Tchotchkes and stuff.
There’s an old rule of thumb that states to never attribute to malice that which can be easily explained by stupidity, and I think that’s where most of the decisions in the video game world come from. Despite what MMO players think, game developers don’t generally actually seek to destroy their products and make people hate them. Usually they are looking for the answer that gives them more money.
I was originally going to write this piece on Diablo IV about the necromancer and how badly the class has been nerfed at least at the starting bits in the latest update. Sure it doesn’t make sense that people were complaining about blood mist being overpowered and Blizzard went ahead and just made the minions easily killable in a few hits, but there you go.
No, instead I wanted to talk about Ashava; the world boss everyone is trying to kill for a stupid tchotchke. Including myself. Kill the boss at level 20 during one of the every-three-hours spawns and you’ll net yourself a mount trophy. Yup, a little doodad for your house.
How hard is Ashava? Even SVP Rod Fergusson himself is having a hard time.
The problem with Ashava is not entirely that the boss itself is too hard, but the circumstances surrounding it can really screw you as a player.
For starters the gaming population like any is full of morons and griefers, meaning your instance could end up full of players who are wholly under-leveled and under-geared, or with AFK players. They will contribute little to nothing and if there’s more than one probably tank the endeavor entirely.
The other is that this is a level 25 world boss fight and players are capped this time around at level 20. So you’re already going in at a disadvantage. That includes the cap of players which is about 10 I believe.
And finally, the boss is difficult. Not difficult in the sense that it’s insanely complicated, but difficult in the sense that you have to learn its moves and most of its hits are generally going to be one-hit kills. Because you are level 20 and it is a level 25 boss. Killing Ashava is going to take a long time, most of the players having a general idea of what they are doing lest everyone end up with broken gear, and patience, and good DPS output on those involved.
In short, Ashava is a big pain in the ass in beta. For a mount trophy. Obviously the boss is going to be much easier when the full game launches and players are able to outlevel it. But that day is not today.
Good luck, we’re all counting on you.
MMO Fallout 