Rebuilding My Empire: The First Big Purchase

Awwwwwwyeah, look at that armor. Dat sparkle. Dem goggles. And you know what? I paid for 8/9 of it and I'm not ashamed to say it.

Over the first week or so, operating about 90% in glyphs and 10% in gems, I was making about 10k profit per day. Not amazing but certainly a good pace for a newly-casual player on a relatively low-pop server. With the expansion winding down I still had one big goal on my list from before I quit: Challenge Mode Gold armor. A year ago I finished Gate of the Setting Sun on Gold but never got around to trying for the others. I'm unsure what will happen with CMs in WoD but I've found that if you want something you shouldn't put it off, it may be removed in the future. So I really wanted to get these CMs.

Unfortunately the effort and time needed to find and build a group that had compatible schedules and was skilled enough to get gold without taking 10 hours per dungeon of practice didn't jive too well with my casual attitude. And so I did what any moderately well-off player might do: I paid someone else to do the legwork for me.

I used to take a very negative view of buying carries. While I wasn't opposed to doing it I did feel that someone who bought a carry necessarily was not as "worthy" as someone who "earned" it.  Admittedly I still feel a bit that way and so I'm glad to say I earned at least one gold "legitimately" to keep that feeling at bay; I know I had the skill for challenge mode golds, I just didn't have the desire to go through the group-building process.

But it's brought up an interesting subject of discussion in my guild and has got me thinking about carries quite a bit.

I expect gold-makers probably have a positive-to-neutral view of buying carries; people with more gold than they can spend are usually happy to take opportunities like buying runs. But that's not how everyone sees it, of course.

I didn't receive any blowback, at least not to my face, for buying my carries. I think this is because my guildies recognize my reasoning: a) I did already earn at least one gold, so it's not a skill issue and b) I'm casual and can't put in the time anymore, so this was easier.

So I was surprised when, after I gave the contact information for the group that sold me all my golds to a guildie, a little argument started in guild chat over whether or not it was "right" to buy carries. I won't rehash something that bordered on guild drama but basically some who "earned" their golds were talking down to people who "didn't earn" theirs.

Now, I'm still a bit on the fence on the issue; I think there is more merit in building a group and doing them (or any raid) yourself. But I also see a lot of things that could drive a person to buy a carry and I no longer see it as not having "earned" the achievements, loot, etc.

In the case of challenge modes I still worked pretty hard for it; I played my own character and was a contributing member of the team. I viewed it more as paying for a guaranteed competent group that I didn't have to gather myself, not as paying to avoid work. 

Furthermore, I earned a decent amount of gold to pay for them. (I paid 17k per run which is over the usual going rate; but I paid more so they would accept liquid gold payments on my server, removing my need to get the gold to their server.) And so while other players were sacrificing time out of their day to get their golds was I not also making a sacrifice in the form of over 100k gold? And in that case doesn't the discussion boil down to a "work smarter, not harder" subject in which, if its easier for a player to make the gold than to get the group, they'd be foolish not to buy the carry?

Anyways, I have no strong opinion on this either way; I'm not trying to write a persuasive essay here. Just some things I've been thinking about recently. I'm honestly not sure where I fall on the issue of buying carries anymore. I'd be interested in hearing how others feel about them.

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PS: A special thanks to Phat Lewts for my new Crocket! Check out Phat Lewts' gold blog if you don't already! (You should!)

PPS: Look at that top photo. Look at it. Doesn't Tabard of the Lightbringer look like a Boob Punch Tabard on human females? I call it a boob punch tabard. I think everyone should.

Rebuilding My Empire: The First Hours

At the time I decided to leave WoW I had approximately two million liquid gold and a decent stockpile of materials and crafted items for all professions. Not intending to come back any time soon I decided to do something with that. I sold all of my stock via the Consortium forums and also ended up selling every cage-able pet I had. This brought me up quite a bit and then I got rid of all of my gold as well. By the time my accounts expired I was down to 1,000g and I thought I had no stock remaining. I don't regret getting rid of my gold; gold-making is easy. I do regret getting rid of my pets. I've regained a lot of my favorite ones (I got my new Ethereal Soul-Trader for 10k cheaper than the first one!) but am still missing my Tuskarr Kite and Rocket Chicken, I'm sorry to say.

But basically the bottom line is I came back to WoW pretty impoverished compared to the wealth I'd grown accustomed to. So what'd I do?

I logged on and borrowed 1,000g from Eluniar, who also recently returned to WoW, promising him 10k in return in a few days. This gave me 2,000g investment capital. Like anyone in a desperate situation I returned to what I knew best and immediately set about making glyphs. Glyphs were a superb choice because the cost of materials is typically no more than pocket change the profit per sale is phenomenal, meaning my bit of gold would go a long way. (Plus my old glyph partners were willing to get me back into the fold and so I was able to return to a perfectly pruned and tailored market.)

In the meantime I petitioned Blizzard to request a small amount of time on my second account. Now that I'm not "super srs bsns"-playing I can't justify paying for my second account on an already tight budget; but I wanted to see what was left there. They were kind enough to grant me a two or three day credit and I hopped on to visit Liquidate once more.

There wasn't much on the Alliance but I was shocked to get on Nodes, my Horde glyph seller, and find I'd apparently decided not to liquidate his glyph stock before leaving. I had approximately ten of each glyph just sitting there pre-crafted.

And so it began.  It took me approximately three boring, agonizing, painstaking hours to move thousands of glyphs through the neutral AH one. at. a time. But I did it!

So I was able to pay back Elu's loan within a few hours of him giving it to me, which felt good, and I was off on my new gold-making adventure!

Hello o/

Hi.

You remember back in the Spring I said I was quitting WoW and that, while I would never say never, I didn't intend to come back? Well, now I remember why I always said "never say never."

I returned to WoW a couple weeks ago and am considering a return to blogging. I wanted to explain the . . . conditions under which I'm returning to both before getting into it, since they're going to change the way the blog is written quite a bit. Then we'll see what happens.

I've been doing so well since this Spring. I'm back in school, I changed my major to something I am passionate about and it's going well,  I'm going to be doing Study Abroad this summer if I can scrounge up the cash to pay for it, I'm teaching myself a second language, I've lost a ridiculous amount of weight (in a good way!) and I'm generally doing great.

The problem came because my schedule is so hectic and busy it's hard to find times to do social things, so when I do find free-time there's often nothing to do. I decided to start playing WoW again over the Christmas holiday to kill time. It's been great to come back. I've come back as a super-casual (did I mention those schedule obligations?) so I'm not really raiding other than flex here and there with my guildies. I'm mostly doing pet battles and achievements and it's been a great semi-social timesink for the times when I'm out of school work to do.

I've been playing the game entirely different from the way I once played and I've had some very interesting adventures. I wanted to blog about them but I remembered my love/hate relationship with blogging. I like writing. No, I love writing. And, as you can probably tell, I like talking about myself.

When I originally started NerfFaids back in the day it was not meant to be educational or to provide a service or help to others; it was meant to be more of a public journal while I learned to make gold. I want to do the journal thing again.

So I might be putting up some WoW posts in the coming time. The majority will probably be gold-flavored (once a gold maker, always a gold maker) but I'm going to return to writing for me, and only for me. If you'd like to keep reading that's great. Now I'm off to class.

Harping on Hearthstone: Day 2

Day #2: Secrets vs Instants and Opens

One thing glaringly missing from Hearthstone that most other established card games have is a range of cards that can be played when it is not your turn. Magic calls these Instants, L5R calls these Open actions. (Or Battle actions. Or Reactions. Or Terrains if in a battle. Did I mention L5R is awesome?)

Why are Instants and Open actions important in games like Magic and L5R?

Instants and reactionary spells serve two very important functions:

• They keep the game interesting for both players at all times.
• They shift the game style from "Attack, Tab Out, Attack, Tab Out" to "Play All the Time"

If you follow me on Twitter you've seen more than a few complaints from me about slow players taking far too long on their turns. Luckily I've got three monitors and am usually playing Minecraft and watching Netflix to keep slow players from being as agonizing as they could be but, at the end of the day, the opponent's turn is still aggravatingly boring.

Why? Because there is no reason I need to be present for the opponent's turn. I cannot react to their actions at all (even with Secret cards they will automatically activate, it's not my choice) and I cannot choose who defends against what attackers like in L5R. Everything an opponent does can be summed up by a quick glance when I tab back into the game on my turn. I've never seen anyone do anything particularly complicated but even if they did there is a summary on the left meaning there is no reason for me to pay attention to the opponent's turn at all.

The game is, quite literally, Attack, Tab Out, Attack, Tab Out, Attack, Tab Out. Adding reactionary cards or Instants would give players a reason to pay attention during the other player's turn and to think more carefully about their own actions on their own turn. Having actions that both players can perform at any time keeps both players engaged at all times and adds a deeper layer of strategizing to the game.

Don't Secrets do the same thing?
Not really. They're certainly the closest thing in Hearthstone but they are a poor substitute. You cannot choose when they activate meaning they can frequently be "wasted" on shitty effects and, far worse than that fact, only three classes get them, leaving the majority of players without any sort of reactionary cards whatsoever. They give the impression of "reacting" when, in fact, it's still a passive effect you can be tabbed out for during your opponent's turn.

The Fix: Split all actions into "your turn" or "all turns" which Magic does with Sorceries/Instants and L5R does with Limited/Open actions. Things like your hero power and some spells played from your hand could become playable at any time while playing minions and attacking would be limited actions. Continue to have Secrets but allow them to be voluntarily activated (Mirror Entity out and you played a 1/1? I'll wait for a big minion, thanks.) or played immediately from the hand in reaction to the action that would trigger them.

This would give Secrets a less aggravating purpose and give players something to do or think about at all times, keeping players engaged throughout the entire match.

The Not-So-Good-Fix: At the very least, if nothing previously is done, all classes should be given Secrets. As it stands only three of the nine classes even can pretend they can react and defend themselves on their own terms (though that's just an illusion with how Secrets are currently designed) and the rest of the classes just have to close their eyes and think of England on the opponent's turn. If every class had Secrets you could at least pretend you aren't just forced to lie there and take it.

The "I guess that might help" Fix: Allowing players to assign blockers against attacking creatures instead of letting the attacking player choose the way of the fight, similar to Magic, would give players a reason to be present during the opponent's turn and would allow them to mount a more successful and strategic defense. The closest thing you can do at this point is throw out Minions that have Taunt. While this would largely help liven up the game for anyone on the defense it's not an ideal fix, in my opinion, and would drastically change victory strategies in ways I don't think would benefit the game at this point.

Harping on Hearthstone: Day 1

I hope everyone's been well. I haven't been in contact with readers and the rest of the community much since I faded away (ahahahah pun; see what I did there?) earlier this year. I do miss talking to you folks a lot; I miss it more than I miss WoW or gold-making, to be honest.

I've been so tempted to return to WoW of late. I'm not going to; I promised myself and several others I wouldn't and I intend to keep that promise. Plus my life's so much better without spending hours playing WoW every day so that's something I don't want to mess up. But it's difficult because I do miss WoW and the WoW gold-making folks a lot.

In this weakened, WoW-tempted state Blizzard made their move and finally sent me a Hearthstone invite which I opted to try out. I've been playing around with it a bit each day since I got in and have found I have a very fickle attitude towards it; a lot like WoW, actually. I rage about dumb mechanics or unstable servers but am back the next day!

I thought I'd collect my thoughts and desires for Hearthstone which, I'm not going to lie, are mostly going to be complaints. I don't expect to get this blog fully up and running regularly but I wanted to put my thoughts out there before disappearing again. But as negative as everything below may sound I do think the game is enjoyable and, truth be told, some of the changes I'd like to see would defeat Blizzard's goal of having fast matches and a simple game. I'm not holding out hope that these will happen, these are just things I would love to see to make it a game I would enjoy more.

I am a fan of very complicated card games. My favorite card game, Legend of the Five Rings, is played with each player using two decks and there are multiple different victory conditions, each clan specializing in different sorts of victories. You can have matches of many players and, at one point, using decks made specifically for longevity my friends and I played for nearly twenty hours straight. I love complicated card games. So Hearthstone's simplicity has been difficult for me to accept, particularly since there are many cards in Hearthstone that are considered ridiculously overpowered by most other games' standards. (I'm looking at you, Silence.)

So let's get started and, hey, since we mentioned Silence let's make that part of Day 1.

Day #1: Cheap, Combo-Killing Crippling

Silence is just one example of the low-cost, devastating spells and minions capable of destroying any in-depth card combos for a pittance. Other culprits of over-budgeted silencers are Ironbeak Owl and Earth Shock.

These sorts of effects which immediately, irreversibly gimp your minions for 0-2 mana can have a devastating effect on any deck that isn't "I'm gonna put in a ton of big creatures and keep attacking until they're dead." Any sort of strategy or card synergy can be rendered completely worthless for zero mana.

Lately my favorite combo has been Northshire Clerics + Lightwells + Imp Masters. Lots of imps, lots of cards. But silence any one of those and the strategy becomes worthless. Without a card like Disenchant to react there's no defense against this except to just suck it up and keep going.

But with a limit of 2x each card in a deck it becomes virtually impossible to build a deck around card synergy. They need only kill two minions and the entire backbone of your deck can be out the window.

This leads to very bland, shallow strategies in deck building. While there is room for some very creative combos the fact they can be cast aside by a flick of your opponents wrist encourages the creation of generic decks which will perform "good enough" instead of doing super awesome things.

There are other cards that cripple as well; such as Polymorph which goes the extra mile to reduce it to a 1/1 as well. But at least that costs 4 Mana and is an actual investment. The inability to get rid of the effect causes me to still take issue with it but at least it's a bit more costly than the 0 Mana priest Silence.

The Fix: Giving all but the most powerful silence/sheep type of effects a duration of 1-3 turns would cause them to become more balanced for their cost while adding in a new and interesting player concern: Protecting your big minion long enough for the effect to wear off.

The Fix #2: An all-class Purge/Disenchant Spell. 1-3 Mana; "Reverse all effects on target minion since it entered play." It would remove both buffs and debuffs, returning it to its original attack and health. It could be used as a fixer spell to un-debuff your own minion or to rein in a buffed minion of your opponent. If that's too much it could be changed to only be able to target friendly minions.

The Half-Fix: For cards like the Ironbeak Owl I think it's important that, if the Silence's source is a targetable minion, if you destroy the source the silence will be destroyed as well. The fact someone can pull out a 2 Mana 2/1 and rein in Gruul for the rest of the game is completely broken. However, this doesn't fix Spells that silence, like Silence or Earth Shock.

The Less-Useful Fix: Increase the mana cost of all Silence type spells. Trust me, I play priest, nothing gives me a shit-eating grin like devastating an uber-buffed minion for 0 mana. But I think it shouldn't be able to happen. Considering how powerful it is I think it's appropriate that cards with a silence mechanic cost at least three mana and cards like Polymorph that silence and debilitate should be 6 or more.

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