Well Blizz, I guess we part ways here

So the last straw has been laid, and I think it has broken the back of my time with WoW. We had the Ji Firepaw incident in MoP beta, and it got fixed quickly. There was hope that Blizzard had learned. Then the Warlords announcement happened, with the “boy’s trip”. Then the Draenei April Fool’s “joke” this year. And now we have confirmation that Blizzard are consciously not interested in being socially progressive, are happy to continue to alienate women and minorities with their writing and creative design choices, and don’t want to change. So, like Cynwise, Akabeko, and no doubt many others, I am no longer interested in supporting them with my money. I’ll continue to play Hearthstone and Diablo III, since they already have my money for those, but WoW is not for me.

I’ve not really been happy with WoW as a game over the last couple of years since my guild disbanded, it has been a struggle to remain enthusiastic about it. Really, it was only the chance to play with friends that kept me subscribed, and even then I kind of dipped in and out. I’ve had much more fun in the settings and stories and mechanics of The Secret World, GW2 and even LotRO. Plus, now, to play with Navi and the Frostwolves I’d need to go through the tedious gear grind which sickens me; to play with Matty, Tome and the OLRG I need to be playing at ridiculous times (9am on a SUNDAY?! Who does that? ;)) AND go through the tedious level grind on Alliance which I have come to really loathe as a faction. Spending valuable money on a sub in order to disregard my principles is not something I’m willing to do at this time. Perhaps when my disconnection from friends grows too great, it will overcome my objections and I will resubscribe for a while. But I’d much rather tempt those friends to come and settle in a new MMO home with me. ArcheAge looks like the most likely contender for me at this stage, though I wouldn’t mind settling in to some LotRO in the meantime.

It’s a sad feeling, to realise that the line has been crossed, that things aren’t actually going to get better. I really hope that they can change things around for their next big IP.

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The Consequences of PvP in a PvE Environment

As I have many thoughts on the matter, I’ve decided to deposit my two copper into the conversation about whether PvE and PvP should mix in MMOs.

As Eri briefly mentions in her post, there is a distinct lack of (in-game) consequences for most PvE MMO open-world PvP (OWP). In games like WoW, OWP is restricted to simply combat practice, or denying someone some peace and quiet for a while. There are no consequences beyond the time spent/wasted. No gains for the ‘winner’, no loss for the ‘loser’. There is no incentive to it. All meaningful gains are locked away behind the organised, instanced PvP queues, and all losses are simply a factor of what you have already gained (rankings). I believe that this is a result of the nature of the game: these are primarily PvE games. PvP was never a fundamental playstyle that the game was built around. It was added onto an existing PvE framework, and it shows. Furthermore, these games are marketed as PvE experiences first and foremost, so it makes sense that the majority of players are drawn to that style of play.