Bounty Hunters

Last night during my drug induced haze, I was on antihistimines, antibiotics, and a prescribed sleeping pill, I had a dream of WoW which is rare since it has never happened before that I recall. So last night I dreamed I killed a horde player, and soon 3 bounty hunters were after me. I thought abou tit and decided to expand the idea since it is not a bad idea.
So imagine if you will someone is griefing a player much, much lower then their level. Lets say a 70 is killing players 30+ levels below them. Each time he kills said character, there is a small percent chance, lets say 2%, that bounty hunters, 2-4 of various classes and same level as the murderer, is sent out after the murderer when he is not expecting it. Again, lets say 2-4 hours after he committed the PK. The 70 is back in Outlands, questing when suddenly 3 humanoids of the same race as the one he killed, start attacking him mercilessly screaming things like "Soandso sent us to avenge his death!!!" or "We were hired by the family of soandso and your head is worth gold to us!" These would not just be plain ol mobs but work together well kind of like a small arena team. I think it would add a bit for players to get consquences of their actions and perhaps, just perhaps, leave those little lowbies alone on pvp servers. It is hard enough leveling without a 70 camping out in a 20's zone.

New BG ideas

Here are a few ideas for new Battle Grounds, which could be implemented for WOTLK. None of these ideas are unique per say, but might be fun to try to mix up PVP a bit.

1. A BG similar to Eye of the Storm where you hold areas until you capture them (minus flag runs), yet it takes place on floating islands. Each person entering the BG is given a trinket to summon an epic mount and there are 5 areas which can be taken over, but none can be reached unless flown to, and the grave yards are based on starting areas and none of the opposing faction can enter that area so no res killing.
2. A flag capturing area similar to Arathi Basin, with 5 areas, yet each area takes place on a tall tower over a huge lake. Each tower is connected to two others via bridges, and if not by bridge, players can reach other towers by taking the long route of falling to the water and swimming over and climbing up.
3. Again an EOTS type area minus flag running, yet the entire game takes place in a giant castle, each team trying to conquer a certain valuable area of the castle such as the armory, library, courtyard, stables, etc. The castle can be a giant maze with interconnected passages and secret doors. The idea is from some of the old games like Quake 2 and Unreal Tournament maps.
4. Finally, another idea borrowed from Unreal Tournament where there is an attack and defend area. The attackers assault a defended area to reach a goal (all deaths taking longer to resurrect so there is caution on each side), and try to break through a defensive area to capture a target. They are given a time limit for this, perhaps 10 minutes. Once captured, the sides switch, and the attackers defend and vice versa. If the original attackers took less then 10 minutes to capture the target, lets say 8 minutes, the new team attacking will only have that time to capture the target. Obviously this is a new way to do BGs altogether, but once again it can breathe a bit of life into an area which has gotten a bit stale lately.

Do rogues HAVE to be the bad guys?

It seems that rogues have the unenviable stereotype of being the bad guys even when do not wish to be. I cringe a little bit when someone assumes that all rogues do is run around and gank people when they are most vulnerable. I would be lying to say that I have not crept to the rear of someone and slipped a dagger into their back when they were eating and drinking after a fight, because I have, though this is more the exception than the rule. The main problem is that by being a rogue, many other players assume that I prefer to harass players instead of enjoying the main content of the game. I would much rather spend my time raiding, doing a dungeon or even helping out a guild mate who is trying to level instead of traveling to Thousand Needles and picking on a low level horde or three for a few hours.
I still remember leveling up my rogue in Ashenvale, and for a solid two hours I could not complete a single quest because this one rogue would follow me and pick me off every chance he had, to the point where I logged off in disgust and played an alt for an hour then went back. When I ressed, I made it no more then 6 seconds before I was killed again by the same rogue who made it a point to laugh at me, jump on my corpse, and do something so distasteful that I will not refer to it here, yet I will say that to this day I cannot drink tea without wincing a little. Perhaps it was this moment where I decided I would not play a stereotypical rogue and would never be known as a “griefer.”
To this day I will not kill players who are more then ten levels below me for the sole purpose that they would not stand a chance, and even if I find someone who is the same level as me, yet they are at only at 10% health, I will not kill them simply because I find it distasteful to take advantage of the situation and gain a point or two in honor, yet I just did one of the most dishonorable things in the game. Since Blizzard will never take away honor for players who grief, I ask the players themselves to resist the blood thirst they feel when they see someone lagging and auto-running into a tree for the last minute, or catching two players who are dueling in the middle of Nagrand and bring each other to a sliver of health. Just take a deep breath and take the high road. Instead of killing, try something else that can instill just as much fear into another player. When you catch someone mining, sap them then appear in front of them and tell them “No!” then shoo them away and stealth again. You have just claimed that area as your own yet shed no blood and that player will think twice before trekking across your property in search for ore. If you like to gank, then gank away because I will never tell you that you are wrong to play the way you want, I just hope you can take a moment to think outside the box and consider another option or two before inserting your blade into the back of the neck another player. I like to think there is something to that old motto of “Honor among thieves.”

Give Daggers some love!

One thing I noticed that I deem unfair to all those OP rogues out there, is the lack of daggers as a specialty for weaponsmiths. Swords, hammers, even axes are available to specialize in, yet not daggers, fist weapons, nor polearms. I understand that specialization is good to a degree, where it then begins to get tedious and nit-picky, yet I think if you give us 6 main forms of melee weapons, it is unfair to give us a chance to specialize in weaponsmithing for only 3 of these. I will throw this against the wall and see if it sticks. Imagine a fist weapon which has a chance to give the next attack from it the ability to cause bleeding damage to the target equal to the attack over 8 seconds, or a dagger to have a chance to cause the next attack to attack the target as if they had no armor at all, (give a neat attack for rogues to warriors) or a polearm which has a chance to cause the target to lose 10% of their max health for ten seconds and then get it back. You have to admit these are abilities that can make things a lot more fun in PVP. Well, for the owners of these weapons at least.

WHAT were they thinking?

I was questing in Hellfire today with a guidie with out 61 and 60 rogue and druid, when this 70 warrior named Demondawg decides he will not leave us alone with his little 61 rogue buddy. So we decide hell, lets get our mains. so I brought my main Domani and my friend brought his main, Dorage. Well we destroy him 3 times, and he brings a hunter buddy, 2 on 3 and we win again a couple of times. THEN he brings not one, not two but three 70 hunters AND a 70 rogue. So, we call in one, my friend Bendovr comes to help. So remember the math, 3 of us versus 6. We were right next to their graveyard at Falcon Watch so they kept ressing one after another. Well we spent 40 minutes there, I racked 37 kills, and not one of us died once...NOT ONCE! They kept ressing one at a time, and would run away from helping their friends, it was a riot...but then the best part happened. Dorage was flying away to go rest and drink and noticed Demondawg following him, so told me to follow him and keep back out of sight. He was like a wounded bird leading the adder to a trap. He lands on the VERY top of the tallest mountain south of Falcon Watch at like 20% health. Demondawg takes the bait, jumps down to finish him off, out of the heavens I come and BAM, dead dawg on the top of a mountain, which you see here..

So I thought it funny he would be stupid enough to come, but then the good part happened........One by one his friends landed, Docholiday, Foulball, and Wilma and 2 others I cannot find the names of, all landed and got killed on the SAME mountain in the SAME place we just slaughtered their friend. NO WAY to get their bodies.....My god they were so stupid. We tried to get a screen shot of them but they all spirit-ressurected before we could snap it. But here are a couple more pics to show just where they dropped one by one to get beaten to a pulp. Truly, it was beautiful.

God I love this game....

I think the future holds a new faction.

Last week I thought of WOTLK coming out, and I thought...What then? Are we doomed to see expansion every year or so with another 10 or 5 levels, a new land and....that is it? Do not get me wrong, games like EverQuest have been doing it for years and years and are making money and lord knows WoW has 10 times the people it does, but perhaps it is time to shake it up. Let WOTLK come out, let players get to 80, but THEN I think we hsould have a choice to go to a new faction. Here is how I see it...

Many WoW lore geeks know Sargeras had two champions, Kil’jaeden the Deceiver and Archimonde the Defiler, but how about introducing a third? maybe......Bob the Gaseous. Yes, the demon Bob. And Bob was unhappy and though Sargeras was a wuss so broke away and has been hand picking the strongest heros across many worlds to make an army of his own to challenge Sargeras. So, when we hit level 80 we can decide to stay with Alliance or Horde, and join the....Dark Shadow.....Or maybe the Burninators.....yes, Trogdor would be part of it.....I mean he has to right? Anyways, if you join this third rank you can change your character into a different race, one of 4 or 5 demon forms, each with it's own racial abilities and look. Then you lose all alegance to that faction, lose all flight paths you have recieved in those towns, but keep the neutral ones. You will be attacked on sight going to the cities you once called home....Hey, those who seek power cannot have it too easy right? So this new faction gets its own city and own quests and from 80+ there will be three factions......God I can imagine the rush of a night elf priest healing an orc warrior as he takes down a lock of the new faction....And of course victorious, the orc turns on the elf.......Do not blame him, after all, he is just an orc.

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*EDIT* I orriginaly had this idea over a week ago but had been so busy studying for a certification test in school that I never took the time to write this idea, and as SOON as I blogged this I got an email from a friend of mine which pointed me to THIS post by Matthew Rossi who basicly had the exact same idea I had, yet beat me posting the idea by 9 hours or so. Apparently a third faction is not a new idea but seems odd he and I both posted so close. Touche Matthew, you beat me this time! If you beat me to my post about deep fried kittens as the new hunter pet food, then I will see you in court!!

Ideas For New Hero Classes

Besides the Death Knights, no other hero classes have been mentioned by Blizzard. Have they not come up with any? Well for the sake of this conversation lets say they have not, so I can feed my ego and come up with ideas and pretend they have never considdered them. So, on with the show....

1 Necromancers: Now, before you say "Hey! We have these! They are called Warlocks!" I have to correct you. They are not Warlocks at all. Warlocks harness the powers of shadow and fire and use demons to do their biddings, while Necromancers use Death and Pain and use the undead as their servants. Ok, so there are no gloves that have +34 spell damage for death spells, so let us say that Necromancers use Shadow and Ice. Kel'Thuzad is a necromancer and uses ice, so why cannot other necromancers?

2 Blademasters: These are a nice combination of warrior and rogue. In Warcraft lore they are an elite fighting force of the horde and can go on rampages that make Godzilla envious. I think of their use much like a warrior, but they can only use two handed weapons, and lose their ability to wear platemail, and are forced to wear something lighter, like leather, but they gain a fierce speed increase to compensate.

3. Monk: Look, we need monks, plain and simple. We need a melee class that wears cloth, and can do some funky stuff. I am talking "Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique" cool. I am talking Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon cool. I want dancing on top of trees! I want running on water cool....No, not some sissy shaman using a spell, I want just their AWESOMENESS to make water walking possible. I want chakras, and bald heads and......GAH! There is such potential here to tap into!!! I mean look at this picture, this is just 100% kick ass monk.