August News/Discussion

[LavCat]

Another good question here is, What Tabard do you wear?

None of my Alliance characters have shown a guild tabard since we left the Lurkers, whose arms bore the likeness and visage of Bolty. (Though I rather liked the beta tree motif myself.)

Fafner, my warrior, proudly wears the arms of the Scarlet Crusade, not because she is a bigot, but rather to go with her orange hair.

Tribade, my paladin, sports the arms of the Argent Dawn, somehow fitting for a paladin. Woad, my hunter, also wears the Tabard of the Argent Dawn. They have the Tabard of the Protector as well, which as far as I can tell looks exactly the same.

Fortran, my shaman, wears the Purple Trophy Tabard of the Illidari. It accents her complexion and flatters her physique.

The arms of Baguette, my priest, bear a gardant owl argent, on pale purpure. There is no higher honor for a Night Elf.

[Taelas]

I almost always wear a tabard if I have one. Guild Tabard if it's decent and I don't already have a different one. I like wearing my CE Exalted tabard on my druid. My warrior wears the Tabard of the Scarlet Crusade because I like it. (My nub belf paladin has it as well.) My human paladin wears her Guild Tabard. The only one of my toons who doesn't wear one is my mage; wearing a tabard while using a robe just looks silly.

[Taelas]

It seems Potion Sickness is STILL in the game, only without an actual debuff now. A beta tester reported that the CD timer on potions won't start until you've exited combat.

[Mirajj]

Aug 23 News
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Groups of Words' anonyomous blogger has made a list of some of the changes from Pre-TBC WoW to what you would find today in WoW, suggesting that they aren't so much as expansions as they are sequels. It's an interesting thought, to be sure, and any player who's been around since the start may enjoy the trip down memory lane.

DC has released the Series 4 Collection of WoW statues. The deluxe version is a stunning statue of Lady Vashj. There is a Warlock's best friend, a Succubus. We are introduced to the brand new race, Tuskarr, and what collection of NPC's would be complete without a pair of Murlocs?

[LavCat]

Groups of Words' anonyomous blogger has made a list of some of the changes from Pre-TBC WoW to what you would find today in WoW, suggesting that they aren't so much as expansions as they are sequels. It's an interesting thought, to be sure, and any player who's been around since the start may enjoy the trip down memory lane.

My recollection is that there was an early auction house in Stormwind (maybe not right at the start of retail) as well as in Ironforge, but that the SW auction was held outside in the courtyard by the waggon. There was no Thorium Brotherhood in the beginning. Indeed there were very few rep grinds, and there was no cloth turn-in either. Silithus was opened the last day of beta and there were mobs there. One could jump over the wall and explore the south part of the zone (where there were no mobs, as far as I could find).

As for high level crafting pattern world drops, I remember losing the mechanical squirrel schematic that dropped for me in Westfall, because my bags were full. Some things never change.

[Artega]

All of my toons wear Stone Guard's Herald, and they all wear either Rich Purple Silk Shirt or Master Builder's Shirt if I was in the mood to farm it for them (very easy for a Paladin, very hard for Shaman and Warrior.) That said, they all have a variety of tabards banked, but I never use em.

I remember when Silithus was first itemized and suddenly Essence of Air became obtainable without having to go through transmuting. I also remember one of the big e-peen-based guild v. guild fights (it ended up being something like 36v34) on Bloodscalp, and we held it on the side of the wall in Silithus, well before Silithus was even itemized.

I remember when Blackhand Doomsaw was the penultimate Warrior weapon, prior to Arcanite Reaper plans dropping for blacksmiths (I was tanking for the LBRS raid that got the 2nd set of prints for Horde.) Happened to get both the Doomsaw and Valor shoulders in my first UBRS run because the other Warrior lagged out just prior to us killing Rend. Also remember UBRS being a lot of fun - I still think it's more fun than Karazhan and Magister's Terrace.

Remember being on the first Horde Molten Core raid for my server, and us wiping to corehound respawns before we even reached Lucifron. I never went back to Molten Chore.

PvP is unstructured and open and gives no reward other than the fun of it. There is no battleground or arena system, however there are raids on opposing cities and constant skirmishing between Southshore and Tarren Mill (as a result, questing in Hillsbrad is a nightmare).

This. Still think this was the way PvP was meant to be - no PvE kids feeding the opposing faction honor in battlegrounds so they can get their welfare epics.

I would like to see the return of PvP-based ranks, though - maybe just have the option of buying them with honor points instead of earning them through the ridiculous old method. Rank 1 for 2500, Rank 14 for 125000?

[Chesspiece_face]

Aug 23 News
~~~

Groups of Words' anonyomous blogger has made a list of some of the changes from Pre-TBC WoW to what you would find today in WoW, suggesting that they aren't so much as expansions as they are sequels. It's an interesting thought, to be sure, and any player who's been around since the start may enjoy the trip down memory lane.

I thought the most profound statment in the whole list was this:

"Blizzard threw battlegrounds under the bus to improve raiding."

<span style="color:#33FF33">This. Battlegrounds really have been set up so that all the people that either can't play, or don't want to bother, will flock to them because of the easily obtained epics. It seems as if there needs to be some avenue available in the game for all the mentally WoW disabled to be able to get epics. Battle grounds at the moment just happen to be the short bus. Call it welfare epics or whatever but the more i think about this it just seems like blizzard is saying "go sit at the kiddie table so us grown-ups can talk over here." And the more i think about it, the more i like it. By setting one section of the game apart for welfare epic kiddies they can keep the other aspects of the game stronger. I don't know if Battlegrounds should necissarily be that outlet, but I do think there needs to be one.

I've yet to find a brighter warning sign for "person you don't want to group with" than a hunter wearing all Merciless Gladiator's Mail.

[Artega]

I thought the most profound statment in the whole list was this:

"Blizzard threw battlegrounds under the bus to improve raiding."

<span style="color:#33FF33">This. Battlegrounds really have been set up so that all the people that either can't play, or don't want to bother, will flock to them because of the easily obtained epics. It seems as if there needs to be some avenue available in the game for all the mentally WoW disabled to be able to get epics. Battle grounds at the moment just happen to be the short bus. Call it welfare epics or whatever but the more i think about this it just seems like blizzard is saying "go sit at the kiddie table so us grown-ups can talk over here." And the more i think about it, the more i like it. By setting one section of the game apart for welfare epic kiddies they can keep the other aspects of the game stronger. I don't know if Battlegrounds should necissarily be that outlet, but I do think there needs to be one.

I've yet to find a brighter warning sign for "person you don't want to group with" than a hunter wearing all Merciless Gladiator's Mail.

Considering how many S2 lvl 70s my lvl 65 shaman has killed, this is a pretty accurate assessment of player skill as related to welfare epics. It's particularly funny when an S2 Frost mage loses to a 65 enhancement Shaman... multiple times.

I still think that PvP should be about the sheer fun of slaughtering hapless Alliance scum by the metric ton, and not about loot. I guess it's okay for some of it to be about loot, but I personally think PvP (and, really, WoW as a whole) was a lot more fun prior to the advent of the honor system.

How many times do you see a raid force of 120 Horde invade Ironforge and crash the Eastern Kingdoms world server for three hours, twice a week?

[Mirajj]

I thought the most profound statment in the whole list was this:

"Blizzard threw battlegrounds under the bus to improve raiding."

<span style="color:#33FF33">This. Battlegrounds really have been set up so that all the people that either can't play, or don't want to bother, will flock to them because of the easily obtained epics. It seems as if there needs to be some avenue available in the game for all the mentally WoW disabled to be able to get epics. Battle grounds at the moment just happen to be the short bus. Call it welfare epics or whatever but the more i think about this it just seems like blizzard is saying "go sit at the kiddie table so us grown-ups can talk over here." And the more i think about it, the more i like it. By setting one section of the game apart for welfare epic kiddies they can keep the other aspects of the game stronger. I don't know if Battlegrounds should necissarily be that outlet, but I do think there needs to be one.

I've yet to find a brighter warning sign for "person you don't want to group with" than a hunter wearing all Merciless Gladiator's Mail.

It kind of had to be something pvp related. How would you be able to give a "welfare epic" to a raid group? You get a token just for zoning in? After 5 attempts, the boss falls over dead anyhow? With raids/instances, you have to actually WIN to get something. So since there are many folks who can't seem to put out the effort to win at pve, Blizzard threw them pvp, honor, etc. Managed to at least get off one auto attack? Honor point. Was able to get yourself killed? Honor point. Lost the BG? Honor points and a mark as consolation.

But you do raise and interesting question. What else could they have done in the game to provide an easy path to epics for those who can't/won't raid for them? They have to give them something, to keep the interest up in putting forth the small effort required. SSO Dailies are also a step in this direction. They are pretty easy to do, you slowly (but not too slowly) grind off rep so that you can get some shiny purples, and some pocket money at the same time. Especially now that arena is 'getting hard' (with new personal ratings, higher/harder ratings, etc).

[Bolty]

Especially now that arena is 'getting hard' (with new personal ratings, higher/harder ratings, etc).

The main reason arenas are harder in Season 4 is because, as predicted, fewer people are playing. Especially in the 5's bracket, where 1800 right now is a pretty awesome rating (top 160), at least on Ruin.

Also, the availability of Season 2 gear with honor means there are few easy faceroll wins where the opposition is just wearing PvE gear and gets slaughtered for it.

-Bolty

[Artega]

The main reason arenas are harder in Season 4 is because, as predicted, fewer people are playing. Especially in the 5's bracket, where 1800 right now is a pretty awesome rating (top 160), at least on Ruin.

Also, the availability of Season 2 gear with honor means there are few easy faceroll wins where the opposition is just wearing PvE gear and gets slaughtered for it.

-Bolty

I heard Season 4 Arena compared to how Naxxramas was for pre-TBC WoW - very few people are able to see much of it. Seems that it's somewhat true, too.

[Quark]

Content Patch Before WotLK

With the release of Wrath of the Lich King approaching, we wanted to provide you with some important information. In preparation for the expansion, we will be issuing a new content patch in the coming weeks. Much like the patch made available shortly before The Burning Crusade's release, this content patch is designed to bridge current game content with that of the expansion and will contain some exciting changes and additions.

"In the coming weeks" scares the hell out of me. If that means anything less than 2 months, it's far too soon.

[Icebird]

I'm curious as to what concerns you the most Quark.

For my priest, the new Holy Talents have the potential to make Sunwell content significantly easier - providing Serendipity actually works (which has only happened for one patch on the Beta realms - and not the current one). Clearcasting with a 16% proc rate, super-fast Greater Heals, big mana refunds for overhealing - they would change the healing equation for fights like Brutallus enormously. Throw in the new "intelligent" Circle of Healing, and priests (at least on paper) would be significantly stronger.

My guild has started working on M'uru, and its going to be an interesting question whether we can get over the line before the expansion ships. The new talents and spells might help.

I can't really see the patch coming out any faster than 3 weeks or so though. A lot of the classes still need significant work for Wrath.

Chris

[Lissa]

Content Patch Before WotLK
"In the coming weeks" scares the hell out of me. If that means anything less than 2 months, it's far too soon.

Until Blizzard puts out something about the collectors edition, it's still a bit off. Collector's Edition has always been talked about 2 1/2 to 3 months out. Nothing as yet, so we're still looking at mid-November at earliest for release.

[Quark]

I'm curious as to what concerns you the most Quark.

There are tons of talents still not implemented. I don't care what they say - you cannot possibly properly balance something that can't be used. This, by the way, despite the "Top people are working on this. Top. " for Murder Spree comment. It's taking their "top people" a month for a single talent.

There's a bunch of fundamental changes that could mess with raiding, though I'm not sure the net effect. If downranking nerf, lifebloom nerf, and potion sickness all go in it could be pretty damn significant since Blizzard won't spend time rebalancing the current instances.

[Icebird]

That's a fair comment, and I haven't seen the definitive list of "what's in and what's out" yet. In the short term potion sickness might hurt more than new talents and abilities help if they decide to implement it (especially on DPS pot chugging encounters like Brut or M'uru).

[Mirajj]

Aug 26 News
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Just two bits today, but they are both pretty huge.

Eyonix announces that there will be a Content Patch before WotLK launches. The 'problem' is in the wording. He says "in a few weeks". Now, knowing Blizzard's sense of time, that could jive with the November-ish date most folks have come to expect. Or it really could mean in a few weeks...in which case I'm not sure the Live servers are ready for the changes, or that the changes are even well tested at this point.

Blizzard also takes things to the next step, introducing "Phasing". In which the world is kind of 'instanced' to a single players experience. Blew that house up in a quest? For you, it's blown up. For the guy standing beside you who's not done the quest? It's perfectly fine. It's certainly an interesting step

[Taelas]

0_o

That. Is. AMAZING.

It makes it possible to move storylines along!! Holy CRAP does this make me excited.

[Kevin]

0_o

That. Is. AMAZING.

It makes it possible to move storylines along!! Holy CRAP does this make me excited.

Yeah the phasing concept is very cool. The world is still static but just a bit less static. :)

[--Pete]

Hi,

Blizzard also takes things to the next step, introducing "Phasing". In which the world is kind of 'instanced' to a single players experience. Blew that house up in a quest? For you, it's blown up. For the guy standing beside you who's not done the quest? It's perfectly fine. It's certainly an interesting step

Great idea but it has been tried before (in MUDs, at least). The problem is if a group of people have different 'worlds'. In one case I remember (in a Pern based MUD), a certain bridge had been burned down by some of the members of the group but not by the others. So about half the group crossed the river on a bridge that wasn't there to the other half. Confusion reigned. Going to be interesting to see how Blizzard handles this;)

--Pete