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Let's get into the Overpull this week!
Heres the lineup this week
Blizzard and Valve Defend PC Platform Flexibility Over Console Rigidness
It looks like PC is where Blizzard wants to be.
WoW - New Cataclysm Info *Spoiler Alert*
No spoiling, you'll have to click if you want to know it. Although honestly I'd be surprised if you weren't spoiled already.
WoW - New WoW TCG Forum Opened
A TCG forum was opened up this week. What does this mean for the future of the TCG?
WoW - 3.3.3 Patch Changes - Small changes, big impact!
Bladestorm NERFED. QQ from Warriors follows.
WoW - PTR PvP!
PvP with Blizzard employees. Sounds like fun, eh?
WoW - New Anniversary Interviews
More anniversary news. It's been
Loremaster's Corner #5: A Steampunk Paradise
The majority of the Horde could care less about it. Orcs steal technology, the Forsaken care a little bit about it, Taurens make elevators, and Trolls like guns. Thats it. There isnt any major Orcish invention that isnt focused on blowing people up and there arent many original Orcish designs. Of course, like I said earlier, Elves do not like technology at all meaning Blood Elves do not want to look at it. Even their Arcane Guardians are not robots but instead arcane constructs.
This weeks question is: Do you use your non-combat pets?
You know what bothers me this week? Trade chat. We dont talk a lot about trade chat because its usually so stupid that its hard to even think about without getting a headache. Now, dont get me wrong, Im not a prude. I think some of the humor is actually funny and there are times where Ive sat in Orgrimmar laughing as people ranted on or had massive arguments with one another. I get juvenile humor pretty easily, but of course, not all of trade chat is fun and games.
Usually there is enough drama inside of trade chat to make most drama llamas squee in a perpetual state of happiness as one player accosts another about loot/moms/etc. from morning to night. Its all perfectly mixed in with people spamming the same WTB, WTT, and WTS macros at the rate of one per 10 seconds. If youre capable of reading fast enough you might be able to figure out just whats going on, but it makes me wonder if we should really have such global chat channels.
On one hand the point of the game is to be social, and to interact with others. Could you call trade chat interaction though? I couldnt, thats for sure. Its nothing more than unintelligible trolling mixed with people trying to buy or sell things for less or more than theyre worth. Neither option is positive, even if trolling is funny and you can make easy money buying/selling things for cheap.
So what could we do to improve this? Well, Im sure there is nothing you could do unfortunately. The nature of the game demands a global trade channel. Even if you create an alternative, like the upcoming AH changes that may give us the ability to post WTBs on the auction house, you will find the playerbases complete unwillingness to give up /trade. I mean, trade chat is even used for organizing raids.
I personally would think that more channels and easier channel organization (with the U.I.) would help the problem. As it stands people use trade because its currently the only channel worth using. Most people turn off the new LFG channel, and General chat is just that channel you spam alongside /trade. But what if the channels were distributed between trades, raids, in-game chat, out of game chat, and other channels? Then make switching between the channels and adjusting what you see easy to do. That way you could filter out the noise from the signal. Want to sit there and accuse someone of being a ninja? Hit up the general in-game chat. Want to filter that out? Turn on just the tradechannel.
The interface is customizable and there are addons out there that try to improve the chat box. The two most popular, Chatter and Prat, add additional fonts, colors, and functionality to the window. However, they dont mask the sheer amount of noise that comes over WoWs main two chat channels. So it comes down to needing a better default system for handling things or players moderating themselves and their actions. I, alas, do not believe the later is happening anytime soon.
Of course, I honestly suspect that most people would simply continue to use one channel and ignore the rest, but Im often a dreamer. Id like to think that things could be a bit more organized. Until then /leave 1 and /leave 2 are the first things I do on any new character.
I do have a few tips on how you can better eliminate the spam and still maintain the functionality of the global chats. Right click the General tab and click on Create New Window. Now, go back to the General tab and right click, but this time select Settings. Uncheck General & Trade and then set up your new window for just General & Trade by unchecking the other channels. Voila, you can easily switch over to the tab at your convenience to find raids, sell things, whatever.
Additionally, try the addon WIM which stands for WoW Instant Messenger. This awesome addon allows you to have little IM style windows that pop up for your private messages. This is a huge help if you have a lot of spam on your server but want to talk to different people. We have a review of it right here if youd like to find out more.
What do you think about /trade? Do you even have it turned on? Do you want something done to improve the current state of global chat in the game, or do you enjoy the constant trolling? Share your thoughts in Ten Ton Hammers World of Warcraft forums!
-David "Xerin" Piner
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