Thursday, September 3, 2009

Faction changes, Cross-realm LFG, and cohesion

I can only think of one thing I've really wanted in WoW and they've already added it - dual specs. Actually I wanted free respecs, but dual specs works just fine. Actually with the amount I play at the moment I only need one spec...but that's neither here nor there.

Another thing that I wanted but not as badly was the chance to play horde. Of course I could fulfill that wish by leveling, but I never stayed with it. I'm giving it another go right now.

But with faction changes I can swap one of my higher level character and experience "the more mature" side. I think the introduction of blood elves blew that description out of the water, but now I have the chance to see first hand.

It got me wondering about what will that do to pvp battleground balance? Will more horde switch to alliance? Will more alliance switch to horde?

Speaking of switching, the few people I know that have come alliance side is because we have more people to run instances with. The few people that have left alliance to go horde have done it for pvp. But I haven't known anyone to do it recently other than to simply see what the other side is like, and that's my plan.

Cross-realm LFG should help everyone but especially low population realms and factions.

But I'd go on to say it breaks down the cohesion of sticking with a side and grouping with the same people, just like PvP battlegrounds changed when they went cross-realm.

I mentioned a few things I've wanted in the game, one of those was the ability to do battlegrounds without having ridiculous queues. A few years ago, queues were really bad for some sides and when they introduced cross-realm bgs, the problem all but disappeared. But then the familiar faces you fought along side or fought against started to disappear. They were still there, just spread out amongst all the other realms in the battlegroup. Chasing down or running from someone that you knew from the forums had a little more meaning. When you can't tell Legolas-Magtheridon from Legolas-Zuluhed the tiny extra thrill isn't there. Be careful what you wish for.

It will be better for those of us who hate waiting for groups. I will be great for those of us who want to log on and jump in an instance, instead of logging off after 30 minutes when you can't find one.

But comments like "I grouped with you before, you're a good tank" and "pick that mage up, I did HoL with him" and "we became friends after a series of instances together" will be more scarce.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So you object to a change that not only makes sense but improves the game exponentially just so you can pretend to be friends with a bunch of people who arbitrarily picked your server?

Sad.

Yane (Yet another night elf) said...

*re-reads my post*

Where did I say I object to the change. In fact I said it is helpful and I know I could find more than one post I've made where I said I was really enjoying LFD.

And how are you able to discern whether someone is pretending to be friends with someone or actually have formed RL relationships?

Lastly, are you going to tell me, soldiers who happen to end up in the same units and become friends, aren't actually friends because someone arbitrarily sent them to the same base, or same stint.

Someone who arbitrarily picked a dorm room become lifelong friends with their roommate?

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