April News/Discussions

[Kevin]

I still believe, though, that the best way to learn how to survive in PvE is to... PvE. *gasp* :P I'm very wary of people telling raiders to go arena because it'll make them a better raider. Perhaps, but to use a rather weak metaphor, I'd rather they learn how to play football directly, instead of teaching them how to play rugby and then applying those skills to football. Yes, they're similar - but, as even Bolty admitted, they're still different skillsets.

I realize I'm currently barking up the wrong tree with this reply since you understand the issues at hand but I'm commenting on it anyway just because I feel like it. :)

A better metaphor is probably American football players taking dance or martial arts. Something that appears completely different but does give you translatable skills. In the case of the metaphor, balance, flexability, reaction timing, body awareness. Things that are very useful to a football player but are easier to hone outside of playing football because you don't have to try and do other things at the same time in some situations. And in many cases they aren't strictly needed to be successful, but the best players train up every edge they can get.

Morde pointed out many of the WoW specific skills in his post. You don't have to use the mouse for movement to be a very good PvE player and you don't need it to be above average in PvP. But I'm convinced as a 90% keyboard turner that to be the very best you do. The way WoW implements mouse movement is still horribly awkward for me though even after playing a full week with key bindings set up so that I had to use the mouse for movement or I wasn't moving. My hands are too big and I simply don't have a mouse that makes it comfortable to have a button pressed that much. Toggling free mouse is awkward too. I'm very comfortable in FPS games with mouse movement because you don't generally need the mouse to do other things like you do in WoW. But as mentioned PvP success is even more difficult without this skill. I'll never be more than above average at PvP because I can't get myself to be used to how WoW deals with it unless I get a different mouse or want really bad carpel tunnel.

And you are completely correct that a person that only PvPs will not develop the whole PvE skill set. But the very best PvP players can generally translate into PvE better than poor PvP players. The argument goes the other way. The very best PvE players are generally above average at PvP too and they translate into PvP better than an average PvE player. The reason is because they do share skill sets. Generally the very best PvE players have set up good interfaces and keybindings and such that you need in PvP.


I know my interface is not optimal for either PvE or PvP. The problem is if I put 2 hours into making it better I'll end up not wanting to play the game for another 24 hours or so. For some reason it really sucks the fun out of the game for me in the short term even if it makes the long term more fun. I think I understand why too. It's a game. The aspects that feel remotely like work I avoid regardless of how much nicer the gaming experience may be after they are done. I rarely PvP just to get honor or marks. I PvP when I feel like that type of entertainment. I don't do daily quests every day. I them when I feel like doing them. I rarely play the auction house to make money even though when I do I'm quite good at it and can make gold quickly. I don't even raid as much as I can because sometimes I don't want to. Though lately I raid less because I don't want to do the prep work that being the best in a raid requires. I don't want to get the consumables, I don't want to read up on the encounters. I'm very honest about this with the people I raid with. If they don't want me along because of that I'm very understanding of it. Of course I treat my toon as an alt when I do get on a raid because of this. I only get loot if no one else wants it, etc.

That is a PvE skillset to me. Being able to deal with the prep work it takes, I don't have it anymore in this game. Fortunately the PvE game is easy enough and my skill set good enough that folks can fill me in on what I need to know as we go along so I don't slow us down, and there is a group out there that lets me tag along to see the content anyway. I even get to go on a few learning nights. I can slap some gold in the guild bank and get consumables out of it and not feel as bad about it. :)