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The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of VGGEN.com as a whole or any of its affiliates. This is simply one writer's opinion, and should be accepted as such. Weekly World of Warcraft is usually updated each Tuesday.

I Still Hate the Baron: Clarifications and Responses to Last Week’s Article

For some reason, I had this strange feeling that I was going to beat the figurative hornets’ nest with a Louisville Slugger last week, and I really didn’t care since I was going on a road trip and wouldn’t have to read the hate mail as it rolled in. Well, I’m exaggerating, as I’ve gotten more supporting E-mails than I ever would have suspected. Apparently, people actually do agree with me sometimes, which is shocking considering how polarizing my articles can be (like the one that got me a ton of hate mail from Nintendo fans). Opinions aside, I noticed that in many of the E-mails people either misinterpreted my article or completely missed the point. While I did try to respond to every E-mail personally (if I didn’t respond to yours, I apologize), I feel it’s my duty to print some of the common concerns and responses here as a sort of mass-response.

The Main Point

The biggest problem I’ve been seeing in the E-mails is that quite a few of you have missed the main point of the article. The point isn’t that “OMG THE BARON IS TOO HARD NERF IT,” and the point isn’t that I couldn’t do it so I’m going to cry about it. The point is that the quest is a poor implementation for gear that could be acquired in other ways and through other content, and that the Dungeon 2 set is simply not worth the time, money or effort required to gain it. If you’re in a guild that could run 20-man ZG runs or have started on MC, why are you even wasting your time with the Dungeon 2 quest? Just to have it? Let’s face it, this gear isn’t really designed for you, and its use in MC (to obtain the Raid 1 set) is limited at best since you’re going for fire resist above all else.

The simple fact is the gear was implemented for the non-raiding crowd as a distraction for the distinct lack of any non-raid content after 60. I love world events like the recent Scourge Invasion. However, that was short-lived, and was over on my server in about a week. See, more events like that would disguise the lack of any non-raid content much better. Making players run through instances after they’ve already run them into the ground is just laziness. Many people have made the argument that guilds running the end-game instances generally run them into the ground before they ever move on. Here’s the kicker: You get to move on at some point. Think about how many times you ran UBRS, Scholo, Strat, and LBRS to get your Dungeon 1 set and the other essential items out of these instances (Finkle’s Skinner comes to mind). This would have been the same as Blizzard telling you “ok, in order to get your Raid 2 set, you’re going to have to run Molten Core EVEN MORE TIMES” instead of adding in Blackwing Lair in 1.6. Does that sound remotely fun at all? Don’t even lie to yourself. The raiders I talk to in-game (and have received emails from due to last week’s column) even admit that running MC becomes a chore by the time a guild is ready to move on. Let’s bring it down to this: would you want to run MC in a harder mode for gear with a slight upgrade to the Raid 1 set, or would you rather go onwards to BWL? I can’t think of a single guild that would set that as a priority. Now, do you think anyone in their right mind wants to run UBRS, Strat, or any other dungeon again just to get a slight upgrade to their gear after running them into the ground? Absolutely not.

Many people asked me for my solution to the Dungeon 2 quest line. My solution would be to completely re-implement the quest and add in two new small group (5 or 10 man) dungeons that require the Dungeon 1 set as an entrance key (meaning everyone needs a full set to get in). The new pieces would be scattered through the new dungeons as dropped, Bind-on-Pickup items. Wouldn’t that be much better than grinding through some obnoxious quest in the same dungeons? Sure, it’s a pipe dream since Blizzard’s been working on the expansion and raid dungeons, but that’s my solution better or worse. If anything, there are a few dungeons that are underused and could easily be retooled and improved for this (prime examples being Sunken Temple and Dire Maul).

Let me once again drive this point home: I am not complaining about the pure difficulty of the run. I am, however, criticizing the difficulty compared to the rewards given for the quest line. The amount of work does not coincide with the reward in this case. As expensive as Raiding can get, at least it does provide rewards until you max out the content and are relegated to waiting for the expansion. The Dungeon 2 set is a mediocre reward given as a distraction to non-raiding players to blind them from the plain and simple fact that there is a distinct lack of non-raid content. 

Dire Maul Haterade

Apparently, more people liked Dire Maul than I previously thought, and they let me know that I must be on some serious mind-altering narcotics to not like it. Let me touch on the reasons I have for not liking Dire Maul, and maybe you’ll see my point.

There is no loot for my rogue, which is the only character I have at level 60 at the moment. Many people pointed me towards the Felhide Cap as one of the best pre-Raid headpieces for a Rogue. Well, that is true. However, I picked up the Ghostshroud in my late 50s while running Blackrock Depths. The Ghostshroud, while having slightly less agility and two less armor points, gives a strength boost and a higher stamina boost. Sure, if you nitpick it, the Felhide Cap will have a slightly higher use in a MC run, but it really becomes pointless when you get the Shadowcraft Cap. The Shadowcraft Cap has higher agility, higher armor, and higher stamina. So really, what else is there for me to get in Dire Maul? The Flamescarred Shoulders are admittedly better than the Dungeon 1 set, but only barely, and only if you want to sacrifice the Agility for Fire Resistance. Truth be told, I already made a set of Volcanic Shoulders, which have more armor and more fire resistance, so it’s a moot point. Sure, there is some good gear for other classes (druids, some warriors, some casters) and some class-specific quests, but I just don’t have any reason or motivation to go to Dire Maul.

The simple fact that not every class HAS to go to Dire Maul is an incredible flaw in and of itself. While this isn’t required to go to the lower level dungeons, they at least point you towards them with high-reward quests. By the time you hit Dire Maul, you’re generally going to have better loot than the non-class quests in the instance, and the rewards there aren’t really worth it. Dire Maul is simply the Gnomeregan of the late 50s to 60s crowd: a dungeon that a few people may want to go to, but nobody else wants to touch with a 50 foot pole because it’s a boring, painful, and downright unrewarding run.

There’s another reason why I’m quick to dump on Dire Maul: I’m playing Alliance on all of my higher leveled characters, so the odds of me being on Kalimdor are generally going to be much lower. When you think about it, Kalimdor is extremely underutilized for the Alliance side after roughly level 25. The only Alliance capital city on the continent is extremely isolated, and most of the high-leveled instances are on the other continent. Let’s take it a step further: I never even did any of the quest chains that bring you to Dire Maul. Maybe I’m lazy, but I never really liked going into Feralas unless I had to. The Zone as a whole is excruciatingly boring and lacks any sort of incentive for me to fly to the corner of the world. I had the same avoidance with Silithus until they completely revamped the zone in preparation for the Gates of AQ.

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Posted: 07/25/2006

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