I want to strangle the Arch Druid

[Lissa]

Ever since I first had to take an item to the Arch Druid way back in the days of being a youngin', I have disliked him. When I did the Morrowgrass and found out the truth, he disgusted me. Tonight, after completing the Wildkin line of quest (Winterspring) and rebuilding the Crystal of Zin-Malor, I despise him. The Night Elves are heading toward a Satyr/Highborne/Naga situation again and he's leading them to it... <_<

[Ruvanal]

I realised that with my first night elf character before she had even hit level 6. Long before I got around to meeting the Arch Druid.

[Kevin]

And this is different from other Blizzard storylines how? The "high and noble" races are always corrupt from within and lead by some crazed idiot, or shapeshifted dragon or something else. The "beast races" are always tricked into horrible deeds by some twisted and warped power. Blizzard uses the same plot twists a lot. They vilify the 'good' races and ennoble the 'evil' races, with a few exceptions.

But this is flaw in this game. Other 2nd gen MMORPG's have at least claimed you can have a real impact on the world. If you don't like where the leaders are taking you, you can replace them. WoW seems to allow you to really have very little impact on the world. There don't really seem to be world event type of deals. You build this tunnel or bridge and now you can get to this area that you were never at before, or you create a new town, or you kill this guy and he is really dead and no one else can kill him.

Sure you don't want all your quests that way, and having instances where everyone gets a chance to kill VanCleef is fine or whatever, but the overall impact your character has in WoW feels pretty limited.

This is one of the reason it's a shame that Horizons had so many other failings. At least you could feel the impact of the players there. This is also another reason why I'm leaning more towards PvP servers as they will at least give a little bit of illusion of this.

[Roland]

And this is different from other Blizzard storylines how?&nbsp; The "high and noble" races are always corrupt from within and lead by some crazed idiot, or shapeshifted dragon or something else.&nbsp; The "beast races" are always tricked into horrible deeds by some twisted and warped power.&nbsp; Blizzard uses the same plot twists a lot.&nbsp; They vilify the 'good' races and ennoble the 'evil' races, with a few exceptions.

But this is flaw in this game.&nbsp; Other 2nd gen MMORPG's have at least claimed you can have a real impact on the world.&nbsp; If you don't like where the leaders are taking you, you can replace them.&nbsp; WoW seems to allow you to really have very little impact on the world.&nbsp; There don't really seem to be world event type of deals.&nbsp; You build this tunnel or bridge and now you can get to this area that you were never at before, or you create a new town, or you kill this guy and he is really dead and no one else can kill him.

Sure you don't want all your quests that way, and having instances where everyone gets a chance to kill VanCleef is fine or whatever, but the overall impact your character has in WoW feels pretty limited.&nbsp;

This is one of the reason it's a shame that Horizons had so many other failings.&nbsp; At least you could feel the impact of the players there.&nbsp; This is also another reason why I'm leaning more towards PvP servers as they will at least give a little bit of illusion of this.
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MGG: Tell us about the coolest thing you have seen or done in the game thus far?

Chop: The coolest thing without a doubt would have to be the full inclusion of lore. No other game has even come close to the level that WoW delves into. For example, in Kargath (Horde outpost of the Badlands), I got a quest from the Commander of the little legion there. He sent me off to kill the leaders of Blackrock Spire (56-60+ dungeon) and return to him. The leaders were the main bosses; your generic dungeon quest with a small twist: find the documents. The documents were just next to one of the bosses; normal stuff. They explained that they (the bosses) were all under orders from Rend (a Commander of one of the Orc legions), which then began a series of quests.

The Commander then sent you to talk to Thrall's (leader of the Orcs) advisor in Orgrimmar. The advisor gives you a bunch of text, about 5-10 minutes worth, about how Rend killed Thrall's father. All in all, you end up knowing a little more about Thrall, a lot about Rend, and a bit more about the Orc story in general. This just makes you feel like you're a small part of the story.

Eventually, world events will occur when players do them. From the beginning, the developers have said it'll take about 10 PC Warlocks working together on a quest to open up the Dark Portal, which is the gateway to Dreanor, homeworld of the Orcs and a few other races. They've also stated that there will be huge Guardians at certain raid zones (not instances), and you won't be able to get in until you get enough people to kill the Guardian (a large amount), and the guardian won't ever respawn.

Glad we got that squared away. I was exceptionally worried you were going to be right. Good to see that both our worries were for naught.

Link.

[Kevin]

Eventually, at some time, just like an honor system. It will all be very well tested too. As we know the beta testers didn't find any flaws in the game because the QA dept was able to handle it all.

I'll assume they do get some of this in at some point. So your level cappers now have something else to do, but your little guys are still out of the loop. At least some other games the little guys can still help.

Horizons had an end of beta world event where you had to build machines to rid the worl of a plague the undead had unleashed. One of my little L5 chars was able to help by harvesting some lumber and adding it to the stock pile that was needed so that the the L40 carpenters could build stuff. I had an L15 who was able to actually work some of the sandstone on the machine, and help add to the essence stock pile for it. In freeing the trapped races there were level ones who would get buffed by the bigger guys and just be runners with materials from the gathering locations. In all case everyone got experience. An L40 who put some wooden planks in the stockpile wouldn't get much if anything for exp, but an L5 did get some good experience toward the lumbercraft skill (Horizons was much more of a skill based game).

All of those allowed me to feel that I had a much bigger impact on the world. I almost had enough money at the end of beta to be able to build my own house that would have bee permanent, and had I gotten a bit more money I could have hired a consigner where other players could have come to my house and sold thier goods and such.

WoW still lacks all of that. And always will as it wasn't designed in the game. It is an MMO Hack n Slash. Crafting is a minor part of it. World changing is a still not implemented.

Is it fun? Yes, it is. Blizzard still knows about the fun factor, but I want to impact the world if I'm paying money every month to play. I want to be able to help take over a contested zone for the Horde. I want to be able to actually destroy a building in Orgrimar in a raid and force the alliance to rebuild it. I want all the equipment that I ever wear in the game to be player made. I want to be able to be only a crafter if I feel like it who never raises a sword.

Again, I think I would have fun with WoW. I know a lot of people who will be playing it, and when I feel like going out and killing a bunch of stuff, WoW is right up there on the top of the list. I would like being in a guild and progressing enough where I could leave a bunch of leather around for that new guy to use to level up his leatherworking fast enough to be able to make his own armor. Or heck, having armor and stuff in the guild vault (not in place yet as I understand it) so that if a guilmate wants to be able to power level they can because all the gear is there waiting for them. Sure I could have fun with WoW, but the stuff I'm really looking for in an MMO just isn't there yet.

[MongoJerry]

Ever since I first had to take an item to the Arch Druid way back in the days of being a youngin', I have disliked him.&nbsp; When I did the Morrowgrass and found out the truth, he disgusted me.&nbsp; Tonight, after completing the Wildkin line of quest (Winterspring) and rebuilding the Crystal of Zin-Malor, I despise him.&nbsp; The Night Elves are heading toward a Satyr/Highborne/Naga situation again and he's leading them to it...&nbsp; &nbsp; <_<

Hmmm... I must've missed something when I did the morrograin quests. I never did understand what the deal was with all that. All I knew was that the guy in Feathermoon Stronghold suspected that the Arch Druid was up to no good. But then, that guy seemed kind of crazy himself, so I didn't know who to believe. So what *is* the deal with the morrowgrain?

[Magicbag]

Last night when adventuring with someone I'd met only recently in Beta, we found that the GoB guarding the entrance to Silithus (the bug zone) was gone. I'm sure an extention of Pawn captures queen will take place here.

Anyhow we did see a huge glowing gate iwth a gong which blocked us from exploring half of the zone. Several level 59 elite Anubites (black jackal headed humanoids) were present. I have a feeling that this is another locked area that will eventually be able to be opened through player interaction.
-MB

[Roland]

Eventually, at some time, just like an honor system.&nbsp; It will all be very well tested too.&nbsp; As we know the beta testers didn't find any flaws in the game because the QA dept was able to handle it all.

Um, you do realize that they've already stated a PvP system will be in BY RELEASE, don't you? I think it's a little tiring to still be knocking the fact that a system isn't in when they've already assured one will be by release.

Granted, I agree it sucks royally not to be able to beta test the thing, as I'm sure it will need lots of tweaking, but such is the nature of MMOs. NOTHING is perfect out the door - I know from personal experience doing a lot of modding. What looks great at first can later on seem quite off-the-wall. Games, like many other things, are a constantly evolving process. Nothing works out perfectly right off the start, no matter how much we may want it to. ESPECIALLY something of this calibre.

I'm not trying to defend Blizzard, nor the industry in general. Just stating something that I think many people are overlooking - MMOs are VASTLY larger than most games, and thus the ability to balance them and get everything "just right" from the start is an impossibility, as new things are CONSTANTLY being added - not just in one fell swoop, like with an expansion pack.

[Lissa]

Hmmm... I must've missed something when I did the morrograin quests.&nbsp; I never did understand what the deal was with all that.&nbsp; All I knew was that the guy in Feathermoon Stronghold suspected that the Arch Druid was up to no good.&nbsp; But then, that guy seemed kind of crazy himself, so I didn't know who to believe.&nbsp; So what *is* the deal with the morrowgrain?
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It's used in curses much like the guy said in Feathermoon. If you did his quest, you found out that Feathermoon is working for Malfurion and the guy in Feathermoon in Malfurion's main agent there. Likewise, Tyrande is also Malfurion's agent within Teldrassil. I wish they would place Malfurion somewhere (I have explored the Dens in Moonglade, but no sign of him in any of them).

[Lissa]

Ever since I first had to take an item to the Arch Druid way back in the days of being a youngin', I have disliked him.&nbsp; When I did the Morrowgrass and found out the truth, he disgusted me.&nbsp; Tonight, after completing the Wildkin line of quest (Winterspring) and rebuilding the Crystal of Zin-Malor, I despise him.&nbsp; The Night Elves are heading toward a Satyr/Highborne/Naga situation again and he's leading them to it...&nbsp; &nbsp; <_<
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Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention...if you are a Night Elf Priest(ess), you need to do the Wildkin quests, it will make you feel all warm and fuzzy... :)

[Treesh]

Um, you do realize that they've already stated a PvP system will be in BY RELEASE, don't you? I think it's a little tiring to still be knocking the fact that a system isn't in when they've already assured one will be by release.

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Just like Horizons promised quite a few things will be in "BY RELEASE" and still weren't in the game 6 months after release. Forgive me for my scepticism, but with Blizzard, I'll believe it when I see it.

[Minionman]

Ever since I first had to take an item to the Arch Druid way back in the days of being a youngin', I have disliked him.  When I did the Morrowgrass and found out the truth, he disgusted me.  Tonight, after completing the Wildkin line of quest (Winterspring) and rebuilding the Crystal of Zin-Malor, I despise him.  The Night Elves are heading toward a Satyr/Highborne/Naga situation again and he's leading them to it...    <_<
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What's the story for us non-players? Since this seems like a change from warcraft 3.