The World of Warcraft Thread

[Baraka_Guru]

The more I read this thread, the more I realize how little I know about this game.

[Frosstbyte]

Yes, Hal, the next major content patch (the one containing the next tier of raid zones, 3.1) will include a dual-spec feature, unless they fuck something up or decide to make it much more complicated than they think it's going to be right now. They have released almost no details on it at the moment, though, for obvious reasons, everyone is salivating over it.

The current plan, as described, is that it will be free and trivial to change specs while you're in a town and it will be possible but less convenient (maybe requiring 3 group members to channel something like a soul portal) to do so in a group or raid away from a town. When you change spec, your glyphs would all change over, as well, so you're not stuck with a bunch of tank glyphs when you're trying to dps, for example. They also want it to shift to a new set of action bars, so you don't need to recreate your keybinds and such every time you respec.

Let's hope it gets out soon and works as well as they say it should, because it's probably one of the most exciting possible things they've come up with.

And to put any lingering questions to rest: Naxx is now a level 80 instance above Dragonblight in 10 man and 25 man flavors tuned to be the entry-level raid in WotLK. It no longer exists above EPL in any format and the level 60, 40 player version cannot be accessed anymore. I think it's overall a good thing, since precious few people got to experience it the first time, but it's a little sad that you can't do the original in all its epic splendor.

I really ought to start carrying all my t3 with me so I can do the new one in the old gear and do terrible dps, but look really cool.

[Lasereth]

Wow that multi-spec thing is crazy. Also that's cool how players get to see Naxx now. My guild went into it once before TBC but the furthest we ever got was downing the Twin Emps in AQ. What a crazy fight that was (especially as one of the MTs).

[YaWhateva]

Originally Posted by Halx

I heard a rumor that the next patch will feature dual-speccing. Is there any truth to this? Resources?

World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> GhostCrawler: Dual spec importance.

so it says next major patch which i figure means next content patch not 3.04 or whatever is going on the PTR soon.

[Scorps]

Both Naxx and Dalaran are gone from the old world and added into Northrend, Where Dalaran was before is now just a big ass hole in the ground.

Originally Posted by Lasereth

Wow that multi-spec thing is crazy. Also that's cool how players get to see Naxx now. My guild went into it once before TBC but the furthest we ever got was downing the Twin Emps in AQ. What a crazy fight that was (especially as one of the MTs).

I never got to see AQ40 and only cleared AQ20 once and I don't even remember that place, maybe I should go back there for some good ol' times

[Frosstbyte]

Well, if you're a decently geared level 80 deathknight, word on the street is that you can solo-clear AQ20 in about an hour for some easy gold!

[Halx]

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

The more I read this thread, the more I realize how little I know about this game.

Here are some tips.. or rather, questions to ask yourself:

1. How can I do the most damage possible for my class/level/equipment?
2. Are my keys bound to the ideal abilities to allow me to do things swiftly and efficiently?
3. Does it feel like I am missing a vital part of the game that an online guide could fill me in on?

Don't sweat it if you're having fun, but some of us are "students of the game" and we try to be as effective as possible when we play. That means we look for news on changes that are being made to mechanics, use add-ons that customize our play experience, and refer to various knowledge bases when we need a hint.

[Frosstbyte]

To build on what Hal said, one of the things that has made WoW so immensely popular is that it's very easy to enjoy it both as a hardcore theorycrafter who picks out the tiniest details and min-maxes on everything he does or as a casual guy just making his way through the world without much of a thought for the mechanics. Just have fun, and if you run into something you don't understand, right here's probably a pretty damn good resource for you. And if we can't help you, we can probably point you to those who can.

[snowy]

Baraka, I'm much the same way when it comes to playing World of Warcraft. I enjoy the game, but I don't worry so much about the finer intricacies of WoW. When my SO was really into it and raiding all the time, he also really got into theorycrafting (to the point that he was working mathematical equations and using Excel files to keep track of stuff). It was great for me, because any time I had a question, he had an answer. He's not really helpful anymore in that respect (he quit playing a couple months ago) since his information is a bit behind the times since the xpac came out, but before he quit, we joined a guild with some friends, and two of the guys in the guild are really helpful when it comes to figuring stuff out. Mostly, though, I just kind of bumble along, and I do pretty well.

I use addons because they make my life easier--QuestHelper because when I was leveling from 60 to 70 on my second warlock I felt lazy, AuctioneerAdvanced because I need gold, FuBar and various FuBar plugins to track stuff, FishermansFriend because I love fishing, OneBag because once I switched to having one bag frame instead of several I found it impossible to switch back, Cartographer for map addons, Gatherer because I can't get the tracking database in Cartographer to do what it's supposed to do since WoTLK came out. I'm still waiting for the update on OneBank (an addon that turns all your bank bags into a single frame, ala OneBag). Most of my addons are profession-related. I was really resistant to the use of addons for a long time, mostly because I saw my SO and roomie use them to completely overhaul their UIs and every time a patch came out they'd have to do it all over again. That is way too much of a pain in the ass for me. So I stick to pretty simple addons and use the Curse client to keep them up-to-date. Easy peasy.

I wish my SO would start playing again so we could go pwn some n00bs together, but I'm not holding my breath.

You do know about Wowhead at the very least, right, Baraka?

[Frosstbyte]

snowy, there is an "off brand" version of OneBank that someone other than the original author touched up enough to make it work with WotLK until the original author finds the time to make it work. You can find it on curse. I use ArkInventory myself, but my wife doesn't really need that level of customization, so I have her set up with OneBag and the fake OneBank and she likes them just fine.

Turns out I'm kind of a liar and kind of a bringer of good news.

I couldn't find the fake OneBank I found for my wife, but I did find a beta rewrite by the original author here: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-a.../onebank3.aspx. Enjoy.

[snowy]

Originally Posted by Frosstbyte

snowy, there is an "off brand" version of OneBank that someone other than the original author touched up enough to make it work with WotLK until the original author finds the time to make it work. You can find it on curse. I use ArkInventory myself, but my wife doesn't really need that level of customization, so I have her set up with OneBag and the fake OneBank and she likes them just fine.

Turns out I'm kind of a liar and kind of a bringer of good news.

I couldn't find the fake OneBank I found for my wife, but I did find a beta rewrite by the original author here: OneBank3 - Addons - Curse. Enjoy.

Thanks a bunch! I've become so disorganized since WoTLK came out because OneBank wasn't working. I'll have to give this a try.

[Baraka_Guru]

Originally Posted by onesnowyowl

You do know about Wowhead at the very least, right, Baraka?

I use QuestHelper and Auctioneer. What is all that other stuff? What in hell is Wowhead?!

[snowy]

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

I use QuestHelper and Auctioneer. What is all that other stuff? What in hell is Wowhead?!

Wowhead is an online database of all things World of Warcraft related--quests, NPCs, objects in game, etc. It's endlessly useful when you can't figure out where the NPC or mob you want is, or how a quest is supposed to work (sometimes I find the quest text too vague for my tastes).

Most of my addons are professions-related--FishermansFriend allows for one-click (on the screen) casting, and automatically attaches lures to my fishing pole with a click. I love fishing. Gatherer tracks all of the nodes for my herbing (it also tracks mining nodes). Cartographer allows you to fiddle with the maps in game a bit, plus it reveals the whole map, not just the bits you've uncovered so far. I used to be able to use it to track herb nodes, but I've been having issues with that since WoTLK came out. Takes a bit of the mystery out of it, but I'm okay with that. OneBag consolidates your bags into, well, one bag frame--I find it's easier to keep organized than separate bag frames. Same with OneBank.

[Frosstbyte]

snowy listed a bunch of other UI mods which do a variety of things you may or may not need. If you look them up on curse (Curse.com - WoW Addons WAR Addons Gamer Blogs Forums), you can figure out if you want them.

Wowhead (Wowhead: NOM NOM NOM), on the other hand, is an essential all-purpose WoW resource. It has every item in the game (and a few that aren't anymore), every NPC, every quest, every...well everything. Talent calculators, pet talent calculators, spells, achievements, professions.

If you're trying to find something and you don't know where it is or where it's from, go there and type it in (or better yet get the firefox search plugin) and chances are much better than not that it'll pop up. Use it, love it, and never feel confused agian.

[Cynthetiq]

i just discovered lightheaded what a great mod to bring wowhead to in game... i have dual monitors, but now I can do some of it in game great compliment to carbonite... i don't like questhelper for some reason.

[lagoonguy]

i used thottbot througout azeroth and the Burning Crusade but just installed Carbonite and WOW! how awesome is that!

[Cynosure]

I see that, with the latest patch/upgrade, they are seriously nerfing the hunter class, which will have a major effect in PvP...

The great 2008 World of Warcraft Hunter nerf

by Michael Zenke Dec 10th 2008 at 9:00AM

WoW Insider is reporting on the nerf to end all nerfs, aimed squarely at one of the most poweful classes in Blizzard's World of Warcraft. No, not Warlocks, the other one. Hunters are getting hit with the nerf bat something awful, as revealed in a post to the official forums by Community Manager Ghostcrawler. Says the (normally) popular 'Blue', "Hunters of all specs, and particularly Beastmaster, are doing too much damage in PvE." The class is recieving an across-the-board reduction in damage output as a result, a stepping down of power levels commonly referred to in the MMO community as a 'nerf'.

(I love that graphic – it's so appropriate, for what's being done to hunters.)

The rest of this article can be read here...

The great 2008 World of Warcraft Hunter nerf - Massively

A couple of months ago, I quit WoW, for good (I deleted all my characters, just before cancelling my subscription, to make sure I wouldn't be tempted to go back), because I was sick and tired of Blizzard's hamfisted and continuous tinkering around with character class spells and abilities. (Well, I was also getting burnt out on the game, having played it extensively for over a year.) This, after the hamfisted way Blizzard, with a patch, increased the power and effectiveness of paladins (my favorite character class, in WoW), finally making them a viable class in PvP, only to nerf them a month later with the subsequent patch.

This latest nerfing makes me laugh, because it was hunters who were pissing me off the most, on the PvP battlegrounds. I found that hunters were by far the most effective character class, in PvP (in the level 10-49 battlegrounds, at least). Even for the short period of time when my paladin was enabled with the power increase (before the subsequent nerfing), hunters were more often than not in higher positions among the top 10 player characters of a given PvP match, than paladins were. (Warlocks were among those top 10, too, but not as much as hunters and paladins were.)

[Esoteric]

I must resist the urge to reactivate.

I won't though because once I've gotten over the inital "ooh ahh" about Death Knights I'll quickly realize that I hate raiding so I'd be forced to participate in Blizzard's shitty Arena to get gear to compete. Unless WotLK has made it where Arena isn't the end all be all for good gear in PvP.

[lagoonguy]

dual specs is too complicated for me. it's taken me long enough to learn how to play my holy priest and sublety rogue correctly, at the moment i'm just sticking with those specs, even if others might be 'better'. it's a playstyle for me. My holy priest doesn't want to be shadow, and i like shadowstep and Shadowdance on the rogue.

[Apokx]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

I must resist the urge to reactivate.

I won't though because once I've gotten over the inital "ooh ahh" about Death Knights I'll quickly realize that I hate raiding so I'd be forced to participate in Blizzard's shitty Arena to get gear to compete. Unless WotLK has made it where Arena isn't the end all be all for good gear in PvP.

You probably wouldnt enjoy the coming arena season at all. They did a tier system for the armor that is based on having honor and arena points and arena rating for the two higher tiers.

The people who are going to dominate arena early on will be raiders(as usual)and people using badge gear from heroics/tradeskill epics.

They should reduce PVE gear effectiveness in PVP settings(and vice versa for PVE).

[Frosstbyte]

I will say, that if PvE is your gig, it is easy as all fuck to get geared out at least at the ilvl 200 epic (naxx10/heroic) level, and thank goodness for that. Tons of fun to get into some good looking gear instead of dragging yourself around in goofy random blues for a long time.

I think the pace and risk/reward right now in WoW are right on target. I expect the difficulty will ramp up soon enough, but I think it's a nice start to let everyone have an opportunity to see the raids and succeed in them.

As an old naxx 40 raider, though, it has been odd how the little changes to the zone make a big difference. I never died to Heigan's dance before and it dropped me twice, 4h might as well be a totally different fight, just kinda funny how they tweaked everything.

[Halx]

I'm almost to 80 on my Ret Paladin and right now, the only class that can challenge my DPS (with similar gear/level) is a Hunter (and they're about to get nurfed). I do appear to be slowing down though. I wonder if other classes will scale better with better gear and the retribution paladin will be marginalized to heal in a raid while just using its aura.

[Esoteric]

I'm sure once Warriors (especially with pocket heals) get some of the best gear they'll continue to be the powerhouses they were before WotLK.

[Halx]

I'm wondering about that because I haven't been able to find a warrior that could compete on the damage meters. I guess I'll have to start leveling my warrior to find out if other people suck or if they really are useless. And rogues.. what happened to rogues? They used to be tops.. now they are near the last. OR I just haven't run into any worthwhile players as I've been leveling.

[LordEden]

Had a rogue in my guild that was neck and neck with the ret pallies we have in the guild. Most of us are sporting the best gear from crafting and heroics. They can still put out some good DPS but they have to know what they are doing.

I almost had a chance to run Naxx last night with another guild and their healer popped up at the last minute. I have a few epics and the rest are blues that are the best I can get from heroics. I'm pissed that blizzard changed the Restro druid buff from a percentage of your spirt (25%) to a set amount (6%). I'm close to 900 spirt and that would have rocked for a buff for the entire raid. Oh well, they did take away the movement speed handicap. I'm ready to put myself up against other healers and see if I can still top the charts in raids.

[Frosstbyte]

Rogues and warriors are by far the most gear-dependent classes in the game. They've always started off a little slow and then dominated by the last tier of raiding instances/gear. Have no fear that by the time Icecrown rolls around fury wars and rogues will be tearing it up. We just are at the gear level where less gear dependent classes (hunters, ret pallies) are able to pump out a ton of dps due to how their dps scales with leveling up, instead of how it scales with increasing gear.

[ironpham]

Now, I haven't played in quite some time, but if I recall correctly, my ret pally was hugely gear dependent. Actually, all specs for my pally were extremely gear dependent. I couldn't tank (pre-BC) with out a good 1h, I sure as shit couldn't hurt anything without warrior plate and a good 2h, and...well I guess healing wasn't terribly gear dependent.

[Frosstbyte]

I'm not saying that other classes don't benefit from better gear, as well, but it has been a distinct trend in TBC and vanilla WoW that by the last tier of instances, rogues and warriors, due to being physical damage classes with infinite resources whose damage is based highly around weapon damage, tend to get considerably more powerful as time goes on compared to classes who only benefit from increased stats which translates into damage.

It could end up differently this time around, but the design favors that outcome and it's been true in the past, so I guess we'll see what happens.

[Esoteric]

Actually I remember Ret Paladins being very gear dependent as well, because I also played one to 60. I have a different 70 Holy spec on another server too but I haven't played the game since June. Once Arms Warriors start getting incredible gear they will destroy in PvP.

[Scorps]

My pally is lvl 43 and Ret as of yesterday and she just hits like a truck and I always seem to have mana and health, this will probably change but for the time being im having a blast, time away from running fail heroic 5-mans for a couple weeks only thing I do on my mage is dailies and that's about it.

[Apokx]

Originally Posted by Scorps

My pally is lvl 43 and Ret as of yesterday and she just hits like a truck and I always seem to have mana and health, this will probably change but for the time being im having a blast, time away from running fail heroic 5-mans for a couple weeks only thing I do on my mage is dailies and that's about it.

Ret should be pretty enjoyable all the way to 80. I'm still impressed with how much they improved that spec over what it used to be.

[Cynthetiq]

hmmm... i got bored around 29 on my pally... maybe I should try it again.

[Apokx]

You might still be bored at 29. The new toys dont really show up until the 40s.

[Scorps]

I might make her prot from 70 to 80 guild seems to need tanks so if I get my warrior there first (lvl 72) she will be prot until I get my pally up to 80 and geared, I like tanking just not much help as a mage.

[Halx]

My pally is pretty nice. 2000 raid DPS when Ret. I'm now tanking heroics. I'm slightly undergeared for them, but I've managed to find some good healers. Pally aggro is amazing. Having a pally tank is like having a 4th DPS.

[Catdaddy33]

Anyone roll a Death Knight yet?

I resisted for the first couple of weeks, and just focused on one of my 70s to 80 before trying DK. I made 80 with my lock, and now I can't stop playing my Death Knight, I should hit 80 by New Years, and demoted my warlock to Alt with my DK as my new main.

The opening quest/storyline was a great add and really gets you into the character, even with 50% of the Northrend population running around as a DK playing the character it feels like you have a purpose as opposed to playing other classes. Include that with the storyline that unfolds in WoLK and I don't think I've had this much fun playing WoW ever.

[Baraka_Guru]

Originally Posted by Catdaddy33

[...] even with 50% of the Northrend population running around as a DK playing the character [...]

It's not just Northrend (I've never been there). Just about every time I look (anywhere), about 50% of the zone population is DK. I'm assuming 50% of any server's population is made up mainly of DK at the moment. It's the case on Warsong anyway.

It will be a long time--if ever--before I try out a DK. I wouldn't mind. It looks cool. I'm just patiently awaiting them to be nerfed. They seem to overpowered. They're supposed to be a hero class; not a god class. I guess it's just because I go up against them as a holy priest, but they seem to kill me far more efficiently than others. I'm starting to find more even matches as there are fewer and fewer PVPers who are above my level, as I'm now 67. (Why do people only go after me if they're above my level? Too many ?? killers. ) Are DKs that hard to kill, or is it just my pajama-wearing healer? Will I ever out-heal the wrath of a DK?

[LordEden]

Right now DKs and Hunters are way too OPed. They are swinging the nerf bat at the hunters in the next patch and I wouldn't be suprised that the DK gets hit too. I recently ran a heroic instance (HoL) with a DK I picked up in trade chat. 4 of us were guildies and he has some 25-man gear, but was lacking in other areas. Our lock and ret pally was with us and doing roundabout 2300 DPS and the DK was close to hitting 4000. It was rediculaus. We killed Volkhan in 39 seconds and Loken in 59 seconds. He was also running around with a blue 2h axe and ended up getting the epic axe that drops off of Loken. DKs can hit HARD.

BG, they always kill healers. If anyone in PVP sees my hands raise up in the air as a druid, I'm killed in a blink of an eye.

On a side note, my guild ran their first 10-man Naxx run with only 3 DPS pugs and we cleared 11 of the 14 bosses with only 3 wipes. Two wipes were on the 4 Horsemen at 3 AM. We came back 2 days later and dropped the rest of the bosses then did the rest of the Single boss 10-man raids with no wipes. I got 3 Tier-7 pieces and two badge gear loots. I'm almost epiced out again .

[highdro69]

Hey guys, COMPLETELY off topic here, but I don't know if this video has been posted, but it's not the normal "look at my big numbers and l337 skills" video; it's an insanely well done action sequence.
The Craft of War: BLIND on Vimeo
Enjoy, I know I did.

[Apokx]

Originally Posted by LordEden

Right now DKs and Hunters are way too OPed. They are swinging the nerf bat at the hunters in the next patch and I wouldn't be suprised that the DK gets hit too. I recently ran a heroic instance (HoL) with a DK I picked up in trade chat. 4 of us were guildies and he has some 25-man gear, but was lacking in other areas. Our lock and ret pally was with us and doing roundabout 2300 DPS and the DK was close to hitting 4000. It was rediculaus. We killed Volkhan in 39 seconds and Loken in 59 seconds. He was also running around with a blue 2h axe and ended up getting the epic axe that drops off of Loken. DKs can hit HARD.

BG, they always kill healers. If anyone in PVP sees my hands raise up in the air as a druid, I'm killed in a blink of an eye.

On a side note, my guild ran their first 10-man Naxx run with only 3 DPS pugs and we cleared 11 of the 14 bosses with only 3 wipes. Two wipes were on the 4 Horsemen at 3 AM. We came back 2 days later and dropped the rest of the bosses then did the rest of the Single boss 10-man raids with no wipes. I got 3 Tier-7 pieces and two badge gear loots. I'm almost epiced out again .

4k dps? Goddamn I wish I knew that guys armory and rotation. I was running around in full blues doing something terrible like 1500. My rotation was what most dps are doing as Frost/Unholy(never specc'd blood) on EJ, but I was obviously doing something very wrong.