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[Son of Godzilla]

Travel - It takes about 8-10 minutes to fly from uc in Northern Lordaeron to the very tip of Azeroth in Booty Bay. That's on a flying mount. Travel time is really speeded up using mages/warlocks to teleport too. It's not very long at all, which is good because alot of quests span the world.

Hunters, at least for me up to the 30s, are great for groups. The pets are very adaptable tanks, and they generate very little aggro while having moderately strong fast hitting ranged dps. They still need work though. And so far the only effect races have are +1-2 varying starting stats.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

Heh, I could spend as much time talking about and hyping this game as I actually play... most because my net is screwy which limits my play time

"Travel Times - How are they?"
I just made a test. Running from the top of one of the continents, following roads to Ironforge, then taking the tram to Stormwind and run the rest of the way, took an hour.
You can get pretty much anywhere in fifteen minutes, depending of course on which gryphon lines you already have. Most flights take a minute or two, as do the boat rides between the continents. Few zones can't be reached with two or three gryphon rides and a short walk.

FFXI is ridiculous. It's really obvious when they put in teleports from one side of a town to the other, because it takes TOO DAMN LONG to run across (with multiple load times). Oh, and there are NO load times in WoW. Only short pauses when you enter an instance or switch continents, and Chris Sigaty claimed that it was because you are actually transferred to another server. If I got it right, Kalimdor, Azeroth and instances are on three separate servers. When the a server crashes, sometimes you can stay a while on one of the other two... you just see all your friends log off from the others.

Anyway.

"Exp grinding curve? - How is it?"
There are enough quests for you to take. By the time you finish all quests at your level in an area, you will have outlevelled it. I've only grinded for exp a few times when I didn't want to pull together a group for a few harder quests. Four-five big quests together with all the combat exp will usually earn you a level.

"Soooo, are Hunters not so good in groups? Or do they work as well as other classes?"
There are no differences in stats between races. A tauren hunter is just as good as a dwarven hunter, only five times larger. Pick your favorite.
As for grouping, hunters seem to work rather well. I haven't gotten my hunter very high, but lately I've done a lot of questing with hunters and there is no problem.

 

[MrCheez]

mrcheez,

thanks. Travel times scares me a bit :\ We'll see...

Another thing about traveling in WoW that might make you less worried - there are no loading screens between zones. The only time you ever see one is when taking a zeppelin or boat between islands or continents. You can pop in and out of cities or in and out of areas seamlessly.

I know Hunters are still new in implementation. This confuses me.. as I also hear that the undead have the only race traits so far. How can these basic skills/attributes not even be implemented if this game is going to release in November (possibly?)

I can understand if they needed balancing, but not even having things implemented doesn't sound like it's anywhere near ready to launch for an MMO.

The thing is, they've been working on these things in internal testing for a long time (I'm assuming), they just haven't been opened up to closed beta peeps yet.

I'm so confident that WoW is going to release in November because the patch 2-3 weeks ago introudced talents to two classes. The patch a little over a week ago gave warlocks 2 out of their three talent trees. The only classes left that need talents are Hunters and Paladins... so it seems very doable to me. Hopefully I'm right!

 

[SyNapSe]

"Soooo, are Hunters not so good in groups? Or do they work as well as other classes?"
There are no differences in stats between races. A tauren hunter is just as good as a dwarven hunter, only five times larger. Pick your favorite.
As for grouping, hunters seem to work rather well. I haven't gotten my hunter very high, but lately I've done a lot of questing with hunters and there is no problem.

Ok, I just spent a bunch of time reading on the WoW beta boards, and it definately seems like Hunters are pretty good even without talents. Most of those people seem to feel that Hunters aren't really needed in groups It's not surprising.

I really hope they implement racial stats at the least, if not special abilities. I know each class has tree's they can go into. It would be nice if you could align your race with the tree you wanted to be best at also. For Instance, if Hunters had 3 tree's.. one melee, one ranged, and one a mix or pet abilities.

If Tauren's were strongest physically you coudl mix that with the melee tree to make yourself a solid melee threat along with your Ranged attack. Or you could pick a more agile, lithe race + the ranged attack tree to make yourself the ultimate sniper at the cost of having poor melee.

What I'm trying to say is I like customization, damnit!

 

[SiegfriedFM]

But then if you wanted to be a sneaky hunter, you would HAVE to choose a Night Elf. Blizzard doesn't work that way. All hunters can be sneaky, OR melee'y, OR whatever they come up with.

Besides, having races have really different stats and skills would mean that there is a perfect combination somewhere. Why choose a human priest if the NE priest has naturally more spirit and intelligence? Would ANYONE who wanted a Horde warrior make anything other than a tauren if the tauren was much stronger than an undead, orc or troll? It would mean that every race would only be used if they happened to be the best at any class.

 

[SyNapSe]

I understand that people from The Horde aren't able to speak or do missions with people from The Alliance? Is this correct? So we would need a GAF clan for both alliance and Horde?

Or at some point are they able to intermingle. It wouldn't make much sense I suppose if they are at war.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

They aren't formally at war. Blizzard seems a bit indecisive on this, but most quest NPCs plainly state that the war is over. Stormwind isn't at war with the Horde. Still, renegade groups on both sides don't want to stop fighting. It's a bit like the Israel/Palestine conflict, really. No group is right or wrong, they just can't stop hating each other because of too much history.

In many later quests have you talk to neutral NPCs who often try to get the factions to work together.

I think that eventually you will be able to learn the languages of the other faction, otherwise there wouldn't be much reason to have a skill for it.

 

[El Papa]

In one of the Beta forum threads, a Blizzard admin stated that you CAN learn the language of another race, and in the content of the question asked I took it took it to also mean that there can be cross faction learning of langueges, I'm not sure if it was implemented at this point though.

 

[MrCheez]

It seems like you'll be able to learn the languages of the other faction eventually, but you'll never be able to group or trade with them. Which is why I was suggesting we do two GAF servers.

When the game gets closer to launch, I'll make a thread so we can all decide on what servers to choose and how we want to do it. (If no one else makes that thread, anyway)

 

[SyNapSe]

Besides, having races have really different stats and skills would mean that there is a perfect combination somewhere. Why choose a human priest if the NE priest has naturally more spirit and intelligence?

I found this.. that's what I was looking for I guess..

Base Character Attributes

Starting character stats in the World of Warcraft can not be changed before or after character creation. Each race has around 100 base attribute points which are distributed among the five attributes as shown by the following table:
Base Stats
Strength Agility Stamina Intellect Spirit Total
Dwarf 22 16 23 19 19 99
Gnome 15 23 19 23 20 100
Human 20 20 20 20 20 100
Night Elf 17 25 19 20 20 101
Orc 23 17 22 17 23 102
Tauren 25 15 22 15 22 99
Troll 21 22 21 16 21 101
Undead 19 18 21 18 25 101

Orange indicates the race with the highest value for the specified stat.
Green indicates the race with the lowest value for the specified stat.

From here

Maybe, it's been changed recently.

 

[clipunderground]

I found this.. that's what I was looking for I guess..



From here

Maybe, it's been changed recently.

Nice find. I've been looking for something like this..

 

[SyNapSe]

Nice find. I've been looking for something like this..

That site, also has a 'Talent Calculator'. That's how I ended up their. It allows you to plot out how you could apply your talent points across the 3 tree's you have to put points into. I love screwing around with these calculator things

On Topic. Shaman seems very cool from messing around with the calculator and looking at their skills! Anyway here play Shaman in Beta? Seems like depending on where you put your skill points you could go Buffing, Melee, Elemental magic.. or any combination of all.

 

[MrCheez]

A buddy of mine played a shaman and loved it... actually... every shaman I have ever talked to has loved their class. They can use shields, eventually wear chain, heal, and plant totems that do various things (usually buffs, but he got one eventually that shot fireballs!)

 

[Son of Godzilla]

I've got mixed feelings about those totems. The low level ones seem so beyond pointless. Wow, an extra 5-6 dmg every 3 seconds, or reduced dmg by -11. Maybe it's because I'm a mage and getting hit always hurts, no matter the dr. Some of the upper level ones though are insane. Spell block and earth bind and the taunt one are just superb.

The only thing I'm a bit disappointed about this game is the lack of diversity. This might be alleviated with racial bonuses, but I don't see anything becoming violently different. As of right now there's no real difference besides classes. And there's only what, 9 classes?

 

[clipunderground]

OWNED BY BLIZZARD :lol (From VN BOARDS)

I was browsing a bit on the beta boards when I saw a thread about naming policy which had a Blizzard response. Curious, I entered the fray once again.

Indica was upset because his name was changed and he couldn't understand how his love for all things Indian was a violation of the policy. People said it was a drug reference and the player denied his reason for naming himself Indica was about drugs.

Here's the Blizzard response:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q u o t e:
My character used to be named Indica which basically means of or relating to India, which is possibly my favorite place on earth. I log on today after school and find out my name has been changed to Omilan. What in the world is going on?

I page a GM and explain my problem and get told that because there is a strain of cannabis that happens to be cannabis indica, my name is therefore a drug reference and was changed. My name is not a drug reference. My name is a culture reference: India. Suddenly an entire culture is narrowed down to a single plant? This is massively insulting.

If somebody can roll up an entire culture, an entire continental region and everything native to it, and throw it out the window, ignoring everything bit a single plant that grows there and call every bit of it a 'drug reference,' I am outraged.

I will not ask to get my name changed. It will be a testament to pure ignorance and abuse of policy. I am not asking for pity. I write this only to inform and add my name to the obituaries.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The part that I seem to have the most problem understanding in this is the following.... You had another character name changed at the same time named "Kindbud". I am sure this had to do with being a gardener of some sort as well. Fact is, you had two clear drug references. One was clearer to most, than the other. However, I simply have a hard time believing your other name mysteriously had to do with India, when it is another references to the same drug. I just wanted to get your clarification on the entire story. I just noticed you left another huge fact out.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maleki
In-game Support Manager

 

[Razoric]

:lol

OWNED! Blizzard support rocks so hardcore.

 

[Razoric]

BTW, I've been reading some posts on the WoW Beta Forum and it does seem like the end of Nov / beg of Dec is becoming more and more of a reality. Seems like they are saving a lot of features for after release and concentrating on bug killing and balancing. Some might complain but I see this as a very good thing. I can wait for some things like weather and hero classes, I want to start building my character NOW. I'm tired of reading about it, I want to PLAY it.

 

[Grey Fox]

See this post for why PvP servers are bleh:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?FN=wow-pvp&T=21168&P=1

We'd have to deal with cowardly griefer guilds like DiE.Also,you can PvP just as much on normal servers as PvP servers,you just can't attack anyone when you please.

 

[Razoric]

Yeah I'm all for PvP, but I will be playing on the normal servers. The PvP servers will be a bunch of kids going on gank runs every 2 minutes. Not fun.

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

so yea...when the hell is this "open beta" suppossed to jump off?

 

[Razoric]

so yea...when the hell is this "open beta" suppossed to jump off?

At least 2 more closed beta patches before open beta... i would expect around halloween.

:O

 

[clipunderground]

DAMN YOU BETA!! LET ME TOUCH YOU!!!

 

[Razoric]

Gamespy says October 14th, but a Blizz employee said on the forums that it is obviously a mistake since they dont even have the sign-ups started yet.

 

[MrCheez]

Blizzard is a jerk. Why have an "Open beta soon!" announcement right before a 3 day weekend... then have NOTHING occur during that three day weekend!? Bah, jerks! T_T

 

[AeroGod]

Blizzard is a jerk. Why have an "Open beta soon!" announcement right before a 3 day weekend... then have NOTHING occur during that three day weekend!? Bah, jerks! T_T

Errr, HOW long have you been a Blizzard fan? You should have been expecting this. Open BEta sign-ups might be someime this week with the actual Open Beta starting Late October...or probably more likely early november. They already said there would be at least 2 more patches untill Open Beta starts, that leaves at least 2 weeks more likely 3 untill it starts.

 

[MrCheez]

Of course I know and expect it, but that doesn't stop me from having a shred of hope that makes me refresh the damn site 10,000 times a day! T_T

 

[SyNapSe]

I can't wait! Open beta will rock.. I'm horrifically indecisive, so I'll get the chance to pre-tryout a few classes.

Shaman sounds cool, it's always nice to have the ability to do a bit of everything. From the WoW beta boards you get the impression they might be a bit overpowered right now (or others are underpowered).

I always want to be that jack-of-all-trades type, but it normally ends up being a terrible thing. It seems like in the end these do it all jobs tend to end up being defined as "gimp" healer, or crappy damage compared to <insert Warrior, Mage, etc.>

 

[hiryu]

New patch today.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

Until they fix the IF flight bug then they have a way to go before this thing is ready for Prime time.

The game crashes for some when they attempt to ride a griff into or out of IF.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

Patch sounds nice. They've addressed a lot of new bugs and added a bunch of features. Remains to see how this decay system works... I hated how fast it was in Morrowind, I spent more money getting my stuff in good condition than I spent buying it to begin with.

 

[cvkpaladin]

Yeah, new patch today but still no talents for Paladins. I have a lvl 60 Paladin and realize that I picked the wrong class. Should have been a Warrior. Paladins at the moment are subpar at the high-end game and if no improvements occur by retail, I will definitely be choosing a different class.

 

[clipunderground]

Yeah, new patch today but still no talents for Paladins. I have a lvl 60 Paladin and realize that I picked the wrong class. Should have been a Warrior. Paladins at the moment are subpar at the high-end game and if no improvements occur by retail, I will definitely be choosing a different class.

How long did it take you to get to level 60 if you don't mind me asking?

 

[SyNapSe]

:lol people are crazy angry about the patch on those WoW beta boards.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

:lol people are crazy angry about the patch on those WoW beta boards.

They always bitch and they always play.

 

[cvkpaladin]

Took me a little while to get to lvl 60. But, I started playing since the Stress Test if that gives you any indication. If you're on the PvP Server, look me up. Name is Montoyax. Blizzard ruined my name (it was originally Montoya) but apparently someone already had my name when I switched from the ST server to the PvP one and so they added an 'x' at the end.