Hello and welcome, fellow gamers and MMO enthusiasts. Welcome to the very first episode of our podcast
Behind the Shield. Get ready to dive deep into the furry world of MMORPGs with particular
focus on the unsung heroes of the battlefield, the mighty tanks. I'm T.C. Lee, your host
for this exciting journey, and alongside me is my amazing co-host and partner in crime
the ultimate authority on all things World of Warcraft, tanking related, none other than
Mazeroth. Hello, hello, how's it going? Blindsided me with that one. Yeah, so together we're
here to kind of bring an insight in discussions, expert tips, entertaining conversation about
all things tank related. Before we kick off this adventure, we're going to tell you a
little bit about ourselves. Mazeroth and I have spent countless hours immersing ourselves
into vast landscapes of MMO games. We've both been part of incredible communities for a
very long period of time, battling all kinds of monsters, conquering virtual realms, and
we're going to kind of really dive into that. So speaking of games, I've firstly played
a wide variety of MMOs throughout my gaming career, from the classics like World of Warcraft
Tibia, the Elder Scrolls Online, and even up and coming titles, we've kind of started
to look into those as well. We'll share our experiences and tales from these virtual worlds
discussing what we love, what's portrayed us, and what keeps us coming back for more
You might be wondering why tanking? Well, that is a great question. Mazeroth and I find
ourselves drawn to the noble art of tanking in MMOs. We'll dive into reasons behind our
pattern, explore the unique challenges, the adrenaline rush of holding the line, and the
satisfaction of leading our party to victory. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows, it's
behind these shields. We'll discuss the downsides, the frustrations, and the stress that comes
along with the tanking role, and how to overcome these obstacles. So without further ado, let's
jump right into it. So it's time to introduce you to the amazing world of tanking. So World
of Warcraft tanking extraordinaire himself, Mazeroth. Just give us a little bit of information
about yourself, mate. I've been playing WoW pretty well, on and off for a long time, but lately it's been
well on for many, many years. I started back in the baby MW days, and I started really
raiding in Cataclysm a lot more, which I had all three tanks, all three plate tanks, leveled
up in heroic raiding at the time. There was no mythic when that was the primary form of
content, so I was pretty much doing that at the highest level. I didn't have bear at the
time, but bear wasn't really... it really wasn't quite the tank spec. It was an off-to-the-feral
at the time, so if you're a WoW buff back there, remember that one. It's a little bit
different. I've always found myself prone to tanking, mainly because I really like the
support role and things like that. Another thing is, it's one of those jobs where when
it's done right, it's a good clean run. Everything goes great, you're having a good time, it's
a good clean raid, and when the tanking is even slightly off-balance or off-kilter, it
is just frustrating beyond belief for every other role, and it's amazing how one or two
people can affect, you know, five to thirty, forty, depending on your raid size, right
I'll just do it myself. I think a lot of people do get into tanking just from that. Oh, nobody's doing it right
no one's doing it correct, no one's doing it very good, I'm just going to do it
Or nobody's doing it at all. You can do whatever content you want
Exactly. So obviously you're a streamer on Switch, you've got your own YouTube channel
as well, and obviously creating content on the Tank Hub website. By myself, obviously
I'm PC Lee, I've been playing MMO games for 20 years now, starting off with Tibia when
I was a kid, up until more recently, the Elder Scrolls Online for about the last ten years
and I got into tanking myself as well. I had my own raid team over on Xbox, and our tanks
had left the group, so again, there was no tank, so I was like, right, I know how to
do this, I'm going to take over the tank role, and then that was it
And so from that, we've kind of developed over the last few years to becoming a tank
content creator. That stems from such a lack of content being available, and I've just
enjoyed helping people, I was always kind of doing that before I started getting into content creation, and then that's how the Tank Hub came about, we got the website going
started making all the videos, and here we are today. So, that is it really. So, I guess the first thing really is, why do we tank? So, what
are your reasons, Motherox, for tanking? In the grand scheme of things, what is it that
keeps you all going? In MMO, there is a form of content called Mythic Plus, and this is where the dungeon
is based on a system where it's an infinitely scaling, challenging content, and back when
I got back into WoW, when I first got back, I had left for a couple years, came back
I was, my friends were like, our guild needs a warlock, we need a warlock right after the
raid, and I'm like, cool, let's go, and all my tanks were a couple levels away, I could
just tank, and I'm like, I'm a warlock, but trying to get into that Mythic Plus content
as a warlock back then was impossible. You were spinning, just applying to literally
everything, getting spam declined, and I was watching tanks just laugh at hit one, hey
can I do this one? And point one second later to get an invite, and I'm like, dude, don't
get out, this is a fun set, I love it, but I mean, I could just do that
Yeah, well there you go. And I immediately leveled up another tank, and I had a tank, and I never looked back
and at that point I was like, we all can find another warlock, I'm tanking, but, for content
right, it's Mythic Plus and things like that, and after that it was, there's currently six
tank sections in World of Warcraft, and it was just, okay, I've gotten all my goals done
with one, let's level up another, and now I'm at the point now where every single season
that starts up I have all six work for a ready to go, and I'm tanking on every single one
of them. One of the things that prompted me to start this channel and go with WoW specifically
was, when I was looking up guides, is everyone tells you how to play at the highest level
but this is a game that no one tells you what baby steps you have to take along the way
Where your struggles are going to be, where your little rotation issues are happening
where the synergies with certain talents are, and it's just, instead of just, here
copy, paste this build here, and hit buttons, this is why you're hitting these buttons
This is why you want to do this, and be aware of this, this, and this, and take those baby
steps along the way, and I even offer more beginner-friendly, beginner-friendly styled
like, talent options and things like that. Everything they've written here is 100% true
When you're in an organized group in a class 25, but if you're just wrapping your absolute
pants in your first class 5, just take the ease, you're going to be fine, and you're
not going to change anything. You're just going to live, and you're going to hold more
threats. That's what it's about. I think this is a big thing for myself as well, like, as I progress into other games
and look for new content, there's already plenty of content there for a lot of games
but it's not beginner-friendly. There's nothing there for the new players, because people
just assume that everyone's already there, and there's people still trying out games, older games, and I think, when I first started creating content, I wanted everyone to be
optimized, and I was trying to teach people, okay, this is the best class, this is the best race, this is the best everything, and kind of really guide people, and I had the
wrong kind of mentality when I first started making content, because I was like, you can
only do this, and this is the only way to play, because this is complete, this raid
content, the trial content, this is how you do the veteran content, and then after a little
while, I started to think, why am I trying to cater to these endgame players who already
know what they're doing, and that's when my content really started to take off more, was
when I started to think, okay, the people that are actually typing into what they're
doing, like, if you're an endgame player, and you don't need my help, so I'm kind of
creating content for nothing in some ways, and then I'm giving content to people that
aren't ready for it, and they're unable to achieve what I'm trying to sell them, and it's good to have that, like, push on that a little bit, so people have got something
to work towards, but at the same time, the people who need help are those beginner players
who don't know what they're doing, and even now when I go and play new games, like I recently played Star Wars The Old Republic, and I still can't find, like, the beginner information
that might be useful, like, what do you need to do, what do you do once you get to the level count, I still can't find that content, so there's opportunity there to go, right
I'm going to create that myself, because I can't find it anywhere, what do you do as
a beginner? Everyone just expects, that game's been out a long time, you're going to be an
endgame player, but I've only just started playing, I've got no idea, and I'm sure there's other people like me in that same situation
And it's like, you're seeing all the information from every other season, and every other patch
and all of that now irrelevant information, because none of it is accurate anymore, right
So, there's so much, like, old information out there as well, like, you type in any game
tank build, tank guide, all the stuff pops up from years ago. Well, if you say generate views and revenue, I'm not taking my notes
Exactly, this is it. I think, um, one of the kind of reasons why I like to tank, so, if
you kind of look deeper into it, from, like, MMO, RPG games, it's like a bit more complex
than just being, I just tanked because I was needed to, like, that was kind of a little
bit of it, but I would say as well, in my life, I've kind of come to realize that I
embody the role of a tank, even outside of the gaming world as well, so, just like a
tank provides a strong, protected shell, I'm the pillar of strength for my family, do you
know what I mean? Like, I'm a single dad. I feel that, yeah. And I think, like, that is part of it as well, so I guide them through our challenges, I
shield them away from harm, I overcome, we overcome those obstacles as, like, a unit
and that's kind of like the embodiment of that MMO RPG tank, so I feel like I transfer
that, that mindset kind of carried over into my gaming life as well, because that is kind
of how I kind of view the world in a lot of ways, so, yeah, and I find, obviously, a lot
of satisfaction by being a powerful tank, so, yeah, I think that has a lot to do with
it as well, not just the gaming side, but the real-life mentality side as well. Yeah
It's quite a good thing, yeah, like, I can reverberate off that statement quite as well
but also, I've always had, like, whenever I've played a new game or anything, I've always
kind of deviated a little bit more to the support role, and that's always been really
really fun for me, but in a game that has a holy trinity, you know, tank, healer, DPS
support is really not an easy thing, right, and tank and healers tend to fall into some
sort of subcategories of support, to a nice degree, it's not obviously a full support
class, but, I mean, it can be in some spec, like, there are certain specs in WoW now where
you're off the island, you're providing damage immunity, you're doing a bunch of different
stuff, and, you know, all while doing the primary role of tanking, and that's something
that I've always kind of resonated with really really well. Not to say that you shouldn't be supporting stuff with DPS, by the way, where tanking
is, use utilities, but, you know, it's primate and all the, utility-based mechanics tend
to fall on tank and healer first to do, because the faster the encounter dies, the faster
you get through it, so you want more damage, so you have to choose the two lower-the-damage-dealing
specs or roles to get it done, and I'm fine with that, like, that's okay, but that's kind
of where I was going, alright, yeah, I'll get that, I'll get that, I got it, I got it
I got it, and it's kind of like, how much more can I get? That's become the little game, how much more can I get
How much more can I get? I always start to regret being a tank quite early on, because I always think to myself
well, I'm going to start a new game, so like, let's say, I start playing the new MMO, I'm
going to be a tank, because that's my thing, that's what I want to do, but it's when you
start to get into the group content, that's when I start to think, I don't know what I'm
doing, now I'm a bit nervous, because I don't want to make mistakes, I don't want to, like
make it hard for my group, and so, I don't know, I try to find what communities out there
to join so that it doesn't seem as bad, because I just, I don't know, I like being the tank
role, I like being that kind of leader, I like guiding people towards that victory and
overcoming those hurdles and all that kind of stuff, but although I do feel like I am
a strong leader character, it's difficult to actually hop in, like, when I did play
World of Warcraft at the start of the year, and like, that kind of really put me off a
little bit in some ways, where I'm a very, very confident tank in the Elder Scrolls Online
I'm like, alright, I'll be able to play World of Warcraft, and then find out it's a bit
more detailed than I was expecting, there's a bit more intricacy to it, and then as you
go into the group content, people just expect you to know everything, and because I'm going
in with no idea whatsoever, and I'm instantly, like, really became quite nervous and anxious
about fitting into that group content now, in other games, because of the anxiety that
has kind of developed a little bit from my underperformance in that game, but I think
like, it was World of Warcraft, I didn't actually know what it is, I hadn't done enough research
but then, when you are doing a random dungeon, how can you research of what's going to happen
and I was trying to sit there and read through the different accounts of the dungeon before, right, let's do the random dungeon, but it's going to be 1 of 10, let's have a look at
the mechanics and see what might, but yeah, like, it's, I do find it like, a little bit
stressful in that regards, of hopping into a new game, I choose that tank role because
I just like the idea of it, and I obviously want to create content from that role, I know
there's an opportunity for content in that role, but then, when it actually gets to the
content, the stress starts to kick in a little bit. Don't know the mechanics, don't know the story, and wow, that's basically what I expect to
get from anybody looking at tank in World of Warcraft, was, there's 200-some dungeons
by now, like, that you could, and you are not going to know every single one of them
I, as much as I've tanked for all the years, and have tried to do all the dungeons that
I can, I can't, but one of the things that I've noticed that's helped me be better in
the dungeon that I don't know, or the content I don't know, is the worst thing you can do
is be quiet about it. Yeah. And act like you know it, and just see if you can power through it
The best resources are the other people in your party. Often times, where I may have leveled a DPS or a healer or somebody, just to kind of enjoy
it, to get it in my off time, and be like, come on, I just want a few hours of brain
dead leveling, man, like I want to enjoy it. I'll end up in group content, with new tanks, and like, after the first couple of pulls
I'm like, you don't know what you're doing, do you? Like, do you want some help
I can help guide you along the route and things like that, and they're like, oh yeah, but you need to be receptive to that as well, right
But if you jump off the cliff early on, and you say, hey look, I don't know this place
I don't know this, you know, I'm still kind of learning some things, there's four other
people in there, and while there might be a couple of pricks, because that's just humanity
in general, there's usually always a really nice person that's like, don't worry about
it, I got you, I'll mark your way. Just follow the markers I put along the way, and we'll get through it, and I'll tell you
to stop before there's any big boss or something, and be like, okay, this is what they do
And you get through it, right? Yeah, absolutely. But where I've seen things go awry is people don't say anything, and just try and pretend
like they know everything and power through it, and then are completely unreceptive to
any sort of feedback that people are trying to give them, and sometimes it's in being
spirited, but sometimes it's not. Just because someone says you're doing something wrong doesn't mean they're insulting you as
a person, there's a big difference. Absolutely. Right, and that's one thing with WOW that I've noticed a lot, is you have a lot easier
times, you just open up about being you and you don't know, right
Because everybody just wants to complete the content. Everyone's going in there and just wants to get it done
Right, that's the whole goal. We go into the dungeon, we time it. Or we go into the dungeon, we finish it
But as things start going wrong, people start going like, what is happening
Yeah, I think that's one of the good things about streaming. I do like playing these new games, and then that brings in fresh viewers from that game
and then I quite like people to actually, in my streams when I'm playing a new game
they'll be like, oh, hey, do you know you can do this, this, and this? Somebody on my Discord today, in fact, posted some hints and tips, because they re-watched
my stream, watched me doing a dungeon in Star Wars The Elder Republic as a tank, and it's
like the first time I've ever done the hard dungeon. And they were like, oh, these are the few things that you can fix
And it's like, that's great. I'm quite open to criticism, I'm quite open to feedback and information, because I think
this is why, again, for me I like to be a tank, because I like to be a leader, I've
got a real high attention to detail, and I'm a fast learner. So making sense of all the information people give me, and then going, right, now I'm going
to go and perform better than I did before, I'm going to go and do more
I've learnt from my mistakes, I've figured things out, people have helped me out, and then go and take that to the next level in the game
And that's how I improve so drastically in such a short space of time, is from taking
that information and listening to people. I'm never like a closed book
I like to listen to that feedback, you know what I mean? A quick little, slightly off-topic question, but kind of on the same thing
Do you have different builds for when you're streaming and you know you want to rechat
Like, I have certain tank builds that when I'm playing, I know they're not right, but
they're ten times easier, so I can literally just look at screen and look at chat for most
of the time and still have that button. Again, a lot of times when I'm rotating, I know I'm losing cameras and I know I'm not
doing it right, the best that I could, but it's a whole lot easier for me to stay alive
and rechat. Alright, but I'll tell you, I have done similar things
I've got a couple of examples. If I'm in a group, I'm not excited, right
Because you've got to, obviously, what's the point in streaming if you don't have any interaction with the people in your chat
The whole point is they're watching you for the entertainment, they want the interactions
So, I mean, I have set up builds, or I'll just do less with the builds that I've got
knowing that I've got certain things where I've set up more defensively and I can just stand there and take more damage and I'm not going to die
And I do take those kind of things into consideration. And it also depends on what sort of content I'm doing
If I'm just doing a random trial where I've sort of grouped together and there's 12 people
we're going to go and do it, we're just going to get the clear. No one's checking the uptime, no one's really bothered, but just the intention is to clear it
And I'm just going to go on the easiest set-up possible and I'm just going to clear the content
because that's what we're there for. But when it gets down to that more stressful stuff, right, today we're doing No Deaf Harm
Launched Beaverin. Oh, well, I've lost my focus of the radio for the next hour
It's not too bad though. I think you can split it. If you want to watch this real top-tier content, here's me doing this
And I am going to be quiet. But then when I'm doing this chill content, here's my other set-up
I'm just going to be rocking it. I'm kind of wondering if I'm the only person that did that
No, definitely not. I mean, why are you picking these talents? Like, why
Because I can live while not even watching the game. I think that's it
I mean, there's been occasions as well where it's like the start of a new progression
Right, well, we're not expecting, like, I'm not going to put maximum work times because
we're going to have like a million deaths. But why would I put in maximum, maximum effort at these early stages
I'm just going to chill. I've got a different raid leader. I haven't got to say anything. We're going to just mute the monitors and the chat for the screen while we're doing it
And we can kind of do two things at once because it's really close by. And yeah, we're kind of setting up that way
And then as it gets further into the progression, it's like, right, I've started to get more
kind of automated with how I'm playing, but now I need to add in those additional things
those extra buffs, those extra debuffs that I was missing because obviously there's a bug in the chat
Now I need to kind of shift it a little bit. But yeah, definitely, definitely runs kind of slightly different
So I was always curious about that. I'm like, I'm the only person that does that. Yeah
So long to stop. Yeah, it's got to be done. It's got to be done. You got anything, you got anything to say
Well, exactly. You've got to keep people entertained and, you know, you've got to keep people entertained. And you've got to keep people entertained. And you've got to keep people entertained
And you've got to keep people entertained. And you've got to keep people entertained. And you've got to keep people entertained. And you've got to keep people entertained. Yeah
Well, exactly. You've got to keep people entertained. And that's one of the things. What is it like that keeps you playing
Like, well, specifically, because I know you've played World of Warcraft for a long time now. What is it that keeps you playing that specific game
What's kept you hooked in for this long? What keeps you hooked in every new season that comes around? There's always something to do for $18 a month
I have played a lot of games that are like that. I've played a lot of games that are like that. I've played a lot of games that are like that
I've played a lot of games that are like that. I've played a lot of games that are like that. I've played a lot of games that are like that
I've played a lot of games that are like that. Yeah. And we've done them in weeks. Literally, like, $300-$400 in new video games is spent in a couple weeks, and within two
weeks of that, all the campaigns are done, and I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like
I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like
I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like
I have an infinitely scaling, challenging content system that can be as challenging as I want
I have 20 years worth of back content that I can go through and clear and just have fun and be around and whatever
There's, you know, there's new raids every season. There's transmog farming, melt farming, collectible farming
There's, you know, and then there's just a ton of people that are always playing
Yeah, it makes sense. If you really want, there's always something to do. I was on that content, of course, and it can get kind of boring if, you know, a little bit late in the season
the raid got a little stale, you've hunted a little bit too much, you know, the dungeons are kind of all the same
you've hit all your goals, and now you're just kind of like whatever, your characters are geared
But there still is always something to do, and honestly, it cost $18 a month. Yeah
But it's all getting on. I love the games. Especially if you look at the gaming industry in the past 10 years, a lot of these games are being released on Finnix
and not in a great state. I'm not paying a hundred of my dollars for a game that's not done with the promise that it could be
If I'm paying that much money for a new game, I want to be able to play that fucking game right now
and I have been saddened, right? Yeah. I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that games now have this mindset where they can finish it once it's launched
because they can patch games now. Whereas, like, you go back 15 years, and they couldn't really patch a game
so they had to make sure it was all perfect when it released, or as best as they could do
But then also, like, it was kind of faster to develop certain games years ago
because the technology wasn't as advanced as it is now. So we've got the advancement in technology, everything's more detailed
But then also, we can just patch it later. Like, when you look at, I don't know, Cyberpunk as a game
that was probably, I've never seen a game so broken and unfinished, like, on release
I was predicting that. I had seen it, and I was like, that looks great, my buddy was excited, and I'm like, something tells me, man
I've been burned in the past by a lot of these games I've been excited about. I don't know what it is, but be wary
As day one, he's like, how did you know? And I'm like, these promises that they make, it's kind of the same
It's, I don't know, they come to the moon, and they deliver you a rock, man
With MMOs in particular, I think, once you kind of latch on to one
you've got to stick around, especially if you've kind of got to make friends in the game
start to develop those communities, those bonds with people, because that's the main draw, I would say, with those MMORPG kind of games
Because in terms of the game player side of things, so many games are just a similar thing again and again and again
What's the reason to go and leave that game you've invested 10 years into
to go and play something brand new? And then I also see a lot of these kind of retro-style MMO games
which are just crappy games that are trying to create that nostalgia effect
for people to come and join them. But I don't see the reason why you'd abandon a game you've put so much time into
for 10, 15 years to go and play a new, old-looking game
I don't really understand a lot of that, and especially when they're not doing anything new or interesting
I think there's been a big stagnation in that, and I think that's a lot of the reason..
That's what it is. Nostalgia is a little temporary. You don't go back to a game for no reason with nostalgia
That's not how it works. If that was the case, World of Warcraft would just be doing the same thing
it's ever done in vanilla, and we'd never put any new systems or anything in
It's loud and updated and fresh for the current times. Yes, there's a backlog of content to do
but even the raids, if you look at the way the raids have evolved over the last 18 years
it's called the same thing. You could call them two totally different instances from vanilla
How? Get away with it. You have to try and keep things fresh enough to a point of what it is
The thing that's kept me playing specifically the Elder Scrolls Online for so long
was it was the guild. It was the fact that I was motivated by the progression of doing the harder content
It was doing those no-deaths, those hard modes, those speedruns. I liked the trial content with 12 people, raid content basically
That motivated me for a really long time. But then all of my friends started to leave the game last year
That's where now I've started to want to play other games and go and experience other things
Because before the start of this year, I'd only ever played, I think, two, maybe three different MMO games, really
Now we're looking at, I've played probably about 10 or 15. Because I've really ramped up my
I need to go explore other options. I want to go and enjoy the content
I also want to try and create a new perspective of things. When I go back now and play the Elder Scrolls Online
I've got different perspectives of how things could be done. I'm able to come up with new strategies for how things might work
Because I've played these other games. I've played World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, Guild Wars, Star Wars
Kind of everything, really. Now I take that and I go back
But I don't have the same attachment as I used to for ESO anymore
It's just gone away a little bit. Just because I don't have those really strong bonds
and those relationships that I did have. Did Elder Scrolls have a mass exodus or something
What happened there? Was it just specifically the people around you started playing
Or was it a large portion of the population just dipped? It's not the whole population
It's mostly the raiding communities that diminished. Around this time last year, there was an announcement
where they posted a list of changes that were going to happen to combat
They were very, very negative. Most people really didn't like them. Then they brought out the PCS, the test server
People went on there and the changes were absolutely horrific. They tried to claw some of it back, which they managed to do
Obviously they reduced bosses' health and stuff like that. They thought, why are we changing this stuff
if we're then making things to make people do more damage? We're reducing bosses' health. It didn't really make any sense
People lost faith in the developers of the game. Even though they've repaired some of those things now
and the game's in a good place with the most recent chapter, Necom, people aren't willing to come back because they've lost their trust
in the people developing the game because of the drastic, massive, humongous changes they planned to make
Some of them they did backtrack on. I do think the game's in a good place, but it's just caused such a loss of that end game community
It wasn't a big community in the first place. It's a very casual game and there's a lot of players in the game
but there's a very small end game community. When those players were gone, it was almost impossible to get grades
at the end of last year. That's when I was like, I'm going to go and play this stuff
9.1.5 could very well be known as the patch that ended up killing. Really
It weren't patch 10.1.5, but 9.1.5 last expansion, it could end up being the patch that killed last
There was a mass exodus from the game and literally you would see
like right now I'm just kind of hanging out in the main pub city or whatever for my shards and play
There's so many people here. There was like two. Wow. They did a lot of bad decisions
but also when the whole sexual harassment thing kind of was all coming out
But 9.1.5 was also a really, really bad patch. Yeah, so it combined those two things together
It just was a spark of Cartman saying, screw this, I'm going home
We'll see how the future holds. They wanted to do the Dragonflight and they started building back the population
and saying, hey, look, we understand. 9.1, sorry, my mistake. Let's recount that. 9.1
9.1.5 is when everything got really, really good for WoW again, is when they started making all the righteous noise
We're sorry. We're sorry. We've heard you. We're going to start balancing
We're going to start doing these things. 9.1.5 was great. 9.1 was when you say that was a really, really bad patch
It's about step one, isn't it? Taking accountability. And the same thing happened with the other stores online
So at the end of the year, there was a letter they posted out
and they started to kind of say, well, we're going to change things now. So they brought out a new class this year, which was the first time
in about three or four years, I think. The content that's coming up in the next patch
in a couple of the PCF in a couple of weeks, that's focused entirely on bug fixing
So they've completely abandoned adding two more dungeons to the game and gone, we're just going to bug fix the hell out of stuff
So that's great to hear and quality of life stuff. And then the last update of the year is usually kind of boring
if I'm being honest, where they just bring out a new zone, but there's not really any trials
There's no raids. There's no dungeons. There's not really anything to do. You can run through it in two hours and then it's done
And then what can you do until March or the next year, I think, when you've got nothing? But this year, they've added in this new game mode
which is a nice thing to fix. It's a runless dungeon. They've such accountability
they're starting to make changes that are positive. And it's just now kind of seeing it through
and seeing if we can bring those players back. But it's also having to develop those new relationships
find new guilds to join. But when you've played the game for a long
it's also difficult to kind of just go and join a guild and then start interacting with people. And I think now as well for myself
one of the big times where I was really, really active was during COVID when I had a lot of free time
So I had my guilds, I was in guilds, I was very chatty and active and speak to people daily
I was hopping into voice chats. Whereas now, I'm so short on the available time
to just go and hang out in a discord and go and chat to people
But it's much more difficult to develop those bonds and relationships where you're hooked in
and you've reeled in because you're part of that team, you're part of that guild, so you want to be involved there
I am in a little team still in the US, like a little dungeon team
We run a couple of nights a week, and that's fun. But I don't have that same kind of drive
that I used to for the raid content and that end game stuff. It's just not there at the minute
But obviously it's a game that I care a lot about. I've invested a lot of time. So in the future, I might play it again
But yeah, games that keep me playing, obviously the reason I keep playing them
new interesting content, you know what I mean? Exploring new things. I think that's why now I'm enjoying new games
is because I do like that fresh start. I do like the new situations where I'm learning
So I love to learn stuff. And then I love to see that progression getting better
I like to start, well, I'm going to hop into that new piece of content today. And that's really motivating
And obviously I don't have that so much anymore, even though there is new raids and new dungeons and ESRs
I don't have that same draw as I used to. Sometimes you just need a whole new world to explore. Yeah
That's why I'm really looking hard and past the creations. War of Dragon Rock still has my attention right now
where I'm like, all right. Terran Clan is another one. You play that, I will rewatch one of your parts
Terran Clan, yeah. That was still exploring quite a bit. I'm not a huge fan of this being on mobile, but yeah
It was good enough, right? Like, I don't care. I don't know
I don't think we're handling that. Like, I just couldn't believe. So obviously playing on the beta, log in
I'm like, I don't know if this game is going to be a mobile game. I'm shocked that this is going to be on mobile as well
Like, that's awesome in some ways, because like if I want to chill, sat in bed
oh, I'm going to hop in and run a bit of a story quest
while I'm doing nothing. And then like, right, let's hop on a piece
and do some Dungeons & Dragons or whatever. But yeah, I am excited for the future
but I'm also nervous about stuff that gets overhyped. Do you know what I mean
Like, I think Throne & Liberty, I don't know if you've seen that one, massive hype around Throne & Liberty
And then they did a beta test and it was all like, also play
It was like, a little bit of combat and really kind of like outdated
Like it's something that's been hyped for years and then it's, yeah. So it's a nervous time as well to kind of..
I think with all the shakeup that the game developers have had in the MMO scene in recent years
you know, we're starting to see the fruits of a lot of labor from people leaving
going on their own, joining smaller indie companies or things like that
And I think that's why it's been quiet on the MMO front for so long
Because we really haven't had a big MMO launch of any piece of type at all
I mean, here or there, but it used to be a lot more. Yeah, of course
And the games that we're playing now all had a lot more content being ramped up
But, you know, Blizzard had a massive shakeup, Riot had a shakeup. Everyone's kind of
everyone split apart in shaking, but in this new shakeup of, you know
new devs forming, new companies and things like that, we're now starting to see gameplay footage
We're now starting to see alpha footage of this is what we're working on
And a lot of this looks really good and these are all sort of people
that made the games that we love like World of Warcraft and Yso
and, you know, Final Fantasy 14 or whatever. And all of those games are kind of to the point now
of those original creators with all of those ideas were like, well, I want to do something new. Yeah
We're starting to see what that something new is and what's possible with people that are
with a company that's willing to take things up or things like that. I'm definitely kind of excited for what's to come
And that, from a creator standpoint, I think you've got to be on the lookout for that as well
because we both have put so much time into like MMORPG and kind of stuff
We've got to look out for that next big thing. What can we look into next
What can we do to shape things up? How much fun can we go and have
taking the knowledge that we've got and what we've built up already in how we expect things to be
and how can we apply that to the games? And I think as well, with that kind of, let's say, expertise in some ways
we've got a bit of an opportunity to help the development of future games
Like I was recently on the play test for the Elder Scrolls Online
So it was like a closed play test. Actually helping to shape the new class
from the tank perspective. And luckily when they released it, on the play test, I thought it was terrible
I was like, oh my God, I can't believe we've waited this long for a new class
and it's going to be like this. That was like my secret kind of behind-the-scenes thought process
And I'm trying to be positive. People are asking me about it and I'm trying to be positive. Like, yeah, it seems all right
but I'm kind of feeding back to the devs on what my vision was
trying to find out what their vision is and seeing if we can kind of combine those two things for a better outcome
And luckily when it released, a lot of my feedback from myself
and one or two others as well. They really took it on board and released it
and it's now absolutely awesome. And I think if we can transfer that into other games
where we're able to go and test things and really feedback, like this is how I view it from the tank perspective
And obviously companies are willing to listen as well of how it plays out for the tank
Because I don't imagine many people go into testing of games and these new games that are coming out
they don't test things specifically with a lot of players from the tank perspective giving feedback
And then it releases and people are like, oh my God, what is this
Sometimes the idea of changes on paper do not translate to playability in games, right
Definitely, yeah. I can see when you're saying, hey, this is my idea for the set
that sounds awesome. But when you put it to mouse and keyboard
it does not feel awesome. Yeah, yeah. So it's finding that balance, right
And I think what you said about new releases, the biggest release I think we've had recently
would have been New World, which is almost two years ago now
And that whole thing was massive and then flopped very quickly. There's no content
Yeah, there's no content. I mean, they're still trickling it out now
It's just not in the room anymore. It's not in the expansion, add-on edition
there's a new road that came out yesterday. But the tanking in that game, for example
there wasn't enough thought, there wasn't enough testing inside. Why do they want a tank to work
And I still don't think it's a finished article. There's so many things they could improve
but it's like, how can we shape the change of that? Can you do something to help shape that
And hopefully they will listen to me back in the future to change things
If they really should do, and I kind of hope Amazon does this, because Amazon definitely has the funds
to be able to attract all of the talent. If you look at New World, it is gorgeous
It's a beautiful game. Wonderful game. But if they take everything they learned from New World
and they're like, all right, MMO number two. New World, you have your following
we're going to take everything you just learned and make that a lot better. They're all different games
Amazon's got their hands in so many different pies at the minute
They're helping, so obviously New World is their creation, but they're also producing Blue Protocol
which is for the Western side. They're also doing the same for Burn of Liberty
But then they're creating, I believe, a Lord of the Rings MMO
And so I feel like if they can take everything they've learned from New World and put that into Lord of the Rings
which is like, they could make that into some, like obviously there's already a Lord of the Rings MMO game
but if they can take everything they've learned from New World, apply the amazing graphics
the knowledge, with the IP, with the name Lord of the Rings
it could be an unbelievably successful MMO game because it's got the name
Do you know what I mean? It could be massive. I don't know
The Lord of the Rings market right now is, uh, poof. The numbers are there
but fan reaction isn't there right now. So that's the nice thing about the charge of the Lord of the Rings
I think. I can, I can, I can't, I can't, I can't
I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't
I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't