One, certainly didn't mean to offend chess masters. I specifically said "excellent chess players" to try to distinguish between them and the true masters, who, as you say, spend years perfecting their art. I doubt very seriously a grandmaster would recognize someone as a "grandmaster" simply because he or she had memorized a bunch of patterns. I'm talking about that great mass between the brilliant self-taught folks and the grandmasters. Specifically, those folks who have learned how to play chess by studying websites, patterns, and so on--simply applying them rather than the customary thinking ahead several moves and such. If we were talking about hacking, I'd call them "script kiddies." :P
Also, on the subject of WoW again--let me stress that I'm talking about raiding and instance grinding here. Usually Blizzard sets up the raids so that you can afford at least a few "noobs," but not at the most difficult levels (and especially when you're intentionally or unintentionally playing with fewer people than the game allows.) I have gotten all the way from level 1 to 80 with either never joining a party or just briefly joining them for a diversion. I know I've hammered on this before, but I tend to avoid doing any dungeons or instances before maxing out my level, because the folks doing them (at least 99% of the time) are only grinding them, usually towing after a maxed out character who kills all the monsters for them. That to me is no fun at all, so I don't do it. Once you get to the level 80 instances and dungeons, that isn't an issue, and you actually get challenged. The only problem is that you can't get the best equipment in the "normal" 80 instances, but have to go to "heroic difficulty" and then "raids." It's a bit of a catch 22 there, because to survive a heroic instance or raid you must have really nice equipment--the kind you get in heroics and raids. Typically, the raiding guilds will work on one guild member at the time, grinding a raid to get them decent equipment. One you're equipped, you're expected to help everyone else out in the same way (which means doing the same raids over, and over, and over, and over again). That can get very boring (not to say time consuming), especially considering that after you're equipped, you've got nothing to look forward to.
I've begun to notice that several of my current students are in WoW guilds with their buddies from high school or college. That to me would have been awesome! I'm almost certain that the fun factor of these games ratchets up substantially when you're in there with your real friends instead of random people.
A few quick notes--
One, certainly didn't mean to offend chess masters. I specifically said "excellent chess players" to try to distinguish between them and the true masters, who, as you say, spend years perfecting their art. I doubt very seriously a grandmaster would recognize someone as a "grandmaster" simply because he or she had memorized a bunch of patterns. I'm talking about that great mass between the brilliant self-taught folks and the grandmasters. Specifically, those folks who have learned how to play chess by studying websites, patterns, and so on--simply applying them rather than the customary thinking ahead several moves and such. If we were talking about hacking, I'd call them "script kiddies." :P
Also, on the subject of WoW again--let me stress that I'm talking about raiding and instance grinding here. Usually Blizzard sets up the raids so that you can afford at least a few "noobs," but not at the most difficult levels (and especially when you're intentionally or unintentionally playing with fewer people than the game allows.) I have gotten all the way from level 1 to 80 with either never joining a party or just briefly joining them for a diversion. I know I've hammered on this before, but I tend to avoid doing any dungeons or instances before maxing out my level, because the folks doing them (at least 99% of the time) are only grinding them, usually towing after a maxed out character who kills all the monsters for them. That to me is no fun at all, so I don't do it. Once you get to the level 80 instances and dungeons, that isn't an issue, and you actually get challenged. The only problem is that you can't get the best equipment in the "normal" 80 instances, but have to go to "heroic difficulty" and then "raids." It's a bit of a catch 22 there, because to survive a heroic instance or raid you must have really nice equipment--the kind you get in heroics and raids. Typically, the raiding guilds will work on one guild member at the time, grinding a raid to get them decent equipment. One you're equipped, you're expected to help everyone else out in the same way (which means doing the same raids over, and over, and over, and over again). That can get very boring (not to say time consuming), especially considering that after you're equipped, you've got nothing to look forward to.
I've begun to notice that several of my current students are in WoW guilds with their buddies from high school or college. That to me would have been awesome! I'm almost certain that the fun factor of these games ratchets up substantially when you're in there with your real friends instead of random people.
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com