To pvp or not to pvp

Couple of years ago, back when TBC was about to be launched and everyone got really happy that getting the best pvp gear required skill instead of load and loads of time. I remember talking to some friends about it and I said that they should make WSG rated instead and I still belive that.

First off are the balance issues, its alot harder to balance the small scenarios in arena than it is balancing large groups vs large groups. Furthermore, when the goal is something other than killing everyone it allows for more asymetrical balance to come into play, intead of making sure everyone is balanced to everyone including pve.

Second, if your audience has never seen wow they still understand whats going on alot easier to the hectic arena fighting, where every player would need their own commentator to be able to explain everyhing. Capture the flag is rather simple and easy to follow. Also, in any good sport, you need players to make the big plays and you need the audience to see the great moves, which in arena does not work very well.

I belive that wsg is more wow-like than the arena. In my opinion, raiding is the best thing wow ever did and many would probably agree with me. Wsg is alot like raiding in many ways, you got your tank(and something to tank!), you got your healer and you will have players with special assignments (defend flag, midfielders, attackers etc etc).

I havent been doing arena much, mainly because I feel that luck is such a big part in there, you miss one swing or you crit just right makes the difference between winning and loosing. However, this news about rated bgs has made me very very interested in picking up pvp again.

-Rated BG: two thumbs up!

And thats my 0.02e this tuesday.
-Nairi

Give more stuff to do blizz!

Currently the content in wow has been out for close to 6 months, hardmodes maybe 5? The guild I am a part of are still running hardmodes, hopefully we will get professor/sindragosa soon. To me hardmodes are the same fight, with some tweaks to make it harder, not that inspiring. Dont get me wrong I intend to do them, but 6 months between content release is just too long. And the next one is just going to be one boss.

So what to do? I have pretty much stopped doing dailies, I am just logging in for raids. Instead I've started to play some other games: Diablo 2 and my newfound best friend, league of legends(LoL):
I assume you know what dota is, if not just google "dota". LoL is a clone, the same basic principles, but with a few differences. You cannot deny, you dont lose gold when you die, you gain much more gold from hero kills. Three things which promotes hero killing acion instead of the creep killing game which high level dota games seem to end up as.
LoL is free to play but if you like you can buy heroes for real cash, you will eventually get there even if you dont buy, but paying will get you there quicker. In my opinion a great concept, though I dont really like that some cosmetic features are not available except for real cash, but I have never been that big one that kind of stuff anyway so I'll live.

So, if you like dota, I definately think you should try out LoL and if you have never played dota and would like to know what all the fuss is about, here is your chance. Remember LoL is free to play, only need to download the client.
I will post 2 links, the first is a referal which may or may not give me some bonuses, and if you really dont want to help me out take the second one.
EU-site referal (europe, thanks for klicking it :P)
EU-site (the normal link)
Rest of the world (I think) (main site)

Leveling up

I have been playing World of Warcraft ever since the release in europe.
As such I have quite a few level 80s at this point. (Shaman, Warrior, Death Knight, Warlock, Rogue) My next level 80 will be my hunter, almost 74 now.

I want to make it clear, that I really really dislike leveling, in vanilla I mostly grinded, in TBC I quested and in WOTLK I have done it by questing(warrior), some grinding(shaman), pvping(death knight) and now I am instance-leveling. On my hunter I do one dungeon per day, that gives me experience and emblems for when I finaly reach 80, allowing me to stay rested the entire time.

All of the above have one thing in comon: they are all a grind.
Yes, questing is different than just killing the same mob over and over, but after the first time(if not already during the first time) it is just grinding in a more efficient manner. I could not care less about the lore, I dont need the money from the quests, why am I forced to do them again? Okey, yes I am not forced, but I hate leveling and I want to do it as quickly as possible so I am out of options.

My solution to this would be that once you reach 80 the experience needed for the next character would be significantly nerfed. Outlands with heirlooms is the leveling pace that I would say is reasonable (and yes it was nerfed).

As far as I can tell there is no downside to this proposal. For those that like the quests there is always a option to
a) stop the experience gain(yes you can actaully do that now)
b) do the quests at 80 where you also gain more money from them.
I also dont see how too many 80s could cause any problems.

-Nerf leveling once one character has reached maximum level, kthnxbye.

And thats my 0.02€.
-Nairi