Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by onibaru

some story...

onibaru — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 07:25:04 +0800

First of all, a little background:

In South Korea, World of Warcraft's popularity has been certainly waning down. It is nowhere to be found in Top 10 game rankings in terms of usage in PC cafes, and it is a well-known fact that most of the servers are suffering from severe lack of populations. Other games such as League of Legends have been rapidly growing, and Mists of Pandaria expansion did not help much; if it did not hurt in fact.

Some Korean WoW players have pointed out that one of the factors for such decrease in player number could be that Korean players are getting too competitive and hard-hearted. I am not 100% sure about this, but their servers seem to have different lockouts for 10 mans and 25 mans, and I think, at one point, their servers were resetting every 3-4 days, which give them more chances to raid. Such changes have forced many Korean players to be as hardcore as they can be, leaving no room to breathe and forgive others for their mistakes. Many new players, especially people who just started playing WoW (surprisingly), could not adapt to such situations because no one would help them understand the game better. And the whole community was getting more elitist in general, with most of the players playing from the original WoW, since WoW has been around almost 10 years. And the whole topic of 'bullying' and 'cyber-bullying' has been a major issue in a Korean society.

Then THIS happened.

Original post in "Inven" community (in Korean language): http://www.inven.co.kr/board/powerbbs.php?come_idx=4&l=2933

There have been thousands of replies and reactions to this incident, and apparently there have been visible changes in servers, and the whole community have asked themselves: What happened to the good ol' WoW we enjoyed?

Below is my translation of the whole incident and several posts related to it. Not perfectly literal translation though.

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Thread: He needed attention and help... The story of Zul'jin server 'outcast' warrior.

In the afternoon of February 3rd, a player who identified himself as a PUG raid leader/organizer of Zul'jin server posted a thread titled "Zul'jin server outcast", and it has been the hottest topic in the Korean WoW community.

Below is the thread:

----------------------------------------------

Sub-Thread: Zul'jin server outcast

Hello, I am one of the many players who have been playing WoW for 8 years.
I am writing this because I had quite an incident today.
I'm not sure where to start... I will just state what comes to my mind. Please read.

One fine Saturday afternoon, I was organizing a PUG raid.
There was a whisper.
"DPS Warrior, ilvl 496, I'd like to go!"
Hmm... he was quite infamous in our server. DPS below tanks. "The Hole". He was well-known by raid leaders for his lack of skills which eventually break apart any raids.
I told him that it was to be a 10-man raid, and gently said no.

"Well... sir, you are not intentionally avoiding me, right...? I was really thankful when you brought me to ToES last time..."
Yes... I brought him to ToES once, without knowing about him, and he did 30k DPS to the last boss. I could never forget him.
But, seeing him saying he was thankful, I suddenly felt bad and sorry.
I was like... !@#$... Was I one of the snobs who would calculate and bring only maniacs to make an easy raid...? I felt really bad, so I gave him a reply.

I was not able to gather up a full raid anyways that day, so I was able to talk to him for a long time.
He was saying: "I really want to do better DPS, but I don't know how to do that... Even if I join a raid, I don't qualify to get any gold (Translator: In all Korean servers, they pay gold to loot items, and players who didn't get any loot divide up the gold in the end, if their DPS/HPS qualify), so I can't get much gold... which again affects my gear settings. I can't join any raid nowadays. No one would bring me. I whisper, no one answers... Please help... My current guild wouldn't even help me... Please."

And I felt really really really bad. I inspected his gears. He was using Stam gems, wrong gems on red sockets, wrong enchants and everything... And the whole reforging was just totally wrong.
After an hour of trying to organize a raid, I just called it, and I was on GameTalk (Korean Vent) with him to teach him gear settings, rotations, and basic DPS strategies.
You know you don't even get "Yes" on the GameTalk nowadays?
He was answering "Yes" to every sentence I was saying, like he was spamming. He was really learning.
I wanted to bring him on to my guild, so I can keep him closely to help him as much as I can.
Then I never expected my guildies would object.

"Brother... Please don't ginvite him, please..."
"Oh, if he's coming, I'm out of this guild. Sorry."
He was that infamous, sucked too bad in many dungeons and raids. So everyone in the server knew him, and hated him.
And I didn't know my guildies were on the same boat.
Still, I asked him to join my guild, and he was like, "Is that really OK??" "Thank you so much... I will speak to my current GM first and go over there."
He was saying "thank you" multiple times, and gquitted. Then, because of my guildies' objections, I ended up not being able to ginvite him.
I didn't know what to say, and he first said: "Oh... There are people there who don't like me... That's OK! "
And I realized that he knows he was hated by many. I really didn't want him to know, but he already knew. I was even more sorry.

All I could do was just letting him know more about the game, and encouraging him to change his character name.
I don't think I helped him a lot, but he said thank you so many times, and I still feel really bad.

All my fellow players, I had so much fun playing WoW.
But one day, because of random LFG dungeons and LFR raids, we didn't have to hang out with people in the server any more. And the game got old. And people have been saying about WoW: "A game for only maniacs and hardcores. Noobs not allowed. Nothing humane about it."
Yes... I did feel that.
If you went to army, you'd know that there are all kinds of people in this world.
This guy was different too.
It took him good 4 hours to understand a few things I taught him.
He was not as fast as you are in this game. He was not as game-savvy as we are.
I even got to know some stuff about his personal life and his family situation, and there were a lot of problems.
He was old, and he was just trying to have fun playing WoW, because he was stressed from the real world out there.
He was just trying to do his best, but he was hated by many fellow players in the server, without getting any help. And I felt really bad.

If there is any warrior who can help him, please whisper me.
And people, please do not hate and bully bad players too much... Some of them are not intentionally being bad.
There are certain jackasses and losers who are intentionally being bad, but not everyone.
There are some people who really need attention and help to be better, like this person.
I will wait for your response.

----------------------------------------------------

This thread has been the top thread for this week, and the actual 'outcast' warrior posted a thread himself, saying 'sorry' to his fellow players in Zul'jin server:

----------------------------------------------------

Sub-Thread: I would like to apologize and ask for your forgiveness... I know it's late, but can you give me one more chance?

Hello, I was reading the original thread and I thought I should post one myself to speak to all of you... I am that 'outcast warrior'.
I know that I wasted much of your time in many raids and dungeons, because I was bad.
In all the raids I joined, my DPS was below any tank, and I would really like to apologize to all players who had to suffer because of my poor play.
Many people have been posting encouraging words to me, and I wanted to say something here too, so here I am.

I am indeed a bad player, as you all know.
Many people in my last guild explained how to DPS, great websites, forums, and guides, but I could not understand what they were saying. I was reading up all the posts in Inven community, but I could not get better. I didn't even know how to make macros.
WoW is my first online game ever, and it was just so difficult for me to understand certain things.
And the raid leader, who posted the original thread, taught me how to DPS, how to install add-ons like DBM, how to reforge, and how to set up gears.
And it was totally my fault that I didn't get to learn those things all this time. And I deserve to be bullied.
All my friends in Zul'jin server, I know you all hate me, but when I log on and see any of you, I really feel like all of you are my friends... In fact, I see you more often than my friends in real life... I know many of you hate me and blocked me, but please forgive me once.
Again, this was my first online game... And I made your raids 'hell' because I didn't know anything about the encounters. I apologize for that.

Can you please give me one more chance to play with you again? If I make same mistakes again and again, without fixing anything, then I will only do quests and LFRs.
I know you don't even want to see my face, but I just like being in a community. I know you do not want to see me around, so I just hide myself around mountains or corners of big cities...
And I feel so thankful to raid leaders and raiders who brought me onboard time to time... But then I was only a burden to them. I am truly sorry. Please do not hate me so much...

I really want to play with you and have fun. I know this post is not enough to forgive me, but I really want to show you that I have changed and will keep changing.
Happy New Year, and if you forgive me, I will be a better player I promise.
And for the last time, thank you to all raid leaders who tried to work with me, and sorry...

----------------------------------------------------

And even more players replied. Not just WoW players, but players from all different communities (Diablo, Starcraft, you name it) were checking the thread and posting encouraging words.

Many people cried. Many people remembered what it was like to play as newbies. Many people questioned: "Why are we not having fun any more? What happened to our good ol' WoW? What happened to us?"

People started talking about how much they sucked when they first played this game, and shared how brutal and non-forgiving they are to other players nowadays, leaving no room for mistakes or lack of skills.

I almost cried reading all those posts and threads. I myself was a newbie once. Every person starts somewhere. I remember when I was tanking on my warrior with Hypnotic Blade (spell dagger). I remember my first raid and how bad I was. I remember how many people have helped me and encouraged me to play this game on the level I am in now.

This whole incident has been a huge impact to the whole Korean WoW community that has been waning down. In many servers, there have been movements to create "Mentor Raids", in which raid leaders will give detailed guidance and mentor players to understand the raid and their classes better. It is such a positive change. And I hope this whole incident makes a positive change that will last for a long time in many people's hearts.

I remembered: This is why I play a MMORPG. This is why I play WoW. And I just wanted to share with you, so sorry for such long post.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7864486403

R U?

onibaru — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 16:41:35 +0800

u may swap WoW to FF14 as u wish...

So, the headlines say somebody else has died due to video game addiction. Yes, it's Korea again.
What the hell? Look, I'm not saying video games are heroin. I totally get that the victims had other shit going on in their lives. But, half of you reading this know a World of Warcraft addict and experts say video game addiction is a thing. So here's the big question: Are some games intentionally designed to keep you compulsively playing, even when you're not enjoying it?
Oh, hell yes. And their methods are downright creepy.

#5.
Putting You in a Skinner Box
If you've ever been addicted to a game or known someone who was, this article is really freaking disturbing. It's written by a games researcher at Microsoft on how to make video games that hook players, whether they like it or not. He has a doctorate in behavioral and brain sciences.

Quote:
"Each contingency is an arrangement of time, activity, and reward, and there are an infinite number of ways these elements can be combined to produce the pattern of activity you want from your players."
Notice his article does not contain the words "fun" or "enjoyment." That's not his field. Instead it's "the pattern of activity you want."His theories are based around the work of BF Skinner, who discovered you could control behavior by training subjects with simple stimulus and reward.

He invented the "Skinner Box," a cage containing a small animal that, for instance, presses a lever to get food pellets.
Now, I'm not saying this guy at Microsoft sees gamers as a bunch of rats in a Skinner box. I'm just saying that he illustrates his theory of game design using pictures of rats in a Skinner box.This sort of thing caused games researcher Nick Yee to once call Everquest a "Virtual Skinner Box."

So What's The Problem?
Gaming has changed. It used to be that once they sold us a $50 game, they didn't particularly care how long we played. The big thing was making sure we liked it enough to buy the next one. But the industry is moving toward subscription-based games like MMO's that need the subject to keep playing--and paying--until the sun goes supernova.
Now, there's no way they can create enough exploration or story to keep you playing for thousands of hours, so they had to change the mechanics of the game, so players would instead keep doing the same actions over and over and over, whether they liked it or not.

So game developers turned to Skinner's techniques.
This is a big source of controversy in the world of game design right now. Braid creator Jonathan Blow said Skinnerian game mechanics are a form of "exploitation." It's not that these games can't be fun. But they're designed to keep gamers subscribing during the periods when it's not fun, locking them into a repetitive slog using Skinner's manipulative system of carefully scheduled rewards.
Why would this work, when the "rewards" are just digital objects that don't actually exist? Well...

#4
[http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-cre...u-addicted.html[/URL]

Fate Grinding Guide

onibaru — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 11:06:59 +0800

Hey Team,

People seem to always be asking where to level. If you aren't following quests and have not been to a specific area yet, FFXIV does not make it very easy to know the area's level range.

So here is a helpful guide that hopefully can alleviate any problems.

Ahead I list the zones, level range of monsters, and fates you will expect to find there.

The FATEs that I list range occasionally because the 1-5 FATE kinda mixes with the 5-10 FATE. It's kinda an approximation and not 100% accurate.

*AREAS IN BOLD ARE MY RECOMMENDED SPOTS*

*EBEN'S FATE GRINDING TIPS!*
-You do not need to stick around for the entire FATE.
-If you feel comfortable that you have done enough to receive full exp for the fate, you can leave early to join another FATE that may have popped.
-This will help you optimize maximum exp potential.
-Make sure to join a party. Often if you shout in an area that you are "looking for group" someone will pick you up.
-Being in a party not only allows you to receive bonuses to parameters, it allows you to share everyone's exp they are getting from monsters begin killed.
-There is also a group contribution feature so it is easier to get a gold medal.
-It also allows you to use a limit break.

Enjoy!

LEVEL 1-5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*WESTERN THANALAN*: Scorpion Crossing (3 fates)
CENTRAL THANALAN: Southwest of Black Brush Station (4-5 fates)
LOWER LA NOSCEA: South of Red Rooster Stead (3-4 fates)
MIDDLE LA NOSCEA: South of Summerford Farms (3-4 fates)
CENTRAL SHROUD : Zone out of Gridania (3-4 fates)
NORTH SHROUD : Zone out of Gridania (2-3 fates)

LEVEL 5-10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*WESTERN THANALAN*: West of Scorpion Crossing (5-8 fates)
CENTRAL THANALAN: Black Brush Station/North (4-6 fates)
LOWER LA NOSCEA: North of Red Rooster Stead (4-5 fates)
MIDDLE LA NOSCEA: West of Summerford Farms (4-6 fates)
CENTRAL SHROUD: Bannock (4-5 fates)
NORTH SHROUD: South of Hyrstmill (4-6 fates)

LEVEL 10-15
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*WESTERN THANALAN*: Vesper Bay/Horizon (4-6 fates)
-This whole area is great, the Horizon side is lower level you could actually hit there around 7 or 8. The Vesper Bay side is higher level, good place to FATE grind with a group.
-"Bubble Trouble" lv.13: Vesper side has a Bubbly Bernie crab fight that is pretty good. Reference to a FF11 NM.
CENTRAL THANALAN: East of Black Brush (3-4 fates)
LOWER LA NOSCEA: Moraby Dry Docks (4 fates)
MIDDLE LA NOSCEA: North of Summerford (5 fates)
WESTERN LA NOSCEA: Swiftperch (5-6 fates)
CENTRAL SHROUD: North of Bannock/S of Bent Branch (5-7
EAST SHROUD: West of Hawthorne Hut (3-4 fates)

LEVEL 15-20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EASTERN THANALAN: Camp Drybone Area (7-9 fates)
*WESTERN LA NOSCEA*: Aleport (6-7 fates)
-Should be noted Skull Valley is loaded with tons of fates spanning lvs 15-19. Many regard this as the best FATE grind for lvs 13-20.
EAST SHROUD: East of Hawthorne Hut (5-6 fates)

LEVEL 20-25
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WESTERN THANALAN: North of Vesper Bay (5 fates)
UPPER LA NOSCEA: (1-2 fates)
-"Simurgh is the Word" lv.23: Surprisingly quick fight against a planty bird like dragon. Pretty straight forward fight watch AoE's, Courel pups spawn near him take care. Decent exp.
EAST SHROUD: North of Hawthorne Hut (2-3 fates)
-"Lazy for You" lv.20: Fight Lazy Laurence a giant ochu. Watch out for his minions as they multiply quickly. Battle takes awhile but great exp reward for the level. You receive a mini fungus minion as a reward as well.
*SOUTH SHROUD*: East and West of Quarrymill (6-8 fates)
-Area is absolutely loaded with fates. My personal favorite place for levels 20ish-30. I leave in later 20's to 30's and head to Costa Del Sol. -South Shroud Below in 25-30 range also pertains to these comments.

LEVEL 25-30
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EASTERN THANALAN: Highbridge (5 fates)
-"Attack on Highbridge Act1-4" lv.26: There is a multiple chain FATE here. You fight Quqirn and can rack up lot's of exp.
SOUTHERN THANALAN: Little Ala Mhigo (6 fates)
NORTH SHROUD: West of Fallgourd Float (4 fates)
*SOUTH SHROUD*: Quarrymill (3-5 fates)
-"The Courel King" lv.29: East of Quarrymill is an area called Taker's Rot, There is a 3 part FATE. Good exp!

LEVEL 30-35
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOUTHERN THANALAN: Area around Forgotten Springs (5 fates)
*EASTERN LA NOSCEA*: Costa Del Sol (7-8 fates)
-The Bloodshore is packed with great fates and frequent parties. Great place for this level range possibly even a little sooner.
-"It's Not Lupus" lv.32: Fight Cancer a giant crab. Lot's exp is gained from this fight and upon completion you receive a smallshell crab minion.
-The FATE with the bombs can get pretty annoying to target, you can activate a balloon to attract all the bombs towards you.
-The FATE with the Giant Aurochs can be hard as well because they die so fast, just try you best.
-Lv. 34-35 head over to Dragonhead in Coerthas.
CENTRAL SHROUD: Northeast of Bent Branch (4-5 fates)
SOUTH SHROUD: Camp Tranquil (4-5 fates)
COERTHAS CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: First Dicastrial Observatorium of Aetherial and Astrological Phenomena

LEVEL 35-40
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*EASTERN LA NOSCEA*: South of Wineport
-Decent alternative to Dragonhead. (see below)
UPPER LA NOSCEA: Camp Bronze Lake
SOUTH SHROUD: Northeast of Camp Tranquil
*COERTHAS CENTRAL HIGHLANDS*: Camp Dragonhead
-Come here around lv.34-35 once you are done with Costa Del Sol.
-Lots of great FATEs and lots of parties.
-There is a three part FATE here where you slay the dragon Svara for some great exp.
-Unfortunately PS3 users and low end computer users may experience crippling lag here due to large amounts of people. The snow weather is fairly constant and can make the game really crawl.
-The other spots on the list are still viable options.

LEVEL 40-45
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NORTHERN THANALAN: Camp Bluefrog
EASTERN THANALAN: Southeast of Highbridge
COERTHAS CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: Whitebrim
*MOR DHONA*: Revenant's Toll
-Great place for some exp lvs 37+
-Most groups will rotate between here and Nothern Thanalan.

LEVEL 45-50
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOUTHERN THANALAN: South of Ala Mhigo
*NORTHERN THANALAN*: Cerulean Processing Plant
-You can hit this baby up around lv. 42 and take her all the way home to 50. Great spot to get exp and grind some FATEs.
WESTERN LA NOSCEA: Northwest of Aleport
OUTER LA NOSCEA: Camp Overlook
EAST SHROUD: Northeastern part of map
NORTH SHROUD: East and North of Fallgourd Float
SOUTH SHROUD: Small section Southeast of Quarrymill (Odin area)

Original author __Eben

FF X|4 PS4 news

onibaru — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 21:39:30 +0800

In an announcement at their Japan Asia Press Conference 2013, Sony Computer Entertainment said that Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn will see the launch of the beta on February 22nd, 2014 for the PlayStation 4 at the same time the console hits that region.

Sony also stated that players for the already released PlayStation 3 version would be able to transfer data and move up to the PlayStation 4 version at no additional cost.

from reddit regarding money deflation at 50

onibaru — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 22:04:11 +0800

I'm a 50 Paladin and a full repair costs me about 4k...Uh, not sure how to keep up with that.

permalinkparent
[–][First] [Last] on [Server]Beefmotron 12 points 2 days ago
Get an armorsmith to repair it.

permalinkparent
[–]pjb0404 57 points 2 days ago
I am an armorsmith.

permalinkparent
[–][First] [Last] on [Server]Beefmotron 44 points 2 days ago
Dear god.

Post ur most memorable xp in A Realm Reborn

onibaru — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 18:42:12 +0800

Doing the Lichyard quests in Thanalan.
In a way, it does touch my feelings.

Ur favourite BGM so far

onibaru — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 00:11:33 +0800

Ul'Dah at night

so soothing to listen

Hunting Log Mobs

onibaru — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 14:04:07 +0800

Spriggan Graverobber = Central Thanalan - Black Brush
Exact Location = # Central Thanalan - Sil'dih Excavation Site #

FF14 dx11

onibaru — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 16:57:06 +0800

Enjoy....

[attachmentid=3601721] [attachmentid=3601723] [attachmentid=3601725]

[attachmentid=3601726] [attachmentid=3601727] [attachmentid=3601728]

[attachmentid=3601729]

Diablo inferno beaten coop

onibaru — Sun, 20 May 2012 02:44:51 +0800

world first 4 man party
76 hours 44mins game time
watched live on twitch tv... 13k viewers

eu rules lol

Proton

onibaru — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:35:37 +0800

old but funny

"We don’t know what Malaysian motorists did to upset the gods, but it must have been something pretty serious, judging by the punishment they seem to be getting. Still, at least the domestic audience thinks this stuff is the norm – what on earth do they think they’re doing bringing it to the UK? Walk away.".....Top Gear