Green Monster Games (Curt Schilling)

[spronk]

I really hope you aren't going to waste too much time on this, I tried it out for 5 minutes and it seems completely useless. Grats on telling me at 70 I should go do Karazhan and heroics, that is information that is very hard to figure out. Especially since the character I tried it out on is in full T5/badge gear with full epic gems, I surely need to run more kara and heroics! Oh nice, basically same advice for my newb level 70 in greens.

Now if it had told me what professions I should get for WOTLK that would best suite my class, what materials I should gather in preparation, what I need to level up cooking from 125-250, how much honor I can realistically get an hour on my realm/battlegroup, what times do people raid on my server, what guilds on my server are at my tier of gear, or anything that is even remotely useful for the next 6 months instead of useless shit that is 2 years old basically, it would have been a nice site. fuck, just tell me what the daily bg/daily/heroic/tower control/halaa/etc on a website so I don't have to login, more useful than this.

Its also just plain wrong on so many things - for example heroics require HONORED, not revered. Only been in the game that way for six months now.

[Thengel]

I'm Level 70, what do you have to teach me?
If you've been a top level character for an extended period of time, run every instance and mastered the battlegrounds and arenas, there might not be that much we can teach you. We still think that our advice will help you if you're rolling a new character, though.

From the FAQ.

[Ngruk]

Hehe ya those FAQ things get ya all the time...

[James]

Well, with all due respect, is the levelling process ever the problem? The game works well enough that it pushes you from one area to the next (especially now with the increased level rate) that most newbies would never find a need or a want for this kind of information. The trip to 60, 70, 80, or whatever the level cap is that day is at best a temporary, well mapped course that you really don't see many people complaining about.

Contrast that against the level cap portion of the game where more often than not you're given absolutely 0 direction on where and how to take your character anywhere. Starting from scratch it requires a balls amount of research to even figure out what kind of gear you want, let alone the gear progression required to bump yourself up to the next tier. It's a task so overwhelming that I'd wager a good majority of the populace simply doesn't do it and instead relies on hand me downs like badge gear and welfare epics to get bumped up to the next tier -- a website telling and, more importantly, showing you how to bridge those gaps is something that even an experienced player would find useful. Hell, I know after rerolling my third level 70 warrior from scratch just a few months ago I would have used the living shit out of it. I know my hunter friend that ditched his t5 PvE hunter for a PvP reroll would have used the shit out of it instead of seeing what he thought was a massive amount of work ahead of him and quitting. It took me two damn weeks at 70 to get mostly back to my previous warrior's gear level, but that was after a truckload of research.

Most people don't realize that because there is nowhere on the net or in game that specifically tells you where to go or how to get there. THERE is where the niche needs to be filled, imo. A level helper has been done a thousand times before, and, again wth all due respect, probably much better than a newsletter ever will.

[Gnomedolf]

Yeah, I've recently come back to the game after a very long break. I started from scratch and the game is excellent at pointing you where to go as you level up. Adding to that is the QuestHelper addon that gives you a freaking arrow and points you where to go in order to complete all your quests, and I'm not sure what a newsletter would do for me.

[Ngruk]

Originally Posted by Gnomedolf

Yeah, I've recently come back to the game after a very long break. I started from scratch and the game is excellent at pointing you where to go as you level up. Adding to that is the QuestHelper addon that gives you a freaking arrow and points you where to go in order to complete all your quests, and I'm not sure what a newsletter would do for me.

What you'd notice as a sub is that the newsletter is sent 'a level ahead' of where you currently are. It tells you what's in store for your next level, as well as what's available to you content wise this level.

The other things being worked on are much more player specific. Recognizing that a massive portion of the population is already at 70 and many are geared as well.

The WoW product is the one that validated the patent pending technology we own, the one that has been in testing for a few years now.

WoW isn't the ultimate target, it can't be, it's been around too long, but it's the one with the best ability to vet and test for use in future products.

When you understand the capabilities of the tech you start to see the unlimited potential of the product, inside and outside the gaming industry.

This was and is a soft launch that for the most part went to existing customers.

Always interested in a broader take on things I dropped the link here to get some feedback. We won't launch the official re-release for some time but it's always good to get informative feedback that also spots errors/omissions someone missed.

That being said, it's a free service which in the end means, well, it's free. That doesn't excuse ANY problems with it, but we went this route to get it into the most players hands we could as we continue to perfect the engine and the tech behind it.

I wish you could have seen the original as it stands next to what it is now. The team did a nice job in completely overhauling the look.

[Twobit Whore]

I think it's pretty clever and quite obvious that it won't be of any benefit to people who already 'beat the game' or are rerolling after having done so previously.

Hopefully it's a technology that remains free and is incorporated to many titles and not just your own.

[James]

It's definitely a really slick service as it stands right now, and major props to your tech and website team for putting together some more amazing shit -- they always seem to come through. And hell, it may even work better on other (your?) games, but the problem with the WoW side of it is just what I said before.

If I was going to use that site, I'd want it to tell me my immediate upgrades, and my next immediate upgrades at least, along with a cohesive theory behind the gear selection and path (re: tanks, avoidance v stamina, etc). If I'm in full greens and quest blues, I'd want to know what craftables I can make, what badge gear I can knock out while working on whatever Heroic drops. I'd want to know what kind of stats I need to hit in order to be able to function in the next tier, and how the gear selection you've provided will at least help me get to those goals.

I mean, sure it's a lot of work, but if it's free why not get some help from the community on it? I know I personally wouldn't mind spending some time writing up a thing or two about gear progression for tanks, and I'm sure there's millions more like me out there.

[Ngruk]

Let me apologize.

First off you should have been (and you will be in short order) notified that the newsletter you generate for your toon on the site is a GENERIC form of the actual newsletter you'd receive.

The one you get if you sign up for the service is able to, and does, create a much more personalized and focused newsletter tailored to your class, race, TS and many other personal things on your character.

I am sorry that wasn't stated earlier but it will be made clear very soon.

P.S. Let me also add and thank you for the offer above, we are always looking for good smart players to continue creating content. We are currently working hard on the WotLK updates to be added to the database.

P.S.S. one more thing. The newsletter, up to 69, is a step ahead of you. It tells you, in addition to what your new level is and has, what your next level will have and what you can look forward to as well as what your current level means content wise/TS wise and other stuff.

[Draegan]

Pretty awesome idea for new players. I love the idea of getting out of game notifications, personal information, small tips on what to expect and where to go or what to look out for. If you tie this in with other community cities, like forums, armory, database sites etc, it creates a community outside the game.

Nice job. Now you have to figure out a way to make this relevant to old players. Perhaps server news like who just placed first in PVP for the week or day, or raid killing announcements, all sorts of different things you can farm out of the database. Or if you're still doing a newsletter, maybe include RSS feeds from other approved community sites.

[spronk]

Sorry, but that site is just so full of fail I'm not even sure why you'd want to associate yourself with it. Why didn't your CTO put his foot down and say "under no fucking way are we associating GMG with an internet site that asks the users to run a executable or install an add-on!!!!!!" Seriously, this is 2008, not 1999, there are some basic rules all Internet sites should follow like fast loading times, browser intercompatibility, and never, ever, ever, ever asking users to run an executable or download stuff.

Go down and talk to your friends at Blizzard one day and ask them what the #1 support issue they have is. Keyloggers and hacked accounts. how much do you want to bet that some moron is going to run your app, get keylogged a few days later by a completely unrelated virus, and whine in blizzard support that your site hacked his account? Is that really the kind of news you want associated with GMG?

Yes, the armory doesn't provide 100% of what you need, but thats life as a internet developer, you get what you can and make the best of it.

On a more relevent topic hope you guys are thinking through launch server logistics, it would be nice if an MMO launched without having the classic problem of 50 launch servers, and 30 are dying in six months.

[whooleeo]

I thought this was a pretty neat tool. I've got 2 70s and a host of alts, and found this to be fun and useful. Most especially if you aren't an avid theorycrafter. Also, I didn't have to run any executables to get the newsletter compiled from the armory.

If you do use their addon, you have the option to upload data manually. From their FAQ:
"Whoa! You mean you're grabbing my password or you're a keylogger?

Not at all. The World of Warcraft AddOn system allows us to run our information-gathering plugin only while you play. We can only collect information that Blizzard Entertainment makes available -- like your character's level, race and location. Our software doesn't look at your password, log your keystrokes or "hack" your system in any way.

But, since we know that there are legitimate concerns about the gathering of account information, we have a manual upload feature that enables subscribers to avoid the use of our uploader client. Subscribers can install only the addon and then upload the text file containing the character information until they are comfortable with the service"

I'd encourage any casual player to at least try out creating a newsletter based on the armory. The content is cool

[Tropics]

Originally Posted by Ngruk

What you'd notice as a sub is that the newsletter is sent 'a level ahead' of where you currently are. It tells you what's in store for your next level, as well as what's available to you content wise this level.

While this system is kind of cool and must have taken some work I cannot help but say it is further down the path that I dread seeing the MMORPG's go.

I am sure there are people who would disagree with me but I like my MMORPG's to be immersive as possible, and systems like this only serve to lower the amount of immersion I get from the game. That said the information that this newsletter gives the player "could" be incorperated into the actual gameplay, by way of NPC interaction such as "have ys heard of the gnoll attacks on Thistlewood Haven? They are looking for brave men to help fight back the gnolls, you look like you could be of some help, if you are interested in going to help I can give you this

[Twobit Whore]

I don't think you used the word 'immersive' enough in one post. It was really immersion breaking.

In case you haven't accepted it yet the genre is moving away from the virtual LARPing on a computer and more towards fun and entertaining for the whole family.

Oh and spronk was once again owned by the FAQ.

[Drave]

Originally Posted by Ngruk

Let me apologize.

First off you should have been (and you will be in short order) notified that the newsletter you generate for your toon on the site is a GENERIC form of the actual newsletter you'd receive.

The one you get if you sign up for the service is able to, and does, create a much more personalized and focused newsletter tailored to your class, race, TS and many other personal things on your character.

I am sorry that wasn't stated earlier but it will be made clear very soon.

P.S. Let me also add and thank you for the offer above, we are always looking for good smart players to continue creating content. We are currently working hard on the WotLK updates to be added to the database.

P.S.S. one more thing. The newsletter, up to 69, is a step ahead of you. It tells you, in addition to what your new level is and has, what your next level will have and what you can look forward to as well as what your current level means content wise/TS wise and other stuff.

I like the concept... (especially for the sub 70 characters) but you should consider the audience that you are trying to communicating to (which I would guess that you already know.)

As an example, if the audience is made up of "min/max hardcore raiders" who parse every aspect, review buffs & debuffs, talents, & specs, gems, etc. (and read EJ boards for more details), then your service should provide new, useful, concise information to the reader, in the "advanced" category (remove the fluff, just present the facts, stats, and numbers).

If you're gunning for the "average" player audience, then you've got a good thing started. You just need to find a better place for feedback and advertising.

2cp.