Rest State

[--Pete]

Hi,

Even the casual player wants to think he/she can get to the end, become the most powerful

And a skid row bum can dream to buy out Bill Gates. Should that idea be nurtured, given that all but the most inane know that it is a false hope?

I don't know how possible twinking is in WOW

Fairly limited because of the level requirements on nearly everything and the fact that so many things are bound. Since a typical player will get few or any items much better than what he can get at the vendors, and with a little bit of money management can usually afford all those items pretty close to when they are available, there really will be not much difference between a twinked player and a "pure" player. Besides, good, bad, or indifferent, twinking has nothing to do with the rest state.

I suppose if they really manage to get an ever growing population of casual gamers this might not be as relevant.

Exactly. Without *negative* adjustments, if a casual player and a power player start out together at the same time, after the casual guy packs it in for the day, the power guy will stay on and grind out five more levels. The next day they will not be able to play together no matter what. The only way the two can ever play together for any length of time is if the power gamer creates an "auxiliary" character that he only plays with his casual friend.

I have no idea if the rest system can solve these problems.

I'm sorry, but you are doing it, too. What "problems"? That everyone wants to feel big? That two players playing different lengths of time or at different speeds will develop a level gap? These are not problems, they are just everyday facts of life. Now, if Blizzard wants to change reality so that everyone gets what they "want" regardless of what they put into it, then I suggest a study of the *former* USSR and just what made it "former".

Actually, . . . they make up a small part of the power gamer population.

Unfounded claim with a strong stench of sour grapes. Consider the ultimate non twitch game: chess. So non-twitch that they had to put clocks in it (about a hundred years ago) so that someone couldn't win a match by just waiting for his opponent to die. Prior to that, someone remarked that to play chess "didn't take brains, it just took buttocks." And yet, at each level you will find that there are more people who got there by working at it than by just playing the odd game every now and again. So even at that extreme, practice is a major contributor. Admittedly, without talent practice can only take you so far. But without practice, talent is but a politician's promise.

But, if what you say is true, then it supports my claim that the rest system is useless. For if the ten hour a week casual player can, through nothing more than determination and native talent, beat the ten hour a day power gamer, then why handicap that poor power gamer who needs all the advantage he can get.

I don't believe your claim. And I just make the more modest claim that, from two people of equal native talent, the one who worked harder at developing that talent *should* win.

--Pete