2+ lane roads...

Okay, I'm going to get old school ranty on this one, like, Dennis Leery bitching people out.

Multi-lane freeways, that's where you have more than one lane going in the same direction, obviously a huge metric fuck ton of you out there have no clue how to drive on them.  At all.

First off, some basics:

"Slow traffic use right lane".  You don't have to be some CIA cryptologist to figure this out.  If you are driving slower than those around you, put your ass in the right fucking lane.  Don't sit in the left lane thinking it is okay, because it fucking isn't.  Put your blinker on, and get your slow ass the fuck over.

Side note, use your fucking blinkers.  None of us cab read your retarded minds.  Same with headlights at night.  You probably aren't wearing a seatbelt either, you lazy shits.

"Passing".  Now a good driver will be cruising in the right lane, no matter their speed.  When they come across a driver in front of them, they will singal their intent to pass them on the right, check their mirrors, change lanes and, once a few car lengths beyond the passed vehicle, merge back into the right lane.

If you see others that are moving faster than you and about to pass you, don't fucking cut them off because you think that if you don't get into the left lane right fucking then, then you'll be forever stuck in the right lane.  Let the faster traffic pass both you and the car in front of you, THEN you can pass.  Or, an alternative which is perfectly fine, is to speed up and pass at a speed that does not impair the speed of others.

Now, if you are "passing" someone, but you are going the same speed, or even so barely faster that it will take several minutes to pass the traffic on the right, then guess what, yer the fuck-tard.  That's right, you are the assclown that is fucking everything up for everyone else.  Get a little more speed and get the fuck around an over.  Trust me it's okay, you can slow back down again once you are back in the right lane.  You really can use your gas pedal a little bit harder for a few seconds, it's not going to kill you.

"Cruising".  I don't give a rats shitty asshole if you are in a fucking McLaren, it doesn't matter if you are doing 160 miles an hour.  If you aren't actively passing someone, get over into the fucking right lane you asswad.

In short, people, quit being inconsiderate clueless dipshits on multi-lane roads.  You should have been tested on this simple shit when you got your liscence, and it isn't like this shit is fucking rocket science.  And if you know you do this type of shit and you just don't care, then you, sir or madam, can suck a thousand dicks.

I'm a real wild one...real wild child

If you didn't get the hint, I'm considering Wildstar.  Pre-ordering has started, giving everyone all the usual shit, pre-order only items/mounts/housing/blah blah blah.

But yeah, I think I might just casually play Wildstar.  I need something else, something that I don't have to be so desperate to min/max all to shit.  Which I'll probably do anyway.  But maybe I won't be as compelled to.  Let that be WoW/D3 for me.

Short and sweet.

Randomness, no witty title here...

Some times I wonder about people, the decisions they make, why.  This is going to be me rambling for a bit.  Skip this post if you don't care about my inner thoughts.

I'm glad we switched to 25's when we did.  There is a lot of headache going on.  You'll read, maybe even reread those two sentences and think they don't belong together.  But they do.

Why am I glad for the headache?

Two situations.  Situation A takes place now, while we are stuck in SoO.  Situation B is the launch of WoD.  In both situations, a guild is restructuring from 10's to 20/25's.  People deciding to quit, take breaks, join other teams, other servers, all sorts of crap.  To me, situation A is better for that to take place, while the tier is old news, the 'race' is over, people are progressing at their own pace.  Situation B puts pressure on everyone, and any kind of slowdown is catastrophic.

Thankfully, we live in situation A.  Found out some people weren't actually interested in the larger raid size when they said they were.  Found out that people were already pushing their computers to their limits on 10's and 25's were unplayable.  Found out some people couldn't handle that we'd be in SoO for as long as we are going to be.  Found out some people are just dicks.

Also found out that there are a shit ton more people out there looking for a home.  Found out that some people are going to help simply because they like the people they are playing with and want their group to succeed.  Found who real friends are, even with internet anonymity.

I'm not upset at anyone.  Sure there is disappointment from time to time.  Disappointment at all that time spent with some people, and it means nothing.  I mean philosophy hasn't changed, guild is still being ran the same as ever.  So that means that other people's intentions have changed.  And that's fine, it's going to happen, unavoidable.  Just leaves a sour taste.

Anywho.  I'm enjoying the group we got, and look forward to the next expansion.  It can only be better.  

And I've seen what happens when I'm not around.

A little birdy whispered to me today...

Well, I can't exactly say what it is, naturally.  But let's just say that something I've been waiting for from a certain game company has finally happened.  Can't really go into much more, NDA and stuff.  But yeah, today is a damn good day.

Top ten all time days.

A feel a disturbance in the force...

Not in a good way, not in the "Luke coming to save the day" kind of way at all.  More along the lines of the "I have a bad feeling about this" kind of way.  Why, you ask?  Check out that time frame for posts.  Draenei Females first week of April.  All that other crap, no freaking eta at all.

AT.

ALL.

Before I get all Denis Leary rant on this, I'm going to at first assume that this means nothing at all.  That this tweet has absolutely not one thing to do with beta in the slightest.

But maybe...

Maybe if they are not getting these new player models posted until months and months apart from each other, maybe they are really fuck-all behind on WoD.  I'm going Mad Max on this train of thought.

They have had months, since September 2013 to be solely focused on WoD after the launch of SoO.  And here we are, the end of March 2014, only having shared a few of the new player models.  No Draenei, Tauren, Blood Elf, etc.

There is the possibility that beta won't be delayed because of the player models taking holy fuck forever.  Maybe we'll get a beta drop, and they will just start filtering in the new player models as they get completed.  But if that were the case, that they would handle things like that, we'd have been in WoD beta months ago, testing out their zones, scripts, ferreting out bugs and crap long ago, with them  adding in completed player models one by one as the art team gets done with them.

But that's not the world we're living in.  We're on the threshold of being stuck in the longest tier of raiding in WoW history, if they just do their average time frame on getting a beta started and beta duration.  ICC?  That will look like the new normal if things keep getting delayed.  This time, right here, right now, is when Blizz needs to put their big boy pants on and get shit out the door, or else all that talk, for months, years, Blizzcon, dev blogs, all that bullshit gets thrown right the fuck out because they can't deliver on what they say they want so desperately to deliver on.  Shorter cycles between content launches.

Blizzard, you've been touting that line for a really long time now.  And you sure as shit aren't living up to it unless you do something amazing really quick.

It's the kind of relationship going on like when you are a kid, and your dad or mom or older sibling that can drive says that they are going to take you somewhere and do something that you've been dying to go/do for a really long time.  For days and weeks they get you hyped up, talking a big game about how they are going to have so much fun with you doing whatever it is you want to do with them.  And the day comes, they come up with some random excuse, and maybe it's a valid reason for adults, but when they spent all that time getting you hopped up about it, that all it turns about to be for you is a huge fucking let down.

That's how this is turning out Blizzard.

Yes, I know that Blizz is going to put out great games.  I've been with the Blizzard crew since Rock n' Roll Racing.  I got my entire bunch of friends at school hooked on WC2 when it came out on PC.  I've been loyal to Blizzard for over twenty years.  I've been more than patient.  But you really need to understand something about us gamers Blizzard, which you should know because you are us also.  We sit still for a fucking year or more, and we're gone.

My wife, our guild leader, is looking at ESO.  I'm staring at Wildstar (maybe not seriously but as a diversion until Blizzard gets their asses in gear).  Others are looking at being stuck in SoO for longer than a year and it does not look fun at all.

Do something Blizzard.  You should have done something a long fucking time ago.  You have been talking a big fucking game about having these shorter dev cycles, and all we are getting is updates on the fucking Heroes of the Storm alpha patch notes.

But like any good Dennis Miller rant, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

To be, or not to be...

...something something, shuffle off this mortal coil...something...<dead> fin.

Oh Blizzard...why do you do this to us?

Pre-Purchase: Game is expected to release on or before 12/20/2014

Time for a long rant.  I haven't had one in a while.



Disappoint.  SMH.  For real, serious, Blizz, WHISKEY! TANGO! FOXTROT!

Now, I'm not going to be the guy that goes all "red shirt guy" and links clips of videos from Blizzcon.  Unless I get real bored with this post and just save it and then come back and edit the ever loving hell out of it just to pass my time.

I remember Blizz peoples saying, often, that they were further along in the WoD dev cycle while the players were playing through MoP than they were for the MoP dev cycle in the same equivalent time frame as the player base was playing through Cata waiting for MoP.  It's a fact.  Anyone can look this up in no time at all.

Here.

March fucking tenth!

So at best, if their pre-purchase page is believable, then we have somewhere from twelve to fifteen months of Siege of Orgrimmar to live through.  That is a long fucking time.  Well, let's compare some shit:

WoW started Nov 23, 2004.
(11 month gap)
BC gets announced at Blizzcon on Oct 28, 2005.
(12 month gap)
BC beta starts Oct 13, 2006
(3 month gap)
BC release Jan 16, 2007
(7 month gap)
Wrath of the Lich King announced at Blizzcon on Aug 3, 2007
(11 month gap)
Wrath beta starts July 17, 2008
(4 month gap)
Wrath release Nov 13, 2008
(9 month gap)
Cata announced at Blizzcon Aug 21, 2009
(10 month gap)
Cata beta starts Jun 30, 2010
(6 month gap)
Cata release Dec 7, 2010
(10 month gap)
MoP announced at Blizzcon Oct 21, 2011
(5 month gap)
MoP beta starts Mar 21, 2012
(6 month gap)
MoP release Sep 25, 2012
(14 month gap)
WoD announced at Blizzcon Nov 8, 2013
(10 to 13 month gap)
Proposed release date of no later than Dec 20, 2014

Well, that's a lot of crap up there.

BC, from announcement to release, 15 months.
Wrath, from announcement to release, 15 months.
Cata, from announcement to release, 16 months.
MoP, from announcement to release, 11 months.

WoD, from announcement to release, 10-13 months.

Assuming, assuming, that their statement on their website of "Fall 2014" actually means the very fucking beginning of Fall, then break out the champagne, they'll beat their MoP cycle by one month.  But, something more important, time between raid tiers...

Starting from BC:

Kara/SSC/etc, 1/2007 - 5/2007, 4 months.
Black Temple, 5/2007 - 3/2008, 9 months.
Sunwell, 3/2008 - 11/2008, 8 months.

Naxx/OS/Eye/etc, 11/2008 - 4/2009, 5 months
Ulduar, 4/2009 - 8/2009, 4 months
ToC, 8/2009 - 12/2009, 4 months
Icecrown, 12/2009 - 12/2010, 12 months

BoT/etc, 12/2010 - 6/2011, 6 months
Firelands, 6/2011 - 11/2011, 5 months
DS, 11/2011 - 9/2012, 10 months

MSV/etc, 9/2012 - 3/2013, 6 months
ToT, 3/2013 - 9/2013, 6 months
SoO, 9/2013 - assumed release "Fall 2014", 12-15 months.


SoO will potentially have the longest time spent in that tier than other.  Me personally, I had a gap in time away from WoW from Kara to Ulduar, where I picked up a little time raiding in ToC/Icecrown briefly, then another gap from there to BoT, finally getting into WoW raiding again in Firelands, and getting into heroic progression from then on out.

Personally, I absolutely hate being in SoO for this long.  I'm already kind of bored with it, but the move to 25-man is keeping things a bit more interesting.  I'm ready for the next expansion already.  Blizzard spends a very long time in the final raid tier of each expansion, and for obvious reasons, they are creating a crap ton of new worlds and leveling content and dungeons and revamps and all sorts of stuff.

I guess my real beef with Blizz is them saying at Blizzcon that they feel like they are much further in their dev cycle for WoD, time frame wise, than they were along with MoP.

They started the MoP beta when they were only four months into DS, or another way to look at it is at five months from when MoP was accounced.  If their statement from Blizzcon was really true, then we should have been in WoD beta sometime around December last year to January this year.  We're at six months out from when SoO started, and no beta.  We're at only four months from when they announced WoD though.  If you look at that, you'd be inclined to think that they may be ahead of schedule.  But really, you have to look at time between raid tiers.  Time from announcement really doesn't mean a whole lot, because what company is actually working on matters.  In this case, SoO was already out for two months before we even heard about the next expansion.  So Blizz has had two entire months to pound away at development for WoD.

What does all this feel like?  Like way too long being spent in SoO without a beta for WoD.  Half a year has gone by and nothing so far.

Sunwell was out in 3/2008, Wrath beta started in 7/2008, a four month gap.
Icecrown was out in 12/2009, Cata beta started in 6/2010, six month gap
DS was out in 11/2011, MoP beta started in 3/2012, four month gap.

We're already tied with Icecrown to Cata gap in time, and there isn't even the tiniest hint of a beta starting.  Not a glimmer.  Not a tweet.  Not some random patch on the PTR that leeks out by mistake.  Nothing.

We're going to be in SoO a long time, longer than any other, unless Blizz has been holding onto WoD being uber fucking polished out the ass and we have the shortest beta cycle ever and suddenly WoD just fucking drops on us.

Is that going to happen?  I have a better chance of giving birth.

I really hate sounding and being pessimistic of Blizzard.  I really do.  I love their games.  D3, with the revamp to paragon levels and loot and game play scaling, etc, they really know how to make something really good.  But I'll be damned if you tease us with what you had at Blizzcon last year, and then don't even give us a ray of anything other than a couple updates showing models for player races and buildings for the Garrisons.  You've spent less time creating entire worlds, classes, races, professions.  Why are you taking so long now?  Why is WoD looking like it's going to take the longest in Blizz history of expansions to create?

Beta durations:

Wrath, 4 months.
Cata, 6 months.
MoP, 6 months.

Even if Blizz starts now, TODAY, if they somehow manage to keep the WoD beta no longer than any of the others, that puts WoD coming out October this year, which means 13 months of SoO.  If by some insane miracle they have a Wrath type beta, they can actually keep SoO to just 11 months, with an August release.

Youguys and gals better have something real fuck-all epic coming out, to justify taking so long, or get the lead out and actually produce something real.  If PAX comes and goes and there isn't beta happening, I'm gonna feel like anything else, even something as newb friendly as Wildstar might be where I spend my time.  Keep me as a customer Blizz, I've been liking it so far, but damn if you aren't making it real difficult to stay.

Beta real soon, or else you are falling further behind than you ever have before, and that is a real bad sign.  Blizzard, you are not further along in development for WoD than you were for MoP, or else you are keeping all your cards real close to your chest.  And if that's the case, what for?  Are you afraid that a WoD beta will eat into D3 profits?  Come the fuck on.  You start this shit where you think your own franchises compete for customers, and come up with retarded staggering releases for expansions, betas, and all that kind of shit, and I'll start looking elsewhere to spend my money and free time real quick.

You've had more than enough time for a WoD beta to already start.  Time to put something out there.

When the going gets tough...

So, EQ is now 7/14 for h25m.  This week, fairly positive we'll bump that up to at least 8, maybe 9 or 10.

But, I need to back track.

Why is Equilibrium doing this?

I hope most of my raiders read my blog, or at least the few that do, can spread this to everyone else.  Blizzard has decided to completely change the face of raiding for progression teams.  Most of us should know by now that, soon, ten man raiding will be a permanent thing of the past.  Also, twenty five man raiding will be a thing of the past as well.  It is all changing to twenty man.  There isn't anything anyone can do about it.  Blizzard has spoken, so it shall be done.  All we can do is prepare.

And that is what EQ is doing, preparing.  That means we stopped ten man progression completely on both the ten man teams.  It means we shoved everyone into twenty five man progression.  We are doing that so we are prepared for the next expansion (yes, even though it may be well into 6-9 months from now since Blizz posted a fall release date, I'll elaborate more on that later).

So we prepare by being used to twenty five man raiding, since that is going to be the closest to what twenty man mythic raiding will be like.  It means we are testing out how well we use loot systems like EPGP which we've decided to go to, at least for now.  It means we know some people may not want to do twenty five man raiding.

If you don't want to do twenty five man raiding, be honest with yourself.  You won't want to do twenty man raiding.  I get it that some people only like ten man raiding.  I totally understand.  I used to raid twenty five's back in wrath, for a while.  I didn't like it.  I went back to ten man in Cata and stayed that from then on.  Until now.  Because if I want to progression raid, I have to be in a larger group.

So yeah, if you hate large scale size raiding, you won't want to do mythic raiding when 6.0 starts.  And that's ok.  They will have flex systems for normal and heroic raiding where people can do whatever size from ten to twenty five, and those people can do that content.

But if you want to do progression, this is the new future.  And we don't want to be stuck not knowing the ins and outs once it goes live like a lot of other guilds will be.  We don't want to be one of the teams that is frantically trying to recruit more people, or somehow merge with another guild to be able to do mythic raiding.  No, we want to come right out at the start and kill bosses.  Continue to lead.

You can't do that if you are playing catch up.  You can't do that if you are trailing everyone else.  It is a different kind of war.  We have to approach it differently.  This is the only way to prepare.  We need to find out, sooner rather than later, who's actually going to be willing to stay in the new format.  Who's computers won't even be able handle a larger raid size.  Who's willing to adapt to a little different loot format.  All necessary changes that we have decided to make now instead of when it could be too late.  Maybe too late isn't the right way to say it.  When others have already gotten past this point and are just cleaning out boss after boss.



Now...Blizzard calling a fall release.  Yeah, that's a lot of time.  Sure, I'm kind of disappointed at that.  I wanted a summer release honestly.  But this gives us time to really develop a large team really well.  It also gives us time to set up other things, like normal mode teams, ten and twenty five possible.  It gives us a lot more time to make sure we are ready, instead of a very short amount of time.

Could there be burn out though?  Yeah, but there is always the problem of burn out.  It could happen at the very start of a tier/expansion, just as easily at the end of one.  So that's really not a particular problem of a long release date.  It's always a problem, which is why large teams are almost always recruiting.  I sure as hell hope it's at the start of fall, and not the end of it, but ultimately Blizzard is going to do what Blizzard wants to do.

So everyone always has choices, stay with a team, move to another team, take a break, quit all together.  This is going to be the time for a lot of those choices to take place, and we're just giving ourselves as much time as we can to get through those choices and be better prepared for when WoD goes live.  Because that's the next goal.  Sure, we want to clear heroic SoO, but WoD is the real goal.  Being prepared for that.  SoO gets us prepared for that, so we have to do all we can.  Hopefully, each and every person in EQ comes along for the ride!