The World of Warcraft Thread

[MPower]

And check on the weekly dungeon. The guy is in Dal, by the violet hold. You can prob sneak in as #2 heals. 5 frost and 5 triumph upon completion, and if noone want the boss drop, you might even get some gear.

[Frosstbyte]

Just to be clear, by "weekly dungeon" he means "weekly raid." Dungeon means exclusively five mans in WoW parlance.

You probably already knew that, but just to make sure.

I'm having a hell of a time logging into WoW these days, even as a raid leader and guild master. i basically log on for my three or so raids a week and call it a whirl. I have killed Arthas on both my DK and my hunter, and just don't quite know what to do with myself. Given the option of leveling up my paladin or playing Eve, the sweet sounds of missiles firing into the dark void of space just keeps me more entertained at the moment.

Glad Cat testing finally started. Dare I hope for a September release?

[Punk.of.Ages]

I just took my first trip into Ulduar for the weekly "Flame Leviathan Must Die!" quest. It's my first step into an 80 raid...

I still have quite a bit to entertain me until Cataclysm comes out, I'm sure.

[Baraka_Guru]

Check out my gear now, yo:
WoW Heroes - World of Warcraft PvE character info & ratings

Originally Posted by Frosstbyte

Just to be clear, by "weekly dungeon" he means "weekly raid." Dungeon means exclusively five mans in WoW parlance.

Originally Posted by Punk.of.Ages

I just took my first trip into Ulduar for the weekly "Flame Leviathan Must Die!" quest. It's my first step into an 80 raid...

I see the demand for these is high. The thing is, I'm not sure I'll ever do a raid—certainly not a 25-man. Raiding I think requires more of a commitment than I'm willing to give for this game. Unless there is a strong enough pug community of players doing 10-mans or something, I don't think it will happen.

I am, however, wondering about BGs. I've only entered a BG maybe 5 times total. I don't think my side has ever won. Are BGs worth it as a priest? I'm currently dual-spec'd as Disc/Shadow, but my gear is increasingly, uh, geared towards Disc/healing.

I suppose after I get the set I'm collecting, I could go after a shadow priest set as an alternative, but what's the best way to do this? Just run as Disc until I get a bunch of honor points to buy shadow gear? Or should I just keep running 5-man heroics and buy shadow gear until I feel happy enough to start running BGs? Is it better to run BGs as Disc and be a healer, or would it be more rewarding to go full-on PvP shadow facemelter?

I still have quite a bit to entertain me until Cataclysm comes out, I'm sure.

I'm on the fence about this one. I can't see myself running 5-mans until Cataclysm. I think I'll do a cleanup on all the questing in Northrend, and then maybe Outland. There are entire zones I haven't even touched yet on each map. But beyond that, I'm not sure. I don't even know if I'll make it that far. I might go on hiatus again.

Unless, of course, I find a place in BGs. Or maybe arenas? What are arenas like? Do I need to be jacked up on Red Bull and have ADD to even make it worthwhile?

[Frosstbyte]

I'm not sure what server you're on BG, but on mine (Korgath) there is a thriving 10 and 25 man pug community that regularly does about everything in the game. Once you get yourself into mostly ICC5 man/toc badge gear, you should have little trouble finding your way into raids if it so interests you. I will hardly promise you that they'll be successful, but just keep at it and you should be able to see a pretty wide swath of content.

[Lasereth]

I had a dream about this game the other night. I miss it.

[Reese]

Originally Posted by Lasereth

I had a dream about this game the other night. I miss it.

Haha, You should check out all the cataclysm screenshots going up on mmo-champion today. I can't wait to see it in action.

[Cynthetiq]

While you don't see yourself raiding 25 man try 10 man. The weekly raid has people looking for healers in Trade all day long. Jump on in!

There's something more interesting to me about the mechanics of the raid than a 5 man instance. Also, there's just a lot more content you're not getting to see, some of the most interesting and intricately drawn areas and stories unfold in the raid content.

[Baraka_Guru]

Originally Posted by Reese

Haha, You should check out all the cataclysm screenshots going up on mmo-champion today. I can't wait to see it in action.

Worldofwarcraft.com is doing a screenshot of the day of Cataclysm.

[Cynthetiq]

oh and the weekly raid, if done with a good group of folks isn't very painful. It is usually the first or second boss of a raid, and it gives a flavor of what raiding is like.

btw, nice gear.

[Baraka_Guru]

Originally Posted by Cynthetiq

While you don't see yourself raiding 25 man try 10 man. The weekly raid has people looking for healers in Trade all day long. Jump on in!

I know...I see requests for healers all the time, but I fear the whole, "ur undergeared, lol!" or "u don't know the fights, lol!" But I should get over that. According to wow-heroes.com, my gear level makes Naxx 10-man "easy." Should I start with that? How long do raids take anyway?

There's something more interesting to me about the mechanics of the raid than a 5 man instance. Also, there's just a lot more content you're not getting to see, some of the most interesting and intricately drawn areas and stories unfold in the raid content.

I don't know the mechanics/stages of these things. How do they differ from 5-mans? It's not that I don't want to raid deep down inside; it's just that it seems like such a closed/exclusive community to me. I don't think I'm a bad healer; I just despise the attitudes of hardcore idiots who don't seem to know how the game works.

Here's an example: I did the Pit of Saron heroic for the first time recently. The tank we had dropped right away, and so another guy came on to fill in. He was an idiot. He ran ahead and did a pull, and it was fine, except he had three mobs on him and they were down to like 10% and he decided to just run ahead to the next 3-mob pull, and then another. Of course, we wipe.

So the tank says, "No wonder the other tank left. The heals can't take it."

One of the DPS replied, "Not with you doing all those pulls. He's undergeared."

While he was right about my being undergeared, I wasn't that undergeared. I found out later that, according to the Random Dungeon tool, I was adequately geared shortly thereafter with one or two fairly minor item upgrades. Plus, it wasn't the first time I was undergeared in a dungeon. I know my class.

So anyway, I said, "Fine, go find another healer," and I left the party without waiting for a reply. As a healer, I don't have to suffer players who don't know what they're doing.

This is the kind of thing I want to avoid. People going beyond the necessary threshold of difficulty and then blaming someone else when things go wrong. If I was indeed the weakest link, then damn well be a team player and make do. We could have beat the dungeon if he did one pull at a time; we only just barely failed on his pulling 3 groups at once. What does that say about an undergeared healer?

/rant

It's not the first time I've come across a tank who doesn't seem to understand that healers have to manage mana, consider their casting MP5, have to make decisions on spells, especially when DPS generates too much threat or if there's AoE damage coming in. I've also suffered DPS players who don't know how to keep their threat under the tank's.

But, of course, it's the healer who gets blamed. "Fucking heal me! You suck!" Um...I can't heal the entire party when it's getting shitstomped all at once. That's called a fucking free-for-all and it gets the party all killed every time.

/rant 2

Anyway, I think I know how to be an adequate healer. I just need to know how to be diplomatic when I find people don't know what the fuck they're doing or what they're talking about.

How is one to know they're ready for raids?

Originally Posted by Cynthetiq

oh and the weekly raid, if done with a good group of folks isn't very painful. It is usually the first or second boss of a raid, and it gives a flavor of what raiding is like.

Maybe I'll start with this.

btw, nice gear.

Thanks; it's a work in progress. I'm currently grinding reputation for some top-quality enchants for the key pieces.

[Cynthetiq]

first regarding your rant must read:

My new favorite hobby in WoW...not healing!

I know several healers that follow this including my wife. You talk smack to her like something about being undergeared etc. and you're not the tank, you better have bandages. I've been in a few runs with her and watched a DPSer die because he was an asshole. Standing in the fire or acid? You get a warning and then, no more heals if you keep doing it.

Good heroic runs can be done by geared folks in about 15 minutes, but that's with everyone being overgeared.

don't be discouraged, because there are a lot of selfish morons out there. How will you learn if no one goes? This is why the dungeon finder is good and bad. It gives you the opportunity to go but the bad is that morons have to be assholes. All i want to do when I get into a random is complete the thing with little to no conversation or drama. I thank the guys for playing at the end, that's about it.

As far as raiding is concerned. Full clear raids, hours upon hours. One Naxx wing should take about 1 hour to do all bosses. But the weekly raids, they can take about 30-45 minutes. Sometimes depending on the quest, it can be done in 15 minutes.

[Baraka_Guru]

Ha, good read. I can't say I've ever considered doing that. If it's bad, I usually give the lecture: "Dude, you've got to watch your threat." I once even switched from Disc to Holy because the whole party didn't know how to mitigate their aggro, or maybe the tank just sucked. I don't tend to go out of my way to cover up bad playing.

A DPS player (a cloth or leather wearer, I think) once told me that I suck at healing because he kept dying. Now, I tried my best to keep him alive while not risking losing the tank at the same time.

I replied, "Well, why do you suck so much at tanking?"

"lol, I'm not the tank!" he said.

"Then stop fucking acting like one."

Overall, I need to stop being so nice and quiet. I'm the healer; I'm important, right?

Originally Posted by Cynthetiq

As far as raiding is concerned. Full clear raids, hours upon hours. One Naxx wing should take about 1 hour to do all bosses. But the weekly raids, they can take about 30-45 minutes. Sometimes depending on the quest, it can be done in 15 minutes.

Do full raids need to be completed all in one sitting, or can it be done in parts? Are the weekly raids like quests within regular raids, or are they separate things all together? Why are they so short?

[Punk.of.Ages]

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

I am, however, wondering about BGs. I've only entered a BG maybe 5 times total. I don't think my side has ever won. Are BGs worth it as a priest? I'm currently dual-spec'd as Disc/Shadow, but my gear is increasingly, uh, geared towards Disc/healing.

I suppose after I get the set I'm collecting, I could go after a shadow priest set as an alternative, but what's the best way to do this? Just run as Disc until I get a bunch of honor points to buy shadow gear? Or should I just keep running 5-man heroics and buy shadow gear until I feel happy enough to start running BGs? Is it better to run BGs as Disc and be a healer, or would it be more rewarding to go full-on PvP shadow facemelter?

Shadow priests massacre in PvP, usually. I consider myself a pretty damn good PvPer (Always in the top three in battlegrounds) and I have a guildie shadow priest who's been consistently about 10-12 levels under me and gives me a run for my money every time we duel.

You might be interested in doing something along the lines of what I'm doing. I'm a dual specced prot/fury warrior. I have my t9 protection gear and run heroics and (soon) raids as a tank. I've also glyphed and trained that spec to optimize my PvE capabilities. My fury spec is trained and glyphed to optimize my PvP capabilities. I'm working on this set of armor now.

That brings me to my next point. If you're planning to do PvP often, you'll want to invest into a PvP oriented set of gear rather than a PvE one, which is what that shadow priest set you're looking at is. The arena sets are currently the easiest way to achieve this. Season 3-7 sets are available for purchase in exchange for emblems. They are sold by the actual emblem vendors in Dalaran that are just up those stairs in the alliance building. The season 6 set is available for purchase with honor points from one of the goblins outside of the arena in Gadgetzan. The season 7 and 8 sets are also available in exchange for honor points and arena points from other goblins in Gadgetzan. The season 8 set does require you to be in a fairly high rated arena team, though, as it is the newest and best set. The earlier seasons can be purchased as well, but they are harder to attain (they require tier 4 armor tokens acquired in BC raids) and they are not really worth the effort, as they are level 70 items.

Personally, I'm picking up the season 5 set for emblems of conquest because it's a bit cheaper and will be a good enough set of armor to get me through enough BG's and arena matches to be able to pick up a better set with honor points.

I put together this comparison of the armor you linked and the deadly gladiator set for shadow priests (I believe) to give you an idea of the differences. You'll notice the biggest difference is you're giving up intellect and spirit and gaining stamina and resilience. Basically you give up mana pool and regen for durability, because if you can't stay up in PvP, your mp5 doesn't matter anyway. The stamina increases your HP and the resilience (which is a moot stat against NPCs) reduces the damage you take from players and their pets/minions.

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

Unless, of course, I find a place in BGs. Or maybe arenas? What are arenas like? Do I need to be jacked up on Red Bull and have ADD to even make it worthwhile?

Arenas were actually designed to give people the ability to receive rewards for PvPing, but not have to dedicate their lives to it. Basically, you fight in 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 gladiator style matches. You do so with a team, and can only be in one team per bracket. At the end of each week you are awarded arena points based on your highest ranked teams performance. The only stipulation is you must participate in at least 10 matches throughout the week to receive any arena points.

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

I know...I see requests for healers all the time, but I fear the whole, "ur undergeared, lol!" or "u don't know the fights, lol!" But I should get over that. According to wow-heroes.com, my gear level makes Naxx 10-man "easy." Should I start with that? How long do raids take anyway?

I don't know the mechanics/stages of these things. How do they differ from 5-mans? It's not that I don't want to raid deep down inside; it's just that it seems like such a closed/exclusive community to me. I don't think I'm a bad healer; I just despise the attitudes of hardcore idiots who don't seem to know how the game works.

Here's an example: I did the Pit of Saron heroic for the first time recently. The tank we had dropped right away, and so another guy came on to fill in. He was an idiot. He ran ahead and did a pull, and it was fine, except he had three mobs on him and they were down to like 10% and he decided to just run ahead to the next 3-mob pull, and then another. Of course, we wipe.

So the tank says, "No wonder the other tank left. The heals can't take it."

One of the DPS replied, "Not with you doing all those pulls. He's undergeared."

While he was right about my being undergeared, I wasn't that undergeared. I found out later that, according to the Random Dungeon tool, I was adequately geared shortly thereafter with one or two fairly minor item upgrades. Plus, it wasn't the first time I was undergeared in a dungeon. I know my class.

So anyway, I said, "Fine, go find another healer," and I left the party without waiting for a reply. As a healer, I don't have to suffer players who don't know what they're doing.

This is the kind of thing I want to avoid. People going beyond the necessary threshold of difficulty and then blaming someone else when things go wrong. If I was indeed the weakest link, then damn well be a team player and make do. We could have beat the dungeon if he did one pull at a time; we only just barely failed on his pulling 3 groups at once. What does that say about an undergeared healer?

/rant

It's not the first time I've come across a tank who doesn't seem to understand that healers have to manage mana, consider their casting MP5, have to make decisions on spells, especially when DPS generates too much threat or if there's AoE damage coming in. I've also suffered DPS players who don't know how to keep their threat under the tank's.

But, of course, it's the healer who gets blamed. "Fucking heal me! You suck!" Um...I can't heal the entire party when it's getting shitstomped all at once. That's called a fucking free-for-all and it gets the party all killed every time.

/rant 2

Yeah, as a new tank I can sympathize with you. If the healer's not undergeared, it's the undergeared tank's fault we wipe. Couldn't possibly be the DPS death knight that keeps pulling mobs before I can establish any sort of threat, and there's no way it's the healer who's so overgeared for heroics that he thinks he can just sit back doing nothing until I'm dead and everybody's trying to compensate for the lack of a tank.

People are just assholes, sometimes. I actually got with a group last night, though, that was very understanding that I was a new tank, actually praised me for being new at it and doing as well as I did, and when one of us messed up, we figured out what happened, fixed it, and moved on without anybody getting angry or disrespectful. We ended up successfully doing five dungeons together, which rocked for all of us because we didn't have to wait for the queues.

Just goes to show that politeness and respect will really get you to your goals faster in the game. It's almost always much faster after a wipe to find out what happened respectfully and fix it, then just call someone an idiot, leave party, and queue for another dungeon.

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

How is one to know they're ready for raids?

Maybe I'll start with this.

Just look online for the minimum stat requirements for whatever raid you're looking toward. Look at a few of them and it will give you a general idea of what is expected of you.

For Naxx it looks like most people agree that you should be working with at least 1500 bonus healing, and 160 mp5.

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

Thanks; it's a work in progress. I'm currently grinding reputation for some top-quality enchants for the key pieces.

Make sure you get your Sons of Hodir rep up. They have the best shoulder enchants.

---------- Post added at 01:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:52 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

Do full raids need to be completed all in one sitting, or can it be done in parts? Are the weekly raids like quests within regular raids, or are they separate things all together? Why are they so short?

Raids can be split up throughout the week. Once you go into a raid for the week, everything you kill stays dead until the next week.

Weekly raid quests are quests to kill a certain boss within a raid. I did "Flame Leviathan Must Die" this week. It had me kill Flame Leviathan and that's it. He's the very first boss in Ulduar and it took about 15-20 minutes maximum to down him from the moment we entered the instance.

The weekly raid quests are just designed to give people a few more emblems each week, I guess....

[Baraka_Guru]

Originally Posted by Punk.of.Ages

Shadow priests massacre in PvP, usually. I consider myself a pretty damn good PvPer (Always in the top three in battlegrounds) and I have a guildie shadow priest who's been consistently about 10-12 levels under me and gives me a run for my money every time we duel.

Yeah, I've heard good things about shadow PvP. I just need the gear, I guess.

[...] If you're planning to do PvP often, you'll want to invest into a PvP oriented set of gear rather than a PvE one, which is what that shadow priest set you're looking at is.

[...]

I put together this comparison of the armor you linked and the deadly gladiator set for shadow priests (I believe) to give you an idea of the differences.

Thanks for this. I probably would rather have PvP than PvE gear for my shadow spec, but now I'm considering respec'ing for PvP shadow, as my current talent spec is more PvE shadow (it's missing Silence, for example).

Arenas were actually designed to give people the ability to receive rewards for PvPing, but not have to dedicate their lives to it. Basically, you fight in 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 gladiator style matches. You do so with a team, and can only be in one team per bracket. At the end of each week you are awarded arena points based on your highest ranked teams performance. The only stipulation is you must participate in at least 10 matches throughout the week to receive any arena points.

Maybe I'll consider this after getting some PvP gear.

Just look online for the minimum stat requirements for whatever raid you're looking toward. Look at a few of them and it will give you a general idea of what is expected of you.

For Naxx it looks like most people agree that you should be working with at least 1500 bonus healing, and 160 mp5.

I currently blow that away.

Make sure you get your Sons of Hodir rep up. They have the best shoulder enchants.

I'm currently working on my Kirin Tor rep to get a head enchant, and then I'm going to do Sons of Hodir for the shoulders.

[Punk.of.Ages]

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

Yeah, I've heard good things about shadow PvP. I just need the gear, I guess.

Thanks for this. I probably would rather have PvP than PvE gear for my shadow spec, but now I'm considering respec'ing for PvP shadow, as my current talent spec is more PvE shadow (it's missing Silence, for example).

Maybe I'll consider this after getting some PvP gear.

Yeah, I'm gearing up before I start doing heavy PvP again as well. That's why I'm buying a cheaper set of gear. I figure it will get me by, and by going with the emblem of conquest purchased set rather than the triumph purchased one, I save like 70 emblems.

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

I currently blow that away.

Yeah, it's not too hard to gear up for Naxx, but it is the easiest WotLK raid. The harder ones will have higher minimums.

One thing I might recommend if you're interested in looking into raiding is see if you can get a group together, or even just keep an eye out for people putting groups together, for some of the older raids. They're lower level and easier, but give you a bit of an idea on what raids are like.

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

I'm currently working on my Kirin Tor rep to get a head enchant, and then I'm going to do Sons of Hodir for the shoulders.

Well, Kirin Tor rep is easy to get by wearing their tabard in heroics, but for Sons of Hodir rep you have to do a quest chain and do their daily quests. You can also turn in relics of Ulduar, but they don't have a tabard to wear in dungeons.

Here's a list of the quests that need to be completed.

[Reese]

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

Worldofwarcraft.com is doing a screenshot of the day of Cataclysm.

Why limit yourself to 1 screenshot per day when mmo-champion has put up at least 400 screenshots in that last 12 hours.

[Baraka_Guru]

Originally Posted by Punk.of.Ages

Well, Kirin Tor rep is easy to get by wearing their tabard in heroics, but for Sons of Hodir rep you have to do a quest chain and do their daily quests. You can also turn in relics of Ulduar, but they don't have a tabard to wear in dungeons.

Here's a list of the quests that need to be completed.

Hey, thanks! This gives me something else to do.

Originally Posted by Reese

Why limit yourself to 1 screenshot per day when mmo-champion has put up at least 400 screenshots in that last 12 hours.

Well, just in case you don't want to miss anything. You never know.

[MPower]

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

A DPS player (a cloth or leather wearer, I think) once told me that I suck at healing because he kept dying. Now, I tried my best to keep him alive while not risking losing the tank at the same time.

I replied, "Well, why do you suck so much at tanking?"

"lol, I'm not the tank!" he said.

"Then stop fucking acting like one."

Overall, I need to stop being so nice and quiet. I'm the healer; I'm important, right?

Hahaha. That was an awesome exchange. I'm a Dps'er and my main job is to watch my aggro, #2 is doing damage. A lot of ppl go all out and rip aggro from the boss, then they die and the heals gets one-shot. Heals primary job is keeping themselves alive and then the tank. Helping out the dps is just icing, unless you are on raid heals, which is the next point..

Market yourself as a #2 healer for raids. If you dont wanna or dont know if you can keep the MT up, you can keep the rest of the raid up from random damage, and throw some HoTs on the tanks. By the time you know the fights, youll have better gear and can be the main healer. And believe me, knowing the fights in raids is 95% of getting it done.

Or ask the raid leader if you can roll on healing gear, and go in as shadow dps. No other clothies in the raid, or if they are overgeared, it shouldnt be a problem. Im doing this right now with my druid healer, im being carried thru the first wings of icecrown we have on farm, and getting all the cloth and leather we would be otherwise disenchanting.

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------

Btw, if you have the cash or some enchanter friends, get your stuff enchanted. Check the little arrows next to the enchants on your wowheroes sheet. Prob dont need to bother with stuff under 219, as you will be replacing them, and dont need to go with the top enchants unless you have the money or its on a gear piece 232+

[Shauk]

I know I'm all BLAAAH about this game but I know enough to say, You're a good healer if you're asking these kinds of questions. Really it just means you're willing to research being better instead of settling for adequate.


that said, given the announcements regarding how they plan on having one lockout and 10m being the same as 25, I might be able to handle this as a "game" again instead of lifestyle cuz right now, it's pretty expected of some of the guilds I've been in, in order to maximize potential gearing, to run

10/25 icc
10/25 Trials
10/25 Ulduar HM's

6 raids, something along the lines of 4 hours each, every week.

vs the cataclysm single lockout model, which at launch will be like 2 raids with 5 or 6 bosses each as opposed to the 10+ bosses in multi winged raids the game has now.

Hell even 40 man raids didn't take as long as they do now.


They really need to upgrade the old world textures to get me to want to play again though.

I was just having this convo yesterday

skywall and kezan look nice, the old world zones still just need a graphic/texture overhaul or something I guess. I know it's too soon to whine but http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/...nggorge_06.jpg looks the freakin same, bland as hell.

I'm being picky, I know but there are plenty of mountain textures that ... See Morejust draw in that "bare rock" texture on every steep incline since vanilla and it's an eyesore to me at this point. :\

a couple more examples of it I guess.

http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/...needles_16.jpg

http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/...esolace_29.jpg

could they add a little moss/mold/bird shit/anything? please?

I can't be the only one :\

friend responds

Oh I totally agree with you, the rock renders look dreadfully old, like 2003 Bryce 5 "My First CG Program" style.

The terrain needs that realistic touch, like erosion, roots sticking out, clumps of other layers pushing out onto trails...a lot like how Oblivions landscapes felt. I think WoW does that really well in WRATH, especially in places ... See Morelike Grizzly Hills, Howling Fjord. I'm sure the design team will really start touching it up soon.

I hope so, I'm buying a bloody new computer for this game...it better look sweet at max settings.

[Baraka_Guru]

Update:

Over the past few days, I've been getting decent (lucky) drops in heroic 5-mans....which is weird because I don't normally get drops like that so often. Plus I've nearly completed my conquest armour set: One more piece to go. I've also purchased some enchants for my existing pieces. I've still yet to max out my enchants, but I'm waiting for item upgrades/faction rep.

However, according to both Be Imba! and WoW Heroes, I have the gear to adequately run Ulduar 25-man hard mode. Yet, I still have reservations about asking to join a Naxx 10-man. Maybe I should read a walkthrough to it or something...watch some videos.

I recently joined a fairly casual guild; maybe I'll ask around.

[Shauk]

YouTube - Cataclysm Deepholm Zone Review - TankSpot

YouTube - Cataclysm Deepholm Zone Review - TankSpot

10 minute video of Deepholm

MEGAVIDEO - I'm watching it

MEGAVIDEO - I'm watching it

45 minute tour of the alpha.

[Baraka_Guru]

The granddaddy of MMOs is looking pretty damn good for his age.

They might still get another couple of years out of him yet.

[Shauk]

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

The granddaddy of MMOs is looking pretty damn good for his age.

They might still get another couple of years out of him yet.

UO? Everquest? huh? lol. I keed.

[Lasereth]

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

The granddaddy of MMOs is looking pretty damn good for his age.

They might still get another couple of years out of him yet.

Wow still has 5-10 more years. Mark my words!!!!!!!!

[Tactix]

reply is mostly to bakara guru,


I retired from WoW 6 months ago or so, and I went through a lot of the same stuff you did. I was a veteran player from the early days who quit then came back to all these new features. So after getting a couple 80's, I tried all the new "weekly raid", "pug raids" etc. I found that the biggest issue facing these raids is that since there are so many players out there, they are forced to base everything off of your gear and whether or not you have the achievement. Addons like "gearscore" make this easy for them to judge a player by. I found because of this, it was hard to get into the raids at first...

However, after you get all the gear you can from the 5 man heroic badges, you will be ready to go with any sort of raid. I would say, even ICC if you can find one. Then, your issue shifts from being "undergeared" to being "inexperienced", because a lot of times people want you to show you the achievement, proving you already did it. I found that silly, because it really limits the pool of people available, and when you finally get to run these raids, you'll see it isn't rocket science. You'll be like, wow, this is easier than everyone made it sound.

I guess people want a way of weeding out morons. I think showing achievement wasn't really a good way, but I guess it gives people peace of mind knowing that they won't have to explain everything.

You seem like a smart guy and you do your research on websites, which is more than the vast majority of these players do. I think you will be fine in any of these raids, as long you can are persistent enough to get into them. Finding a good guild that can run raids is an easier way to do it.

In the end, I think that running nothing but pugs was what made me quit again. I never really made many friends in the game the second time around, never got into a good guild, and I ended up quitting again. It's the friendships that kept me around for a long time when I played in the early days. However, the new mechanics of the game make it very easy to be successful without even trying to be social, which I feel lowered my desire to keep going in the end. Pretty sad that I need to be forced to be social, eh?

Anyway, good luck!

[Punk.of.Ages]

The whole GearScore/achievement bit is, pretty much, bullshit. GearScore is the most overrated mechanic of the game. No matter how much gear you have, it won't affect your intelligence, maturity, or grasp of strategy. I'll run with a person who can listen effectively and not be a dick long before I'll run with a pompous, incompetent dickhead who got hauled through raids for his gear and achievements even if the former has a 3kgs and the latter has a 6kgs.

Luckily, I'm part of a very casual guild. We have a fairly regular group that runs weekly raids every week and we get as far as we can into whichever raid we choose on Thursday nights. Lately we've been running mostly ICC10. Then those of us that are on more often and towards the later hours of the night will usually run raids such as Ony, ToC, and VoA throughout the week. With the casual way we run things, we never really have guild drama and I've never seen anyone that wasn't PUG'd in get angry or create drama in raids, and those people are quickly removed.

Anyone's best bet when starting to raid is to find a guild that's willing to leave some room for error as you learn and that can remember it's a game and it's supposed to be fun, especially when doing end-game content that you've worked so hard to get to.

[Baraka_Guru]

Thanks for the feedback, Tactix. I've pretty much found out as much. My gear right now isn't bad. I bet I can do most of the "entry-level" raids. The issue for me is that I don't think I want to get into it. It's too involved. I'm more of a casual player, I guess.

But the whole thing is a bit ridiculous. People take it too seriously. If you need the gearscore, the achievements, and whatever, it pretty much means they're looking for people who've already completed the raid before, right? So they're looking for people to go for another lap? Lap 10, 20, 30, or whatever, right? Well, whatever. People can have fun with their repetition. I, on the other hand, have grown too bored with the game to get into it that far just to do it over and over again.

Even outside of raiding, I've run into people who lose it when someone doesn't quite have everything up to speed. You know, they act as though it were a job, and not a game. It's like they're afraid of the additional challenge. It's like too many players prefer a sure thing. Because it's about the loot. Because it's about the achievement.

No thanks. If I wanted a game for that reason, I'd play Progress Quest, or many of the fine games available on Facebook.

Anyway, my account's not even active at the moment. I've been filling my time up with reading science-fiction and fantasy novels and designing a D&D campaign. I've forgotten how awesome these things are. You don't even need a computer. I'm even planning on writing a book soon, maybe plumb another aspect of this next-to-useless English degree.

[high_jinx]

im what's called an avid "twinker". i like to max out characters at sub endgame levels and park them for battlegrounds. i used to do it to play capture the flag without mounts but now it's just a matter of enjoying the building process without wanting to re gear once im done.

our niche suffered from no Q's when they segregated us from xp added. we ended up setting up seperate battlegroups for each bracket (19, 29, etc.).

but they're merging battlegroups for north america's entirety in cata, and that should support constant bg's for xp off.

i highly reccomend it for any casual or part time wow'er.

[Baraka_Guru]

Do you guys get angry when we call you "twinkies"?

[Punk.of.Ages]

I have a level 19 rogue with xp off. I like to PvP with him, but I cannot stand the levelling process with a rogue, so I got him all the BiS stuff and now fight him against all the other twinks in Warsong Gulch.

[high_jinx]

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

Do you guys get angry when we call you "twinkies"?

actually, the word "twink" has a much worse kind of creme-filled connotation in the real world. i just take it with a grain of salt and hope it helps people who care too much about "skill" in game to nerd rage more when i keyboard turn over their corpse.

[Strange Famous]

Well, I have been playing a while, and my character reached lvl 70

Then they made me buy an upgrade so I could keep getting stronger till lvl 80, but also I had the opportunity to make a new character called a death knight.

So, I made one to see what skills they had etc, a night elf like most my other characters I tried... so I should be in the alliance right?

Well.. imagine how I feel then that this death knight is some kind of snivelling pervert, who is ordered about by a lowly dog called "lich king" and they send me on missions that I am supposed to slaughter innocent women and children in the village and so on. As if I would find any pleasure in playing such revolting missions. I deleted the character of course. Sometimes it is unavoidable to do a certain mission that you have to kill a female character, but on the whole I avoid it... I certainly dont want to do missions killing female villagers just to please this disgusting wretch the lich king. In my opinion he should have his throat slit.

[Cynthetiq]

Shame, what a grand story line you are missing by giving that up.

It is one of the better stories next to the Deadmines quest line.

and eventually you do get to kill the lich king in the final instance of Ice Crown Citadel.

[MPower]

yup. You are supposed to feel revolted, that starts you on you path of redemption (of sorts).

BTW, I turned Arthas into a pincushion a few months back, so feel free to re-roll that DK, you are revenged.

[Punk.of.Ages]

I agree. The story behind death knights is pretty epic.

You have to take into account that as a death knight you are under the Lich King's complete control. Whether you like it or not, you do revolting things because the Lich King tells you to. It is a role playing game after all.

I don't want to spoil anything, but I think you'd be quite happy with the way things turn out at the end of the death knight quest line. Plus, death knight is a pretty fun and cool class if you can learn how to play them the right way. I just started an unholy death knight tank and I'm having a blast with it. Not quite as fun as my warrior, but still a pretty cool class.

[Strange Famous]

Ive tried most of the character types, but I cant really get used to playing any of them other than hunter because I cant see the enemies on my map and people keep creeping on me, but I thought once the hunter is lvl 80 I'd try a druid

this is my character btw

http://www.wow-heroes.com/index.php?...me=aleshiastar

[Punk.of.Ages]

Yeah, everyone has a class that fits their style best. I'm all about warrior. It's a fun and challenging class that allows me some diversity (With it's DPS and Tanking capabilities). Be sure, though, that you're not giving up on a class too soon. Getting to level 10 and calling it quits is the easiest way to miss out on a potentially fun character.

I recommend that you get that hunter to 80 before you seriously consider an alt, though. Firstly, you'll eventually reach a point where you just don't have a lot to do with that character anymore. Secondly, when you hit 80 you have access to heirloom items, which you can give to your alt character. They boost the amount of experience you get and make levelling go a bit faster.

[Strange Famous]

well, maybe I will try to play a Death Knight again, but to be honest this Lich King guy has been taking some diabolical liberties with the missions he has ordered me on... I do want to learn how to play another character than hunter though.

[YaWhateva]

Righteous indignation. ugh.