So here we go again. Another few short months, another arena season coming to a close. That's right folks, in case you haven't heard yet, the seventh arena season in WoW history comes to a close as soon as January 19, 2010.

Guntir and I are back where we started, looking for a teammate who has what it takes to reach high ratings. We keep finding players who are more than capable of playing well... they know their class, they know their opponents' class... hell, a couple of our teammates even knew our classes and how to play with them as a teammate. What we cannot seem to find is a player who knows all these things and how to speak.

That's right, in case no one has mentioned it before, the key to success in the arena is being able to verbalize what you need to your partners. When we play with someone... Guntir would REALLY like to hear that someone needs a dispel or an abolish disease. If you get rooted by a frost mage... don't just sit there and assume that the priest knows you got rooted and need a dispel, you have to say something.

Bah...

Some months ago (at the beginning of this season, specifically), we picked up a Blood DK (remember my tirade about ArP being ridiculous? It still is, just not for Ferals in PvP). This DK's name was Dreadplate, and he was exceptional. Unfortunately, Feral+Disc+ does not work well past 2k if that last dps does not have an MS-effect... which DKs obviously do not. HOWEVER, Dread is a skilled player and has taken many classes above 2k, a few above 2.2k... so we were sad to replace him. Dread has now gotten his Hunter to 80, however... so I'm trying to see if we cannot get him to rejoin our ranks for a 2.2k push next season.

Switching directions:

So, the last post was made with a longing for my younger days, when FF9 was still new to me and the world seemed a larger place. I remember now why I picked up WoW in the first place - it wasn't for PvP, it wasn't for PvE... it was because it was labeled as a Role-Playing Game. Personally, I don't think that it could be further from the truth; sure, in WoW everyone assumes the role of some character, but that is not all the genre is made up of (by this definition, Call of Duty: World at War is an RPG). I have a very distinct understanding of what I believe an RPG to be, and what makes an RPG great.

About a year ago (maybe two), my brother, Guntir, was in his senior year in college (we're both computer scientists) and working hard on his senior project. He was building an RPG framework which could be used to design role-playing games for the masses. I liked his idea, but ultimately the school's bureaucracy got in the way - simply making a game frakework wasn't enough, he had to use a new technology to do it (an unfamiliar technology, that is), and he had to also spit out a game to prove it worked. Well, mix in "build the best" with "you've never used before" and "oh and do this other unrelated thing as well" and you have got a recipe for disaster.

What is my point... after all this rambling it is still reasonably unclear, I am sure.

I started writing my own RPG framework in a language which I have mastered (Java), and have no deadline that need be matched. Already, this is starting out under better circumstances than Guntir's experience. The idea is to create something that is generic enough to make any type of RPG, regardless of the look and feel.

(My boss just had me do some work here that really pissed me off, so I'm going to cut it short)

No promises yet, but I'm working on this framework for building RPGs, I'll keep posting updates until I have something worthy of screenshots.