Ghostcrawler Watch Finale: Vindication!

I believe this vindicates that old series I had on the many issues of GC posting in the forums.

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Changes to the High-Level PvE Game in Cataclysm

Watching the ongoing evolution of World of Warcraft is something of a unique experience for people interested in game system design.  In few other games do we get the same exposure to the mechanics underlying the gameplay, and in fewer still (most of them MMOs) do we get to watch the ongoing evolution of the [...]

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Why I might venture back into Azeroth for 3.3

Random dungeon in cross-realm LFG.  Seriously.  If Blizzard is correct that cross-realm LFG lowers time waiting for a PUG, then the concept of being able to queue for a dungeon run, much like queuing for a BG, would be enticing.  That this would include the new dungeons, while providing decent badge rewards is merely icing [...]

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Communication is Hard

I surf by MMO-Champion.com daily because, well, it’s habit, and I like following WoW news updates.  This tends to bring me into contact with Blizzard employees speaking in public, however.  For whatever reason, the folks which speak really annoy me.  For instance, the attempts to justify the Argent Tournament in the lore are just…bad.  These [...]

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Quick Tangent on the Warrior Q&A

The Warrior Q&A saw Ghostcrawler demonstrating his consistent lack of a coherent vision for the future of WoW gameplay, thinking instead in an ad-hoc manner about specific problems.  There’s the possibility that his thoughts are crystallizing into a broader realization that perhaps they have gone TOO FAR in insuring the efficacy of each class in [...]

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Ghostcrawler Watch: Destruction Warlocks and the Incinerate change

You’ll see how this pertains to Ghostcrawler as you read the post. I don’t really have enough readers for this to generate any real response, but I’ve been kicking around some math on the change to Fire and Brimstone which increases the bonus damage incinerate does to a target afflicted with immolate.  Unfortunately, I don’t [...]

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Ghostcrawler Watch 4-16/09: A Veritable Conflagration!

Ghostcrawler has been rather quiet lately, so I didn’t have much to relate from my vigilance.  No logner, however: 3.1 has gone live and Ghostcralwer exploded onto the forums with it! First up, a topic which rather amuses me: Blatant lack of professionalism Ghostcrawler decided to take the challenge and post therein, noting that he [...]

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Ghostcrawler Watch: 3-13/09

Time for another edition of Ghostcrawler Watch!  This time, I’m going to look at one of Ghostcrawler’s posts about his job.  Then I’m going to look at some commentary from him regarding Titan’s Grip…which I think will take so much time I’ll just leave it there. First, a player asks “whos in charge”(sp): I am [...]

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Ghostcrawler Watch: 3-12/09

Ghostcrawler, as you may have noticed, can irk me a bit.  Since he’s such an obnoxiously common presence on the forums and the only blue poster who comments extensively on design decisions as a designer, rather than as a forum moderator/customer support person, I feel obliged to read what he says.  And I’d like to [...]

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