Writing Characters

Posted on February 7, 2010 by TwilliK

So – as an aspiring RPer, (and more so as a writer,) I tend to try and write my characters. Not in a ‘they do this’ narrative fashion, but in a ‘they think this’ fashion.

When I plan out my characters, I get a piece of paper, and write down 3-5 traits that they have. These can (and should) change over time, but they represent the character at the current moment.

For instance, let’s take Selite. (Oh yay.) When I sat down and did this she was level 70 – and had been ‘shaped’ a little, and she’s been ‘shaped’ since, but she’s one of my more static characters.

Selite, at 70.

  • Wants to help people. This is her primary motivation.
  • Wants to obtain more knowledge.
  • Independent.

Now, this is much earlier, and is quite different to the current style I use to write these. But still, these give a good idea of what her motivations and wants will be at a given time. As an example of ‘evolution of character’ I’ll now show you what she’s all about at level 80.

Selite, at right now.

  • Independent.
  • Mercenary disposition.
  • Vengeance to the Scourge.

So, Selite now is much more about killing undead, and getting payed for it. You might notice that I wrote ‘Independent’ first this time. This is what I call the ‘primary motivation’ of a character. While the other factors are a part of her, the higher up the list it is, the more it means to her. (Well, you forgot “likes things to be shiny” and “likes cats” :p)

This whole post isn’t about Sel though. (Boo.) It was inspired by her wonderful younger sister Iraia. (You’ve been hitting on my sister?)

Iraia has recently gone through Dragonblight. Now for those of you not familiar with Warcraft, Dragonblight is a big zone, filled with lots and lots of quests (over 130 of them, at least). The main quest chain in Dragonblight, however, is about the Wraithgate, which is where the forces of the Alliance and the Horde have decided to prepare for their initial assault upon the Lich King. Unfortunately, bad things happen, and they get killed by a dangerous splinter group of undead.

Then a few more quests happen. But before that last part of the quest, you have probably spent the best part of the last 3-5 levels perfecting that plague for the undead. Now, this has changed Iraia dramatically.

She used to be all about (exclusively) ‘Seeing new things’. Being responsible (at least in her eyes) for the deaths of not only a bunch of mooks, but the greatest hero the Alliance has ever know (or so she thinks) has made her quite the introverted Blood Knight (fancy way of saying ‘Paladin’ if you’re a sexy elf). (One more thing, Iraia is technically part of the Horde – not that she feels like she has any reason to hate the Alliance)

Iraia, after Wraithgate & battle of the Undercity.

  • Introvert.
  • Wants to help people.
  • Is inclined to pacifism.

Now this has already changed in the course of the last 12.5 hours, but there’s no rule against that. I say ‘inclined’ as she is still leveling, and as such, is still a Retribution Paladin (basically she hurts things) out of necessity (and don’t say “why don’t you heal randoms”?) – but she’s changed slightly.

Iraia, after completing the quest [Mystery of the Infinite] (level 73 version).

  • Wants to help people.
  • Has come to grips with the fact she needs to use violence.

Now, this quest has some funky time travel bits, so most of this is due to the influence of FUTURE IRAIA! *Cue Twilight Zone music*

Anyway. I’m not sure if that helps you guys think about your characters, but it’s always nice to throw out some examples of what I’m thinking.

New post “Character Interview – Iraia” coming soonish. (I’m thinking before friday, but we will see)

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Dreams of Atlant : Intro Draft

Posted on February 4, 2010 by TwilliK

This post is not really to do with videogames, or anything else, but I wanted to post this up for some critique, and wasn’t going to go out of my way to find somewhere else to put it. If you’re interested, you can continue after the break. Continue reading →

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Character Interviews : Selite

Posted on January 26, 2010 by TwilliK

So, I’ve been inspired by this Shared Topic idea, by Azryu of  The Arcanery, and have decided to steal it for myself, and perhaps will end up doing all my characters in the future (and I mean all my characters, both from Warcraft and elsewhere). Therefore, today I have decided to go ahead a have a chat with Selite. This shouldn’t be too hard, everything I say she comments on anyway (at least in my head).

The crunch of leaves can be heard underfoot, as I step into the autumnal clearing.

There she is, sitting on a tree stump, with a tired look obvious upon her face. As I enter the clearing, she looks up at me, and says softly…

So, you’re here at last, huh? I was wondering when you would get here.

I go to open my mouth, but she continues regardless.

Are you surprised to see me here? Are you that daft?

“I- well,”

You should know that I have a life of my own when you’re not looking through my eyes. You’re smarter than that.

I sigh, and step towards her, into the clearing. “Sure, but here, why here?“ A small clearing in the middle of Eversong Woods, of all the places in Azeroth, why right here?

Really? This is my home, you idiot.

She kicked up a bunch of orange leaves, which floated slowly to the ground in between us.

We stared at each other, assessing each other, for minutes.

“Anyway, how’s magic working out for you?” I asked clumsily. ‘Oh god, this is even worse than unresolved sexual tension.’ I thought.

F-fine.

She looked at me like I had asked her to stab her mother in the face, mixed with the slightest hint of concern.

And what about you, how’s whatever you’re doing going?

I smiled. “Nice to know for all of your powers of precognition aren’t all powerful.” She glared slightly, before she gave me a strange look and smiled a little, realizing it was a joke. “I’m fine, by the way.“

Good, good. Anyway… I’ve got to go. Uhh, take care of yourself, eh?

“You too.” We smiled nervously at each other, before we both walked away.

Well, I’m not sure what to think of that. Both me and Sel are amazingly shy? Perhaps it is just the whole privacy thing. We would of been better off conducting this chat somewhere more public, like in Dalaran. Perhaps next time, eh? (Perhaps)

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Self Analysis

Posted on January 21, 2010 by TwilliK

I’m sure that this post is going to be messy, but I was inspired after having some words with Rilgon about raiding & stuff. So, I present to you, the reasons I am a fail raider and the logical ways to stop them from applying.

1.

I’m woefully inexperienced. I have done, in WotLK, the four first wings of Naxx, OS twice (+0 & +1), Flame Leviathan, & ICC trash farming. That’s it. To be honest, this ‘inexperienced’ part of the equation is terribly self serving, in that it will make me too nervous to sign up (or inquire about) raids that we more or less have on farm (read: ToC-25) and even more nervous about my numbers in raids, but that’s a whole ‘nother section of fail.

How to fix it:

This is fairly easy – go do some raids. Of course, this means complying with my other ‘reasons of fail’ to a satisfactory standard.

2.

Numbers. I’m the sort of person, that wants to ‘pull above their weight’. When I go in as a DPS, I expect to be doing exactly 1/(number of DPSers) of the raids total DPS, and hopefully much more. My biggest problem, is that I have no real way to see what my numbers might be – without being in a raid. Now, I’ve been running some tests in Rawr, to get some reports on what my “theoretical maximum DPS” is.

Firstly, I try and get it to give me an accurate number for my DPS against a target dummy, It’s saying that for my basic AB to 4 stacks then Missile Barrage – I should do 3696.59 DPS. This is assuming no raid buffs, and now I will go and test it out for accuracy’s sake.

So, one test later, and I’m sitting at 3402.9 DPS, which is fairly close, considering lag, and the fact that I stuffed up the rot a few times. Doing a quick check of raid DPS, I’m projected to do about 4.5k DPS, which I’m not sure if I’m happy with – what should my DPS be like, for 25s?

3.

This is slightly not really at all to do with anything – go figure.

Okay, this isn’t really a reason, but I’m extremely self critical. I’m that rare DPS who thinks that it’s never the tank or healer’s fault, it’s always the DPSs fault. Because in this game, every fight becomes easier with more DPS.

Now this is a rather stupid stance to take – of course it’s the healer’s fault if half the raid dies to unavoidable damage – but what if half the raid had been eating extra ticks of whatever the avoidable damage is on that fight? Of course it’s the tanks fault if he’s not Defense capped, gets 2-shot, and wipes the raid.

But in the vast majority of cases, I will take the fail-burden, and attribute it to myself, and I’m not the kind of person who enjoys wiping. Especially when the only damage being dealt to the raid as a whole comes from people who are STUFFING UP THE ENCOUNTER. I might not play a healer, but I expect you NOT TO STAND IN SHIT. Gah, people are EXTREMELY STUPID. So I guess that comes to the real reason #3 – I don’t want to waste my evenings with a bunch of people who aren’t bringing their A game in regards to STANDING IN SHIT.

Seriously.

No excuse.

Ever.

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New Design?

Posted on January 19, 2010 by TwilliK

Yes, it is true, I am working on a new template for Arcane Envoy. This is (part of) why I’ve not posted much recently. (I’ve also been playing DA:O)
So, you can expect a new post in the next few days (by friday) about DA:O (with spoilers up the wazoo) and the new layout in the next two weeks.

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Leveling like it’s 2005, 7, or 8.

Posted on January 15, 2010 by TwilliK

Yeah. Someone has been playing some alts. (Hint: that person is me)

Been playing the paladin, who is now sitting at 63 after fully clearing Hellfire (gaining over 5 whole levels in the process), and I did gain a level on the DK (or like half of one), with the drastic reduction in leveling speed in the 70s, I’m not feeling terribly enthused (I’m really just going on Cobalt farming runs and killing things at the same time).

I also started a HUNTARD. He is an orc, and that is the sex. Sexy orc sex, with their sexy oversized shoulder armor. (Disclaimer: He really isn’t the sex at all, Bayonetta is “the sex”.)

Now I’m not the only one leveling alts (mainly because Rilgon is leveling a Mage (awesome) that is frost ( … ) and is a lady Gnome (awesome)) but I am the only person who’s leveling an alt that also happens to post on this blog. ((Why did I feel it necessary to post that, anyway?))

So, what about you guys? Are any of you leveling alts?

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The Apartment Above the Fountain

Posted on January 7, 2010 by TwilliK

This is a short little RP piece I wrote in about 10 minutes. It’s not what I originally had intended to write, but it’s okay.

The elf leaned on the door-frame a stern look on his face. The man they called “Twill”, named for a type of cloth he wore as an armband in his adventuring days, was tired, and tired of waiting. The human was late, a strange occurrence when you lived in Dalaran, which felt like the middle of the world, most of the time.

“Excuse me.” A woman said, as she stepped out from the bustling crowd, and stood in front of him. The elf’s eyes drifted to a pin on the woman’s mantle, in the shape of a small T shape, which he assumed was supposed to be a hammer.

“Are you her ladyship’s courier?” He asked, looking over her closely.

“Ye-yes.” There was a slight stutter in her voice.

“Hmm. Well, I’ve got her deck here.” The elf’s eyes narrowed, as he passed the eight cards wrapped in simple brown paper to the woman. “Run along then.”

The woman jumped back a foot when he slammed the door behind him. Hustling up the stairs to his studio, he made his way out to his window overlooking the Eventide.

As always, the courtyard was packed with adventurers. He was lucky, when he was younger he had lucked onto a big pile of treasure in the dungeons of Azeroth, allowing him to retire early, and set up shop as a scribe, and keeping him away from the dangers of Northrend.

Maechall sighed,  and grabbed another Darkmoon Special Reserve. It was going to be another long night, in the city that never slept.

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Dungeons and Dumbasses

Posted on January 7, 2010 by TwilliK

Now, 3.3 has been out for a few weeks now, and I feel like I have had enough exposure to the Dungeon Finder tool to write a post about it. (To be honest, it was prompted by a post by Saresa, at Destructive Reach, http://www.destructivereach.com/2010/01/rants-you-know-you-have-missed-them/ )

Now I’m going to largely agree with Saresa, and also with Matticus ( http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2009/12/22/i-can-carry-you/ – with the exception of the part about Oculus at the bottom ) I don’t care about your gear, as long as you :-

  • Push out as much DPS as you can (without standing in voidzones and such) – as long as you’re near 1k, I don’t mind carrying your share of the damage.
  • If you’re the tank, you need to be able to hold aggro (at least on a single target, if I die AoEing, then I’ll stop).
  • If you’re the healer, you need to keep the tank alive (and heal any non-avoidable damage to the group, like what 90% of the trash in Forge of Souls deal).

Now I’d like to think that I’m not asking much. It kinda makes me sad, because as a DPSer, I can carry the groups DPS requirements (as long as the two others are dealing about 1k, we’ll be fine) but I can’t be a bit more useful (like if I was a healer and could just carry the group by healing through everything).

Of course, not everyone has such a pleasant attitude. Sometimes (and this seems to be (to me) a bigger problem with the tanks and healers, who often act more important with there instant queues) you get a selfish arrogant player who treats the other players like shit. These are usually the ones who are obviously only doing these for their two bonus badges per day, and are decked out in full ToC and ICC gear, and who will be pulling 3-5k DPS, and calling anyone below 2.5k ‘shit’ and ‘scrub’ and ‘fail’ DPS. Worst (but when you get a nice one they are the best thing ever) are the tanks that deal 2k + DPS and call all the DPS crap (even when you are outdpsing them) and who pull whole rooms and yell at the healer when he (the tank) dips below half health.

Of course, this is coming from about 3 or 4 bad experiences I’ve had with the system, and in general, the groups have either fallen into the wonderfully efficient “silent but deadly” groups, where the most communication that happens is that occasionally a mob or two is marked, and the “Thanks for the group” at the end, or the “chillaxed” group, who are cracking jokes, and having a good time (usually I get chill groups in Culling of Stratholme, but sometimes I get them elsewhere), but tend to be a little less efficient, although this is because they let the healer drink after every couple of chain pulls.

The only other thing I have to mention is the tendency of people to bail out of Oculus the moment they get in.  Give it 15 minutes. Please. You should be able to clear the place out (or at least get to the final boss) by then, and now you get 2 bonus Heroic badges, and a chance at a sweet mount (sure, it’s a bribe, but some of us want to do it anyway).

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Unqualified Design (2)

Posted on January 5, 2010 by TwilliK

Now, with that infallible assumption about the size of the world under our belts, I’m going to start on the next argument.

Before I begin, though, I feel the need to state that I enjoy the zones, and their flow, and everything else, and I’m not ‘hating’. I’m simply stating what I feel would be a better direction.

I would like bigger zones. In fact, not even that. I would enjoy having either bigger zones, with more more ‘padding’ OR a larger amount of zones that serve no purpose in the world apart from looking nice (and having rare fishing nodes or something) possibly with some mooks to grind on, but they’d be lower level than the surrounding zone, yellow (not aggressive) and generally leaning towards simple beasts.

These zones would reward exploration. Each one might have a dozen quests, all very simple, often nothing more than courier quests, designed to be a (very slight) reward for visiting them. Here’s an generic example. This is set in a large forested area, like a mix of Elwynn and Grizzily Hills, with occasional houses and stuff. Near one of the trees (spawning at random – spread over a big enough area to make it stupid to farm) you find a book or a letter or something. And then you deliver it. Simple. You might get a few gold too. Who knows.

They would exist entirely for people like me, who have explorer because of a need to know what was on that map before there was an Achievement to clear it all and people with Salty. Because they are fucking crazy, and I wish I was one of them.

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Unqualified Design (1)

Posted on January 4, 2010 by TwilliK

This post might be annoyingly long. Chances are that it’s really more of a metapost that needs to be explored over a very large amount of time. Who knows. For now, I’m just going to say that it will have more than a single part. You have been warned.

Now. I’m a gamer. Obviously. Like many of you, I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for a long, to very long, time (longer than I’ve played any other game with the possible execption of Diablo 2, and possibly the first Disc of FF7 (not on purpose, that second one)), and as I mature as a gamer, and look back at what I want from a game, I still find Warcraft worthy of playing – and I’m sure I’ll still play it for as long as it is around. However, I feel that the game is… drifting away, from where I really enjoyed it, and for now (this post) I’m going to focus on one simple, succinct point.

The world (of Warcraft) is getting smaller.

I know this is not technically true, but with the release of Cataclysm sometime this year (I’m guessing before Blizzcon, myself, but I could be wrong (really hope not)) the world will shrink enormously. Now I know what you’re thinking. “But TwilliK! You’re stupid, they’re adding more zones and stuff!” But let me ask you, once you get the chance to fly around Azeroth, not just Northrend, the world will shrink down tiny small.

Remember when you got your 60% flyer at level 70? (If you got a 150% flyer at 60 for your first, then this whole post might be lost on you, missing out on the mount/world curve the way you did) Even though you were going slower, because you could fly over gigantic cracks in the ground, mobs, the Fel Reaver, and anything else, you got wherever you were going faster than if you were on your epic ground mount.

Now imagine that in Old World. Wanna go from Orgrimmar to Winterspring? No 5 minute taxi or 30 minute mount ride (plus the five minutes running through the furblog cave) just hop in your flyer, press the space bar for 30-60 seconds, and fly north. You’ll be there bloody quick I bet. Remember those old horrible non optimised flight paths? They did one good thing. They made you appreciate the scope of the world that Blizzard had built.

Anyway, that’s some food for thought. Also, please don’t say “why don’t you just not fly anywhere?” because I know that to be able to go anywhere worth going, I’ll need to be able to fly.

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