It's easy to forget now, but there was actually what seemed like a pretty major talent revamp in Cataclysm.
Throughout Classic, Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King, there was no moment at which you explicitly chose a spec. Instead, each class had three talent trees. Every level starting at level 10, you'd get a single point to put into one of the many talents in these trees. Once you had put five into a tree, the second tier of talents would open up, another ten (though the second group of five did not have to go into the second tier of talents) would unlock the third, until about twenty levels below the cap, at which point you would have the final talent of the tree. Typically, you'd then start investing in some of the low-level talents of other trees.
The odd consequence of this was that until you got to level twenty or even thirty, there actually wasn't a huge difference between the various specs - an ostensibly Holy Paladin could easily tank a dungeon at that level.
Cataclysm added the idea that you would choose a spec at level 10 and instantly get a number of clear bonuses to really drive home the idea that you had chosen that specialization. Rather than very gradually orienting an Enhancement Shaman toward melee attacks, you immediately had Lava Lash and an ability that gave you spellpower based on your attack power.
They also locked you into a given spec - there were actually builds back in the day that put a relatively even number of points into multiple talent trees, but Cataclysm locked off the trees outside your spec until you had spent enough to have the final talent (though you didn't actually need to spend that last point on that final talent.)
Obviously, Mists of Pandaria's talent overhaul was far more dramatic, with the new system making Specialization and Talents completely different game mechanics.
In addition to the number squish we got for Warlords (something that I imagine most people don't even think about anymore. Remember when we were doing 300k DPS in Mists?) there was also an "ability squish" that seriously reduced the number of abilities clogging up action bars. Mostly, this was a good thing (I'm so glad that Mages don't have to mutli-dot with their bomb spells to AoE anymore and constantly use their mana-regeneration talents. Leave that to Warlocks!) But while I think they pushed things in the right direction, it was something of a half-measure, much as the Cataclysm talent revamp was.
There's nothing terribly specific, but at this Dragoncon, we started to hear about the idea of giving lots of specs new resources and even new names (the latter of these is the most mind-blowing.) Survival Hunters, we know, will be essentially a whole new spec, but I wonder how extensive these class changes will be.
Major class changes can be a big risk, and I've certainly had my disappointments in this department (Arms Warriors. Never Forget.) But on the other hand, perhaps some serious re-working could result in much more interesting specs. In Cataclysm, all three Warlocks specs played pretty similarly, but the tear-it-down, build-it-up approach they took to revamping the class resulted in some really cool gameplay (at least for Demo,) and also, even though this isn't really the most important thing in the world, some cool-looking elements added to the UI.
Taking Arms Warriors as an example, the revamp in Warlords was meant to focus the spec more on making those massive Mortal Strike hits. But in order to do that, they had to remove a lot of smaller sources of damage, like Overpower. If Blizzard were to go so far as to create a whole different resource system for Arms (Rage always seemed more appropriate for Fury,) they might be able to custom-design it to ensure that Arms got compelling gameplay instead of the current model of "auto-attack until you have enough Rage."
I've been lamenting the death of two-handed Frost and begrudgingly forcing myself to play DW Frost for the remainder of Warlords to prepare myself, but it's possible that this is foolish, because for all we know, the spec might be getting overhauled with a totally different rotation.
Blizzard does need to tread lightly here, though. As someone who plays a Paladin as a main, I remember the transition in Cataclysm to Holy Power. Ultimately I think it was a good move for the class and prefer the way Protection plays now over pretty much any earlier iteration of the spec, but not all these changes are going to be big hits (and there are still people who want to get rid of Holy Power these days for some reason.) Rotations do naturally have to change somewhat over time - some Rogue specs essentially play the same way they have since vanilla - but sudden, jarring changes have to be managed carefully. And doing this to every spec, or even most specs, could really cause a cascade of discontent - even if those changes actually improve the gameplay of those specs.
As someone who doesn't really play a Survival Hunter, it's easy for me to sit back and think its cool that Hunters are getting a melee spec. But if they turned around and made Protection Paladins into a healing spec, you can be sure I'd be grabbing my torch and pitchfork and driving down to Orange County.
Here's looking at Blizzcon, and hopefully imminently thereafter, the Legion beta.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Friday, September 4, 2015
Moonkin Form Revamp Coming!
Ok, I literally just posted the previous article, but here's another tidbit:
Moonkin Form will be receiving an update in Legion! Hooray!
The Moonkin form still uses the model from way back in vanilla (and other than the horned, Tauren version, is, I believe, just the normal owlbear model found in northern Kalimdor, with different color variations for different races.)
I really hope that this will be an extensive revamp like the Bear/Cat one that happened mid-Wrath. Hopefully the different races will have noticeably different models (going beyond the aforementioned Tauren horns) and different color variations based on hair and fur color. Give Troll Moonkin little voodoo charms on their antlers and Worgen could play up the Wickerman, "scary type of pagan" side of Druidism with their look.
This is fantastic news, especially after a miscommunication at today's Q&A suggested that Moonkin were explicitly not getting a revamp.
So if I go back to Balance, I'll have to undo that Glyph of Astral Form (or Glyph of Stars? Whatever it's called.)
I also hope that they do variations on the form based on artifacts like they're doing for Guardian and Feral Druids, though in fairness, Balance Druids do already get to see their weapons while shapeshifted, so this isn't entirely necessary.
Moonkin Form will be receiving an update in Legion! Hooray!
The Moonkin form still uses the model from way back in vanilla (and other than the horned, Tauren version, is, I believe, just the normal owlbear model found in northern Kalimdor, with different color variations for different races.)
I really hope that this will be an extensive revamp like the Bear/Cat one that happened mid-Wrath. Hopefully the different races will have noticeably different models (going beyond the aforementioned Tauren horns) and different color variations based on hair and fur color. Give Troll Moonkin little voodoo charms on their antlers and Worgen could play up the Wickerman, "scary type of pagan" side of Druidism with their look.
This is fantastic news, especially after a miscommunication at today's Q&A suggested that Moonkin were explicitly not getting a revamp.
So if I go back to Balance, I'll have to undo that Glyph of Astral Form (or Glyph of Stars? Whatever it's called.)
I also hope that they do variations on the form based on artifacts like they're doing for Guardian and Feral Druids, though in fairness, Balance Druids do already get to see their weapons while shapeshifted, so this isn't entirely necessary.
The Fates of the Wrynns
The Wrynn dynasty has been through the ringer in the last few decades. First, the noble Llane Wrynn was murdered by Garona Halforcen - a person he had thought was a dear friend (though honestly, I don't really understand how the timeline works here. How long did they know each other? How long was the First War?) Varian's wife, Queen Tiffin, was killed in a riot after Stormwind was finally rebuilt (and yes, this is a bit of a fridging situation - Blizzard's got a good story, but they do sometimes fall into "Boy's Club" habits.) And then, after all that crap, Varian got kidnapped and spent years in prison, and then apparently got his personality split into two separate people and... look, I don't read the comics.
Anyway, at this point, things are actually going pretty decently for Stormwind and the Alliance. With the Horde defeated (or at least forced into a change of management) after the Siege of Orgrimmar, and the Iron Horde stopped dead in its tracks, the Alliance has had a few years to take a breather, work on rebuilding its infrastructure and consolidating its territories on Azeroth.
Varian and Anduin also seem to have reconciled their differences - Varian wanted Anduin to be a strong warrior like him, but Anduin is a more thoughtful and patient type. But Varian has managed to accept that his son is not necessarily what he had expected, and that that's ok.
We know that Anduin will be one of the major figures in Legion - he's listed on the official website. But Varian will not. Yet Varian appears in the announcement trailer, and the single screenshot we saw of the Legion cinematic showed Varian... so...
This doesn't bode well for Varian Wrynn.
Legion is going to be a big deal. After the "stakes, what stake?" problems of Warlords, it might be hard to grasp, but Legion will be the highest stakes expansion yet. This is the straight-up Burning Legion invading with a bigger force than they had in the War of the Ancients. This is their biggest play they've ever made for Azeroth, and the Legion only makes big plays (ok, to be fair, Varimathras' coup in Undercity wasn't a huge play - more of a strike of opportunity.)
The point is, this is what we call a hero-killing moment. Blizzard basically has to kill off major characters here in order to make the stakes clear. Tirion Fordring is more or less a dead man, and while Thrall might live, he's made enough bad decisions that have bitten him in the ass that I could see him going catatonic in the face of this threat - great alternative, right?
I have a strong feeling that Varian will die in the initial invasion.
But this will do a lot to invigorate Anduin Wrynn. Prophet Velen foresaw Anduin leading the Army of the Light against the Burning Legion, and it really seems like that prophecy is on its way.
I do wonder, though, what that means for Anduin in terms of his class. So far, Anduin has been a Priest (he's even the Hearthstone Priest hero,) but in the vision, Velen sees him as a Paladin. Leading an army is, after all, more the kind of thing a Paladin would do, and in a way, it would fit for him to kind of merge his own Priestly identity with the Warrior tradition of his father. Also, it just seems like the Alliance ought to have a Paladin as its leader. That said, I could understand a lot of Priests getting upset about that.
But if Anduin becomes the King of Stromwind (again - remember that during Vanilla and BC he was King, with Bolvar Fordragon as his regent,) and potentially High King of the Alliance (a title I don't really like, because High King suggests that they're all Kingdoms, when really only Stormwind and Gilneas have Kings... well, Ironforge does, but he's a big rock at the moment,) that could mean some really odd things for Alliance/Horde relations. Anduin has always been a strong advocate for peace with the Horde, and has held fast to that conviction even after the atrocities committed by Garrosh.
But perhaps we're getting ahead of ourselves. The Legion's the big matter at hand. We don't even know what Azeroth is going to look like afterwards (I'd assume it survives, given that I don't think they're going to just shut down the servers after the expansion's final boss is defeated - even if they lose another two million subscribers, it'll still be the biggest subscription-based MMO in the world, and that means more expansions will follow.)
Anduin has grown up before our eyes in-game, with the announcement trailer making it look like he's finally a real adult. He might not be up for slaughtering hundred of Orcs en masse, but I'm eager to see him blast a bunch of demons back to the Nether. Expect upheaval in Legion, and perhaps the deaths of kings.
Anyway, at this point, things are actually going pretty decently for Stormwind and the Alliance. With the Horde defeated (or at least forced into a change of management) after the Siege of Orgrimmar, and the Iron Horde stopped dead in its tracks, the Alliance has had a few years to take a breather, work on rebuilding its infrastructure and consolidating its territories on Azeroth.
Varian and Anduin also seem to have reconciled their differences - Varian wanted Anduin to be a strong warrior like him, but Anduin is a more thoughtful and patient type. But Varian has managed to accept that his son is not necessarily what he had expected, and that that's ok.
We know that Anduin will be one of the major figures in Legion - he's listed on the official website. But Varian will not. Yet Varian appears in the announcement trailer, and the single screenshot we saw of the Legion cinematic showed Varian... so...
This doesn't bode well for Varian Wrynn.
Legion is going to be a big deal. After the "stakes, what stake?" problems of Warlords, it might be hard to grasp, but Legion will be the highest stakes expansion yet. This is the straight-up Burning Legion invading with a bigger force than they had in the War of the Ancients. This is their biggest play they've ever made for Azeroth, and the Legion only makes big plays (ok, to be fair, Varimathras' coup in Undercity wasn't a huge play - more of a strike of opportunity.)
The point is, this is what we call a hero-killing moment. Blizzard basically has to kill off major characters here in order to make the stakes clear. Tirion Fordring is more or less a dead man, and while Thrall might live, he's made enough bad decisions that have bitten him in the ass that I could see him going catatonic in the face of this threat - great alternative, right?
I have a strong feeling that Varian will die in the initial invasion.
But this will do a lot to invigorate Anduin Wrynn. Prophet Velen foresaw Anduin leading the Army of the Light against the Burning Legion, and it really seems like that prophecy is on its way.
I do wonder, though, what that means for Anduin in terms of his class. So far, Anduin has been a Priest (he's even the Hearthstone Priest hero,) but in the vision, Velen sees him as a Paladin. Leading an army is, after all, more the kind of thing a Paladin would do, and in a way, it would fit for him to kind of merge his own Priestly identity with the Warrior tradition of his father. Also, it just seems like the Alliance ought to have a Paladin as its leader. That said, I could understand a lot of Priests getting upset about that.
But if Anduin becomes the King of Stromwind (again - remember that during Vanilla and BC he was King, with Bolvar Fordragon as his regent,) and potentially High King of the Alliance (a title I don't really like, because High King suggests that they're all Kingdoms, when really only Stormwind and Gilneas have Kings... well, Ironforge does, but he's a big rock at the moment,) that could mean some really odd things for Alliance/Horde relations. Anduin has always been a strong advocate for peace with the Horde, and has held fast to that conviction even after the atrocities committed by Garrosh.
But perhaps we're getting ahead of ourselves. The Legion's the big matter at hand. We don't even know what Azeroth is going to look like afterwards (I'd assume it survives, given that I don't think they're going to just shut down the servers after the expansion's final boss is defeated - even if they lose another two million subscribers, it'll still be the biggest subscription-based MMO in the world, and that means more expansions will follow.)
Anduin has grown up before our eyes in-game, with the announcement trailer making it look like he's finally a real adult. He might not be up for slaughtering hundred of Orcs en masse, but I'm eager to see him blast a bunch of demons back to the Nether. Expect upheaval in Legion, and perhaps the deaths of kings.
Some Interesting Legion Details at Dragoncon
The twitter feed @mmoc_events (that of MMO-Central, not to be confused with MMO-Champion) and also Elvine (@Elvinelol) live-tweeted an event with Jonathan LeCraft (a Blizzard designer on WoW) in which we got some really interesting tidbits about Legion.
The series is pretty rapid-fire - it's clearly just a quickly-typed recording of a Q&A - but it's got some really juicy details. I'm not exactly sure how I'll be organizing it, but I'll start with the things I found the most interesting:
I only ask that they don't do anything too radical to Protection Paladins. Call us Defender Paladins or whatever, but don't suddenly make us into dodge-focused tanks who have to run into spheres of light in order to block attacks.
The series is pretty rapid-fire - it's clearly just a quickly-typed recording of a Q&A - but it's got some really juicy details. I'm not exactly sure how I'll be organizing it, but I'll start with the things I found the most interesting:
- The current plan is for Demon Hunters to start at level 98, which I think works out fine. Having a quest experience equivalent to all of Nagrand B? Great! (I'm sure it won't be quite as extensive as a whole zone, and you'll be earning more XP per quest to ensure you're 100 by the time you get out.)
- Demon Hunters will be able to use one-handed swords as well as glaives, presumably so that they can allow them to wield the Warglaives of Azzinoth. Frankly, at this point wouldn't it make more sense to just make all Demon Hunter glaives swords?
- Demon Hunter Metamorphosis will be a relatively short-duration transformation, and not like a Druid form that you stay in constantly. It sounds like it will be less often than Demonology currently uses it - which is basically in and out constantly in combat.
- Pretty much all specs are getting a lot of work done to make sure they have a unique identity. This makes me a little worried, because major revamps can cut out the most compelling gameplay of a spec. Let's hope this is more like Mists' Warlock revamp and not like Warlords' Arms Warrior revamp.
- Some specs are going to be renamed. It really looks like they're focusing on class and spec identity, and I think that means some major overhauls. One thing I wonder is if they're going to give all specs unique names. Currently, Holy, Restoration, Frost, and Protection could all refer to a mix of Priests, Paladins, Death Knights, Mages, Shamans, Druids, and Warriors. Also, "Enhancement" has always been the least inspiring spec name.
- Some specs are getting new or at least renamed resources. The example given was Insanity for Shadow Priests. Whether this means that Shadow Orbs will become Insanity, or if they'll take the more radical approach and have it replace Mana remains to be seen. I do wonder if they'll be giving specs that don't currently care about that always-solid blue bar below their health new resources - Enhancement, Protection, Retribution, Frost, Fire, Destruction, Balance, Elemental, and of course the aforementioned Shadow really never have to pay attention to Mana in most situations.
- Multistrike as a stat is going away. This actually surprised me, as I thought it was much more interesting than Versatility. But I do understand that it is kind of a stat where, without a passive that boosts its value (as some specs have) or something that makes crit worse, it's basically always going to play second-fiddle to Crit. Still, at least it does something interesting. Versatility is incredibly dull, and even if it is a useful stat (though basically only for tanks) it's not fun.
- Transmog is going to be account-wide! Items with class restrictions will still be usable only by that class, but if you get a plate item's look on your Warrior, you'll be able to use it on your Death Knight. I don't think they've said anything about letting you transmog different armor types over each other, so there will still be some big restrictions (I assume.) The point is that this will all be UI-based, so you won't have any need to hold on to the pieces anymore. As a result, Void Storage will not be getting any bigger - but then, you'll probably be able to empty it of all but your most sentimental pieces (Verigan's Fist!)
- Survival's definitely going melee, but no other class is going to have access to ranged weapons. So there goes my "ranged rogue" theory. No word yet on how they're going to differentiate Rogue specs, but it better be significant.
- Survival will get a harpoon throw ability to pull enemies to them - presumably similar to Death Grip.
- Rather than upgrade tokens, professions will be able to destroy older models to get materials for newer models.
- Professions will have lots of quests, and there will not be daily cooldowns like in Warlords (thank the light.)
- The Dalaran Sewers will "not look like sewers," and they feel bad that they made people feel so attached to Ravenholdt. So it does sound like they're rather committed to that area as the Rogue class hall, but I'll be fine with it as long as it is OPULENT once you get in the door.
- "Will dungeons be relevant again?" "Yes, Absolutely," with apparently not-yet unveiled mechanics to ensure this.
- Dalaran will be getting a facelift - both the Broken Isles one and the Northrend one (I guess Northrend's Dalaran will be changing so that it isn't a big floating continuity error.)
I only ask that they don't do anything too radical to Protection Paladins. Call us Defender Paladins or whatever, but don't suddenly make us into dodge-focused tanks who have to run into spheres of light in order to block attacks.
Villain Sustainability in World of Warcraft
Archimonde doesn't really make that much sense as a final boss to Warlords of Draenor.
The Defiler has been cooling his heels in the Twisting Nether since his defeat at the battle of Mount Hyjal at the end of the Third War, and there isn't really anything to foreshadow his appearance in Hellfire Citadel other than the general "the Legion is here! Oh Crap!" vibe to the place. Gul'dan was really the best-foreshadowed final boss for Warlords of Draenor - he's the very first major lore figure we directly interact with, and the quick collapse of the Iron Horde at our hands gives us a certain degree of responsibility for Gul'dan's ascension.
One could argue that the final fight in HFC is essentially Gul'dan pulling off a far more successful trick than old Wilfred Fizzlebang (RIP) in Trial of the Crusader. Gul'dan had already rebuilt Mannoroth's body to pit us against the Destructor, and because even that wasn't enough to stop us, he brings forth Archimonde.
But it's still, honestly, pretty anticlimactic. When he was defeated in WCIII (and the Caverns of Time, which we can, I think, safely just interpret as the same exact event but in a different game format - it's one of the few CoT instances with no Infinites in it) we assumed he was dead for good, but the "soul stays in the Nether" type of resurrection that we knew Dreadlords could do has been extended to all demons in Warcraft lore - which also means that this Archimonde is, unlike the many characters we've seen in Draenor, one and the same Archimonde we faced before.
The consequence of this is that when we beat Archimonde in HFC, there's basically nothing to celebrate. Yes, Draenor is safe for now, and the Legion's claim on the world has been rebuffed (and we've all just kind of decided to forgive Grommash for some reason - and even let him be the one leading the cheer,) but there's no sense of relief that Archimonde the Defiler has finally been killed, because he hasn't, really.
Resurrection in fiction is always a tricky thing to pull off. It can be a really cool plot development, but overuse can make a world's stakes feel lower. For example, in a Song of Ice and Fire (the books Game of Thrones is based on,) there is certainly the magic needed to bring someone back from the dead, but the instances of this working have been nothing short of miraculous (meaning rare and unprecedented) and also leave the subject of the resurrection deeply disturbed by the process - suggesting that this return to life is not necessarily a good thing.
On the flipside, however, Blizzard killed off some very major characters in their first few expansions. Both Illidan Stormrage and Arthas Menethil were very popular figures, and Deathwing was a major presence in the game, even if we didn't see him until Cataclysm. We lost a bunch of big Warcraft names, and now I sort of wonder if Blizzard now wishes it had spared them somehow.
Clearly they do for Illidan, as the Betrayer (man, so many of these guys have a "the blank" epithet, though to be fair, some share them, like Deathwing and Sargeras the Destroyers) will be coming back to life in Legion. Indeed, I highly suspect that Illidan will wind up being not a villain, but a champion (albeit a bitter, angry, and volatile one) in the fight against the Legion.
When you write a limited story - even if it's a long series of novels - you can reach the end of a story arc, and sometimes that means that the character at the center of that arc needs to die. Wrath of the Lich King sent of Arthas fantastically. We closed out his story, and you couldn't really ask for a better conclusion to his arc (ok, I'm sure you could think of somewhat better ways to send him off, but the point is, this was a satisfying one.)
The problem, though, is that now you can't have Arthas in the Warcraft Universe anymore. Arthas is one of the most iconic villains of Warcraft (possibly the most iconic,) but he's out, and there's really no logical way to bring him back (ok, yes, he was undead, so maybe you could - the point is that doing so would undo everything about his death in Wrath that was so great.)
Perhaps when they first started making WoW, and even in the first few expansions, they didn't really expect it to have the kind of longevity it has had. By now, of course, the thinking at Blizzard has shifted toward WoW as an ongoing saga - analogous, I think, to a comic book series.
There's a reason why Batman has a no-killing policy. Well, two reasons, with the first being that we can always root for him. But the other reason, more important to this post, is that that means all the memorable characters can actually stick around, even if Batman wins against them. The Joker can lose, but still remain a presence in the Batman universe (ok, DC Universe, but you know what I mean.)
Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy version of Batman had the freedom to kill off villains (though interestingly, not the Joker) because they knew it was self-contained - it was never going to be more than the three movies it was, and so having Two Face die only briefly after becoming a bad guy didn't really hurt them that much; they wouldn't have even really had time to do more with him in the third movie anyway - the point of his character was made, and he was free to get killed off. But the way the comics work, characters can only be killed off on a temporary basis.
It's a tricky balance to strike. Arguably, we defeated Archimonde Joker-style (though actually even less definitively, as we have no Arkham Asylum for demon souls.) I still think that he wasn't really a great choice for a final boss because he really didn't have any presence in the expansion up until that point. I'm glad they didn't go with Grommash, as that would have felt too similar to Garrosh in Mists, and I suppose they decided against Gul'dan because, though he's a very different kind of orc than Garrosh, he's still an Orc, and also that they wanted Gul'dan alive to set up Legion. But unlike the Joker, Gul'dan's going to get killed off (again-ish) early in the expansion, so rather than keeping him around as a constant thorn in our side (/threat to our planet,) instead we'll just see him die as the fairly epic final boss of tier 19, rather than the majorly epic final boss of a whole expansion. It's threatening to get into Alias territory, where instead of cliffhangers, they just had what should have been the climax of each episode simply happen at the beginning of the next one (to be fair, I've only seen the first two or three episodes of Alias.)
In a way, I think Garrosh was, until those final quests in Nagrand, a good example of how to sustain a villain. We definitely beat Garrosh - he was on the floor, and later dragged off in chains - but he was still alive, and still a threat. But the next time we saw him in person, Thrall killed him, which means that we lost Garrosh as a figure within the universe (multiverse,) just like Arthas. Gul'dan will at least get to last past Legion's level-up experience (well, to be fair, Garrosh was kind of the final boss of the level-up experience in Warlords - most of my characters have dinged 100 either in the middle of that scenario or by turning in the quest,) but believe me, by the time we're thinking about 8.0, we'll have kind of vague memories that Gul'dan was a thing in Legion.
I think that ultimately, Blizzard needs to start working on some new villains and seeding them now within the lore. Garrosh was actually a great example of this, even if some could reasonably argue that the direction his character went was disappointing. It's dangerous to put too much weight on a figure who has just been introduced (though you can pull it off - Lei Shen, the Thunder King, felt reasonably epic as a mid-tier boss,) but you'll also find yourself having to constantly resurrect and re-resurrect lore figures to use as bosses if you can't come up with new characters.
This all makes me very curious to see who the final boss of Legion will be. I really, really hope Blizzard knows already, so that they can build the expansion as a big lead-up to that confrontation. But they also should try to give themselves some wiggle room. The Burning Legion is arguably the big bad of the entire Warcraft universe, so there's naturally going to be a big question of "where do we go from here?" once Legion reaches its conclusion.
The Defiler has been cooling his heels in the Twisting Nether since his defeat at the battle of Mount Hyjal at the end of the Third War, and there isn't really anything to foreshadow his appearance in Hellfire Citadel other than the general "the Legion is here! Oh Crap!" vibe to the place. Gul'dan was really the best-foreshadowed final boss for Warlords of Draenor - he's the very first major lore figure we directly interact with, and the quick collapse of the Iron Horde at our hands gives us a certain degree of responsibility for Gul'dan's ascension.
One could argue that the final fight in HFC is essentially Gul'dan pulling off a far more successful trick than old Wilfred Fizzlebang (RIP) in Trial of the Crusader. Gul'dan had already rebuilt Mannoroth's body to pit us against the Destructor, and because even that wasn't enough to stop us, he brings forth Archimonde.
But it's still, honestly, pretty anticlimactic. When he was defeated in WCIII (and the Caverns of Time, which we can, I think, safely just interpret as the same exact event but in a different game format - it's one of the few CoT instances with no Infinites in it) we assumed he was dead for good, but the "soul stays in the Nether" type of resurrection that we knew Dreadlords could do has been extended to all demons in Warcraft lore - which also means that this Archimonde is, unlike the many characters we've seen in Draenor, one and the same Archimonde we faced before.
The consequence of this is that when we beat Archimonde in HFC, there's basically nothing to celebrate. Yes, Draenor is safe for now, and the Legion's claim on the world has been rebuffed (and we've all just kind of decided to forgive Grommash for some reason - and even let him be the one leading the cheer,) but there's no sense of relief that Archimonde the Defiler has finally been killed, because he hasn't, really.
Resurrection in fiction is always a tricky thing to pull off. It can be a really cool plot development, but overuse can make a world's stakes feel lower. For example, in a Song of Ice and Fire (the books Game of Thrones is based on,) there is certainly the magic needed to bring someone back from the dead, but the instances of this working have been nothing short of miraculous (meaning rare and unprecedented) and also leave the subject of the resurrection deeply disturbed by the process - suggesting that this return to life is not necessarily a good thing.
On the flipside, however, Blizzard killed off some very major characters in their first few expansions. Both Illidan Stormrage and Arthas Menethil were very popular figures, and Deathwing was a major presence in the game, even if we didn't see him until Cataclysm. We lost a bunch of big Warcraft names, and now I sort of wonder if Blizzard now wishes it had spared them somehow.
Clearly they do for Illidan, as the Betrayer (man, so many of these guys have a "the blank" epithet, though to be fair, some share them, like Deathwing and Sargeras the Destroyers) will be coming back to life in Legion. Indeed, I highly suspect that Illidan will wind up being not a villain, but a champion (albeit a bitter, angry, and volatile one) in the fight against the Legion.
When you write a limited story - even if it's a long series of novels - you can reach the end of a story arc, and sometimes that means that the character at the center of that arc needs to die. Wrath of the Lich King sent of Arthas fantastically. We closed out his story, and you couldn't really ask for a better conclusion to his arc (ok, I'm sure you could think of somewhat better ways to send him off, but the point is, this was a satisfying one.)
The problem, though, is that now you can't have Arthas in the Warcraft Universe anymore. Arthas is one of the most iconic villains of Warcraft (possibly the most iconic,) but he's out, and there's really no logical way to bring him back (ok, yes, he was undead, so maybe you could - the point is that doing so would undo everything about his death in Wrath that was so great.)
Perhaps when they first started making WoW, and even in the first few expansions, they didn't really expect it to have the kind of longevity it has had. By now, of course, the thinking at Blizzard has shifted toward WoW as an ongoing saga - analogous, I think, to a comic book series.
There's a reason why Batman has a no-killing policy. Well, two reasons, with the first being that we can always root for him. But the other reason, more important to this post, is that that means all the memorable characters can actually stick around, even if Batman wins against them. The Joker can lose, but still remain a presence in the Batman universe (ok, DC Universe, but you know what I mean.)
Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy version of Batman had the freedom to kill off villains (though interestingly, not the Joker) because they knew it was self-contained - it was never going to be more than the three movies it was, and so having Two Face die only briefly after becoming a bad guy didn't really hurt them that much; they wouldn't have even really had time to do more with him in the third movie anyway - the point of his character was made, and he was free to get killed off. But the way the comics work, characters can only be killed off on a temporary basis.
It's a tricky balance to strike. Arguably, we defeated Archimonde Joker-style (though actually even less definitively, as we have no Arkham Asylum for demon souls.) I still think that he wasn't really a great choice for a final boss because he really didn't have any presence in the expansion up until that point. I'm glad they didn't go with Grommash, as that would have felt too similar to Garrosh in Mists, and I suppose they decided against Gul'dan because, though he's a very different kind of orc than Garrosh, he's still an Orc, and also that they wanted Gul'dan alive to set up Legion. But unlike the Joker, Gul'dan's going to get killed off (again-ish) early in the expansion, so rather than keeping him around as a constant thorn in our side (/threat to our planet,) instead we'll just see him die as the fairly epic final boss of tier 19, rather than the majorly epic final boss of a whole expansion. It's threatening to get into Alias territory, where instead of cliffhangers, they just had what should have been the climax of each episode simply happen at the beginning of the next one (to be fair, I've only seen the first two or three episodes of Alias.)
In a way, I think Garrosh was, until those final quests in Nagrand, a good example of how to sustain a villain. We definitely beat Garrosh - he was on the floor, and later dragged off in chains - but he was still alive, and still a threat. But the next time we saw him in person, Thrall killed him, which means that we lost Garrosh as a figure within the universe (multiverse,) just like Arthas. Gul'dan will at least get to last past Legion's level-up experience (well, to be fair, Garrosh was kind of the final boss of the level-up experience in Warlords - most of my characters have dinged 100 either in the middle of that scenario or by turning in the quest,) but believe me, by the time we're thinking about 8.0, we'll have kind of vague memories that Gul'dan was a thing in Legion.
I think that ultimately, Blizzard needs to start working on some new villains and seeding them now within the lore. Garrosh was actually a great example of this, even if some could reasonably argue that the direction his character went was disappointing. It's dangerous to put too much weight on a figure who has just been introduced (though you can pull it off - Lei Shen, the Thunder King, felt reasonably epic as a mid-tier boss,) but you'll also find yourself having to constantly resurrect and re-resurrect lore figures to use as bosses if you can't come up with new characters.
This all makes me very curious to see who the final boss of Legion will be. I really, really hope Blizzard knows already, so that they can build the expansion as a big lead-up to that confrontation. But they also should try to give themselves some wiggle room. The Burning Legion is arguably the big bad of the entire Warcraft universe, so there's naturally going to be a big question of "where do we go from here?" once Legion reaches its conclusion.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Mario Maker Looks Amazing
I'll admit that when I first heard about Super Mario Maker, I wasn't incredibly enthusiastic. But I think that's just because I hadn't really thought about it, and the way that Nintendo polishes things.
I've never been terribly good at game customization. I always have these lofty ideas, but execution is a much different story. I've certainly drawn maps and imagined characters and bosses for games in the past, but I've never really had the resolve to actually get games made.
But unlike the level editors that come with a lot of games, Super Mario Maker looks like the game is the level editor. I've watched a ton of videos online showing how it works, and it really seems as if Nintendo has put all their efforts toward making the level designing as intuitive as possible.
I'm really excited about this.
Mario Maker strips things down to the basics, for the most part, but one of the main reasons the series has been such a huge part of video game history (arguably, it sits at the very center of video game history) is that the simple components that make up a Mario level can be composed in so many different ways that wield so many different results that the games are still exciting to play thirty years after the first came out.
The level maker is obviously the star of the show - there's an online system for playing levels others have created, as well as some designer-made ones that are there to demonstrate some of the crazy ideas you can incorporate into your levels.
The maker essentially lays out your level over a big grid - apparently back in the early days, Mario levels were drawn on graph paper, so this is not too far off from the real way it's done. You can stretch out the level to an appropriate length and drop in items and enemies simply by dragging them from a menu, with everything snapping to the grid.
You can choose between the NES Mario Bros. or Mario Bros. 3 styles, as well as the SNES Mario World style and the modern, Wii U Mario Bros. U style. You can change these themes in the middle of editing a level, but to be clear, these changes do actually have some mechanical ramifications. For example, I don't think you can pick up Koopa shells in the original Mario Bros., and also, the "flight" item will be a Raccoon Leaf in 3, a Cape Feather in World, and a Propeller Hat in U (I think it reverts to a Super Mushroom in 1.) That said, some items and enemies that came in later games (e.g. Wigglers, Boos) will get retro-ized, becoming 8-bit style sprites if you put them in an older-style level.
You can also choose between different terrains, like underground, airship, castle, or ghost house (and obviously the standard above ground,) which will change the background and the platforms upon which you can hop.
The Maker apparently unlocks items over time (straight up how many days since you started playing with it.) While some will resent not being able to, say, put in warp pipes on the first day you start playing, I think that it will be a nice way to prevent oneself from getting overwhelmed. By the time everything's unlocked, you'll even be able to put in specific sound queues when Mario runs through particular areas.
While editing, you can quickly press to go to "play mode, which will drop Mario right wherever you have the cursor pointing. You can then play through what you've got, and if you die or just hit the "Make" button, you'll pop right back into editing mode. It also shows the path that Mario took during this section, which should be an invaluable tool for fine-tuning those difficult jumps.
There are also kind of fun little techniques to get more out of the level assets. If you drag a Koopa out of the menu to put on the level, but kind of shake it with the stylus, it'll turn into a red-shelled Koopa (the ones who don't jump off ledges.) You can also drag a Super Mushroom onto an enemy to make them larger.
Anyway, it looks really, really cool. Possibly a must-buy for Wii U owners.
I've never been terribly good at game customization. I always have these lofty ideas, but execution is a much different story. I've certainly drawn maps and imagined characters and bosses for games in the past, but I've never really had the resolve to actually get games made.
But unlike the level editors that come with a lot of games, Super Mario Maker looks like the game is the level editor. I've watched a ton of videos online showing how it works, and it really seems as if Nintendo has put all their efforts toward making the level designing as intuitive as possible.
I'm really excited about this.
Mario Maker strips things down to the basics, for the most part, but one of the main reasons the series has been such a huge part of video game history (arguably, it sits at the very center of video game history) is that the simple components that make up a Mario level can be composed in so many different ways that wield so many different results that the games are still exciting to play thirty years after the first came out.
The level maker is obviously the star of the show - there's an online system for playing levels others have created, as well as some designer-made ones that are there to demonstrate some of the crazy ideas you can incorporate into your levels.
The maker essentially lays out your level over a big grid - apparently back in the early days, Mario levels were drawn on graph paper, so this is not too far off from the real way it's done. You can stretch out the level to an appropriate length and drop in items and enemies simply by dragging them from a menu, with everything snapping to the grid.
You can choose between the NES Mario Bros. or Mario Bros. 3 styles, as well as the SNES Mario World style and the modern, Wii U Mario Bros. U style. You can change these themes in the middle of editing a level, but to be clear, these changes do actually have some mechanical ramifications. For example, I don't think you can pick up Koopa shells in the original Mario Bros., and also, the "flight" item will be a Raccoon Leaf in 3, a Cape Feather in World, and a Propeller Hat in U (I think it reverts to a Super Mushroom in 1.) That said, some items and enemies that came in later games (e.g. Wigglers, Boos) will get retro-ized, becoming 8-bit style sprites if you put them in an older-style level.
You can also choose between different terrains, like underground, airship, castle, or ghost house (and obviously the standard above ground,) which will change the background and the platforms upon which you can hop.
The Maker apparently unlocks items over time (straight up how many days since you started playing with it.) While some will resent not being able to, say, put in warp pipes on the first day you start playing, I think that it will be a nice way to prevent oneself from getting overwhelmed. By the time everything's unlocked, you'll even be able to put in specific sound queues when Mario runs through particular areas.
While editing, you can quickly press to go to "play mode, which will drop Mario right wherever you have the cursor pointing. You can then play through what you've got, and if you die or just hit the "Make" button, you'll pop right back into editing mode. It also shows the path that Mario took during this section, which should be an invaluable tool for fine-tuning those difficult jumps.
There are also kind of fun little techniques to get more out of the level assets. If you drag a Koopa out of the menu to put on the level, but kind of shake it with the stylus, it'll turn into a red-shelled Koopa (the ones who don't jump off ledges.) You can also drag a Super Mushroom onto an enemy to make them larger.
Anyway, it looks really, really cool. Possibly a must-buy for Wii U owners.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Legendary Ring Final: Chapter IV: Darkness Incarnate
After freeing Garona and witnessing Gul'dan's takeover of the Iron Horde, the Tanaan leg of the journey begins.
The "wait for things to drop" part of this step - the one that will take the longest - requires you to collect 33 Tomes of Chaos from Hellfire Citadel. Unlike Abrogator Stones and Elemental Runes, Tomes are not a guaranteed drop, so you'll sometimes have frustrating weeks where you only get a couple. I actually preferred the Abrogator/Elemental Rune model, with the guaranteed drops coupled with the occasional bonus. But after enough time, you'll get them.
Meanwhile, you'll have to use the Shipyard. You'll get a series of naval missions that show up on occasion. There's not a lot to these - just complete each mission as it pops up, and you'll eventually capture Gul'dan's flagship, the Master's Call. No, you don't get that as a ship for your shipyard. It's kind of anticlimactic.
Upon collecting the tomes, Khadgar will tell you to take them to Cordana Felsong, who you'll task with destroying the books. You can't simply burn them, as there are actually innocent souls bound to the pages... so that's horrifying.
Anyway, you arrive in Zangarra and discover that Cordana has set the tower off-limits. You go and talk to her and she's obsessively staring at the Shadow Orb you had captured in Shadowmoon Valley. She desperately asks you to give her your ring, which you can either simply refuse or respond "Oh HELL no!" after which she will attack you. You need to destroy the tomes she has set up around her (sorry, innocent souls) and then fight her - which took a while, but I was in Prot spec.
When her health gets low, Cordana escapes through a Nether portal, going to her new master, Gul'dan (I assume she's been mind-controlled just like Garona had been.)
You return to Khadgar, who is understandably unhappy with this turn of events. He also realizes that the last couple times he has upgraded your ring, he's accidentally killed you. He also doesn't really have any more power to imbue you with, so he sends you elsewhere. Alliance players go to Karabor to receive K'ara's blessing (I assume Horde goes to somewhere in Frostfire to get the blessing of the Furies or something.)
You meet with Yrel and the other Exarchs, and K'ara blesses you. But it's not K'ara who speaks with you - instead, it's the spirit of Velen. No one else hears his words, so I think what this means is that Velen has merged with K'ara to become a Naaru himself. Not a bad fate for the old Prophet.
With your ring finally legendary, you are sent on one last mission - to kill Gul'dan.
Of course, that doesn't actually work out, as Archimonde saves him after you defeat the Defiler (and sets up Legion.)
The Legendary Rings have some interesting mechanics. The one I've actually used (in the fight against Archimonde this week) is the tanking one. On a two-minute cooldown, shared with all of the other tanking rings on other tanks in the raid (so, with your co-tank,) you both get 50% Versatility, and all damage you take is split evenly between the two of you. So you essentially get a 50% damage buff, a 25% incoming damage reduction, and a kind of Spirit Link Totem between the two of you.
It's a pretty powerful buff, especially given the rather short cooldown.
Overall, I think I liked the Mists of Pandaria legendary chain better. There was more to it (granted, there was more to Mists of Pandaria,) and a lot more lore development. I like Khadgar a lot, but ultimately, this didn't feel as exploratory or revelatory to the expansion. Also, there's no visual to the Ring except when it is used, which is really underwhelming after the cool wing/wreath/thing that popped up with the Legendary cloaks.
I also think that it was smart to let players get the cloak before getting into Siege of Orgrimmar. As it stands now, unless my guild starts raiding again, I'm basically just going to use this ring for leveling up in the Broken Isles, as I exhausted the gear that I need out of HFC LFR a while ago, as well as that of the Tanaan jungle dailies (a mix of Demonbreaker set pieces from LFR and 695 Baleful bits - I guess I could use a couple drops off of Kazzak.)
As it stands, the quest chain kind of reinforces one of the problems with the lore in Warlords - the only long-term effect on WoW is that Gul'dan will be back (long enough to set off Legion and die in the first raid tier.) We lost Maraad, yes, but he hadn't been a presence in the game until Warlords.
I do wonder about Legion's take on legendaries. In a sense, artifact weapons will be legendary as soon as we get them. I think they've said that the legendary chain in Legion would probably focus on those weapons. It might not even make sense for Legion to have a legendary chain (maybe they can take that effort and focus it more on quests for the various class orders.)
I also wonder if perhaps this "whole expansion" legendary quest chain model is, ultimately, a good one. It makes catching up if you started it late extremely time-consuming. I also think that perhaps it's all right if legendaries go back to being something only a few people can do. Anyway, we'll have to wait for a while to get more details on how it'll work in Legion, but the main point is: I have my legendary ring. Hooray!
The "wait for things to drop" part of this step - the one that will take the longest - requires you to collect 33 Tomes of Chaos from Hellfire Citadel. Unlike Abrogator Stones and Elemental Runes, Tomes are not a guaranteed drop, so you'll sometimes have frustrating weeks where you only get a couple. I actually preferred the Abrogator/Elemental Rune model, with the guaranteed drops coupled with the occasional bonus. But after enough time, you'll get them.
Meanwhile, you'll have to use the Shipyard. You'll get a series of naval missions that show up on occasion. There's not a lot to these - just complete each mission as it pops up, and you'll eventually capture Gul'dan's flagship, the Master's Call. No, you don't get that as a ship for your shipyard. It's kind of anticlimactic.
Upon collecting the tomes, Khadgar will tell you to take them to Cordana Felsong, who you'll task with destroying the books. You can't simply burn them, as there are actually innocent souls bound to the pages... so that's horrifying.
Anyway, you arrive in Zangarra and discover that Cordana has set the tower off-limits. You go and talk to her and she's obsessively staring at the Shadow Orb you had captured in Shadowmoon Valley. She desperately asks you to give her your ring, which you can either simply refuse or respond "Oh HELL no!" after which she will attack you. You need to destroy the tomes she has set up around her (sorry, innocent souls) and then fight her - which took a while, but I was in Prot spec.
When her health gets low, Cordana escapes through a Nether portal, going to her new master, Gul'dan (I assume she's been mind-controlled just like Garona had been.)
You return to Khadgar, who is understandably unhappy with this turn of events. He also realizes that the last couple times he has upgraded your ring, he's accidentally killed you. He also doesn't really have any more power to imbue you with, so he sends you elsewhere. Alliance players go to Karabor to receive K'ara's blessing (I assume Horde goes to somewhere in Frostfire to get the blessing of the Furies or something.)
You meet with Yrel and the other Exarchs, and K'ara blesses you. But it's not K'ara who speaks with you - instead, it's the spirit of Velen. No one else hears his words, so I think what this means is that Velen has merged with K'ara to become a Naaru himself. Not a bad fate for the old Prophet.
With your ring finally legendary, you are sent on one last mission - to kill Gul'dan.
Of course, that doesn't actually work out, as Archimonde saves him after you defeat the Defiler (and sets up Legion.)
The Legendary Rings have some interesting mechanics. The one I've actually used (in the fight against Archimonde this week) is the tanking one. On a two-minute cooldown, shared with all of the other tanking rings on other tanks in the raid (so, with your co-tank,) you both get 50% Versatility, and all damage you take is split evenly between the two of you. So you essentially get a 50% damage buff, a 25% incoming damage reduction, and a kind of Spirit Link Totem between the two of you.
It's a pretty powerful buff, especially given the rather short cooldown.
Overall, I think I liked the Mists of Pandaria legendary chain better. There was more to it (granted, there was more to Mists of Pandaria,) and a lot more lore development. I like Khadgar a lot, but ultimately, this didn't feel as exploratory or revelatory to the expansion. Also, there's no visual to the Ring except when it is used, which is really underwhelming after the cool wing/wreath/thing that popped up with the Legendary cloaks.
I also think that it was smart to let players get the cloak before getting into Siege of Orgrimmar. As it stands now, unless my guild starts raiding again, I'm basically just going to use this ring for leveling up in the Broken Isles, as I exhausted the gear that I need out of HFC LFR a while ago, as well as that of the Tanaan jungle dailies (a mix of Demonbreaker set pieces from LFR and 695 Baleful bits - I guess I could use a couple drops off of Kazzak.)
As it stands, the quest chain kind of reinforces one of the problems with the lore in Warlords - the only long-term effect on WoW is that Gul'dan will be back (long enough to set off Legion and die in the first raid tier.) We lost Maraad, yes, but he hadn't been a presence in the game until Warlords.
I do wonder about Legion's take on legendaries. In a sense, artifact weapons will be legendary as soon as we get them. I think they've said that the legendary chain in Legion would probably focus on those weapons. It might not even make sense for Legion to have a legendary chain (maybe they can take that effort and focus it more on quests for the various class orders.)
I also wonder if perhaps this "whole expansion" legendary quest chain model is, ultimately, a good one. It makes catching up if you started it late extremely time-consuming. I also think that perhaps it's all right if legendaries go back to being something only a few people can do. Anyway, we'll have to wait for a while to get more details on how it'll work in Legion, but the main point is: I have my legendary ring. Hooray!
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