Prediction Sunday!

In the tradition of "Superhero Sunday!" (tm)(r) - a tradition formed by me, last week, of watching superhero movies on sunday afternoon - I present my prediction sunday!

And, because it's a prediction, I'll already do it on Saturday! (tm)(r) - that's how good I am these days.

Now you'll probably have heard by now that another WoW expansion is on the market soon. New races, new level cap, new class, all new stuff. The official trailer video (where the above picture is taken from) can be found here.

And even though I am no longer quite as excited about new expansions as I used to be, I'm not completely bitter about it either. This actually looks quite fun. Punching and kicking in best Kung-Fu Panda style? Sure!

It's not the first time a running MMO has run out of classical medieval content and chosen to incorporate some eastern elements, after all.

Ultima Online did it first (my count - I might be wrong) with The Samurai Empire in 2004.

Age of Conan did it with Rise of the Godslayer in 2010.

So now WoW gets some oriental theme? Fine with me.

Back to predictions, though!

Firstly, I predict cunningly that the new monk healing, tanking and DPSing will be very very strong compared to _all_ other classes. Overpowered, some would say. It's a requirement of the system, because the new class will need fans that go raiding with their little bouncing buddies. To get into raids, they'll need to perform well even though the theorycrafting is new and not as developed as it is for the other classes (even with talent revamps). They will steadily get nerfed in the content patches that follow (5.1 to 5.3), until they perform about equally to the other classes near the end of the expansion.

Source: Deathknights. Exactly the same mechanics. Buffed to high heaven to introduce them, then steadily nerfed until only those who liked them remained with the class. Oh yes, and Blizzard said they wouldn't do it again. I don't believe it.

Secondly, I predict that the Pet Combat will be the new archaeology. Fun for a while at the beginning, something to do while bimbling about, only enjoyed by a small minority of players in the long run. Like fishing. And archaeology (oh wait - we already had that).

Thirdly, I predict that the new expansion will once again overhaul combat completely for almost all classes. This will make the game in general more streamlined and better to play (as it has for each and every single expansion) - but some old die-hards will be resistant to change and will grumble and quit. This won't matter, really, because it'll cause more people to play for longer.

Fourthly (does that word exist?), I predict that raiding will change in difficulty again. Blizzard seems to be interested in making more different difficulty levels available (see: Challenge Mode Dungeons). Entry level raiding will be easier, there will be two seperate harder modes available (possibly three, if we count the LFR difficulty as 1, grouped raiding as 2, hard mode as 3 and challenge mode as 4).

There.. predictions done. I bet they are better than the End of the World predictions.

Glitch: A game where pushing drugs seems to be ideal!

Tobold posted a while ago about Glitch. And because my wife played it and said it was cute, and I had nothing better to do - I gave it a go.

And Glitch is rather cute. You can do all sorts of vanity things with your avatar (like buy clothes and eyebrows and noses - much like Hollywood, really). You can also pursue all sorts of skills and careers.

I spent my first few skill points in Animal Husbandry (for reasons unknown) - which allowed me to pet pigs more efficiently and sing to butterflies (no matter how stupid this sounds at the moment - give it a go. It's actually quite cool). Eventually I figured out how to travel, found my first mines and have been going a more "high tech" career path since.

Miner, Tinker, Engineer, Alchemist and Chemist.

And - much like in real life or the movies - I eventually found out that there are things to make that are possibly less than ideal for your own health. In this case: No-No Powder.

It said not to do it on the pack. It said it was a bad idea. So - for science and against the protests of my wife - I obviously had to take a dose.

Now No-No Powder is actually quite powerful. As long as you are on your No-No-High, you'll not loose mood or energy. You can mine a thousand mines, smelt a thousand ores, repair all your tools and fry a sammich to boot!

Obviously ... there is a drawback. Once you crash, the game gives you limited time to aquire a second (or third or ... a new!) dose of No-No or you will die. Let me bold that for emphasis: You Will DIE!


And this is where the problem begins, because see... there is also an auction house. And there is a certain quest:

So let me get this right. I am supposed to give something - ANYTHING! - to a new player between the levels of 3 and 5. I will actually get rewarded for doing so. And they all have a thousand currants to start with.

So ... what exactly is going to stop me from giving them a satchet of drugs and posting more on the auction house. Cheap. They will eventually get the message that they have mere seconds to live...

Issy does not condone this course of action (approximately 18 seconds in). I don't agree: As they said in McHale's Navy (Paradise Hotel): We'll be rich, we'll be famous.

...

We'll be arrested. Ooops.