Level 85, Easy As Making The Microwave Ding

Many people have been frustrated with being unable to make a premade character on the beta recently.  Whenever you'd try to, it'd never progress beyond "pending."  I can confirm now that the latest beta build allows you to begin at level 85 with an option on the character creation screen.  I'll play around with the 85 Brewmaster this coming week...expect a more comprehensive look at the monk next Tuesday.

The Young Brewmaster, Levels 1-21

[Screenshots to come sometime after the beta servers are working again]

In my week of beta access so far (busiest week of the semester, I might add), I've managed to level two separate monks to 21, the last level at which a player can queue for the earliest dungeons.  I am already in love with the class.  It's not perfect yet, but it's already a blast to play as far as I'm concerned.  Let's not waste any time; join me after the cut to see what you can expect when you make a baby Brewmaster.

World of Warcraft: Simulating Elves -and- Monetary Policy

Hello, folks!  Sorry this update is a bit behind.  I still don't have beta access, which is actually kind of a good thing.  The tail end of this school semester has been a little overwhelming.  Over the past week, I've written 20 pages for papers and worked on three separate 20-minute presentations.  Hell, I haven't been able to do *any* work for my independent study.  However!  I managed to create some overlap between one of my papers and WoW, so I could upload it here for an update (and also hopefully annoy the hell out of a professor)!

This isn't to be taken entirely seriously.  I would actually be kind of upset if the United States government started dicking around with the Warcraft economy.  Still, the tools ARE in place for them to experiment with the two things the Federal Reserve is supposed to control, unemployment and inflation.  If you just want the summary, you can skip down to "evaluation of hypothesis" toward the bottom.  In any case, enjoy this trip into Warcraft academia!

Using WoW to Exact Academic Revenge

There. I finished.

I'm a business student, double-majoring in Economics and Management.  I strongly dislike the Finance discipline.

I took a course as an elective for my Econ degree, signing up for ECON313.  Turns out that class is also FIN313.  As my revenge for being suckered into a Finance class that I thought was Econ, I wrote my term paper as 10 pages on how the World of Warcraft economy could be used as another simulation/modeling tool to test the outcomes of monetary policy.

It might annoy the piss out of my professor that it's so outrageous, but it's not an awful paper - he can't mark me down based on content or references, that's for sure.

Seize the day, my friends.  Even (especially?) if it involves seriously taking the piss.  Life's for living, yeah, that's our philosophy!
- Stonepalm -

The Monk Toolkit As It Stands

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I'm not one to respond with an outcry of "homogenization!" every time I disagree with a decision that brings classes closer together.  I thought it was great when mages got their own version of Heroism/Bloodlust.  Yes, shaman lost part of what made them "special," but I think a lot of the frustration came from not having an easy in to a raid group.  I don't think one can make the argument that giving the option to additional classes is going to be bad for raiding as a whole.

Well...as long as we don't give it to EVERYBODY.  And that's where uniqueness or flavor comes in.

You see, there's a fine line between what actually is homogenization, and maintaining balance.  That's why I'd like to talk about tank parity today.  Let's do an audit of how the monk is shaping up so far on the beta (no I don't have my invite yet [RAGE]) and compare it to the classes who we'll be competing against for jobs.  Or, rather, WOULD be competing against if the tank supply was anywhere remotely close to the demand.  You know what I mean.

Off Topic: Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Tetris

Hey there, guys.  I'm afraid I don't have a normal post for you this week.  I've got a few ideas I've been mulling over for topics before I get my beta invite, but due to illness, working at a place that's busy the week before Easter, and a semester reaching climax as I finish up my first of two bachelor's degrees, I haven't been able to churn out anything complete.

I'm not going to leave you hanging, though.  I present a...umm...let's call it a "feature."  This off-topic article isn't directly about WoW, but should still likely interest a WoW player.  It's a piece I wrote a number of months ago called:

A Brief Word On Scammers And Account Security

Hey there!

So I was on Facebook this evening (it's virtually always running in the background of whatever else I'm doing), and I came across an ad in the corner.

Looks legit.

How To Play Like A Tank

Azeroth, we have a problem.  A tank problem.  We are often described as having a "tank shortage."  What would be an adequate number of tanks?  In a 5-man dungeons, one out of five (i.e. one fifth) of the players need to be tanks.  In a 10-man raid, two out of ten (still one fifth) need to be tanks.  So, to meet the tank demand, we need to see approximately 20% of players pursuing PvE content rolling tanks.  A shortage means we have less than that.  In fact, significantly less.  My instant queues to the 30min+ DPS ones can attest to that.

Blizzard has control of making tanking more appealing to get more people into the role.  What, then, can we as players do to help out in the tank supply crisis?

What the Press Tour Means for the Monk Tank (pt. 2)

Well, poo.  The first round of beta invites are out, and I haven't gotten mine yet.  Once I do get one, I obviously intend to play the crap out of monks, tanking in several level ranges.

In the meantime, you can expect me to compile monk information from its scattered sources for your convenience.  And interpret/analyze/review that information for what I hope is your entertainment!  Speaking of which, we're not done with the post-NDA-lifting information!  As Jack Black once said, let's get rockin'!

What the Press Tour Means for the Monk Tank (pt. 1)

Hoo boy, did we ever get a wealth of new information Monday!  Here I sit in between business classes, making some sense of it all.  Our understanding of Blizzard's intentions for the Brewmaster has grown immensely.  There's still a long way to go, however.  Join me after the cut to see my thoughts, as I interpret some of the information we've been given.

Encounter Design - What We Really Need to See In Mists

Does anyone else think that Brewmasters should get a 10% buff to their drinks this time next year? Hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable St. Patrick's Day. I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I'm Irish but don't really care for drinking.  Le gasp!

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If you remember last Wednesday, I concluded my thoughts with a pseudo-segue about what we need to see in Mists. Unless you're some weirdo who reads the body of articles before the title, you are now aware of WHY it was a segue - today, I'm going to (big shock) be talking about something that we need to see in Mists. There are definitely some things that are on my wish list for tanks in general, and monks in particular. Today's highlight, however, has nothing to do with tank design, and EVERYTHING to do with tank gameplay.

A Modest Proposal: Down With Buffs

Note to new readers (aka all readers, considering this blog is less than a week old): sometimes I might do a post like this one here.  Today isn't Sunday, now is it?  No sir (or ma'am - most of the best WoW players I've met have been women so there you go).  And that header says "updates Sundays," so it's damn well gonna update on Sunday.  However, I've got a topic in mind that won't be enough to carry an entire, full-size article, and it also doesn't focus on us monks.  As a result, I'm going to write a short post on the subject, and I invite you to discuss it in the comments section below.

Also note that the title is a reference to something.  Don't flip your lids before you hit the bottom, folks.

So.  I was listening to this week's WoW Insider Show (I cannot sing the praises of this website enough, and their podcast, linked here, is excellent).  They were discussing the upcoming changes to buffs in Mists of Pandaria, and I got to thinking.

What's the bloody point?

The Brewmaster - An Examination

With the release of Mists of Pandaria, Blizzard is introducing only the second new class to be brought into the fold since World of Warcraft's 2004 release.  It's also the fifth tanking class, and the second to not wear plate.  The monk has been long-anticipated, and it holds an intrinsic aesthetic appeal that, at least for me, is enough to thrill me with the class.  Seriously.  You cannot possibly understand how badly I want to tank with a staff.  And not that lame druid staff stuff.  They pretend to use staves.  We're going to be going Donatello on these Chinese-themed mobs.

I understand that that's not necessarily enough for everyone, though.  "Stonepalm," I can hear you saying to yourself, "if that's all there is to look forward to, then I'm afraid your devilish good looks won't be enough to charm me into playing the class.  Though they do come close, you handsome beast."  Well, dear reader, fear not!  There are a lot of things to be excited about when it comes to the tanking monk.  Obviously, however, the monk hasn't been released, and very few people, such as those who attended Blizzcon this past year, have been exposed to them in any hands-on fashion.  How much, then, can we possibly know at this juncture?