AT World of Warcraft Thread (Cataclysm, Where do you play, General BS and all that)

[Scotteq]

So any speculation on what the next expansion might be like? If they follow the current pattern we might get “Return to Outlands - Revenge of the Draenei” Or “Southrend the adventures of Bolvar” or "LKII"

Perhaps Blizz can go after a whole new demographic:

"Bolvar Does Badlands"?

"LK2 - Return of the Rodfather"?

"Little Red Draeanal~hood meets the Anime Octopus"

"Dr. Belflove, or How I learned to Stop Clenching and Love the.."

 

[lupi]

Every expansion since the release of BC was supposed to be an 18 month timeline. They've just never been able to stick to that yet and have only just managed to make back to back 24 month cycles. If the do continue with limited level growth though I suspect either the next or one after will get much closer to that goal.

 

[blurredvision]

World of Warcraft - November 2004
The Burning Crusade - January 2007
Wrath of the Lich King - November 2008
Cataclysm - November 2010

One could easily deduce that Cataclysm ended up being a LOT more work than they anticipated, especially since many agree that it was internally delayed and even still shows signs that it was somewhat rushed. There's no way Blizzard intended for there to be an entire year between 3.3 and 4.0.

Given that leaked Blizzard road-map that we've all seen (assuming it is real), it would appear they're targeting the next expansion around 2Q of 2012, which seems right. We're almost guaranteed to get the first details about it at this year's Blizzcon. They showed Cataclysm's first trailer at Blizzcon in 2009 and it proved to be 15 months from release still.

I think we'll see a timeline of content releases similar to that of WotLK, only with 5.0 coming 6 months earlier than 4.0 did.

EDIT: Oh, and about the Emerald Dream, I know I've read on 2 or 3 different occasions where Blizzard has said they are definitely visiting the story of the Emerald Dream at some point, but we don't really know if it will just be a large quest line/area or an entire expansion devoted to it.

 

[Lightflash]

Emerald Dream most likely.

 

[rh71]

Dear Blizz,

Fix the farking PLAY button sound like you said you would.

That is all.

 

[Anubis]

play button sound?

 

[Aikouka]

World of Warcraft - November 2005
The Burning Crusade - January 2007
Wrath of the Lich King - November 2008
Cataclysm - November 2010

Original WoW came out in Nov 2004.

 

[rh71]

can someone fill me on in what lock spec is best for leveling and then raiding? Going from 80. Is it still Aff for leveling where you can just dot everyone around and kite?

 

[blurredvision]

Original WoW came out in Nov 2004.

Whoops, typo. Thanks.

 

[blurredvision]

play button sound?

I guess he's talking about the Play button on the launcher window, which I never understood why anybody uses it anyway.

 

[Aikouka]

I guess he's talking about the Play button on the launcher window, which I never understood why anybody uses it anyway.

It always replaces my links and I get too lazy to change them back .

 

[RatboyX]

can someone fill me on in what lock spec is best for leveling and then raiding? Going from 80. Is it still Aff for leveling where you can just dot everyone around and kite?

I am warlock challenged… hopefully someone else can offer up suggestions.

 

[Scotteq]

can someone fill me on in what lock spec is best for leveling and then raiding? Going from 80. Is it still Aff for leveling where you can just dot everyone around and kite?

Health pools increase dramatically as you level. And your DPS will go *down*, so you will be unable to kill efficiently after the first couple levels. And as a clothie, allowing things to beat on you is a bad idea. Therefore, Demonology for leveling, since you can let your pet take the beating. Once you're raiding - Destruction.

 

[Aikouka]

Looks like we won't be getting Firelands in 4.1 after all. What I think is interesting is their reasoning. They say that people haven't progressed enough through the raid content...

"We feel like the player base isn't really ready for the next raid yet," he said. "And that led to some changes where Firelands is now actually going to be in 4.2."

I'm curious where the metric comes from and what exactly they're assuming based on their data. For example, are they assuming that the majority of raiders should at least down a bunch of heroic bosses? Are they assuming their bosses on normal mode are too hard?

In a way, the hardcore raiders are being punished because of Blizzard's stance on letting everyone try and experience the content. Essentially, the other players aren't good enough (or at least some of them aren't and are hurting progression).

Well, it's either that or Blizzard just can't get it done .

 

[blurredvision]

Well, it's either that or Blizzard just can't get it done .

My first thought was the latter. 4.2 to come very soon after 4.1? Sounds like it just needs a bit more time in the oven or they are finding a need to push major content patches (i.e. raids) farther apart so they don't end up with a major patch lasting for an entire year again.

 

[Aikouka]

My first thought was the latter. 4.2 to come very soon after 4.1? Sounds like it just needs a bit more time in the oven or they are finding a need to push major content patches (i.e. raids) farther apart so they don't end up with a major patch lasting for an entire year again.

The one thing I think I forgot to mention in my previous post is that this sort of reminds me of Blizzard's vanilla patching style. You didn't always get a ton of content in each major patch during vanilla. I think the first patch introduced Maraudon. Actually, it was patch 1.2 ... patch 1.1 introduced racials. We didn't get our first raid patch until 1.6 (BWL), which was introduced 9 months after the game came out .

 

[Pantlegz]

The one thing I think I forgot to mention in my previous post is that this sort of reminds me of Blizzard's vanilla patching style. You didn't always get a ton of content in each major patch during vanilla. I think the first patch introduced Maraudon. Actually, it was patch 1.2 ... patch 1.1 introduced racials. We didn't get our first raid patch until 1.6 (BWL), which was introduced 9 months after the game came out .

part of the reason it took 9 months is because the way MC was designed(4-8+ hour clears) most servers only had a few, if any, guilds that were farming it when BWL came out and few of those that had MC on farm were ready for BWL. 1 hour vael despawn timers were ftl though. Without omen, I don't even know how we did it... I guess mods have made me lazy/dependent.

 

[Aikouka]

part of the reason it took 9 months is because the way MC was designed(4-8+ hour clears) most servers only had a few, if any, guilds that were farming it when BWL came out and few of those that had MC on farm were ready for BWL. 1 hour vael despawn timers were ftl though. Without omen, I don't even know how we did it... I guess mods have made me lazy/dependent.

Well, one of the biggest reasons was that people didn't really start getting into MC too quickly as you had to go from 1-60 and then get the gear (that wasn't really even that good) from Stratholme, Dire Maul, UBRS or Scholomance. I think I saw an old screenshot of mine from BWL where I noticed an armor model that I'm pretty sure was from a blue item.

It's really just the idea that they're trying to push back content and at least give us something. I don't really mind, but I'd love to see the numbers that they used to make their decision.

 

[randomrogue]

There's no need to push the next raid when most players have plenty to do atm. There are multiple tiers of hard modes and most people have not finished the first one. I'm hoping this is a sign that they want more players to get used to this level of difficulty rather than making the next tier easier and boring us to death.

 

[lupi]

Originally Posted by Bashiok (Source)
By now you’ve seen that the redesigned Heroic five-player dungeon versions of Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub are on the PTR, featuring all-new boss mechanics, updated epic-level loot, and some rare mounts for players to try to tame.

You may be asking, "where's Firelands?”

Our goal with each major patch release, and especially with each expansion, is to learn from the past and use that knowledge to improve the game as we move forward. One of our biggest regrets in the pacing of Wrath of the Lich King was the Crusaders' Coliseum. The Trial of the Champion 10- and 25-player raid was released while many raiders were still busy with Ulduar, which meant a premature end to Ulduar raiding -- and a lot of players didn't get a chance to experience all of Ulduar's content during the normal expansion progression.

Having learned that lesson in pacing from Wrath of the Lich King, we don’t feel Cataclysm needs a new raid tier just yet. We’re close, though, and Firelands will be part of patch 4.2, which is expected to hit the PTR very soon after 4.1 goes live.

One of our long-standing development goals has been to release more regular content updates for you to enjoy. Our plan is to package features like raids, dungeons, and daily quest hubs into smaller content updates and release them as soon as possible, rather than wait and release them as large but infrequent updates. Our first significant step in this direction will be Cataclysm patch 4.1, and we hope the rest of our content updates moving forward follow this model.

This new flexible approach to updates allows us to release content like Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub so that you'll have more challenges to overcome while we make the flames of Sulfuron even fierier and this second showdown with the Firelord even more climactic.

While we know that some raiders feel prepared to smack down the Firelord once again, releasing an epic raid dungeon before its time would, in the words of Ragnaros himself, be "too soon!"

If firelands isn't being released why are people finding all of this content?

A good amount of development progress had already been made on Firelands by the time we decided it would be better to release it in the following patch. Because of that, a lot of information about what is now considered 4.2 content was already in the game files for the initial 4.1 PTR build. This just reinforces what Bashiok said about 4.2 being scheduled for release on the PTR shortly after 4.1 goes live.

Development for both patches is currently well in progress.

 

[Davidpaul007]

That’s great if you have the content to support two years worth and I don’t think Cata has two years worth of high level content.

Blizzard did something almost unheard of with Cata by adding completely new low level content and revamping some of the low to mid level stuff. The problem is that running a new character through Outlands and then through Northrend when none of that content has changed is a tough sell.

But because of the low level content additions I believe that Blizzard skimped on the 80 to 85 content. Does it fell pretty cramped to anyone else besides me?

Now perhaps if they had made this an 80 to 90 content expansion with about double the new high level areas it would feel more like a normal expansion.

So any speculation on what the next expansion might be like? If they follow the current pattern we might get “Return to Outlands - Revenge of the Draenei” Or “Southrend the adventures of Bolvar” or "LKII"

Wow...I was kinda surprised to see that people think Blizz "skimped" on the 80-85 content. From a casual standpoint there seems to be an enormous amount of new content to explore/quest. I was personally very glad to "only" have to level from 80-85 because a 10 level jump just seems daunting for people that may only play 10-15hrs a week maximum (or less).

Granted I'm not a raider and I don't typically "max out" one character, I tend to reroll alot...

 

[kehlsi]

part of the reason it took 9 months is because the way MC was designed(4-8+ hour clears) most servers only had a few, if any, guilds that were farming it when BWL came out and few of those that had MC on farm were ready for BWL. 1 hour vael despawn timers were ftl though. Without omen, I don't even know how we did it... I guess mods have made me lazy/dependent.

our guild just had all the tanks use julie's daggers and spam heroic strike. of course, the second and third tanks started 5 seconds apart.

as far as people complaining about not releasing the next raid tier b/c people "aren't good enough," i mean come on. wow is not overly difficult. this debate is as old as the game itself. guild progression (for the most part) has ALWAYS had just as much to do with the time spent wiping on new encounters as it has been about skill. i am not saying that bad players will eventually progress on difficult encounters, but i am saying that equally skilled players who spend less time raiding each week will take longer based on the amount of time they spend learning new encounters.

if blizzard has decided to release their raid tier later than what you originally hoped for, who cares? i welcome a later release date personally as i'm sure many others do. i do not have the time to raid like i once did. although i have been a fairly hardcore raider for 6 years, this expansion has come at a time that i simply cannot dedicate the amount of time as i used to. i love that the game is getting back to it's roots when it comes to progression. the game felt so dumb when we started raids in full epics the last 2 expansions. it's all in our heads of course, but being a veteran player, i felt a greater sense of accomplishment when i finally looted an epic from zerging mc, bwl aq and naxx when compared to entering raids in full epics b/c i farmed heroics for two days. it's all about preference obviously, however i welcome the new(old) changes

top tier guilds will always complain that new content is too far away for their liking. if blizzard decides to delay content releases (whether it be due to development delays or they legitimately want to hold back progression), i doubt the majority of their playerbase, who are generally just starting heroic raids or are half way through the heroic raids, aren't going to be upset.

edit: ugh, sorry about all the edits.. i tend to write this 3 words at a time while at work

 

[RatboyX]

Wow...I was kinda surprised to see that people think Blizz "skimped" on the 80-85 content. From a casual standpoint there seems to be an enormous amount of new content to explore/quest. I was personally very glad to "only" have to level from 80-85 because a 10 level jump just seems daunting for people that may only play 10-15hrs a week maximum (or less).

Granted I'm not a raider and I don't typically "max out" one character, I tend to reroll alot...

Well as I pointed out I don’t think overall the content was skimped on. Blizzard added a lot of content for low level characters so someone like yourself that re rolls a lot will find a lot of new low level content. Once you hit outlands through northrend however it will be a grind. And once you hit 80 and move on to Cata you get a lot less single player content than either BC or WotLK brought to the table.

The 80 to 85 questing/single player areas are indeed much smaller content, I got my first character to 85 in under a week time and now have five other 85 level characters. I have also run both the new starting areas, goblin and worgan, but I have absolutely no desire to slog through the 60 to 80 level content that hasn’t changed at all.

A lot of content in Cata? Sure. A lot of 80 to 85 content? Nope.

 

[Scotteq]

There's no need to push the next raid when most players have plenty to do atm. There are multiple tiers of hard modes and most people have not finished the first one. I'm hoping this is a sign that they want more players to get used to this level of difficulty rather than making the next tier easier and boring us to death.

On my (really really terrible RP) server, there are only 3 guilds with the "Defender of a Shattered World" achievement - one (mine) on Alliance, and 2 on Horde side - and only a few Heroic kills at all. This is down from a Dozen which could clear ICC + at least some Heroic modes.

I haven't paid much attention to overall game progression, but I can easily see where Blizz would let the current content simmer and allow time for more guilds to get caught up/geared if other servers are undergoing a similar drop in the number of guilds/people able to clear the current content. This was a complaint from the original game: That only a few % of highly dedicated players ever really got to do everything.

 

[Scotteq]

part of the reason it took 9 months is because the way MC was designed(4-8+ hour clears) most servers only had a few, if any, guilds that were farming it when BWL came out and few of those that had MC on farm were ready for BWL. 1 hour vael despawn timers were ftl though. Without omen, I don't even know how we did it... I guess mods have made me lazy/dependent.

our guild just had all the tanks use julie's daggers and spam heroic strike. of course, the second and third tanks started 5 seconds apart. .

Ah.... The days when the best Tanking build in the game was Arms with the first two tiers in Prot (dodge talent, armor talent, and last stand only). Sunder and HS Spam 4TW...

as far as people complaining about not releasing the next raid tier b/c people "aren't good enough," i mean come on. wow is not overly difficult. this debate is as old as the game itself. guild progression (for the most part) has ALWAYS had just as much to do with the time spent wiping on new encounters as it has been about skill. i am not saying that bad players will eventually progress on difficult encounters, but i am saying that equally skilled players who spend less time raiding each week will take longer based on the amount of time they spend learning new encounters..... <snip>

Played since the beta - The current "First Tier" of raid content is *definitely* much more difficult than the First Tiers from other expansions. To get an idea of what I'm talking about - mentally compare the difficulty of Blackrock to Kharazan, or WoTLK Naxx, or to Molten Snore - and note that in this iteration of the game, mistakes are punished much harder than they were in the past. One of the very top guilds (Paragon, was it?) even commented that this was the most challenging expansion ever.


As far as improving the quality of the game's raiders (a *real* issue on my current '3Rd Zit On Left Cheek Of All US Servers'), I believe it is a great good thing. The penalty, though, is how can you release even more challenging content without... impacting... the more casual players.

I think it's the correct decision on Blizzard's part - Heroic Modes are still VERY difficult. Though they may want to introduce some stuff like unique rewards for beating H~modes; like mounts or something besides the same armor in a different color with some more stats, in order to keep the very most progressed interested.