Grimwell Interview

Allakhazam has an interview with Grimwell, the Everquest 2 Community Manager. I just wanted to quote a couple answers he gave:

Allakhazam: You worked at and ran fan sites for some years before signing on with SOE. What's it like to be on the other end of the journalistic "mic?"

Grimwell: It's a lot easier to get into tradeshows and conferences, that's for sure! I love being on the 'other side of the mic' mostly because I have not forgotten what it is like to work so hard on a fansite. Everyone who has a fansite and works on it is doing so out of passion. Yes, there are those who are lucky enough to also draw a paycheck from it, but there is also a lot of passion.

I find that my position allows me not to just remember what it was like, but also to try to provide things that I always wished the game companies would do for and with fansites. That's an advantage because it makes it very easy to know exactly why a particular site is asking for specific information on a Game Update, or an interview, or a screen shot, or any other resource for their site. They just want to do a good job covering the game.

Allakhazam: Do you feel like your background working on fansites gives you a unique perspective as the Community Manager in contrast to your predecessors?

Grimwell: It definitely works in terms of my relationship with the fansites, but it's not something I can rest my hat on and then relax. The fansites are constantly evolving and needing new and different things to meet their goals. Plus, there is a lot to being a Community Manager that working on fansites does not prepare you for. There is a huge difference between being able to say "Wouldn't it be cool if?" or "If I was ever working on a game I'd…" and being on the other side of the coin and realizing just how wide of an impact even a small design change can have.

Go ahead and read the rest.

World of Warcraft: Possible PvP Changes?

Blue poster, Nethaera, commented on the official World of Warcraft forums that there are possible PvP changes in the pipeline.

We do have plans to add more battlegrounds in the future. How many, I couldn't answer for you at this time.

There is a method to the madness, however. Mostly, it has to do with making sure there is a healthy population of people to take part in the battlegrounds. If we have too many battlegrounds, the population will thin out and queues will go up. Where Arenas are quick battles that don't need a lot of time commitment (based on limiting how many games a team may choose to play beyond the minimum), battlegrounds tend to take a bit more time and have no real downside for playing them almost exclusively if people choose to.

We have more plans in the future in general for PvP though nothing more concrete that I can share with you right now. It's common knowledge that an expansion is in the works. More on the details will come in time as to what all will be included in it.

It is interesting how the last paragraph is worded. The tidbit about the expansion is mentioned after the part about possible general PvP changes. Could this mean that the next expansion will focus more heavily on the Alliance vs. Horde battle? It may just be wild speculation, but I don't think Blizzard wants to get tagged as "lazy" by just producing another expansion featuring just ten levels of content.

However, Blizzard usually sticks to what they do best and rarely stray from the beaten path. On top of this, it does not make much sense to release a PvP expansion when so many players enjoy WoW's casual quest based leveling.

Hopefully Blizzard will be a little quicker releasing the next expansion. Even though I haven't touched The Burning Crusade yet, I still want to see what Blizzard has in store for everyone.

Enchanting vs. Mining

I am at a crossroads with my shaman in World of Warcraft. I have been an enchanter since I created the character. My enchanting skill currently sits at 300. It was a great money maker at one time, but without having The Burning Crusade, I am unsure if it still is. Not having TBC also limits my available clients. There is little to no work available for an out of date enchanter stuck at 300 skill.

I recently dropped my engineering skill that was going unused, to pursue blacksmithing. However, I find that without the ability to mine my own ore, smithing is damn expensive. I have an alt that can mine basic copper, tin, and silver, but I don't plan to level him.

This leaves me stuck at a crossroads. Should I drop my 300 enchanting for mining, or should I just suck it up and pay my way through the grind for blacksmithing? I want to lean towards mining, because it can be a great source of revenue. At the same time, I know how to work the auction house with dis-enchanting to make gold. Also, it sucks not being able to disenchant soul bound items that you finish using.

Eventually, it all really boils down to whether or not I am going to get The Burning Crusade. There are great level 70 axes available for master axesmiths that fit perfectly into my melee shaman's build. If I start leveling, there will always be ore to mine, smelt, and sell. However, if I am leveling, there will be tons of gear I will want to disenchant. Having to make decisions sucks!

Update: 12 July, 2007 - Mining won out, and I am slogging through the grind as I type this.

Website of the Moment: WoWBreak

I have started using the website, WoWBreak, to get my World of Warcraft news. There are tons of WoW news sites, but this one is built on the same idea as Digg, which happens to be another favorite website of mine. Users submit stories and then "vote" for them to appear on the homepage.

The site works relatively well and provides a good daily dose of news for WoW. Sign up and check it out.

2008: Year of Linux?

MaximumPC is touting 2008 as the year of Linux as most people are just sick of Windows.

Fortunately for open-source addicts, there are several signs that the coming year could bring a sea-change among end users, making 2008 the year of the Linux desktop.

There's nothing bold about pointing out that modern Linux distros have made leaps and bounds in usability in the past couple of years.

However, there is one catch: Linux sucks for gaming.

For me, the real hitch in the switch is gaming. While Wine and other Windows compatibility utilities do a great job of running productivity apps, they have less success with the hottest new gaming titles. And as long as Windows retains its utter domination of the PC gaming scene, gamers will always need Windows PCs.

Now that I have some Linux experience under my belt, I can admit that being able to get up and running for free is great. Constantly searching for information to accomplish basic tasks is not. Linux is a double-sided sword; stable and secure, but clunky and diversified amongst a thousand distributions with a thousand different ways to make things work.

Linux does have inroads into gaming. Linux is by far the preferred hosting solution for multi-player shooters like Counterstrike. Having helped foot the bill for a few servers in the past, I can attest to that fact. This is Linux's main boon to gaming.

However, having a knowledgeable Linux guru is where the real savings are at. The second a server renter/owner has to sign up for a "support plan", is the second Linux servers begin draining Mr. Piggybank.

Also, World of Warcraft runs easily on Linux. It sets a standard that other developers should follow. Good things happen for games that support Linux.

NOTE: I don't want to be misquoted here. World of Warcraft does not have a native Linux client, but Blizzard's adhearance to standards makes it very easy for their games to be run through Linux applications like WINE or Cedega.