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The AT World of Warcraft Thread (Where do you play) and general BS

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From WoWInsider:

Blue poster Bornakk has clarified what many people were noticing yesterday: all Burning Crusade raiding mobs have had their health reduced (approximately 30 percent according to data collected). He also goes on to say that the mobs will be doing less physical damage, although the spell damage will remain the same.

As far my close and personal friend Illidan goes, he will no longer be casting Shear. While I understand the need for this, as a Warrior can no longer spam Shield Block come patch 3.0.2, I will miss this particular mechanic in that it truly provided a test of skill above the standard tank and spank mechanic.
 
Well, blocking shear wasn't _that_ big a deal, not much different than fear stance dancing, and it also makes it possible for a non-warrior to tank the fight as well now.

 
Originally posted by: Glayde
Well, blocking shear wasn't _that_ big a deal, not much different than fear stance dancing, and it also makes it possible for a non-warrior to tank the fight as well now.

we have had Palys tank illidan for a long time, its pretty damn easy, and they dont get sheared
 
I went through and did The Nexus: The Nexus, Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep and Azjol-Nerub: Azjol-Nerub last night (yes, the names of the opening instances are that repetitive 😛). My god, they're so short 😱. I think the shortest one was probably Azjol-Nerub, which only had maybe 12 trash pulls combined between the three bosses. Nexus was probably the longest of the three but that could also be because it had four bosses compared to three in the others.

I'm not sure how I feel about them being so short though. I mean, it's nice that you don't have to plan an evening around being in an instance, but the instances almost seem insignificant now... they're almost like expanded group quests 😱.
 
Originally posted by: Aikouka

I'm not sure how I feel about them being so short though. I mean, it's nice that you don't have to plan an evening around being in an instance, but the instances almost seem insignificant now... they're almost like expanded group quests 😱.

I'd welcome the change, at least for some of the instances. I've got a lot of find memories of running through shorter instances like SM, Mara, & DM on a whim. I don't want to see the typical three-hour instance go away, but it's always nice to have options 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Aikouka
I went through and did The Nexus: The Nexus, Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Keep and Azjol-Nerub: Azjol-Nerub last night (yes, the names of the opening instances are that repetitive 😛). My god, they're so short 😱. I think the shortest one was probably Azjol-Nerub, which only had maybe 12 trash pulls combined between the three bosses. Nexus was probably the longest of the three but that could also be because it had four bosses compared to three in the others.

I'm not sure how I feel about them being so short though. I mean, it's nice that you don't have to plan an evening around being in an instance, but the instances almost seem insignificant now... they're almost like expanded group quests 😱.

I was going to make a list saying if I never entered an instance like....., but then I realized it would include about everyone included prior to the release of BC. Hell, even deadmines got to be a drag after awhile. I haven't done the 2 low horde instances, but the stormwind prison is the only one I could say I didn't mind it's size. It's just way too difficult to be certain of a successfull run for most of those runs unless you are doing in strictly with known friends (and I really despise those that just say well do it with your guild only).

Besides, with professions, reps, pvp, achievements and others there are plenty of in game time sinks already. Don't need one where you hope to get a tank & healer, that they're competant, and that everyone will stay through the run to give you a chance that the item you want will drop and that you win the roll. Add to the fact that dungeon runs are being used as a rep source, I really don't want more BRD pull shitty ass trash packs for 4 hours to spend 1/10th that time fighting a couple bosses.
 
Originally posted by: lupi
I was going to make a list saying if I never entered an instance like....., but then I realized it would include about everyone included prior to the release of BC. Hell, even deadmines got to be a drag after awhile. I haven't done the 2 low horde instances, but the stormwind prison is the only one I could say I didn't mind it's size. It's just way too difficult to be certain of a successfull run for most of those runs unless you are doing in strictly with known friends (and I really despise those that just say well do it with your guild only).

Besides, with professions, reps, pvp, achievements and others there are plenty of in game time sinks already. Don't need one where you hope to get a tank & healer, that they're competant, and that everyone will stay through the run to give you a chance that the item you want will drop and that you win the roll. Add to the fact that dungeon runs are being used as a rep source, I really don't want more BRD pull shitty ass trash packs for 4 hours to spend 1/10th that time fighting a couple bosses.

Reputation in WotLK is a huge joke at best. Right now, I'm already max reputation with the Valiance Expedition. I'm just revered with the Kalu'ak (walrus people) and they have three daily quests that I've found so far which give 500 reputation. Oddly enough, wowhead shows there being more Kalu'ak quests in Moaki Harbor, Dragonblight, but when I was there, I only saw one quest giver 🙁. I think the only groups you may have problems getting decent rep with are Wyrmrest Accord (I don't have access to their dailies yet), Kirin'tor and the Silver Covenant. Maybe the Expedition people too, but they're not too bad as long as you do Howling Fjord. I haven't met the Sons of Ho'dir yet though... I'm pretty sure they're in Storm Peaks and I still have to finish Grizzly Hills and all of Sholazzar Basin before I go there.

I do like that it isn't such a huge investment to do a run, but I guess that devotion of time makes the event feel like it has more meaning... like you need to complete this because you're using up a bunch of time that you could be farming, questing, etc'ing 😛.

Originally posted by: DirthNader
I'd welcome the change, at least for some of the instances. I've got a lot of find memories of running through shorter instances like SM, Mara, & DM on a whim. I don't want to see the typical three-hour instance go away, but it's always nice to have options 🙂

Well, the thing is, when someone wants to do SM, typically they are doing it for a drop or for the quest... which involves three of the four wings. The same happens for Maraudon where you're either doing orange, purple or inner for drops or you're doing the entire shebang for the quests (which is most likely going to be the case). Those are significantly long instances unless you're being lead through.

Oh and I really like the new Rune Strike... can't complain about 4.5k crits 😀.
 
Originally posted by: AikoukaWell, the thing is, when someone wants to do SM, typically they are doing it for a drop or for the quest... which involves three of the four wings. The same happens for Maraudon where you're either doing orange, purple or inner for drops or you're doing the entire shebang for the quests (which is most likely going to be the case). Those are significantly long instances unless you're being lead through.

I've leveled a number of characters through those instances, and I don't think I've ever run every wing of SM or DM in one sitting. I did all of Mara once, and that's because outer sucks so bad compared to inner that once we got done with outer we decided to reward ourselves for surviving the tedium by continuing on.

I don't want to see every instance go that way, but I'd love to see even half of the new instances adopt a 1 hour playthrough target for experienced players.
 
I love the winged concept, since you can do one wing quickly. Then if you want the whole experience you can easily do all of them.

Are they still doing the whole wear the tabard of a particular faction and you get rep from killing mobs for that faction?
 
Originally posted by: nanobreath
I love the winged concept, since you can do one wing quickly. Then if you want the whole experience you can easily do all of them.

Are they still doing the whole wear the tabard of a particular faction and you get rep from killing mobs for that faction?

I've read that the whole tabard thing is for level 80 instances only, so I'm really not too sure how it works (as I'm only 76 almost 77 at this point).

Originally posted by: DirthNader
I've leveled a number of characters through those instances, and I don't think I've ever run every wing of SM or DM in one sitting. I did all of Mara once, and that's because outer sucks so bad compared to inner that once we got done with outer we decided to reward ourselves for surviving the tedium by continuing on.

I don't want to see every instance go that way, but I'd love to see even half of the new instances adopt a 1 hour playthrough target for experienced players.

No one ever runs every wing of Dire Maul unless they're really bored... those wings are distinct quest-wise as I don't recall a single one that requires you to run all three wings to complete one quest. Heck, the only reason you'd do Dire Maul East is when you could do the cheating quick runs. West is for Paladin and Warlock mount quests and North is (was) for getting Quel'Serrar or turning in your librams or class books.

I've almost always done all of SM in one sitting, which is mostly because the only reason I go there is to complete the quest and get the reward. If the reward is not good for the class I'm playing, I will not do SM. It's simply too far out of the way. I think the only reason someone would really want to do one area and not the other in SM is because unlike other winged dungeons, SM wings have different level ranges. This isn't really true for DM but is kind of true for Maraudon (the orange area certainly is more forgiving of being a lower level than going into Inner Maraudon). SM Graveyard can be done at level 31 or so where I'd recommend being around 39-41 for SM Chapel. Also, the drops are very distinctive in certain areas of SM. If you're a caster, you most likely want to do SM Library to get some of Doan's drops. If you're a warrior, shaman or paladin, you most likely want SM Armory for Herod's drops. SM Chapel is more healer centric though.
 
I played the shit out of all the DM wings back when it came out. Me and my friends loved that place! Soooo many tribute runs to get all of the casters that staff. Hell, recently I went back there on my 70 warrior just to see if I could solo everything and I could (no tribute -- just killed all of the bosses/guards). Good fun!
 
I am glad to announce my new druid is finally level 20. Bear form is such a pain... Too bad a cat at 20 doesn't have most of his abilities yet, but I'll manage. Nethercleft leg armor really makes starting area leveling easy.
 
New beta build.





Death Knight (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Blood

Blade Barrier now increase your parry chance by 2/4/6/8/10% for 10 seconds whenever your Blood Runes are on cooldown. (Old - Only worked whenever you had no runes active)
Heart Strike damage has been increased. (From 50% Weapon Damage plus 184 and 92 damage per disease to 60% Weapon Damage plus 220 and 110 damage per disease)
Dark Command's range has been increased to 20 yards. (Up from 5 yards)

Frost

Frost Presence - The death knight takes on the presence of frost, increasing total health by 10%, armor contribution from items by 60% (Up from 45%), and reducing spell damage taken by 5%. Increases threat generated.
Black Ice now Increases your Frost and Shadow damage by 6/12/18/24/30%. (Up from 3/6/9/12/15%) (Note : Doesn't affect shadow anymore, (Source))
Frost Strike can't be dodged, blocked, or parried anymore.
Tundra Stalker now increases the damage of Icy Touch by 5/10/15/20/25%. (Down from 20/40/60/80/100%)
Rune Strike has been changed to Strike the target for 200% weapon damage plus [ 20% of AP ]. Only usable after an attack is dodged or parried. Can't be dodged, blocked, or parried. (Old - Instantly strike the target for 65% weapon damage. Only usable after the Death Knight performs a critical hit with an ability that causes a disease.)

Unholy

Blood-Caked Blade now gives Your auto attacks have a 10/20/30% (Up from 5/10/15%) chance to cause a Blood-Caked Strike, which hits for 25% weapon damage plus 12.5% for each of your diseases on the target.
Scourge Strike damage has been lowered. (From 60% Weapon Damage plus 226 and 113 damage per disease to 60% Weapon Damage plus 190 and 95 damage per disease)

Druid (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Feral

Predatory instinct now reduces the damage taken from area of effect attacks by 10/20/30%. (Up from 5/10/15%)
Dire Bear Form armor contribution from items has been lowered from 400% to 370%
Growl range has been increased from 5 yards to 20 yards

Restoration

Wild Growth healing value has been greatly increased. (Up from 350 to 686 for Rank 1, 469 to 861 for Rank 2, 805 to 1239 for Rank 3, 1085 to 1442 for Rank 4)

Balance

Moonkin Form - Armor Contribution from items has been lowered from 400% to 370%.

Hunter (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Marksmanship

Marked for Death now Increases your damage done by your shots and the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 1/2/3% (down from 2/4/6%) on marked targets, and increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Aimed Shot, Steady Shot, Kill Shot or Chimera Shot by 2/4/6%.

Mage (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Arcane

Torment the Weak doesn't affect all damage anymore, damage increased. Your Frostbolt, Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Arcane Missiles, and Arcane Barrage abilities deal 4/8/12% more damage to Snared targets. (Old - All damage you cause to Snared targets is increased by 2/4/6%)
Missile Barrage proc chance has been increased to 4/8/12/16%. (Up from 3/6/9/12%)

Paladin (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Holy

Divine Plea - You gain 25% of your total mana over 15 sec, but the amount healed by your spells is reduced by 20%. (Down from 100%)

Glyphs

Glyph of Flash of Light - Your Flash of Light heals for 50% less initially, but also heals for 140% of its inital effect over 12 sec. (Down from 15 seconds)
Glyph of Holy Light - Your Holy Light grants 10% of its heal amount to up to 5 friendly targets within 100 yds (up from 5 yds) of the initial target.

Priest (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Discipline

Improved Power Word: Fortitude has been moved to tier 2.
Improved Power Word: Shield has been moved to tier 3.

Rogue (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Combat

Blade Twisting (Rank 2) now has a chance to daze the target for 8 sec. (Up from 4 sec)

Subtlety

Enveloping Shadows now reduces the damage taken by area of effect attacks by 10/20/30%. (Up from 5/10/15%)

Shaman (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Elemental

Improved Fire Nova Totem doesn't have a chance to stun targets anymore and will reduce their movement speed instead.

Enhancement

Flurry attack speed increase has been modified to 10/15/20/25/30%. (Up from 5/10/15/20/25%)
Dual Wield Specialization now increases your chance to hit while dual wielding by 2/4/6%. (Up from 1/2/3%)
Maelstrom Weapon now has a 100% chance to reduce the cast time of your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Burst, Lesser Healing Wave, Chain Heal or Healing Wave spell by 20%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec. (Up from 3/6/9/12/15% chance)

Glyphs

Glyph of Earth Elemental Totem - Reduces the cooldown of your Earth Elemental Totem by 4 min. (Up from 3 min)
Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem - Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Elemental Totem by 4 min. (Up from 3 min)

Warlock (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Destruction

Molten Core duration has been increased. Your Shadow spells and damage over time effects have a 5/10/15% chance to increase the damage of your Fire spells by 10% for 12 sec. (Up from 6 sec)

Affliction

Improved Corruption now Increases the damage done by your Corruption by 6/8/10% (Down from 12/16/20%), and increases the critical strike chance of your Seed of Corruption by 5%

Warrior (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9038))
Arms

Strength of Arms now Increases your total Strength and Stamina by 2/4% and your Expertise by 2/4. (Old - Increases your total Strength and total health by 2/4%.)
Sudden Death now let you keep 3/7/10 rage after using Execute.

Fury

Unending Fury has been revamped and doesn't reduce rage cost of abilities anymore. Now Increases the damage done by your Slam, Whirlwind and Bloodthirst abilities by 2/4/6/8/10%.
Execute base damage has been slightly increased (1266 to 1456 for max rank) , additional damage from Attack Power stays at 20%.

Protection

Taunt's range has been increased to 20 yards. (Up from 5 yards)
 
Just bought WoW and installing it as we speak. I'm in for a world of hurt. I loved Diablo II, so I think I'll like this too.

Any suggestions for a newb? Guides?
 
What type of character do you like to play in these fantasy settings?

For a wow first timer the easiest to learn would probably be non-prot warrior, hunter, rogue, mage, shadow priest, and possibly lock (similar to hunter in some respects as far as management but more coordination required due to pets being less functional than hunter equivalent)


I'd stay away from the 3 hybrid classes unless you do a bit of reading on them first and have a good understanding of their talent systems as it will have the most profound effect on them.

You can get some UI mods that will virtually lead you around for the quest, lightheaded, questhelper, tourguide, cartagropher are some. They will have about 75% + of the zone set up for the best completion route, those it skips are either fedex quest or quest that used to involve an elite (most outdoor elites nerfed a couple patches ago) or involve a dungeon.

For you it may be worthwhile to do some lower level dungeon runs as if you do get in any group most likely at least one other player will be overgeared for it or most of the others are experienced in it. Until you get a hang of doing group events like that and become more familiar with your character, just be sure to let the others know you're a newb so you can get some advice and they'll know how to act depending on what your group role is.


Also don't worry about the in game idiot factor and ask any question you have; while you'll get back retard answers at a 9-1 rate, those that actually answer will probably be giving you acurate info that can at least get you by whatever is your current problem till you can do more time reading later.

Normally I'd say whatever class you pick make sure you read up on the talents as if you screw up or want to change it gets costly quick if you do it often, but I expect all talent points to be reset next week so you'll have a chance to do a bit of hands on experimenting till then.


Unless you're really read up on professions, don't bother with taking a crafting one now, I'd go after 2 gathering. Bank what ever you get till you decide you know what crafting you want (if you want one), then you have some banked mats and you could then auction off the othe ones. About the only exception to this is tailoring or enchanting: tailoring goes mostly with cloth that drops off human mob kills and enchanting can give you the first 50 point from disenchanting items you get from quest rewards or drops.
 
Originally posted by: Alone
Just bought WoW and installing it as we speak. I'm in for a world of hurt. I loved Diablo II, so I think I'll like this too.

Any suggestions for a newb? Guides?

Which server are you going to play on? Which type PVE or PVP or RP?

For references, www.wowhead.com and wowwiki.com are excellent. Almost any question you have can be answered on those two sites.
 
picking a DPS (damage per second) class or talent spec will help you level faster (as opposed to a tanking or healing spec on certain chars).

if you're new to the game and want to explore, you're probably better off picking a PvE server so that you aren't liable to get ganked each time you encounter a horde (player versus player combat on PvE server is by default turned off). some people get discouraged if they have to run back to their corpse multiple times due to being surprised by other players of the opposite faction.

as lupi said, you're better off picking 2 gathering professions (herbalism, mining, skinning) to make money for primary; every other primary profession tends to be "crafting" and require a huge amount of materials to make items or otherwise skillup. On the other hand, gathering professions usually require matswise just a profession item (ie minng pick for mining, skinning knife for skinning) and occasional trips to the profession trainer for a higher max skillup.

if you're a packrat and there's alot of items you simply can't vendor or otherwise want to hold onto, create additional characters, station them in a capital city near a mailbox and bank, and mail stuff to them. you can have up to 10 characters on one server.

while leveling up, don't worry too much about your gear; you can get by on lower levels changing gear every 7-10 levels (and frankly, 1-3 difference in stats is not a big deal)....with the exception of your weapons AND class spells/talents. Those you should try to update when possible.

good guide for leveling (James for ally, Joanna's for horde I believe):
http://www.wow-pro.com/levelin...liance_leveling_guides

powerlevel your professions 1-300, 300-375:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft....html?topicId=102789457

elitistjerks is the place for theorycrafters / WoW math geeks 🙂
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/
 
I normally just use normal stance on my warrior. If going berserk, do you use whirlwind often when against a solo foe, or just multiples?
 
Originally posted by: lupi
I normally just use normal stance on my warrior. If going berserk, do you use whirlwind often when against a solo foe, or just multiples?

Against single as a rage dump yes.
 
Originally posted by: Alone
I started as a Nightelf Druid. Was this a bad idea for a first character?

for the hybrid classes, druids are one of the best established pre-wrath: but you still need to have a decent idea of how to play/spec/ and gear them. I haven't been by the druid forums in awhile, but I'd read up on specs and gear to make sure you are pointed in the right direction. You have a week trial period before changes come, but at least you'll know where to go without making your char dreadfull to play.
 
Originally posted by: Alone
I started as a Nightelf Druid. Was this a bad idea for a first character?

Considering the versatility of the Druid both in TBC and upcoming in wrath as far as brand new players are concerned I would recommend that class to anyone. It will permit you to get a taste of everything in the trifecta (DPS, Tanking, Healing) as well as permit you to try out both caster and melee style DPS. From there you can continue to enjoy the Druid as your main or opt to go with another class as you learn more about them through playing and group.

Enjoy the first time experience! I wish I could do it again.
 
Almost 80 on my Death Knight and it's been pretty crazy so far. I've done all the instances up to (but not including) Gundrak and I must reaffirm that they are all pretty darned easy. Although, we did wipe in Ahn'aket: The Old Kingdom (TOK) when we had two pats join da party, mon. The Druid healer was able to use the super nifty new Shadowmeld and pretty much act like he got DI'd.

I also found one of the few elite mobs in the world that I cannot solo... Shade of Arugal. It would be possible, but when he goes to summon 8 mobs, which I would normally just say out of their aggro range so they disappear, the quest giver comes up to help and aggros them all... which sends them onto me 🙁. 8 mobs + elite as Blood = not so good. Although, if I were level 80 and had Army of the Dead, I'd probably say something witty like, "Oh, so that's how we're gunna play!" and raise my army (to which they'd probably just instantly die as my ghoul instantly dies if I try to raise him).

But in every instance I've been in, I'm usually top DPS as a Blood Death Knight... I did lose once to a Ret Paladin at a lower level and would probably lose again... they're pretty powerful overall. My brother always tells me how craptacular his damage is and how much he hates Affliction for instances. Even in his T6, I still deal about 50% more damage.
 
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