Jergosh the Invoker becomes Jergosh the Cursed, twisted by his own evil magic. He no longer casts curse of weakness but rather has a new aura, reducing all attributes by 3% every 5 seconds. Jergosh learned Conflagrate to accompany his vicious Immolate. Conflagrate hits for a large (>15k) amount of damage. He will also summon souls of those that have died in Ragefire to attack as well.
   
   
4. Achievement for killing Jergosh in under a minute.
   
   
5. Bazzalan will have targetable parts much like Kologarn (only smaller in scale) and each different part, when destroyed, provides Bazzalan with a new ability as he integrates the destroyed part into his arsenal.
   
   
6. Possible Hard Modes on Bazzalan depending on the kill order of the parts.
   
   
7. Taragaman the Hungerer is resummoned by Jergosh upon the first encounter with Jergosh. Jergosh teleports himself to the gate of Maur's Prison after summoning. Fire Nova range increased to 100 yards to force damage on group. Taragaman also has an intercept and an enrage/focus for 10 seconds every 30 seconds. During this time he is untauntable and must either be kited or healed through.
   
   
8. Trash packs WILL require CC until massively outgeared. Many of the humanoids will have AoE capabilities and need to be controlled.
   
   
9. Troggs seem to be thriving on the demonic energies and have become much more powerful and aggressive.
   
   
10. The Lava Elementals have fused with the Earthborers to make what appear at first site to be worms made of Lava. Due to their fiery hot bodies, they cause durability loss on weapons at a slightly accelerated pace.

That's my quick list. I'd really like to see Ragefire Chasm rise up from the ruins of Durotar if it does get destroyed like I heard whispers about. So, adventurer, what dost thou think?

I'm always meaning to do these, but somehow forget. But today it showed up in my Dashboard so here I am.

When I sat down to brainstorm for this post I thought I was against Faction Changes. I felt as though they would unbalance the servers and in a way, eliminate any distinction between the Horde and the Alliance. Upon closer examination, I discovered these feelings to be based upon old stereotypes of Alliance vs. Horde players.

I found several positive impacts of Faction Changes. As a former high level raider, I am aware of the recruiting problems that accompany running a successful raiding guild. Faction Changes will open up a whole new player base for recruitment. This is great for upper level guilds searching for replacements or new members.

From a player perspective, we become emotionally invested in our main characters. My very first character was a NE Druid in Beta named Jadetalon. When WoW released I created an identical character named Relevart because I was used to how that character looked. I got the original Rel to 60 and found myself trying to break into a raiding guild on a server that only had two options. Eventually some a group of us re-rolled horde side on a brand new server so we could establish a raiding guild and gather the best players on the server in one guild. How much simpler would it have been to take my character with max trade skills and many tier 1 and 2 pieces and transfer over to the new server and new faction? I had several items that I would have liked to retain on the new Rel. I spent days, weeks even, farming for a Dark Whelpling on the original Rel and I had to do it all over again on the new Rel. Faction Changes would allow me to keep the character I put so much work into.

Along the same line as retaining character specific items/achievements is re-leveling a different character to max level again. Sure, heirlooms have made this easier. But honestly, leveling a character is a grind. It's a grind that many people, myself included, dislike immensely. Faction Changes eliminate the need to grind levels or gear that had been previously acquired.

I am trying to remain neutral on the following topic, but frankly, given previous statements by Blizz, I am struggling to do so. Faction Changes give Blizzard yet another way to generate revenue. In fact, Blizzard reversed an earlier stated decision to deny Faction Changes. Andrew from Of Teeth and Claws wrote a little blurb about companies caving to player desires. I think this is a prime example. You could always switch factions! It just required a lot of work and dedication. Now, you pay Blizzard and voila! You are leveled, geared, and on the opposite faction! It feels very similar to powerleveling services. I think next in line would be the ability to buy gold from Blizzard since not all players can dedicate tons of time to dailies or crafting or farming of any kind. Naturally, this is speculation and likely a hyperbole, but I can't help but feel that Blizzard is spoon-feeding the player base whatever flavor-of-the-month demand might be circulating. I see this as a sign that Blizzard is only interested in tiding us (the player base) over until the next new MMO (non-WoW).

It's very tough to put a moral judgement on Faction Changes. I think that they offer players valid benefits that, due to the character specific nature of some aspects of the game, are needed. I also feel that it would not be a far stretch of the imagination to find a way to exploit the Faction Changes. The best players can now become mercenaries, hopping from server to server and faction to faction in order to collect titles. Only time will tell if Faction Changes will be a boon to WoW or a burden for the static player base.