World of Warcraft change ideas

The biggest problem from my standpoint is this: There are hardcore raiders because that is, outside of arena, the best way to get better gear and see content that Blizzard actually creates. Some of us won't see the content (gee...haven't heard that before?). For the rest of us that are not hardcore raiders, what is there?

So, to address this problem, offering some possible solutions:

• PvE Battlegrounds. Create objectives that a randomly collected group of people can just 'hop in' to attempt to complete...even it is as simple as 'kill 1000 of the never ending swarm of owlbears'. This would be fun, doesn't require pre-planning of a group, and could have potential rewards related to this type of combat. This style will also help the non-PVP oriented tank/healer classes versus focusing on DPS/survival.
  
• More 5-man content. It has been mentioned over and over and over again on purpose - because it is lacking.
• Gear synergy between solo/5-man/raid. Raid gear should not be the best out there, period. Some people can not or choose not to raid. There should be other options, but to keep raid content rewarding, some type of synergy system could be fashioned.
• Raid gear - if you want raid gear to be high-end, have it have raid-level enhancements that are not that helpful elsewhere or in smaller groups. +1% to healing based on number of healers within 30 yards, FireStaff that increases the bearer's firedamage based on how much more, other firedamage is happening per sec from other sources, phalanx shield that increases the armor based on number of nearby phalanx shields, etc.
  
• More solo progression content. The leaf for hunters from the end of MC is lame - do not have that be started from raid content, but DO HAVE SIMILAR CLASS SPECIFIC QUESTS that must be solo'd like the hunter bow quest. The hunter leaf quest itself is awesome (other than it being outside for easy harressment), it's the needing to be in a raid that can complete MC before you can start that is lame.
• Gear better than hand-crafted gear, then why be a craftsman? The BoP crafted gear was a good start, but needs to be more matured and developed to make it worthwhile. There should still be options for those that do not choose professions, but since a crafting profession takes up a significant amount of time and resources it really should be rewarding versus just a stepping stone for non-hardcore-raiders that eventually gets replaced. Possibly allow customizing what is crafted versus a fixed item (chest piece with 50 sta, 1500 armor, 25 def vs 30 sta, 1200 armor, 25 def, 10 resist all).

Most of the ideas above are targeted towards smaller groups. This is because Blizzard has the ability to change these, you can not change or control people (you must raid!! It is the only way to end game!).

The fall of World of Warcraft

The fall of the behemoth known as 'World of Warcraft' will not happen anytime soon.

However, I recently cancelled my subscription (on the day patch 2.3 came out) related to three specific things:

• Lack of solo/5-man party progression path that did not involve MORE grinding/redudant runs of the same content. This is outside PvP/Arena solo advancement -- some people enjoy that, some do not.
• Only other upgrade path was raid/10/25 man content. This brings in the social aspect and challenges related to 9/24 other people, everyone on at the same time, AFK, paying attention/situational awareness, and simply getting INTO the raid based on the necessary class makeup and possibly policies and/or personal preferences of the people putting the raid together, and of course everyone sufficiently geared/prepared for that raid content.
• Been playing it for a long time (3rd day after it came out...I was trying when it initially came out, but really couldn't play until I choose one of the new servers that got rolled out).

My only regret really isn't necessarily what was lacking in World of Warcraft, but rather any substantial competition/alternatives. This is where I am going to bring up one that actually COULD have challenged Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Star Wars Galaxies.

Why bring up Star Wars Galaxies you may ask - it's pretty much dead, no one is creating new characters there, and Sony itself has somewhat given up on it.

Because: Star Wars Galaxies, pre the Combat Upgrade patch, had a well known genre that wasn't the standard dragon/dungeon/magic commonly seen in MMOs. Character progression started very simply, then bloomed into a complex system of choices and options, professions (the crafting was awesome!), and even non-combat progression. And, of course, it was Star Wars!!

If anyone was to topple the mighty World of Warcraft, it would be a re-creation of a Star Wars MMO with Lucas Arts involvement, not some other crappy (no offense, but really) game developers/designers with the same initial ideal and scope of eventual complex progression and the hope (not garanteed-in-two-months) of possibly unlocking Jedi powers IF you so desired (but non-Jedi still being quite capable and, at times, preferred).

Will it come to fruition? Not likely, but hopefully someone will take this as a que :-)

Hello all,
This is my first blog in the gamerblog.

So, to start things off, the goal of the gamerblog is to share my experience of what history has shown to make a great game, with the focus more towards multiplayer aspects with your friends.

Why focus on the multiplayer aspect?

• Business side: Any commercial game publishing entity will want to sell as many copies of a game as possible. The game developers (who are not the publishers) do not necessarily worry about the number of sales as much as how good their game is -- but, publishers would be more willing to publish a game if it is likely to sell more games.
• Social side: Let's be honest with ourselves, a game is MUCH more enjoyable when you are playing with friends, neighbors, or just the guy/gal beside you in an internet cafe/gamer dive.
  
• Competitive side: Fighting AI mobs is fun, but once you learn the 'trick' or technique the -designers- intended you fight the mob with, well, it gets kind of boring and becomes more a challenge of figuring out what was intended versus what cool things could you try. Competing with other players removes the aspect of 'intended' approaches and allows a lot more variables to come into play.
• Hype side: The high-level game genre known as 'MMO' has taken off considerably over the past couple of years. Previously over the past 10 or so years, LAN and similar multiplayer gaming was 'king' of this arena, but 'MMO' style has picked up significant speed.
  

So what makes me a good candidate to blog about gaming, specifically multiplayer gaming?

• I am not a game designer. This is on purpose, as although I am a software engineer, knowing the inner working of games kinda looses the 'coolness' of a game.
• I have had significant experiences in the gaming world (yes, atari days forward), but have picked up more focus on what would make good games and trying to detect good multiplayer games coming out to share with my friends.
• I listen, and try to think and analyze logically :-)

Experiences:

• Multiplayer/LAN style
  
• Command and Conquer series
• Warcraft II/III series, Starcraft, Diablo II
  
• Mechwarrior series
  
• Dungeon Seige I/II
• Freespace II (and other similar space games)
• Master of Orion I/II (and a III title that really wasn't MOO)
• Master of Magic
• Doom/Quake/Unreal
  
• MMO style
• Dark Age of Camelot (pre Trials of Atlantis)
• Anarchy Online (pre Notum Wars)
  
• FF XII
• Star Wars Galaxies online (pre combat upgrade patch)
• Planetside
• Eve Online (only a short stint)
  
• Dungeon and Dragons Online
• Hellgate: London
• --Numerous Betas
  
• Significant single player games
• Elder Scrolls Series
• The 'gold box' series/'bards tale' series