I'm one of the most forgiving customers there is,

[Quark]

For those who have been 60 for a while on Stormrage, you might have noticed that there's a "new crop" of almost-capped chars coming.  I suggest you welcome us into your clique and show us around.  I've yet to EVER run Scholomance, LBRS, UBRS, and Scarlet Stratholme - and I'd sure like to do it right, with a Lurker gang.

Contra Malum reporting for duty :)
Our top 5: Alarick - Priest, Gebo - Priest, Rothgar - Hunter, Miodvitnir - Hunter, Ramala - Rogue have all hit 60 and would be glad to fill any holes you guys have :)

[mjdoom]

Contra Malum reporting for duty :)
Our top 5: Alarick - Priest, Gebo - Priest, Rothgar - Hunter, Miodvitnir - Hunter, Ramala - Rogue have all hit 60 and would be glad to fill any holes you guys have :)
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I'll try to keep you guys in mind if/when I'm looking to put groups together. I learned today that running instances in the morning can be tough for finding players :D

- mjdoom

[Skandranon]

WoW wants to push players into farming for specific items and seems to be trying to force cookie cutter equipment setups.  I want to believe that a player's skill is going to be more important than the equipment they wear.  ...  I certainly don't see players going on skill alone such as a naked mage in Diablo.
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Loch, there a lot of things in here that I agree and disagree with. I won't go further on them, since they're your honestly held opinions and I respect that.

This quoted section, however, seems counter-intuitive and illogical to me from a game-design standpoint. For one thing, gear in WoW differs in only very small ways: stat bonuses are basically it. In comparison to D2, WoW's equipment system is extraordinarily simplistic, and in fact promotes a multiplicity of good high-end options. Quite simply, the "uber" gear isn't *that* much better than a good suit of greens - mages want +int/+sta on endgame gear, and whether it comes from Dreadmist, the new Magister's, or a pile of "of the Eagle", once you have it you're set. The discussion in guild chat was much like the example you cited - looking for a better obs/zod. You definitely don't need your blue set to do well.

For that matter, having a single first-tier set, much more obtainable than, say, endless Baal runs to get the Immortal King's armour in D2, as a goal, emphasizes player skill. When equipment *can't* differ that much, when everyone is wearing the same thing, player skill is the key determinant.

And it is a determinant. WoW, more than many other games, rewards the skilled and smart player as opposed to the twitchy player, like D2 did. The only reason why you can't play a naked mage is because WoW isn't as easy as D1 and doesn't have the same design holes as D2. If it had either of those flaws, I think the game would be worse off for it. It isn't because skill doesn't matter. I think anyone's bad experiences with pickup groups could agree with that.

I am not going to say that everyone wearing the same thing is good. I don't like it, either, because everyone is going to look the same at endgame and I feel a lot of the game's variety is lost that way. That said, you can't ignore the positive effects of such a design, and certainly not assert the opposite.

[LochnarITB]

"used that to set server caps"?  How?  Player queues?  They did that, you hate them.
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That is exactly what I meant. I don't hate player queues. I hate that caps, at least at times, have been lowered suddenly creating queues. It feels like they didn't test well enough under load and set the caps too high. It seems to be a case of erring on the wrong side. Setting the caps lower than necessary and then raising them, if actual function allowed, would have been far better.

[Treesh]

You who talk about queues and server stability need to come to Dalaran, or Malygos, or Uldum, where it's quiet, and you can solo or group  all night with an occasional (very occasional) lag or latency problem,
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:blink: Terenas crashed! My rock-solid server crashed! Stormrage crashing I'm used to, but Terenas?!

Must be because of all the Stormrage refugees bringing bad ju-ju with them. ;) :D

Edit: Looks like the login server bit it too for a bit along with other servers. It's just odd to be booted out of Terenas when my ISP isn't being flaky.

Edit2: They took some servers down for emergency maintenance. Most of the newest servers and some old servers that haven't been troublesome are in the list of those taken down. Still can't believe Terenas booted us without warning though. Not even a 15 second warning.

[LochnarITB]

And it is a determinant.  WoW, more than many other games, rewards the skilled and smart player as opposed to the twitchy player, like D2 did.  The only reason why you can't play a naked mage is because WoW isn't as easy as D1 and doesn't have the same design holes as D2.  If it had either of those flaws, I think the game would be worse off for it.  It isn't because skill doesn't matter.  I think anyone's bad experiences with pickup groups could agree with that.
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You are, of course, correct. I make no contention that I am skilled at writing my thoughts or debating the merit of them. This was also put together very quickly. I had been trying to describe what I was feeling for several days and Catlyn's post prompted me to try to put what I was thinking in writing, even if it was sure to be a rambling rant. When I say WoW, I tend to equate that with the WoW community where, to others, it equates to the game itself and its design. Also, a naked mage was a bad example taken to the extreme. I, too, would hope that a naked mage could not take the end game as it was all too easy to do in D1 (although I do intend to strip Lochnar down, at some point, and see what he can do). The Lurkers do tend to be a more analytical group. I see people linking greens for opinions and reading things like "that would be a great druid piece - they look for...". The WoW community seems to see the limited pool of blues and purples as the be all and end all of equipment choices. Thoughts such as "d00d that suxxors - get a <insert blue/purple here> instead" seem to be the norm. As witnessed by prices paid for them, blues and purples are valued far above greens of equal or better attributes. It's been said that a person is intelligent but people are stupid. :(

[Malakar]

Was my love just a crush and is it fading?

She was beautiful and fun when I first met her.&nbsp; We would party with friends and have a much better time than I had ever expected.&nbsp; Now that I've been with her day in and day out, much of the time one on one, I'm seeing through the cosmetics and the promises and finding that what I thought was love was just a crush.&nbsp; She insists that I go to raves (or did she say raids?) with strangers who just don't understand my way of having fun or be able to make me understand their way.&nbsp; She seems to be doing very little to improve herself to keep my interest but still wants me to keep paying for her attention every month.&nbsp; Her name is WoW.

For some reason, after I read that, it brought this to mind.

[LochnarITB]

For some reason, after I read that, it brought this to mind.
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For the most part, I enjoyed that. They really should not have had the domestic violence scenes though. They served no purpose and immediately turned me off. I also took a look at Ding! You're 65! :lol:

[Malakar]

They really should not have had the domestic violence scenes though.&nbsp; They served no purpose and immediately turned me off.

Yeah, they took it too far. I liked the slap in the face with the box bit, but it would've been more comfortable had the girl done it to the guy.

[Occhidiangela]

I really wish they didn't have the ability to inspect in the game. I only see it being used out of mistrust, be it for judging a player setup or verifying need versus greed looting. I certainly don't see players going on skill alone such as a naked mage in Diablo.

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I did not like scanners in Diablo I, nor in Diablo II. This time, Blizz put them in the game so no one would write a hack to do it, I suppose. Bah. I do not care for folks using xray vision to see under my clothes either.

As to Naked play, there was some speculation that naked was made possible by the swiss cheese holes in Diablo's balance, but I have to admit it was mucho fun. :)
It appears that WoW may be slightly better balanced than Diablo, however, the game is young yet. B)

OBTW, I was on bnet today with a Diablo I char. No lag in Tristram except for a game where the host's latency was yellow. We crashed after about 15 minutes.

Next game, I made. Yay me. So, what did some nice 4th level person offer me as soon as he popped into town?

A Demonspike Coat helm, a Lightforge helm, and a GPOW.

I laughed. I had the opportunity to offer him the Staff of Dyslexia (I think it was -9 Magic) I had just found, suggesting that he might want it if he wanted to try a BNM. His comments were along the lines of "why would anyone want to use such a crappy staff? I can show you how to get great stuff." My warrior headed off to Ogden's for a pint of Westmarch bitter . . . his name is Sisyphus_IH(RB).

What did I expect, eh? Some things never change. :whistling:

Occhi