Clever Clicks: New Title, Still Tasty

I've changed "Friday Linkday" to "Clever Clicks" for two reasons: 1) The title is way more awesome, and 2) this way I can post on any day of the week and not just Friday.

1. The discussion of the difficulty of raiding on Wrath continues by this post by guest blogger Thespius over at World of Matticus. I'd written a long comment that was deleted when Safari crashed.

While I agree with what has been said in the article, it is still difficult to find groups when you have recently hit 80 and everyone is running Uludar and TOtC--no one runs Naxx anymore, particularly not with a barely geared noob like myself. At least in BC there were plenty of people running Kara over and over to obtain gear. They keying process also gave people the perfect opportunity to obtain the gear necessary to run Kara. Now it's a lot more difficult to know what you're supposed to do next. It's a chaotic free-for-all of PUGs in TOC and Heroics.

2. Anna gives an excellent description of what RP actually is for those of you who might not know, or think we sit around saying "forsooth" all the time.

3. Immersiveness has been a popular topic lately, and it's tackled in this excellent post by Elnia. The particular focus is on how the story in WoW is broken up--by other quests, stopping and restarting of the game, etc. I remember this bothered me while leveling. I'd be on a fascinating quest chain, and then I'd be stopped by a bunch of lazy villagers asking for animal parts and the ears off enemies.

No Post-Weekend Update this week since my mother is in town and I've spent my entire weekend touring my city as opposed to touring Azeroth.

WoW is Too Hard - A Casual's Perspective

There has been quite a bit of talk since Wrath's launch regarding the content. Blizzard's goal was to make it more accessible to casual players, and in the end many hardcore players feel they are getting through the content too quickly and that it isn't as much of a fun challenge as in Burning Crusade.

Recently the topic was brought up again in a post in World of Matticus by a guest blogger Mimetir. Memetir's main point was that the ease of content meant that players could easily jump in once reaching 80 and not really know what they're doing. Larissa (sorry, hon, I don't do accents) told people to stop whining. She doesn't think it's too easy. It was Elleiras's response that elicited this post.

Blizzard's intention with Wrath was to make the raid game accessible to even the most casual of players...We knew that Naxxramas would be easy.

I'm not arguing what Elleiras is saying in the post. In fact, a hard mode and an easy mode of the same dungeon sounds, well, the same. The problem I have is that I may never get to experience it.

I am a casual player. I have to do this 50 hours a week:

Then I need 8 hours of sleep a night or I'm cranky and exhausted when trying to do the above. I also have social engagements, and other activities I'm involved in. I also like to do other things in game like events, RP, and alts. I'm busy.

I'd love to start doing Naxx, but anyone else who might be interested is already sick of it. The people complaining about how easy everything is mention how no one raids there anymore. If I can't do Naxx, I'll never be able to move on to Uludar and TotC, and even if I was able to gear up enough for one of those with Heroics, who would want me? I'm too green. I haven't raided enough.

WoW is too hard because no matter how accessible the content, if you get behind, you're stuck.

What's My Age Again

[Player], how old are you?

I ask this question in OOC chat frequently. Now that I'm not in a guild with a strict 21+ age policy, I like knowing how old the people are that I'm playing with. For me, I like knowing. It helps me to know how to relate to the person.

For a friend of mine, this is a huge issue. My friend recently left a guild he was heavily involved in because he found out that they were no longer sticking with their 18+ policy. The thought of playing with children makes him very uncomfortable. I don't share his issues, possibly because my best friend in the world also happens to be my 17-year-old brother. But I can understand how others might find this to be an issue.

The man behind the mask - real life ages in RP settings

RP is where real age can be the trickiest. While I tend to avoid romance-based RP settings I know many others who chose to take part in it. Knowing that the player could be 15 is a good enough reason for me to avoid it. I wont even have one of my characters flirt with another character if I don't know for sure that the player is over 18.

If you're finiding yourself heading into an RP that you would feel uncomfortable if you found out the player was underage, or significantly older, it's essential that you find out the other person's age right away. There are plenty of in-character ways to get out of a sticky situation:

"My gold just came in from the Auction House!"

"I've just gotten a distress call from the Oracles! I'd better go!"

"Wait, you're a Scryer? This will never work. Get away from me!"

"I completely forgot to wash my hair today. I'd better go do that."

Be Honest

If someone asks you how old you are, just be honest. There are some people like my friend who feel uncomfortable playing with underage people. Don't take it personally. At the same time, a child's parents might not want their child playing with 30-year-olds in game. This is understandable! There are hundreds of other people on your server who would love to play with you. Just move on.

For guild leaders

If you have an age policy in your guild, stick with it! My friend was so disappointed to find out his guild wasn't sticking with the policy. If you're going to make exceptions, do it sparingly and for very good reason only. Inviting a 13-year-old because you really need a shaman is not a good reason. Inviting a 17-year-old because his best friend is in the guild might be legitimate.

Sometimes guilds change policy and that's okay, but always make sure to let your guild know beforehand and explain why the policy change is taking place.

For guild recruits

If age policy is really important to you, ask one of the guild leaders or officers how strict they are and what kind of exceptions they make.

Don't lie about your age to get into a guild. Officers can often tell--as someone who used to read tons of guild applications for a 21+ guild, I can tell you this is true. If you do slip through the cracks you might end up getting outed and embarrassed later on. I can understand why a particularly mature 16-year-old might want to join an adult only guild. However, there are guilds out there without age restrictions that value maturity.

Be careful!

On the telephone line, I am any height, I am any age I want to be. -Savage Garden

People lie about their age enough in real life, but online it's even more prolific because people can't actually see your wrinkles or acne to determine that you're a senior citizen or a teenager. As always, be careful what you tell or do with people on WoW because regardless of what they might tell you, there is no knowing for sure who they actually are.

Apologies for the 90s song references in this post.