World of WarCraft needs more MIGHT!

I am proposing that this game needs a MIGHT system. What is Might? It is not a new stat to add to the game, as Blizzard has done that before. Might instead is a number, a number that gives players an instant gauge of how powerful they, and other players are. The game already has the item Tier system though so why do we need it? For all those "little tweaks" that players make. an enchant here, a talent there, a ring, a gem. Not to mention the vast number of players who haven't reached that level of equipment yet.

What does MIGHT do? might takes all of a characters un-buffed stats, and trows them into a blackbox, to which is added the characters class, and talent spec. I do not have a specific formula for doing this, but the result of this equation will be that characters might number. Might will be determined on how well the character can perform their purposed role. So a Preist with a MIGHT of 1000, and a Hunter with the same, may have vastly different stats, just like Tiered gear is different for different classes.

Why do players need MIGHT? as I stated before, instant understanding of where a player is in the pecking order. Instant understanding of If you will be destroyed by an enemy. That Blood Elf may only be level 75 but he has better gear that you, and you know it because is MIGHT is higher. It can help Guilds in recruiting, or preparing for Raids. Now guilds can knock of the "looking for Geared players" and can simply say "Looking for players with 850 MIGHT or higher."

Currently the new Looking for Dungeon system locks out players with inferior gear from dungeons they wouldn't do well in by simply telling the player "you don't have high enough dear for this." This doesn't give players any sense of where they stand, or how close they are to unlocking that instance. Now it could say "this Dungeon requires a MIGHT of 800 to enter." Now the player with 700 MIGHT has hope instead of despair. "Oh I only need 100 more MIGHT,, Maybe ill upgrade a piece from AH, or keep grinding a lower Dungeon till i get an improvement."

Overall I think the MIGHT system is not only greatly needed and helpful, I think it follows the trend of Blizzard changes to the game. A number that lets you see How well you will fare in the game you play. A number that tells you that improving your strength as a Marksman Hunter doesn't help you out, but agility and intellect sure do.

Why Mass Effect 2 should have been better.

I have completed MASS Effect 2. My final thoughts are that is is a better game than the first one. It would have been nearly perfect if they didn't add ammo and screw with the squad point syatems. I really would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for those brainstorming sessions.

"we have this really great ammo less combat system that works really well and allows for loads of personal tweaks. lets trash that idea and just add ammo so it will be like HALO."

"Oh! thats a great idea, while we're at it lets change our nearly perfect upgrade system so that several characters will always have unspent points!"

"Oh! oh! you know what else? lets take the squad inventory thats pretty easy to both understand and navigate, and make it confusing as hell!"

"Great work guys, now lets go cash our $100K bonus checks!"

1. adding ammo. WHY? MASS effect had one of the best tactical shooting mechanics i have ever seen, you have a weapon with unlimited ammo, however firing off too many shots in a row without allowing time to cool results in an overheat, and you must wait a few seconds to shoot again. Add to this an item system that allows you to add and swap parts to your weapons for various effects. some would increase damage, but also reduce the consecutive shots till an overheat, others the opposite. the way i played was with a shotgun that would overheat after 2 shots, but pretty much killed everything in one hit, i would pop out from cover, take a shot, duck back and wait for my gun to cool, then repeat.
My guess is they must have felt guns over heated too often, thats fine tweak the feature so it works better, don't 86 it, it was good enough for the 1st game, it was a good mechanic, and it was different from the brainless shooters that flood the shelves. Now lets talk about ammo, once you empty your clip you have to reload, which takes about the same time as overheating did, so whats the point? you get more shots in before hand? thats wear the tweaking would come in.
Adding ammo hurt the game in several ways. the first being that it got rid of the great system I talked about above, but just as vital as that it also vastly restricts your play style. My class was the Vangaurd, the same shotty toting Foce a' Nature I was in the first game, only in M.E. 2 i couldn't be that guy. The gun you choose to use isn't in the equation now. You use the gun you have ammo for. Before starting the game and reading over the class abilities I was naively thinking of battle plans already, Use the Charge ability to fly into a group of guys, then blast them to hell with the shot gun. Only, I had to learn to love the SMG, because it was the only thing I could shoot without needing to change guns after a few hits. That right. Throughout the entire game, I never had a sufficient enough amount of ammo in any other gun to get through one wave, or encounter, or room without finishing my bullets. sorry shotty. I was able to get 2 hits in here and there on elite enemies every now and then. I did learn to love the in the end, but I had no other choice.

2.Squad Points. The goons at IGN would classify this as "Streamlining", but it is in fact an "Overhaul". Stream lining is removing unnecessary things. thats what they did with the mini games (hacking/bypass) they got rid of omni-gel. exploration is another way they streamlined, in stead of driving around on planets, now you just land. they streamlined inventory, now you have 1 suit of armor, that you add onto for different effects, not several to collect and choose from the same with weapons, you don't have a huge cash of repetitive items.
When streamlining one good tip is to not do it to an RPG system that allows you to place earned XP toward talents. the first game allowed you to Place Individual Points into each field, you could see where each granted a new ability, or unlocked a new chain. this was great because you knew what you where working toward and placed your points there.
The new system isn't bad, I just think its benefits could have been incorporated into the old model. Before starting the finale mission I 100% the galaxy looking for any side mission i could get to level up. I still didn't get to level 30 and had 2 unspent points. I was at least able to level up before the final fight, and get my last upgrade. As for some of my squad mates, they never got final powers. Oh and here is a tip, if you use the reassign talents, it takes your paragon/renegade points too.

3.Squad Inventory. The last game had a very simple system. you go to an area of the ship at anytime, select the crew member you want, and give them the stuff you want them to have. done. now there is this weird menu system that took me longer than i wanted it to until i figured out if i was equipping or un-equipping an item for a character.

4.Crouch. They removed crouch, and replaced it with the cover system. This would have been perfectly fine if it worked, but all too often your character stands up right after taking cover, usually resulting in death. On the lower difficulties it isn't such a big deal, but on hardcore and insanity you really have only a a split second to take cover before you die, so if that isn't working correctly the entire game is broken.

Now MASS Effect 2 is overall a better game, it does several things better than the first, the team AI is leagues smarter than the last game. I didn't need to point them to a point the entire game, something I did continuously in the first game. the Powers are much better (except for the ammo powers, which ARE good, but still seem like a cop out.) and missions where tighter. The side missions where unique even though to achieve this they drastically cut the amount of them.

But this was a "what they did wrong" review, not a complete review.

so its over. id like to know your thoughts if you played it.