Anyone playing WoW?

[nfries88]

Hmm. You didn't check the "windowed mode" box, did you. It doesn't shrink the screen, and makes it VERY easy to alt-tab to your instant messaging programs whenever you want... found this out my first week of playing the game when it came out way back when. :)

Though yes, the client's performance can be a hog when it's not in windowed mode, and it's still somewhat of a hog even in that mode. But most computers nowadays shouldn't have a problem with it.

Mine is nearly four years old, it's suitable for most free MMOs though.
I wasn't aware that there was a windowed mode, I didn't see it in the options; was it available ~2 years ago?

 

[SaiyajinNoOuji]

Mine is nearly four years old, it's suitable for most free MMOs though.
I wasn't aware that there was a windowed mode, I didn't see it in the options; was it available ~2 years ago?

Its been there for a while. At least 2 years ago.

 

[nfries88]

Its been there for a while. At least 2 years ago.

I must simply have missed it.
Unfortunately I don't have time to give it another try on a free trial right now.

 

[Xem]

For anyone still playing Horde on WoW, this was pretty fun:

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171225

The attack on the Horde faction kicks off with a sizable army of Abominations and giant Frost Wyrms laying waste to Orgrimmar, while Orc warchief Thrall battles Garrosh Hellscream in the city's Ring of Valor -- and loses. The leader of the Forsaken Undead, Lady Sylvanas, can also be found defending the Orc stronghold from the Scourge assault.

Too bad it seems the Alliance didn't get anything nearly as cool.

 

[Walter]

It's hard to elicit emotion from anyone with a dramatic, world-changing event that repeats every 20 minutes.

 

[SaiyajinNoOuji]

It's hard to elicit emotion from anyone with a dramatic, world-changing event that repeats every 20 minutes.

Dont be like that.

Anyways, thats cool that they are leading up to the Expansion in this way. I just cant wait for the 17th because I am pretty sure that is when patch 1.05 comes out for WAR! woop woop woop! V(^^)V

 

[Xem]

Well I'd be streaming in first impressions except for the fact that me and my girlfriend waited 3 hours in line to get a second copy that was corrupted. So now we're spending the night troubleshooting. Sadly, though the line was 100+ people long, no one dressed up or did anything outrageous.

It's hard to elicit emotion from anyone with a dramatic, world-changing event that repeats every 20 minutes.

That's just the way MMO's are. You can kill the most geared and skilled player in the world and he's going to resurrect and come back a few minutes later at most. I got over it pretty quick.

 

[Okin]

Crap! Its already Thursday, and I still don't have time for WoW. Senior year and all that jazz.

 

[Walter]

That's just the way MMO's are. You can kill the most geared and skilled player in the world and he's going to resurrect and come back a few minutes later at most. I got over it pretty quick.

The lack of permanence in these MMO worlds is a gaping hole just waiting for a clever game designer to fill, in my opinion. It would give these huge, empty worlds a soul.

 

[Aazealh]

The lack of permanence in these MMO worlds is a gaping hole just waiting for a clever game designer to fill, in my opinion. It would give these huge, empty worlds a soul.

It'd be difficult honestly. Not a lot of people would put up with permanent deaths, and if slain enemies didn't respawn the content would get old super fast, even faster than it does already (and it does get old fast). There's a reason MMOs have been becoming easier and easier (and proportionally popular) over the years.

 

[Walter]

I didn't mean player deaths, but areas of the world that don't have such dominant NPCs, or even instances that have preset, constantly looping events. Think of a world where who ran the local town (and how) changed based on who was king of the mountain at the time. Or where raids were permanent, until the next raiding party took over. That's what Im talking about.

 

[Aazealh]

I didn't mean player deaths, but areas of the world that don't have such dominant NPCs, or even instances that have preset, constantly looping events. Think of a world where who ran the local town (and how) changed based on who was king of the mountain at the time. Or where raids were permanent, until the next raiding party took over. That's what Im talking about.

Hahaha well, in Ultima Online or EverQuest there were no instances. And me and my friend were the kings of Chardok!

 

[Walter]

Some neckbeard has already hit level 80.

http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/11/13/nyhm-of-drekthar-eu-first-to-level-80/

 

[Aazealh]

Some neckbeard has already hit level 80.

http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/11/13/nyhm-of-drekthar-eu-first-to-level-80/

Hahaha and he's French! I can only respect such an accomplishment.

 

[Xem]

Hahaha and he's French! I can only respect such an accomplishment.

Yeah, quite an accomplishment indeed.

I wonder what the trick was? I'd guess obviously having multiple people playing the account, because worldwide he wouldn't have done it if he had left his chair to use the restroom, eat, look up information, or god forbid sleep.

I was online for the first level 80 on my server, they made it a server-wide announcement when it happened and it was pretty entertaining to watch. The second 80 happened ~5-10 seconds afterward too. Both Horde side. >)

 

[Aazealh]

Yeah, quite an accomplishment indeed.

I wonder what the trick was? I'd guess obviously having multiple people playing the account, because worldwide he wouldn't have done it if he had left his chair to use the restroom, eat, look up information, or god forbid sleep.

Yeah, that's typically how it's done in MMORPGs.

 

[Okin]

Actually its more about getting a couple of parties together and farming normal creeps in high level areas. The first person to get to 70 was a mage gnome who had like 20 people with him while he got all the xp. They fought lvl 65 creeps as soon as they got to Outland to level quickly. It only took him like 7 hours.

 

[Xem]

The new battleground is actually pretty fun. The new factor being that not one side will necessarily win or lose is new to me an it's going to take some to get used to it. Most games will probably come out in a draw. The other is siege vehicles, which the quests in the game get you familiar with are pretty fucking fun imo.

Still, I'm only level 75 atm, so we'll see where it goes. From what I've seen Death Knights are seriously over-powered and I've yet to experience the new PvP zone, which I've probably over-hyped in my head.

Regarding PvE, I've played 3 different instances and they've all been pretty cool, nothing spectacular. However, questing has been a blast! Arthas occasionally interacts with you personally, and I'm talking about solo quests, not needing a group to see. Also, I've witnessed a new in-game cinematic from completing a certain order of quests, the first time in my almost four years of WoW playing for that to happen, and it didn't disappoint.

Here's the new cinematic, which I don't advise you watch unless you play alliance and can't see it or don't play WoW and can't enjoy it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO0RAcxZQ4M&feature=related

Blizzard is going in the right direction with this expansion, no doubt!

 

[SaiyajinNoOuji]

If they could add something conquerable in the game like sieges and castle and shit. It may win me back. Glad your having funthough! thats what its all about in the first place. if you are having fun and it doesn't seem like a chore, then more power to you.

EDIT: After seeing the cinimatic. That is pretty bad ass!

 

[Aazealh]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT8maUTzE48

Have you guys seen that one yet?

 

[SaiyajinNoOuji]

Well shit. Blizzcon is going on and tons of stuff has been confirmed. I have been clean for the past 1.5 years from that game but welp... it may be a good time (read that as horrible time) to come back.

What does everyone think about the new changes and what not?

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/

 

[nomad]

Well shit. Blizzcon is going on and tons of stuff has been confirmed. I have been clean for the past 1.5 years from that game but welp... it may be a good time (read that as horrible time) to come back.

What does everyone think about the new changes and what not?

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/

New races are always fresh. I myself have been clean about the same time as you Saiya, however... some of my friends haven't been blessed with the will to brake from the addiction. Anywho, the one thing everyone keeps telling me is a massive overdose of new content. And for some reason, tier hunting and such have become quite the easy thing to achieve. (not good for us raiders at least). Overall, PvP has and always be one of the best things in that game.

 

[SaiyajinNoOuji]

HOOOOOLY SHIIIIIIIT!

* Attack Power on gear is gone. Instead, some classes will get 2 AP from each point of Agi (Rogues, Hunters, Shamans, Druids), and other classes (presumably Warriors, Paladins, and Death Knights) will get 2 AP per point of Strength. Side effect: no more plate wearers stealing your gear
* Spell Power is gone. It comes from Int now.
* MP5 is gone. Spirit is the mana regen stat, and all classes that need it will get some form of Meditation. (Hunters, never fear - you don't use mana any more. More on this in a separate post.)
* Armor Penetration is gone. That one was just confusing.
* Defense is gone. Tanks are now defense-capped from talents, like Druid tanks.
* Haste now increases your rate of resource regeneration (mana, energy, rage, runes, focus).
* Block Value is gone, but blocks now mitigate a percentage of damage.
* Stamina is going to be more equal across different armor types - no more "plate HP envy."

 

[Xem]

HOOOOOLY SHIIIIIIIT!

* Attack Power on gear is gone. Instead, some classes will get 2 AP from each point of Agi (Rogues, Hunters, Shamans, Druids), and other classes (presumably Warriors, Paladins, and Death Knights) will get 2 AP per point of Strength. Side effect: no more plate wearers stealing your gear
* Spell Power is gone. It comes from Int now.
* MP5 is gone. Spirit is the mana regen stat, and all classes that need it will get some form of Meditation. (Hunters, never fear - you don't use mana any more. More on this in a separate post.)
* Armor Penetration is gone. That one was just confusing.
* Defense is gone. Tanks are now defense-capped from talents, like Druid tanks.
* Haste now increases your rate of resource regeneration (mana, energy, rage, runes, focus).
* Block Value is gone, but blocks now mitigate a percentage of damage.
* Stamina is going to be more equal across different armor types - no more "plate HP envy."

A toss back to the old days when WoW was truely the king so to speak, imo. =)

Any sources? After reading about "Cataclysm", if this and the new"open" (hasn't been done correctly in WoW so far) war between the Alliance and Horde is correct, I may not be quitting this game for some time to come.

edit: No comment on resilience? They should get rid of that altogether in my opinion also.

edit 2: wait, this is bullshit isn't it? Damn you SaiyajinNoOuji !!

 

[SaiyajinNoOuji]

A toss back to the old days when WoW was truely the king so to speak, imo. =)

Any sources? After reading about "Cataclysm", if this and the new"open" (hasn't been done correctly in WoW so far) war between the Alliance and Horde is correct, I may not be quitting this game for some time to come.

Any sources? This is straight from Blizzcon my friend! During the Q&A! Its going to be a brand new fucking game. Shit!

A recap of what we know from the first day.




General

* Level cap will be 85 because developers wanted to focus on the right things: redoing Azeroth and providing more end-game content.
* A new guild advancement system will let you earn guild perks and level a guild through 20 levels with points to spend in a talent tree. You will access abilities such as cheaper repairs, less durability loss on wipes, or mass resurection.
* Phasing can now add and remove terrain based on your progress. Coasts will be progressively more flooded depending on how far you are in a storyline for example.


Path of the Titans

* Talent trees won't be extended, you will just get 5 more talent points.
* The Path of the Titans will let players follow a path (not restricted to classes), this is a new talent system with new skills and passive abilities.
* A mastery system is being added as well, a lot of talents will be reworked to be more fun. The point is to get rid of a lot of the talent skills and not make you spend all your points in a talent tree just because it gives you more damage or higher crit chance.


Archeology

* Archeology is a new secondary profession, not many details about this one but we'll probably hear more about it in future panels.


Deathwing

* Deathwing, the leader of the Black Dragonflight will be the main vilain of the expansion.
* Deathwing heard the whispers of the Old Gods after the arrival of the Burning Legion, he eventually grew very powerful and also became very very crazy.
* His plan was to catch the Alliance and Horde unaware with something so massive that it would bring up the Elemental Planes.
* The Elemental Planes were created by titans to contain the elementals, they weren't happy with this decision and some of them like Ragnaros got really angry.


New races - Worgens

* Other races were discussed for the alliance, but the developers really felt that the alliance needed a monstrous race and horde needed something fun and tiny.
* Genn Greymane closed the Greymane Wall to block the Scourge's plague. Gilneas got nervous as the Scourge progressed to the south.
* Arugal was a patriot, he called the Worgens to battle for Gilneas but eventually was surprised by how dangerous what he called down was.
* Worgens are from somewhere else ... or even someWHEN else. They have a wolverine temperament and spent a lot of time trying to contain the beast within.
* Racial - Visciousness - +1% damage.
* Racial - Dark Flight - +70% run speed for 10 seconds.
* Racial - Abberation - Duration of Curses and Diseases reduced by 15%
* Racial - Flayer - Skinning skill increased by 15.


New Races - Goblins

* Goblins are a technological race from Kezan, their society is broken up into trade cartels run by trade princes. They are new factions and not the ones you can already see in game.
* The Cataclysm hit Kezan really hard and it's possibly destroyed. The goblins are now refugees on the Lost Isles.
* As a goblin you start as a neutral cartel and eventually join the horde as you progress through the questlines.
* Racial - Best Deals Anywhere - Always receive the best discount regardless of faction.
* Racial - Pack Hobgoblin - Calls your personal servant allowing you bank access for 1 minute. 30 secs cooldown.
* Racial - Better Living Through Chemistry - Alchemy skill increased by 15.
* Racial - Rocket Barrage - Launches your belt rockets an an enemy, dealing fire damage. 2 min cooldown.
* Racial - Rocket Jump - Activates your rocket belt to jump forward. 2 min cooldown.
* Racial - Time is Money - 1% increased attack and casting speed.


Old World

* We all left a little part of ourselves in Northrend and the old world will be much darker than it was to make heroism and brotherhood more meaningful like Warcraft should be.
* Every zones will be revamped with new quests, items, and art. The old world will be a brand new experience and you won't have to deal with the annoying agility/spirit quest rewards anymore.
* Azeroth is now flyable. Pretty much all the zones will be changed to some extent, some of them like Elwynn Forest won't change too much but others like The Barrens will be sundered in two by Deathwing.
* The Wailing Caverns are now a lush and verdant Area.
* Desolace now has a lot more waters and a lot of plants can be seen in the screenshots.
* The Horde finally conquered Southshore.
* Auberdine was destroyed and the night elves have set up a new camp north of it. Garrosh wants to expand the horde and has built a fortified camp at the south of the zone.
* Stonetalon has been cleaned by the Goblins, Azshara will be the new Goblin zone, and are using quarries in the mountains of Azshara to build their town.
* Apparently Orgrimmar will be rebuilt and reinforced with steel, it now looks a lot like Garrosh strongholds...
* Undercity has been redesigned to be flyable, it now looks much more impressive from the outside.


New Zones

* 7 new zones will be added : Twilight Highlands, Mount Hyjal, Deepholm, Uldum, Gilneas, The Lost Isles, Sunken City of Vash'jir.


Starting Areas

* The Worgens and Goblins starting zone level goes from 1 to 15.


Vasj'ir

* Sunken City of Vashj'ir will be an underwater zone and was the home city of Lady Vashj before the original sundering, this is a gateway to the Abyssal Maw. Going through the Abyssal Maw will take you to the Elemental Plane of Water, even if the zone will be underwater you will be walking on the sea floor here, new underwater mounts will be available and should have the same speed as normal flying mounts.


Deepholm

* Deepholm will be the new hub of the expansion, you will have portals here to let you teleport to Hyjal, Uldum, etc ... The Twilight's Hammer now serves Deathwing and have brought him back to full health in the Temple of Earth at the center of the map.
* Deepholm isn't really connected to Azeroth, the connection is where Deathwing emerged from the ground.


Uldum

* Uldum will have at least two dungeons and is heavily inspired from Egypt. The sea at the west of Tanaris was just an illusion created by the Titan and Uldum is actually a brand new zone. It is rumored to hold a super weapon. Uldum is also the home of the Tolvir, a race of stone-like cats created by the titans.


Plane of Fire

* Ragnaros used the cataclysm to come back from the Plane of Fire where we sent him and is now sieging the World Tree in Mount Hyjal to burn it down. Malfurion is back from the Emerald Dream. The whole zone (Hyjal) will make extensive use of phasing.


Twilight Highlands

* The Twilight Highlands will feature Grim Batol, Deathwing literally broke open Grim Batol as he emerged from the ground. This is the new Twilight's Hammer base in Azeroth and both Horde and Alliance will have a new port town with boats here. The Red Dragonflight is still here but has been pushed back to the west of the zone near the Wetlands.


Dungeons & Raids

* The Firelands will be a new raid dungeon, it will let you go to the Elemental Plane of fire and visit Sulfuron's Keep, Ragnaros will be here and he's really pissed.
* Uldum will feature two new dungeons, the Lost City of Tol'vir and the Halls of Origination (a titan city)
* Grim Batol will have a level-up dungeon and a raid instance.
* Skywall (Air Elemental Plane) will have a level-up dungeon and a raid instance.
* The Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep will be back in a brand new level 85 heroic version.
* Blackrock Caverns will be a new level-up dungeon located in Blackrock Spire. This is an entirely new dungeon, new art, new creatures, new everything.


Player vs. Player

* Battle of Gilneas will be a new battleground where the objective is to control the city by controlling as many districts as possible.
* Tol'barad will be a new PvP zone and will also be the most important daily quest hub. Just like Wintergrasp a battle will happen every few hours and the winning side will get access to the Tol'barad Prison and extra daily quests, the really profitable ones.
* Rated battlegrounds will be added to the game and should get you the same rewards as Arenas.
* New arena maps will be added.