LAGWAR | GAMING'S BEST IN TOP NOTCH MEDIOCRITY

…..Remember Go-bots?  The cheap knock off toys that rode the coattails of the Transformers’ success?  Maybe you don’t.  But I do.  And I hated them.  Cheap knock-offs.  The main Go-bot transformed into a motorcycle, but all he did was basically squat down and hold wheels between his hands and thighs.  Real original, there must have been a bunch of freaking Andy Warhols working for Tonka to come up with an idea like that.  And that was the heart of the problem with Go-bots.  No innovation.  I mean even the name sucked, Go-bots?  Really?  Why would I want a crappy version of a Transformer?  Just give me the Transformer.

Twins separated by quality

…..I think my feelings toward MMO’s now closely mirrors how I felt about toys then.  Give me something original and creative and I will play.  If you give me some hackneyed imitator, well, I am going to be upset.  And this is exactly what happened to me playing a beta for a new MMO recently.  It took me about 20 seconds of beta testing Alganon (Hah!  The non-disclosure agreement is over.  Suck it Quest Online!) for me to realize that it was an exact clone of WoW – just not as good.  Now let me be clear here.  I don’t mean the game felt like WoW or that it resembled WoW.  It was WoW – down to the interface, hotkeys, quest system, skill system, everything.  This game is the Go-bot verison of WoW – practically identical, but nowhere near as good.  I used words similar to those in a discussion about the game with one the designers.  As it turned out, he disagreed rather strongly with my opinion.  This led into a very public and completely well-mannered “debate” between him and me.  In the end I barely resisted leaving a red-hot, expletive laced rant on the beta forums for the game.  It really irked me that this game could try to cash in on WoW’s successful innovations without doing any real work of its own.  I realized then and there, I could run off and write some scathing review of Alganon (which it rightfully deserved), or I could write an eloquent WoWWatch article extolling the virtues of some of the new innovations that Blizzard has developed in WoW since its inception.  As it turned out, I did both.  (To read a logical but angry rant click the link)

…..So what are the innovations that WoW has brought to the table in terms of MMO play?  There are a ton, and it isn’t easy to point out the best from the list (but it does make an interesting article), but I gave it a try.  Below are my three favorite additions to WoW since launch in reverse ranked order.

Number three: Arenas.

PvP mayhem ensues

…..As it turns out I have to, at least occasionally, give a nod to the PvP side of games and certainly in terms of speaking of innovations arenas cannot be left out.  Arenas replaced the old honor system in WoW, which I have repeatedly referred to as “a sadistic treadmill that only got faster and faster” – too true.  The original honor system ranked you based on kills of the opposing faction over a set period of time.  The higher you were ranked the harder it was to go up and the easier it was to go down, even by inactivity.  Basically if your character wasn’t constantly drenched in the blood of the other faction, you weren’t PvPing seriously.  Take a day off and you lost your rank, and don’t even think about dying even by zerg.  Arenas solved the zerginess and treadmill problems that plagued the early honor system by creating structured encounters (read even numbers) and ratings that didn’t decay overnight.  You didn’t have to quit your day job to PvP.  On top of that the arena system offered loot rewards for ratings, and if you play WoW, you love loot.  I still don’t really PvP, but I hear it’s nice.

Number Two: Heroic dungeons.

Heroic dungeons give your gear a makeover

…..Heroic dungeons: the great gear equalizer.  Just like arenas heroic dungeons opened up new opportunities to casual players (notice a theme here?). Heroic dungeons offered a more difficult challenge for serious non-raiders (a new species of player introduced by WoW) and gave casual players a way to obtain gear they could be proud of without having to sacrifice their sleep/school/social life/marriage.  Heroic dungeons also eased up the difficulty curve from instancing to raiding, getting more players geared up and giving them the chance to experience content beyond heroic dungeons.  Heroic dungeons helped players at varied skill levels experience new content and get some purple on.

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Number One: Phasing.

Flip that house...err, side of mountain

…..Prepare to be gushed at.  Actually that sounds kind of gross, scratch that.  Prepare to be enthused on.  Oh, that sounds worse.  Anyway, how could I not put phasing here?  I am a lore whore if nothing else.  Phasing is hands-down the coolest innovation that WoW has brought into the MMO market.  For the uninitiated, phasing was implemented for WOTLK and basically describes the technology that Blizzard employs to change the environment around each individual player after they complete storyline quest while leaving the world unchanged for future players.  The Wrath gates storyline and much of Icecrown utilizes phasing.  In Icecrown especially it is cool as you embark upon quests that actually help NPC’s construct a new settlement that offers quests afterward.  To other players who wander by it just looks like a barren rock face but you see a quest hub.  After they complete the questline they too can see the hub.  For the first time because of phasing, character actions can change the environment of the game for them while leaving it unaltered for other players.  Really cool.  As a lore nerd phasing gets me really geeked.  Supposedly in Cataclysm the system is used even more…ugh, I think I just drooled.

Anyway that is my list.  The top three anyway, I had some honorable mentions including: badge loot, daily quests, smaller raids, WoW Armory, and a bunch of random UI improvements. How do you like the list?  Agree or disagree?  Let me know.