LITE Gaming Research

So after much ado, I finally send in a Draft proposal for review.

In the meanwhile, I had to do some more thinking about using Wow. I have finally come to grips with the fact, that there is not enough time in the day to be an expert in Wow. So, I have a friend and potentially friends, who will need to suffice.

The other day I shot him a host of questions and a recap. I have re-posted some here:

As you might recall, I plan to have 2 teams doing 5 raid instances. I will need to put out some feelers to find the participants; I think I need at least 25 participants (with hopefully toons each to qualify). I am only looking at  the 10ppl raids. 

I will pay/arrange to have 2 applicable toons (per person) ported to the correct faction and server for the 6 week duration (and back). But, I need some criteria to make sure the teams are balanced by 1) the needs of the raid and 2)  the needs of the study. 

Questions…

1. What is the maximum level of participants in a raid, ie. Can you take 11 on a 10 person raid? 
2. What websites and in what locations should I post on to find participants?
3. How much do you think a reasonable incentive is?  I was thinking of a free year of play and the port there and back. Or do I need to sponsor 2 years?
4. At what level of raid completion should be the minimum requirement for participation in the study be? For example, should the relevant toon have completed TOC and ICC in normal before you are applicable. Then the study would be across 5 dungeons (1 week at at time): BD, BOT, TFW, FL, DS with some mixture between normal and heroic levels.
5. Is there a tool that you know about that will help select a balanced raid team from a list of toons. For example, just how are the warriors spec’s. Is the mage, frost or other. If I have an undead DK with a specific dual spec, what warrior and spec be a compliment?

Also, I have proposed adding a battleground component where teams would compete 3 or 4 times. The BGs take a varying number of people as shown below. Now that they are rated and you can play as either faction, I can make sure the teams compete together. After 3 of the smaller BGs head-to-head, they would then group together to do IoC or AV.

1. What do you know about the newer BGs? I need to understand the tasks and level of difficulty etc. each team performs in each.
   Warsong Gulch 10
   Arathi Basin 15
   Eye of storm 15
   Strand of the ancients 15
   Battle for Gilneas 10
   Twin Peaks (?)
   Isle of conquest 40
   Alterec valley 40

Anyone feel free to add comments..

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As luck would have it a new patch came out. It allowed 60 punks to get a flying mount. Of course, I was as 68 punk so I was ecstatic about the news. Oh..to fly above it all, away from the peons with only walking shoes or bleating horses. Then came the bad news. The situation was different for the DeathKnight. "We had to wait till level 70" (say that in a sing song – na na tone).

Now I was determined. And off from work too.. And with crappy weather. Ok the stars have finally aligned. Im ready to hunker down in front of my computer and level.

So on Thursday night I started. And I was at level 69 when done and some obscene number of XP still left to go. Then Friday, well I had stuff to do Friday night. Oh well..But then Saturday. Marathon time. Wash cloths, make lunch and game. Game until its done!

And I did. With only 2 bars left at about 10pm I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Then, my loving, wonderful companion who is a DK (level 69 too, but just barely). Poops out on me. Gotta make some phone calls, send a few emails.. yada yada. Its SATURDAY NIGHT and we are gaming fools and you are talking emails???? Well, no matter. I can finish this.

I was in an area in WOW with some kinda human raiders just outside of the small main elvan city (in the outlands). Killing the poachers and various beasties just outside yielded a 1k XP pop per. Well that the ticket! 2 bars is about 20k. So 40 killed and Boom, it would be done. At 11pm I dinged. Haleluyha!!!!

Now to that stupid flying mount. Lets see a quick consult to wowwiki. Need to go to Shat. Ok.. port to shat. Looking for Mr Goodbar and what.. I cant get it here gotta go to DK land. Ok,.. portal there. And by the damn thing; 800 gold. Wow, who knew horses cost so much, and this one looks dead – or at least very bony. Wait, I cant ride it.. not enough riding skill. gotta go back to Outlands?? Who thought of this..dont designers have something better to do than to chastise the players with this wild goose (horse) chase.

I wait 30min while my home port resets and boom back to Shat. I ride on my pale horse like the wind to the location in Shat and see the trainer. Mount training is 1000 gold or  5000 gold. Hmm.. Im thinking I dont need to train that hard. At a thousand gold lighter, I take off on my first flight..all be it shakily. I guess the training really didn’t cover a how to teach the player to fly; they should work on that.

After a few face first landings and falling from the mount in mid sky, I think I have the hang of it. Now its midnight. Finally my partner is determined to get his mount tonight too (he is shy 4 bars!)… Boy those poachers are really gonna get a whipping tonight.

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