Why, Blizzard?

Icecrown Citadel (ICC), current crown jewel of the World of Warcraft raiding world. Lair of the Lich King himself, this immense dungeon promised to offer raiders new and exciting challenges unlike any they had encountered before. Having spent the last month and half assaulting this dungeon twice a week on 10 man difficulty, I have come to realize that it does, as promised, offer challenges. Challenges that stand the core logic and coherency of the game on their head, spin them around, and kick them over, all while laughing maniacly.

Let it be known that I have only been party to the defeat of 4 bosses in ICC 10, and the attempt of 3 others, thus I will be using the first 4 bosses as my primary source. I have noticed a serious incongruency that threatens to frustrate and alienate many members of the raiding community; an incongruency that has poked its ugly head from beneath the shadows before, but now seems to be coming out in full swing. It is near impossible to defeat the first 4 bosses of ICC 10 with the same raid group. Specifically, the group that defeats boss 2 cannot defeat boss 4. How can this be? Here is how.

The issue lies in the DPS makeup of the group. Boss 2 requires a balance of melee and spell casters, as some of the mobs are immune to spell damage (and reflect all spell damage dealt to them, which can quickly kill a caster if missed), while others are immune to melee damage. This also presents an issue to paladin and death knight tanks, since the majority of their abilities deal spell damage. It is very doable, however, as long as there is a balance of melee and spell casters in the group to eliminate the appropriate mobs. How then is such a balanced group unable to defeat boss 4? Consider this. An ICC 10 group, at minimum, will have 2 tanks and 2 healers, leaving 6 DPS. In order to defeat boss 2, there must be 3 melee and 3 spell casters.

With that in mind, we come to boss 4. The primary challenge of this boss is that he accumulates runic power as a result of various raid actions, and when it reaches 100 he casts a debuff that will ultimately kill someone (while healing himself). To avoid this, adds have to be kited, raid members must stand 10 yards apart, tanks must be quick to taunt from one another to avoid melee hits while they have a certain debuff, etc. The bottom line is, melee DPS = bad in this fight. There has to be at least 4 spell caster dps to handle kiting adds, plus if you have more than 2 melee on the boss, his runic power will accumulate too fast and the debuff of doom will ultimately wipe the raid. Thus we can come to the conclusion that a group who defeats boss 2 cannot defeat boss 4. Unless you have a DPS that is dual spec melee/spell caster (which can only be done by druids and shamans and is very rare), you have no choice but to switch someone out, which isn't fair to anyone involved.

It is not fair for Blizzard to give the player the choice to be whatever class and variation of that class they choose, then create a raid environment that is overly class specific. While they did make dual specialization available - a great feature in my opinion - the success of a raid should not depend on it. It is a feature - an OPTIONAL feature - and thus no part of the game should rely on it. Another issue in ICC arises later with bosses that require only one tank. What if your tanks have been focusing soley on their tank sets and don't have an ICC worthy DPS set to switch to? Then likely your DPS will be lacking, the boss will hit its enrage timer, and the raid will wipe. Either have every boss in a raid require 2 tanks or make them all capable of being defeated by 6 DPS.

The bottom line is ICC 10 is unbalanced, and in such a way that has the potential to cause serious issues within raid groups. Balance it out Blizzard!

Top 5 Soundtracks

For as long as I can remember, I have been a fanatic for instrumental music. As a result, much of my music library (with the exception of every U2 album ever made) has consisted of the soundtracks to various movies and video games. By listening to these, I have not only fed my love of instrumental music, but also come to appreciate the significant role music plays in making a great movie/video game what it is. With this, I decided to make a quick list of my top 5 favorite soundtracks. Some of these are not movie or video game specific, but rather cover an entire game series or composer. Here we go!

NUMBER 5: STAR TREK (MICHAEL GIACCHINO)

No, I am not choosing this just because I am a huge fan girl of Star Trek, nor because I adored this movie. I chose this soundtrack because as a collection of instrumental music it is simply awesome. As a movie score, it so effectively captured the emotions and tones of the film that all you have to do it listen to it and have the movie play over again in your mind. What is most unique about it, however, is that unlike every other Star Trek film score, this one makes very little use of the actual Star Trek theme (we don't hear it until the end credits), instead creating an all-new, unique feel for an all-new, unique Star Trek film.

NUMBER 4: SPIRITED AWAY (JOE HISAISHI)

I think everyone will agree that Miyazaki's Spirited Away was an awesome film, and so was its soundtrack. It so perfectly complimented and accentuated the tone and visuals of the film that I can't imagine it being the same without it. Movie aside, the music is masterfully arranged and executed; a compelling mixture of full orchestra and piano, this soundtrack will spirit you away for sure.

NUMBER 3: SHERLOCK HOLMES (HANS ZIMMER)

I know this movie just came out less than a month ago, but never have I gone and seen a movie on release day then immediately gone home and pre-ordered the soundtrack. While the movie was very entertaining, the soundtrack made it for me. I was honestly more taken with the music than the movie itself. I have always been a big fan of Hans Zimmer (he composed the music for The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Gladiator, and the Lion King among MANY others), and he blew me away with this soundtrack. It has a completely unique sound compared to his other works, masterfully utilizing period instruments to create an authentic feel for the setting of Sherlock Holmes. The mix of old and new makes this soundtrack dynamic, fun, and a must-hear. It is, my dear Watson, a masterpiece!

NUMBER 2: THE MUSIC OF JOHN WILLIAMS - 40 YEARS OF FILM MUSIC (JOHN WILLIAMS)

Simply put, John Williams is the sci-fi/fantasy/adventure movie music God. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Jurassic Park, Superman, need I say more? I couldn't possibly pick just one of these movie's scores and say it was my favorite. They are all captivating, exciting, memorable, and have come to define the very tone and feel of these classic movies. The scores of John Williams add a special something to the heart and soul of their movies, and are masterful accomplishments of musical excellence in and of themselves. This 4 disc compilation is a must-have for anyone who enjoys are appreciates instrumental music.

NUMBER 1: DISTANT WORLDS - MUSIC FROM FINAL FANTASY (NOBUO UEMATSU)

Yes, I am a fan girl of Final Fantasy, but that has nothing to do with my saying that Nobuo Uematsu has, in my opinion, composed some of the most beautiful and compelling music of our generation with his work in the Final Fantasy series. Most people will know him for his work on Final Fantasy VII (and rightfully so, the soundtrack for that game was AWESOME), but I have listened to his work on all of the Final Fantasy games and they are all amazing in their own right. Each game's score has its own personality and unique feel, which in turn adds to the spirit of each game. Games aside, the music itself is simply beautiful. It will stir in you every emotion, from sadness (in a good way) to pure joy (try and not smile when listening to the Chocobo theme, I dare you!). Out of all of the soundtracks I have ever owned, the music of Final Fantasy by Noduo Uematsu are the ones I have listened to and love the most. Distant Worlds - Music from Final Fantasy is an excellent compilation of all the main themes and popular songs from FF VII and VIII, so I highly recommend it.

HONORABLE MENTION:
While the above selections are my current all-time favorites, I can't go without mentioning these heavy hitters.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY - HOWARD SHORE
WILLOW - JAMES HORNER
THE DARK NIGHT - HANS ZIMMER
EVERYTHING BY ALAN SILVESTRI
PRINCESS MONONOKE - JOE HISAISHI
BATMAN - DANNY ELFMAN
TITANIC - JAMES HORNER
AVATAR - JAMES HORNER
WORLD OF WARCRAFT (vanilla, BC, and WotLK) - VARIOUS COMPOSERS

My initial thoughts about Star Trek Online

For my first ever blog post I thought I would share my thoughts on something that I have been anticipating for quite some time: Star Trek Online. As of yesterday I now have access to the open beta, which I have spent about 3 hours playing thus far. While most people will likely argue that 3 hours is not enough exposure for me to form any solid opinions of the game, I argue that I can at least give my first impression, and that impression is - it has potential.

During my 3 hour interlude I was exposed to character creation, ground combat/questing, and space combat. Most of this was for the initial 'tutorial' phase of the game, but I think it was a good introduction to the overall aesthetic of the game. The first thing I have to say is the character creation features of this game are amazing. Not only do you get to pick your race (I went Vulcan of course, it was the logical decision), gender, etc., there is a full physical customization feature that allows you to modify every little detail about your character's physique. You can set the width of the bridge of your nose (no joke). Anyhoo, while this may be a little too detailed for some (I'll admit, I didn't tinker with any of it), I think it really gets the player more involved with their character than simply picking gender, race, and hair color.

As for ground combat/questing, so far it seems very simplistic and linear. I'm assuming, however, that this is because I've only done the tutorial quests and basic ground combat. Much like WoW, you target something, hit an ability (in this case your phasor), things go boom. I'm sure as your character levels up and things get more complicated this process will become more intensive, and my first impression is that ground combat and questing (such as on away missions) will be fun.

Finally we come to what I think is the real defining feature of STO: Space combat. My first impression was that it reminded me of EVE (some will find that a good thing, most will likely run in terror), mainly because of the aesthetic and somewhat because of the ship controls. However, as I played with it more, I found that maneuvering the ship around enemies and firing photon torpedoes was rather fun. You have control over how fast your ship goes and you can pivot the ship at various angles. It got a little slow waiting for your ship to get within the magic 10 km range for your weapons to work, but other than that it was enjoyable. I especially like the defense dynamic. Basically, your ship has 4 shield portions (front, back, left, right) and when you are attacked, you have to maneuver your ship so that no one section takes too much damage, otherwise that section will fail and the enemy will be able to hit your hull with stronger weapons. All in all, I can see how this will be a lot of fun in more complicated battles.

So to wrap it up, I think STO has a lot of potential. The story will be told when the actual game comes out, and players begin to really delve into the world that is Star Trek Online. May it live long and prosper.