4.3 PTR playtime (spoileriffic version)
So 4.3 is on the PTR now, and public character copy is available. Here’s what I’ve found so far:
Void Storage
I know costs aren’t finalized, but right now Void Storage is prohibitively expensive. I knew that it would be a majorbig sum to unlock the void bank, which is fine (currently 1000g); the problem is that deposits and withdrawals ALSO cost money (right now it’s 100g per piece, both in and out). You guys, that is insane. I know it’s just fake money and everything, but seriously: insane. I have at least a hundred pieces of gear in my incredibly packratty bank, and just taking them all OUT of the bank and putting them into storage is another ten thousand gold. If I want to change my transmogrification for RP purposes (and you can damn well bet there are certainly people who will do exactly this), that’s not just a money sink; it’s a brutal cash hole from which there is no escape, and that makes me sad. It’s like a mobile company charging you for both sending and receiving texts, and it’s extortion. Fake extortion, in this case, but my inner fake capitalist is just fake beside herself.
Transmogrification
IT IS JUST AS AMAZING AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE
The interface is pretty clever and intuitive, which is good, because there are no instructions for anything goddamn anywhere. You talk to the happy little spacemummy man, and drag the piece that you want your gear to look like into its appropriate slot in the happy little spacemummy man’s interface, and pay money per piece that appears to be equivalent to reforge costs. It cost me 316g to mog everything but my cloak (which I have turned off anyway), and I’m in primarily FL 378 gear (except for my STUPID STUPID STUPID shoulders, which are still 359). This is not bad at all, and I have no problems with this cost staying just where it is. It feels like it’s based on ilevel of the gear you’re converting, which is appropriate and allows low-level characters the opportunity to customize their look, too, while not being so expensive that changing your look back and forth is unreasonably putative.
End Times: Heroic 5
So, uh … what?
On the one hand, I am so incredibly pleased that they didn’t throw away the Infinite Dragonflight x Nozdormu OTP plot thread, which is something I loved like burning and was desperately hoping they would bring closure to at some point. They did this, and it is RAD, and the model for Evil Nozdormu makes me so very very very happy I do a little dance.
On the other hand, I am really, really hoping that it’s just that the instance isn’t finished yet, because right now it makes absolutely no fucking sense. There’s no story anywhere. All that stuff about how This Is Sad And Evil Tyrande Who Has Lost Her Faith in the preview? It’s not in here. Anywhere. You run around and kill some evil nightsabers until she unlocks, and then you go fumble around with your clicks for a while until you figure out that there’s a teleporter that takes you somewhere else. I figure the quests aren’t done, and that’s where you’ll find most of the story, but seriously, y’all, there’s nothing else in there. If they keep it that way I will be THE MADDEST PRIEST.
With that being said, the place is jaw-droppingly beautiful. I mean, it’s terrible and horrible and post-apocalyptic wasteland and so very very sad, but the visuals are completely stunning.
Patch Notes Grab Bag
So hey, sucks to all you Quebecois using good French names for your characters! Blizzard says those aren’t real letters and you can just go fuck yourselves with your accents ague.
I’m thinking they didn’t entirely think that one through.
I'm pretty strongly outspoken against special-character names, because I find them EXCEPTIONALLY annoying to deal with when trying to type them into a Mail field or look someone up on the Armory. I definitely feel sorry for people who wish to use them for real names and not just to be silly, BUT at the same time I don't think it's a huge crime to ask someone to use a regular e in their name instead of an accented one. I mean, yeah people are free to choose whatever name they want, but it really is a huge headache for others who want to interact with you and play with you.
As for Void Storage, if the prices stay as-is, I'm not really that worried. I'll simply put the items that I keep for sentimental reasons – not for transmogging, but as memories – into the storage and then never touch it again.
My recent post Fangs of the Father thoughts and speculation
re: Void Storage — yeah, if they keep the double charge in, that'll be my Sentimentality Storage and not just Extra Expensive Bank. I'm cool with that, I'm just a little sad about it.
re: Special Characters — yes, it's super annoying for an American with an American keyboard to remember that an e with accent ague is alt-130! However, Americans are not the only people playing this game; hell, Americans who only speak English are not the only people playing this game. An e is not the same as an é, and changing that changes the word and the pronunciation. Imposing one specific language and culture on a vast multicultural population "because it's a huge headache" sets a precedent that makes me really, really, really uncomfortable.
I don't disagree with you, that it sets a bad precedent. But I really do think it's a little unfair to force others to have to struggle with figuring out how to simply type your name, when you don't *have* to use that name to begin with. Should you be forced to conform to the "standard" naming regulations? Well no…but then again, you ARE playing a game where un-accented names ARE the norm. And if you can't use your name with special characters, which might have special personal significance, maybe it's your real name or whatever the case may be – it's not much different than me being unable to use my real name of "Mike". I simply have to use a different name.
I used this analogy on Twitter a while ago – there's a Superman villain named Mr. Mxyzptlk. If I wanted to use this for a name, I definitely COULD. But at the same time, it'd be a colossal pain in the ass for anyone who would have to deal with me. Why would I subject my friends to this annoyance? I'll just use a normal, no-hassle name instead.
As for the special character..I am speaking for myself, but if I wanted to make a mage named "Flambé" I would just make it Flambe. It would be the same meaning – I doubt anyone who knows the word Flambé would suddenly be confused and not understand what Flambe meant. I'd do this basically to be considerate to my friends and guildies who have to deal with it.
(sidenote: I know how to type the é on my home PC, but on my work Mac? Not a clue. This is exactly what I am talking about. I had to google that just to be able to copy/paste it.)
I'm not saying my opinion is the RIGHT one, mind you. I don't know if there would be a perfect solution, honestly, other than having an in-game pulldown menu with special characters available for text-line insertion.
My recent post Fangs of the Father thoughts and speculation
Unfortunately I think it's a little unfair to force others to change their language and culture just so I don't have to pull up the windows character map. Even with your Flambé vs. Flambe comparison you're making things terribly Amerocentric, and that's the saddest thing about this ruling — seriously, could it play any more strongly into the world stage trope that Americans make everything about them because they're lazy? It just makes me so, so sad.
I don't really know if it's being Amerocentric or lazy that is the reason behind this change, so much as it is simply establishing a naming basis that corresponds to the existing game world (no unusual accents) and player language (English). My example of Flambe isn't me being lazy at all – I'd be choosing the unaccented "e" because 99% of the people I encounter in game wouldn't know how to type the accented one. It's taking into consideration the medium of the game I am playing, since I have a choice about the name I use in the game. I am Canadian and know a person originally from Quebec who plays, and he doesn't use any special character names. He COULD, yes, and represent his native culture, but he simply uses fantasy names, or made-up names, or non-accented names.
And It IS an English game, with English dialogue and English names. Players probably shouldn't be able to use, say, Chinese characters in their names, since no one would be able to type them – at least, not on North American realms.
Then again, I suppose if Blizzard had a way to stop people from using accented characters just to get an already-taken name, and they were only used for ACTUAL accented words, I would have no problem with them. If your name was Flambé, I'd sigh but I'd respect the authenticity of the name and go look up the accent ague keybind. It's when people are named Ärthas that I get annoyed at the special characters, as a whole.
My recent post Fangs of the Father thoughts and speculation
You know, I was considering this a little more on the drive home, and you're totally right. I'm letting my hatred of people abusing the special characters blind me to how frustrating this change could be to people who legitimately use them. As annoying as I find it when I have to bring up the character map to /who or Armory someone, people SHOULD be able to use them (assuming their names are legitimate special character names). Now of course, I would still LOVE for them to have a little mercy on us players who don't use them in everyday life, and choose easier names or non-special-character names…but if not, well, so be it.
This has been an eye-opening discussion! :)
My recent post Fangs of the Father thoughts and speculation
I totally agree that people using, say, sharp-s ß in place of a B are horrible people and should be punished, perhaps by severe beatings over the internet and/or public shaming, and I really wish there were a way to eliminate that use without punishing someone named Phædre or Renée or Adorján.
I've been putzing around on the PTR too…although mostly by myself since I have no guildies and don't know anyone else on the PTR. /emo priest
…anyway, void storage is crazy expensive. I think Blizzard knows this, because they keep reiterating that prices are "subject to change." I wouldn't mind the withdrawal/deposit fees so much, but 1Kg just for the privilege of unlocking a game feature is teh suck.
I ran End Times through the DungeonFinder, and it may become my new favorite instance ever…although it's woefully undertuned right now. Still, it was amazing, and getting to punch Alliance faction leaders in the face was fun. XD
I don't see the 1000g unlock as prohibitive, but having played since vanilla I'm used to things costing a thousand gold. It's the paying to deposit AND to withdraw that seems unnecessarily expensive to me.
For a place that's dropping i378 gear, you are correct that End Times is WOEFULLY undertuned. I also admit that I've been farming the place trying to find a tank who doesn't need the Dragonshrine Scepter so I can use it for delicious, delicious transmog. XD
As a Québécoise, I'm fine with it. There are plenty of words available without accents and, given the computer age, lots of people don't care if, during electronic communication, you leave the accents out. I am definitely in favour of the no-accent change. Although I would argue that there is a huge difference between:
é (which is probably the most commonly used accented character)
and
ì (which, to my knowledge, is not used at ALL in French — don't quote me on that one)
And again, it's one thing if it's for a real French name or word, but it's far too overused to get a name that isn't available, as you were saying. (Renée vs. Jaìna)
Now, if they introduced a couple of French-language realms available for those in North America, I would be even happier with that, since I would presume that those realms (like the Latin American realms) would allow accents and such. I don't want to just shove all my native French-speaking fellow WoW players in Québec on to just a couple of realms, but I think the opening of such realms would be good so that French-Canadians wouldn't particularly feel discriminated against. (And believe me, as someone who has lived here her whole life and who is half French-Canadian, we do tend to feel discriminated against a LOT.)
Still, I don't think the accent thing will be a huge deal. And I totally welcome it. :)
ì isn't used in French that I remember (though I'm US, and so studied l'Académie Française French) , but í is used quite frequently in Mexican Spanish.
I don't think it's a huge deal either, and I'm not picketing Blizzard or anything; I just get really super sad when Powers That Be assume that the only reason why anyone would use an accented character is because they're too lazy or uncreative to find an available name. Granted, I'm also a heavy-duty RPer to whom names are important, so grain of salt there too. XD
It is like Nintendo making Link right-handed and obviously comparing it to that makes me the SADDEST PANDA.