Is Real ID The WoW Killer?

HowManyOfMe.com

There is person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Every time a new mmo comes out, the question is asked.  Sometimes it is loud, sometimes it's just a murmur, but it is asked.  Will this game kill WoW?  Nothing yet has come close to killing WoW, though some have taken a few subscriptions for a time.  Seems they always come back, or someone else takes their place.

When Real ID was first introduced, it was to be an option, not a necessity.  You could share your email address with whomever you wished, and they would know where you were playing in the WoW universe and what your real name was. Eventually, they would be able to find you in Starcraft, even Diablo, from their Battle.net friends list. This I am definitely a fan of.  I have people in this game I consider to be good friends of mine, that I want to be able to find me should I ever leave, and this is a good way for it to happen.

The recent news of integrating the Real ID system into the Starcraft and Cataclysm forums has my tongue tied.  On one hand, here is me, inconsequential nothing of a person with a terrible credit rating, no items of value, and no job to ruin from anyone knowing that I, Jennifer, posted on the World of Warcraft forums.  From what I can tell, there are more than enough Jennifer Morton's on the internet to gain me a smidgen of anonymity.  However, there are people out there with last names that are rather unique, situations that require them to be a bit more zealous of their personal information's safety.  For them, I am against this addition to the optional Real ID system.  Sure, they have said you can choose to not post on the forums.  Being a social game, I can see where some people would feel that their gaming fun had been compromised by not being able to chat with like minded individuals over their lunch break in the forums.

  I read, thanks to Saresa's snippets in her post, one person's idea of a Real Alias for the Real ID system.  Fabulous idea!  The beauty of this game is to be able to slip on the mask of your character and become them, even for a short time.  It is an escape from Jennifer Morton and her life.  For those that enjoy the social aspect but still need a bit of anonymity, this would solve many problems.  Only Blizzard need know our real names, not the general public.

Will this kill WoW?  WoW seems very resilient, but this threat is from the inside.  I can see them taking a big subscription hit if there are no changes made to their current plans for the forums. I hope that they find a way to make this more palatable, with perhaps a Real Alias system or some other way to protect those who need to be protected. Without any change, I fear for the life of what has been my game of choice. 

HowManyOfMe.com

There are people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

New Main!

That's it. I have had it with healing the ungrateful, rude masses. I will no longer toss a renew to someone out of combat to help them regen faster. I will no longer worry if the greater heal that I trinketed and used all my specials on will hit the tank before he dies. I won't bother giving people fortitude and spirit buffs. Nope. I refuse to carry candles.

No, I'm not going to switch out to Carlotta. She needs too much. Damned arrows and food for the beast, not to mention bandages and potions she makes for everyone else but her.

Shawndra is out as well. Her gear costs too much to repair. And people expect her to tank. Bleah. I want none of that responsibility.

Not even Gwenna the mage. Nope. She has about 3 too many reagents to carry around, and they cost money. Not to mention that people expect her to make them food and water, and focus magic, and sometimes sheep/rabbit things. Forget that!

I am even going to forsake the Horde. Yep. Horde is too hardcore for me. I'm thinking I want the easy life of hanging out in places like Goldshire and Stormwind and Ironforge, where the only attacks I have to dodge are the X rated RP offers.

Here is my new main. Her name is Muppsey. Be afraid. Be VERY afraid. And healers? Yeah, I'm going to life tap myself down to the bone. You'll heal me and like it.

Oh, I thought I'd change it up a bit and join a real raiding guild, too. So, I'm rolling her on the US-Sentinels server, where Premagon (or is it Paranition?) is going to get ready for Cataclysm and the new raid content it contains. I'm sure once they see her shadow bolt spam they will fall in love with her and beg her to join. Even if she can't heal. Or cook. Did I mention there will be no small eggs cooked by her? Nope, no eggs at all. No cooking, no fishing, no first aid. Just tailoring and enchanting, which I will have my minions (read:children) level for me.

Muppsey is all about the selfish desire to do absolutely nothing that benefits anyone but my selfish need to only dps, and sponge off of everyone I can possibly manage to. Expect a lot of posts about how I wiped groups and pissed off healers and tanks in the next several weeks. It will be such a change from the bad groups and awful people posts I have grown accustomed to reading in my feed reader!

Oh, and Happy April First. :)

Pamper Me More!

Michelle from the Warcraft Outsiders Podcast wrote about this in a post on their blog today, and instead of visiting the forums for my response, I decided to post it here. I know she has been pimping their forums, because, let's face it, they're a great place to get together for the guild and for the community surrounding their casts. Don't worry, Michelle, I promise to post a link to my response there, and to go lurk a little, and find a way to comment on some of the topics there, right after I say my piece.

Anyhow, back to my response. Are we too pampered in WoW? Personally, I think we could use some more pampering. A closet for all my designer robes when I get a new one would be nice. They already have a laundry service in Dalaran, why not an armor storage? The storage is really only there as an additional bag to your bank. Each outfit would take up a slot, with room for ten outfits. The shirt slot would become a costume slot, changing the look of your gear from what you chose from your armor storage.

How about a hot tub for after that long night fighting the Scourge in Icecrown Citadel? They could make it exclusive, say maybe up in that private get away Archmage Vargoth keeps at the tippy top of Dalaran. He has room up there for a half dozen hot tubbers. If they made it instanced, they would only really need to build one. Maybe we could even petition for an olympic sized pool with diving board (driven by the newest blizzard vehicle technology). There's room in the Underbelly, just move the arena out and the pool in. Leave this non instanced, for that public pool feel. You could remake Segacedi into a blow up floaty shark toy, or leave him toothy and in the deep end for some excitement.

Strangelethorn Vale is full of sandy beaches that are infested with nasty pirates. Why not transform a length of beach into a resort area, complete with tiki bars and firepits? It could be a short hop from Booty Bay, accessible by a short goblin powered rickshaw ride. A few lounges, beach chairs, and umbrellas could be permanently placed, but with room left for those still hooked on their romantic picnic baskets to set up a cozy day at the beach for two.

Blood elves have such pretty pedicured feet. Could Blizzard expand on the idea for our hooved and three toed friends? Shawndra would love to coat her troll toenails with some ghoulish purple paint. Niranjani would love some feminine hearts or some leafy green healing symbols on her hooves. Maybe Delgada couldn't get her toenails done (she can't find more than half of them anyway), but a nice clear coat on her toe bones would sure keep them from chipping so badly. As for the Alliance races, the treatments the blood elves receive would work fine on all but the Draenei, and they would probably enjoy the same treatment the Tauren do.

I'm sure I could dream up a jillion more things I'd like to do in game with my characters, but there is only one that I place at the top of my list. I would love them to have a home. Maybe one for each faction, decorated with little trophies of my character's achievements. It need not reside on Blizzards servers, but as a side area on my own. I should be able to invite people over if I wanted, limited only by my own systems capacity. Just a little place to hang their hat when their day is done, with no other functionality than chat and displayed storage, and maybe a place or two to sit, like the houses SWG still hosts for their players.

That's all I have for this edition of "Blizzard, Pamper Me More!" If there comes another edition, be ready to explore the seedier side of pampering. Hubby has some wild ideas of his own. Comments? Leave them below, or better yet, add to the thread that was started here.

Rest and Relaxation

Tamarind over at Righteous Orbs gave me the most wonderful present of a topic to write about for Christmas, and I thought I would unwrap it and write about it early. If you haven't been following, pop on over and start reading. Tam and Chas' posts are always good for a grin and some "yeah, that's me" moments. So, here is my gift from Tam:

"...if your characters (or you can just do Shawndra if you prefer, since she seems to be occupying your time and attention at the moment) were going to retire from the adventuring life, where would they settle down, and what would they be doing instead?"

Shawndra fell in love with Nagrand the minute she set foot in it. The fishing is plentiful. The grasslands are lush and green, and the herds of clefthoof and talbuk offer a good living, giving up their skins and meats. Living in Nagrand, after the toughening Shawndra experienced fighting the minions of the Lich King, would be the easy life. If the orcs of Garadar wouldn't put her up, there were one or two abandoned camps or outposts she remembered that would do fine. Just give her a pole, a fire with a kettle, a rude shelter, and she'd bring her knife and live well and happily.


Delgada would not retire easily. If she came to the point when that was all that was left to do, I imagine she would bank all but the necessities, find a corner of the world she hadn't explored thoroughly and continue working. If forced to retire, she would probably find a shallow grave and hand the one responsible the shovel. Sitting idly fishing or twiddling is just not her style. She did enough of that after a lovely piece of scourged toast with honey.


Halinka is rather young and the idea of retiring really hadn't been thought about until now. Halinka loves to read and would happily watch the world go by from the window of any number of places, so long as there was a room with a view. I'm sure Minya would like to see her retire. At least she is no longer hanging out in the Exodar waiting for Halinka's findings. Stormwind is much healthier!

I don't see Dinnaeh (formerly Esoterique) retiring. I do, however, imagine her being the tragic victim of casting fire spells in her sleep. She should probably see someone about that...


That's all I have right now. I looked back at some of my roleplay posts to see who had back stories, and it turns out I have many, but the main characters are listed above.

Now, for the second part of this gift. This is the part I give to you! Comment below if you would like a present of a topic to write about for your blog. I will respond with your very own topic, chosen with your blog's personality in mind. As stated in Tam's post, this is a gift, with no strings. Use it, don't use it, regift it, use it to paper your parakeet's cage, it is your choice!

What Holiday Would You Design?

On the forums today, Crygil asked, "If you were a developer for just one World of Warcraft in-game holiday/world event, what would it be?" I read through maybe 2 pages of what looks to be a very popular thread, with ideas that range from a gnome appreciation day/week, to a faction un-appreciation day (kill your own allies!), to a twist on St Patty's Day. Some had some ideas for a day to honor our past heroes (though I thought we already had that in the harvest festival, going to Ashenvale to visit a monument to Grom Hellscream), and some had some really outlandish ideas. Gnome costumes for Tauren? Thulgasta of the Malfurion server had a neat idea for a Leif Erickson day, complete with a cloth helm with horns anyone could wear. Idoka of the Scarlet Crusade server had another idea that is close to my heart, Troll Week. It's about 2/3 of the way down page four. the details are better in the hands of the person who thought them up! Elindi of Altar of Storms server had a great idea to have a beach party themed holiday, about 2/3 of the way down page 9. Goatvomit of the Uther server did a bit of research and came up with a Tauren-centric holiday and quests on page 10 near the top. Near the bottom of page 10, though short and sweet, a Teddy Bear picnic day told in the words of Diesalven of the Burning Legion realm has some appeal. Exphryl of Tichondrius has some neat thoughts on a Pirate vs Ninja event (who doesn't want a hook to complete their pirate costume?) on page 11 three posts down. The whole of the previous pages are sprinkled with people wanting more zombie invasions and a Mardi-Gras type event, though how it is implemented varies wildly.

I get to page 13, and Kisirani, a world designer, comments,"This is a curious read. Do keep it up. ;)"


It would seem that they did. Brandston of the Ghostlands server, just a few posts down the page, thinks there should be a county fair, and I agree! I'd love to see Farmer Torp's famous pig! Oogle of the Misha server has a good idea for a flea market, centering on the professions, toward the bottom of page 14. Directly below that post, Vaca of the Bladefist server has some ideas of a Carnaval type event, or, if that didn't work, a murloc invasion. There were many other ideas, all of them showing some thought, even if I didn't take to them myself.


What kind of holiday would I want to see in game? I would first have to think, would it be something that all races and both faction could participate in? A race specific holiday doesn't sound like such a good idea when I start to think that way. I really am enjoying the idea of the county faire type event. It doesn't have to cross faction lines, as the original person thought that the best places to host the event would be Westfall or the Barrens. One on each side of the conflict would do. The areas chosen are also some that have been pretty empty as of late, and would bring new life to old zones. What kind of quests would be there to keep our allies busy? A pie eating contest, definitely. A greased pig wrestling contest, perhaps? Perhaps our friends would be charged to vote for the "best of show" among all the livestock entries. Maybe the sheep pen is plagued by a nasty wolf that needs taking out. Are some of the cooking judges being bribed (or can they be bribed) to choose an unworthy product as winner? Choosing a side could open up a whole new set of quests, siding with the sleazy judges or the angry contestants. Vendors could serve faire food, like they do in the Darkmoon Faire. Maybe there could be some cooking quests, to help supply the food vendors. For the roleplay crowd, maybe a circus tent with some rare animals and acts could be arranged. There is so much someone can do at a faire.

As much as I love the country faire idea, here is my idea for an in game event. I posted this on the thread. Seems I am the only one that came up with this, at least in the thread.

My original idea had been to return to Nagrand, and have an armistice of sorts, where the Draenei and the Orc would come together in a sort of good will meeting, remembering back to before the Orc were tainted with the fel blood. There could be quests of discovery for both sides, seeing how they once lived in a tenuous peace, trading their wares, their children playing at the foot of the bargaining table.

The orc and draenei, both learned in the shamanistic way, could have a spirit guide to lead us to important areas, and have an ancestor meet us there with a story of what happened at that place. Before that there would have to be some material gathering, much like the quest in Garadar that Greatmother Geya gives. There could be a special quest for shaman only that would give them a totem that would be on par with something already in game, but with an added perk like a spirit raven that follows the owner when it is equipped. Perhaps this would be a follow up quest to the spirit guide quest, where the shaman is asked to bring an item to a great shaman of their faction. Once there, the shaman leader of their faction would have them run a certain instance (perhaps one in Auchindoun) and summon a special boss to retrieve a corrupted totem, that would have to be purified (perhaps a solo follow up quest that has them kill evil spirits corrupting the totem) to make the quest reward.

There would be a great feast set out, talbuk and clefthoof roasting over huge pits, bluefish and mudfish set out on rough plank tables with drinks and platters of vegetables and fruits. There might be a sparring area to one side where we could go hand to hand or use staves to duel npcs. A fishing tournament is a must, with all the great fishing to be had out there. Maybe a prize for the person who catches the most fish in a given time, run once every hour? The winner could get some silly fishing frill like a sparkly bobber or a special fishing outfit (chest piece that works as a full outfit).