Rapid Response Unit

A post at the Pink Pigtail Inn got me inspired to write this list of tips to enjoy your game more.

• If You Think You Are Trying Too Hard, You Are Thinking Too Much.

There’s little logic in overdoing a job that will not change the outcome. Do only what’s required of you, allowing you time to relax. As a healer, over healing is frowned upon, so I don’t spam buttons. In some five man instances I can sip tea while following other people as rarely is a heal needed; I am therefore relaxed and enjoying the game. Why do 5k dps if doing 2k dps will get the same job done with less effort?

• Step One is Admitting

Gambling has two outcomes, win or lose. Loosing leads to disappointment and no one wants to lose. However, the golden rule of gambling is, the house always wins. Ignore loot tables; they are only going to lead to disappointment. I remember a person I ran a heroic with, he said, “I’ve been here 7 times; I hope the trinket drops this time”. That person made a gamble those seven times, and when they lost, they felt it was a waste of time, a disappointment and a waste of effort. Hardly a fun game to play.

• Life is Like a Box of Chocolates; it’s exactly the same on the Bottom Layer.

Once a week destroy something valuable in the game, preferably something that could provide some revenue for you. This will be your gentle reminded that it’s only a bit of fun, and that the items you obtain can easily be obtained repeatedly and again. Forget about the item and laugh in the face of hindsight and regret. Type DELETE and say goodbye, which is until next week when you’re deleting that same item, further proof how easy it was to get.

• Start, Stop, Sip Some Tea and Repeat.

Make your goal in game to have no goals in game. Anything that happens will so a surprise, especially achievements, when they do happen it’s exciting. It’s not exciting to work specifically on an achievement it’s a chore, therefore the reward becomes a payment.

• Jam Jars Make Great Paperweights

Avoid people who constantly ask for “Stats and Achievements”. Seriously, everyone has them already, stop asking for them. The easiest way to avoid these people is join LFG with your selection of choice and in comments put “Pick me pick me J”. People who see the funny side to this are fun people.

• Fold on a Good Hand

If life deals you crappy cards, remember there’s still another 47 left in the deck; you never have to settle with what you have. In WoW, there is nothing that needs doing, only things you want to do. You need to be level 80 to do end game raiding is wrong. You want to end game raid so you want to level to 80. Everything you do is your choice; it’s your game to play.

• Lateral Thinking

Where there’s a will, there’s someone crazy enough to find a way. Set yourself a pointless and absurd challenge with no other reward that a laugh at the end of it. Like getting a level one character to stand outside Ulduar, it may take ages to get there, as you would have to try to avoid lots and navigate terrain by foot, but it maybe possible with some lateral thinking. Log it on every so often and talk out-loud to people there saying you’re new to the game and lost, can someone help.

• Do Less

Always do less, less is more. More fun, more surprises, more rewarding, more relaxing, and more enjoyable.

Sure, you can splash about in it, but after that, there’s not much to do, and there’s only so much splashing you can do before you get bored. You certainly can’t dive into it or go exploring in it to see what you can come out with.

I was not playing WoW at the weekend (the ball and chain was with me) and while not playing, I came across some old games I used to play. One of the games in question was Guild Wars. Please allow me a moment to put on my flame retardant suit, before you verbally abuse me for saying such words. However, I have a very valid reason for bringing up the game, that being, the versatility and depth of the player classes and the spells.

For anyone who has played that game will know exactly what I’m talking about, for anyone who hasn’t played it… The class system works by you choosing one to begin with, there a few different classes to wow but essential you still have DPS, healers and tanks. The main difference is the fact you can choose a second class, as a part breed if you wish, and you will have spells for both of those classes. Then you have attribute points that you can apply to your chosen classes, here is an example.

Self Explanatory Character Stat Tab

While you are able to choose a second class this does not mean that it’s effectively duel class, as your second class doesn’t even compare to the power of someone with that as a primary class. What it does mean is that you have a few extra tricks up you’re sleeve, these tricks are based upon that a lot of spells in Guild Wars are ‘effect spells’ (spells that effect the next one) and the best part about it was, that there was no spell that the effect spell wont work with. This allows for infinite build and set ups. This included Double Nuke – the ability to cast high damage – high cool down – spells right after each other. Then you had the Triple Nuke, same again but 3 instant cast of the same spell. Moreover, my favourite, the 55hp Monk – Essentially even a low level NPC would one shot this but the build was set in a way that nothing would kill this monk and all damage dealt was reflected.

Over my time playing, I saw many builds invented and even made a few myself. Very few people had the same build as the game allowed for infinite experimentation; this is where I think Warcraft suffers. If you want to be a tank, you will have to have a certain build. If you want to heal, healing classes have a certain build, the only difference between players usually is one or two talent points in different places, however, were still casting the same spells as everyone else.
The only differences in players (besides themselves) are gear. Better gear does not change the way we play, it just means that the healers don’t go out of mana as quick, and that goes for all classes.

• Better DPS gear = Faster kills = Less mana used by healer.
• Better tank gear = Less damage taken = Less mana used by the healer.
• Better healing gear, well you see where this is going.

In Guild Wars someone usually had something that no one else had, an elemental that could self heal, a tank that could rein down meteors. In Warcraft, “I have a new Trinket”, “GZ on the 2 extra spell power than your last one; it’s going to be like a whole new game now”. Hardly.

“I’m an Elemental Leather Worker”
“Ahh welcome to our small and lucrative club, your member number is #4,857,859”

Still, I can’t help but love Warcraft.

Craig