At the moment we can\u2019t add players to it, but after the game launches, feel free to apply\u2026 ![\"Smile\"](\"http:\/\/shadowcovenant.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/wlEmoticon-smile.png\")
<\/p>\n
I really hope SWTOR will give me the epic I crave, \u2018cos pandas aren\u2019t doing it for me! ![\"Disappointed](\"http:\/\/shadowcovenant.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/wlEmoticon-disappointedsmile.png\")
<\/p>\n
Back in October, I already complained about the forthcoming expansion \u201cMists of Pandaria\u201d, and that it lacked \u201cepic-ness\u201d.<\/p>\n
More disturbing, though, has been my experience with patch 4.3 (\u201cHour of Twilight\u201d)\u2026 Finally, we\u2019ll get the opportunity to go face-to-face with Deathwing (which seems to be one of the last really epic bosses from Blizzard\u2019s stables), and I was looking forward for the challenge (even wondering how I would fit enough time to play WoW and SW:TOR at the same time)\u2026 But then, LFR hit\u2026<\/p>\n
For those that don\u2019t know, LFR stands for Looking For Raid, and is the system Blizzard came up with to allow for people that don\u2019t have progression-oriented guilds to see all the content. You just \u201cqueue\u201d in it, and you\u2019ll be placed in a 25-man raid group for (currently) the Dragon Soul raid instance. So far, so good\u2026 the problem is that the way they found to deal with the difficulties in communication in \u201cout-of-guild\u201d raid was to make the encounters retard-proof\u2026 <\/p>\n
So, now we have 3 difficulty levels for the Dragon Soul raid instance: LFR, Normal and Heroic, each of it with slightly different loot (which is better the more difficult the instance is). Conceptually, it seems like a good idea, but the tweaking of the difficulty levels made it almost impossible to fail in LFR, which means that most people has already faced and defeated Deathwing!<\/p>\n
So, two weeks after 4.3 hit, me and most people have already defeated the most end boss for this expansion! So, why am I playing?<\/p>\n
I understand the rational, and in the most part I agree with it: not everyone can put the amount of hours into this game that will allow them to kill the end boss of the expansions, but in my view, the way they went around that in \u201cWrath of the Lich King\u201d was better: just give a buff to players a couple of months before a new expansion hits, so they can see the end content\u2026<\/p>\n
I know I could have skipped LFR and retain my game experience, but that way I\u2019d have people in better gear than me that don\u2019t play as well, and that know more of the game than me (a convicted lore-whore)\u2026 Even if we allow for that possibility, it feels to me (and a MMORPG is about perception most of the time) that I got \u201ccheated\u201d out of an achievement; killing the end-boss of an expansion should be an epic experience that takes a lot of time, so we actually feel that it was a powerful foe and that we were fighting insurmountable odds.<\/p>\n
I can go normal mode (which is MUCH harder, and it feels like it is geared to people that already have gear from LFR Dragon Soul\u2026 Yes, I\u2019m looking at you, Ultraxion), but even that seems a tad too easy (my guild, which is almost a casual raiding guild) got the first four bosses down in the first week! Heroic mode is usually for people that can put a large amount of hours into the game (don\u2019t know if this is the case with Dragon Soul, but it was definitely true with Firelands)\u2026 And even if I do all of these, I won\u2019t have the real achievement\u2026 I\u2019m already feeling the experience has been cut down somewhat, because I killed Deathwing on a random group in one afternoon, in about 2 hours of playing!<\/p>\n
This, combined with the upcoming \u201cMists of Pandaria\u201d feels like Blizzard is going for the more \u201ccasual\u201d MMORPG crowd, and less for the hardcore\u2026 This is all well in theory but, for me, a MMORPG has part of its storytelling rooted not only in the lore and design that the developer created, but in the user experience\u2026 For me, it\u2019s impossible to have an epic story if I can beat the main boss in 20 minutes after I get to him, without prior experience\u2026 It doesn\u2019t matter how many layers of story you have behind that boss, the size of him, the scope of what you achieved\u2026 If it wasn\u2019t hard, he wasn\u2019t all that he was toted up to be! <\/p>\n
So, user experience is important for the storytelling itself, especially in a MMORPG\u2026 And I feel that Blizzard is walking away from that, to give way to accessibility and hand-holding\u2026<\/p>\n
That might be great from a commercial perspective, I admit, but for me it just removes something important from the game\u2026 And I\u2019m not sure if it is that good even in that limited perspective, considering WoW is hemorrhaging players for some time now (that roughly matches with the new \u201ceasy\u201d attitude from Blizzard).<\/p>\n
Thankfully, there\u2019s a new MMORPG coming out soon that might keep my cravings for hard bosses in check: Star Wars: The Old Republic\u2026 At least, I hope it is any good\u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve made a guild to act as a kind of \u201csister guild\u201d to our World of Warcraft \u201cCrits\u2019n\u2019Giggles\u201d: you can check it\u2019s website here: http:\/\/www.swtor.com\/guilds\/264573\/critsngiggles<\/a> .<\/p>\n At the moment we can\u2019t add players to it, but after the game launches, feel free to apply\u2026 I really hope SWTOR will give me the epic I crave, \u2018cos pandas aren\u2019t doing it for me! <\/p>\n<\/p>\n