Do you think that’s really effective?

December 28, 2009 § 6 Comments

So as I watched yet another super cool dude showing off his pvp mammoth mount (by standing on top of the winter veil presents in Ironforge on Christmas morning) it occurred to me that a I’m not sure if a brief ban is really a good punishment.  Oh sure, when the ban/suspension lasts more than two days it’s probably long enough to actually disrupt the persons game play enough to actually feel like a ban.  But when it’s short (like the common 3-hour ban for spamming trade), I’m not sure as if it’s really all that much of a punishment.  Except for the most die-hard, addicted, WoW-crackheads 3 hours out of the game is just a quick break.  It might even be bed time for them so all they have to do is sleep it off and everything is fine in the morning.

Because of this I have come up with a few punishment ideas that are a bit more…creative.

The 3-hour ban:

This is a revamped version of the classic ban.  Only this time instead of not being able to log in to the game, you log in and get a debuff that lasts 3 hours.  The buff would be visible to everyone and called “Banhammered.”  This debuff would be applied to every character on your account.  The only way for it to wear off would be to actually be logged in for three hours.  But you couldn’t go <AFK> because you could still be auto logged out for inactivity.  The effect of this debuff would be that you couldn’t do anything. Except walk around.  And your movement speed would be reduced by 99%.  Your action bars would be grey out so you couldn’t use them.  You wouldn’t have access to any form of chat.  You wouldn’t be allowed to interact with any NPCs (including, but not limited to bankers, auctioneers, flight masters, etc).  You would just have to walk around at 1% speed, waiting 3 hours for the debuff to wear off.

You would receive this punishment for minor infractions like (non-gold) spamming or other chat related things.

The day-long ban:

A harsher version of the 3-hour ban.  Same effect just lasts for 24 hours.

You’d get this for more serious offenses like minor game hacks or player harrassment.

The multiple day ban:

This would be as it works now, you wouldn’t be able to log in at all for however long they decided.  But this would end with the 3-hour debuff.

The multiple day ban would be for the most serious of infractions that violate Blizzards Terms of Service agreement. (You know, the agreement that shows up each time there is a patch, the one you have to scroll all the way to the bottom off in order to get the “agree” to light up? Yeah that one.  I bet none of you have ever read it, let alone read it each time a new patch comes out.  In case you were wondering, yes, I read it each time.)  You’d get it for game hacks and botting and gold spamming and other really bad things.

Community Service:

When a player is banned because they were impeding the gameplay of others, they would required to perform community service.  The cause of this punishment could be anything from harassing other players, to ninjaing loot; from being a racist/sexist/etc jerk in trade to standing on flight masters/mailboxes/etc.  Basically anything that would classify you as a ‘fun sucker’.

People with this punishment would have a choice of community services.  The could:

  • Pass on all loot in one randomly chosen heroic dungeon. (All loot, not just loot that is rolled over.  Even vendor trash and money.)
  • Group with 20 randomly chosen low leves (below level 10) and help them get up to level 15.
  • Clean all the trash around the capital cities. x number of hours sweeping things up.
  • Lead 10 randomly chosen old ladies across…um…some sort of street I guess.
  • I thought I had more ideas….I guess I’m out.

Anyway, just some thoughts I was having, mostly because I want the punishments to be more of a deterant.  I want it to be a much harder decision for them to decide that the consequences are worth engaging in crappy actions.  Yeah I’m sure a lot of you disagree with this and thing that these punishments would be unfair or unreasonable.  But it’s not like I’m the one deciding on them or applying them.  Blizzard would still be enforcing them….although if they wanted my help I’d be more than happy to wield the ban hammer for a little while.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

Edit: I’ve decided that there needs to be a unique punishment for mount blockers.

  • First offense: 24 hour debuff that reduces character size by 50%.  Cannot use large mounts.
  • Second offense: 48 hour debuff  that reduces character size by 50%.  Cannot use any mount.
  • Third offense: Permenant debuff that reduces character size by 50%.  Also all mounts have their sizes reduced proportionately so that they can’t be used to block mailboxes.

I also think their should be some more unique punishments for people who ninja things (although it has to be very clear that the stuff was ninja’d–not just an accusation.

  • If an item from a heroic is ninja’d, character must pass on all loot for the next random dungeon.
  • If an item from a raid is ninja’, character must pass on all loot for the next raid they enter.
  • Raid and Heroic level (and accompanying item drops) must be proportionate to the item they stole.

Key warrior tank abilties: the short version

December 28, 2009 § Leave a comment

I was inspired by a post Big Bear Butt made where he described the key bear tanking abilities with a simple one line explanation, and decided I’d make my own version of this for warrior tanks.  There are plenty of great in depths guides out there, and most of them can be found over at Tankspot, but this little guide is meant to be a quick reference.  A way to orient yourselves to the vary basics of warrior tanking.  This quick-reference doesn’t involve any theory crafting, number crunching, or long winded discussions of the combat table.  It’s just a quick and dirty explanation of the ability and where/how to use them.

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Link Love!

December 24, 2009 § Leave a comment

Looks like the plague I managed to contract is beginning to clear up.  (Thank you magical antibiotics!)  Now that I’m coming out of it I’m realizing how far behind I am in my blogging!  I haven’t posted daily (I was lucky to get out weekly), and my feed reader have 94 posts waiting for me.

Here are some highlights:

It’s nice to know there are so many WoW bloggers going strong despite the fact that we all know we’re not actually playing the game with feeling–we’re just waiting  for Cataclysm to drop.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone! I’ll be back on boxing day!

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

Internet advice Part 2

December 20, 2009 § 4 Comments

Are you an internet adviser? Do you read blogs and respond with ‘sage’ advice?  Do you answer every question, rhetorical, unasked, or implied?  Do you seek out other comments on blogs/forums to give counter or ‘better’ advice?  Do you feel that it is your job, nay, your social obligation to impart your astounding wisdom and unending knowledge to the ignorant masses?

Well stop it.

Seriously.

Stop it.

I know, you’re totally smart, and know everything and everyone should always listen to what you say.  However, there is a time an a place.  99% of situations it is not the time, or the place.

Confused? Here’s a couple of examples where giving advise is unwarranted:

Scenario 1

Someone puts up a guild application on the WoW guild recruitment forums.  Maybe they have a few gear items, gem/enchant choices, etc that you find disagreeable.  You might think this is a good time to point out the error of their ways.  Guess what?  It’s not.

Most likely they are aware of their own shortcomings.  They probably know where they need to improve.  And unless you plan on recruiting them I can guarantee they don’t want to hear anything you have to say.  Especially if it’s ‘haha noob lern 2 ply”.

Scenario 2

A blogger pours their heart out about a difficult problem they are having.  They rant and rave a little bit, admit some of their faults and complain a little.  You have gone through a similar situation and know exactly what they should do.    So you should tell them what to do right?  After all you’ve gone through the same thing and it worked for you.

Wrong.

First of all your situations are only similar, not identical.  It’s likely that the blogger did not give all the facts because they were just venting rather that looking for advice.  Offering sympathy or telling them you understand is fine, but telling them what to do usually comes out condescending at rude.

Scenario 3

One of your guild mates excitedly tells you about how they just totally rocked an instance and won a rare gear drop.  You know that the gear item in question isn’t best suited their class or spec, because six months ago when you played that class/spec those stats were totally useless.   Clearly you should point out the error of their ways right?

No.

Are you playing that class/spec right now? No? Then shut your mouth.  Even if you are, pointing out their folly, especially right in that moment, robs them of their joy.  If thinking about their gear mistake might give you an aneurysm if you keep it inside then point it out to an officer and let them deal with it.  If you are the office, wait until their moment of joy has passed, and then ask them why they went with that piece of gear.  Maybe they have a good reason you don’t know about.  Point is, don’t give them advice (re: tell them what to do).

.

The point I’m trying to get at is that before offering your clearly wonderful opinions, consider the following:

Did this person explicitly ask for advice/help/opinions/etc?  Or do I think it’s implied?

If they asked questions, are they rhetorical?  (If you aren’t sure assume they are and don’t answer them.)

If you posted this entry, would you want people telling you what to do?

Are your answers painfully obvious? i.e. Will people look at your response and say, “well duh.”

I don’t want to discourage you from commenting on other people’s blogs, or even giving your advice/opinion from time to time.  I’m just saying that you should think before you type.  Really consider if giving advice is really appropriate.  And when you do give advice, try to avoid sounding like you are telling people what to do, or criticizing what they are currently doing.  Consider other people’s feelings.  Sometimes people just want to vent.  They want to know that they aren’t alone and want others to sympathize with them, but a lot of the time they just don’t want advice.

And other times they are just trying to apply to a guild and don’t need to be told they don’t know how to gem/enchant their gear so back the heck off.

Ok this is more ranty and less coherent so I’m gonna stop now.  Just please, the next time you feel like imparting your vast wisdom, take a moment and think about whether or not it’s really appropriate to give.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

Thanks Internet! I *totally* needed that advice! (/end sarcasm)

December 20, 2009 § 7 Comments

First, sorry I’ve been a little absent.  I haven’t been feeling well lately and also haven’t felt much like playing wow.  This is lead to a general lack of inspiration for posts, so rather than fill the days with drivel and nonsense, I just didn’t post.

But now I have something to be cranky about again.  And that’s the WoW guild recruitment forums.  As you know, I’ve been looking for a new guild to join, so I thought to myself, “maybe I’ll try the official wow forums; I’ll put up an advert and see what happens.”

Well apparently what happens is rather than getting any guild invites all I get is more criticism on my tanking.  I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised; everyone and their dog thinks they know how to tank better than the guy next to him.  What shocked me I guess was that I posted the ad on the Quel’dorei realm forums and the responses I got where from people from other realms, telling me I had no idea what I was doing.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  It seems that people on the internet feel that giving unsolicited advice is their job or something.

Here’s what I said:

I am an experienced protection warrior looking for a casual raiding guild on Quel’dorei.
Already geared (at least up to Ulduar 10/Trial of the Crusader 10), and have some raid experience as a tank (and lots of raid experience as a healer).
Flexible schedule, already have vent/know how to use it properly/own a mic, multiple alts with most professions maxed, knowledgeable about how to play/gem/enchant/talent/glyph my class/spec.
Contact: Thistlefizz

Fairly innocuous.  Simple, yet concise.  Covered all the bases.  Nothing controversial.  Or so I though.  Apparently I should never had said I know how to gem and enchant myself, because first few replies were criticisms along the lines of “yeah, you don’t know what you are doing because you gem and enchant for defense.”

Someone else did “stick up” for me a little in that they pointed out that I was probably gemming +def just to get to the def cap, but couldn’t leave it well enough alone there and gave me “advice” on how I can improve if I just “apply myself to those heroics. [I] can get tier 9 stuff in no time!.”

It was just so…unhelpful.  First, it’s a guild application advert.  Why do people insist on criticizing everything they come across?  There was absolutely no need for that person to comment and say I had no idea what I was doing.  First they have no idea what my situation is.  They don’t know if I play all the time or hardly at all.  They don’t know if I’m struggling just to reach the defense cap or am just to poor to afford gem and enchant upgrades.  Not without actually talking to me anyway.  And I’m not even on their server.  Why the hell would they care?

Blindly criticizing me accomplishes nothing.  It doesn’t help me get into a guild.  Even if I was a crap player, it wouldn’t make me a better one, because who in their right mind would listen to advice given to them by someone who just called them an idiot?

And as far as the “advice” goes–I didn’t ask for it.  I don’t need it.  I don’t want it.  Go away.  Your advice doesn’t help me become a better player, nor does it get me into a guild.

Sorry this post is a little disjointed.  Guess I’m just venting my frustration.

So much for the WoW forums…

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

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