Let's Talk MoP Beta

[Bolty]

I know Bun-Bun is in. Anyone else?

I screwed around on beta for 15 minutes last night (day 2 of beta), playing a female Pandaren Monk.

1) The graphics are just really much better than Cataclysm. Everything in Pandaria has higher texture quality. Really feels more "modern." It ain't Crysis, but it sure is a step up from current world detail. I wonder how drab the "old world" will look once I get used to Pandaria.

2) Animation quality for the Pandaren is so fluid, although unfinished. You need a 1080p video to really get a good look at them. The level of facial expression on emotes far surpasses anything else.

3) There are no female Pandaren sound effects yet. If I take damage, I make male grunt noises. Kinda funny.

4) Fatigue zone in the Monk starting area starts even before you hit the water. And when you DO hit the water, you plummet to your instant death. No exploring under the turtle!

5) Videos already showed this well, but the belts the Monks start with are awesome. The tails that the belts have animate independently based on the motion of your character. I wonder what else they have in store for gear.

6) Pandaren females don't wear underwear. Not that I checked. Right. *blush* Hey, I'm not the only one, someone else took that picture!

[Nyghtshayde]

One thing I don't like so far, playing a female Pandaren Monk, is that I don;t see an energy bar. I'll admit that I was playing before my download was complete. I'll see how things look today.

My son will be disappointed because he didn't receive his beta invite yet

update - I do see the energy bar and noticed that those 4 dots are for chi, kind of like the rogue combo points

[RTM]

I'm interested in hearing about how the Monk plays. I realize the playstyle is probably going to go through a lot of iterations before release, but still. Fun? Boring? Annoying?

[MongoJerry]

Wowhead write-up on the beta so far:

http://www.wowheadnews.com/blog=201876/m...nscription

I don't have a beta key -- and I really wasn't expecting one. However, reading the Wowhead writeups, I'm concerned that inscription hasn't seemed to have improved as a profession. It looks like it's the same old "buy once and never again" glyph stuff, so after you buy your glyphs from the auction house (hopefully the vendor they mentioned is just a beta thing), you never have to do it again. So, there again won't be any kind of market for inscription items. The new staves and off-hands look nice on the surface, but I suspect that these items will be easily beat by heroic and raid dungeon items. I chose inscription just to see something new when I started my character, but it seems like it's not nearly as well developed as alchemy, enchanting, or jewelcrafting.

[Ruvanal]

I chose inscription just to see something new when I started my character, but it seems like it's not nearly as well developed as alchemy, enchanting, or jewelcrafting.

Orginally, inscription was such that you needed to use a new glyph everytime you changed it. That ended up putting inscription on top of the alchemy, enchanting, and jewelcrafting demand pile since top end raids often wanted their members re-glyphing for most of the encounters. Blizzard went through various steps to make it easier on the main player base (orginally you had to goto a special glyph book in main cities to clear an existing glyph) which finally culminated in what has effectively killed the profession. Vendor bought items to clear the existing glyph and buy once glyphs. Effectively leaving the inscriptionist with no useful repeat sale items.

[Taelas]

Hoping my annual pass invite will come soon! My father had an invite early on day 1, and he doesn't really care about the beta (he got in through the annual pass too).

[Klaus]

I chose inscription just to see something new when I started my character, but it seems like it's not nearly as well developed as alchemy, enchanting, or jewelcrafting.

Orginally, inscription was such that you needed to use a new glyph everytime you changed it. That ended up putting inscription on top of the alchemy, enchanting, and jewelcrafting demand pile since top end raids often wanted their members re-glyphing for most of the encounters. Blizzard went through various steps to make it easier on the main player base (orginally you had to goto a special glyph book in main cities to clear an existing glyph) which finally culminated in what has effectively killed the profession. Vendor bought items to clear the existing glyph and buy once glyphs. Effectively leaving the inscriptionist with no useful repeat sale items.

Which makes it like a lot of the other professions, especially engineering. There are some things in eng that people might buy, but only once. There are definitely two categories of professions - those that you can make money with and those you can't. The changes to inscription moved it from money-making to not-money-making.

[MongoJerry]

Which makes it like a lot of the other professions, especially engineering. There are some things in eng that people might buy, but only once. There are definitely two categories of professions - those that you can make money with and those you can't. The changes to inscription moved it from money-making to not-money-making.

Engineering has always been its own beast. Sure, it's not a money-making profession, but it has cool gadgets and gizmos that the engineer can use. The only thing similar for inscriptionists are the stronger shoulder enchants and the once daily opportunity to shake down a stormwind merchant for 15-20g. I'd be OK if Blizzard made Inscription more like engineering by making more inscriptionist-only abilities.

Or, really the solution could be to buff inscriptionist scrolls. I was initially excited when I first made a scroll of fortitude that could buff everyone in a raid with extra stamina -- and then realized that it didn't stack with the priest fortitude buff that everyone pretty much already gets anyway. Why not make a inscriptionist scrolls that work like flasks that cost a lot to make but buff everyone independently of whatever other buffs they may have?

[shoju]

Which makes it like a lot of the other professions, especially engineering. There are some things in eng that people might buy, but only once. There are definitely two categories of professions - those that you can make money with and those you can't. The changes to inscription moved it from money-making to not-money-making.

I disagree. I have carved out a nice niche in Inscription making gold, on glyphs believe it or not. Even on Terenas, there are plenty of people who re-roll, have alts, need glyphs etc...

I make a good bit selling glyphs for popular classes.

DK
Mage
Paladin

are my best selling glyphs. For DK, I normally do the DPS glyphs, and Frost Mage Glyphs, and Ret Paladin Glyphs.

They sell the best. It's sort of tedious to make a bit, but I list no more than 3 of a glyph at a time, and only when I can list the glyph at 50g without being too high, and they sell.

[MongoJerry]

I disagree. I have carved out a nice niche in Inscription making gold, on glyphs believe it or not. Even on Terenas, there are plenty of people who re-roll, have alts, need glyphs etc...

They sell the best. It's sort of tedious to make a bit, but I list no more than 3 of a glyph at a time, and only when I can list the glyph at 50g without being too high, and they sell.

You can make *some* money here and there. On Stormrage, the glyphs go for about 25-30g, if you can sell them -- but the herbs needed to make them could sell for around 15g, so the profit isn't very high. But having to buy glyphs once for your character and never again is very different from enchanting and jewelcrafting, where you need to buy them every time you upgrade your gear or alchemy, which are mostly consumables. Inscription is a very different beast altogether.

[Bun-Bun]

I know Bun-Bun is in. Anyone else?
2) Animation quality for the Pandaren is so fluid, although unfinished. You need a 1080p video to really get a good look at them. The level of facial expression on emotes far surpasses anything else.

Indeed, the quality is amazing. The Pandaren males don't have any at-rest animation, though, and it looks a bit stiff. Very promising, but I can't shake the feeling I'm roleplaying the unholy love-child of Wilford Brimley and the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man.

The terrain graphics are notable. They give a somewhat pastel feeling and nicely echo woodcuts of the pre-technological Japan culture.

[Bolty]

This made me chuckle.

There's a lot of neat unimplemented stuff in the game, as you'd expect in beta. One quest that I completed had an NPC that immediately said "Event where all the people in town cover their ears and complain about the noise, but Wogou only snores louder."

Pandaren have a racial where they can roll forward at a fast pace. It's bound to button 2 by default. I was in a fight against a boss-type mob near a cliff, and someone else came by to help fight it. Mid fight, they must have hit their Roll button, and he went flying right off the cliff to his death. Good times

[Ruvanal]

This made me chuckle.

There's a lot of neat unimplemented stuff in the game, as you'd expect in beta. One quest that I completed had an NPC that immediately said "Event where all the people in town cover their ears and complain about the noise, but Wogou only snores louder."

Just wait till you have to choose alliance/horde. Not sure what happens horde side, but on the alliance side the talk with Varian is most amusing. You may need a lot screenshots to convey it properly.

[Bolty]

Not sure what happens horde side, but on the alliance side the talk with Varian is most amusing.

I think Varian's opening line of "[TEMP] Hey gurrlllll" sums it up nicely, haha!

[Ruvanal]

Not sure what happens horde side, but on the alliance side the talk with Varian is most amusing.

I think Varian's opening line of "[TEMP] Hey gurrlllll" sums it up nicely, haha!

Well you did get the chance to punch his lights out a little later for that.

[kandrathe]

You can make *some* money here and there. On Stormrage, the glyphs go for about 25-30g, if you can sell them -- but the herbs needed to make them could sell for around 15g, so the profit isn't very high. But having to buy glyphs once for your character and never again is very different from enchanting and jewelcrafting, where you need to buy them every time you upgrade your gear or alchemy, which are mostly consumables. Inscription is a very different beast altogether.

I'd like to see inscription focus on gear that doesn't benefit from enchants, like legs, shoulders, head, etc. And, I like your idea about special scroll buffs, not available otherwise. It would be perhaps breaking upper limits to add another possible buff, but it could compete with existing ones by offering variations of something that doesn't deviate from existing mechanics and is desirable, like Mp5, Armor + some Strength, haste + crit, haste + mastery, haste + AP, etc.

[Taelas]

Legs are the providence of LWing, so probably not gonna work. Head and shoulder enhancements would be awesome, though.

[kandrathe]

Legs are the providence of LWing, so probably not gonna work. Head and shoulder enhancements would be awesome, though.

LW enhancements are nice too. They need to fit it all together so that they interleave each other without overlapping too much. You compete head to head within a profession for customers, so as long as the product is comparable (no clear winner) then it would be fair to compete across professions.

[Ruvanal]

Legs are the providence of LWing, so probably not gonna work. Head and shoulder enhancements would be awesome, though.

Or tailors depending on the type of enchant you want on the legs.

[Bolty]