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Hello folks, and welcome to another edition of The Players Perspective. Today I'll be interviewing Lawliepop of the guild Blood Legion on Illidan-US. According to WoW Progress Blood Legion is ranked 12th in the world and 5th in the US. While Lawliepop has already shared her thoughts on Val'anyr, today we're going more in-depth in an exclusive interview with her.


axi0m: First and foremost let’s hear some background information.

Lawliepop: Sure. I'm Lawliepop. I've been playing since beta and before WoW I played Lineage 2 and FPS games mostly. I work for a web startup. Priest has always been my main and I've been in Blood Legion for almost two years.

axi0m: What initially piqued your interest in WoW and got you playing?

Lawliepop: I love all of Blizzard's games, and I wasn't even planning on playing WoW but some people from my L2 guild were going to play. The day WoW was released I picked it up on a whim out of peer pressure. And from there it was kind of over.

Lawliepop: Part of the initial appeal I think is the excitement of a new MMO. WoW was my "Warhammer/Aion" diversion, but it ended up being a bit more successful at getting my attention. It doesn't help that I tend to approach any game I play with a lot of dedication, you just have to go balls deep I think.

axi0m: You mentioned you've played a Priest your entire WoW career. Was that also your first character, or did it take you a bit to be drawn to the class?

Lawliepop: Priest was my second character. I was looking to play a support DPS class because I had always played DPS
and my guild needed a Druid so I started leveling one What made me change was that I wanted to melt faces. Also I had played a friend's healer on occasion in L2 and really enjoyed it. I didn't really want to be the girl who plays a healer though. So that was something I had to overcome before making my priest my main.

axi0m: That's definitely a persistent stigma in most MMOs that I've played.

Lawliepop: My guild kept telling me "No it's because those girls suck! That's why there is a stigma. You don't suck." But honestly I still get trolls giving me grief about playing a healer as a girl. Plus there are a lot more girls who play now and I think that makes the stigma more prevalent.

axi0m: Obviously why there are so many troll instances, makes up for us not being able to slaughter the trade channel trolls.

Lawliepop: What keeps me playing priest is that I think it has a more challenging healing style compared to other healers. As holy at least; disc is just lolshields.

axi0m: My next question ties into that actually, are you happy with the class in its current incarnation?

Lawliepop: Yes and no. I really like the class but I feel disc is teetering on imba. And holy - while balanced in theory the spec isn't getting raid encounters that play to its strengths. As a result I think the holy community tends to feel undertuned. I don't like renew spamming, and I think the raid needs to take more damage in larger chunks. If all the "high damage" encounters are Sindragosa/Blood Queen Lana'thel style periodic damage ticks, then of course holy is going to look like crap, and the Tier 10 change to have 10% more healing on Circle of Healing will just overheal on those fights. I don't understand how going through 10+ people and casting Power Word:Shield, Rejuvenate, or Renew with very little variation is a fun play style. I really don’t. I want to need to make decisions about which spell I'm going to cast. Healers need variety. Constant raid damage fights in a strong group of healers is boring.

axi0m: I imagine playing as long as you have you may have wanted to take a break, I know I did on an occasion or two, did you ever take any extended breaks? If not have you ever suffered from severe WoW burnout?

Lawliepop: I took a 3 month break shortly after BC release. I wanted to reroll on a PvP server. How I typically monitor my burnout is by just becoming a raid logger for a week or two. I go through phases where I play a lot and obsess over stupid stuff like getting all the mounts or something.

axi0m: I noticed you have It's Over Nine Thousand! The achievement that is. Insert overdone OVER NINETHOUSAND joke here.

Lawliepop: Yes. I'm not that into achievements though.

axi0m: They just kind of happen?

Lawliepop: I hit it kind of hard at the start and pretty much quit once WotLK came out. Now they just happen. I don't even have the one "win this battleground" once achievement.

axi0m: How are you feeling about how WoW in its current state?

Lawliepop: Hmm. As a guild officer I see a major issue. The raid content is very easy (let's even just consider normal modes here). The fact that it's easy isn't my biggest complaint. I can understand the reasons for developing for most of the players but I think there is a situation where most encounters are so easy that Blizzard is training us to be lazy and bad. As an officer, that frustrates me. So that when there is that ONE fight that is challenging for the guild - say Yogg0 or for some guilds it could be Lady Deathwhisper - the guild is MUCH more likely to suffer a significant burnout. If the standard difficulty level was a bit higher or more unified I think a lot of great guilds that have broken up wouldn't have had as many issues.

axi0m: Agreed, and that being said, do you feel the game is being taken in the right direction?

Lawliepop: For me as a hardcore player I am losing content and satisfaction with the game. For an average player though I think it's a much better game. So overall I think it's a good direction but that's kind of ignoring my personal needs and wants.

axi0m: Assuming you were a developer; is there anything you would want to change or feel would benefit the game for both hardcore players and casuals alike?

Lawliepop: Nightmare mode? I think having a progression of difficulty that made sense for guilds would help. I've been playing a lot of SC lately and just thinking about the way Blizzard presents single player campaign as a way to train the player to be better.

axi0m: So a more linear progression path in terms of difficulty?

Lawliepop: Yup. I know they kind of do this with trash already. By putting a boss mechanic on trash so you can learn it as you go I think having guilds hit a brick wall in an ocean of easy is going to cause them to lose subscribers. Another thing is how bosses are released. All normal modes gated and then hard modes all at once isn't right. Plus once you get to hard mode it seems they weren't balanced around you having full normal mode gear, so it's even less enjoyable. I think gating is fine, but they should release hard mode at the same time so that casuals and hardcore players get what they want. Then the encounter isn't tainted for the hardcore players by having farmed if for weeks. Also, the balance will be better because 1) there is no normal mode loot 2) raiders haven't perfected their strats and can't do the fights with their eyes closed yet. Plus a lot of the joy is gone after you've done a fight for 2-3 months counting PTR and then finally get to do "progression."

axi0m: Do you feel the raids of old were better however? What was your favorite aspect of the "old" WoW? Is there any of it you'd like to see brought back?

Lawliepop: You absolutely have lost an epic-ness that we had with old fights. I think there are a few reasons for this. First off, there are fewer people in the raid. Secondly, the constant RP that winds up to the fights starting gets annoying quickly. When you're pulling it over and over this makes it harder for your raiders to concentrate. While this happened in older encounters it was done better. I like the Kil'Jaeden style of having the RP during the fight. I'm not a lore buff but that was epic. Obviously skill and expectations of raiders have changed. We're more content hungry - because Blizzard has been giving us too much of what we want. There is no good old-fashioned PUNISHMENT from the developer to the player anymore. I know this was never the case in WoW, but in many MMO where dying is just devastating. It makes everything more epic. I want to be punished. Please Blizzard, punish me! And not in an immortality or limited attempt way.

axi0m: Now THAT is hardcore. So given what you've said, do you see yourself continuing with WoW well into the future?

Lawliepop: Yes

axi0m: Obligatory "I play WoW and I hate it" sad face?

Lawliepop: Depends on how distracting SC2 and D3 are. Not that they could ever replace WoW for me.

axi0m: I don't think anything will dethrone WoW until Blizzards next MMO hits. Assuming they do a good job with the new IP.

Lawliepop: I just don't think any other MMO will have the resources to do anything.

axi0m: Don't worry, I'm sure that's on Google’s "To-do List" since they're branching out into everything these days.

Lawliepop: Mmmm Google. Now that would be amazing.

Lawliepop: I think more things in WoW should one-shot you by the way. Or it seems fights for healers are balanced around people making mistakes. If you're in a situation where people don't make many mistakes, you're bored.

axi0m: Agreed. Do you have any advice for the new players out there?

Lawliepop: My advice would be to take things seriously if they want to be taken seriously. It can be really hard being new to a well-established MMO. While Wowhead/Elitist Jerks etc. are nice starting points they are never the definitive answer. The moment you think you have everything figured out is the moment you stop playing your best. A lot of gamers in general, or even high end raiders, think that WoW is a game that doesn't require very much skill. If you buy into that, stop playing, because you aren't going to improve with that attitude. I constantly make mistakes and see areas where I can get better, and you should too.

axi0m: Very wise words.

Lawliepop: If you think you don't mess up you're just not looking hard enough.

axi0m: Now is the best section of all, the one where you get to rant. So have at it!

Lawliepop: I don't like the requirement for running multiple 25 man and 10 man raids every week on mains and alts to funnel loot and get experience on bosses etc. And don't say it isn't a requirement, Blizzard. If you make something possible and advantageous it becomes a requirement to 10 or 25 hardcore players. Every time you put in a ridiculous achievement it becomes a requirement to all the achievement freaks. It's the same with raiding and progression. It makes all the issues with burnout and taint on hard modes after farming normal modes for weeks worse. Oh and also the % raid buff bandage BETTER not let disc double dip with the PW:S glyph increasing absorb amount AND healing.

axi0m: I'd like to thank you for your time and patience dealing with iPhone typing and for the excellent interview.

Lawliepop: Thanks!

I'd like to give very many thanks to Lawliepop for the great interview and let me tell you, her dedication isn't just isolated to WoW. Her computer fried the night before the interview and she went through with the interview anyway, but typed everything out over AIM on her iPhone. Now that is some serious determination.

That's all folks, tune in next week for another installment of.... The Player's Perspective.

Welcome to axi0m's Armory where I'll be testing and reviewing the latest and greatest RL loot to aid you in your quest to slay the baddies. Today I'll be reviewing the Razer Naga a sweet little gem brought to you by... well... Razer. While this isn't the only MMO focused mouse on the market, it is one of the most popular with its primary competition being the Steelseries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse.



Overview:

The Razer Naga is a mouse designed with MMOs in mind. What do I mean by that you ask? Well on your typical "gaming" mouse the button scheme tends to be a lot more reserved and relatively minimalistic. Take the Logitech G5 for example; you have your standard middle mouse wheel, left and right click, a mouse 4 button, and a feature many "gaming" mice have to adjust your DPI(Sensitivity) on the fly. Definitely designed more around twitch gaming and FPS. The Razer Naga takes the old concept of gaming mice and throws it right out the window. On this mouse you have the staple left/right/middle mouse buttons, there is a mouse 4 and mouse 5 situated right at pointer finger length. Here's where the craziness comes in though, on the left hand side right where the thumb normally rests you have a 3x4 section of 12 buttons which can be configured in numerous ways using bar mods. There is a button on the bottom that switches their layout to bind to numpad or to your primary numbers across the top of your keyboard as well.

Another cool thing about this mouse is that while it doesn't have the in game integration that the Steelseries mouse has, it does have a UI designed for it by the guys over at Razer. The add-on itself is built off of Dominos and has a lot of settings unique to the Naga. Bindings by default on all the bars are set for 1 through = and an entire bar can have it's modifier (Shift, Alt, etc) changed by just a couple clicks.

Aside from the in game UI there is also a software package which allows for some finer tuning of the mouse. The DPI scale can be adjusted anywhere from 100 to 5600 with the default being 1800. The software also allows for all of your other typical features, binding what each primary key does within Windows(Full OSX software is coming soon), also adjusting acceleration and polling rates. The software also allows for the creation of profiles so you can adjust settings on the fly based on the game you're playing or if you want to use a higher DPI when gaming and a lower one for normal use.

The mouse also comes with little sticky bumps and a usage recommendation guide for them. The purpose of the trainer bumps is to help you adjust to the positioning of the buttons on the mouse. I typically hover my thumb over "5" and I had the bumps on the 4/5/6 and 10/11/12 rows since that's what seemed to work best for helping me to adjust.

Review:

After un-boxing it I had the software and driver package installed within ~5 minutes. Install was simple and straight forward, updating the firmware was kind of annoying because my case is huge and you've gotta unplug it then hold Left, Right and Middle down while plugging it back in to boot into the firmware update mode of the mouse.

The feel of this thing is absolutely incredible, it took some getting used to given the switch from the WoW Steelseries beast, to this smaller more reserved shape. It glides across my mousepad effortlessly and has very good balance and weight compared to the Steelseries mouse. I used to play FPS (Counter-Strike specifically) competitively so it's something I tend to pick up on and appreciate greatly.

Razer states that on average it takes around 18 hours of game play to become fully acclimated with the mouse. Being highly impatient I decided to jump into that nights raid going gung-ho with the mouse to see if the claims were true. Being as that I'm one of my guild's main tanks the first thing I noticed was a definite increase in mobility, by forcing all the bindings over to the mouse I had free reign over utilizing the strafe buttons as well as WASD for much better movement and positioning for whatever mob I was tanking at the time, kiting oozes on Rotface had never been easier. I was even able to reinvent the way I use WASD since I didn't have to worry about having at least one finger free for hitting my bindings.

One of the greatest advantages that I've seen however over my 3 week span of testing the mouse has been quicker reaction times and less "oops wrong button" instances. Having everything in a small area where I can quite literally hit 4-5 different bindings without even moving my thumb has definitely helped to lower my error rate to virtually 0%. This also allows for the usage of many more modifiers on bindings as well. Realistically based on the length of your fingers you typically never use 7 through = for any normal use keys. Most people I've talked to normally put their primary attacks on 1 through 6 and use modifiers out the wazoo to keep all their abilities easily within reach, that definitely isn't the case here. No more crazy contortionist positioning of the fingers to hit your Shift+Alt+6 modifier to use a potion, now you can hover two fingers over shift and alt while having full control over WASD and just tilt your thumb accordingly to hit the binding of your choice. Hitting that speed pot binding you have set at Shfit + Alt + = can be hit just as easily as hitting 1, 2, or 3. Much like the claims made by Razer it did take roughly 18 hours of gameplay to become fully adjusted to it, and 3 weeks later I'm still seeing slight increases in mobility and reaction time.


Final thoughts:

Overall this mouse has everything an MMO player would want, great feel, great weight, and tons of easily programmable buttons.

Pros:

• Good Balance.
  
• Good Weight.
  
• Comfortable fit for most size hands.
  
• Has its own UI.
  
• Compatible with other bar mods including WoW default.
  
• Great customer support through forums and guides on the official site.
  
• Cool flashy lights.
  

Cons:

• Firmware updating is a bit tricky.
  
• The "trainer" bumps you can stick on tend to fall off quickly.
  
• Mouse 4 and Mouse 5 buttons are in a somewhat awkward position unless you have a long pointer finger.
  
• The color of the cool flashy lights can't be changed.
  

Overall I give this mouse a 4.8 out of 5.

Greetings one and all! Blizzard has posted a nice recap of their own about the upcoming Gnome and Troll events, but that doesn't stop me from adding my own. So here's part 2 about the upcoming world events regarding the Gnomes and Trolls!

Episode 3 - Da Voodoo Shuffle

The trolls are probably the most diverse race on Azeroth, one of the oldest races aswell as one of the tallest, standing 7 feet on average. There used to be 2 great Troll Empires, in the time before the Night Elves rose to power. There are even rumours that the power of the Well of Eternity transformed some Trolls into the first Night Elves, but this hypothesis has never been proven.

Within the Horde we find a few troll tribes over the course of history. During the Second War, the Amani Forest Trolls of Zul'jin were recruited into the Horde after their mortal enemies, the High Elves of Quel'Thalas, joined the Alliance. After Warchief Doomhammer decided to pull out of Quel'Thalas, Zul'jin became furious with him and stayed behind to slaughter the elves. But when the Horde seemed to have lost the war, the Trolls returned to their savage ways and Zul'jin was captured, tortured but escaping when he cut his right arm off. When the Blood Elves joined the Horde after the Third War, he became outraged, and events eventually led up to the Zul'Aman raid of patch 2.3.

Right before the Third War, after Thrall managed to escape the Eastern Kingdoms looking for a place to settle an Orc Nation away from the Human suppression, the Orcs took shelter on an island among the Broken Isles, where they found the Darkspear tribe. This tribe under the leadership of the Witch Doctor Sen'jin, was entangled in a long conflict with a band of Murlocs. Under the control of a Naga Sea Witch, these Murlocs kidnapped Thrall, Sen'jin and some of their followers. Ultimately unable to save Sen'jin from the Sea Witch, Thrall was enthrusted with a vision the Troll had, where the Orcs would lead the Trolls off the island.

Thrall and his followers returned to the island, they fought off the Murlocs, and set sail for Kalimdor once again. The Trolls, now under the leadership of Sen'jin's son Vol'jin, allied themselves to the Orcs and left the island with them. After reaching the new Orc homeland, named Durotar after Thrall's long lost father Durotan, the Trolls made the Echo Islands just off Durotar's coast their new home.

When the fleet of Kul'Tiras, under Daelin Proudmoore's command, arrived in Kalimdor, the Trolls had to flee their islands. The misguided old ideas of Proudmoore that the Orcs are the root of all problems to the humans, made him a considerable threat to the new Horde. The Trolls and Orcs fought hard and overcame the Humans, but not long after another attacked the Darkspear's home, but now from within.

It was the Witch Doctor Zalazane, who took control of a lot of his Troll brethren through dark magic, and forced them into being his slaves. Vol'jin had no choice but to evacuate the remaining free Trolls of the isles, and Zalazane took control. The Trolls settled on the nearby shore, creating Sen'jin Village named in honor of their lost leader. From here they send forces back to the isles to try and take it back from the insane Zalazane.

Now that the Lich King is being dealt with, the Trolls can focus once again on their domestic affairs concerning Zalazane. He has been eluding them for a long time and Vol'jin has had enough. Recruiting any able Horde member to their cause, the Troll leader is bent on finally taking back their land granted to them by Thrall, and finally make their own true place in the world to call home.

Will you answer the call of Vol'jin?


"I don't know exactly what the witch was talking about, but I do know that our destiny lies elsewhere. For now, we set sail for Kalimdor. That is where our future will unfold."

Warchief Thrall adressing the Orcs and Trolls after defeating the Naga witch

This week for Creative Creations, in terms of our Machinima we go from Classic to Wrath of the Lich King, and we also take a look at some Draenic Creative Writing.

Wrath of the Lich King

This week for Machinima we have Wrath of the Lich King by Onix. This is a great work combining raid video with Machinima wonder, Onix's vision of the major steps in Wrath are sitting in the limelight. From the Lana'thel face time, to the monologue of Uther combined with great Warcraft III era backdrops make this Machinima well worth the watch.







Stand of the Exiles

Stand of the Exiles, brought to life by Billiedoll of Fanfiction.net, is the story of a Draenei Priestess and a Draenei Vindicator after the attack on Shattrath City by Illidan's Army of Blood Elves. From the swamps of Zangarmarsh to the Ruins of Farahlon (modern day Netherstorm), this couple, guided by the Light in their respective teachings, learn that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and they most certainly don't kill each other.

Again, if you find a Machinima or Story (or one of your own), feel free to message me or post about it in our Creative Writing, Machinima & Lore forum.

Blue Tracker Updates

We updated the blue tracker last night with a few new things and bug fixes. Here are some of the changes:

• The Share feature has mostly returned. There's still a bug with the forum quote version that we need to get fixed.
  
  • To bring up the Share functionality, simply mouse over the blue icon on each blue post.
  
  
• It now tracks the StarCraft II Beta forum and the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game forum.
  
• Proper post times should now be displayed after the recent Daylight Savings Time change.

Blue Posts

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StarCraft II Beta Invites

Check your email addresses if you're already in the StarCraft II beta. Yesterday Blizzard sent out "Friend Invites" for all (or most) beta participants, allowing you to bring one person into the beta. If anyone is looking for keys, be sure to post in this thread and hopefully someone can hook you up with one if they have any extra!

StarCraft II Beta Full Reset

It looks like Blizzard is gearing up for a new phase of beta as they're planning to do a full database reset, wiping all information aside from who is actually in the beta. Check out the post below for details.

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