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[Dr. Light]

With all the furries and goblins that are going to be churned out by the hour, any decent server will have a good population of low-level players to level with... I think.

Those would probably just be alts for existing players. Not people like me who have practically forgotten how to play WoW.

 

[TurtleSnatcher]

Man.. the new guild leveling system with guild perks is crazy awesome.

 

[GDJustin]

I never seen the d/l symbol pop up in the applying non critical updates stage and it makes no sense to me. As Alex mentioned, nothing is missing when it's applying non critical updates.

I'm worried more about his problem than yours. Because I've had applying non critical updates pop up and go away a lot the past few days. It makes sense to me that fresh install would stay on that for a while.

But, looks like it's wait and see thing.

His problem and my problem are exactly the same...

 

[Angry Grimace]

So why aren't there fresh servers?

Because there are already a lot of servers that are highly unbalanced and/or unpopulated. Do you know why there are a lot of servers that are highly unbalance and/or unpopulated?
Because they kept opening new servers for Wrath when the player base didn't really need justify it.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Just started playing this last month out of boredom, enjoying it for the most part. Still feel Asheron's Call was a cooler experience and skill system, but I am liking it.

Started playing on Stormrage, have ahigh rogue and DK, but if anyone here was starting a new char and plays generally between 10pm-2am or later on any shard and wanted to have someone to play with early on PM me... I'd reroll and play some more!

 

[Castor Krieg]

Those would probably just be alts for existing players. Not people like me who have practically forgotten how to play WoW.

TBH I don't think many new players will jump onboard with Cataclysm. Not that it's hard - WoW has one of the best mechanics when it comes to easing the player into the game. It's not that difficult game to begin with. I just think the sheer amount of things to do will make a lot of people look elsewhere.

I played in Vanilla, quit. Played BC, quit. Played WotlK, quit. I'm not going back for Cata, it's going to be the same thing again.:lol

 

[C.Dark.DN]

His problem and my problem are exactly the same...

I know the applying critical update issue is the same. You haven't made it clear if the download symbol pops up in game for you. In post #393, after you say you have the same issue, but the only elaboration you give in your scenario is how the "applying critical updates" has been hanging for two nights.

 

[Dr. Light]

TBH I don't think many new players will jump onboard with Cataclysm. Not that it's hard - WoW has one of the best mechanics when it comes to easing the player into the game. It's not that difficult game to begin with. I just think the sheer amount of things to do will make a lot of people look elsewhere.

I played in Vanilla, quit. Played BC, quit. Played WotlK, quit. I'm not going back for Cata, it's going to be the same thing again.:lol

I doesn't help that I disagree with 90% of the post-vanilla changes, but that's another story.

 

[EDarkness]

Those would probably just be alts for existing players. Not people like me who have practically forgotten how to play WoW.

There will be tons of brand new people playing, and even if it were a brand new server, you can bet that a good portion (if not most) of the people playing will be vets starting over. I don't see what the difference is because the experience should be the same regardless. Just pick a server that many new GAF guys are going to start on and run with it.

 

[Hixx]

Noooo. NONE of my guild got their copies today, fucking useless bastards that are Royal Mail (my Sly Cooper pre-order still isn't here either, they're a joke).

That means pugging BRC and the first Vashj'ir instance... both easy enough but never really fun in comparison to doing it with your guild...

 

[Sethos]

Question for any Shadow Priests Gaffers. Before my 2-3 month break from WoW, I was playing my Shadow Priest and had found a good ( standard? ) kill rotation. Believe it was VT, DP and possibly SW depending on the mob, then I'd MF and Wand it while the HP ticked away - That left me at full HP constantly and whenever mana got low, I'd use Dispersion or the SF.

Is it still like that or is there a more effective rotation after the talent tweaks?

 

[ScrubJay]

I just logged into my paladin for the first time in over a year. What the fuck happened? All the old seals are gone, theres some kind of combo point system, talent trees are completely different, there's a couple of new healing spells, and there's just a ton more buttons to push all around.

Makes me petrified to look at my hunter. I think it'll be easier just to start with a new character entirely. I've been messing around with a dwarf shaman, got him up to 24 but he's on a different account. I think I can level up a character in record time, though.

 

[Kall201]

Sorry if it has already been answered, but:

I haven't played Wow since, well let's say I haven't really played wow. What should I do? Wiil I be able to enjoy all the expansions? Do the blood elves start in BC continent? where should I start? Wich race?

Thanks

 

[Sullen]

Question for any Shadow Priests Gaffers. Before my 2-3 month break from WoW, I was playing my Shadow Priest and had found a good ( standard? ) kill rotation. Believe it was VT, DP and possibly SW depending on the mob, then I'd MF and Wand it while the HP ticked away - That left me at full HP constantly and whenever mana got low, I'd use Dispersion or the SF.

Is it still like that or is there a more effective rotation after the talent tweaks?

Generally you do a priority based system, not a strict rotation. Dots no longer clip (so you don't have to wait for the last tick to fall off before refreshing) This means you can just refresh dots when the duration starts to get low with no loss to dps. If you are level 80 with semi decent gear you can go full bore (VT -> DP > SW etc etc) on bosses without any mana issues. If you are leveling/and or fighting a lot of trash mobs they may die too quickly for a full rotation of your dots to matter or be mana efficient. However, this lets you do cheese like VT + DP + Pain one mob, VT + pain another, mind flay here and there, and wear down groups of mobs at a time, then disperse or SF to get back up and repeat.

Shadow priests are extremely mana efficient overall, and it mostly comes down to just prioritizing your dots, nuking, and then mind flaying in between. Wanding is unnecessary at 80 now, but I can see its place if you are still leveling pre 80. Not really sure what your situation is though, so I'm just trying to provide general advice.

 

[MrPing1000]

So launch in 10 hours and no CE arrived (ordered 2). Monday midnight launches don't work in Europe. Apparently the sites didn't get the stock until saturday, which is dumb.

 

[Sethos]

Generally you do a priority based system, not a strict rotation. Dots no longer clip (so you don't have to wait for the last tick to fall off before refreshing) This means you can just refresh dots when the duration starts to get low with no loss to dps. If you are level 80 with semi decent gear you can go full bore (VT -> DP > SW etc etc) on bosses without any mana issues. If you are leveling/and or fighting a lot of trash mobs they may die too quickly for a full rotation of your dots to matter or be mana efficient. However, this lets you do cheese like VT + DP + Pain one mob, VT + pain another, mind flay here and there, and wear down groups of mobs at a time, then disperse or SF to get back up and repeat.

Shadow priests are extremely mana efficient overall, and it mostly comes down to just prioritizing your dots, nuking, and then mind flaying in between. Wanding is unnecessary at 80 now, but I can see its place if you are still leveling pre 80. Not really sure what your situation is though, so I'm just trying to provide general advice.

Appreciate the advice. The priest is 80 and it's just welfare epics, 232, 245 etc. and I was having a blast. Of course I didn't meant a completely static rotation, it all depends on the type of mob and how many but there's always general lines for a rotation and it seems that hasn't changed. Not sure why I mentioned the wand actually, come to think of it, never used it at higher levels.

I've been told time and time again the priest was a bit of a chore to level but he'd be worth it at 80, I found that to be untrue. Levelling the priest was such a pleasure, fast killer with no downtime and on a PvP server you actually felt powerful - Such a blast.

Weird thing is, never was a cloth / caster type player. Even today I drool over plate drops and big 2-Handed weapons. I'm also a gear whore in the sense I like the visuals ( Not the stats ) - Standing with some massive shoulders and a great looking headpiece would irk my funnybone. Both quite contradictory to an Undead priest, especially with the tattered look and everything and bones sticking out :lol

I'm torn right now, stick with the priest which gameplay mechanics I love or transfer a DK / Paladin / Warrior and satisfy my visual whoring

 

[Ricker]

Thinking of going back into this...do you guys know/remember if you can use somebody else`s box games to install and play,if said person doesn`t play anymore...the reason i`m asking is that I want to play the game with some friends over here that are french and play on the European servers(the Euro server game here in the Province of Quebec is easily found in french)...of course i`ll have to create a different account and start from scratch,unless they do North America to Euro account transfer now,which I doubt,but I don`t mind really since I want to play as a Goblin or Worgen...all I would have to buy is the euro version of Cataclysm.

 

[MrPing1000]

Thinking of going back into this...do you guys know/remember if you can use somebody else`s box games to install and play,if said person doesn`t play anymore...the reason i`m asking is that I want to play the game with some friends over here that are french and play on the European servers(the Euro server game here in the Province of Quebec is easily found in french)...of course i`ll have to create a different account and start from scratch,unless they do North America to Euro account transfer now,which I doubt,but I don`t mind really since I want to play as a Goblin or Worgen...all I would have to buy is the euro version of Cataclysm.

You need a unique key code.

 

[Dunlop]

Noooo. NONE of my guild got their copies today, fucking useless bastards that are Royal Mail (my Sly Cooper pre-order still isn't here either, they're a joke).

That means pugging BRC and the first Vashj'ir instance... both easy enough but never really fun in comparison to doing it with your guild...

don't worry I don't expect the game to be in a playable state for at least 24 hours

 

[Dina]

WOTLK account in the config set to CA.
Bought Cata online from eu.battle.net.
Launcher seems finished, well in the green.

I'm all set for tomorrow, right fellas?

 

[C.Dark.DN]

Thinking of going back into this...do you guys know/remember if you can use somebody else`s box games to install and play,if said person doesn`t play anymore...the reason i`m asking is that I want to play the game with some friends over here that are french and play on the European servers(the Euro server game here in the Province of Quebec is easily found in french)...of course i`ll have to create a different account and start from scratch,unless they do North America to Euro account transfer now,which I doubt,but I don`t mind really since I want to play as a Goblin or Worgen...all I would have to buy is the euro version of Cataclysm.

-You can install the game with from scratch with any WOTLK or Cataclysm box in the world.
-You can download the client online.
-Someone can give you their wow account if they never want to play again. You'll just never be able to change the name or security quesitons tied to it.
-If you have a dusty vanilla account waiting to be upgraded to Cataclysm you are forced to buy BC and WOTLK. You can only be Goblin or Worgen with Cataclysm.
-No, you cannot convert a European account into American or transfer characters between regions. They do allow Americans to play on European servers if they have an European account and vice versa.

 

[Ricker]

-
-No, you cannot convert a European account into American or transfer characters between regions. They do allow Americans to play on European servers if they have an European account and vice versa.

So you mean I could play my level 1 Goblin on the European server but I would have to pay the monthly fee for my American and newly created Euro account...in other words 30 bucks a month???

 

[C.Dark.DN]

So you mean I could play my level 1 Goblin on the European server but I would have to pay the monthly fee for my American and newly created Euro account...in other words 30 bucks a month???

Yeah, 30 bucks a month after buying Cataclysm twice. You also may have to install the client twice. In the past I read that you could alter a config file to make it log into the European or American servers. Then people started having problems when a patch was a bit different. Something about language.

 

[mclem]

So launch in 10 hours and no CE arrived (ordered 2). Monday midnight launches don't work in Europe. Apparently the sites didn't get the stock until saturday, which is dumb.

I ordered from ShopTo, and they dispatched it on Friday. Arrived today. I am happy.

 

[MrPing1000]

I ordered from ShopTo, and they dispatched it on Friday. Arrived today. I am happy.

amazon and play failed. I usually get it from gameplay but I wasn't paying attention and missed them at the time.

 

[Hixx]

don't worry I don't expect the game to be in a playable state for at least 24 hours

TBC and WotLK launches were fine and they were whole new continents on new servers, I'd be very surprised if tonight had anything but minor hiccups.

The only thing I'm really worried about tonight is which zone will be the least busy. Kinda hoping the alliance hit Vashj'ir and Horde hit MH. Mainly cos I'm Horde and there's a LOT less of us so won't be a clusterfuck but... just gonna have to take my chances.

 

[Ricker]

Yeah, 30 bucks a month after buying Cataclysm twice. You also may have to install the client twice. In the past I read that you could alter a config file to make it log into the European or American servers. Then people started having problems when a patch was a bit different. Something about language.

Ah ok thanks,not going to do that obviously...

 

[Ikuu]

amazon and play failed. I usually get it from gameplay but I wasn't paying attention and missed them at the time.

Well GAME supposedly sent mine out on Saturday, I can't remember who I ordered TBC from (probably Gameplay) but I remember getting that the day before. Would have been nice to get it today and be ready, but I really should be working on Uni stuff anyway.

 

[Aesthet1c]

don't worry I don't expect the game to be in a playable state for at least 24 hours

BC and WotLK both were playable from minute 1. It was crowded and high population servers had a queue, but servers were never down. The reason they do stuff like 4.0.3a is so that when midnight hits they dont have a bunch of changes they have to make. Basically just flip a switch that unlocks the zones. All of us are already running the cataclysm client, so it's not like it's going to be a new version that has tons of bugs. Even Vanilla was pretty playable at launch.

Sorry if it has already been answered, but:

I haven't played Wow since, well let's say I haven't really played wow. What should I do? Wiil I be able to enjoy all the expansions? Do the blood elves start in BC continent? where should I start? Wich race?

Thanks

These questions are very broad, but I'll give it a shot.

Blood elves start on their own island that is in Azeroth and not in Outlands. They do require the Burning Crusade expansion to play as them. Each other race will start in their own respective zones, and which race to play is entirely personal preference.

I can't answer if you will enjoy all the expansions, however they are all enjoyable.

 

[mclem]

TBC and WotLK launches were fine and they were whole new continents on new servers, I'd be very surprised if tonight had anything but minor hiccups.

The only thing I'm really worried about tonight is which zone will be the least busy. Kinda hoping the alliance hit Vashj'ir and Horde hit MH. Mainly cos I'm Horde and there's a LOT less of us so won't be a clusterfuck but... just gonna have to take my chances.

I've heard that there's a little bit of a bottleneck at the start of Vashj'ir; if you can get ahead of it, you're golden, otherwise you might have some trouble.

I've also heard that there's very heavy phasing other than that bottleneck, so for the most part you'll not be competing *too* much for mobs.

 

[Sethos]

So, what areas do we go to at 80 to level and how do we get there?

 

[Macattk15]

I doesn't help that I disagree with 90% of the post-vanilla changes, but that's another story.

What changed for the worse in your opinion? I'm a hardcore raider and even I love the casual'ing out of raids .... makes me devote less time to the game than I want to.

 

[LordAlu]

So I now have my CE... if I use the key on my Battle.net account to register it now, will it lock me out of WoW until midnight tonight, or will it do nothing but change me from Lich King to Cataclysm on my Battle.net and I can carry on playing as normal?

 

[The Lamonster]

Sorry if it has already been answered, but:

I haven't played Wow since, well let's say I haven't really played wow. What should I do? Wiil I be able to enjoy all the expansions? Do the blood elves start in BC continent? where should I start? Wich race?

Thanks

Research all the classes and find which play style suits you the best. After that, look at the racial abilities of each race and match them with your chosen class again to see which will fit your play style. Every class/race is fun, it's all based on your personal preference. If you don't have BC, you won't be able to choose the Blood Elf or Draenei races.

So, what areas do we go to at 80 to level and how do we get there?

I'm guessing the bulletin board in every major city will have a new lvl 80+ quest that will tell you what you need to know.

 

[borghe]

So I now have my CE... if I use the key on my Battle.net account to register it now, will it lock me out of WoW until midnight tonight, or will it do nothing but change me from Lich King to Cataclysm on my Battle.net and I can carry on playing as normal?

the latter. you will be fine to play today and when they "unlock" cata tonight you'll still be good to go. this is essentially what everyone who pre-ordered the "day zero" direct download from Blizzard has done. Their accounts are already upgraded, but obviously the content doesn't go live until the xpac launches.

I'm guessing the bulletin board in every major city will have a new lvl 80+ quest that will tell you what you need to know.

heh, my guess is with the lack of a new continent and the new content spread amongst two old continents, this is a big reason the bulletin boards were created in the first place.

 

[Entropia]

Because there are already a lot of servers that are highly unbalanced and/or unpopulated. Do you know why there are a lot of servers that are highly unbalance and/or unpopulated?
Because they kept opening new servers for Wrath when the player base didn't really need justify it.

They opened maybe 5 servers within 3 months when Wrath came out. I think all but 2 were transfer servers.

I think there maybe a couple new, non-transfer servers at launch.

 

[Bisnic]

What changed for the worse in your opinion? I'm a hardcore raider and even I love the casual'ing out of raids .... makes me devote less time to the game than I want to.

It's probably just a (very) hardcore raider who love farming for hours just to make flasks, or grinding for weeks just to get a fire resist set for some fire raid boss or doing long and annoying attunements to enter a raid.

Or maybe just someone with rose-tinted glasses who think Classic WoW is still the best WoW. :lol Just like those people who want Blizzard to make "vanilla" servers. Yeah right, i'm sure they'll get bored after a day on one of those servers.

But yeah, i dont understand why Dr. Light want new servers so bad. Blizzard made plenty of new servers in the past and they all end up being either ghost towns or too low on pop to be interesting. Making new servers would just make the situation even worst.

 

[borghe]

They opened maybe 5 servers within 3 months when Wrath came out. I think all but 2 were transfer servers.

I think there maybe a couple new, non-transfer servers at launch.

thought I read a quote from blue out there that there will absolutely not be any new character servers coming in anytime soon. I can't find the quote but I thought it was pretty direct saying there were basically no new servers.

It's probably just a (very) hardcore raider who love farming for hours just to make flasks, or grinding for days just to get a fire resist cloak for some fire raid boss or doing some long attunements just to enter a raid.

Or maybe just someone with rose-tinted glasses who think Classic WoW is still the best WoW. :lol Just like those people who want Blizzard to make "vanilla" servers. Yeah right, i'm sure they'll get bored after a day on one of those servers.

there is no such thing as a (very) hardcore raider without rose tinted glasses who thought vanilla was better. you have to be wearing said glasses no matter what to think vanilla was better. And this is a unanimous agreement from a guild who was farming MC by late summer '05 and BWL by umm.... spring '06? The ONLY thing that holds any nostalgia for any of us was the sheer epic nature of MC as an instance. However, that epic nature still didn't make it a good dungeon (see WC for another good example of cool zone/place/dungeon, horrible for gameplay).

raiding is so much better now it's not even comparable. And for the hardcore guilds, there is still the prestige for doing hard 25-man, IMHO the same prestige as doing 40-man back in the day. (although they fucked up loot IMHO. keep loot the same if you want, but at least give an incentive for 25-man, such as 5 pieces of loot instead of double the loot for 2.5 times the effort, etc).

now don't get me wrong... I do have some rose tinted fondness for the crazy ass grind and graveyard runs from back then. but it was NEVER "fun" because of the game. It was only "fun" because of the guild. the true "casualness" of WoW today isn't making it so ANYBODY can raid... it's making it so that you don't need a tight knit guild of RL friends to get enjoyment out of playing the more difficult aspects of it. and IMHO, there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[arts&crafts]

So if I pay for a race change before I go to bed, will I be able to log in tomorrow and be a goblin? also if I am male I can change to female with a race change correct?

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

Are there going to be any new servers starting up? I was hoping to jump into a brand new server for my lowbie goblin.

 

[ultron87]

Is anyone else super excited for the craziness of being in a zone with pretty much every other level 80 on your server tomorrow? I kind of like the ridiculous bustle. And it is such a rare occurrence to experience as well.

Shame I won't be able to play at midnight.

 

[Bisnic]

Are there going to be any new servers starting up? I was hoping to jump into a brand new server for my lowbie goblin.

Read the previous posts. No, they wont. Their last servers mostly all end up being dead or low pop, so why bother making more servers that will end into ghost towns in a few months? I heard some servers are so bad, they do a /who in general and they get less than 49 people online, which is the max a /who can show anyway.

 

[borghe]

So if I pay for a race change before I go to bed, will I be able to log in tomorrow and be a goblin? also if I am male I can change to female with a race change correct?

from what it sounds like, as long as you have your cata key entered before logging in you should be good.

and yes, I believe you get gender change. it doesn't say anything specifically in the FAQ, but does say "...gender... will be updated on the armory"

 

[C.Dark.DN]

They opened maybe 5 servers within 3 months when Wrath came out. I think all but 2 were transfer servers.

I think there maybe a couple new, non-transfer servers at launch.

They opened up 12 US servers within 4 months of release, including Oceanic.

-1 new and 5 transfers at launch. Not sure what Galakrond was.
-3 new and 0 transfers 2 months after. Not sure what Winterhoof was.
-Not sure what Nesingwary was in the 4th month.

 

[WyndhamPrice]

Question: I realized today that my CE which I preordered from Amazon is going to my parents' house and not my residence hall at school (which is where I am currently). If I call my parents tomorrow and have them just read the CD Key off to me so I can upgrade my account will I be able to play the new content/download whatever patch or do I actually need to install off of the DVD?

 

[C.Dark.DN]

Question: I realized today that my CE which I preordered from Amazon is going to my parents' house and not my residence hall at school (which is where I am currently). If I call my parents tomorrow and have them just read the CD Key off to me so I can upgrade my account will I be able to play the new content/download whatever patch or do I actually need to install off of the DVD?

All you need is the code. I'd be afraid stuff would get stolen at a dorm anyway.

 

[Effect]

Question: I realized today that my CE which I preordered from Amazon is going to my parents' house and not my residence hall at school (which is where I am currently). If I call my parents tomorrow and have them just read the CD Key off to me so I can upgrade my account will I be able to play the new content/download whatever patch or do I actually need to install off of the DVD?

You'll just need the cd key to upgrade your account. The launcher should patch everything.

 

[WyndhamPrice]

All you need is the code. I'd be afraid stuff would get stolen at a dorm anyway.

Ballin'!

And I'm not worried about my stuff getting stolen at school, I lock my door all the time and being an RA means I'm the only person in my room (and stealing from the RA isn't really a great idea in the first place).

 

[Macattk15]

It's probably just a (very) hardcore raider who love farming for hours just to make flasks, or grinding for weeks just to get a fire resist set for some fire raid boss or doing long and annoying attunements to enter a raid.

Or maybe just someone with rose-tinted glasses who think Classic WoW is still the best WoW. :lol Just like those people who want Blizzard to make "vanilla" servers. Yeah right, i'm sure they'll get bored after a day on one of those servers.

But yeah, i dont understand why Dr. Light want new servers so bad. Blizzard made plenty of new servers in the past and they all end up being either ghost towns or too low on pop to be interesting. Making new servers would just make the situation even worst.

Yeah most likely. Good riddance to the ways of Vanilla. Who honestly loved 40 man raids and resist set (hello Maraudon Noxxon trinket for Huhu) farming? I love everything they've done since Vanilla.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

Ballin'!

And I'm not worried about my stuff getting stolen at school, I lock my door all the time and being an RA means I'm the only person in my room (and stealing from the RA isn't really a great idea in the first place).

I mean swiping packages from whatever room they might sit at while you're away.