The Wizard of Duke StreetA collection of essays, reviews and commentary on fantasy, science-fiction, gaming, and associated genres.Thoughts On Crafting In WoW and WAR- April 28, 2008 I've been thinking a lot about crafting lately, as Wormson chases down the last few non-bind-on-pickup tailoring recipes and has finally made his awesome frost-and-shadow robe. I'm also looking for jewelcrafting recipes for him, and seeing the number of items appearing in the auction house search for "usable items" decreasing is a great pleasure. It's becoming apparent that crafting skills have to be chosen carefully, and I'm keeping a close eye on the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning news to.http://dukestreet.org/archives/004626.html WoW: Am I still casual- April 28, 2008 I'm starting to wonder if I can call myself a casual player in World of Warcraft any more. After all, Wormson traded in his last green item on Saturday evening for an epic belt, and is now clad entirely in rare and epic items. Indeed, out of seventeen slots for items that have bonuses, his PvE outfit has epic items in thirteen. PvP drops to only eleven, as I replace epics with higher-resilience "welfare" rare items.And yet, I don't think of myself as being any more than a casual player. I'm...http://dukestreet.org/archives/004625.html Multiple Group Membership in MMOs- April 25, 2008 The World of Warcraft guild I'm in is part of a larger group of three guilds, the Hillsbrad Pact, in-character, and ARCORB, out of character. Between us, we can muster a decent raiding group, a good chat channel, and a fair chance that you can find someone to help you with group quests. This isn't something any of the guilds could manage on its own. The trouble is that there is no mechanical way in WoW to support this concept.The way to handle it under the mechanics is to have everyone join one.http://dukestreet.org/archives/004624.html State of the Games- April 7, 2008 I'm currently playing two MMOs, and running two tabletop games. I'm soon (all going to plan) going to be playing in another tabletop. World of Warcraft: The Shattered Sun dailies are still entertaining, and I fully expect Argent Dawn to go to Phase 3 tonight, if it hasn't already. Wormson is levelling fishing (now at 295, and with the Master level book bought and used), and I'm enjoying it greatly. The raid group that my guild belongs to has Karazhan on farm, has had an attempt at Magtheridon,.http://dukestreet.org/archives/004622.html Doctor Who: Partners In Crime- April 7, 2008 I've had some time to mull over the first episode of the new season of Doctor Who, Partners in Crime, and I've come to the careful and considered conclusion that my initial impression was entirely correct: it was crap.Contrary to my fears, Catherine Tate was fine. She and David Tennant did very well with what was, I think, the worst script I have ever seen. RTD has some issues he needs to work out, but the main one is the notion that some juvenile jokes, some "cute" monsters, and some...http://dukestreet.org/archives/004621.html WoW: Sunwell Isle and the Power to Change- April 3, 2008 The new Sunwell Isle daily quests have a compelling aspect like none I've seen in an MMO before. I'm usually ambivalent about dailies in World of Warcraft. On the one hand, they allow me to do something productive in a short amount of time, which is useful when I have a limited period online. On the other, they're the ultimate in repetitive tasks, which I abhor. But the Shattered Sun Offensive quests are making me consider putting dailies on my calendar.The Quel'Danas ones, though, have another.http://dukestreet.org/archives/004620.html |