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

[RatboyX]

Northern spices are like 25 silver on the AH, can't you just buy them there?

Not on my server… price gouging has begun

 

[RatboyX]

Almost no one uses WoW as a benchmark. The only site I see with WoW benchmarks, and that only from time to time, is Anandtech. With a reported twelve million WoW subscribers I would think there is at least some interest in which hardware runs the game well.

Now to be fair WoW is NOT considered a graphic intense game and is supposedly capped at 60 fps. However WoW has a wide range of video settings and Blizzard has recently been adding more special effects that can push a cards performance.

In the latest patch some cards couldn’t handle the latest special effects Blizzard put in, though I believe the issue to be driver related and not hardware.

Normally my HD4870 runs WoW at the “Ultra” settings and keeps the game running at 60fps at 1440 x 900 rez, but there are places, especially in major city hubs like Dal, where my fps take a hit.

I believe that issues in places like Dal are simply the game not being able to handle the crush of people in one place. The majority of the game runs from the local client, but get into a high population area and things change. In order to keep track of all the other people around you the game needs a lot more communication between the client and the server.

With the release of the HD6870 though I’m seriously looking at upgrading. While I believe a lot of the problems in high population areas of game are not GPU related I can’t see a down side to a faster card. It may be that the flood of information is overwhelming my HD4870 and a better card might just help.

So what’s the general feeling among you the WoW players here, is it a worthwhile upgrade. Again considering the fact that my major games are WoW and Eve Online should I make the move?

The price/performance on the HD6870 is extremely tempting especially compared to my current card. I could also get very good performance out of an Nvidia 1gb 460 (Maybe even the EVGA factory over clocked version… sorry couldn’t resist LOL). But I have had zero issues with the AMD drivers and WoW and prefer to stick with those for new

 

[chitwood]

Deathwing is Coming


One of Azeroth’s oldest adversaries will soon tear through the Elemental Plane to reforge the world in flame, but this foe won’t be conducting his reign of terror from the confines of a castle or lair. Deathwing is a destructive force the likes of which adventurers have yet to see in World of Warcraft, and his appetite for devastation can only be satisfied by the shattering of the world. Following his explosive escape from Deepholm, Deathwing will cast a deadly shadow over the people of Azeroth as he wreaks indiscriminate havoc across the land.

Once free to terrorize the world, Deathwing will randomly choose territories in Azeroth to attack each day until his ruinous reign is brought to an end. A blackened sky will be the only warning before every living creature caught in his approach is consumed by his terrible fire. The unfortunate victims of his malice will receive a rare Feat of Strength... as well as a repair bill and corpse run.

When Deathwing returns, you'd best keep your eyes on the skies.

There is very little warning once he decides to [nuke] a zone. If you're not in the zone already, you have virtually no chance of sacrificing yourself to his flame.

If you are in the zone, you're almost definitely screwed.

so.... basically.... Deathwing will be flying around Azeroth just wrecking shit for the entire expansion.

 

[Aikouka]

Not on my server… price gouging has begun

I might have to sell off my 300+ spices then. Given I'm not in a guild, I don't care about them .

I'm kinda hoping glyphs might come down in price soon. My Alliance characters have access to their own scribe, but my Horde does not . I'm trying to save money up for my epic flying, but at 70g+ for a single glyph... ouch.

Edit:

so.... basically.... Deathwing will be flying around Azeroth just wrecking shit for the entire expansion.

I assumed it was just for the period in-between 4.0.3 and the December 7th release date for Cataclysm.

 

[chitwood]

I assumed it was just for the period in-between 4.0.3 and the December 7th release date for Cataclysm.

that's probably true.

when is 4.0.3?

 

[RatboyX]

so i would love nothing other than to complain about how it costs 25 bucks to move a single toon to another server. i feel i have no right as i have now moved 4 characters, but i am still going to complain a little i really really wish that it did not cost me 100 bucks to move my 4 toons to the server i'm no now. yes, it's my choice to do so but honestly i have spent a ton of money with blizzard in the past 6.5 years that i've been playing. free character moves are awesome, but in order to play on the server with my friends that recently started playing, it cost me too much money to do so!! obviously i did it and it didn't bother me so much that i wasn't willing to do it. it just seems like it would be a nice gesture to let us do so for less than 25 bucks a toon.

Well aside from them making money off of the deal, come on lets face it their cost to move a character is minimal, it’s a way for them to keep the volume of moves down. With twelve million subscribers they likely have a lot of transfers every month. I cant imagine what it would be like with a lower fee.

You can check my math but I figure at 12,000,000 subscribers if half a percent (.5) of the people move only 1 character a month Blizzard would be looking at 60,000 moves a month. Let’s say that number is even lower, perhaps .25% of the subscribers move a character in any given month, that’s still 30,000 moves. Times $ 25.00 per move that’s $750,000,00 dollars in revenue just from moves.

I don’t believe that they do these moves manually, but maybe they do. If so it can’t be a major time consuming process and at $25.00 bucks a pop you know they are covering their costs and then some.

 

[Aikouka]

that's probably true.

when is 4.0.3?

Not sure, but I'd say 1-3 weeks before Cata is a safe bet! There are only 5 Tuesdays left until Cataclysm comes out, and it most likely won't be the Tuesday near Thanksgiving. So I'd say most likely the 16th or 30th.

With the release of the HD6870 though I’m seriously looking at upgrading. While I believe a lot of the problems in high population areas of game are not GPU related I can’t see a down side to a faster card. It may be that the flood of information is overwhelming my HD4870 and a better card might just help.

So what’s the general feeling among you the WoW players here, is it a worthwhile upgrade. Again considering the fact that my major games are WoW and Eve Online should I make the move?

The price/performance on the HD6870 is extremely tempting especially compared to my current card. I could also get very good performance out of an Nvidia 1gb 460 (Maybe even the EVGA factory over clocked version… sorry couldn’t resist LOL). But I have had zero issues with the AMD drivers and WoW and prefer to stick with those for new

WoW isn't used much as a benchmark because there is no standard benchmarking tool and everything changes. You can run a script when flying on a taxi to turn everything else off, but that doesn't represent what the game usually has problems with.

I had a bit lower performance with this patch, but that's because it jacked my shadows up to Ultra. It was fine with 1 WoW open, but I normally use two, which was unplayable at 1920x1200 (windowed).

WoW is also very CPU dependent. When first built my i7 computer, the BIOS did not support turbo mode, but once it was added, I saw a good rise in my framerates from only a 300-500 MHz bump. I'm actually really interested in Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs.

As for the 6870, it's alright for the price-point and should beat the 4870, but it's certainly not a high-end card like the 4870.

 

[RatboyX]

I might have to sell off my 300+ spices then. Given I'm not in a guild, I don't care about them .

I'm kinda hoping glyphs might come down in price soon. My Alliance characters have access to their own scribe, but my Horde does not . I'm trying to save money up for my epic flying, but at 70g+ for a single glyph... ouch.

Edit:



I assumed it was just for the period in-between 4.0.3 and the December 7th release date for Cataclysm.

LOL Well it might not be so bad on some servers. You want to make even more though I would suggest you farm some materials and cook up high end buff food. Agility, Haste, Int food appears to be going for decent gold at least on my server. I would do the same but everything I cook goes to my guild.

 

[RatboyX]

Not sure, but I'd say 1-3 weeks before Cata is a safe bet! There are only 5 Tuesdays left until Cataclysm comes out, and it most likely won't be the Tuesday near Thanksgiving. So I'd say most likely the 16th or 30th.



WoW isn't used much as a benchmark because there is no standard benchmarking tool and everything changes. You can run a script when flying on a taxi to turn everything else off, but that doesn't represent what the game usually has problems with.

I had a bit lower performance with this patch, but that's because it jacked my shadows up to Ultra. It was fine with 1 WoW open, but I normally use two, which was unplayable at 1920x1200 (windowed).

WoW is also very CPU dependent. When first built my i7 computer, the BIOS did not support turbo mode, but once it was added, I saw a good rise in my framerates from only a 300-500 MHz bump. I'm actually really interested in Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs.

As for the 6870, it's alright for the price-point and should beat the 4870, but it's certainly not a high-end card like the 4870.

Yeah that’s why I’ve held onto the 4870 as long as I have. I couldn’t justify the cost of a 5870 or Nvidia 480. I’m still playing on ultra settings on the 4870, and in most places it’s fine at my resolution.

My other thought was to wait a bit and see if I can get a good deal on a 5870 when the new high end 69xx card comes out to replace it.

The other thing is that the 470 has dropped in price but again I’m happy at the moment with how my AMD drivers are working with WoW… others may be experiencing problems with their AMD/ATI cards and WoW but for me so far so good.

Interesting about the CPU dependency of WoW. I recently went from a Phenom II X2 550 Callisto at 3.1GHz to a Phenom II X4 965 Deneb at 3.4GHz and I did notice a small improvement. I haven’t done any over clocking since my Barton 2500 days, man that was a sweet CPU, but perhaps I should try with this 965. It would be on stock air cooling though so it’s not optimal.

 

[darkewaffle]

WoW isn't benchmarked because anything can run it. I used to play on my laptop's mobile ati x1400.

Admittedly Cata is supposed to bring some graphical revisions, but because of its player base they'll always make sure it's playable on nearly anything. The high end just got higher, but I doubt the lowend did by much at all.

Also it's a poor benchmark because so much is variable. Addons, location, activity, etc.

6870 would be a good upgrade, as far as raw GPU performance goes, but there's no guarantee it will solve your problem. Especially when your 4870 probably isn't the bottleneck on a game like WoW.

 

[Josh123]

I've been able to play with everything on Ultra minus Shadows and I get 60 FPS everywhere, even Dalaran. Granted I'm on Kalecgos and the population is low, but the only time I have to turn my graphics down is agains Lord Marrowgar because of all the fire. I'm running with a 8800GTS 512mb and Intel E8400 clocked at 3.6ghz I believe.

 

[Scotteq]

Almost no one uses WoW as a benchmark. The only site I see with WoW benchmarks, and that only from time to time, is Anandtech. With a reported twelve million WoW subscribers I would think there is at least some interest in which hardware runs the game well.

People don't use WoW as a benchmark because it lacks a couple qualities required by all good benchies: Consistency and Repeatability. You can run laps around Dalaran all day, and every lap has the potential to be slightly different from the others. It's that lack of consistency that makes it a bad benchmark.

There are general rules, however: WoW likes good/fast/plenty of memory, a reasonably fast hard drive, and a reasonably fast processor. It will also make use of whatever physical cores are available, though in my experience does not load them all heavily. (I have an i7, tho. So YMMV)

 

[kehlsi]

so i'm sure i'm not the only one, but i'm so frustrated with the dispelling changes moreso than anything else...i think. shaman dispelling just feels so much different being unable to dispel poisons and diseases after being able to for so long. paladin cleanse is nearly as bad! we were duoing bwl last night and my friend was on his shaman and i on my paladin. this should have never been an issue on chromaggus before but now that niether of us can dispel magic and only i can dispel the poison and disease, the fight was much more difficult and we lost twice. it was late so we'll go back and try again later i guess, but this really put into perspective how much different dispelling is now.

 

[Davidpaul007]

Yeah that’s why I’ve held onto the 4870 as long as I have. I couldn’t justify the cost of a 5870 or Nvidia 480. I’m still playing on ultra settings on the 4870, and in most places it’s fine at my resolution.

My other thought was to wait a bit and see if I can get a good deal on a 5870 when the new high end 69xx card comes out to replace it.

The other thing is that the 470 has dropped in price but again I’m happy at the moment with how my AMD drivers are working with WoW… others may be experiencing problems with their AMD/ATI cards and WoW but for me so far so good.

Interesting about the CPU dependency of WoW. I recently went from a Phenom II X2 550 Callisto at 3.1GHz to a Phenom II X4 965 Deneb at 3.4GHz and I did notice a small improvement. I haven’t done any over clocking since my Barton 2500 days, man that was a sweet CPU, but perhaps I should try with this 965. It would be on stock air cooling though so it’s not optimal.

I would be surprised if a graphics card update did anything for you. I'm running on a E8500 @ 3.16 (I don't think it's OC'd anymore...) with a 4890 on Ultra and the only time I ever see any stutter is when Dal is packed...and I agree with another post, I think it's either a) CPU bottleneck or b) Blizzard server/client bottleneck.

 

[JujuFish]

I assumed it was just for the period in-between 4.0.3 and the December 7th release date for Cataclysm.

The "until his ruinous reign is brought to an end" seems to imply a much longer time period.

 

[Cookie]

I remember when I moved to Alleria... it cost me $250 :\. Someone tells me, "you should go Horde and come to my server!". I just laugh and say, "Yeah, it's not worth $600, sorry!" Changing factions + server transfer = $55 :\.

But you really SHOULD go Horde and come to my server!

I didn't know it was extra to change faction and the same time you change servers.

 

[lupi]

here them roar:

Warrior (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arms
Mortal Strike now reduces healing by 10%, down from 25%.

 

[Anubis]

Not on my server… price gouging has begun

humm im gonna have to look at mine, i have a couple thousand spices i can get rid of

 

[RatboyX]

here them roar:

Warrior (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arms
Mortal Strike now reduces healing by 10%, down from 25%.

ACK..... It's raioning Nerfs hallelujah it's raining nerfs AMEN

 

[guyver01]

The unfortunate victims of his malice will receive a rare Feat of Strength... as well as a repair bill and corpse run.

Looks like the achievement is called Stood in the Fire

http://db.mmo-champion.com/a/5518/stood-in-the-fire/

 

[Aikouka]

So they released the female Worgen dance...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYK0HCuLO2w

Do I spot some Dead or Alive style jiggle in there?

 

[Josh123]

here them roar:

Warrior (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arms
Mortal Strike now reduces healing by 10%, down from 25%.

You serious? Wow, that's so freakin gay.

 

[Anubis]

all MS effects have been killed, pretty sure everyone saw that coming

 

[lupi]

Update - Female Worgen Dance
The Female Worgen dance is finally available and is based on Poker Face from Lady Gaga.

 

[Anubis]

watched the vid and like most ali dances it sucks, also i didn't even know there was a poker face dance


northern spice sells for less then 1G per on my server