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

[mistformsquirrl]

Yeah, I can see that as being a very different situation than my own hehe. I have a 79 DK as my highest character, so I have a lot of stuff I haven't really messed with yet.

[Traab]

Yeah, I can see that as being a very different situation than my own hehe. I have a 79 DK as my highest character, so I have a lot of stuff I haven't really messed with yet.

Yeah ive got a lot of 90s myself, but most of your post was similar to my views. I actually like the lower level stuff. I like the stories, the adventure path, etc etc etc. That said, i have no problem with getting one of my lower level classes up to 90 because there are a couple I just havent been able to push through. My priest and paladin are both in hellfire penninsula for example. But my mage, hunter, dk (x2), rogue, warlock are all at 90, with a monk in pandaria (I havent played in awhile, forget his level)

[Krazzman]

Blasted right through BC. Managed Utgarde Keep so far (twice, once at level 69 without quests and again with quests).

But I think I am in need of training on how to use Chaos Bolt and other stuff. In instances I mostly don't use my embers except for a FIre and Brimstone Immolate/conflagrate here and there. And of course for Shadowburn. But I think Arcane mages are far more easy to play than Destro Warlock atm. COuld be the gear (fast leveling means less chance for useful drops at my iLevel range) but a non Accountbound mage usually has more DPS in thrashfights than me but my burst is higher for bossfights... still most of the time behind the tank in terms of DMG and she only has the XP bonus Heirlooms.

Tonight is raid... maybe. If they take us with them as 13 people accepted the Calendar invite. Going to see what comes of it. Maybe we start twinks on a PvE-PvP server (Dethecus) as 2 guys from our Pathfinder game play there.

[Psyren]

Your DPS will seem sucky until Cata when Mastery comes into play. Through Wrath, even healers will be doing competitive dps, e.g. Disc Priests, and tanks will be at or near the top of the charts thanks to Vengeance, which they got at level 10. So don't worry about your output before then, there's no real point.

[Seerow]

Your DPS will seem sucky until Cata when Mastery comes into play. Through Wrath, even healers will be doing competitive dps, e.g. Disc Priests, and tanks will be at or near the top of the charts thanks to Vengeance, which they got at level 10. So don't worry about your output before then, there's no real point.

Vengeance actually has relatively little effect. Tanks tend to do well because they get their AoE tools early and have their damage balanced around no mastery. Warrior tanks in particular get a double boost because they're also not balanced around Colossus Smash (a level 80 or 85 ability for both DPS warrior specs). Then there's the fact that tank and DPS gear is nearly identical (when it's different at all) until your mid 80s. You're simply not getting enough crit and haste in place of dodge/parry to make a meaningful difference.

Basically around level 20-30 tanks are doing their full DPS, while actual DPS specs are doing about half. It takes a long time before actual dps come into their own. I'm really hoping this is something that gets fixed with the expac.

[Krazzman]

My comparison wasn't really against Tank/Healer... more against other DPS specs.
Until around level 40 I was either short after my wife or above my wife in terms of damage. After that she pulled ahead with sometimes a Hunter/Disc above her.
In one of the late BC instances we got another warlock in our group and he either outdpsed me or I was right next to him. I think this might be because he never used his Curse while I used it on bosses.
Still need a way to learn how to time Havoc and for certain parts Fire and Brimstone as well as when to use Chaos bolt and so on. Mainly the stuff you only really learn while playing and getting the feel for the class.

[Psyren]

Basically around level 20-30 tanks are doing their full DPS, while actual DPS specs are doing about half. It takes a long time before actual dps come into their own. I'm really hoping this is something that gets fixed with the expac.

I don't think it needs to be fixed. Think about it, if tanks are feeling uber-awesome while leveling that just means more instances for everyone because tanks are typically the bottleneck in the queue. If I was leveling a dps class, I would be okay coming in below the tank on meters if it means I can fill those non-heirloom slots with blues and get the instance quests done.

[mistformsquirrl]

Ugh, something's* wrong with my internet and WoW is entirely unplayable at the moment because of it. Was just getting ready to farm some honor for some transmog gear for my Death Knight. I has a sad now. On the upside it shouldn't take too awful long to get said gear once I can get started.

Cannot wait for that sword... < ._.> one of the few in the game that looks like an actual runeblade.

Speaking of DK... I'm tempted to respec to Blood and try to do some instances; I worry less about grouping if I'm firmly in control of it.

That said... how IS Blood as a spec for a DK? I've only played Unholy at present, kind of curious what some of the more experienced folks think of it.

*It cuts out every 5 to 15 minutes. I'm used to it cutting out once every couple hours or so (I have Comcast, they're terrible), but never, ever this frequently.

[Psyren]

Blood is awesome in 5-mans. You have no problems holding aggro and blood shields (your mastery) are great passive mitigation. There's also something just cool about tanking with a 2-hander. They have a lot of self-healing too so feel free to solo old content.

No idea how easy or hard they are in raiding, but then any tank is viable with enough skill these days.

[Ionbound]

Hey, I really want to try WoW, but almost everything I've seen about it seems really competitive, and I'm only really interested in the lore and stories. Any advice?

[The Glyphstone]

Hey, I really want to try WoW, but almost everything I've seen about it seems really competitive, and I'm only really interested in the lore and stories. Any advice?

Unless you're in a max-end raiding guild or looking to do serious PvP arena, WoW is pretty much the anti-thesis of 'competitive'. You can more-or-less play through the entire game up to max level without ever teaming up with or going against another player at this point, exploring everything and doing quests written as if you were the only hero in the world instead of one out of six million.

You'll find a lot of people willing to extend a Recruit-A-Friend invitation to you, because they get a special mount reward if you sign up and enjoy the game enough to keep playing - this comes with a triple-XP bonus whenever you and your Recruiter are grouped, but I'd avoid doing that (the grouping) if you want to experience the lore, since you will gain levels faster than you complete storylines.

[Icewraith]

Hey, I really want to try WoW, but almost everything I've seen about it seems really competitive, and I'm only really interested in the lore and stories. Any advice?

Try it! Just keep in mind that the leveling curve is a tad compressed, so you may out-level a zone before you finish it. There's nothing stopping you from completing the zone, though, if that's what you care about. You might even want to step into the 5-man dungeon queue to see some of that content, remember that some people in there are speed-leveling alts to 90 and are the very definition of "competitive" - they may not appreciate you dawdling.

"Hi I'm a completely new player so please bear with me" usually suffices.

[Psyren]

Everyone should sacrifice months of their life give WoW a try at least once. As Yahtzee said, "I admit somewhat grudgingly that WoW is about as good as MMOs are going to get."

You don't have to stick with it, but it is a very well-designed game that will give you a much better frame of reference for any other MMO you choose to try.

[Traab]

Blood is awesome in 5-mans. You have no problems holding aggro and blood shields (your mastery) are great passive mitigation. There's also something just cool about tanking with a 2-hander. They have a lot of self-healing too so feel free to solo old content.

No idea how easy or hard they are in raiding, but then any tank is viable with enough skill these days.

I triple backup the old content point. It is hilariously easy to solo old content. My dk was able to solo crazy good in old dungeons with basically ah and some scenario blues. It was nice to finally get around to exploring the really old content I never got the chance to see because I stopped raiding before tbc came out.

[Krazzman]

Seems likely that we abandon ship.

Talked to raid/guildlead tonight due to us again being excluded from the raid.

The reason was apparently that we were both not there if the other can't make it (mainly due to being in the same place as the other). And they needed to take randoms with them and are fed up. He doesn't know how to handle it atm but we have been replaced. Mage and Restoshaman are now in the raidpool.

Due to having friends on Dethecus we started chars there. I have all my heirlooms there now and we start with a Warlock/other again.
So far she has a Hunter.
Going to see how we will take this due to the Dethecus being a PvP server and so on...

[Karoht]

Hey, I really want to try WoW, but almost everything I've seen about it seems really competitive, and I'm only really interested in the lore and stories. Any advice?

-Do not play on an RP server until you have a comfortable grasp of the game.
-Do every quest you can find, even if you greatly outlevel it.
-Read all the quest text. All of it. Every time.
-Try PvP a few times. Do every battleground at least once. Some of them are genuinely fun. I'm personaly a fan of Silvershard Mines, Arathi Basin will always have a special place in my heart (I drowned 3 Gnomes there, all Rogues).
-Play whatever class you want to play the way you want to play it. Everything is viable these days. Everything. Even leveling as a healer is viable.
-Do Dungeons only when you get a quest taking you there. Don't worry about level requirements or anything, the minute you have a quest for it, even if you are 20+ levels above it, do it anyway.
-When you hit max level, do Scenarios first, then dungeons. When you are geared (and it is really easy to get geared up enough to enter raids these days) go do LFR, ignore everyone in Raid chat unless they are telling you something useful. Otherwise, focus on all the character interactions and boss talk and other lore points.
-If ever you say to yourself "hey, who is this character they are talking about" go to wowpedia.org and search for her/him right away. Trust me. Same goes for any special weapons they mention (For example, Quel'Delar and Quel'Sanar each have interesting stories behind them) or any story events that sound unfamiliar.
-Don't buy gear off the Auction House. Ever. Trust me, it's all junk. And it is particularly unnecessary to someone who is more focused on the lore, less focused on the raiding/pvp. My caveat to this is, when you can enter LFR, be enchanted and gemmed up They're pretty easy to come by, and next expansion it will actually be a lot less complicated, more choices but a bit less focus on optimal choices. Especially your weapon. They make a huge difference.
-I find that to learn fights prior to entering LFR, just take a bit of time, open up the dungeon journal, and just read a few bosses you are about to take on. LFR is divided up into sections, a section is usually 3-4 bosses at a time. You don't have to memorize things, just get a rough idea of what to look for.
And always assume that if you are standing in something that looks bad, it's probably bad. If you have red numbers coming out of your head, and you are standing in something that looks bad, it is bad, move out of it.
-The road is long, and at the end you realize, the competition is really only as competative as you make it. If you only go into LFR/Flex mode to see the raids once or twice and take in the story, then as long as the boss dies, you all won. Just don't compare yourself against anyone, unless you choose to because you want to do something better. And if things feel too competative, back off for a bit.
-Have you read any of the books? If you haven't and want a recommendation, check under the spoiler tab.

Spoiler

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-War of the Ancients Trillogy, for for no other reason than to read about the awesome Broxigar Saurfang. It is the only book by Richard A Knaak I will recommend, ever.
-Rise of the Horde. REALLY recommended given the upcoming expansion.
-The Shattering, to really get the personal impact of the Cataclysm, and to get the story of Garrosh's rise to Warchief, and all the sorrid details related to it.
-Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects is an excellent read, a great adventure. I've heard good things about Dawn of the Aspects but haven't read it yet.
-Tides of Darkness and Shadow's of the Horde really nead to be read back to back.
-Warcraft Archives has 4 stories in it, totally worth reading, one by Chris Metzen all about Tirion Fordring.
-In regards to Richard Knaak, I mentioned Dawn of the Aspects already. He's the author, and thus the reason I haven't read it yet. Most of his work isn't great. I hear tell that Wolfheart is downright aweful, but if you must know the tale of Varian Wrynn/Lo'gosh, read it at your own discression.

This is all coming from a Top 100 US Hardcore Progression Raider. You know, those strawman elitists you hear about from time to time who supposedly make everything so competative and ruin the game from time to time.

[Icewraith]

-Do not play on an RP server until you have a comfortable grasp of the game.

[snip generally useful good advice, although the stuff about LFR seems a tad premature-especially if your advice regarding ALL OF THE QUESTS is taken]

This is all coming from a Top 100 US Hardcore Progression Raider. You know, those strawman elitists you hear about from time to time who supposedly make everything so competative and ruin the game from time to time.

I'm curious as to what's behind that first point.

The last bit made me chuckle. I get what you're saying, but I think you're also trying to open an unlocked door with dynamite.

[Psyren]

Seems likely that we abandon ship.

Talked to raid/guildlead tonight due to us again being excluded from the raid.

The reason was apparently that we were both not there if the other can't make it (mainly due to being in the same place as the other). And they needed to take randoms with them and are fed up. He doesn't know how to handle it atm but we have been replaced. Mage and Restoshaman are now in the raidpool.

Due to having friends on Dethecus we started chars there. I have all my heirlooms there now and we start with a Warlock/other again.
So far she has a Hunter.
Going to see how we will take this due to the Dethecus being a PvP server and so on...

Ahh guild drama, one of my favorite reasons to cancel

[Karoht]

I'm curious as to what's behind that first point.

RP groups sometimes are itchy about certain class abilities. IE-Warlock Doomguard is restricted in an RP group a friend of mine plays in, for story reasons. The logic is that Warlocks are untrusted, and as such as they rise in power they must prove they can be trusted with certain abilities. It was a big enough deal that when he popped out a Doomguard (might have been another summon, long time since I touched my Warlock) in a city, a few people freaked out on him. He's a pretty calm person, very difficult to rattle, but even he described this as "People flipped their [pool] about it," which is just not fun for someone new to the game to deal with.

It's hard enough to learn to play the game, learn all the RP rules of the server and the RP group you fall in with, learn the chat system and get all your common macros all figured out, without knowing in advance what all of your abilities and buttons do or being familiar with the interface. Therefore in my opinion it is typically easier to learn the game on your own before you try and find an RP group on an RP server.

[Shishnarfne]

I'm curious as to what's behind that first point.

Well, given that I've been on Moon Guard (the largest population US RP server) for a few years now, I have a few guesses as to why you might want to read up on the official lore first:

1) Sometimes, you might see "RP elitists" who will criticize people for "not acting consistent with their character." These people are usually easy enough to ignore.

Edit: It looks like this may have been the reason, looks like my mind-reading abilities are off.

2) I don't know what it is, but Moon Guard draws a lot of trolls into the most popular chat channels. I can't speak for other RP servers.

3) Some people want to write themselves into the lore of Azeroth as major participants. These people congregate to RP servers. These people may be vocal about exactly how important their character is to everything and give a skewed view of the "story" present in World of Warcraft.

I suspect that given the expressed interest in learning the "stories and lore" of the game, that reason 3 is a very solid reason to not roll on an RP server (disregard if you have friends on such a server willing to help walk you through why the guild claiming to be the governing voice of Dalaran is not the best source for Kirin Tor lore).

Unrelated: I'm worried about feeling a hair burned out on WoW at the moment. My guild is 9/14 H, and my Blood DK is one of the two tanks (and number 3 is the alt of one our top DPS), so I don't want to take a step back, because I worry it will slow progression, but I don't spend nearly as much time on it as I frequently have. Maybe pushing my Prot Warrior alt through the battleground stage of the Wrathion quest chain left me a bit worn out, maybe it's other issues. I feel like I either have to talk to my guild about stepping back, or I have to find a way to make the game "fun" again.

It's not been easy for me to push my alts through the Wrathion quest chain, partially because LFR feels like a chore to me (relative to guild groups), but I feel kind of bad for not pushing to get the amazing rewards for my other characters.

[Karoht]

To be clear, I'm not saying one should not roll on an RP server. I'm saying not to do so until one feels ready to.

[Kislath]

I've been out of the game for over 6 months, but every now and then I log in to download the latest patches.

Question: When I'm ready to start playing again, I plan to have someone scroll-of-rez me. My subscription ran out in July, but will my having kept my game patched make me ineligible for a scroll of resurrection?

[Karoht]

I've been out of the game for over 6 months, but every now and then I log in to download the latest patches.

Question: When I'm ready to start playing again, I plan to have someone scroll-of-rez me. My subscription ran out in July, but will my having kept my game patched make me ineligible for a scroll of resurrection?

Nope. It's based on your subscription, not the software downloaded.
Do you have someone lined up to give you the scroll? I'll offer myself if needed.

@Firedaemon33
Speaking of which, would you like a Recruit-a-friend bonus? You get a spiffy mount and I think you get an additional month free or something. PM me if you want a hookup.

[Kislath]

Hey, thanks! It'll still be awhile before I can play again, but when I do, I'll call you for a rez.

[Krazzman]

Ahh guild drama, one of my favorite reasons to cancel

Yeah... except not really.

Hmm let's see if I get a complete telling of my history with avoid together.

WotLK ICC, finding a 25man raid for a friend (Holy Paladin, later Mage) and me(Spriest).
Getting my now wife to leave her Progress Guild to join us as she has more fun with me anyways.
Cata launches. 25man crumbles to an unstable 10 man an we manage to get some Heroic Bosses down. 2/5 BoT, 5/6 BWD and ??/2 To4W.
Firelands launches:Raid reshapes due to raidlead leaving. Rogue becomes Guildlead, Mage (former Holy Paladin) becomes Raidlead.
Near end of Firelands Raidlead is responsible for people leaving. Have no fun and my now wife and I are taking a break.
Fast forward through Dragonsoul and our stay in the Allianceguild Drachengold.
Back to avoid now on Blackhand (former Forscherliga) and leveling. (Mage is still butthurt for us leaving during firelands).
MoP former guildlead is back and roughly after MSV 6/6 nhc and HoF 3/6 nhc we break up and form acute a 25 man guild with former Guildlead, Mage and some others.
Gimping around that whole content. ToT we break after some serious wiped on Tortos and go back to avoid. Mage is vehemently against avoid.guildlead taking us back.
We apologise and Raid with them.
SoO launches and the Mage comes back after being thrown out of acute.
Guildharmony drops significantly. Mage becomes defacto Raidlead again.
We beat some HC's and due to falling outs have to take Randoms with us.
Randoms get's loot that would mean a SIGNIFICANT improvement for our healer (my wife). (ToT HC(could be nhc too) ring against Warforged HC Ring from Immerseus, BIS for shaman afaik)
We have an appointment and can't come in on a Thursday to raid (declined calendar invite)
On a Saturday we can finally log in again and decline(Sat around 6pm to 7pm) the calendar invite for sunday(8pm).
Sunday my wife goes to a Karnevalistic Dance Tournament. Her parents invited her. I am at home but still not feeling well.
Next Thursday we are automatically set to OUT for both Thursday and Sunday and we decline for Tuesday.
This Thursday we were accepted but not confirmed until Thursday itself. Again we are set to OUT (for Sunday too).
We ask our Guidllead about it. He tells us that he doesn't know how to proceed as he doesn't want the progression of our HC kills to stall.
His reasoning is that when one of us can't participate that the other isn't available. And this would force taking randoms which jeopardizes the whole heroic progression.
Because friends of us (Dming our Pathfinder games) felt that we have some problems in their guild they tried to recruit us. I am torn. My wife thinks this is a good idea as the would probably be more motivated if she hasn't to heal with the Mage(who rerolled Holy Priest in our Disc, Shadow setup... yes there were 3 priests in a 10man heroic raid).

I think this is a good summary of our Drama.

Now again leveling a Warlock... we will level to around level 30, gift us each the levels we gained with our Warlock/Warrior combination and then from 62 on she will use her DK and I will advance my warlock and afterwards I level my DK and she will level her whatever she will play with my warlock.

God I hate this stuff...

Any recommendation on how to get Gold on a new server fast? Because I won't be having any Farming professions... until I trans my Druid (Herbalism and Alchemy) or my Paladin (Mining and Blacksmithing).

[Delusion]

RP groups sometimes are itchy about certain class abilities. IE-Warlock Doomguard is restricted in an RP group a friend of mine plays in, for story reasons. The logic is that Warlocks are untrusted, and as such as they rise in power they must prove they can be trusted with certain abilities. It was a big enough deal that when he popped out a Doomguard (might have been another summon, long time since I touched my Warlock) in a city, a few people freaked out on him. He's a pretty calm person, very difficult to rattle, but even he described this as "People flipped their [pool] about it," which is just not fun for someone new to the game to deal with.

Back when I played I played on RP servers. I have only seen people complain about someone having demon out when the warlock had a demon out in middle of Stormwind and was rping at that moment. And the complaints were strictly IC anyway. People who are not actively rping that moment tend to be ignored.

Besides in my experience most rp guilds are very helpful to the newbies. So if someone wants to start on a RP server, I would dissuade them from it.

A good guild is a must though.

Edit: Was thinking about coming back to WoW in WoD because I had heard rumours about mythic dungeons, (I don't really have ability to schedule around proper raids), but then I heard that it was just a suggestion and that while heroic dungeons will be harder than MoP, just I'd propably end up outgearing them after having fun for 2-3 months which means I'd propably not have enough PvE content that interests after that.

[Psyren]

Any recommendation on how to get Gold on a new server fast? Because I won't be having any Farming professions... until I trans my Druid (Herbalism and Alchemy) or my Paladin (Mining and Blacksmithing).

Any particular reason why not? Because farming professions are definitely the best way to make money on a new server.

Edit: Was thinking about coming back to WoW in WoD because I had heard rumours about mythic dungeons, (I don't really have ability to schedule around proper raids), but then I heard that it was just a suggestion and that while heroic dungeons will be harder than MoP, just I'd propably end up outgearing them after having fun for 2-3 months which means I'd propably not have enough PvE content that interests after that.

I'm inclined to agree but I'll wait and see what the new Scenarios have to offer.

[mistformsquirrl]

It's not big money, but I've made reasonable sums just selling the cloth I get from killing humanoid mobs on the AH. It was enough for me to get some useful glyphs on my Warlock and DK. That said, that's just on Wyrmrest Accord, I dunno about other servers.

[Zherog]

Been a while since I've done it, but auctioneer helped me make money on the past. You'll need to get some "seed" money to start, though. For a few days, simply let auctioneer scan the AH to build up some data. Four is probably OK, but if you can go a week that's even better.

Then use auctioneer to find items - any items - that are listed way below what it determines to be the market price on your server. Buy those items, then relist them at market price.

For example, maybe a stack of silk cloth sells for 2.5g on your server. You see a stack out there for 1g. Assuming you can afford it, you buy it then relist it for 2.4g - just a hair under market; auctioneer will give you a suggested price.

Early on, when your funds are a bit low, it's best to stick to crafting mats - I've always found cloth to be especially reliable, but herbs and ores also sell well enough. Be wary of enchants; while you can turn them around for more money, quite a few will require you to list it several times before you get a sale. And that's just money that you've tied up that could be used for other stuff.

If you can take enchantment on the new character, you can also keep an eye on the AH for cheap greens, DE them, then list the mats. Just be sure of your conversion before buying. For example, if spirit dust sells for 1g and the item you're looking it DEs into 1-2 spirit dust and costs 1.5g, that's not a good buy. If that same item costs .5g, it's a good deal - especially if you get lucky and get to dusts out of it.

[edit]
Plus, with enchantment, you DE all the quest rewards you can't use and the green junk you find out in the wild. Even if you just take enchantment for a while then drop it for something else later, it can be a money-maker just from DE'ing junk.
[/edit]

However, with the amount of money that flows out of quests and such now, I don't know if it's really necesary any longer to play the AH for cash.

[Icewraith]

I think it is- questing money generally gets you to the point you can afford the next tier of flying + one half or less of a piece of current raid tier crafted epics.

If you start ignoring the AH, like I have for most of the last several patches, you start off with a really healthy gold cushion but it slowly depletes due to reforges, enchants, gemming, consumables, legendary cloak quest chain mats, etc.

If you keep up with the AH, you can eventually grab the repair/reforge yak - super handy, but I log on to raid nowadays and that's about it.