World of Warcraft XVI: Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Orcy Worcey...Stuff

[Icewraith]

Seriously as a low level warrior, go prot. None of its primary attacks require rage to use (Prot Rage is exclusively for Shield Block/Shield Barrier/Heroic Strike), and most of them come online early (by level 30-35 you should have everything you care about). The abilities will generally hit as hard or harder than most DPS warrior abilities too. Especially since DPS warriors are missing out on colossus smash until level 85, which is a huge chunk of your DPS. You're also missing out on mastery which gives prots a boost to defense while giving dps characters a boost to damage. Between the two Prot is equal to or ahead of both DPS specs at every step of the way.

Seriously, prot will give you more damage, less downtime, and more survivability. There is no reason to be anything else while leveling.


Around 85, once you get colossus smash, you can go Arms for a boost. Fury is still going to be generally crap until you're level 90 with 20-25% crit at minimum. Fury's prime ability proc is tied heavily into critical strike, and with low crit rates you're going to be sitting there doing nothing but waiting for BT to come off cooldown frequently.

This. Also make sure you charge everywhere, whenever possible.

[The_Jackal]

At level 25, you should have the Bull's Rush Glyph and the Juggernaut Talent. That will give you 45 rage every 12 seconds. However, as others have said, Fury is somewhat gear-dependent, needing a lot of crit and hit to truly excel, kind of hard to maintain while you're leveling.

[Seerow]

At level 25, you should have the Bull's Rush Glyph and the Juggernaut Talent. That will give you 45 rage every 12 seconds. However, as others have said, Fury is somewhat gear-dependent, needing a lot of crit and hit to truly excel, kind of hard to maintain while you're leveling.

Hit isn't all that important to Fury anymore. Back in Cata it was required to white-hit cap, which was ridiculous, but they cut back its value in MoP, so it's all about the crit. Hit will improve rage generation, but not to a very meaningful degree. Crit provides similar or better amounts of rage, and more importantly gives you the all important Raging Blow procs.

The reason Fury feels rage starved at low level is because literally all you have at low level is Bloodthirst. You get Wildstrike at level 18, but without Bloodsurge Wildstrike is about as weak as HS. You get Bloodsurge at level friggin 50. You don't even get raging blow until level 30, and by level 30 you're sitting around 10-15% crit rate even with full heirlooms, and that just doesn't cut it. So your fury rotation until level 50 is something like Bloodthirstx4-5, Raging Blow, spend rage on Wildstrike/HS as applicable.

Note that 4-5 bloodthirsts takes around 20 seconds. You have nearly 2/3rds of your GCDs open until you get bloodsurge. And even Bloodsurge will only fill in the gap between two bloodthirsts, still leaving you with about half your GCDs open and making the rogue feel like an active and engaging class.

[Traab]

For the record, I have never regretted being arms spec. Charge, victory rush mortal strike and loot at low levels. At least, thats what it feels like. If you can boost your crit it gets almost sad how fast stuff dies. And being able to self heal at the start of every fight means never having to stop killing. I havent tried the prot spec much, but it sounds pretty good. Also, I should admit my highest warrior is only in wotlk, so ymmv.

[Karoht]

Ah, I didn't know about the item squish <@.@> just looked it up. It makes me a bit nervous, but it does seem they're dead set on it not affecting our ability to solo old content, so that's good.

They had some stat-squished 90 content at Blizzcon. I tried out a generic feral druid, the numbers were basically the same as late BC/early Wrath, but with end of Wrath hit points. And yeah, I was burning things down pretty much as fast as I am now.
The stat squish is nothing to be afraid of, though I am going to miss my 2.5million green crits with my mushroom.

[Sylthia]

They had some stat-squished 90 content at Blizzcon. I tried out a generic feral druid, the numbers were basically the same as late BC/early Wrath, but with end of Wrath hit points. And yeah, I was burning things down pretty much as fast as I am now.
The stat squish is nothing to be afraid of, though I am going to miss my 2.5million green crits with my mushroom.

The stat squish reminds me of an English teacher I had in high school. People would always ask how many points a test, quiz, or assignment was worth and he would say it didn't matter because everything was relative, and that he would tack on a million to everything. (i.e. The quiz is worth 10 million points, the test is worth 100 million points, etc.)

[The_Jackal]

Hit isn't all that important to Fury anymore. Back in Cata it was required to white-hit cap, which was ridiculous, but they cut back its value in MoP, so it's all about the crit. Hit will improve rage generation, but not to a very meaningful degree. Crit provides similar or better amounts of rage, and more importantly gives you the all important Raging Blow procs.

Fair enough, it has been a while since I've leveled a warrior, and I never leveled as fury, so it's not out of the question that my data is stale. Sounds like Prot is the it move, thanks to devastate spam. Also, Blood and Thunder is boss.

[Sgtpepper]

I know I've asked this before but: Rogue or hunter? I'll be the third man in my group(Friends and brothers). The other two are going to be a healing Druid and a Prot. Tank. I am the dps. I have heavily looked into to both and I love them both to slightly more than death. Most people say, "Just level one of each." The only problem is I play one character and stick to it(sure I have some alts, but never anything serious). And since you gentlemen and ladies are the all mighty knowing beings of amazingness, I have to ask you, Rogue or Hunter?

[Icewraith]

I know I've asked this before but: Rogue or hunter? I'll be the third man in my group(Friends and brothers). The other two are going to be a healing Druid and a Prot. Tank. I am the dps. I have heavily looked into to both and I love them both to slightly more than death. Most people say, "Just level one of each." The only problem is I play one character and stick to it(sure I have some alts, but never anything serious). And since you gentlemen and ladies are the all mighty knowing beings of amazingness, I have to ask you, Rogue or Hunter?

Still hunter.

Ranged physical dps, your own gear slot to share with enhancement shamans and now class exclusive weapon, useful pet and pet collection sub-game, nifty toolbox of traps, good mobility.

[Karoht]

I know I've asked this before but: Rogue or hunter? I'll be the third man in my group(Friends and brothers). The other two are going to be a healing Druid and a Prot. Tank. I am the dps. I have heavily looked into to both and I love them both to slightly more than death. Most people say, "Just level one of each." The only problem is I play one character and stick to it(sure I have some alts, but never anything serious). And since you gentlemen and ladies are the all mighty knowing beings of amazingness, I have to ask you, Rogue or Hunter?

Hunter.
Traps.
Pets.
Mobile ranged DPS.
It is a very fun class to level. Until you get tired of Arcane Shot spamming that is.
Beastmaster is probably the most interesting spec. You can get a wide variety of buffs from your pets (even Bloodlust), and the greater degree of pet management does make playing the class more interesting than Marks or Survival.

[Krazzman]

+1 to Hunter.
Seriously said the rogue has 2 other classes that need his gear (Druid and Monk) and one of them even needs the same weapons. As well as my old raidlead was cursing sometimes because everything his rogue could do: monks could do better... or easier. But I am not sure if he spoke of PvP or PvE at this time.

Also Hunter is far more fun gameplaywise for me.

[Kislath]

I've never been very good with Warriors. I tried a few Arms and Fury Warriors and ultimately had to delete them out of shame and frustration. I only have one left now, and he's Protection, and while I'm still no good with him, he's at least a huge improvement over his predecessors.

My luck with rogues had been even worse. I've never gotten one past 9th level. I just can't get into them for some reason. I think its because they don't get to do anything really worthwhile until too high a level for me to wait.

Oh, how I long for the day they come out with a new "Dilletante" class, that is, custom class creation, letting us pick skills and spells from a huge menu of pretty much everything in the game, provided we don't pick things that are somehow incompatible.

Can you say infinite replayability?
PvP would be a lot more fun, too, since you would never really know just what your opponent had in his bag of tricks.

[Traab]

I've never been very good with Warriors. I tried a few Arms and Fury Warriors and ultimately had to delete them out of shame and frustration. I only have one left now, and he's Protection, and while I'm still no good with him, he's at least a huge improvement over his predecessors.

My luck with rogues had been even worse. I've never gotten one past 9th level. I just can't get into them for some reason. I think its because they don't get to do anything really worthwhile until too high a level for me to wait.

Oh, how I long for the day they come out with a new "Dilletante" class, that is, custom class creation, letting us pick skills and spells from a huge menu of pretty much everything in the game, provided we don't pick things that are somehow incompatible.

Can you say infinite replayability?
PvP would be a lot more fun, too, since you would never really know just what your opponent had in his bag of tricks.

Nah, parsers would figure out the optimal combination/s and you would run into 90% perfect setups and the rest are mainly noobs who would have lost anyway.

[Karoht]

What Traab said. They discussed this a few Blizzcon's back. A class that you build from the ground up would basically be a colossal waste of design time, and a balancing nightmare.

[The_Jackal]

I know I've asked this before but: Rogue or hunter? I'll be the third man in my group(Friends and brothers). The other two are going to be a healing Druid and a Prot. Tank. I am the dps. I have heavily looked into to both and I love them both to slightly more than death. Most people say, "Just level one of each." The only problem is I play one character and stick to it(sure I have some alts, but never anything serious). And since you gentlemen and ladies are the all mighty knowing beings of amazingness, I have to ask you, Rogue or Hunter?

I chose Hunter (I have a rogue alt too, as well as a mage. My warrior is my main). The hunter is awesome fun both grouped and solo. There's a reason it's the single most popular class in the entire game (barely edging out the Paladin).

I've never been very good with Warriors. I tried a few Arms and Fury Warriors and ultimately had to delete them out of shame and frustration. I only have one left now, and he's Protection, and while I'm still no good with him, he's at least a huge improvement over his predecessors.

My luck with rogues had been even worse. I've never gotten one past 9th level. I just can't get into them for some reason. I think its because they don't get to do anything really worthwhile until too high a level for me to wait.

Oh, how I long for the day they come out with a new "Dilletante" class, that is, custom class creation, letting us pick skills and spells from a huge menu of pretty much everything in the game, provided we don't pick things that are somehow incompatible.

Can you say infinite replayability?
PvP would be a lot more fun, too, since you would never really know just what your opponent had in his bag of tricks.

Likely impossible to balance, as someone builds a ranged rogue wearing plate with ice block. I'm sorry you're not getting the warrior/rogue mojo, it's definitely a slog in both cases. My recommendation is to take your main and grind Justice bux until you can fit them with a full suit of fully enchanted heirloom gear.

[Sylthia]

Not sure if it's final, but it looks like the 90 level boost is $60. Wow, that's a lot. I can't see many people shelling out that much. It's more than the expansion costs.

[The_Jackal]

Not sure if it's final, but it looks like the 90 level boost is $60. Wow, that's a lot. I can't see many people shelling out that much. It's more than the expansion costs.

I think they're trying to take the wind out of third-party operations who are selling this as a service, and I approve entirely. I don't think much of someone who would rather pay someone else to play their game for them, but if they're going to do it, I'd rather that Blizzard get that revenue than some shady outfit who may or may not be hacking your account in 6 months.

[Sgtpepper]

Alright, hunter it will be then. Another question: Does playing a hunter still come with all of the huntard stereotypes?

[Sylthia]

I think they're trying to take the wind out of third-party operations who are selling this as a service, and I approve entirely. I don't think much of someone who would rather pay someone else to play their game for them, but if they're going to do it, I'd rather that Blizzard get that revenue than some shady outfit who may or may not be hacking your account in 6 months.

I don't really mind them selling the 90s, I just thought they were going to be more in the $30 range.

[The_Jackal]

Alright, hunter it will be then. Another question: Does playing a hunter still come with all of the huntard stereotypes?

Sure does! Just exercise good pet control (and turn growl off when you have a tank) and you'll quickly dismiss the haters.

[Kislath]

Are you guys having any problems with the game today?

Ever since the restart this morning, I've seen nothing but problems. Bad lag, unresponsiveness, missing tabard, missing pets and mounts, NPC's speech windows don't pop up, can't stand back up if I sit down, and now I can't even connect to any servers.

[Eurus]

So I just installed the trial version to see if I'm interested. Randomly rolled up a goblin priest, but I'm flying pretty much blind so far. Hopefully the game will do a decent job of training me?

The NPCs in the goblin starting area are kind of amusing, though. Good names. Sassy Hardwrench amuses me, because I am completely immature.

[otakuryoga]

gah!
get home from work and log in to see
"you have unlearned Cinder Kitten"
"you have unlearned Pandaren Monk"

WTF!!????!?!???

but thankfully they are still in my pet list

[Krazzman]

after being Restoshaman for about ~10 instances (level 15 to ~50) I have to say I really don't like playing a restoshaman...

So our current progress is the following:
me/wife
Warlock/DK - 85
DK/Druid - (80)/85 (as apparently my wife can't grant me any levels)
Hunter/Paladin - 38
Shaman/Warrior - ~50
Warrior/Warlock - 1
Monk/Monk - 1

(I won't be playing a Mage, Paladin, Druid or Priest as I already have them at max level or 85 (mage))

[Psyren]

gah!
get home from work and log in to see
"you have unlearned Cinder Kitten"
"you have unlearned Pandaren Monk"

WTF!!????!?!???

but thankfully they are still in my pet list

Maybe you were hacked and subsequently restored while you were away?

[Kislath]

No... everyone lost all of the pets and mounts that they bought from the Blizz Store. It was one of the many things that went wrong yesterday.

It looks like most things have been fixed EXCEPT for the Pets and Mounts. If you're like most folks, you'll still see your paid-for critters on the list, but won't be able to summon them.

Eurus, things aren't normally like this. At all. Don't get the wrong impression.

I dinged 89 just now, just getting into the Dread Wastes. Normally I hit 90 while still in Kun Lai, but I skipped Krasarang this time, mainly to see if I could make it to the Wastes for a change.

[The Succubus]

I need a new project while I'm levelling. Spent most of yesterday questing in Vashj'ir and really burnt out. Maybe a legendary or something else I can slowly work at...

[Krazzman]

I need a new project while I'm levelling. Spent most of yesterday questing in Vashj'ir and really burnt out. Maybe a legendary or something else I can slowly work at...

Depending on Classes:
The mace from Ulduar? Should be soloable in 25 man mode now.
The axe from ICC? DK's can Solo most of it afaik. Dunno about the Airship.
As a Rogue farm the Dragonsoul Legendary? Although I don't know if you can actually solo that.
Warglaives or other drop dependant stuff will probably burn you out too but might be fun to again see those old instances from within (also you can farm transmog gear there).
Else have you been Rare-hunting? I did it for Pandaria and even got the kill all rares in pandaria thing and had fun while doing it.

[Sylthia]

Are you guys having any problems with the game today?

Ever since the restart this morning, I've seen nothing but problems. Bad lag, unresponsiveness, missing tabard, missing pets and mounts, NPC's speech windows don't pop up, can't stand back up if I sit down, and now I can't even connect to any servers.

I think there was a major patch yesterday. Those sorts things are pretty common, but usually are righted in a few days.

[Karoht]

Not sure if it's final, but it looks like the 90 level boost is $60. Wow, that's a lot. I can't see many people shelling out that much. It's more than the expansion costs.

I personally doubt that number is the final number, but here's some reasons why it will probably stay $60, at least for a while.
1-The biggest aim with this system was to do away with people who were starting a second account and then using RAF to get boosts and rapid leveling, then merging the new character/s to the old account. It may not sound like a lot of work on Blizzard's part, but the bookkeeping for it was annoying, and it wasn't a seamless system, it was prone to a few known bugs here and there that were a pain for both the customer and Blizzard support.
2-The WoD expansion costs $40 (digital deluxe is $60, collectors edition is more) and includes 1 free boost to 90. If they sell the battle chest and MoP for cheap right before the WoD launch, then the RAF + Free boost included + XP bonus trick works out to pretty much the same cost, possibly cheaper. Again, see point 1.
3-After WoD launches, I expect that cost to come down, maybe by the time the first non-raid content patch hits.
4-In WoD it will still be 90. Not 100. INB4 P2W. It's a catch up mechanic, not a free max level raid ready character with all the trimmings. And again, if you go through the RAF system, it's a catch up mechanic that already existed. This cost just lets you skip a step.


@Recent Game Issues
"I think there was a major patch yesterday."
See patch notes on the launcher.