The Concept
I have an idea to improve mana shield, through changing either the spell itself or adding a deep arcane talent that modifies it.
The Idea
Scenario A
Scenario B
So, how is this a buff?
The difference between our current mana shield, and this revised version, is that you will not -always- have your mana being drained. Only when the players burst down your shield completely do you take a hit to your mana pool.
Going back to what I stated earlier, I think this would most likely be better suited as a change that could occur through a deep arcane talent, as to not add any supplemental survivability to frost mages. But perhaps this is something we would like to give our fire mages access to as well? Who’s to say.
How the tooltip would look:
Arcane Shield: The caster creates a magically sustained protective barrier, with the capacity to negate [X] damage, regenerating it’s damage absorbing qualities by [R] every [Z] seconds. Should the shield reach it’s breaking point and shatter, the mage will suffer a catastrophic flux in arcane levels and loose [Y] mana
Or
If we really wanted to make this resemble halo (and I really like this idea too):
Arcane Shield: the caster creates a magically sustained protective barrier, with the capacity to negate [X] damage. Should the shield take damage, it will fully restore itself to full capacity after having not taken damage for [Z] seconds. Should the shield reach it’s breaking point and shatter, the mage will suffer a catastrophic flux in arcane levels and loose [Y] mana.
Like The Idea? Don’t? Think Something Could Be Changed?
Let me know! Also, if you would like to support the endeavour to get this idea out into the open, posting on my official wow forum regarding this suggestion is GREATLY appreciated. Even if you don’t like it, a post from you is still important. Even if this idea is completely scrapped, better ideas can still stem from it.
Thank you, and I eagerly await your responses and thoughts!
Every time you log into World of Warcraft, you summon and gain control over your character’s movement and actions. This character is a creation of you- you are the creater, you are the master, and any action to be made is processed through you first.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if your character could talk? If it had a voice of his/her own? How would a conversation sound like if you could talk with them?
Would they complain about how much you curse at them, or about how bad you are at PvP? Would you play the part of an ominous deity, and introduce yourself as their god? Would they be frightened at this, or have suspected they weren’t in complete control of their actions all along?
If Azryu Could Talk
- Quite angrily, I begin to say, “Really, that damned rouge is just sulking around Hodir dailies area, just looking for people with no HP left to gank. At the very sight of resistance, he flee’s. [Obscenity] [Obscenity] Terrible player! [Obscenity]”
- “Who is there? Why are you recounting my events as your own?!”
- … odd. Interesting coincidence that someone should say something like this, but I’m going to turn ventrilo off.
- “If you remain in silence and secret, do not think for a moment I will hesitate to take action against you should be so foolish as to show yourself!”
- “Most strange…” I begin to think of what to say, but before I can finish the thought, the rouge is back. He seen that I hadn’t refreshed my frost barrier, and thought he might prove his worthiness in killing me then. I push my thoughts of this foriegn voice aside, concentrating, so that I can ensure this rouge does not escape me.
- Having also pushed aside thoughts of the foreign voice, and after having killed the rouge, Azryu said, “You should not be so foolish as to provoke my incantations, rogue. Though I know it to be futile, I can only hope something has been learned from your needless death. You took me by surprise the first time- but unlike your kind, we magi learn from our mistakes. I pray to the light that you should be reborn anew- in body, and in mind.”
- It was at this point I realized that it was my character to whom the voice belonged to. To see my mage speak for himself- and to be so noble! “You are indeed just as righteous as I had envisioned, and intelligent as I could have wanted. For that I am glad.”
- “So it seems that you have not tarried away. Though it may not have been the smartest of choices, it proves that you are not hostile to me, having not ceased the opportunity to capitalize on the other foe’s presence. So again, why is it that you insist on speaking with me?”
- “Well, you are a creation of me, in the image of me. Without me, you could not take any action, or learn any skill.”
- “Blasphemy! How dare you assume the role of a titan; you are unworthy!”
- “I know that you began your training as a mage in Northshire Abby. I know that during the beginning portion of your training, you believed that gems absolutely had to match thier sockets color. I also know that it was not Azryu that the people refered to you as back in those days. I know your true name, Theawàkening, and I know every name you have ever considered before choosing Azryu too.”
- “What kind of sorcery is this? The magi have long since known how to block the intrusions of others in our minds, and yet you seem to know things which only I could! Do I folly—”
- “You are safe, no one can read your thoughts. You have not failed- rather, you have suceeded in far more then I could have ever hoped for at your conception. You have proved most worthy.”
- “As I stated before, you are a creation of me. My actions determine yours. However, it was not up until this point that I had considered the idea that you have a conciousness of your own…”
- “The very foundations of our world begin to tremble at our feet… I’d be a fool to think I am alone in this predicament. How many others—”
- “Everyone. Everyone in your existence has a master, though I must admit there are those whose masters rule over I, and most of Azeroth. Everyone you group up with, everyone you add to your friends list- they are the same as you. Controlled by us. However, your leaders, your guards, your heroes- they are all lead by our masters. They control this game, errr- world, and we abide by their rules.”
- “King Varian… Jaina… Rhonin… all of them serve another?!” For a moment, Azryu thinks. “Perhaps some good can come of this. If what you say is true, I plea to you that you should see to it that the lich king should fall! It should also be insured that our world could finally come to peace! Too long has blood been shed over our factions old hatreds, the time has come to set these trivialities aside!”
- “I could suggest to our leaders that these things should happen, but I am sorry to say that my plea would not result in peace between the Alliance and the Horde. However, have faith, for the Lich King will fall. But there is something I should tell you, since you are my character after all. While you fight in Northrend, an evil stirs beneath the surface of your world… Deathwing is awakening.”
- Almost as soon as I finished my sentance, Azryu began to cast a teleportation spell, heading to Dalaran. Is he beginning to show signs of free will? I quickly cancel the cast.
- “No! You must not prevent me from telling my people! The Kirin Tor must be warned!”
- “You must not. The fate of Azeroth is predetermined, that is not how it was meant to be.”
- “You spew nonsense! If what you say is true, how is it that our mutual acknowledgement of each other’s existence plays a part in this future? What role do we serve?! This does nothing but to work against the future you have planned for us- explain yourself!”
- “I… I do not know why.”
- “So brazenly you announce yourself as the manipulator of my actions, the master of my domain- but when questioned you prove to be nothing more then a fool! Think for yourself for a moment- if the future you say is predetermined is indeed meant to be, our knowledge of each other works towards the contrary. We must take this information to our leaders, we mustn’t blindly accept what we take for granted as common truth. This has been proven to me today. I never thought that I would turn out to be controlled by some being from another parallel realm of existence, and yet here we are.”
- “Together, we must challenge what we thought to be unalterable, and fight for the future we set out for ourselves!”
- At this point, I see him starting his teleport spell again. I do not challenge him- he is right. Nothing about this makes sense. As he finishes the cast, I see him vanish, but my camera view does not follow. It seems he is no more or less then I. He has what we all have now- right to free will.
- I will not challenge him.
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I submitted this idea to be a future Blog Azeroth Shared Topic. If you would like to contribute to the topic, write up a post describing how a conversation between you and your character w0uld go, or go all the way and write a script for it (like I did). If you do write about it, please visit my forum post over at Blog Azeroth and paste a link into a reply!
Also, I don’t RP, so be easy with your judgement! Haha.
Filed under: Philosophy | Tags: Warcraft and Philosophy, World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King, Wrath of the Philosopher King
A Find Worth Sharing
It was just a few days ago that a friend of mine recently shared with me word of the existence of a book written about World of Warcraft, from a philosophical point of view. INSTANTLY I determined my fate was bound and sealed- that I should find myself reading this book in the near future. The only question is when.
Well, I’ll have you know, it took a matter of two days. Thus far, I have read two of the articles and I am already impressed. The book breaks down into separate”chapters”, all of which are based on different aspects of the game, written by a team of philosophers. They organize the chapters into a familiar format for us all: Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Artisan, Master, and finally Grand Master Philosopher. Using this system they categorize the ideas presented from least to most challenging and mind boggling.
After having read through a few of the articles, I can tell you now that this is not something you need a PhD to enjoy. The people writing the book have played the game extensively, and this is clear not only because they said so in the beginning, rather it shows through their extensive knowledge and understanding of the game.
Here a few of the chapter titles, to perhaps “Aggro Your Brain” as they put it:
- You Can Kill Your Friends but You Can’t Save Gnomeregan
- A Mage in Motion
- Ninja Ethics and the Virtual Theft of Virtual Goods
- He’s the Kind of Girl Who Wants Matching Daggers
There are far more I could list, but those are a few that I think stick out.
Now, one might expect to see things based on Ninja’s and how the corrupted blood catastrophe was used by scientists and psychologists. However, they go into things we might not think of: assumed identities, and misrepresentation of oneself; . But a topic you wouldn’t anticipate is one thats a bit more abstract- the idea of free will.
A Mage in Motion
This article starts off in a role-playing sort of way. The author gives the in-game character their own voice, and talks of a mage who is seemingly just going through the motions, and not really knowing or understanding why it is he does the things he does.
Without giving out any of the story line, the author brings us to the topic: are we in complete control of our lives? The author connects how we control and dictate our in-game characters actions with our lives in the outside world. Motion is also discussed, regarding to what it means to move, be in motion, and how motion works both in and out of game. Cleverly, he uses the examples of blinking and running away from a rouge to help portray this.
Why Blog About This?
There are two reasons why I have posted about this book: to help spread word of something (I imagine) quite a few individuals will enjoy. Secondly, I imagine many posts here at The Arcanery will be inspired by the book as I continue to level my trade skill in Philosophy!
If you are interested in the book, click on the book picture above, and it will take you to the Barnes & Noble page where you can view the synopsis and such, if you feel so inclined.
If you decide to get the book and blog about it, let me know! Link it in a comment! Or, if you already have written about it, link it too!
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Quote of the Day:
“Intelligence is the wife, imagination is the mistress, memory is the servant.”- Victor Hugo
I’ts been quite hard to gather all of my thoughts to put into this concluding post. This is largely due to me starting school, having my job, and still wanting to play WoW at the same frequency as I did before I had classes to worry about. Alas, the post suffered. But no more! It is here!
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Reflections from the Fireside
Playing a mage has taught me a great deal about playing World of Warcraft that another class may have not. I have learned about other classes through necessity- counterspelling warlocks is a good example. I have learned which of their spells is fire based, and to counterspell those when they are destruction spec’d. I have learned that there are many regions of the game which are indeed not finished, and I have to credit slowfall for this discovery. But what has playing a mage taught me… about me?
All of the classes I play have a mana bar. A magic source, or at least something not derived from anything that exists in our everyday world. Warriors are far to believable to play on a fantasy level. I also am amused by the idea of total power over others- in the example of kiting the enemy player to their demise, them yearning to lay their hands on you but simply can’t. Saying this automatically casts a negative image of myself, but you have to think for a moment: what would you prefer? To completely decimate your enemy, and get the giggle out of imagining thier face looking something like this? Or to get completely destroyed yourself?
All these things aside, I think naming off all of these specific aspects I enjoy about the mage class can be compared to running really fast, just to stay in the same place. I could ramble on about how the lore of our world, every step of the way, involved mages in it’s most crucial points- for better or for worse.
So I will sum it up:
I find the use of magic to be incredibly mysterious. If you will, it’s a source of power that once could devote the entirety of their lives to only to scratch the mere surface of it’s potential. As we level up, our incantations become increasingly stronger (new ranks), and along the way we find ourselves learning new spells all together.
And just when you think you have everything figured out- everything changes- tomes of lost knowledge grant you new insight, and the titans alter the very foundations of our world, which we so eagerly throw our minds at to see past the mist and fog, ultimately to rediscover the most proficient ways of doing things once again.
To dabble in the art of magic is to dabble into the life force of the world.
To play a mage is to dive into the unknown.
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This post is one of a multi-part series which will attempt to fully explore the idea at hand. This is the conclusion post- you can find the first post here, and second post here.Filed under: Philosophy
Putting Up The Walls
One thing that I find intriguing is that over the past few years I have never had any one singular reason to be playing a mage, specifically. For instance, when I started playing WoW, I was navigating away from Runescape and the regular console shoot-em-up titles. I looked at a warrior and immediately thought of a barbaric, sword swinging bafoon. When I looked at a rouge, I instantly thought “ninja!”. I created the character and logged in, but really didn’t do anything other than kill a few wolves in Northshire Abby before logging off.
Then I looked at the warlock and mage classes. I read the description for both, and thought to myself that I would like to have my character doing most of my damage versus summoning demons and pets. I also wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of damage over time- I wanted to see the big money. So, I rolled a mage.
Having explained that, what is there to conclude? Well, nothing really, just that I had a very stereotypical vision of what a warrior was, and that I didn’t find ninjas very fun, whereas I thought the idea of the magic wielding sorcerer sounded cool. However, it’s not necessarily what gets us to create the character that matters, it’s what keeps us around, as we saw with the rouge.
I remember getting frostbolt and having the wax seal of approval stamped on the mage class. I had played games before where the idea was to kite around the target all the while abusing it every step of the way, and it is definitely enjoyable. It’s sort of like teasing a dog on a leash. You anger it, and it REALLY wants to hurt you, but it simply can’t. If it could just simply get to you… but as we know, that doesn’t happen. But what is strange is that I leveled as fire, I never really gave much thought to leveling as frost. I seen that fireball hit much harder, and had a dot effect. Frostbolt was just a means to keep the target away while I casted fireballs- an undesired but necessary part of the rotation. It didn’t make sense to go frost to enhance a obviously weaker spell- oh, ignorance is most definitely bliss. Another notable point was when I got to the sunken temple instance, man was AoE’ing those dragons fun.
What else have we learned? Well, I as a person enjoyed tormenting what is helpless to torment me. Perhaps this is derivative of a god complex issue, where being in “total control” of the situation is what drives me to play my mage. But then again, I never was in total control in instance groups, which was (literally) 75% of my leveling experience. I was an addict for them, it seemed as if they produced nothing but good results- I got amazing XP, and got better gear. But does that really matter? The fact is that I knew still, while in the dungeons, that I could easily solo kite any singular mob to its demise, as long as I had the mana. This could be looked at as a person knowing they hold the power, and not feeling they necessarily need to prove it to everyone, or more likely themselves, on a daily basis.
Let’s skip ahead to the beginning of WotLK, in the interest of post size. At this point I had just server transferred from Nathrezim to Bonechewer, to join the newly founded raiding guild . Two of my friends from my old guild were moving to Bonechewer to raid with their real life friends, who they confirmed were good, and I decided it would be worth a shot. So I offered to pay for two other friends to transfer over with me, and one of them did (the other did at a later time). We blasted through the content, competing with all the better guilds on the server (though a couple had sped past us as if there was no challenge- they had been around for far more longer). Eventually the guild broke into two guilds, due to drama. Essentially the break-off group succeeded while the other was diminished into nothing. This break-off group did very well for quite some time,But when Ulduar came around, and it was a bit harder than just farming the same old three drakes and a dragon again. Things fell apart.
It’s noteworthy that I was a guild officer in the second guild (the break-away group). After having invested so much time and effort into guild management and the website, I had been completely exhausted of any wish to raid, or really play the game at all. But then I grew attached to PvP, where the old passions for dominating a second party were re-ignited. I started farming battlegrounds, and this season I started doing arenas for the first time. Now I roll around in furious+ set pieces and all relentless off-pieces. It is definitely most enjoyable to basically roll the undergeared and underskilled, and still have a very good chance to defeat the otherwise geared and skilled.
In my next post, I will attempt to wrap up all the loose ends and expose those which refuse to be tied. Hopefully we can make some sense of this all?
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This post is one of a multi-part series which will attempt to fully explore the idea at hand. Check back in the near future for a continuation of this segment.Filed under: Philosophy
Formulating A Foundation for Thought
I currently have three toons which I can say that I have invested time into that amount to anything worthwhile- my mage, my paladin, my priest. When I think about it, all of my characters have had a mana bar in the least, and two of which are casters. What does this say about me? Is there anything that can be drawn from this about me, or any of us?
The classical stereotypes are most definitely a starting ground, as with all stereotypes an element of truth typically exists. For instance, women playing a female night elf priest would be considered pretty typical. No, it doesn’t mean that every girl does, or even close, but no one would give it a second glance either. However to people holding this same stereotype architecture in mind, they would likely double take if they found that the sweet sounding voice across the ventrilo is embodied in-game by a rugged male orc warrior or hunter. This is suprising because there isn’t an equal opposite for men who play the game. There most definitely is a large percentage of males who play females in-game, however there is no race/class combination that would be considered unique or odd for a male to play (in example, seeing a male playing a female belf is hardly surprising, nor is it surprising to see the same person also playing a male dwarf).
Why is this so? I would have to account this phenomena completely to the fact that we are just beginning to make gaming a socially acceptable activity- especially for women. Though it probably shouldn’t, seeing a women walk past me with a WoW t-shirt on is far more notable then a male doing so. But perhaps it should be! Though gaming for over the years has been something that has been supressed by what is thought to be socially acceptable in past years, it all goes back to the fact that women had started traveling down this road of acceptance far later then the guys have. Alas, we are just getting around to the point where it is neither surprising for a male or female to proclaim that they game in everyday life.
Also, I would like to point out that the recent media coverage of gaming at large has likely hastened this path to complete normality for all players alike. Having pop stars throwing around phrases like “I’m William Shatner, and I’m a shaman” and “night elf mohawks” on television, the introduction of the Video Game Awards in 2003 on Spike TV, charities like Child’s Play and Azeroth United, and the introduction of much more casual friendly play that exists on Nintendo’s WII and DS. All of these things have projected a positive image for gaming for those on the outside to look upon, and to see that there is much more at hand then just a subculture of overweight, immature, callous bigots.
(Just hope that the public doesn’t get wind of the official forums, or I think that last part will be completely undone!)
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This post is one of a multi-part series which will attempt to fully explore the idea at hand. Check back in the near future for a continuation of this segment.
Those of you who have read my posts for some time are likely familiar with the fact that I one wrote under another blog name: A Mage’s Guide to Life. The reason I relocated to here in the arcanery is that I wanted to escape the idea that my blog was a home for just mage guides, and that there was room for discussion and other random things as well.
As of right now, I have finally laid to rest AMGTL. It had a good run, and I don’t regret making it, working on it, or writing under it. Looking at it one last time reminded me of how much I’ve learned about blogging in general, as well as other things- listening to Bre and Fim of the Twisted Nether Blogcast every week, and listening to the much anticipated blogger interviews. There are a few I remember better then others, for example the interview with Euripedes of Critical QQ- namely the line that went something along the lines of “we mages have OUR OWN CITY, floating beautifually above the peons.” There was also the interview with Larisa of The Pink Pigtail Inn, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Larisa, and her bartender that she has staffed since then, always have thought provoking posts to read.
AMGTL. The blog will die today, but the name will live infinately- echoing throughout the passageways of the world wide web.
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To honor AMGTL, I will end this post in the traditional way I always did back when I wrote there. I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes.
Quote of the Day:
The bravery of mortals never fails to astound me. Death affixes its cold stare upon you and in return you rise to the challenge its assertion! It is why you kind is so loved… and so hated.
-Torastrasza
Over the past week, I have been dabbling in the art of engineering. I dropped enchanting instead of tailoring because of the profitibility of tailoring, and not to mention it has it’s own mount and very good cloak enchant. However, what I did not expect was to find that my tailoring had one extra benifit: nets.
I’ve always seen the net patterns in my skill menu, but alway scoffed at them. 3 seconds? Who the hell would want this? Well, to my credit, I thought they had a second cast time on them (it doesn’t- it’s instant). However, to my discredit, I never felt the need to try them out before now.
Got a rouge on your ass, and cloak of skill is up? NET. Paladin shoving the light in places that shouldn’t illuminate? NET.
The possibilities are astoundingly infinite. And for rouges in particular, it’s borderline overpowered. It leaves them with only two seconds of invulnerability to magic, and that’s not factoring in that you are running away/casting from far more then two seconds away.
So fellow tailors, I would encourage you to take up arms into our profession’s all to often forgotten frostweave nets.
Edit: Especially if you play as fire pvp spec. This may be your saving grace.
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