I blame this lethargy on my cold - so let's have a Giveaway!

It might be because I have a cold but I am having difficulty working up enthusiasm for raid this week. It's the end of the school term, kids are sick, trying to plan child care and activities since I had a minor upset of plans which meant that I had to make some alternate child care alternatives over the school holidays which is NOT how I imagined spending time with the kids!

I'm clearly not the only one because only 4 people turned up for raid on Thursday and that wasn't including myself, so we all went to level some alts instead.

Wednesday however was quite fun, because we had a small number and we actually managed to do Manny heroic with 10 people - I don't think I've done that before! And get this - I wasn't even healing! We even had a crack at Archimonde with 10 people, which is also new for me (having not done it with less than 13 before) and we wiped when an explosion got us as they were coming out of the zone. I would like to try that again - but this time I should watch timers a bit closer. Maybe I'll get Neuro to do that. He is good at that sort of thing.

We actually did all of the middle floor with our little group (we had more people at that time) and I felt that was good. It might be time to be trying Archimonde regularly then.

The problem I find with levelling alts is that even though at the moment I feel motivated to do it, they are not in the guild so I feel like I'm not THERE for the guild. I think if I start playing a new character, I need to put it in the guild. It doesn't feel right not being there.

I wanted to have a small comment over the furor about the change in the max camera distance. HK was upset about it last week, but I admit I wasn't particularly fussed. Apparently I have my camera distance set to "2" though I have no idea how I did that.

Watcher replied to the outrage:
This is one of this changes that we realize will be intensely unpopular with the group of players that has used console/WTF CVars to increase camera zoom beyond what the UI slider permits. For everyone else, they probably won't see what the big deal is, since it's removing a hidden option that most never used. But for those who are accustomed to an increased max zoom, it's changing the way you're experiencing the game in a way that feels restrictive and simply worse. So why would we do that? 
...being able to zoom out and see more of the world around you provides an objective advantage in the form of information. Due to that competitive advantage, camera-unlocking or increased zoom distance are features commonly found in third-party hacks for a variety of games...

...One option was certainly to just allow the in-game slider to go all the way up to the CVar hardcap. But that scale is beyond the one around which the game was designed at its core. The development team builds the world, its art, its combat mechanics, and other interactions, around the base UI experience and scale. At the 3.4-CVar zoom level, your heroic Warcraft avatar takes up about as much screen-space as one of the dozens of marines you might control in a game of Starcraft. 
Basically all of us started out playing WoW at the UI-enabled zoom level, and fell in love with that world enough that we now find ourselves here posting on an expansion beta forum discussing its future. At some point, we saw a raid video and wondered how they could see so much of the field at once, or we saw a forum post or got a helpful tip from another player, and learned that if you typed "/console CameraDistanceMaxFactor 4" you could zoom out way more, and we never looked back. But was that original experience bad, or have we just grown accustomed to something different?
Some people whinged about the game being "unplayable" with the new hard set max distance. Some people have said they have really bad motion sickness then they play with it zoomed in. I am surprised that they get that when they are zoomed out max on the slider. The other arguments are raid leading, tanking/melee, large toons. I am guessing these guys don't play Overwatch.

It's interesting that they didn't give EVERYONE the maximum distance option, rather than just taking it away. I would have thought that since it was there, it would be nice to just leave it.

I saw that there is an overwhelming number of people that do use the max camera distance according to the MMO-Champion poll. An even more astonishing number said they would stop playing the game because of the max camera distance. Wow, really? And if Blizzard gives in to you this time, what's going to stop you threatening that again the next time to get what you want? If you really enjoyed the game, I suppose you would find a way around it. If you didn't enjoy it anyway and were looking for an excuse, well here's your way out. This argument sounds suspiciously like the flying in Draenor - except there is no way they are bringing this max distance back if you complete a whole bunch of world exploration achievements.


To finish off this post, Warcraft: Behind the Dark Portal has some artwork from the movie, and I saw this picture from Khadgar's spellbook. It's so pretty! I would LOVE to have this as a poster!


So, for my blog readers (because postage is such a bitch!) I am giving away ONE copy of Warcraft: Behind the Dark Portal. All you have to do is reply to this blog post! I have decided NOT to do the bloody retweet/follow thing on Twitter because the amount of bots who retweet you is absolutely ridiculous! So let's leave it for people who actually READ what I write :P

Entries for the giveaway close on 11pm 5th July AEST. Good luck to all entrants! And don't forget to leave a name on your comment so I can announce (and contact) the winner! And if you have difficulty leaving comments, you can email me on sparrowgalblog at gmail dot com. Try posting as anonymous and leaving your name in the comment if it won't let you login!

Comments

  1. They don't get motion sickness from it being zoomed out, it's when it's zoomed in to close. Others get migraines because of it, these are real medical reasons, and no a lot of people that play WoW don't play overwatch, especially these people. Anyways besides disagreeing with your position on this the giveaway is appreciated.

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    1. I was surprised that the default max zoom is still too close. Otherwise I am neutral on the change. Thanks for commenting Raymond and good luck!

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  2. I was just in a bookstore the other day, and someone had put all the Horde covers on display. I promptly switched every single one out for an Alliance version, and considered my duty well done.

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    1. LOL I would have done the opposite! Thanks for commenting - don't forget to leave a name so I can contact you if you win!

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  3. I find the camera thing kind of funny. Sure you can only see legs on huge NPCs and one person asked how I play so zoomed in on one of my playthroughs. Funnily enough, I don't normally play that zoomed in, it was just for the purpose of the video.

    Also, I loved all the artwork from the movie. If only I could get the pictures to animate like Khadgar.

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    1. I am still trying to take a screenshot from this new max zoom to what I normally use. I am not doing very well!

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  4. The artwork from the Warcraft movie looks amazing and I so wanna make my friends jelly with it

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    1. Good luck in the giveaway and thanks for visiting :)

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  5. I would loved to come raiding Thursday with the guild but unfortunately my item lvl is only 682 grrr and Ed feels bad he couldnt make it thursday, more so knowing only a small group turned upf for it.. But its awesome that so many people are active in the guild Ed and I got used to being the only ones online most of the time on the US server we moved from.
    As for this damn weather I got the flu before the bad cold hit haha but where I live its like 2 degrees outside, thank god for heaters cause I hate winter with a passion.. well minus my birthday being in winter thats pretty cool but Ed is taking me to hopefully see the warcraft movie YAY!! its gunna be awesome if the trailer and artwork is already awesome

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  6. I have to double check to see if I use that zoom out thing - I did at one point but I think I've changed computers since then and can't remember if I ever put it back. I do know that, as a raid leader, especially when you're doing a BIG boss in a large area, it's nice to be able to zoom waaay out - otherwise all you're looking at are butts and boots. And quite frankly, wow boss butts are usually not that pleasant to look at :p

    I don't know if I'm able to enter the competition as I'm in the UK - but if I am, I'd like too :p (you could always reduce the postage by buying it from Amazon in the country of the winner!)



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    1. Everyone can enter Sprowt :) I'll get it from Amazon UK or US or from Australian sources depending on who wins!

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  7. My birthday is on the 5th, what a wonderful birthday present it would make. ;), and I wish they would leave the cameras alone.

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  8. Hope you feel better soon.

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    1. Thanks Thorbartin :) Let's see if you win TWICE in a row /grin

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  9. I'm actually one of those who used to use that command. I however haven't tried after the change to see how it feels :) It makes kind of sense that theid remove a command that isn't supposed to be used but time will tell if they t add it back. Seems like nowdays if enough people whine loudly enough Blizzard will jump some hoops(which kind of sucks tho :/).
    The movie was awesome! I've seen it twice now and itching to see it 3rd time :)

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    1. I think that if they want to remove it, it's up to them, and it's unfortunate that people will be so upset about it. I think of it like some kind of hack, so if I wasn't supposed to play like that then I won't. I want to see the movie again, but finding the time is hard!

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  10. I am slowly getting use to the camera thing, I think after having time off, whilst recovering it kind of made it a little easier, as I slowly got the hang of it, just running around doing dailies etc, I agree Navi that picture from Khadgar's spell book looks awesome. It was a shame about Thursday night raid after having such a fun night Wednesday, fingers crossed for a good turn out this week, and I hope you are feeling better and can come along too :) Guns and I are heading to see the movie this week, Tuesday night, would have loved to have seen it when it first came out, my boys are dying to talk about it, but have strict instructions not to mention it until I have been able to go see it, lol, feeling excited, can't wait for Tuesday night to get here, take care, see you in game. Koda

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    1. Yay Koda, I forgot you hadn't seen it yet! Well I am sure you will love the movie :) See you for raid on Wednesday!

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  11. Sorry to miss the raids this week, been struck down by a cold too. Ugh. That movie spell page looks great - it's amazing how much detail goes into making movies that never make it to the screen. Apparently WETA are making a replica of Garona's dagger, so there's hope for your poster yet!

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    1. Ooh the dagger looks cool! More useless junk to buy! :D

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  12. Hey Navi...
    Its Lakota here...a.k.a Anonymous ;)
    I dont think I would like a set max distance on the camera view. I normally have mine zoomed all the way out so when pretty colours pop up on the floor I can rush over and stand in it. I know I will be OK 'cause I have such good heals looking after me. ;) Someone called Koda isnt it? :P
    Hope you get better soon.

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    1. LOL! Thanks Lakota :) I think most people don't like the new changes to the max distance. Unfortunately, I am not sure Blizz is going to budge. But we'll see!

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  13. :( Comments hate me - it ate my comment completely and wouldn't let me post, so I'll try doing this anonymously as suggested. I'll try to remember what I said!

    I think most guilds are either severely cutting back the number of raiding hours, or just stopping entirely until Legion prepatch comes out with all the class changes and demon invasions. I'm keen to have a crack at HfC as a new resto shaman!

    I agree - that image from the book of all the potions is AMAZING!!! It definitely would make an amazing poster, but printed on textured paper to make it feel older.... or maybe that's just me.

    Hope you're feeling better lovely!
    Cinder
    xo

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    1. Thanks my friend! Hot tea and lemon and lozenges and vit C have all had a wonderful placebo effect :D

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  14. Wow, this looks absolutely beautiful! I can't wait to see more of the movie artwork, no matter where it comes from. Dealing with serious illness has kept me from seeing the movie but it looks spectacular! I'm @jennmorton01 on twitter, by the way :)

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    1. Hello Jenn and thanks for commenting and visiting my blog! Good luck :) I hope you get well soon and can see the movie - or at least get it when it comes out so you can watch it at home. BTW, it's a little confusing because I have another friend on Twitter with the same name who also plays WoW!

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  15. I haven't noticed the camera settings! I still haven't seen the movie, but want to, but I love any WoW artwork, hence why I try to get Collectors editions =D So I'm sure you know who I am =)

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  16. Hehe commenting because ordered too

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I hope these comments work! Not sure why people can't comment lately, it makes me sad :(