Gracie has thoughts

Player investment

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For a game that has been around as long as World of Warcraft, there must be something special that keeps players coming back year after year. But from a design and story perspective, how do you make things new and exciting while keeping the essence of what keeps your players invested in the game? It’s a question I don’t have a great answer to, and I don’t envy the folks at Blizzard for having to find that delicate balance.

Over the years I’ve seen my friends and the greater blogosphere get worked up over changes in gameplay and mechanics, but even mores over changes to the world and the direction of the story. The response I felt to some of the things that happened during the War of the Thorns was a visceral thing at times, and judging from the conversations I’ve seen I’m not alone. Yesterday’s post shattered my record for most comments [thank you, my beautiful readers!], and the discussion was very thoughtful and sometimes emotional. People are trying to help each other navigate their feelings about the game and find a way to keep enjoying it.

My own feelings have definitely evolved over the past couple weeks. I’m in a place where I don’t fully trust the writers with the story, but I do trust that I’ll be able to find fun things to do anyway. My excitement for this expansion is low, probably just a bit better than I felt about WoD, but there are specific things I am looking forward to. As long as Sylvanas and Jaina stay away from becoming raid bosses I’ll eventually make my peace with the rest.

Let’s be honest, the most important part of the expansion is the fact that those extra levels will let me farm WoD and maybe Legion raids for transmog. And if Blizz wanted to give me my very own arcane pirate ghost ship, that wouldn’t hurt either…

The Battle for Lordaeron

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Spoilers for this week’s WoW quest and scenario. You’ve been warned.The Battle for LordaeronWell, I enjoyed it in spite of myself. Sylvanas is back to her calculating, strategic self. The battle was suitably epic. And Jaina swoops in on a freaking flying ghost ship. Seriously, this game is trying really really hard to get me to like Jaina. Between her Warbringers cinematic and this, I almost don’t hate her. Almost.

I ran through once on my forsaken priest, and once on my dwarf monk so I could see both sides. You can clearly see how this expansion is definitely sparking some feelings among the playerbase. In both scenarios I had a complete mix of opinions. Sylvanas loyalists (hi, hello, guilty!), honorable horde, alliance in it for vengeance for Teldrassil, alliance players who were unhappy with the story in general, and faction traitors playing tourist to see both perspectives (me again) were all represented. More amazingly, people said their piece but didn’t get rude or rowdy. I actually had a nice time.

As a proud hordie, I liked the fact that even though Undercity was lost, the Alliance couldn’t claim it either. Although I do think it is silly that the undead folks don’t just move back in, blight and all. I am hoping both the forsaken and the night elves get a chance to rebuild sooner than later. I don’t want a repeat of what happened to the Vale in MoP. Both sides deserve a chance to reclaim our homes or build new ones.

Overall I’m not thrilled with this story and the direction the game is heading, but at least it has redeemed itself slightly after the mess they made last week. I am ready to go hang out with the Zandalari and forget about the faction war for a while.

Childhood games

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Childhood gamesI’m stealing one of my own topic ideas here, and talking about how games left an impression on me from my earliest childhood.

I’ve been playing video games for as long as I can remember, really. My uncle bought an Atari and kept it at my grandmother’s house for all his nieces and nephews to play when they came to visit. I was quite young at the time, and my favorite game was the Smurfs. My fond memories of that console are tied up with family: The smell of my grandmother’s cooking, the sound of my uncles and aunts telling stories, the burning desire to be as cool as my older cousins. Even though I can barely remember the games themselves, the nostalgia I feel from just looking at this photo is strong.

 

Steambirds Alliance

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I’ve been playing in the beta of Steambirds Alliance this weekend. I got on Spry Fox’s mailing list back when I was playing a ton of AlphaBear, and signed up to try out new stuff as it came out. Steambirds Alliance isn’t anything at all like AlphaBear, but it is right up my alley.

This game is a MMO shmup (aka bullet hell), which is not something I’ve ever heard of or tried before. From what I’ve seen so far it is quite fun! I especially like the fact that they are intentionally trying to design this game to promote co-op play rather than competitive. There’s no friendly fire, and all loot is “personal loot” so trolling has been at a minimum. There is perma-death, which is sometimes a turn-off for me, but so far it hasn’t been too onerous. I believe they are still handing out some beta keys for folks on their mailing list or for people watching them stream. Their release date is listed as “sometime in 2018 (probably)”, so if it seems interesting I suggest you try to snag a key or at least put it on your Steam wishlist!