While we were waiting for everyone to prepare for Orgozoa, the fifth boss of the Eternal Palace raid in World of Warcraft, I noticed Remylroux sitting in the flask cauldron. One of the other raid members asked him if he thought this would make his flask buff into a stronger one. He had this to say about it in return. (The feral comment was an added gaff, based on an experience I had in a Pick-Up raid where the Feral specialization for druids was being bad-mouthed.)
After playing a little bit of Classic World of Warcraft (which is a re-release of the original game as it was, no expansions and all the old mechanics–for those who don’t know!), I’ve been pondering just how much more anxious we are as WoW players when it comes to class viability and damage parses. Most of the classes in Classic were viable in any kind of content, but not optimal. The tools to analyze your combat performance weren’t as sophisticated. The mechanics behind each class were also not as stream-lined as they are now into roles but were instead a mish-mash of tank, heal, and DPS capabilities. This made it possible for such things as 15-hunter raids through Upper Black Rock Spire and 40 priests taking on Onyxia.
So were we all just worse at the game back then, or was this lackadaisical approach to role and specialization due to the game’s less tuned mechanics? Was it that player perception was a little more fuzzy, or was the game truly more allowing for diversity of roles in that it tried not to define any of them? I suppose only time will tell,as Classic is re-introduced to the modern-day gamer. I, for one, can only hope for the day when I won’t be kicked from a Pick-Up raid because I, as Feral, I pull 1% less damage than a druid specialized into Balance instead.
As for art style in this one: In this comic I experimented with thinner lines for the character art. I’m a bit torn about it, if only because it makes “mistakes” in coloring or the line art that much harder to conceal, though it does allow me to pick out details a little more cleanly, like Yotingo’s feathers and the lines in Remy’s horned helm.
Love the comic! I’d forgotten about that.