THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Fun Stuff => CLIKC => Topic started by: GarandMarine on 09 Feb 2014, 00:09

Title: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 09 Feb 2014, 00:09
So I mentioned here and there that I got sucked back into the warm, enveloping and slightly cheetos flavored fold that is World of Warcraft thanks to my asshole co-workers. I haven't played in a loooooooong time. Like holy shit a long time. It took a couple days working with the Blizzard team to even recover my old account. (To their credit, getting ahold of the Blizz customer service team remains the challenge, once you do they're fantastic). First my server info (PM me for Real ID friending stuffs) and chars, then some commentary.

Primary Server Dalaran (PVE)
Lvl 80 Human Daladin - Morganebane
Lvl 58 Death Knight - Shalduin
Lvl 27 Worgen Warlock - Manegarm
Lvl 23 Pandaren Monk - Huatomoe

Theoretically I have some toons on Azjol-Nerub.... but you may as well consider them dead.

On to the commentary!
Graphics: Generally improved, the vids have always been good, but the new ones for Mists of Pandaria are a step up even from that! The next set of graphics upgrades look like they're going to be gorgeous, here's hoping it doesn't take it out of my accessibility graphics card wise.

Game Play, Balance and Leveling: I have always been pretty good at power leveling. I know how to make an hour or two in game count when it comes to grinding the ever loving hell out of an area. However in the maybe two weeks I've been playing, I've started two new toons (the Worgen and the Pandabear if you can't guess) and got them both to the mid 20s. (I also did the DK up to 58 but that's barely getting him out of the starting zone so it doesn't count). Leveling seems to have gotten massively easier, at least at the lower levels. I did note, like Yahtzee mentioned in his review below, that a lot of the "piss taking quests" have been pulled from the game for a slightly more... dynamic? and less grindy, soul crushing feel, but there's still plenty of fetch quest action. There's also a fuckload of cultural references and puns they've (Blizzard) put in... apparently in an attempt to sound like a meme? The CSI and Rambo themes fucking DOMINATE Westfall and Redridge now. I'm just starting Duskwood on my Panda and considering that's one of my favorite zones from classic WoW, so I'm hoping they didn't bugger it up with a "Thriller" (the song not the genre) theme or something. The Kalimdor leveling zones have changed a lot, with Dark Shore taking a fuck load of damage during the Cataclysm. The Ashenvale took it's share of pain, but is still generally one of my favorite places for in game ecotourism.

Game play Balance seems to be much improved, the mechanics for the new classes since I last played are pretty solid, I am very much enjoying the Monk class. Not having to go back to your trainer for your new spells every level is nice too. (I leveled five times in an afternoon on the Monk at one point, adding a trek in to Stormwind to get my new kung fu beat down skillz would add a lot of time and aggravation I'm more then happy to see go away)

Community, Social, Social Mechanics: Well, Goldshire's still a hive of scum and villainy in desperate need of smacktard fumigation, but then some things never change. Plenty of idiots abound, but lots of nice people too. Kinda a reflection of the internet and humanity at large innit? The new dungeon finder is tits, and the random dungeon finder with it's shiny cash, loot and XP bonus is very cool, though I'd really like it to stop giving me Gnomer. I hated that dungeon before and I still hate it now.

I do have a bone to pick with the new guild functions and guild bonuses. It's kinda... I dunno I don't like it for some reason. It's cool you get perks for joining up with a crew but it feels more... cynical then it used to, recruiting and joining is about gain, rather then finding a group of cool people you like and hanging out with them. Maybe it was never like that and I was doing it wrong, but it's an addition I could stand to see go the way of the dinosaur.

Over all some very positive changes since I last visited Azeroth, we'll see how long this jaunt lasts.

Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 09 Feb 2014, 09:40
*Screams and runs away screaming, throwing everything and everyone in my path back to escape any falling back into the trap that is World of Warcraft*

Sorry, but I got sucked into WoW for three years and it took me a long time to get out of it. So that's become pretty much a standard reaction for me.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 09 Feb 2014, 15:10
Alliance? Ew.

Edit: *Obviously* my rattle is the better rattle, because it is red.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Nikolai on 09 Feb 2014, 20:11
I think I might still have a toon or two kicking around on Dalaran, actually. I've been out for three years though, so it's hard to remember. I do remember Dalaran being the server I joined back when I first started playing. My wife has gotten back into it, so I've been tempted to do the same here lately. Maybe. Just maybe.

Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 09 Feb 2014, 20:17
Nikolai, if you want to get back to it, have the missus or myself kick you a Scroll of Resurrection, free lvl 80 toon with appropriate gear, free upgrade to Cataclysm and some other goodies.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Sorflakne on 09 Feb 2014, 21:56
I'm trying to restrict myself to only playing on raid nights, but it just seems to take forever to gather up the weekly maximum of valor points after we started doing heroic progression.  And of course checking the BMAH everyday for Dreadnaught and Redemption armor pieces...and maintaining the farm...and gathering justice points for random xmog gear (REALLY want another tab on void storage)...and soloing old instances for xmog gear and just 'cause (gonna attempt h 25man LK next week)...and reposting auctions (at least I broke myself of being a "heavy seller")...and leveling/gearing alts...

Even though I started playing in 2005 (and took Cataclysm off) I really don't know how people with multiple alts do it.  My old roommate, who's an ABM, has like four SOO-normal geared chars and still manages to farm and make gold and whatnot.  And here I have my main and one alt, plus another that I leveled just high enough so I could have an alchemist.  Contemplating leveling my shaman so I can max out her leatherworking as well, but apparently leatherworking is in a bad spot atm.

But anyway, if anyone plays on Gilneas alliance, I play as either Kataphract or Boudacious.

Quote
Community, Social, Social Mechanics: Well, Goldshire's still a hive of scum and villainy in desperate need of smacktard fumigation
Never, ever go to Moonguard.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: ChaoSera on 10 Feb 2014, 02:15
DIE, ALLIANCE SCUM! FOR THE HORDE!

Ok, so now that formalities have been taken care of we can get down to business. My really active WoW times are long gone, I mostly played back in Burning Crusade times. Ever since Wotlk, I've been on and off, never playing longer than 2 or 3 months and then taking a year off when it got boring again. It probably has a lot to do with most of my friends I used to play with quitting too and playing alone or in a guild where I didn't know anybody personally just didn't do it for me.
I played for a month a while ago, got 3 chars to lvl 90 and my Mage to itemlvl 535 or so. It was fine for a while but soon got boring again. I'll probably be back in for a while when the new addon is released, because I'd love to get back to Outland and take a look at the areas I learned to love in BC, before they bacame Outland.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 10 Feb 2014, 07:12
I've been playing Warcraft since vanilla days too. Not so much these days as I used to... But I have my guild, and I try to log in at least a little bit every day. My farm isn't going to farm itself after all... The lower level experiences were seriously revamped with Cataclysm, and a lot of stuff was streamlined. Between that and the way they keep speeding up the low-level experience whenever they increase the level cap, you will zoom through the first 60 levels pretty easily. Even if you didn't do anything but questing you will outlevel every zone before you finish it. And it's not that odd to gain a couple of levels doing a dungeon at times.

Once  you hit Outland though, things go back to the way they've always been for the most part. They haven't touched the expansion zones very much. The levelling is still faster, but not as noticeably so. The Pandaria zones are beautiful, and I do love their (mostly) Chinese inspired visuals and themes. Though yes, as we've discussed elsewhere it's really Chinese Stereotypes inspired, but that's par for course for all of their races and cultures. The monk class is a bunch of fun, at least at the lower levels. I've still spent most of my time on my favorite shaman. I do have an orc monk though. I mostly play on Shadow Council, though I have characters on other servers that I created to play with friends.... and then pretty much wound up abandoned when they stopped playing, or are never around.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 10 Feb 2014, 07:28
Now that you can go cross server and hang out with people, I fail to see the point in moving around or creating new toons on different servers.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Nikolai on 10 Feb 2014, 07:36
...You can cross servers?!?

EVERYTHING I KNOW IS FALSE :psyduck:
...or did you just mean through dungeon finder?

I just caved and bought Pandaria, renewed my subscription. Can't decide whether to continue with my RetPally or try something different.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 10 Feb 2014, 07:58
DUDE. Please tell me you got your missus to hook you up with the Scroll.

And no, I mean in general. Let's say you, Ali and I want to hang out and bash heads. All we have to do is be franz and invite each other to a party and we'll be pulled to, I believe, the party leader's server. I was just running around questing with a dude I met in a PUG through the dungeon finder the other day. (Which btw is handy as hell that that's cross server.)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Nikolai on 10 Feb 2014, 08:57
Feth. No, I didn't. She's at work and I got impatient. The free 80 totally didn't click for some reason.

I'm downloading addons right now, and then I'll probably attempt logging in a bit. Hopefully the internet over here holds up.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 10 Feb 2014, 09:26
PM me your battle net email addy and I will try to send it to you right now.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 10 Feb 2014, 10:08
You can't join guilds if it's not one of the linked servers though. Sure, I can come play with other people, but when a bunch of friends from a different game tell me they are starting a new guild on WoW and ask me along, it's start a new character or transfer one. Plus this was back before they added the cross server stuff. we wound up created an all-goblin guild on Misha at the start of Cataclysm, and it was pretty fun. But they've moved on from the game. I've been playing with my guildies on Shadow Council since Vanilla WoW, and officially joined their guild when the one I was in at the end of Burning Crusade fell apart. So I've been with them a loooong time.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 10 Feb 2014, 14:15
Holy shit, another Shadow Councilor? I spent the vaaast majority of my years over there. Dare I ask? Or shall we leave it to the eternal mysteries?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 10 Feb 2014, 18:06
Dare you ask what?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 10 Feb 2014, 20:40
Identitease!
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 11 Feb 2014, 05:24
I mostly played on the Horde side. Sai'ko (Saiko in game) the troll shaman has been my main for most of the time, but I'm a well known altoholic. Lachesis my human mage was my main alliance side. My blizzard ID is nekoali#1221
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 11 Feb 2014, 14:08
While we never moved in quite the same circles, I'm fairly certain I recall seeing you float about here and there, though I might be mixing you up with someone else.

I was generally known as Teng back there.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 11 Feb 2014, 15:01
Ooooh, yeah. I knew a Teng. I've played with you before. An Orc, yes? You used to run with Black Omen I think? Or maybe the Deepwater Pirates? I know it was one of the guilds I used to dungeon/raid with on occasion but never joined up with. Back before the cross-server days. You might have known my original main character then, Jessa the Forsaken priestess.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Lines on 11 Feb 2014, 16:39
I still play on occasion. My husband and I joined up back in December because we heard about the expansion coming up (we both quit back during Cataclysm) and we're really enjoying questing in Pandaria and I am in particular really enjoying the Raid Finder because before now the only raid I've done current to the expansion was Karazhan, because that was the last time i was in an active enough, large enough guild.

All of my characters are currently on Elune (Alliance) and are in my guild The Company of Rock (made it when a bunch of friends were playing, there's only 3 actual people in it right now :P). And my characters are:

Meabh - 86 NE Druid (Balance/Resto) - typically my main
Ártemis - 90 Draenei Shaman (Enhance/Resto) - currently my main
Worgendorfer - 40something Worgen Mage (Ice)
Muirrin - 60something Dwarf Paladin (Prot/Ret)

I plan on making a pandaren monk sometime soon because I really want to check out their starting zone, but I'm having a lot of fun doing Timeless Isle stuff and checking out raids.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 11 Feb 2014, 18:32
Ooooh, yeah. I knew a Teng. I've played with you before. An Orc, yes? You used to run with Black Omen I think? Or maybe the Deepwater Pirates? I know it was one of the guilds I used to dungeon/raid with on occasion but never joined up with. Back before the cross-server days. You might have known my original main character then, Jessa the Forsaken priestess.

Holy shit, small world syndrome is invading my internet!

Yeah, I don't remember you as well as I'd like, but we *definitely* used to run in some of the same circles!

I felt like I ran with just about every group that had a foot in the roleplaying and PvP scenes at one point or another, though I was ever only actually in a few guilds. What I get for being social back when the server was new I guess, though my God there at the end of my regular Teng-playing I'd pulled back enough (and there was so much and so many!) that I couldn't keep track of all the 'big' groups anymore.

Hell, we both started in vanilla, that was...god, almost ten years ago now? Little less, but not much.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 11 Feb 2014, 19:17
Eight years I believe.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 11 Feb 2014, 20:28
Hehe.. I've had that happen a few times already. Meeting up with someone in a place, talking about some game we both used to play and then realizing that we knew each other and used to play together 'back in the day'. But yeah... I got pulled into WoW and MMOs in general by an ex who played on Shadow Council almost from the beginning. I stared a year or so after WoW first began. I've been playing pretty much since then. I've taken a few breaks over the years, and some times I may be subscribed by only check in every once in a while... but I've put a lot of mileage on the game.

I started on Shadow Council, and it's always felt like home to me, no matter what other server I've played on. I've been in a few guilds... I started with Eternal Path, a heavy roleplaying guild in Vanilla. I had a lot of fun there, and did a lot more roleplaying back then than I do now. Eventually the guild faded away and I split off with a bunch of others that formed There and Back, which was more pve and less RP, though we still did that as well. We had some amazing raids... you might be able to find some of our videos of Karazhan online still. Eventually they broke up as well and I joined Swiftstride Clan, where I've been for years now. It's really like a little family. I may not play as much as I used to, but I don't see myself ever quitting entirely. At least not until the servers go dark for good, eventually.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 11 Feb 2014, 22:22
Yeah, I remember all of those. Ruzska, Artaois, a bunch of others.

Is Gaark/Elledro and his lady still in T&B and playing? Or am I getting my wires crossed?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 12 Feb 2014, 07:44
Yup, they are in Swiftstride Clan and good friends of mine. Gaark the character has been retired. I was there for his final walk, it was a very emotional time. Elledro is still around, but mostly he mains a Tauren Warrior and is our Raid Dad. His wife mostly plays a Tauren Druid. But they've both got a bunch of other characters. Nearly everyone is Swiftstride is an altoholic. :)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 12 Feb 2014, 15:03
Yeah, Gaark and...Lueli? Damnit why can't I remember her name. Anyway, we kept up for a long time. I remember the Gaark march, though I missed it.

If you don't mind, give them a wave for me sometime.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 12 Feb 2014, 15:45
Sure thing, next time I see them. :)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 14 Feb 2014, 22:23
Ran in to the worst pugs ever tonight. Dear Tank, STOP RUNNING YOU SHIT. Your DPS are ALL CASTERS. All the pulling you're doing even when we're on a fucking boss is just getting us killed. Asshole.


But I made it to 42 from 38, not bad for a relatively short session.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 15 Feb 2014, 02:29
Sometimes, I remember wanting to tell people that they just needed to take their hands off their fucking keyboard for a second. Maybe put on some less high-tempo music. Smoke marijuana instead of meth.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 15 Feb 2014, 09:13
I normally play healers, so I really feel that 'stop pulling you shits!' thing. As I like to point out.. My blue bar becomes your green bar. If my blue bar is empty, so will your green bar be soon...
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: judemorrigan on 17 Feb 2014, 08:34
The trick is, in some well-balanced, heirloom-heavy groups, you can get away with chain-pulling ludicrously large groups of mobs.  But yes, I've certainly ran into some tanks that need to remember that that's not every group ever. 

Or even worse, I had a Stockades group a couple of weeks ago where the tank was pulling like that ... as a restoration spec'd druid.  ("Who is that casting swiftmend.  Oh God, it's the tank.  Well that explains *that*.)  After the full couple of pulls, I managed to adapt (I was the healer), but it was very confusing.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 17 Feb 2014, 09:13
I kinda hate Heirloom gear. I hate it alot.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 17 Feb 2014, 09:16
Well, druids can be a lot of fun for being so adaptable.. but I've never actually tried to run as a healing specced tank.. I've wound up tanking on runs as the healer and if you're quick on the change you can do a pretty respectable job. It certainly makes you feel like a boss power-shifting between forms to heal and tank at the same time. But I don't think I would want to do it on purpose, for a whole dungeon. :)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: judemorrigan on 17 Feb 2014, 09:56
Oh, this guy wasn't shifting in and out of forms.  He spent nearly the entire run in caster form.  It was a weird run.

And I can understand not entirely loving heirloom gear.  I'm a serial altaholic, and I sometime deliberately go without.  And on the plus side, I've seldom run into people who actually care.  People who actually care about the damage meters except as a way to gauge one's own personal progress are, well, I'll call them silly.  Because I'm a nice guy.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 17 Feb 2014, 13:03
I was horrible at alts. Heirlooms meant my poor little character ideas had a much higher chance, back in the day, of getting actual development.

Dunno what it's like now, though, last time I did that was the final days before Cataclysm.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 17 Feb 2014, 19:49
Last time I played heirlooms weren't a thing yet
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Lines on 18 Feb 2014, 19:09
I like and dislike heirlooms. I like that you can have them. I do not like that if you have multiple alts, they get expensive really fast, are only useful for like one or maybe two classes, and are rendered useless at 85(?). I'm sure this isn't a problem for people who regularly raid or whatever, but they're a pain to get for multiple characters.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 19 Feb 2014, 10:11
That's kinda the idea I guess? You grind the shit out of your main, then use all the gold and honor from that toon to hook up some critical pieces for your various alts you've been planning. Someone like me who's leveling multiple toons at once? Yeah... not helping.

It's one catagory of items I'd probably be cool with seeing sold for cash... with a restriction, like you have to level a character to 85 first.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 19 Feb 2014, 11:28
One of the new additions is going to be similar to the way pets work now. Once you earn the item, all your characters can use that heirloom. No more having to shuffle them back and forth through the mail system, and two or more characters can use the same item without having to buy it twice. I like that... I'm a well known crazy altoholic. But heirlooms are still an expensive and/or time consuming thing to gather full sets of because of different armor types and specs... Some characters like paladins, druids or shaman you'll probably be gathering two armor sets for, unless you power through with somewhat sub-optimal stats. Which is what I did with my tauren paladin. I have the strength plate armor heirloom set, which I got to 85 with, using it while healing for dungeons. I didn't find that much of an efficiency loss. Some people might have wondered why I was healing in strength gear, but that 30% experience bonus was worth more to me than a few hundred extra mana...
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 19 Feb 2014, 12:03
I thought they had it already set up like that, that heirloom gear binded to accounts.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 19 Feb 2014, 14:42
Yeah, but what she means is that you don't have to mail it back and forth; that it's a permanent 'summonable' item, like pets are these days to the character that has them.

Like let's say I have my main Teng, my alt Tatiahna, and my alt Lohnda. The current system (at least when I left) was that Teng could be the mad money warlock who buys the item, then mails it to Tatiahna, who can use it because she's on my account. Lohnda, however, can't access it until Tatiahna mails it to her.

The proposed system that Neko_Ali is saying, Teng would buy the item, use it, and now he, Tatiahna, and Lohnda can all summon it into existence, regardless of anyone having the McGuffin.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 19 Feb 2014, 15:41
Oh! Nice! I figured that WAS how it worked. Or rather it worked just like mounts, they bind to the account, so any one who can use it, can use it.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 19 Feb 2014, 15:51
Mounts bind to accounts now? I really haven't paid a lot of attention I guess.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Lines on 19 Feb 2014, 16:17
Yeah, pets and mounts can be accessed by all characters, but obvs some mounts won't be usable by low level characters. It made me realize that I had a shit ton of pets (over 100) and the few mounts I have are not that interesting. Hooray for having a main who had no need for flying mounts! I didn't try to collect any! And now I'm le sad about it!

But I am SO CLOSE to having Exalted with Order of the Cloud Serpent and being able to have all of the pretty pretty dragons. And whenever I get the gold, I am making all of the jewelcrafting panthers.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 19 Feb 2014, 17:05
 :psyduck: How the (WoW) times change...
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 19 Feb 2014, 17:56
Yeah, most but not all mounts are shared. Stuff like class mounts aren't. And if it's a faction mount, you get the opposite faction version of it. And other rules still apply.. You can't use a flying carpet without high enough tailoring. Reputation doesn't though.. So all my characters can use the flying nether rays or nether drakes without doing the faction grind quest. And I can use racial mounts bought by another character without being exalted first.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 19 Feb 2014, 20:09
That's the big one for me, the racials. Sabers are my favorite mounts <3
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 19 Feb 2014, 22:27
mm hmm. It is nice. I'm glad that my new character, the Dark Ranger, is able to ride around on a skeletal steed from level 20... Even though she's technically a blood elf, and I haven't quite hit exalted with Undercity yet. What I'm most happy about with that though is being able to use special, hard to obtain mounts on all my characters. After several years of trying, I wound up finally getting the Headless Horseman's mount... On a character I didn't play all that often. And this was before shared mounts, so it was bittersweet to finally have it, but not really use it much. When  they added that feature, I was very happy. The same with my Brewfest ram and the engineering motorcycle that takes forever to grind for. And soon eventually, that flying goblin mount that I'm a week or so away from having the materials for. :)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 20 Feb 2014, 09:23


Speaking of WoW mounts, as my tax season splurge I let myself buy one of Blizzard's payable mounts. Some people might say it's silly to pay money for electronic goods, but those people don't own a pony made of fucking stars so I think it's safe to discount their opinions.

(https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/t1/1004967_10152302400880815_97798774_n.jpg)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 20 Feb 2014, 09:30
It's nice.. but it's no death pegasus like Invincible. :)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 20 Feb 2014, 10:04
Fair, but till I can grind the ever loving FUCK out of that instance, or afford to pay these fuckers to do it: http://rbg-boost.com/shop/mounts/buy-wow-mount/
(I wish that was a joke)

I want that super cool drake/dragon mount with the glowing runes on it's wings.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 20 Feb 2014, 10:32
Yeah, I plan to see if I can find one off the Black Market... Trying to beat Arthas in 25 Ice Crown Citadel until he drops Invincible (less than 1% chance I understand) sounds like insanity to me...
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 20 Feb 2014, 11:45
I'm down for that. Madness is my middle name. KALI!
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 20 Feb 2014, 12:10
Shouldn't that be Eris?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 20 Feb 2014, 12:29
Not in my particular case no.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Method of Madness on 20 Feb 2014, 13:11
Madness is my last name.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 20 Feb 2014, 14:59
Did they ever unlock the Silithid mounts so I could ride them wherever?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 20 Feb 2014, 16:20
Gods I wish, but no... I've got 3 of them that I can't use anywhere.. who ever goes back to Ahn Qiraj?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 20 Feb 2014, 16:36
Considering how much of my roleplaying and writing focused on that place, I suppose I'm not exactly an unbiased source when I say Silithus et al is required 'reading', if *I* was WoW-Empress.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 21 Feb 2014, 19:37
Holy shit! So I was doing my first run of a dungeon and me and the tank got ditched before we could kill a side boss for a quest.... so the tank and I took both bosses down ourselves.

That was so freaking cool!
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Lines on 22 Feb 2014, 05:15
I wish by the time I had gotten to Silithus it had been more populated, but that zone was the epicenter of dull once I got there. (Which was during Burning Crusade or WotLK, I forget which.) But I had never been there, so I leveled one of my alts there. Also we ran through the raids before Cataclysm came out because we were running all the raids we could at 80 before some of them got changed. That part was fun. But I started playing in 2004-2005 (holy hell...) and my friends were already raiding at that point and solo leveling a druid took forever. I was really happy when burning crusade came out because I was finally able to do stuff with my friends and found a guild that was just what I was looking for - laid back but still had a couple raiding sessions.

And now I'm doing my own thing with my husband because we can. And hey, we can actually do raids together without a raiding guild.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 01 Mar 2014, 19:16
Okay, as promised, Tauren and the Light.

Now I don't know what the Blizzard-Activision dev team has went with this sort of thing over the years, but I know how *I* think it should be.

The Light is more like the Force; it's semi-divine, but you obviously don't have to follow a certain class of being (i.e. 'gods') to tap into it, as evidenced by all the different factions and forces that use it for/against the players; it's just *there*...similar to most of the other power sources and magic types in that setting seem to be.

Earthmother worship among the Tauren comes in many flavors, but is itself a separate thing from their magic use. Said magic use may be divinely-inspired or even granted in several cases, but similar to, say, wizardry in Dragonlance (at least back in the day) you don't *have* to worship the three gods of magic to use it (though maybe you do so anyway).

Tauren culture has usually relied on the more nature and spirit-focused traditions of magic, but it is not really a big jump at all (or even a small one) for one of the least evil cultures in the game to philosophize their way into a magic form that tends to be accessed more with...for lack of a better term 'divine humanistic' impulses. And since the Tauren don't receive anything tangible directly from Earthmother worship (or do they? dun dun dun), it's not incompatible. They use Light energy (see positive/negative energy split from classical Dungeons & Dragons' cosmologies), but they wrap it the trappings of their culture instead of really adopting the Humans' usual vision of it.


Bam! Awesome Pally-cows.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 01 Mar 2014, 19:18
However it should be noted that the developers at Blizzard Activision did not consult me for Warcraft-related story/setting development.

They really probably should have, but they didn't. So who knows what the hell they've done with it since I cut out.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 01 Mar 2014, 19:55
Tauren's use of 'holy' magic in Paladins and Priests is attributed to An'she, the sun. In Tauren belief, the sun and the moon are the Earthmother's eyes, An'she and Mu'sha. Their druidic tradition long called on the power of Mu'sha. Shortly before the Cataclysm, a young druid began to question why they didn't equally revere An'she and call on it. She and her mate began the practice of the Sunwalker, becoming respectively the first Tauren priest and paladin. They don't worship the same power of The Light the way the Humans, Dwarves, Draenei or even the Forsaken see it. But rather they call on the sun the way their druids call on the moon to empower them, through the grace of the Earthmother.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: de_la_Nae on 01 Mar 2014, 21:31
oh that's fine too. I forgot about that part of the thing, the sun and moon being the orphaned eyes of the Earthmother and all that.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Nikolai on 01 Mar 2014, 22:56
I have discovered the addiction that is Pet Battle.


So much for leveling.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: ChaoSera on 02 Mar 2014, 04:00
I have discovered the addiction that is Pet Battle.


So much for leveling.
I never really got that. I mean, if I want to play Pokemon, I play Pokemon, not WoW. After all, that's what Emulators where made for.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 02 Mar 2014, 04:55
Yeah I don't fuss with pet battles at all.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Sorflakne on 06 Mar 2014, 10:42
So I finally got the Dreadnaught Pauldrons for my warrior (see pic).  Easily the best looking plate shoulders in the game IMO, and they only cost me a cool 45k on the BMAH.  Fortunately, the only other Alliance bidder saw my warr in 4/8 transmogged Dreadnaught and said he'd bow out for me since I was close to completing the set.  There were two Horde death knights also going for them, but after threatening to drop the hammer a couple times (from 15k to 25k, and then 26k to 45k), I managed to bluff them out.  I was prepared for and expecting to go into the six figure range, but luckily I didn't have to.

Now to get the gloves and pants and I'll be done.  Still working on my paladin's Redemption set, and completely missed out on the breastplate a few days ago! >.<  I had seen it earlier in the day, but decided not to bid in case someone else was watching it, and then come in late at night and drop a stealth bid on it.  And then I forgot to log back in and place a bid.  That and the boots are all I need left for that set, too -.-

(http://www.scrollsoflore.com/gallery/albums/wow_renders/armorset_dwarf-male-warrior-t3.jpg)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: hedgie on 13 Mar 2014, 12:25
Tauren's use of 'holy' magic in Paladins and Priests is attributed to An'she, the sun  …   She and her mate began the practice of the Sunwalker, becoming respectively the first Tauren priest and paladin. They don't worship the same power of The Light the way the Humans, Dwarves, Draenei or even the Forsaken see it. But rather they call on the sun the way their druids call on the moon to empower them, through the grace of the Earthmother.
Okay, that makes sense to Tauren priests and pallies.  Objection withdrawn.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 03 May 2014, 08:58
Well, I fell off the wagon and got into WoW again.
Just allow me a moment of shame, okay?
Level 23 Worgen Warrior and a level 11 Goat Paladin over on Earthen Ring (EU).
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Lines on 03 May 2014, 09:34
My druid and shaman are both lvl 90 now and my husband and I are levelling up monks. We're trying to decide which characters we want to get to lvl 60 for a free boost to 90 with the next expansion. I'm torn between a lvl 40-something mage and my monk (which would be a tank). I have a 60-something paladin, but meh. Never really could get into paladins.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: GarandMarine on 03 May 2014, 09:44
I just cut my subscription >.>;

Like always I cycle with wow, play hard for a couple months, then slowly drop off.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: ChaoSera on 17 Aug 2014, 08:57
So, the cinematic Trailer for Warlords of Draenor has been revealed at GamesCom. As to be expected, it's pretty awesome. Anybody else going back to WoW in November to take a look at the new stuff?

Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Lines on 17 Aug 2014, 10:06
Yup. Haven't played in a while, but I want to see it.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: ChaoSera on 10 Nov 2014, 14:16
And up it goes.
So, only a few more days until release. I'll reactivate my account tomorrow and get familiar with the changed classes. Kind of angry at myself that I forgot to use the 7 free days they sent me, I had to activate those until November 5th and I didn't remember until yesterday. Oh well.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 10 Nov 2014, 14:30
I am tempted to come back because I am really curious to see the old school WC1&2 horde members but I havnt played since Cata and even then it was alliance whereas I would be more interested in my horde character...though that would mean I would have to play through cata with him and then pandas and then warlords.

...really tempted.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: ChaoSera on 10 Nov 2014, 14:31
You know you get a character boost to lvl 90 if you buy the addon, right?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 10 Nov 2014, 14:39
...super tempted.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 10 Nov 2014, 14:39
A boost one one character yes. It is nice and handy. Levelling other characters is fairly easy as well, if you don't mind random dungeon finder groups. I've spent the last few weeks levelling alts mostly that way, and the occasional questing session during lulls. A lot of people are back and getting ready for WoD, so even as a DPS the queue pops pretty quick. My healers basically got groups as soon as I joined the queue.

As far as class changes go, a lot of it was under the hood, so you don't see it so much except for much reduced numbers. There were some mobs that were basically impossible to kill because they were missed during the stat squish. I think they've all been bug fixed though. If you hit level 90 before the expansion there is a short quest chain in the Blasted Lands that sets up the events of the expansion. And you get a few pieces of high iLevel gear. Between that and running around Timeless Isle looting those chests for 515 gear, you should be pretty much set to handle whatever WoD throws at us at the start, for not a lot of time invested.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Majicou83 on 11 Nov 2014, 14:54
There is a silithid mount from Archaeology.  It was a massive pain to get. ~.~
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 11 Nov 2014, 17:32
You just had to go and tell me that. Archaeology is something I've mostly ignored. Until now.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Fig on 12 Nov 2014, 05:59
Honestly, the best way to get the rideable Scarab (which comes from Tol'vir archeology) is just farm Pandaren and Mogu dig sites, convert the completed artifacts to crates, and trade the crates in for Tol'vir shards to Brann Bronzebeard.  Farming Tol'vir normally is a pain in the ass.

I had pre-ordered the expansion but I cancelled my sub and now I'm not sure I really want to reinstate it even factoring the new expansion because I don't have anyone to play with for the most part.  I play the bejeezus out of SWTOR though.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 12 Nov 2014, 15:45
Forgot how brutal/metal the orcs were before the portal opened:
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Sorflakne on 29 Apr 2015, 23:29
There is a silithid mount from Archaeology.  It was a massive pain to get. ~.~
Zin'Rokh is another one that's a massive pain.  I'm just glad my warrior has an original from old ZG.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 18 Apr 2016, 11:44
WoW: Legion to come out in Aug 30th!  I still play (pick it back up lat year after a 4 year hiatus) but wanted to post it here for anyone else who did and was curious.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 18 Apr 2016, 14:25
I didn't know the actual date, so thank you for that. I've got to remember to order it at some point, but I'm at a stage right now where I rarely have the desire to log in to the game, and I'm just kind of waiting. This could well be the make or break point for me when it comes to keeping paying and playing... Both Pandaria and Warlords by all rights should have got me all excited... and leading up to and for a little while after release I was... But that all to quickly faded into lukewarm meeehhhhh. With Legion I can barely generate any enthusiasm... I more stay subscribed through inertia than anything else at this point.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Method of Madness on 18 Apr 2016, 15:42
Oh snap, I forgot this game was a thing. Does Legion bring the level cap up to 100 finally? (If Pandaria did that, disregard that)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 18 Apr 2016, 17:32
Level 100 was reached in Warlords of Draenor. Legion brings it up to 110.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 17 Aug 2016, 08:35
*casts necromantic rituals apon the thread*

So, the Legion pre-release event is happening. Who all is playing and what have you experiences been? So far, I'm rather liking most of it. The Broken Shores event was interesting and will certainly shake things up for a while with changes that have been made. Demon Hunters do seem interesting and fun to play. Class changes seem to vary between "Well, a few tweaks" to "holy hell where are half my abilities and the other have  have changed so much." Looking at you, enhancement shaman. The new wardrobe system is mostly nice. I do wish you could change appearance on the fly instead of having to run back to a transmogrifier. I'm not too fond of the changes to glyphs. Especially that they seem to have wiped out all existing glyphs on characters, meaning if you want the effects of a glyph you had already acquired, you have to go buy/make it again. Demonic invasions are okay, they just don't feel particularly rewarding or epic though. The zombie invasion of pre-Wrath of the Lich King still is the best for me. But a lot of people really hated it. It was a very polarizing event.

Overall, my experience has been positive. This is mostly storytelling stuff to set up the Legion. Gul'dan has been handled well as the main Big Bad. Cut scenes continue to get better. There was more action and emotion in the few minutes of cut scenes than in the live action film. And it didn't feel as often forced and awkward as it was for that. I'm giving the launch event Four The Horde! out of five.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 17 Aug 2016, 11:24
Definitely one of the best expansion pre-launches Blizzard have done, definitely on a par with the zombie attacks for Wrath (as an aside, my biggest problem with Wrath was because the zombie event made it very difficult to get to the towns and cities for much lower level characters).

The class changes have been a little what the hell at times, with me trying to figure out what the hell has happened to my Paladin, though I do have to say that I prefer the much smaller attack pool because you can see what combinations will work better soon.

Demon Hunters are just plain vicious. Massive amounts of damage in a very short burst, especially with the eye-beam. Also if you can pull it off, it seems like if you do a rush attack from a glide, you extra damage. Maybe it just seems like it though, but it does seem like a viable tactic.

Never really used glyphs so its no skin off my nose.

Demonic invasions are kinda fun, but the rewards are kind of hit and miss, as I've gotten the same shoulder pads three times with the same character, while another has gotten gloves, boots and a belt.

Legion is definitely an expansion that got me back into WoW like Cataclysm did. So, I'll give the launch event, 4 and a half Pit Lords out of 5.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 17 Aug 2016, 12:37
They also added a few quest chains for the pre-launch.  Including Khadgar taking you to uldar and Karahzan.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: hedgie on 18 Aug 2016, 21:07
It looks very interesting. Almost enough to make me want to get it.  But I really wonder if it's a good idea to not only add another melee class but to shove survival hunter and holy paladins there.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 18 Aug 2016, 21:40
To be fair, there's nothing holy about the demon hunters and they did exist in the lore anyway. And with them being restricted to the Elven races, they do fit, if only because we won't see a flood of Draenei demon hunters or Orc demon hunters, much like the Death Knights.

Yeah, it's another melee class but it's also more focused than the others, it's either DPS or straight up tank. For all people might say about Paladins, Death Knights or Bear Druids, Warriors were really the only ones with more of a natural inclination towards tanking. Vengeance Demon Hunter (or is that Havoc...can't remember) do offer s dedicated tank spec.

Actually I would go as far to say that Demon Hunters were more a combo of Rogues and Warlocks, quick damage backed up by fel damage.

I do imagine though that the next Hero class will probably be a mail wearing magic user, probably a battlemage or something. We'll only have to wait until the next Blizzcon for the announcement.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 18 Aug 2016, 23:15
Following this thread at my peril, considering that swore that I would not fall off the wagon.

Again.  :psyduck:

I don't event have enough time to do all the current stuff I am trying to cram into my hours and days. Let alone WowCrack.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 19 Aug 2016, 04:12
Not to come off as a dealer but, I do like that these x-pacs are more story driven around your character.  WoD had me hooked because of that (apparently MoP had it too).  Vanilla through Cata had elements of thise but it differed from zone to zone (WotLK coming close to what WoD did but not quite there).  Looking back on everything, why did it take Blizz so long to figure out the player should be the main character of their own story instead of the wandering Kane from "Kung Fu."  Going from place to place to right wrongs and stand up for the oppressed or overrunned. Now you are the commander, the hero, the class leader.  As it should have been.  Granted its a no-brainer now but hindsight is 20/20.  Making the x-pacs more immersive and story driven is how WoW has evolved, and I quite like this evolution.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 19 Aug 2016, 04:36
Back in the early days of our character's careers it make sense that we are treated as one of many largely interchangeable adventurers. Guards and townsfolk were undoubtedly used to seeing a steady trickle if not stream of people with dreams of glory in their heads and a second hand sword in their hands. Most of whom probably set out into the wilds never to return. As times goes on though you become famous. Dealing with major threats and facing monsters that leave seasoned soldiers quaking in their boots. You start to get recognized as the one who slayed Onyxia, or stopped Ragnaros. Even if you never raided, by the time of the Burning Crusade your exploits are widely known and you are gladly accepted as an expert and seasoned adventurer in Outland. You are tasked with dealing with tasks way above the abilities of other soldiers and expected to go toe to toe with people that have god-like powers. By the time Arthas tried to kill the world off, it is you they are turning to to be sent as part of the vanguard, and spearheading attacks. Important figures, warlords, powerful mages, kings and warchiefs alike rely on you when nobody else can get the job done.

By the time of the Cataclysm, when threats strike it's you that the leaders of Azeroth turn to first. Immortal beings like the Dragon Aspects themselves know of you. The most powerful of people know who you are personally. Some even call you friend. You are now not only standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the most powerful beings on at least two worlds, it is you they turn to to protect them. The tale of the epic adventurer has always been the core. From our meanest beginnings as a grubby recruit tasked with delivering packages and checking up on remote farms to those whom kings and immortals rely on for aid and advice. Who's power and experience carries real weight in the world. Leaders of armies, uniters of tribes, slayers of gods.  It is no surprise that current expansions treat our characters as the epic heroes they have become.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: hedgie on 19 Aug 2016, 07:26
To be fair, there's nothing holy about the demon hunters and they did exist in the lore anyway. And with them being restricted to the Elven races, they do fit, if only because we won't see a flood of Draenei demon hunters or Orc demon hunters, much like the Death Knights.

, it's another melee class but it's also more focused than the others, it's either DPS or straight up tank. For all people might say about Paladins, Death Knights or Bear Druids, Warriors were really the only ones with more of a natural inclination towards tanking. Vengeance Demon Hunter (or is that Havoc...can't remember) do offer s dedicated tank spec.

Oh the demon hunters make perfect sense.  But it explain shoving one hitherto ranged spec in there and "encouraging" another in close.  Most loud the changes make sense, and the new class fits the theme.  A lot of stuff also looks interesting like it'd be fun (I quit before the pandas).  In the end have to base my decision on what I find out about h-pallies and disc protests on their creating sites
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 19 Aug 2016, 07:41
Holy paladins have not been ranged for a while. Certainly not in WoP, possibly not in Pandaria? I don't remember the status of them at that time. But it's not like it was a loong time ago when they would sit in the back flinging spells with the clothies. In fact, that's exactly why they changed the class, to get them  up in the action. PBAoE heals and melee attacks being your primary generators of holy power meant you wanted to be stuck in with the melee DPS.

Survival hunters are a bit weird. I'm guessing it's a bit of a call back to the days of melee hunters. But that was always done more as a joke than anything else. A hunter always did their best damage at range. Some people did complain when they removed melee weapons from hunters. But I always felt it was a bigger problem to removed ranged weapons from the other classes. Warriors in particular were hurting because a lot of them would use a bow or gun to start a pull. Of course this was about the time when everyone just started YOLO charging through dungeons and even raids. So carefully pulling and applying crowd control was mostly out of the meta.

I kind of thing they were at a loss for what to do with the Survival spec. In Legion one of the themes is making the different specs more distinct. Different flavors of hunters were not really that much different before. Beastmasters would lean on their pets more while marksmen got better ranged tools. And Survivalists got... ummm... Did people actually play Survival before? Now Marksmen is really about the shooting. You don't even need a pet if you take the Lone Wolf talent at 15. Beastmasters are all about the pet, and calling more beasts. Survivalists get the traps and the melee... I guess they're going for a Rexxar feel to them?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 19 Aug 2016, 07:50
Not to come off as a dealer but,

Let's face it, if we're playing again, we do need to try and get more people playing! :evil:

But what Ali was saying is true. Blizzard are really trying make the various specs feel a lot more different than before. I have two warriors, Fury and Arms, and I can tell you this right now, the Arms feels very much like its the faster hitting character, focusing on dodging to serve as the off-tank. The Fury feels very much like the juggernaut, its going to take the hits and its going to be slower but when it does hit, its like a train-hitting.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: hedgie on 19 Aug 2016, 07:53
I quit in cata.  I guess the writing was on the wall then

Edit: the thing that bugged Me back then was when we started getting AOE heals. I really didn't wanna heal the idiots
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 20 Aug 2016, 21:05
when we started getting AOE heals. I really didn't wanna heal the idiots

I don't see them as idiots, but as ablative meatshields. You needed them to keep the bad guys from whaling on your squishy priest.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: hedgie on 20 Aug 2016, 21:29
Well, my main as an H Pally wasn't very squishy.  And if you've ever tried to take-out a disc priest in PvP, you know that they don't go down easy either  :-P 

But it does make sense that Blizz didn't want 2/5 of the heal specs at the time be be over-specialised to the point where they basically regarded DPS as being hidden under an SEP field.  Even in Cata, I did warn DPS that any heals they got from me were largesse.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 20 Aug 2016, 22:13
Well, you know, when you are sick of healing idiots, you are sick of WoW.

And I'm not saying that because WoW is full of idiots (though it might seem like it at times).

Basically, if you have a dungeon full of people who aren't obsessed with the game, who don't treat it like a part time job, then "idiocy" (aka mistakes) will happen with some frequency. That's not to mention the genuine idiots. The best healers, IMO, are the ones who put the success of the group/raid over petty dislike of individual players. As far as I'm concerned, "idiots" aren't the ones who are bad for the game. The ones who are bad for the game, the ones who really drive players away, are the abusive ones with no tolerance for anything less than close to perfect game play.

The good healers are the ones who relish a challenging dungeon where the players are not at their best. When facing a new boss, this is the default, and it is where the healers can shine. Face it, once the strategy has been mastered by the group, the healers can usually more or less sit back and relax (and poke fun at the mage who pulled aggro again with invis on cooldown and is now a smudge on the floor).

I became annoyed at the emphasis on AoE healing, but not for the same reasons as stated above. There was a time when raid healers had definite roles, and it was those roles that made life interesting. You had your efficient, single-target throughput healer, usually on a tank. You had your burst output healers, sometimes on a tank, sometimes on a specific role, sometimes on random targets. You had your aoe healers, you had your random raid healers. They were all needed, they all had their strengths, and they played to them. When everything clicked, healing was a joy. When people got obsessed with numbers on the hps chart, that caused problems, because some roles didn't necessarily have high numbers, even though they kept the people alive they were supposed to. So they would heal randomly in an effort to boost their numbers, and people died as a result. This, as a heal leader, was endlessly frustrating.

Now, possibly in an effort to attract the dps/hps junkies, they have homogenised the healing classes, made the damage much more raid-wide and less spikey, and changed the game such that there is a genuine need for simple aoe throughput placed on all healers. Maybe it made healing more interesting for people who watch the metres, but it made healing much less interesting for me.

I think part of the reason is that, while I like healers with different roles, I don't think that they really got it right in Wrath. The idea of holy priests being good in 5-man dungeons and holy paladins being good in raids didn't make sense. I was actually assigned to healing Valithria Dreamwalker in ICC, FSM knows why. The difference between my output and the holy paladin's was ridiculous. We killed the boss, so I didn't really care, but I think there's a balance to be struck there somewhere, and I wonder if it will ever be achieved.

As a side note, the tolerance levels for mistakes vary based on what class you're playing. I have made stupid mistakes as a healer and been told "nah, don't sweat it." I've made stupid mistakes as a tank and had mixed responses. And I've made stupid responses as a huntard, and had vitriol hurled at me that you would barely believe (if you weren't a veteran WoW player).
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: hedgie on 20 Aug 2016, 22:53
Well, you know, when you are sick of healing idiots, you are sick of WoW.
Quite true, and you raise some excellent points which I'll attempt to address without being so flippant (and not on a phone).  But in the 4 years I played on Blizz servers, and three I did on private servers, I noticed that arrogance similar to mine although common to healers in general was exaggerated almost to the point of parody by H Pallies and Disc Priests.  I knew several who refused to even go on anything less than a full-guild run of anything, and reached that point, myself, on several occasions out of frustration on anything but a milk run.

I'm rather amused that with progression raiding, where anyone who hadn't been doing it on the PTR was learning, raids lasted not much more than three hours because at least half of the healers and usually one of the tanks were intoxicated to the point of being useless.[1]

Quote
The good healers are the ones who relish a challenging dungeon where the players are not at their best. When facing a new boss, this is the default, and it is where the healers can shine. Face it, once the strategy has been mastered by the group, the healers can usually more or less sit back and relax (and poke fun at the mage who pulled aggro again with invis on cooldown and is now a smudge on the floor).
 

Oh, yeah.  New bosses were far more interesting.  Towards the end of an expansion, gear inflation for progression raiders got to the point where I'd tell a similarly geared pug tank to "just pull the fucking room already, I'm *bored*".  End-game LK was the worst for this, IME.

Quote
<snip=agreed> When people got obsessed with numbers on the hps chart, that caused problems, because some roles didn't necessarily have high numbers, even though they kept the people alive they were supposed to.

Yeah.  I *did* look at the charts after a wipe just to see if someone for their class/spec/role wasn't pulling their weight.  It was frustrating, though, to be booted from a pug on a disc priest for having "low hps".

<snip=agreed>
Quote
As a side note, the tolerance levels for mistakes vary based on what class you're playing. I have made stupid mistakes as a healer and been told "nah, don't sweat it." I've made stupid mistakes as a tank and had mixed responses. And I've made stupid responses as a huntard, and had vitriol hurled at me that you would barely believe (if you weren't a veteran WoW player).

Oh, I know.  Before my pally took over as my main, I temporarily ran my DK as one.  If anyone started joking about "deathnoobs", I'd do things like pet-pull or leave exploding bunnies around for pats in order to troll people.

Edit:  I also, tended to test other tolerance levels less for making mistakes (I tried my best not to make them and maintain a proper Ballmer Peak throughout) was to see what other sorts of things that I could get away with.  Like demanding that after a boss kill, I got to go outside and smoke a cigarette whilst everyone else dealt with trash, or well, seeing how drunk I could get before anyone noticed.  It's pretty crazy what one can get away with.

[1] I will never confirm nor deny causing a wipe due to being drunk to the point of falling out of a chair during a critical moment.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 21 Aug 2016, 20:09
I've never actually played WoW while drunk, but I have healed a tank who was pretty drunk on a couple of occasions. Luckily for us, he'd run the place so many times, most pulls went off without a hitch. But when something unexpected happened... let's just say that there were some comical wipes. Fun times.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 26 Aug 2016, 08:35
Turns out the invasions pre-event is a fantastic way of levelling up characters and make quite a lot of gold. Three invasions and I've taken a Shaman from level 22 to 39.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 26 Aug 2016, 08:50
I had an issue at first where I wasn't gaining the proper amount of experience for some reason. I would do several invasions and my EXP bar would barely move. At level 93, I was getting 80-2000 xp per kill, with full rest.  Since then though it's been taken care of. I got my belf paladin almost to 99, and my human mage is almost at 98 right now. Once they are Legion-ready I'll probably hit up one of my low characters and see how far I can get them in a week.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 26 Aug 2016, 08:59
Yeah, I've always considered making a Priest or a Mage, but I've never really like the idea of actually levelling up a cloth class through the expansions. But the invasions should be quite useful. But you might want to consider making some more use of the invasions, while Blizzard haven't said anything, I imagine the event should end a little bit after the launch.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 26 Aug 2016, 11:11
I was able to get my orc warrior from lvl 20 to 54, my blood elf hunter from 73 to 100 and gear my 5 other 100s with lvl 700 gear.  This weekend I am going to try and get my warrior to 60 and start a draenei priest and get her to 60 too.  Especially after seeing this video.

Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 26 Aug 2016, 12:36
Carbot really captures the image of the male Draenei well. I could hardly tell the difference between his drawing and a screenshot.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 29 Aug 2016, 20:06
Legion launch has been a lot of fun, no disconnects or queues, but then again I'm on a fairly low population server so it doesn't really matter to me.

Legion spoilers
(click to show/hide)

A word of warning, the Legion Invasion events were really useful for a couple of reasons. Unless you can heal yourself quickly or do a massive amount of damage, you're going to struggle...As did my Death Knight and he had an average of 673 gear.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 06 Sep 2016, 06:03
I completely forgot that for Illidan its been a time warp for him. The world is really different since BC.

Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 06 Sep 2016, 07:29
That global range on The Hunt is so OP....
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 06 Sep 2016, 17:51
So, forgive me for my ignorance, I haven't been following this stuff.

How is this expansion different from Burning Legion?

Blizzard seem to have been trading heavily on nostalgia in the past couple of expansions. Maybe they got a bit burned by MoP and decided that the best way to bring players back is to rehash, rehash, rehash.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 06 Sep 2016, 18:09
Yes, there is a lot of play on Nostalgia that has gone into this and the last expansion. It's not really a bad thing though. WoW lore is quite expansive and it would be a waste to throw it all away every expansion to come up with new things. Especially when the old things are still around and there are more stories to be told about them.  A fair bit is borrowed from Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. The return of the Legion, of Illidan and Kharazhan from Burning Crusade hits on a lot of the big things that were popular in that expansion. Some of the feel of the zones, Dalaran, the Vrykul and a new hero class call back to Wrath. Familiar places and people and new stories to be told. Technically, continuation of stories that have been told since the start of the franchise. Many of the enemies have been stopped, or beaten back... but never truly destroyed and their threat was not ended, merely postponed.  The Legion by definition cannot be destroyed. At best you can destroy the physical bodies of the demons and send them to the nether for a time. But they will always return. They and the Old Gods will always remain a threat to Azeroth, no matter how many times they are 'killed'.

So in short.. I don't mind at all that we are going back to old places. I liked visiting old Draenor last expansion. I love running around Dalaran again this expansion. I'm so looking forward to the new Kharazan dungeon, which still remains one of my favorite raids ever. I want to see where these characters, some of which I've known longer than real life friends at this point, go in their story.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 06 Sep 2016, 18:23
So, forgive me for my ignorance, I haven't been following this stuff.

How is this expansion different from Burning Crusade?

Blizzard seem to have been trading heavily on nostalgia in the past couple of expansions. Maybe they got a bit burned by MoP and decided that the best way to bring players back is to rehash, rehash, rehash.

Fixed that bit for you.

Basically the Burning Legion have actually invaded, rather than just being the hidden boogeymen and puppet masters that they have been for all the expansions. On top of that major
(click to show/hide)

The whole point of Legion is now that the players characters have been recognised as the main heroes of Azeroth and therefore become the leader of their class and act as the spearpoint against the Legion. Warriors become champions of what is essentially Valhalla, having been recognised as the true champions of Azeroth. Death Knight players can reforge Frostmourne into a pair of blades (Frost spec only), but also recreate the Four Horsemen. Paladins rebuild the Order of the Silver Hand and are based from the basement of Light's Hope Chapel. And it goes on like that for the classes.

It seems like Blizzard are clearing out characters and setting up the players to take over from them. Which kind of makes me wonder if the expansion will be some sort of Kingmaker scenario and players become rulers of their respective faction.

Edit: Also, what Neko_Ali said.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 06 Sep 2016, 19:25
Ha, yes, sorry for the brain fart there with the misnaming of BC.

Obviously, a lot of people don't mind revisiting to old places. It's proven to be a very popular strategy. And I have no doubt that you can justify the position that this expansion advances a story. I'd probably feel happier about another Legion expansion if not for the tired Back from the Dead (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BackFromTheDead) trope.

Eh. Given that I am trying to resist any temptation to return to the game, I should be happy that they are doing this. Because it makes resisting the temptation easier.

Obviously I am not heavily into the lore and am not their target audience.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 06 Sep 2016, 19:38
To be fair, the characters who have died aren't coming back and in all fairness Blizzard isn't really the kind of developer that uses that trope. In fact, they're more likely to use http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CameBackWrong (http://Came Back Wrong) trope. And bear in mind that the characters they have killed off were or are quite popular.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 06 Sep 2016, 20:16
Sure, back from the dead, came back wrong. Pick your favourite resurrection trope. No real difference for the purpose of this discussion.

And of course they only bring back popular characters. Say what you like about Blizz, they aren't idiots. That rather does, however, support the notion that they are primarily driven, not by narrative, but by marketing imperative.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 06 Sep 2016, 20:32
Sure, back from the dead, came back wrong. Pick your favourite resurrection trope. No real difference for the purpose of this discussion.

And of course they only bring back popular characters. Say what you like about Blizz, they aren't idiots. That rather does, however, support the notion that they are primarily driven, not by narrative, but by marketing imperative.

The thing is that Varian is literally dust on the wind, Vol'jin got burned on a pyre. You have two of the most popular characters in the franchise and they have been completely removed and killed off. Varian's chin too.

But the general feel of this expansion is that maybe Blizzard are clearing the board, that the world isn't going to be the same again and we aren't going back to the status quo simply because it does not exist anymore. Now, there have always been dark spots early to mid expansion, where the players are on the ropes, but then haha, we get the lucky break to turn things in our favour. But its not happening in Legion, at least not yet. The old heroes are dying and being cleared out and for once everything rests on the player's shoulders, because now they have to make the choices (or at least being directed by their second in commands or bosses...). I don't think Legion will be the last expansion, mainly because WoW is 12 years old this year and is one of the few subscription based MMOs still around, Blizzard are making too much money from this. But I also know that Blizzard aren't afraid of killing off fan favourites for the purpose of developing the story.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 06 Sep 2016, 20:37
There is no need to be afraid of killing them off when you can either resurrect them or time travel to reuse them at any time you choose, is there?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 06 Sep 2016, 20:53
There is no need to be afraid of killing them off when you can either resurrect them or time travel to reuse them at any time you choose, is there?

You seem to be obsessed with the idea of Blizzard bringing back characters from the dead. Like there's a conveyor belt where they kill a character at one station and resurrect them at the next station, before killing them at the next station and repeating the process ad nauseum.

Granted, the time travel plot of Warlords was something of an asspull, but its not necessarily an overwriting one. Its more like the current Star Trek. Yeah, there's an alternate timeline, but in the same way that the Kelvin timeline for Star Trek doesn't necessarily mean that The Original Series, the Next Generation and so on have been rendered obsolete, rather its just a fork in the story. Same thing with Warlords, the story hasn't been overwritten, but there is a fork in the timeline, the Warlords timeline and the Main timeline. That Gul'dan from Warlords is now in the Main timeline doesn't even matter any more than the players crossing universes and time to smack a petulant teenager upside the head.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 06 Sep 2016, 21:54
Hey, I'm not obsessed with anything WoW, I thought I made that clear. I'm just having a conversation with you, and responding to the points you're making. I'm happy to keep discussing the resurrection trope for as long as you are.

Like there's a conveyor belt where they kill a character at one station and resurrect them at the next station, before killing them at the next station and repeating the process ad nauseum.

Not quite that bad, no. I think you're somewhat unfairly mischaracterising what I'm saying.

The impression I get is that you don't entirely disagree with what I'm saying, just that you don't think that any of it is a deal breaker. If so, then I actually agree with you on that. None of this is the reason I've stopped playing, actually. But that's another story.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 07 Sep 2016, 08:27
Actually, fairly few lore characters have had resurrection happen to them. In fact, it's something that's often joked about in the difference between mechanics and lore. Players and mobs and bosses can endlessly respawn because otherwise the game would be boring or drastically different in a game sense. But if someone is killed outside of gaming reasons, they tend to stay dead without very good reason and often extreme cases.  Of course, given the fact that ghosts are a regular thing, just being dead doesn't mean a character can't have part in the story. I just had another nice talk with Uther on my paladin the other night, and he's been dead for many years. The only real people I've known to come back from the dead in lore was Kael'thas. And his resurrection was not... pleasant. He came back as a twisted fel puppet with crystals embedded in his chest. Sylvanas of course has had a few lives through the years. First as Ranger General, then brought back as a banshee by Arthas. Then possessing a couple of different bodies. Finally she nearly died in the new Forsaken questline after Cataclysm but was restored to undeath by one of her Valkyr sacrificing her life to save Sylvanas.

The various member of the Burning Legion can't be killed on this world, or on Draenor/Outland.  It was long established that when you destroy a demon you are just destroying it's body. It's spirit goes back to the Nether to reform. to actually kill a demon, you have to kill it in the Nether. You can also consume it's essence and trap it within your body the way the Illidari or Meryl Felstorm did. But that doesn't kill them, and eventually they can potentially get free. As far as returning bad guys in this expansion go... Illidan was never killed. When the players beat him at Black Temple, Maiev stopped anyone from killing him to return him to his eternal prison. So no resurrection there. Gul'dan of our world remains dead. The Gul'dan leading the invasion force in Legion is the alternate universe one opened up in Warlords of Draenor, come back to the prime universe. All thanks to meddling in the time stream by bronze dragons.

So ultimately, there have been very, very few people return from the dead, outside of the Undead and demons in game. Far less you would think in a game that includes resurrection spells and mechanics that mean players never die for long, and you can re-run content many times. But that's pretty much just set aside as a game concept that doesn't really happen in lore.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 07 Sep 2016, 09:02
I am still confused (lore wise) on how Medivh is dead but shows up in WC3 alive only to be left as a ghost/image in Karazhan (ignoring the fake out ghost in the recent khadgar video). I havn't made it very far in Legion due to meat space so no spoilers, but is it addressed in legion?  If its been addressed elsewhere please let me know.

Also are the comics canon considering the new guardian in the comics is completely left out of the game?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 07 Sep 2016, 11:05
Here is Medivh's lore page: http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Medivh

The short answer is, after he was killed, he got a resurrection, his mother used the last of her power to restore his life. Mabye? Some of the later appearances of him as 'The Prophet' suggest he might not be human, but some kind of spirit made solid for a while. After the defeat of Archimonde at Mount Hyjal he disappeared to 'rejoin legends'. His role has pretty much been taken over by Khadgar now. Though Khadgar still refuses to accept the title of Guardian, thinking he would wind up going down the same path to evil as Medivh.

I'm really not sure how lore-valid the various books and comic are supposed to be. But I'm pretty sure Med'an is not official. Certain his story as Guardian and all that he did in the comics is directly contradicted by the story of Legion, and no mention of him is ever made anywhere but the comics, I think. So I'm pretty sure that is all non canon.

Some things though are canon, such as the events of the Sunwell Trilogy manga, which introduced the blue dragon Kalecgos, among others. Who has gone on to become a regular occurrence in the World of Warcraft. My thought is that it's like the Star Wars comics and books. Until something appears in offical Blizzard media, such as the game, consider it to be alternate universe possibilities. Not real until it officially shows up.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Lines on 12 Sep 2016, 11:54
Not really tying this into the current discussion because phone typing/swiping sucks, but I'm having fun with this expansion. I don't feel completely hopeless soloing, but it's not a cakewalk. Questing is pleasantly streamlined and i like how the zones scale based on level. Also my favorite raid is making a comeback!

Who knows how long it'll keep my attention, but so far I quite like it.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Method of Madness on 12 Sep 2016, 12:27
So if I eventually want to play...do I have to buy the game and ALL the expansions?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 12 Sep 2016, 12:44
Yes, but not separately. Buying the base game now includes all of the expansions up through Warlords of Draenor for USD $20. So all of the content up to level 100. If you want to go past that, then you have to purchase Legion separately.  That is the way expansions have been handled for a while now. When a new expansion comes out, the previous one gets folded into the content of the main game as far as price goes. So cheaper really than if you had been playing all along and bought each expansion as it came out.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Method of Madness on 12 Sep 2016, 12:55
Oh! Cool! Ok, when I build a computer that can run WoW I'll do that, then.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 12 Sep 2016, 15:02
Taking a break from the Broken Isles to solo some of the heroic dungeons from Warlords.

I think I can sum up the outcome as the following:
(http://i.imgur.com/YkFAkMm.gif)

Which is really easing the mammoth cost of that...well, Mammoth from last week...
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 12 Sep 2016, 15:28
Oh! Cool! Ok, when I build a computer that can run WoW I'll do that, then.

I'd recommend just getting the base game at start. You will have all the class changes, quality of life stuff and all that that people playing Legion have. You don't need the expansion for basic mechanics of the game. You don't need to buy the expansion until you reach level 100 and are ready to move on. Or unless you really want to play a Demon Hunter. They are a ton of fun, I'll give you that. So there is a lot of content to do before you reach that point. And the price may have dropped for Legion by then, or you might be able to pick it up on a sale somewhere. Getting the expansion does give you a free level 100 boost, allowing you to get a character immediately ready to head to the Broken Isles.

But I recommend playing through and getting someone to level 100 first before doing that though, and trying out several classes to see which ones you like. This will let you get a feel for the game and mechanics of it all, so you don't feel overwhelmed right at the start. And since the level 100 boost is something you can only do once and you can't change class afterwards,  you probably don't want to waste it.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 12 Sep 2016, 16:25
Yeah, try out several classes before making one your main.

I remember years ago when Wrath had been announced, I wanted so much to play a warrior and I really disliked the idea of Paladins (though this was going back to other games). I got to about level 40 when I realised that I really didn't understand the mechanics of a Warrior, I was so focused on getting my combat talents that I had no real idea of maintaining aggro for tanking (thank god we don't have to buy talents anymore), which really didn't help at a time when Warriors were pretty much the main tanks in the game. And that left a rather bitter taste in my mouth for Wrath and Cataclysm because if you joined a group, everyone wanted you to be the tank.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love playing a warrior these days, but I have a Paladin for my main, who goes through the content first and looking at a Priest for soloing older content.

That said, the mechanics have simplified so much since 2008. Each class and each specialisation has been further defined in what their roles are and how they can be used. Warriors used to be something of a joke in terms of dealing damage, but nowadays, warriors are terrifying.

I'm sure you can still get trial versions of Warcraft from certain retailers, or even the Starter Edition from Blizzard.net itself. You can level up to 20, earn up to 10 gold and try out the basic stuff, though expansion content will be denied to you (which is alright because the expansions really start at level 60)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Method of Madness on 12 Sep 2016, 17:40
I briefly played when Burning Crusade came out, but I never got past level 20 or so. So yeah, the base game (which means all the expansions except Legion, right?) will be more than enough.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 12 Sep 2016, 17:52
I'm glad to hear they've done a good job with questing in Legion. Questing in WoD was a lot of fun.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 12 Sep 2016, 18:16
I briefly played when Burning Crusade came out, but I never got past level 20 or so. So yeah, the base game (which means all the expansions except Legion, right?) will be more than enough.

Like its been said, if you feel like you want to, you can upgrade to Legion if and when you feel like it.

I'm glad to hear they've done a good job with questing in Legion. Questing in WoD was a lot of fun.

Yeah, because the regions scale up with the player and because each player can do the main zones in the order they want, Blizzard has done away with the ridiculous requirement to level up from previous expansions to more reasonable amounts, like for all ten levels in Legion, its like 600,000 up to 750,000 (in Cataclysm, it was something like 9 million xp for level 85). It wasn't a grind per se, but it did take a while.

Levelling and questing in Legion means you aren't looking for something to fill in the gaps between searching for the next quest. There are still certain areas where you can fill up a meter to get a huge boost to xp and a fair bit of gold, much like there were in Warlords. They're handy, but at the same time the fact that there are several in every zone and it kind of feels like its being foisted on you as you come across them and I'm kind of "meh" about them.

There are also World Quests for end-game now. Basically they're like the old daily quests, but you get quests for each zone; some might be related your class, others can be boosts to your reputation with each zone faction, with there are some that are related to your professions. They haven't been implement yet, presumably to let players get to max level first, but there are going to be World Raid Bosses.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Lines on 12 Sep 2016, 19:33
Echoing testing out classes. My druid has definitely been my only constant character since vanilla. Never really got into my pally or any fighting melee character really (other than cat druid), so pallys, warriors, rogues, and death knights are not really my jam. I much prefer casting and/or healing. Right now my three main characters are a druid, shaman, and mage. I need to test out healing on my druid, as I haven't healed on it since BC? I prefer casting and being a kitty. I love healing on my shaman and so far casting has also been good, although I'm used to being a melee DPS on it. Mage is mage, pew pew. Demon hunters are a lot of fun and I think are a good balance between warlocks and death knights, also they look cool.

So yeah. Play with lots of classes, see what you like, and go from there.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 12 Sep 2016, 21:37
More for my own amusement than for anyone else's, a (vaguely remembered) history of classes I've tried.

Druid (lured by the promise of being able to do everything)
Mage (first character I ever raided with)
Priest (decided I liked healing more than pew pew)
Hunter (my only character with a pvp focus, on a pvp server)
Shaman (only time I've really enjoyed playing dps)
Paladin (my tanking phase, only ever pugged though)
Monk (healing, dabbled in tanking)

Classes I tried but never really got into: rogue (20 levels or so), warrior (similar), DK (starting zone only), warlock (got to about 60 before I gave up)

The character among all those that I have called my main since creation was the holy priest, with the mage coming second in the early days, to be overtaken later by the shaman.

Healing was more of a numbers game in WoD. To attract more players, I suppose. Not really to my liking. Sure, you can't ignore the numbers, but if I were obsessed with numbers I'd play dps.  :roll:
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 13 Sep 2016, 06:41
Some interesting things in Legion, especially in regards to classes is that they are lifting a lot of abilities from Heroes of the Storm as class abilities. Not to mention straight up featuring characters from both games, putting them in prominent positions. For example, for the Shaman elemental spec artifact weapon I had to engage in a mini tournament in Pandaria. One of my fights was a team match. Rehgar and myself vs Chen and Lil Li. Chen even kept using his barrel roll ability constantly. And Reghar hangs out in the shaman class hall now, bearing the title "Hero of the Storm'. In case the point wasn't driven home enough...

As far as abilities go, a lot, if not all classes have picked up abilities that straight up pull from HotS. My shaman has Sundering. Which is... a lot less impressive than Thall's version. Only hitting a small area in front of me, instead of a long line. Death Knights get to summon Sindragosa like Arthas, and use Leoric's wraith walk ability. Warriors  have a Heroic Leap much like Sonya's ultimate. The fire mage's artifact allows you to summon pheonixes like Kael'thas... The list goes on and I'm sure I haven't seen them all yet. There is even a quest where you play as Murky for a while, using his abilities straight out of HotS. I wouldn't call it heavy cross promotion, it feels more like easter eggs for people who play both games. Albeit really obvious easter eggs.

The new Demon Hunter class is a lot of fun. They feel a lot more action oriented. With Fel Dash on charges and a rapid cool down, plus defensive mechanics largely based on dodges and more area affects.. It feels like WoW is becoming more of an action MMO. It is still tab target and throw abilities for the vast majority. But with the more melee classes like Demon Hunter and Monk postilion feels more important. The Demon Hunter is a lot of fun... It's seriously challenging Shaman as my top spot.. Who are only holding on because they can heal, while Demon Hunters can't.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 13 Sep 2016, 10:22
Yeah, Havoc spec Demon Hunters gain access to a talent called Demonic Appetite, which lets them create soul fragments with one of their attacks, they can run into these fragments which add Fury and restore some health.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 16 Sep 2016, 03:27
So, sorry for the continued dumb questions, but what are professions like in legion?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 16 Sep 2016, 04:28
So, sorry for the continued dumb questions, but what are professions like in legion?
So far in my experience:
Professions get their own quest lines/chains as well that help you learn new recipes and improved versions of those recipes (protip for smiths, don't buy the level 2 leysteel armor recipes, just follow the quest lines!).  Each recipe has 3 levels with each level of that item being better than the last (leysteel bracers lvl 1 is weaker than layseteel bracers lvl 2).  For mining I had to just mine anything I found and it started a quest for that specific type of mining I was doing (1 for mining a node, 1 for mining a dead elemental body, 1 for mining a wall vein, etc) and for each type of new mineral.  You can still mine without doing the quests but doing the quests gives higher yields of minerals when you mine that object.  It seems way more involved than in previous games where you just learn a recipe and start mass producing it until you get no increased in profession level.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 16 Sep 2016, 06:44
It is also slightly more difficult and annoying to get new recipes. You go out and do quests to lean to make new things. Then  you can buy the plans to improve what you can build. But you can't just go to a trainer and buy a brand new recipe like you could before. So far I'm finding it more annoying than anything else.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 16 Sep 2016, 07:15
Yeah, if you have a crafting profession like tailoring or blacksmith, you gain a quest to collect X amount of material (to be fair they aren't that difficult to get) and bring it back to the questgiver. Who tries to make something and that fails spectacularly (though the Blacksmithing one is the funniest), and you can make bracers and shoulderpads. You're then sent out to talk to an expert on the materials and through a series of quests, you learn more and more recipes.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: hedgie on 16 Sep 2016, 09:15
Ugh.  Questing.  The bane of my life.  I hope they got rid of the "collect 20 monkey anuses and most monkeys don't have them" type.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 16 Sep 2016, 09:39
They kind of do.  There are still missions where they want you to kill x pumas or kill a bunch of soldiers until you find all the diary pages.  The difference being its relevant to the quest chain/story.  Killing pumas to help your gnome friend learn to hunt and they have a mini-xp bar, each of those pages are voice acted and tell you where to find your missing troops which is the next stage of the story.  They do have bonus areas inside the areas where you are already questing.  They help you level up faster and add to the immersion. 

For example I have a quest to destroy the bolt throwers on the towers and kill the head honcho, but the area also has a bonus meter that I can fill up by killing henchmen, freeing dragons, and burning huts.  Once the meter is full I get a ton more XP and also money or class hall currency.  A lot of times I am just doing the quests but the bonus meter is already at 75% so I just stick around and kill a few more mobs or burn another building. Which makes sense seeing as we're trying to destroy this viking base anyway.

This is different from the old grind because I dont have to collect 10 bear asses but the bear ass drop rate is so low I have to kill 50 bears to get 1 bear ass.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 16 Sep 2016, 09:58
To be fair, they really did change up the questing approach since Cataclysm. The emphasis is now on the story for each region and like LeeC said, those quests are tied into the story. For example, if you go to Westfall, you are pretty much thrown into a murder investigation; which has you talking to witnesses then searching for clues and generally investigation, which leads up to the return of the Defias Brotherhood and the partial destruction of Westfall.

There are still quests where its like "Bring Me 30 Turkey Giblets" and you end up killing something like 100 turkeys, but thankfully that kind of quest has been severely reduced and they are phasing them out. The overall approach from Blizzard from the past few expansions has been to make the game a bigger draw to a fanbase that has become used to free-to-play games. That means more streamlined quests, less creature killing for quest items and mixing up some fun like mounting in a turret, which is always fun.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 16 Sep 2016, 10:20
Some nice additions are the fact that the zones are mostly not level-dependant. There are four main leveling zones for Legion. But you can do them in any order. Each has the usual main story quest thread and a bunch of side missions you can do. But the level of the mob adjusts to your level. In the same way that the pre-Legion events were scaled so that level 10 and level 100 players could be doing the same event, and the level 10 wasn't destroyed by a stray demon fart. Also they include multi-tapping mobs again. If you see someone fighting a mob in your area and you aren't grouped, you can still jump in and fight them. You will get credit for the kill for any quests and experience, and your own treasure. Possibly the greatest thing is that resource nodes are per player. Which means if I'm fighting a mob on top of an ore node, and some jackhole runs up and mines it out from literally under my feet... it doesn't matter. I still get to mine that node. It doesn't disappear when the other person mines it. Only when I mine it does it disappear to me.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: hedgie on 16 Sep 2016, 10:49
The mining thing is useful.  Then again, my gathering alt was a hunter, so if there was a mob there, I just sent fluffy to deal with it (I did the same with my dk before she ditched mining for engineering).
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Method of Madness on 16 Sep 2016, 12:49
Why are enemies called mobs?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 16 Sep 2016, 12:57
Why are enemies called mobs?

"The term "mob" is short for "mobile," which was used by Richard Bartle for objects that were self-mobile in MUD1. The term as it exists in MMORPGs is derived from the MUD usage. (Source code in DikuMUD uses the term "mob" to refer to a generic NPC; DikuMUD was a heavy influence on EverQuest.) The term is properly an abbreviation rather than an acronym, but backronyms for "MOB" such as "monster or beast," "mere ordinary beast" and "mean old bastard" have also been coined."
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Method of Madness on 16 Sep 2016, 13:02
Oh, so it's mob with a long o?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Lines on 16 Sep 2016, 16:51
No, everyone I know pronounces it the regular way.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 16 Sep 2016, 17:54
No, everyone I know pronounces it the regular way.

Basically the word you would use for a large unruly crowd or slang for the mafia. And I think there isn't too much more we can say about that without repeating ourselves.

Just finished the majority of the storyline in Stormheim, save the dungeon, with my Warrior and honestly, I love the way the whole region is like a love letter to Wrath. You have an area that is like the brighter and warmer regions of Northrend with the same subtle fear of something looming over you. Other regions you do feel that the Legion is right in front of you and its coming for you, but Stormheim has a subtle feel of the Legion's presence, they're in the background and pulling the strings.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Method of Madness on 16 Sep 2016, 19:33
No, everyone I know pronounces it the regular way.
Well it's short for mobile, so I wasn't sure.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 16 Sep 2016, 22:20
I went to Stormheim first. I have a great love of the Norse stories, and I loved all the references to it in Wrath, and the Vrykul race. So I was amazingly excited that they returned. I'm especially excited that they did more with the Kvaldir, the even more evil aquatic version of them. Wrath had a story thread about them that was really interested... then it just stopped and didn't go anywhere. Everywhere else it was the Vrykul and Valkir, but past the Borean Tundra there really wasn't anything more about the Kvaldir until now.

If only we could have a playable Vrykul race...
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Lines on 17 Sep 2016, 04:01
Nemo, after WotLK, I really really wanted a vrykul PC. I think one of my favorite parts was the area where you would get turned into one and then everyone would ride the smallest mounts they had because it looked so silly. Can't remember the zone off the top of my head.

No, everyone I know pronounces it the regular way.
Well it's short for mobile, so I wasn't sure.

Honestly I didn't know that, I just took it as the unruly crowd meaning. And I've been playing WoW for well over 10 years.  :-)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 17 Sep 2016, 07:41
Add me to those who wanted a Vrykul playable race (AND HUMANS DON'T COUNT!). Lines, I think you're thinking of the Storm Peaks, where you could do a daily disguised as a female Vrykul.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 17 Sep 2016, 07:42
Nemo, after WotLK, I really really wanted a vrykul PC. I think one of my favorite parts was the area where you would get turned into one and then everyone would ride the smallest mounts they had because it looked so silly. Can't remember the zone off the top of my head.

They were quests in the Storm Peaks, where you got to hang out with some friendly(-ish) Vrykul. Some of my favorite quests. :)
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 17 Sep 2016, 09:18
I just figured out that all the bonus areas disappear after you reach level cap, which sucks because now you cannot get those order hall resourced.  I am no where near starting the world quests (which I hear gives a ton of resources).  I still have to do Suramar and Val'Sharah (currently doing it). Awe well.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 17 Sep 2016, 10:57
I just figured out that all the bonus areas disappear after you reach level cap, which sucks because now you cannot get those order hall resourced.  I am no where near starting the world quests (which I hear gives a ton of resources).  I still have to do Suramar and Val'Sharah (currently doing it). Awe well.
No you can still do them and you can still get the resources. You just don't get 40k experience.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 17 Sep 2016, 11:58
Then I must be bugged.  :cry:
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: ChaoSera on 18 Sep 2016, 01:12
You people really need to stop making me want to pick up WoW again.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 18 Sep 2016, 06:32
Do it! Do it! Do it!

People have said it's a much better expansion than Pandaria or Warlords.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 18 Sep 2016, 07:32
It captures the overwhelming sense of dread that seeped from Wrath and Cataclysm and refined the gimmicks of Warlords to a point where its more rewarding without the constant going back to base (the phone app really helps). Just the overall feel of the expansion is that Blizzard has taken the best elements from previous expansions and said to players "Do things your way!"
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: hedgie on 18 Sep 2016, 08:03
Do it! Do it! Do it!

People have said it's a much better expansion than Pandaria or Warlords.

Meh, if you're right, us holy pallies got stuck in melee in the last few expansions.  I'll stick with private BC or LK servers if I get sucked in again.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 18 Sep 2016, 17:29
Do it! Do it! Do it!

People have said it's a much better expansion than Pandaria or Warlords.

Meh, if you're right, us holy pallies got stuck in melee in the last few expansions.  I'll stick with private BC or LK servers if I get sucked in again.

The designers have said they wanted all Paladins to be frontline fighters and healers, rather than just standing in the back like the cloth classes. So unfortunately, the artefact for the Holy Paladins has a two handed hammer. And I can see where they are coming from - Paladins wear plate, they should be mixing it up in combat and not sitting at a safe distance.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 14 Nov 2017, 08:10
Following Blizzcon last week and the reveal of the next expansion, I am sorely tempted to renew my subscription to the game. Anyone else still playing?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 14 Nov 2017, 09:13
I still get on daily for a few hours.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 15 Nov 2017, 02:47
No, I have cancelled my sub.

... Again.  :roll:

I don't plan to resubscribe for the next expansion, but I said that last time. And the time before.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 15 Nov 2017, 06:32
I'm subscribed still, and occasionally get on and play. I want to play more. I still have yet to do any of the Suramar quests and I have a wide variety of characters I want to get to max level all along the range. It's just that my game time is more limited than ever of late and there are so many other games competing for my time. Some of which are brand new or were having limited time events I was trying to accomplish.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 26 Nov 2017, 18:45
Bit of news about patch 7.3.5 if anyone is interested.

All pre-Legion zones are being redesigned to be similar to the Legion, with each region scaling to the player levelling. They will resemble something like this:
- Starter zones will be up to level 10
- Classic zones will be level 10-60
- Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King zones will be 60-80
- Cataclysm and Mists zones will be 80-90

In the case of the latter half, the expansions will be a choice. Don't like Burning Crusade? That's okay, you can play Wrath. Or vice versa. Or a mix. This also might mean that the old raids and dungeons will also scale up, so better make sure you have those achievements if you haven't got them yet.

The patch should be released in early to mid December.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 30 Jan 2018, 18:53
Some fun speculation on B4A based on prophecies from Legion:
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 15 Aug 2018, 01:47
So... any news from the WoW expansion? What's to like/dislike?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 15 Aug 2018, 04:15
From the Alliance side, I'm really liking Kul Tiras. Got a nice Wrath feel to it.

- So far, the new monsters are nice and the new skins for the old ones make them look better.
- Questing feels like Blizzard has finally gotten into a smooth transition between areas; the quest giver is usually near where the quest is, rather than you having to trek halfway across the region.
- You have a new mode of fast travel in addition to portals and gryphons; you can now use ferries, just need to get a license, which is one of the first things you do when the expansion starts proper.
- Haven't unlocked any of the allied races yet, but from the looks of it, the Kul Tiran humans are going to be on the hefty side (think Circus Strongman).
- The follower missions from Legion and Warlords are back. That said, I think Blizzard have reduced the cost of missions but have also reduced the resources and confined them to treasure chests.
- Armour and weapons look good, and the Heart of Azeroth item has really made things interesting (You only ever get 3 types of armour that can be used with the Heart; helmet, chest and shoulders, but when you get them, you really notice the difference between them and the "ordinary" equivalents.
- Stat squash was a bit of a pain, but in another way, what you get really has noticeable effects. It went into the expansion with 25,100 health on my warrior. At 114, he's got twice that, including 2 Heart of Azeroth items.

That said, the fact that you have to reach exalted with the respective faction in order to unlock them as an allied race, is something of a pain.
And there are quite a lot of cutscenes, not a bad thing, but they come up quite a lot and without warning.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 15 Aug 2018, 22:16
The really bad part is that the 6 allied races currently in the game are all Legion races. So if you want to unlock them and aren't at Exalted yet, you have to go back and do the old content. It's caused a fair bit of back and forth. People who played regularly don't see it as a big deal because they already hit Exalted or near to it. So it was a trivial or non-existent issue to get the races unlocked. People who took a break and missed the end of Legion though... If they want to play the races that were touted as a Battle for Azeroth feature have to go back and spend a lot of time grinding for rep in old content, instead of spending their time playing the new expansion. It's worse for people who skilled Legion and level boosted a character to 110.

The BfA Allied races, the Kul Tirans and Zandalari trolls don't appear to be available yet in game. So even if you hit exalted with them, I don't think you can play them yet?
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 16 Aug 2018, 00:47
Yeah, that is the major point of frustration now. Honestly, I would have thought Blizzard would have given some thought to raising reputation, especially for people who boosted or people who took a break, but it seems they want people to go back and forth between expansions.

Kul Tiras Humans and their Troll counterparts are, according to Blizzard, "coming later in the expansion". So I presume, their respective recruitment will be tied to the first major raid addition to the expansion. Which could be a misstep for Blizzard.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 16 Aug 2018, 05:00
Yeah, that is the major point of frustration now. Honestly, I would have thought Blizzard would have given some thought to raising reputation, especially for people who boosted or people who took a break, but it seems they want people to go back and forth between expansions.

I am certain that they gave it quite a fair bit of thought. Ever since the introduction of achievement points, enticing or even coercing players to go back to old content has been a firm part of their business model. I wouldn't be surprised if they are deliberately targeting players who quit each expansion half-way through and pick the game up again at the start of each new one.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 16 Aug 2018, 05:36
No doubt about that, but the fact is it also feels like Blizzard is punishing players who have quit mid expansion. Especially because the reputation gains in Legion are, well, not consistent. Most quests reward something like 250 or so rep, while in Legion, the four you were trying to recruit for BfA were something 75-150.

Normally, you might be able to grind rep and get to Exalted with a faction in two weeks or so, even on a slow grind. With the gains in Legion, you're looking at nearly a month to raise one allied race. So yeah, it can feel like Blizzard are punishing those who are coming back.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: LeeC on 16 Aug 2018, 07:11
I'm glad I have a human character, grinding rep was pretty easy from x-pac to x-pac. I am also lucky Blizzard made it so you didn't have to grind rep on those legion factions for horde AND alliance to gain the allied races in BFA.

I still have yet to log in (never got a chance to log back in after the burning of the tree to do the siege of Lorderon) so I hope its as fun as the last 2 x-pacs were when you started.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Tova on 16 Aug 2018, 21:04
No doubt about that, but the fact is it also feels like Blizzard is punishing players who have quit mid expansion. Especially because the reputation gains in Legion are, well, not consistent. Most quests reward something like 250 or so rep, while in Legion, the four you were trying to recruit for BfA were something 75-150.

Normally, you might be able to grind rep and get to Exalted with a faction in two weeks or so, even on a slow grind. With the gains in Legion, you're looking at nearly a month to raise one allied race. So yeah, it can feel like Blizzard are punishing those who are coming back.

Of course they are.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 16 Aug 2018, 21:51
Which is why I'm surprised they're sticking to their guns on the 'we aren't changing the requirements to unlock allied races'. So far, at any rate. I still think that's likely to change about 4-6 months down the line. The last thing they want to do is alienate people who stopped playing and came back for the new expansion, and they are well aware of this fact. Sure the people who got it the hard way will complain... But that's all their likely to do. That and keep paying their subscription. On the other hand, if someone signed up with the promise of being able to play a void elf or Blackrock dwarf and finds out 'Oh no, you have to spend a month doing pointless Legion content to unlock the abilities to finally play the character you want they are more likely than the dedicated player to quickly drop out.

And Blizzard has a long history of making things harder to get while they are new/in current expansion and then relaxing the requirements a lot once the event or whatever has been out for a while, or when it's not really relevant to current events. Allied races are a bit of a risk for them I think, where they are trying to balance giving people what they promised, but still making people work for it. But I expect either the requirements to eventually be loosened or removed eventually. Or they turn up the rate you acquire reputation with the relevant factions so you can do it in a week or two casually instead of more than a month.
Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 09 Sep 2018, 09:43
I was watching a couple of videos about potential allied races and a thought came to me.

A big part of Sylvanas' character has been to do with her fear of what waits for her in the afterlife, or rather lack thereof. Following Arthas' death, Sylvanas had nothing to "live" for and sought to end her own life and found there was nothing. No afterlife. Just a black emptiness.

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Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 23 Sep 2018, 17:39
Finally unlocked the Lightforged Draenei today!

But in other, more interesting news, there's been some more information about the 8.1 patch. Obviously I've put the main points in the spoiler, but there's a larger spoiler I've kept because it is incredibly revealing about the future story of BfA.
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Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: Neko_Ali on 23 Sep 2018, 19:29
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Title: Re: WoWCrack
Post by: TheEvilDog on 23 Sep 2018, 19:57
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