Phase 3 Decision

[Bolty]

Phase 3 is on the way. Probably within the next 2 weeks.

Mongo, lemekim, and I were discussing plans for the next phase. Rumor has it that more people will be let in on this phase, and we personally bet that once again characters will be locked due to the massive changes in the system (Talents, etc).

So, what faction should we go with if the characters are all locked down? There's too few of us to split us apart between the factions - it's hard enough to get together with another Lurker around your level to game with. So we should all choose the same faction for ease of play.

Phase 1 was all-Alliance for us Lurkers, although it was a shortened period compared to Phase 2.
Phase 2 (the current phase) we decided to play Horde.

Myself, I'd like to see us go with Alliance in Phase 3, mostly to provide a change of pace. If new players are allowed in with Phase 3, we can all play new Alliance chars together.

If all characters are unlocked, we will have both guilds in place - the Lurking Loungers for the Horde and Lounging Lurkers for the Alliance, since my guild master Bolty character would be playable once again for the Alliance side.

-Bolty

[lemekim]

I'm going alliance with you simply for the fact that I like Lounging Lurkers name more then Lurking Loungers =)

[MongoJerry]

I seriously doubt that our Phase 1 characters will ever be unlocked, since there have been too many changes in the characters and items since that phase. Blizzard should just be honest and delete those characters, but I guess they don't want to deal with the hailstorm of complaints they'd get when they did that and instead they probably figure nobody'd mind when they deleted all the characters at the conclusion of the beta. The problem with this, of course, is that our old guild name "Lounging Lurkers" is locked down as well, since none of us can access our old characters to invite people into the guild. I'm still campaigning for calling ourselves "The Mechanical Squirrels" in the next phase. If you haven't seen one, I'd be happy to make one for you. They're cute!

Anyway, I strongly suggest we try the Alliance again next phase. I've come close to exhausting most of the Horde areas with level 35 mobs and below in them. Sure, there are still some places to see (like I've never been to Desolace), but I really didn't get a chance to see much of Alliance lands in the last push. I completed all of the Goldshire quests and most of the Westfall quests (Van Cleef must die!), but I only did about half the Redridge quests and only touched Darkshire and Loch Modan briefly. It'd be fun to go back to the Alliance and hit those areas we didn't see before and also to see what's changed from the last push.

Bolty also asked Leme and I what our guild colors should be for next push. I suggest we go with scarlet and gold. And, what's better is that when we have enough high level players to do it, we can go into the armory instance of the monastery and get tabbards of the Scarlet Brigade. That could be our symbol -- as many people as possible will wear the scarlet brigade tabbards (and our temporary guild tabbard design can be something that comes close to the Scarlet Brigade, so noone feels left out).

[lemekim]

There could be a slight issue with us confusing each other with actual Scarlet Monastery guards (and thus don't be surprised if I keep trying to pummel Bolty in confusion) =)

Perhaps we can choose several designs and make a poll out of them?

[Nystul]

I'm playing both factions this push (horde a bit more than alliance since we had alliance before) and will most likely play both again in the next one. So, either is fine. I imagine alliance would be the popular choice next time around for this group.

[Tal]

I'm playing both factions this push (horde a bit more than alliance since we had alliance before) and will most likely play both again in the next one.  So, either is fine.

Ditto. :)

[--Pete]

Hi,

I'm hoping that hunters will be implemented (although some comments on the official boards make me doubt it). If so, then I'd like to revive Damiella d'Bosc as a dark elf huntress (the original was a half elf ranger way back in D&D days :) and has always been one of my two favorite characters). If not, then whatever seems fun will work for me.

I mostly play in the mornings (PST) and I haven't found many lurkers in either Alliance or Horde this push at that time. Magi plays in the evenings and has seen many of you online then, but I don't think she's joined up with you for much. With our relative schedules, that's going to be the best we can do for a while. Although I've teamed with a few people on an ad hoc basis, mostly I've played my characters solo. And, frankly, I've spent as much or more time "exploring" the game system as actually playing the game. Taking notes is a bitch :)

Perhaps next push, I'll see how fast I can build a character. Since my playing around with exploration and trade skills has taken so much of my time, I've yet to break 20. So, higher levels will be interesting.

--Pete

[Saxywoo]

I'm voting Alliance.

I think that I'll focus (which I hope will be implemented) on the familiars (animals) that you can supposedly train. Which makes me wonder... are you going to be able to buy the animals, or are they going to implement some new system where you have to find a baby whatever you want (that can be trained) and then take it to a trainer. Possibly some sort of quest that you can run?

And what would you do if you get an animal and you decide that it sucks? Do you "train" (grief) your own animal?

What about dueling? If you both have animals, do your animals just sit on the sideline, drink a beer or two and watch the fight? Do they get into the fray themselves?

Just a couple of thoughts....

SaxyCorp

[Bolty]

Which makes me wonder... are you going to be able to buy the animals, or are they going to implement some new system where you have to find a baby whatever you want (that can be trained) and then take it to a trainer.  Possibly some sort of quest that you can run?

Animals are the pets of the Hunter class, which is currently not implemented. Rumors are floating that the Hunter will still not be in the game for phase 3.

-Bolty

[Jarulf]

New phase again? Shesh, I never het to play a character to high enough level to start doing the instanced dungeons :( I sure hope we can keep some characters to play again soon or I will never get there.

I have been a LOT bussy in private life recently and not had ti me to play and will go on vacation for two weeks soon as well. Oh well. Perhaps sometimes. Know I know a bit more on what trade skills to go for. Don't think the mining/smithing one is that good for a "solo" player. I love fishing though and aslo cooking is nice to throw in if one is a character without healing abilities. Perhaps I go for alchemy again as well.

[Charis]

I'm with you Jarulf. I've never seen an instanced dungeon yet and am on pace to be ready for one in about a month with the Orc raid team. That means I can expect the patch to show up in 29 days. ;)
RL has been very busy, but in a very good way.

I would vote a preference for Alliance, for a change of pace. I was totally clueless on the game
during the first push, and now I'm only moderately clueless, so it should be interesting.

Good chance of no hunters this push?? Boo! I suppose whenever they DO come out you can expect
to see about 98% of the players trying one. Imagine the camping situations that will impose, hehe.

Charis

[JustAGuy]

I hear ya, I've been away for a while... Step out for a week and all of a sudden there's a new phase out (or will be). One time, I entered an instanced dungeon...

Next phase, I'm down for some Alliance action. I like the Horde, but the human classes seem more fun to me. Now that I actually have a good idea of how to combine and use the trade skills, I'd like to return to (recreate) my Alliance Paladin and see what I can "cook" up.

[MongoJerry]

New phase again? Shesh, I never het to play a character to high enough level to start doing the instanced dungeons :( I sure hope we can keep some characters to play again soon or I will never get there.

Keep in mind that Bolty may be jumping the gun slightly. There hasn't been any formal announcement of a timeframe for the next push. Last time, they gave us about a week's notice before the push was released, which coincides well with their stated policy of playtesting their own "locked down" push for a week before releasing it to the public. So to my mind, we're looking at at least a week before the next push. Plus, Blizzard had to get ready for E3, and those kinds of things can eat up a lot of programming and design time. I expect we're looking at at least two weeks before the next push is released, and it may end up being more than a month.

[TheDragoon]

Personally, I've played a lot of Horde this time around so I think going with Alliance would be my preference. I just wish I had more time this quarter to actually play. I've got 12 credits of classes and I have more work this quarter than any previous quarter at the UW (where I've had as many as 16 credits + 2 credits for marching band which takes ~20 hours a week).

[Roane]

According to Katricia via the official boards, characters will not be locked when the next push arrives.

Considering that this says nothing about our current guilded Alliance characters coming unlocked, do we want to consider remaking the Alliance side guild with a slightly different name again?

[--Pete]

Hi,

According to Katricia via the official boards, characters will not be locked when the next push arrives.

To be precise: "There are currently no plans to lock the current characters for the next push."

That's not exactly the same thing -- more like they aren't far enough along to know yet. But if this push reintroduces talents, I'd guess that the characters will be locked. Or so hopelessly built "wrong" that they might as well be.

--Pete

[Roane]

Respectfully, I don't know that I agree with that. We've been accumulating Talent Points. It's not like we've been spending them on something different. I think it's more likely to add to characters than mangle them in any way.

[Jarulf]

Personally I just want to continue to play a character beyoned level 22 (or lowish 20 really). If that means the current character or going back to an old one, I really don't care, just as long as I can continue to use a character more than one push (with current push times). I simply can't play so much so that I reach high 20 or into the 30 or even 40 within a push. I would for sure make a new character different than current though but still, at some point I want to be able to play other than low level areas. I also like to see as much of the game as possible (despite it being a beta) so will probably play one alliance and one horde if allowed. For alliance, I really want to go with Paladin I think. For horde, probably keeping my current warrior. Although it is at times depressing seeing a mage of my level come along blasting mobs at ease that I have problem with :)

[JustAGuy]

I don't think that the characters will be locked. Since no character has been able to spend any talent points, and there is only one way to accumulate them (by level), the number of talent points is known for each character level; when the next push arrives, and if talents are re-instated, that number can be changed to the level the dev. team deems appropriate.

Either the number of talent points we currently have stays the same, or the cost of spending talent points is scaled up or down. Either way, the number of talent points for any given character level is always a known value. Not like the previous push, where talent points were being spent, so it was inappropriate to give talent points new value/weight, thereby screwing up existing characters. Those characters we made in the first push should very well be deleted, since old "talents" are just skills now, and the points spent on them should be "skill points". That and skill points have less weight.

If the dev. team decides to turn some of the skills we use now back into talents, say for example "Strength" becomes a talent again, then our characters would probably be locked. Personally, I think the whole talents thing is superfluous, as the skills tab is currently all-inclusive and working just fine. I don't even know what they would consider a "talent"... What differentiates a skill from a talent?

Either way, I remade my 1st push Paladin, and the new has surpassed the old in level. I'll be a bit miffed if they lock the characters again. I can only imagine how all those level 39's will feel when they have to restart again after all of that waiting... I want to get to 39 just so I can be that much closer to riding my mount...