Dear Nandieb

Radikal 7 Nandieb 1

"I Warned Him"

So, 2.4 info next week. I was thinking what I'd like to see, but that led to little more than me googling vanessa hudgins bush followed shortly by severe feelings of PCD. And then the whole Heath Ledger thing led to heath ledger bush, and well yeah, there's trees up in that forest. Probably isn't healthy that when I close my eyes I'm in a forest of giant penii covered in birds and the whole place echoes with the woody the woodpecker cackle. Arousal and sympathy pain.

That perhaps made very little sense, but perhaps this will:

1. Invisibility fade no longer broken by Ice Block/Hypothermia. (Back to 2.1)
2. Spellsteal will no longer steal effects you already have. It will prioritize shorter duration buffs.
3. Other cool shit.

Yup, that's my current list. Not exactly asking for a threesome with two virgins here. Not that I have some sort of virgin fetish...although it's nice to know they're not lying when it's the biggest they've ever had.

Ming's been unable to play, and I've been sick the past few days, hence our absence in arena for those who care. Nobody quit or /wrists irl. You fucking wish. I've also been horribly busy because some genius in France decided to lose his bank seven billion dollars and fuck the world economy significantly in the process. Actually, I idolize the dude. Rogue trader? Just sounds badass. Seems like a life full of meth, underage whores and southeast Asian prison time, i.e. the dream.

I was afking in IF today for a few hours and witnessed one of those truly amazing Trade channel arguments -- this one, evolution vs creationism. Now, I'm not one to push my beliefs on anyone, nor do I know much about that fancy science mumbo-jumbo. However, Boat Trip. Godless world , people. It is pretty amazing how into it people get though -- I've never been as passionate about anything or anyone as The Sucks are about being right in Trade chat. Perhaps, it's because it's the most balanced form of PvP in WoW. Gear and class don't matter. Racials? Useless. If you can't handle the fire, just drop channel, scrub.

Fake Notes?

So. The "fake" 2.4 patch notes. You've read. And emo-ed out. And kinda liked it. Some of the stuff seems pretty cool. Maybe, they're not fake. So what if they feel a bit too firm and float awkwardly in water. They're beautiful and what right do you have to judge anyone. Think of the sacrifice and time that went into them.

Yeah, so there's the whole spellstealing ghost wolf faux pas and some typos, but are we 100% sure they're fake? Well, they do seem to be a little too good. Ya know? Too much of what you want to hear. It's not that small. Crying is totally normal. I agree, it does taste better from a dixie cup. If only...

While the majority of people have given up on rated WSG being included in 2.4, I still believe. I have my reasons. Good reasons. Secret. Very hush hush.

I'm a little less excited than I once was for rated WSG. I think rated WSG is make or break for a lot of people -- if it sucks, they'll have no reason to stick around. In some ways, it's better to delay it and make sure it's awesome than put it out and have it be mediocre. And while the PvErs complain about how much attention arena gets, arena still feels extremely mediocre to me. Poor individual class balance still leads to poor balance in the smaller brackets and lots of counter-comping-rock-paper-scissors bullshit.

That's not me whining about class balance per se, but I think the argument that Blue has dedicated its undivided attention to appeasing the arena crowd is a bit silly. And balance is subjective. For instance, most people would would classify mages as strong in 5s, solid in 3s, and poor in 2s -- the numbers mostly support this. I think it's pretty much the opposite, and my gripe isn't balance at all, it's just options. Mages are still way more limited in the types of teammates they can choose. So are paladins. At the end of the day, mages are still so delicate and paladins are so harmless that they both require precise lineups to compensate. It's long been my argument that rogue/mage/priest is so ubiquitous not because it's such an incredibly overpowered lineup, but it's simply the best option for the ton of mages out there. Is it easy to play? Perhaps, but it's not more trivial than playing WE in any other lineup. Decision making is still what ends up separating the mediocre from the truly strong players.

The fake notes describe a very different game to me. It's tempting to embrace the fake changes if only because they'd shake things up. People are better in arena than they were in season one. That soft "skill cap" we so often hear complained about has perhaps been achieved. When the gates open, it's usually very clear where the advantage lies and what the optimal course of action should be. Execution of given strategies has reached a point where your opponents aren't going to fuck up horrendously. Big class changes would change all of that. So would the soft reset that WotLK promises. I'm skeptical we'll see it sooner.