World of Warcraft: Current Year

Blazin_sl said:

Yes what it wants you to change/add is in green. You are however 97% optimized sometimes askmrrobot will ask you to spend 2000 gold for a 1% improvement. It doesn't take into account expense vs. gain. I would probably do the reforge and the two enchant changes and see what score is to see if messing with the gems is worth it.

edit.. Checked the gem changes it is just wanting you to ditch spirit to pick up more haste. The main change in gear it's going for is getting rid of wasted spell hit over cap.

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So if I do all 7 of the reforges/reforge removals on the right hand column I'll rock 100%?

www.howtopriest.com. Don't use anything else for Priest info.

Speaking of priests. Quit playing my monk for a while, after getting level 53, and re-rolled a priest, after seeing my Disc priest friend out-DPS me in a dungeon... as the main healer as well? wataf?

Having so much more fun. Shield + Fear + Tendrils = OP. Can pull 4-5 at a time, and kill them all. This may change as I get higher level, sitting at level 29, but I'm much more enjoying this play style. Shadow right now, but will dual spec into Disc at 30.

Disc atonement healing is supposed to get a nerf bat to the face come 5.3 etc... so you might have picked a bad time to switch.

That is a fucking ridiculous paycheck. So is it basically Call of Duty and Blizzard moneyhats?

Caeden_sl said:

That is a fucking ridiculous paycheck. So is it basically Call of Duty and Blizzard moneyhats?

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Exactly, and this is exactly the problem with this industry now: the financialization of videogames.

Dumar_sl said:

Exactly, and this is exactly the problem with this industry now: the financialization of videogames.

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That's overly broad. These aren't charities. More accurately the problem with the industry is the shift from "How can I make an amazing video game that will make a lot of money?" to "How can I make an amazing amount of money with this video game?". The latter doesn't require anything more than good advertising.

Dumar_sl said:

Exactly, and this is exactly the problem with this industry now: the financialization of videogames.

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You're never going to be happy.

Dumar_sl said:

Exactly, and this is exactly the problem with this industry now: the financialization of videogames.

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I have zero issue with the financialization of video games. They guy above me has it right. I think portions of Actiblizzard does that fine. Portions. Just like portions of EA does that. My issue is his relative pay to other CEOs. I've been in the tech industry and now the oil/specialty chemical industry and I have zero issue with a CEO payed obscene amounts if his employees are happy and getting opportunities for advancement. A good executive team matters. He shouldn't be paid more than like Exxons CEO. It's comical because games are such a trivial thing in life.

The outlook in that article was spot on. The board needs to be held accountable for those actions. He's clearly a good, but greedy businessman. If his employees are happy and doing well, /shrug. It not, well, time to make noise. Mass exodus works well. I enjoyed watching my last company flounder when the talented folks left.

Caeden_sl said:

I have zero issue with the financialization of video games. They guy above me has it right. I think portions of Actiblizzard does that fine. Portions. Just like portions of EA does that. My issue is his relative pay to other CEOs. I've been in the tech industry and now the oil/specialty chemical industry and I have zero issue with a CEO payed obscene amounts if his employees are happy and getting opportunities for advancement. A good executive team matters. He shouldn't be paid more than like Exxons CEO. It's comical because games are such a trivial thing in life.

The outlook in that article was spot on. The board needs to be held accountable for those actions. He's clearly a good, but greedy businessman. If his employees are happy and doing well, /shrug. It not, well, time to make noise. Mass exodus works well. I enjoyed watching my last company flounder when the talented folks left.

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I have a serious issue with it. As Palum said above, it's wholly changed the focus of what developers and designers are doing. What 'portions' are you referring to that are worth it? I hope you don't say Blizzard.

Concerning the relative pay of CEOs, the entire compensation structure of CEOs and executives is completely fucked up in the US period, even outside of videogames or the whole entertainment industry. CEOs in other first-world nations don't even approach the same level of compensation the ones here get, and as such, it's almost aristocratic in its form. A good executive team matters, but it doesn't matter - nothing matters - that much.

There is no shrugging; it's an injustice, and it's what's ruined this industry, starting with EA and through to this, to Kotick's fucking retarded bean-counting ass.

Dumar, you have to be the most over-dramatic and hyperbolic forum poster I have ever seen. Your message is sound, but jesus fucking christ you need to learn how to tone it down to avoid instantly turning people off to the point they don't give a fuck what you have to say.

Dom_sl said:

Disc atonement healing is supposed to get a nerf bat to the face come 5.3 etc... so you might have picked a bad time to switch.

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Nooooo! I loved the "blood mage" feel to the class. If you were good, and could dps enough, your group stayed healed. It's what was so cool about it. UGggg

Dumar_sl said:

I have a serious issue with it. As Palum said above, it's wholly changed the focus of what developers and designers are doing. What 'portions' are you referring to that are worth it? I hope you don't say Blizzard.

Concerning the relative pay of CEOs, the entire compensation structure of CEOs and executives is completely fucked up in the US period, even outside of videogames or the whole entertainment industry. CEOs in other first-world nations don't even approach the same level of compensation the ones here get, and as such, it's almost aristocratic in its form. A good executive team matters, but it doesn't matter - nothing matters - that much.

There is no shrugging; it's an injustice, and it's what's ruined this industry, starting with EA and through to this, to Kotick's fucking retarded bean-counting ass.

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You should make video games and show them how it's done man. Fight this injustice.


Seriously though there are more good video games being made now than ever before. Big and small companies alike are constantly releasing quality products and are making money from it. I don't know what sort of fantasy world you are living in but video game makers have always made crappy games and made money from them. Take it from me, I've purchased hundreds and hundreds of terrible video games through the years and those companies as a whole were making a great deal of money from said crappy games.

I don't know how old you are but try to think back to when you started playing video games, how many bad video games did you play back then? If you played in an arcade, how many bad arcade games did you waste your quarters in? If your parents were buying you video games for your home consoles, think of how many terrible video games they bought for you. Think of all of the bad games you've purchased yourself. This is especially notable if you were buying games before it was so easy to hear the buzz surrounding them and read the reviews for them. Hell I remember playing and buying games based on the art on the boxes alone, from arcade to computer games, without knowing anything about the game and without ever reading a preview or review.

The video game industry is and has been booming for years, if anything people have much less of an excuse to purchase bad games these days than ever before simply due to the variety and information available to them.

Dumar_sl said:

I have a serious issue with it. As Palum said above, it's wholly changed the focus of what developers and designers are doing. What 'portions' are you referring to that are worth it? I hope you don't say Blizzard.

Concerning the relative pay of CEOs, the entire compensation structure of CEOs and executives is completely fucked up in the US period, even outside of videogames or the whole entertainment industry. CEOs in other first-world nations don't even approach the same level of compensation the ones here get, and as such, it's almost aristocratic in its form. A good executive team matters, but it doesn't matter - nothing matters - that much.

There is no shrugging; it's an injustice, and it's what's ruined this industry, starting with EA and through to this, to Kotick's fucking retarded bean-counting ass.

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Welcome to America?

Yes, I mean Blizzard as one of those. You might disagree, but they seem to sure as fuck listen and care way beyond other companies about their customers (SWTOR/EA? SOE?). Not everyone's going to be happy but they have tried their damnedest to provide a product they think a customer wants and it seems to work.

A bunch of you folks, maybe not you in particular, decry Kickstarter abuse then bitch about bean counters in PUBLICLY TRADED companies. Give me a fucking break. If they're on the stock market, then they had better have fucking bean counters. There's a world of indie games and small scale shit; go forth and spend your money.

And, you're damn straight I'll /shrug. When I go to work each day I care about two things: 1. Quality for Customers and 2. Profit. Period. Now some companies don't realize that PEOPLE drive those things and treat their employees like shit (Case in Point: EA) other companies, including the one I'm at now which I will absolutely not name, dumps ludicrous cash on a CEO but we've enjoyed prosperity, double digit growth and margins, being completely sold out of some products, and a workforce where the majority make high 5 figures at worst and most are in the 100k+ bracket. So as far as I'm concerned, they can pay my CEO in fucking baby souls.

Eventually, economic Darwinism will take care of those "awful" companies that overpay CEOs while they're laying off folks (provided our government doesn't step in like they shouldn't have with GM etc.). My last company is going through that now. I was appalled at what that CEO made because the company fucking stunk it up. Now talent is leaving and they're bleeding with no end in sight with a hail mary pass coming over the next 3 years to save the ship. The biggest issue I see is that people are "FUCKING AGHAST" but don't do shit about it. You have money, don't spend it on the shit you hate. You have capabilites, grow a pair and move to a better position. Sure, it might be nice to grow up and work in the same place, but it isn't fucking realistic. I'm rambling. Fuck it.

TLDR: Game companies want to make money. Even the guys behind EQ weren't altruistic. They wanted to drive Mercedes and snort blow off hooker tits too, on your dollar. You make more money by broadening your customer base or getting more money out of the existing customer base. This is economics 101. EA seems to favor a heavy bilking strat and Acti-blizzard seems to favor a bit of both but also seems to respect their customer a bit more in certain areas of their business.

Is it really that hard, or are people so dumbed down to WoW that they are just surprised and not ready for something like that?

Edit: I should clarify. I have no idea if it's hard or not, but when I hear WoW and hard, I immediately think of the stupid mouth breathers who complained over Cata's dungeons being so hard when first released. CC had to be used? omg!

If there's anything hard left in this game, then I'd be happily surprised.

The boss of the Fel Fire quest is very difficult, probably overtuned, but that is good. It keeps everyone from getting it, as it should be. They said that they wanted to add something optional, that not everyone could get right away, which they did and it is awesome. I would love it if they were able to do something like this for every class... something cosmetic, but difficult to obtain.