23" And Yes, Size Matters

Before I tell you a little story I need to point you to some great content on the network. First up, an interview with Matt Miller, Lead Designer of City of Villains. Second, but not second some superb artwork from Warhammer Online. Now my story...

My wife and kids wandered off to the shoe store for back-to-school shoes leaving me wandering aimlessly in the mall, a place where I am completely and utterly uncomfortable. Fortunately for me the mall has electronics stores, one of which sells Apple 23" monitors. Imagine the surprise on my wife's face when she came back apologizing for spending so much on shoes and I had a honkin'-big Apple widescreen monitor under my arm. Hoo boy... I sure made her feel a lot better about what she had spent. I'm a good guy that way.

This monitor is SPECTACULAR. I took a look at the Dell 24" and though they are a bit larger and a wee bit less expensive you couldn't compare the picture quality. What is particularly unnerving about buying an Apple monitor was that it means that I now own three Apple products, an iPod, a MacBook Pro and now the Mother-of-all-monitors. They are all wonderful gadgets that I have yet to have a problem with. Who would have thought or dared insinuate to me that I would own three Apple products a mere year or so ago? It's a crazy world and I'm the proof.

Apple is notorious for not listening to their customers. They put on the happy face, smile and nod, but truly their designs are rarely a result of the customer telling them what they want.

Blizzard recently listened to their customers who complained that they could not play enough battlegrounds matches. There are now "Battlegroups" or clusters of servers who play Inter-server battlegrounds matches. Now, you would think that this would be an elegant solution. More matches means less waiting time and that should mean more fun, well, except that they really botched up the formula for the groups.

Groups inevitably contain servers launched on day 1 along with server launched in the last three to six months. Fiery enchant versus grey sword. I think you know who wins battlegrounds. Winning or losing is usually accomplished in 10-15 minutes. There is rarely a sense of wonder at a great piece of teamwork. You will likely never see that player again, so letting him rot has no repercussions. Likewise the comraderie of meeting good players in battlegrounds is gone. BGs were the prime place to find people who could work in a team environment.

People grinding ranks in battlegrounds must love the new system, because the games are constant, but players who wanted to play on an even playing ground are desperately disappointed.

Why didn't Blizzard:

Match servers by launch date? Match servers by server type? (PvE with PvE, PvP with PvP, etc.)

I believe the answer is that they simply dumped each internal server cluster into a battlegroup and called it a day. Ah well, a part of WoW that I thoroughly enjoyed is gone. Onward.

How do you feel about the new cross-server battlegrounds?

Post a comment at the bottom of this blog. If you are shy (or female and sending in naughty pictures) you can E-Mail me.
Every good guild needs a home. A home free of gold ads, secondary market farmers. Look no further than GuildPortal.com.

Exclusive new TenTonHammer.com Content!
Let us entertain you or at the very least waste some of your time at work.08.25.2006 Exclusive Content City of Villains/Heroes: Interview With Lead Designer Matt Miller
"The next free expansion to the City of Villains / City of Heroes superhero saga - Issue 8 - is due out next month, and in anticipation of its launch, Lead Designer Matt Miller was kind enough to answer a few of our questions about the future of the franchise." Dungeons and Dragons Online: Quest Portal
"DDO Quest Week closes out here at Ten Ton Hammer with 2 more newbie quests to help your budding adventurer achieve glory among the powerful patrons in Stormreach. This time we've brought you the all-important Wavecrest Tavern quests. Read these guides and go smash some kobolds!" EverQuest 2: Pirates Unfairly Stereotyped
"Pirates Pirates and more Pirates! This week Coyote brings you pirates from the Sinking Sands and ...seaweed kelp facial wraps. Yes, he's serious. Well, serious as he can be." EverQuest 2: Oakmyst Forest Zone Guide
"You've finally found your way off of the island, and have settled into your home village in Qeynos, so now what? Head on over to Oakmyst Forest for some rewarding fun and experience, and be sure to take Savanja's handy guide with you!" EverQuest 2: The Caves Zone Guide
"In a really dark um, cave, lives a bunch of gnolls, snakes, and rock monster who spend their days happily co-exsisting until adventurers like you show up. Then they band together to try and beat you into a fine paste. RadarX highlights this starter zone and quests you might want to check out." Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Poll: Why Wait For Vanguard?
"Are you holding out for the winter launch of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes? You're not alone. The official forums, and community sites like Vanguard Ten Ton Hammer, are full of people who are playing the waiting game. What's keeping you on the hook anticipating Vanguard? Aunraye asks this question in our weekly poll. Read her article, and then step up and place your vote. Share your thoughts on our forum for a chance to win a Vanguard beta key!" Warhammer Online: Exclusive Concept Art
"We have a new round of screenshots and concept art from the talented folks behind Warhammer Online. We'll have bonafide screenshots on our WAR - Ten Ton Hammer site shortly, but here's some electrifying concept art to whet your appetite. If you needed proof that this game isn't just a WoW lookalike, here it is!" World of Warcraft: U.I. Mods Updates For Patch 1.12
"Many of you may know about our wonderful U.I. Repository, it's a gold farmer free database devoted to serving up U.I. mods in a speedy manner. We've got all kind of U.I. mods in it, including Titan Panel and CT_Mod. Since patch 1.12 just rolled out, a lot of your U.I. mods are probably out of date. The old version of Atlas causes errors and the previous versions of CT_Raid_Assist no longer works. That's why you need to go through and update your U.I. mods today!" Vin Diesel Fact of the Day - Only Vin Diesel can decipher all of the words in a Sylvester Stallone film. Now on to the real world. You can't make this stuff up. [Thanks Matt for the headlines today!] P2P Defendant Sanctioned For Destroying Evidence
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As always, thanks for visiting TenTonHammer.com,
-- John "Boomjack" Hoskin

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