[axi0m]

Hello folks! I'm your friendly neighborhood axi0m, one of the new content writers here at World of Raids. I figure, before I dive right into my first article, I'd give you a little background on myself and what I'm all about, as well as introduce you to my weekly segment "The Player's Perspective," where I'll take a relatively in depth look at the state of WoW through the player's eyes. I've been playing this game since release and consider myself highly knowledgeable in the inner workings of the game and the direction it's taking. However, we often hear a lot of debate as to how WoW is progressing, some people say it's too difficult, others say Vanilla was the holy grail of MMOs. As a student of sociological studies, I'm going to get to the bottom of this debate by interviewing a random WoW player each week. I'm going to attempt to hit all demographics, from top-tier hardcore raiders down to the guy who just started a couple weeks ago; and while I probably won't solve this debate, it will at least lead to riveting discussions and some insight into how the game is seen through other individuals eyes. So without further ado, onto the first interview!


This week I'll be interviewing Insaneyoshi from Solfire Tribe of Stormrage-US. He's a long-time WoW player and a Warlock fanatic to boot.

axi0m: So tell us a little about yourself, and your background in World of Warcraft.
Insaneyoshi: Well my character's name is Insaneyoshi and I have been playing World of Warcraft since it was released. I have been raiding since Molten Core was the big raid and still play the same character that I started off as over 5 years ago.

axi0m: Cool what has kept you with the Warlock class for so long?
Insaneyoshi:To be honest while I have tried to swap mains to other classes over the years I have always found myself going back to the warlock. The playstyle of the warlock class really suites me.

axi0m: So over the years you've been playing you have obviously seen a lot of changes to the game, in your opinion what is the most memorable?
Insaneyoshi: I would have to say that for me one of the most memorable changes to this game was the change from 40 man raids to 10/25 man raids. While this made raids more accessible to guilds with lower numbers of members. It caused quite a bit of drama on my original server. While the main reason I transferred off that server was to play with real life friends. The drama of the change from 40 people to 10 people starting in Karazhan really did take its toll on me.

axi0m: Suffice to say it was rather frustrating, I take it you preferred 40 mans at the time?
Insaneyoshi:At the time yes very much so. Though now I find myself having very few problems with the current setup.

axi0m: So now onto the nitty gritty, how do you feel about the current state of World of Warcraft as a whole?
Insaneyoshi: Overall I would have to say that I am fairly happy with WoW as a whole. My only real complaint is that raids simply don't feel as "epic" when it comes to fighting and defeating bosses. Killing Ragnaros for the first time at level 60 meant and felt a whole lot better than killing Kel'thuzad in Naxxramas. Even though he was the only boss I never got to see die during my raiding career at level 60.

axi0m: Do you think WoW is moving in the right direction from your standpoint as a player? If not what direction would you like to see it move in or what are some changes you would like to see in the future?
Insaneyoshi:To be honest I feel that it is moving in the right direction. Though there are a few things that are going to be happening in the near future that I'm not happy with. The changes should make the game easier for newer players and should also add allot of new players to the community as well. While this could be frustrating it could help resolve current problems that I am dealing with now.

axi0m: Well that about wraps it up, is there anything you would like to say in closing or any final thoughts you would like to add?
Insaneyoshi: Yes. I want to strangle whoever came out with the gear score addon!

axi0m: Fantastic. Thank you very much for your time.
Insaneyoshi: Gladly!

So that wraps it up for this week! Tune in next week, when I'll be interviewing an officer in a US Top-50 guild!

[IdentityUnknown]

/agreed on the gearscore addon xD

[savigy]

IdentityUnknown, on 08 March 2010 - 10:48 AM, said:

/agreed on the gearscore addon xD

+1

[rhorle]

While I agree that gear score is bad, its how it is used. Not the concept. The problem is no one uses it as it should be used and instead abuse it which makes its existence terrible

[Chimina]

The only thing Gearscore actually shows is the potential of a player, not if he's actually good. If you give the same player a character with 4500gs and the same class/spec with 5500gs, he will do better with the 5500 one. That's the only time where Gearscore is actually a measure usable, if it's the same person playing both characters

[damaniac82]

My girlfriend is planning to stop playing WoW. Reason, she said: "i don't want to become a goddamn number". People emphasize numbers like DPS and gearscore too much nowadays, resulting in weird things like calling someone "the 7K dps mage" or "the 5K gs tank". While i don't give a flying crap about being referred as the "(InsertNumberHereWhoTheF.Cares) gs shaman", i totally agree with her. This whole gs thing is utmost stupid and frustrating as frak - we've had enough problem already with ppl. completely ignoring anything besides DPS numbers, now we have gs, yay....

[axi0m]

damaniac82, on 08 March 2010 - 12:51 PM, said:

My girlfriend is planning to stop playing WoW. Reason, she said: "i don't want to become a goddamn number". People emphasize numbers like DPS and gearscore too much nowadays, resulting in weird things like calling someone "the 7K dps mage" or "the 5K gs tank". While i don't give a flying crap about being referred as the "(InsertNumberHereWhoTheF.Cares) gs shaman", i totally agree with her. This whole gs thing is utmost stupid and frustrating as frak - we've had enough problem already with ppl. completely ignoring anything besides DPS numbers, now we have gs, yay....

I actually just wrote a research article involving virtual world immersion in World of Warcraft, and how the game has become less immersible with a greater focus being placed on addons and real world math, along with things like gearscore. That the game seems to be drifting away from being a virtual world and more on a goal oriented project like building up a car.

[rhorle]

axi0m, on 08 March 2010 - 07:41 AM, said:

I actually just wrote a research article involving virtual world immersion in World of Warcraft, and how the game has become less immersible with a greater focus being placed on addons and real world math, along with things like gearscore. That the game seems to be drifting away from being a virtual world and more on a goal oriented project like building up a car.

End game has always been like that though. The only thing that has changed is the number of people experiencing end game content. Besides you don't have to know any math or understand any of it if you can do a little reading. Places like elitist jerks do "guide" posts for a reason. I suck at math, I hate reading formula's and all that but I can know my class and how to play with no numbers at all. If I want to be the best and what a "raider" is then I am required to know how to be that, and thats been the way in pretty much any game with raiding.

[Halbarad]

A great first article, good luck with the rest (and hate gearscore!!!)

[Cameron]

Halbarad, on 08 March 2010 - 01:37 PM, said:

A great first article, good luck with the rest (and hate gearscore!!!)

Luck? We don't need no luck, skillz here, yo.

Also, fixed ya title so it updates on its own

[Kaira]

Thanks Axi0m. Keep it going, it always has been interesting to me what the other players think about the game etc...

And yes, GearScore is shit. Those who ask for good numbers are actually those who want to be carried up.

[Moksu]

Who even cares about random warlocks?

[Cameron]

Moksu, on 08 March 2010 - 02:15 PM, said:

Who even cares about random warlocks?

We will be seeing interviews of many types of player and class over the coming weeks/months from a variety of guild types. One persons perspective on the game is no less valid than anyone else's.

[katuka]

I liked this interview, looking forward to the next!

[Chrono]

I think we call all agree that GS is a very sad and annoying part of WoW. Addons such as Elitist Group are SLIGHTLY better as they show more than just a number but still it doesn't measure skill at all.

[Naota3k]

I used to be in Solfire Tribe and haved raided many times with Insaneyoshi. Pretty cool interview!

This post has been edited by Naota3k: 08 March 2010 - 12:30 PM

[Oxes]

Chrono, on 08 March 2010 - 12:22 PM, said:

I think we call all agree that GS is a very sad and annoying part of WoW. Addons such as Elitist Group are SLIGHTLY better as they show more than just a number but still it doesn't measure skill at all.

Skill is subjective and scales with who you are surrounded with, besides, why would you want to measure it anyhow?
So you can ignore anyone that doesn't meet your virtual minimum standards of success?

[axi0m]

Moksu, on 08 March 2010 - 03:15 PM, said:

Who even cares about random warlocks?

Everyones opinion counts and a lot of people are interested in what other people think about the game we all play. Also as Cam said I'll be interviewing a very broad demographic so look forward to future interviews. On a side note thank you all for the positive responses.

[katuka]

Naota3k, on 08 March 2010 - 07:29 PM, said:

I used to be in Solfire Tribe and haved raided many times with Insaneyoshi. Pretty cool interview!

Tell us, is he any good?

[knockonwood]

While I agree GS can and is abused it is a great potential meter. Lets say you are running an ICC10 or 10ToGC pug or a guild run and you need to fill in those couple extra spots. Are you really going to bring in a player you have no idea who they are(be it a main) with a GS of 4700? 4700 is the magical number of having full welfare badge gear with bad weapons/trinkets etc. Or are you going to bring in someones main who has a GS of 5300 or higher who has actually done lets say 25ToC runs etc to gear his toon up in which he/she has gotten some experience. I will choose the latter anyday.
As far as dps meters go if you cannot pull of a sustained dps of 5k in ICC10 you have no business to be in there for even the first four bosses. The next bosses you better be pushing 6k+ as that is what you need to beat enrage timers.

I use GS as a tool to filter out at least the lazy's who want to be carried. If you say you have a 4700 GS in you are in most heroic 25 Uld gear I will take you asap as you have experience but if you are full 232/badge items you can stay out of my 10ICC pugs till you get more experience/gear elseware. It is not fair to the other 9 players in a 10 man setting to have to carry a lazy player and that is how I feel about it.

To the whole going from 20/40===>>>10/25 format was interesting I remember. It also ripped my guild apart as people were forming cliches within our own guild and would exclude anyone else that was not part of their group. So what me and my the rest of the good raiders did was form our own raid group in which we had to recruit/devolpe 2 healers and 1 tank as that is what we were short on. So we raided kara to where we could than we went and just did as many heroics as possible(haha when heroics were actually a challange and you had to use cc.) It took us just over 2 weeks to get the 2 healers and 1 tank geared up and rest of our dps kited out and we ended up clearing Kara 2 weeks before our guilds group did. It was a moment of pride and accomplishment and truely felt epic as we were at a disadvatage from the getgo but when we cleared kara before them oh man we rub it in their faces was good times.

Before people say kara was a joke etc... think about kara wearing t2/questing blues/heroic blues/epics and greens.... Kara really wasn't a joke until you got geared up through Kara itself, it was a decently challanging place and was tuned well.

This post has been edited by knockonwood: 08 March 2010 - 05:11 PM