Armaggedon's coming!

The global economy is in a meltdown, and so are our skills.

Alright enough crap comparisons to the economy, I will stick to crap commentary on WoW.

On of the things I have found recently is how devalued certain skills have become.  I was reminded of this the other day by Part Time Druid, and also by someone else that now escapes me (although Big Bear Butt’s discussion about 360 tanking made me /cry a little inside). Oh found another one from Tobold Seen any sheeps lately?

It just seems that in an effort to make everything playable by everyone, it is all becoming quite… well a bit plain.  Sort of like pre-work life when Granny gave you $5 in your Christmas card and you couldn’t contain your enthusiasm… then you get a job, and you start to look sideways at the stingy old bag (bless her soul – you warlocks keep your filthy soul shards of it!).  Now in reality there is the same emotion and even power behind the gift of the cash (or skill/spell etc), but you can’t help but feeling let down.

AoE

Back before WoLK hit the shops, just before that is, when the 3.0 changes came out, I was jumping from Thunder Bluff in joy.. AoE as a fire Mage became sooo much fun.  It was new and powerful.  Blizzard told us it would be much more important, we couldn’t imagine how AoE was going to make us the Kings & Queens of DPS, but for the time being it was just pure Win!

Less value than the Zimbabwe dollar

Of course now the empty feeling has settled in.  Yes we are the kings and Queens of DPS with AoE, but then we don’t really have any choice.  You AoE, or you fail as a toon and a player.  You AoE everything.  You AoE the trash.  You AoE the bosses, You AoE the Horde in the BGs, You AoE the mailbox open, you AoE instead of buffing, because, well what else is there to do?

No joy in big numbers

Big numbers used to turn me on… but now they leave a hollow feeling deep down in my boots (which would probably be your stomach if you aren’t a Gnome).  I used to love seeing the big Fireball numbers… but by the time I have ramped up my 1st one, the target is down, assuming they aren’t all down under the AoE that everyone is capable of these days.  I don’t think healers heal any more do they, why bother, when another lot of AoE means that the mobs wont hit anyone.

Remember Kara

Do you remember Kara.. Attumen down, here comes the AoE fun.

It was such a rare event that you got to AoE.  Most people probably only got the joys of AoE in Shattered Halls or Kara… assuming they had someone to hold the pile of mobs together… and gods forbid if someone pulled a bunch of elite mobs in Kara.. then it was seat of the pants AoE (well, in my case inevitably it was face to the floor AoE)

Fire Mage AoE

AoE was a guilty pleasure for me pre WoLK.  It was one of those things that I only did in groups or in Battle Grounds.  I knew how every fight would end out.  Mobs hurting bad… 10-20% health.  Me hurting worse… 0% health.  Now days I find myself riding madly through bunches of mobs, not particularly concerned if I get unsaddled.  When I do, it roll around on the floor laughing, and once back to my chair I set to decimating them with AoE.

The thing is, I don’t want to do this.  I always used to think of myself as a surgeon with a red hot poker…  I would carve though the enemy, precisely, one mob at a time.  It took skill to pick them off and finish them one by one and when aggro mattered, then the extra balance between hurting the mob, and being hurt by the mob became so much more important.

CC

Ohh, sorry, for you WoLK babies, CC stands for Crowd Control.  It comes in many forms and many classes possess at least one form of CC.  Most likely you haven’t seen it, except maybe mentioned in one of those long outdated TBC guides.  More likely than not, you wont find it on people’s tool bars.

Zero value spells, even in solo play

When I first logged on in January, after an extended absence, I had forgotten about it.  When I remembered it, I panicked.. Ohh my gods, there go my instance invites… I can’t even remember what key I have bound.

So I got myself back into form… but soon realized that I would more quickly and efficiently dispatch the few foes with a dragons breath, instant Flame Strike, Blastwave, instant Flame Strike, and whoah be told if I needed an Arcane Explosion or two.

My 1st instance was a Nexus run through by some overpowered friends.  I nearly cried.  I developed a cramp in my CC finger.  It hovered over the Polymorph: Turtle button (I love my turtle so much) the whole run…  I was crippled… I had no use for it.  I felt 1/2 a Mage (OK, no short Gnome jokes OK!).  Yes it’s such a little thing, but I knew I was a good party member when I kept that mob sheeped until the time came to dispatch it.  Even if I died, I made sure the last thing I did was refresh my turtle, just to give the rest of the party an extra 40 seconds.

Focus – who needs focus?

Remember Focus Macros?

They were the most sought after Macro around.  Assuming they are still on WoW Wiki have a look at the sheep focus macros… you wont find one, you will find a dozen.  All with slightly different modifications. Focus macro writers were heroes.  Blogs and Strategy sites and forums had pages devoted to informing the unwashed majority of the power of the focus macro.

Now, well, who needs it.  On the rare occasion that you do sheep something, it is unlikely that”

• It will live long enough to be sheeped again, or
• It will be taken out singly anyway… might as well wrap it up in the AoE.

High value knowledge?

My greatest fear is that Blizzard will reintroduce the need for CC, but the skill will have withered away.  There will be some ol’timers shouting angrily at the newcomers with their flashy AoE, that they need to focus, and that the polymorphed penguin/rabbit/cat/fart needs to be maintained.

But who will be there to pass on their sage wisdom.  Ohh well, I guess there are at least a lot of Blog Authors out there that can recycle their old posts when that day comes.  It will be a big hit earner.

Battle Rez

I loved Battle Rez.  Tree Hugger Dave’s had my name on it.  I doubt he had a battle rez button, he would have just had a Gnomer button.  This would have been a macro which did 2 things.

• if Gnomeaggedon is alive: 1 x lifebloom to full health.
• if Gnomeggedon is dead (again): Battle Rez.

It probably had my name in the Macro… cause no one else ever got it.  I loved it.  It was what made me stay by the PC even when I died.  I knew it was coming.

Any Rez

But now it is an Any Rez.  Yes yes, I know it’s still the only Battle Rez (unless you like Braaiiinnnzz), but it just isn’t that special to me any more.  It’s just another Rez, which them Druids can pop anytime.

Buffs

Ultimately the same thing goes for buffs.  Every Gnome and their pet cow can give a buff.  The buffs are the same, but different.  Really, I know it was Blizzards policy to take the player not the class, but lately the 1st time I look at party composition is when we enter the instance… and I know it will be worse (OK better) come duel spec.  5 DPS will walk into an instance, 2 will quickly respec and “here we go matey!”.  I can assure you I hate the LFG chanel as much, if not more than the next Gnome.  I have spent many a lonely night in LFG dreaming that a healer or tank or both will either log on to find their raid spot gone, or maybe finish a raid early.

But ummm… it is all a bit like when eat when you have a cold.  You eat some chilli… no pain.  You eat some icecream… well it’s cold… but tastes like cardboard.  It’s substantial, you get what you need… but ultimately, do you enjoy the feast?

I think that’s the way many of the skill devaluations have taken me.  They get the job done.  I am full of gear, XP, Rep, Achievements etc… but I feel like I have been chowing down on cardboard for 2 hours.

No flavor at all

Gnomer & Out!

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