WoW: Wrath of the Lich King

[Callista]

I may not be into WoW right now, but the new trailer is amazing. (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/intro.xml)

I really wish they'd do a movie already. Their work gives me goosebumps.

Any thoughts on the new expansion?

I'm not sure I'll be playing yet...probably...I'm a sucker.

[Figrin D'an]

Based on what Blizzard has shown thus far and what they have talked about implementing, WotLK should make WoW the most casual friendly the game has even been, in terms of access to content. There will always be difficult 25-man raiding instances, but the implementation of 10-man versions for every raid zone, plus making heroic instances more accessible and give better loot will likely lure people back who became bored with TBC.

The revamping of tanking mechanics should make it a lot easier to put together a party or raid group that can be successful and not have to be pigeon-holed into using certain classes in order to defeat certain bosses. If it's pulled off correctly, there should be a lot more feral druid and prot pally main tanks around. Death Knight tanking will be interesting as well.


I plan to continue to play WoW well into WotLK, but I don't know in what capacity yet. I retired from hardcore raiding following the completion of Sunwell, and I'm not really sure I have the interest to get back into it once the expansion hits. I'm more or less waiting to see how the 10-man raid zone feature is going to work, and I may consider putting together a small raid team that focuses on that version of the content.

The new trailer is good... maybe not as good as TBC's trailer, but still entertaining.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Oh man, that trailer gave me goosebumps. At the beginning it has such a Lord of the Rings-y feel to it.

I wish they would make a movie. The story is so cool. It's a shame the game itself doesn't fill me with such excitement.

[Peter McCoy]

I'm with Fig on this one. I really am looking forward to the new expansion. The Death Knight class is what I'm most anxious to check out. It's a step in the right direction towards a necromancer. I'm let down that there'll be no necromancer in Diablo 3 (main game, no word on an expansion appearance as of yet) so a Death Knight in WoW is the next best thing. Apparently they have a sort of undead summon ability, or so a friend of mine who has beta access has said.

[Callista]

I haven't paid that much attention to the changes other then Death Knight, but aren't warlock demonology trees getting a new ability to turn into a demon? Warlock's my class of choice and although I've only ever done Demo maybe twice (I'm a raider, it has no use for raiding imo), I wanna check it out.

[Lady Vader]

Um, they ARE making a movie. It's currently in the pre-production stages. The company making said movie: Legendary Pictures.

They actually had a discussion panel about it at last year's BlizzCon. Wouldn't surprise me if they touch on it again this year.

Here's a fan site about it: http://warcraft.moviechronicles.com/

[Flux]

I haven't been following the updates/hype, and to be honest, I don't much care to. I barely have time to play as it stands, but when I do play, I'm having way too much fun as Elemental Shaman to care overmuch about other classes, much less ones that aren't released yet. Also, I haven't even reached the content from Burning Crusade yet, so....

[Park Kraken]

Smart ones, aren't they?


This is an unofficial news site about the live action movie adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment's (R) Warcraft universe, predominantly seen recently in the PC games "Warcraft III" and the online MMORPG "World of Warcraft". Dedicated to everything new on this upcoming project, we support the cause, providing it doesn't turn into a terrible hollywood betrayal. Due for a 2009 release.

[Figrin D'an]

Bumping this with a new scene of in-game footage.

http://files.filefront.com/WOW+Wrathgate+1024avi/;11881764;/fileinfo.html


(Fair Warning: The video contains what could be considered MAJOR spoilers regarding WoW lore and a key plotline in WotLK.)


To provide a little more detail for those wondering about what the video implies: The events shown kicks off what is a large questline for both Alliance and Horde players. Grand Apothecary Putress (the Forsaken who speaks in the video) and Varimathras, the dreadlord advisor to Sylvanas, have staged a coup to take over the Undercity and leadership of the Forsaken. In the video, Putress is sent to Northrend to unleash the New Plague, which can kill both mortals and undead Scourge. The Lich King is injured in the ambush, but it is not known to what extent. Both Bolvar Fordragon and Saurfang the Younger are killed, as shown in the video. The New Plague is only prevented from spreading when Alexstrasza and the Red Dragon Flight intervene and reduce the entire battlefield to ashes.

The questlines this begins are different for each faction, but eventually reach the same conclusion, involving the players in a final showdown called 'The Battle for the Undercity.' King Varian Wrynn, the newly returned leader of Stormwind, sees the attack by Putress as a betrayal by the entirety of the Horde, and seeks to use Bolvar Fordragon's death as a rallying cry to the Alliance to retake Lorderon and wipe out the Forsaken. Alliance players eventually take part in an invasion of the Undercity and face off against High Apothecary Putress. Sylvanas, betrayed by two closest advisors, seeks aid from the rest of the Horde. Thrall, Vol'jin and Sylvanas lead an army to the gates of the Undercity to reclaim it, restore Sylvanas as leader and deal with the dreadlord Varimathras. Horde players get to take part in this effort and help the Horde heroes battle Varimathras for control of the city.

There is, of course, more to this entire storyarc, but that should give everyone an idea of some of the cool stuff players will get to do in the expansion.

Edit: A couple MMO-Champion links to screenshots of the new character models for King Varian Wrynn and Sylvanas Windrunner.

http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2008/september/8982kingwrynn_2.jpg

http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2008/september/8982sylvanas_2.jpg

[Park Kraken]

I'm going to throw this into the thread, a little something I did because I was bored and curious.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Deadmines Instance Farming Report:

Green Items:

2xBlackened Defias Gloves - 8g47s = 16g94s
Blackened Defias Leggings - 11g91s
Hook Dagger of Arcane Wrath - 4g84s
Soldiers Leggings of the Bear - 3g54s
Burnished Girdle - 1g38s
Woodworking Gloves - 61s
Edged Bast. Sword of the Monkey - 1g7s
Blazing Wand - 72s
Raiders Legguards of the Bear - 1g39s
2xStonemason's Cloak - 68s = 1g36s
Bandit Cinch of the Monkey - 2g75s
Seer's Fine Stein - 93s
Burnished Shield - 1g40s

Total AH Profitiability: 49g47s

Profession Items:

102xWool Cloth - 15s = 15g30s
95xLinen Cloth - 5s = 4g75s
23xCopper Ore - 10s = 2g30s
29xTin Ore - 25s = 7g25s
10xRough Stone - 5s = 50s
29xCoarse Stone - 25s = 7g25s
Heavy Stone - 15s
Moss Agate - 2g30s
4xShadow Gem - 75s = 3g
Briarthorn - 66s
2xPeacebloom - 13s = 26s
2xCopper Tube - 50s = 1g
2xHandful Copper Bolts - 15s = 30s
5xCoarse Blasting Powder - 12s = 60s
Light Hide - 10s

Total AH Profitiability: 45g72s

Common Useable items:

6xLesser Healing Potions - 21s = 1g26s
3xMinor Mana Potions - 12s = 36s

Total Profitiability: 1g62s

Overall AH Profitiability: 96g81s

Other Notes:

Didn't count the vendor value for about 75 Gray Items and 8 BoP
Blue Items from the Bosses that would probably have brought in an additional 3-5g

Money picked up directly from slain enemies probably about equals the cost of the repair bill, so I didn't add it in.

Ran the instance with a 54 Rogue Sub spec. From the time I entered the house where the entrance is located, to the time I came out of the house, 58 minutes had elapsed. Thats killing everything except the dead miners into the instance, running the instance, backtracking through the instance and killing the respawn patrols, and killing everything again outside the instance (again, except for the dead miners).

I killed everything inside and outside of the instance, except for the rats and dead miners outside of the instance. Professions are mining and skinning, so I also mined all of the veins inside and outside of the instance.

I didn't actually vendor or AH anything from the run. Some of it I sent to a new alt of mine and a friend's first toon on the server, the rest I threw into the guild bank. Prices vary from server to server, so for some of the stuff I used Thottbot's AH value, and the other stuff I used common value.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Oh wow, that quest sounds awesome Figrin :eee

[Figrin D'an]

Just a quick update for those not in the know, Patch 3.0 is set for release this Tuesday. It essentially updates everything in preparation for the release of WotLK next month. New talent trees, some minor content updates, some raid nerfs, stat adjustments, etc. The patch has already been available through the background downloader, but it's large... about 1.1 Gb... so you may want to get started on it soon so you don't have to try to get it on Patch Day.

[Park Kraken]

1.1 Gb will probably take about two-three hours with my current computer and internet to download and patch up. Not sure how to respond to the nerfing of raids. I imagine the Undercity raid will be an instance thing without actual horde players being in the city as normal when the alliance does the questline.

EDIT:

Ultimate WoW Fan dedicated gamer challenge - the ultimate armor and weapon set;

Legendary Armor Set:
Helm: 1,000 WSG Marks of Honor - 100,000 honor points
Chest: 1,000 EotS Marks of Honor - 100,000 honor points
Leggings: 1,000 AV Marks of Honor - 100,000 honor points
Feet: 1,000 AB Marks of Honor - 100,000 honor points
Gloves: 250 AB MoH, 250 WSG MoH, 250 AV MoH - 100,000 honor points
Belt: 250 AB MoH, 250 WSG MoH, 250 AV MoH - 100,000 honor points
Back: 250 EotS Marks of Honor - 100,000 honor points

Neck: Exalted Rep in every Faction Major City - 100,000 honor points
Ring1: Exalted Rep in every Faction specific Outlands faction - 100,000 honor points
Ring2: Exalted Rep in every Faction specific Northrend faction - 100,000 honor points

Trinket1: Successfully complete every dungeon in heroic mode possible
Trinket2: Successfully complete every dungeon in normal mode possible

Weapon1: 1,000 WSG, AV, AB MoH each - 1,000,000 honor points
Weapon2: 1,000 EotS MoH - 1,000,000 honor points
Ranged: 1,000,000 honor points

Bonus:
14 Pieces: Ability to summon LotR Black Dragon flying mount
16 Pieces: Ability to fly said mount anywhere you want in Kalimador, Eastern kingdoms, etc.

[Flux]

New talent trees, some minor content updates, some raid nerfs, stat adjustments, etc.

So THIS is why my talents were all wonky when I checked the armory! Too bad I won't have time or money to play for another few months. =\

[Peter McCoy]

I've respecced my 62 Paladin, he's full retribution and I really was awestruck by the damage he was throwing out. Not only can be drop mobs in a matter of seconds, but with all the extra procs popping up I always finish with full mana and nearly full health.

I'm gonna level him up to 70 in time for WotLK and possibly transfer him to my PvE server, especially since the people on the server I played with have all joined the forces (well, one still plays but he'll be going to the RAF soon) so there's nothing keeping me on The Maelstrom.

[Morgan Evanar]

I really like some of the respec'd skills for Rogues. I also lilke the constant energy refil instead of big chunks every two seconds.

[Acacius Blade]

Rogue's are one of the two classes I've just never bothered with. I think the highest I ever got was about Level 15. The play style just never held my attention. And the other class is Shaman - highest ever is Level 18. I always say you can't really comment on a class until you play the 20-30 range but I just can't seem to bring myself to play that far with those two classes.

And I agree about the constant energy/mana/health regen - it looks a lot better than before.

[Park Kraken]

My prot warrior is now much better at soloing than what he used to be before the patch. Now I can dominate entire mobs of enemies at my lvl without needing the assitance of a healer or of any heals (pots, GoN, etc) of my own.

BTW, does anyone else think they nerfed the XP needed to lvl from 61-70 a little too much? It seems ludicrous that you could go from 61 to 64 in three days time while playing only 4-6 hours a day.

[Dasquian Belargic]

My guess is that the nerfing of 61-70 is in preparation for WotLK.

IIRC you start Death Knight at level 60? I figure it's so you don't have to spend so long in Outland, when everyone else is going to be living it up in Northrend.

[Peter McCoy]

TBH I enjoy starting new characters since I love Azeroth so much. I'm looking forward to exploring Outland on my Paladin even though I've already done it with my hunter.

[Atreyu]

IIRC you start Death Knight at level 60? Level 55 actually :) (at least according to WoWWiki). However considering the Death Knight starts off with their own unique class quests from the get-go you may end up near 60 anyway by the time you get out and about.

I let my subscription lapse a few months ago however I'll probably get WotLK and renew in December when RL eases up. I'm still debating whether I'll start up a new Death Knight character first, or level my 70 Hunter to 80 first instead. With the XP required to get from 60-70 reduced I'm seriously considering the Death Knight route. :clint

[Dasquian Belargic]

So, who's pre-ordered and planning on playing from release day?

[Peter McCoy]

Already got my Collectors Edition pre-ordered from GAME. The way this levelling is going I'll be Level 70 on my Paladin by the end of the week.

EDIT: Then again, maybe not. Just tried to log in and it says my pre-paid time is up. Just as well I cancel my subscription as soon as I pay for it - I can't actually afford it until I get paid this Friday. 4 and a third levels in a weekend? It can be done, I'm sure.

[Morgan Evanar]

I just hit 70 sooo.

[AmazonBabe]

So, who's <strike>pre-ordered and</strike> planning on playing from release day?


*slowly raises hand* :o

[Park Kraken]

I'm almost up to 68, but I'm briefly respeccing from Prot to Fury, just to see how awesome using Titangrip is. I was dual-wielding Adamantite Cleavers, and getting 600-1200 dmg hits in half the time the weps rated speed is. Whirlwind and Cleave are also awesome.

Me, and two guildies ran Strat last night to gain rep with the AD, and I was able to mow down an entire mob using only Retaliation, which was pretty awesome. I also found speccing Fury, but then using Defensive, and equipping 1 2H weapon in one hand, and your shield in the other hand, makes a better dmg dealing tank than through using Prot spec.

[Callista]

I'm sadly going to be gone next weekend...so I only get to play 1 evening - lol...I picked the wrong weekend for my trip!!!

[Gavrilo Krass]

makes a better dmg dealing tank

That's not what were here for.

[Flux]

I'm not feeling the hype for the expansion, but then, I haven't played in months. The changes to the talent trees and classes are of little concern to me because by the time I get back to it, everybody will have figured out the good stuff again and I can just go find an optimal spec for whatever class I'm playing on the internets. Really, the only thing I'm wondering is this:

Arthas is clearly going to be a boss in an instance/raid/thing. the expansion is named for him, for the love of everything. So, my questions are, what happens when the players defeat him? Does he drop Frostmourne? If he does, will it only be useable by classes that can use 2H swords? Will that player become the new lich king? Will there only be 1 Frostmourne per server, or will we have billions of people with copies of it?

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://www.wowwiki.com/Frostmourne#BlizzCon_revelation

[Peter McCoy]

I don't like the idea behind it. I mean it'd be awesome to have Frostmourne - in a single-player game. But in an MMO if it can't be what it is then it's just a load of crap in my opinion.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I doubt they'll implement it as a real game item. There will probably be some whole story about Frostmourne being destroyed, or some such, in the final epic battle between the Lich King and the Alliance/Horde.

[Figrin D'an]

The Lich King will be the final boss in Icecrown Citadel, which won't be released for some time yet. The exact details of how that fight will play out and The Lich King's ultimate fate are not known by anyone outside of Blizzard's lore gurus. However, there are a lot of rumors that Tirion Fordring will be involved somehow, as he is now the apparent wielder of The Ashbringer and a major character in the expansion.

As for Frostmourne being a legendary item drop or not, it's complete speculation at this point. There's thousands of rogues and warriors running around with the Warglaives of Azzinoth from Illidan, so there seems to be little issue with making famous lore items usable by players (also see The Skull of Guldan, Atiesh, etc).

[Park Kraken]

Judging from the weapon stats, it looks to be a paladin suited weapon the most. Or a hunter suited weapon. But if it's class restricted like Wargleaves were then it'll probably be for warriors and paladins only.

I think, IMO, that it should be able to raise the dead or at the very least summon the undead dragon flying mount.

[Dasquian Belargic]

From a lore perspective, it just wouldn't make sense for a player to be wielding Frostmourne, I don't think. I mean, wouldn't they have to become the Lich King as a consequence? Even if there was only one instance of it per server, it would be pretty confusing when the next expansion pack rolled around.

[Figrin D'an]

Judging from the weapon stats, it looks to be a paladin suited weapon the most. Or a hunter suited weapon. But if it's class restricted like Wargleaves were then it'll probably be for warriors and paladins only.

I think, IMO, that it should be able to raise the dead or at the very least summon the undead dragon flying mount.


The "stats" for Frostmourne shown at Blizzcon were essentially a joke. It's not to be taken seriously. The same thing was done back in WoW 1.0 with The Ashbringer.





From a lore perspective, it just wouldn't make sense for a player to be wielding Frostmourne, I don't think. I mean, wouldn't they have to become the Lich King as a consequence?


Not necessarily. If you recall from WarCraft III, Frostmourne was simply the means by which Ner'zhul was able to corrupt Arthas. It wasn't until Arthas actually shattered the Frozen Throne and donned the Lich King's armor that he fused with Ner'zhul's spirit and became the new Lich King.

So, while Frostmourne would be an immensely powerful (and dangerous) weapon to wield, it wouldn't automatically mean the birth of a new Lich King. From a lore standpoint, it will all depend upon what happens to the two aspects of the Lich King when he is finally defeated. If Ner'zhul's spirit is destroyed, then the Lich King essentially dies with him, regardless of what happens to Arthas himself. Whether or not the two can be separated is a hotly debated question, and will probably only be answered at the end of the Icecrown Citadel raid instance.

[Park Kraken]

Well I tried to get my rogue up to lvl 60 tonight but I had a hard time questing in Hellfire Peninsula because there were about 45 alliance DKs lvling up in the zone (and that's alliance, I saw quite a lot of horde DKs there too) and I managed to complete a few quests, but when it came down to the killing a number of needed enemies I decided to give up and wait for later.

From what I've heard so far though I'll probably wait a couple of weeks before getting and installing LK. From what I hear questing and lagging problems are really bad there right now as well.

[Peter McCoy]

My internet was off all evening so I'm yet to play it. Got into work today to find out a few of our UBR's are down.

[Zenas Codrey]

I haven't played, but I swear I'm going to kill the next WoW player I talk to who complains about the Death Knight being "overpowered" or "too good" or "cheap" or that there are too many or whatever. It's NEW. Of course there's gonna be tons of them! The ranks will think when the novelty wears off or when people find out that it's not so much fun for them and go play a class that better suits them. The "unbalanced" part is gonna get fixed in future patches, so really, why complain? Just ride it out, or make one yourself and join the fun. It's not that hard.

[Atreyu]

Against my better judgement I ended up going and buying WOTLK yesterday and rolling a Death Knight (I know I'm going to kill myself next week for this when all my assessments are due and I haven't completed them :lol).

So yeah, I rolled a Blood Elf DK. First things first - don't choose a blood elf if you don't want to look like everyone else, I reckon probably 90% of the DKs I've seen are either BE or undead, with nearly all the BE's having white hair |I. The starting missions for DK are a lot of fun, but woah, talk about lag-a-rama - on one of the final missions (a bombing run) the lag was that bad I think I got disconnected about a dozen times just trying to finish it (it didn't help matters that whenever I got back on my mount had been killed and I was dead - usually in mid-air - needing to rez ::sigh:: ). Plus every second person on the server must have rolled a DK so you were often greeted with sights of 40-50 DKs running around all competing to try and get quest items done and the like.

I also inadvertently missed the whole final mission when I rocked up to the area where the battle is I suddenly got a 'Quest Completed' message and so, me being none the wiser, just went and turned it in and went merrily on my way. Only later when reading up on the mission did I realise what I did wrong - I must have just missed the whole battle portion of the quest and just turned up in time to get the quest credit so I missed it :\ oh well maybe next time.

Still, all up it was a lot of fun :) however I must admit that I was kind of glad when I finished it up and got back to the normal playworld. And what Park said above is only too true - Hellfire Peninsula is crawling with DKs at the moment so I ended up staying on Azeroth and doing quests in Winterspring and East Plaguelands where it is a lot quieter.

[Dasquian Belargic]

The more I read about the Death Knight class, the more I wish I was playing right now :uhoh but I know it would totally ruin my chances for completeing National Novel Writing Month if I gave in and renewed my account.

I'll wait until next year, when my former guildies return (since they are playing City of Heroes/Villains until their pre-paid time runs out in December).

[Figrin D'an]

Two days in, at lvl 75 on my druid. Dragonblight is my favorite of the new zones so far. All things considered, technical difficulties have been at a minimum. A few rolling restarts, an occasional lag spike, but nothing really severe. Worst part is the server queues (was up to 2000 at one point for my server tonight), so once you log in during peak hours, don't log out unless you plan to be done for the night.

[Morgan Evanar]

I'm almost 72. Howling Fjord is awesome, but more so when listening to Amon Amarth.

[Figrin D'an]

Hit lvl 80 Sunday evening. Tough to pick a favorite zone. I still like Dragonblight, but Storm Peaks is pretty fun because of the Titan lore, and Icecrown is cool as well. Several of the Northrend zones have a much more epic feel to their design than did the Outland zones and most zones on Kalimdor or Eastern Kingdoms.

5-man instances are pretty well designed from what I have seen so far. I'm looking forward to seeing the Onyx Guardian and Malygos raid instances. (Naxxramus, while a great raid zone, is kind of old hat... it essentially didn't change much design-wise from the original 40-man version).

[Morgan Evanar]

I never played Nax so I'm looking forward to it.

[Atreyu]

Fig, how much gametime have you invested to get to 80? Is it comparable to the time it took from 60-70 (before they nerfed it with the new patch)?

Anyway, apart from my first day playing I've only played once or twice for a few hours. My DK is now at level 61 and resting in Falcon Watch. I have to say that, right now, this is by far the easiest class I've played yet in the game (even easier than my hunter). I've died like only 4 times so far, and 2 of those were ganks. I've been investing most of my talent points in the Blood tree (with a few here or there in Frost) which has done wonders for my DPS. It seems that Blood and Unholy are the 2 favoured tress at the moment (I think I've seen maybe 1 Frost-invested spec so far). :)

One funny thing I've noticed is how many DK's as high as 62/63 are still wearing their original DK armour they got from the starting quests even though they've had plenty of opportunity to upgrade from all the quests available. i guess some just like it's appearance that much. :)

[Peter McCoy]

I think it would be cool if the look of your armour was customizable. From something as simply as changing the colour to maybe even changing the actual form and design of the armor pieces. It'd make people with the same raid sets the option to make themselves a bit more unique.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things to make your character unique in terms of stats. We've now got talents, enchants, socketed gems and now inscriptions - oh yeah, and runes too. (I think they're called runes aren't they?) so we're constantly getting new ways to customize our character in terms of gameplay. But I'm just as interested in how my characters look so it would be nice to have more direct control over that. The barber shop is certainly a good step in that direction, but I'm sure they can take it even further.

[Figrin D'an]

Fig, how much gametime have you invested to get to 80? Is it comparable to the time it took from 60-70 (before they nerfed it with the new patch)?



Pretty much, yes. For someone just playing in the evenings (~3 hrs a night), lets say, they could probably get from 70 to 80 in about 2 weeks, or less depending on how crowded your server is.


As for new raid content:

Onyx Guardian is a joke. Got the heroic mode "undermanned" achievement for it on our first attempt. Next step is to kill him with all of the sub-bosses still up, which I'm hoping will be a challenge.

Naxx is Naxx. If you've never done it, you'll probably like it. For those with experience, it's pretty much free loot. Most of the fights are easier, IMO, than the 40 man versions. They even nerfed the Heigan dance somewhat.

Haven't done Malygos yet. Need to do the attunement quest.

[Atreyu]

Ah cool, thanks Fig. :)


I think it would be cool if the look of your armour was customizable. I agree. I believe the Warhammer MMO has this feature available whereby you can dye armour different colours (not sure if you buy the dye or get an armourer to dye it for you) so you can make all your armour the colour you want.

If nothing else, I think such a scheme would be handy for when you're wearing different sorts of armour and there is no colour continuity at all. :lol

[Peter McCoy]

To a certain extent, I'd be more concerned with how my armour looks than what the stats are. If there's only a few points worth of stamina or intellect difference, I'd be inclined to go for the better looking one.

[Park Kraken]

I dunno how the Northrend armor looks, as I haven't gotten the expansion yet, but at least the armor and armor sets in Outland looks a lot better than much of what is scattered around Azeroth.

Both my mage and warlock, a lvl 40 and 36 respectivley, with the exception of the guild tabard which is black and purple, looks like Aquaman with their green cloth colored clothes.

But thank goodness for being able to hide the apperance of your helm, I was tired of the mage looking like she was a remote controlled robot with that rotating radardish atop her head.

[Dasquian Belargic]

The early gear in Outland looks awful, IMO. At least the cloth does. There are some hideous green/purple trousers that I remember wearing for a couple of levels, and a purple shirt with some kind of fiery pattern on the chest.

[Peter McCoy]

I think the best looking armour set so far has been the paladins Judgement set. Most of the Warrior sets look great too.

[Morgan Evanar]

If you're a rogue the armor looks fantastic.

[Park Kraken]

Here is a line up of my own little characters, to show you what I'm talking about when it comes to the armor and weapons -

Sevaasian - lvl 68 warrior
OldJoe - lvl 61 Rogue
Sanctity - lvl 40 Mage
Lorhanias - lvl 36 Warlock

[Park Kraken]

I've started rolling a PWNadin (real quick terminology here, I don't know how many other people use this, but - PWNadin = dps paladin, tankadin = tank paladin, Healadin = Healing Paladin.) and I have to say I really like some of the changes they've made to the class, one of which is not having to reactivate a seal every 20-25 seconds or when it's released.

But it would've been nice to know that bubble only reduces dmg taken by 50% now instead of 100% when I tried to bubble and heal only to get killed at lvl 9 by a bunch of murlocs.

[Peter McCoy]

There are two different bubbles. Divine Protection is the 50% one, but later you get Divine Shield which is 100% protection from everything.

[Zenas Codrey]

I always heard it as "Retadin". *shrug*

[Morgan Evanar]

I always heard it as "Retadin". *shrug*That's the terminology that everyone I know uses. Ret, heal, tank.

Much like for hunters where tis marks, beast, and the very broken survival. Rogues have more builds than some other classes. CS, PVE Mut, PVP Mut, Sub Hemo, Sub Daggers.

[Zenas Codrey]

That's exactly why I haven't tried Rogue yet, actually. So many builds, so many ways to play, and all the terms and talents and things get all overlapped in my brain and I just stall out. >_< A few hours of looking at this stuff one day yielded me only the following knowledge: Mutilate builds need daggers, Sword/Fist weapon combinations are stupid powerful.

[The Message]

I had a rogue once. Bugger almost gave me carpal tunnel.:lol

[Figrin D'an]

Ret pallies are ridiculously overpowered right now, so enjoy it while it lasts if you play one. Your nerf will be coming by patch 3.1 I'm guessing.



On a different note, the coolest of the new raid content, by far, is Malygos. Lots of fun mechanics in the fight. He's more difficult than the Naxx content and Sartharion, but not really hard. Very doable once you learn how the encounter works.

[Morgan Evanar]

That's exactly why I haven't tried Rogue yet, actually. So many builds, so many ways to play, and all the terms and talents and things get all overlapped in my brain and I just stall out. >_< A few hours of looking at this stuff one day yielded me only the following knowledge: Mutilate builds need daggers, Sword/Fist weapon combinations are stupid powerful.Combat Swords is pretty good and white damage is damn near better than anything else out there, if you've got the gear. If you're on a PVP server though it doesn't give you enough control and a sub built is probably better. I don't play on a PVP server as I lack the time for that sort of nonsense.

[Park Kraken]

Wow, I never knew there were so many different builds for Rogues. Mine is just basically sub spec with daggers, with a few points thrown into As. so far.

The only three-four moves I use for basic combat is Shadowstep+Ambush+Hemo+Eviscerate. If the target I'm fighting has a lot of health, then I'll go into a two step fighting phase where I do Shadow+Garrote+Hemo+Rupture, followed by Hemo+Eviscerate when he gets down to low health.

[Zenas Codrey]

I'd be playing on PVP server (my latest batch of WoW players is on one) and I'm looking at a Daggers/Mutilate build for making Allies cry. I've been reading what I can in my free time (i.e., at work) and so far all I've got is a sample build and a write-up on hotkeys and using the mouse to turn. Fun! Meh, if all else fails I'll just make my umpteenth Shaman and go have fun.

[Park Kraken]

Woo-hoo! My 62 Rogue and a 64 Hunter guildie ran BRD last night all by ourselves! There were a couple of close calls, but we made it through okay without dying, and finished the instance. I mean I know a decently geared lvl 70 can solo BRD, but all we had was basic Outlands gear, nothing too special.

[Karl Valten]

I AM THE LICH KING!



http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a105/Hockeyman506/Holiday/IMG_0466.jpg?t=1229749016

[Morgan Evanar]

^Hahahah that's awesome, you're awesome.

Bling bling!
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Eonar&n=Arduna

[Silus Xilarian]

/jealous @ Murder

I've had terrible luck getting decent toothpicks for mutilate. The sad part though, I can still squeeze more damage out of mutilate than i can with Calamity's Grasp fist/fist or fist/dagger spec =\

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Kilrogg&n=Subterfuge

Once I restock on gems, i'm gonna regem my gear, shift some stuff around and see what I can do with the combat spec again, even though I really like Mutilate's rotation. (10k+ envenom crits can be very nice to watch, and instant poison is putting out absurd amounts of damage)


As far as pvp goes, I've had pretty good success with Mut/prep, I can hold my own with DK's and Ret pallies one on one if I do the dance correctly. in arenas and BGs though, I can be squished nearly instantly if i'm not constantly mushing out cooldowns. =(

[Figrin D'an]

Had a chance to test Ulduar a bit tonight. The PTRs are completely buggy, but at least got to see something new for a couple of hours.

[Morgan Evanar]

They're finally buffing combat rogues in 3.1. We get screwed in the meters. I'm lucky if I break top 10 most nights/fights.

Damn mages/hunters.

[AmazonBabe]

Damn mages/hunters.

:o

Actually, currently, the DKs are out-DPSing me. But, then again, I've only run Naxx maybe 3 times (full clear on the 3rd time) and am still building up my gear.

I swore to myself I'd take it nice and slow this time around with WotLK, as opposed to being rushed, or feeling rushed, like I did with BC. Hell, I'm not even done questing.

I'm finding I'm enjoying the content, and the story arcs, much more while taking it slow. :)

[Morgan Evanar]

/jealous @ MurderSwitched back to the sword OH when the spreadsheet told me I was being dumb.

[Droo]

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=92919.0)? (Possible plot spoilers within)

Sounds very interesting although the validity of this is yet to be confirmed by Blizzard and I imagine if it is true we won't hear about it until Blizzcon. Now if only we had a contact, someone we have stealthily sneaked within the Blizzard infrastructure, who could divulge to us the truth behind these exciting rumours...

Anyone seen Rie? :mischief

[Figrin D'an]

Boubouille from MMO-Champion is usually right about this stuff; his sources have been very accurate over the years.

Blizzcon is next week anyways, and this will likely be one of the major announcements made there.

Parts of it sounds really interesting. I'm just hoping that they don't recycle too much of the old content. The Onyxia raid is already being revamped from vanilla to scale to current levels and game mechanics, and rumor has it that Ragnaros could show up again in the next expansion. On the flip side, finally seeing places like Uldum, Hyjal, Gilneas and Grim Batol will be cool.

[Verse Dawnstrider]

I really hope they use more of the Phasing ideas they have used for Wrath. Words is that they will. It has been one of my more favorite things they have brought in.

[Dasquian Belargic]

...I am going to have to roll Alliance to play a Worgen :|

[Shadow Storm]

I'm excited about the humans having hunters at last, now I'll possibly finally roll as a hunter. I'm also looking forward to Blood Elf warriors and Tauren paladins.

Umm, since the title of the thread is under Lich King, shouldn't the last few posts about Cata be moved to a WoW: Cataclysm thread?

[Redik]

I've actually quit WoW once and for all. The guild I was in disintegrated and I was only playing half the time anyway. While the storyline interests me, it's not enough to cause me to want to resub.

Part of the problem I have is the lack of feeling important. Running dps meters I did tend to run at or near the top of any given raid, but really, there's nowhere I can shine solo.

I also feel raids tend to be very repetitive and boring whether you tank, heal, or dps. The nature of the beast does not change - kill the mobs, get the loot, kill harder mobs, get better loot. Kill the best mobs, get only a tiny trickle of loot because of an artificial limitation imposed to keep you fighting the same fights. Meanwhile, I still have a life and WoW demands far too much time out of it.

No thanks!

And now the plan is to reuse content that I trounced back in the day?

No thanks! x2

I'll track the storyline for this next expansion, but you'd have to offer me a lot in-game to get me to play again.

[Shawn]

Alright. It's that time, I suppose. What server is everyone playing on, anyway?

[Dasquian Belargic]

I was on Anachronos, but that's the EU version... do we even have any Europeans still playing?

[Callista]

Galakrond here! And Malygos sometimes...but mainly Galakrond (alliance both...I have turned ...I'm so ashamed!)

[Zereth Lancer]

I finally hit level 80. Woot woot for me. I play on Detheroc now, formerly of Vashj. My main is Dhaemos. Horde, of course.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j162/Digital_Demon/WoW1.jpg

[Droo]

I was on Anachronos, but that's the EU version... do we even have any Europeans still playing?

Alliance - Bloodfeather
Gnome Mage, 80
Nightelf Druid, 80
Human Paladin, 80

As well as many others of varying levels... :uhoh

Horde - Executus
Undead Priest, 70
Tauren Druid, 70

Thinking of transferring my horde characters across to Bloodfeather though.

[Shadow Storm]

I play on the server Exodar. My top three characters there -

Sevaasian - 76 Dran Warrior, arms spec
Oldjoe - 70 Human Rogue, ?? spec
Azo - 69 NE DK, Undead spec

[Lady Vader]

Elune. (US servers)

[Atreyu]

Thaurissan
Tauren Druid - 61
Blood Elf Rogue - 24 (Horde bank alt)
Orc Hunter - 80
Blood Elf Death Knight - 74
Tauren Warrior - 23
Draenei Paladin - 39
Human Warrior - 1 (Ally bank alt)

Jubei'Thos
Dwarf Hunter - 23
Human Paladin - 7 (Ally bank alt)

As of late I've been alternating between my Tauren Warrior and Draenei Pally on Thaurissan. The pally was previously on Jubei'Thos but now that PvP servers allow both Horde/Ally characters I transferred her over. I might end up doing the same with the Dwarf Hunter too however having levelled my Orc Hunter to 80 already I'm a bit sick of the class at the moment.

My druid is pretty much abandoned - got him to Outland then quit him and never played him again (over 18 months now). I really should look at him again now that Dual Talent Spec is available so I can create a tank/healer out of him but I haven't bothered yet. the only reason I haven't deleted him yet is because he was my first (yay nostallgia) and that I got him to Outland so would seem a waste to simple get rid of.

I've also pretty much abandoned my DK too - played him off and on a couple of months ago but got bored.

[Shawn]

Hmph. So no one, agreed-upon server? I thought everyone had a SWFans guild going or something. :p I went ahead and ordered the Battle Chest off of Amazon. My current toon is on Quel'Dorei, but I really want to roll a Blood Elf when the full game arrives. Who'd be willing to help an elf-brudda out?

[Shadow Storm]

Exodar is slap full. I would recommend picking a low pop server for all of us to meet on. If nothing else, we can all start from 55 with DKs.

[Atreyu]

I vaguely recall the discussion (like, 2 years ago :p). I think one of the big problems was the US vs. European servers thing plus the differences in timezones would make it difficult to all play together. Not to mention that we all have toons on our current servers which we would have to divert time from - for example I'm presently only playing 2-3 times per week which this last week has been solely dedicated to my Draenei pally.

Still though, I may be up for rolling a DK on an agreed upon server if enough people were interested. :)

[Peter McCoy]

Yay - my character transfer is complete. My Level 70 Paladin is now on Bloodfeather so I can quest and do instance runs with Droo. And it only took an hour to transfer as well.

Funny thing was, I was astounded when it prompted me for a name-change. Lo and behold, three slots above, there was my identically-named Warrior. So I managed to pick (and, surprisingly, get) a fitting name for a Dwarf Paladin:

Lightbeard.

Looking forward to getting myself some nice epics on him, as well as crack on with my other characters. I'll be aiming to get the heirloom gear (the bind on account items you can send to your lowbies which level with them and increase XP gain) on all of my alts. I have enough to make a good rotation system for rested bonus as well, plus it'll make sure I always have a variety of things to do rather than hammer away on the same class all the time.

(Or I could always have made a druid. You know Druids: Master of all Trades, Jack of none?

[Morgan Evanar]

I play alliance on Eonar. If you actually want to raid eventually I could get you into my guild that only raids 2 nights a week.

[Atreyu]

My pally just dinged 48 and I need to find new areas to quest in. I went to Blasted Lands to turn in a quest (which in turn lead to Zul'Farrak dungeon in Tanaris but unless I get a group I probably won't bother) and was surprised to find no new quests there waiting for me in Nethergarde Keep. :\

I'm debating where to go next. I've been trying to stick to zones which have an Alliance town/hub so I can try out different quests to those I've already done on the Horde side - as such I've been avoiding areas like Tanaris which have a neutral hub for both sides. There's still Azshara but it might end up meaning that I have to do Searing Gorge and Un'Goro Crater in the end (which are both neutral).

I have to say that I found the Hinterlands disappointing - only a handful of ally quests and ::POOF:: done. I would have expected there to be a few more there.

[Peter McCoy]

Ferelas, Blasted Lands, Searing Gorge, Azshara, Felwood, Un'Goro Crater are basically what you're after. Loads of quests particularly in Felwood and Un'Goro.

That leads you into Burning Steppes, Western Plaguelands then Eastern Plaguelands, Winterspring and Silithus before you hit Outland.

[Atreyu]

Yeah, I know, but the problem is as I already mentioned: most of the areas contain 'neutral' hubs which I've already played twice over with my Horde alts - it get's a bit boring redoing them again.

I've already completed Feralas although there may be another couple of quests there that haven't unlocked yet (I'm pretty sure I saw another greyed out '!' there somewhere).

I was hoping that by doing Feralas and Hinterlands plus a couple of token quests here and there I'd ding 50 - didn't quite make it unfortunately. Oh well I'll rest up and have a crack at Azshara (which does have an ally hub) and see how I go. :)

[Peter McCoy]

If there's any quests for you to do in Dustwallow Marsh, that's got an alliance hub. Granted, you may be a bit beyond the quest levels, but you'll breeze through them if you haven't already done them.

Other than that, there's nothing beyond Level 40 I'd consider alliance/horde only areas. At least not with a hub to speak of for the alliance side.

Hinterlands was about the closest but you don't spend much time there. It's an under-developed area in my opinion - and just plain empty compared to Stranglethorn Vale and Un'Goro.

I'd check out Azshara - if only because that'll be a lowbie area once Cataclysm arrives. Once you've done that you should be ready for the standard 50+ areas (Plaguelands, Burning Steppes, Winterspring, Silithus etc). Depending on your level once you've done Azshara, I'd consider a bit of grinding if you think you might struggle in the 50+ areas..

[Atreyu]

I did all the quests (barring dungeons) that were available at Theramore in Dustwallow Marsh as well. :p I skipped Mudsprocket though, having already done the quests there with my Orc hunter back in the day.

Azshara will be my next stop - doubt I'll have to grind to level up, my pally owns all. :D I do to head to Plaguelands when I get into the 50s but will probably skip Winterspring seeing as how I've played that area 3 times over now (druid, hunter and DK).

[Shadow Storm]

I've taken a kind of peculiar route with my mage. While I was still Frost specced, I did Searing Gorge and about half of Burning Steppes, but when I switched to Fire Spec and found most of the mobs there immune to fire spells, I headed over to Felwood instead, and from there work into Winterspring. Somewhere in there I did a couple of Western Plaguelands quests as well.

She's at 57 now, one more lvl and I'm off to Outlands, although I'm playing mostly as my DK right now, which I just hit 72 today with.

[Figrin D'an]

Thread necromancy at it's finest, but anyways...

With the final sub-patch to Patch 3.3, Icecrown Citadel is completely open, and already some guilds have defeated the Lich King on normal mode. There is an ending cinematic that shows exactly what happens. If you don't want to know, don't watch.


<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yA29HFLOADI&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yA29HFLOADI&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>



Spoilers for those who care about WoW lore:


Yes, Arthas dies. It's implied that he regains a bit of his humanity before he dies, but there's clearly no redemption for him.

Bolvar now sits upon the Frozen Throne as the new Lich King, frozen there in an eternal struggle to maintain control of the Scourge.

It's enough to close the story on Arthas, yet still leave the door slightly open for a future conflict involving the Scourge.



Another big bad guy defeated. Now the long wait until the showdown with Deathwing at the end of Cataclysm.

[Peter McCoy]

Like Tal Rasha in Diablo's lore. That's cool.

[Atreyu]

Thread necromancy at it's finest, but anyways... I think the reason this thread had fallen back so far was because we started using the newer Cataclysm thread (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19945) for all our general WoW posts (Cataclysm related or not). :p

[Shadow Storm]

Ran through Pit of Saron and the one before it finally last night. Picked up the Tyrannical Beheader from the final boss, I'm now running my off-spec as arms with axe specialization, and it increased my dps by 300 over running mace specialization with Titansteel destroyer.

[Atreyu]

<object height="385" width="640">


<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/w-jv1orcCVQ&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></object>

(and if anyone is asking - yes, I was there. This was by the far the most fun I've EVER had in WOW). :cool:

Linky poo (http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/2010/04/whu-level-10-hunter-raid-video/) for details of the event.

There are plans to do more stuff like this. If anyone is interested I suggest checking out this post on Warcraft Hunters Union (http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/2010/04/whu-guild/) for more info. :)