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[Alex]

When it comes to Vanilla, it was simply Tigole and Furor using WoW as their playground for what they wanted EQ to be when they were players. Both were hardcore raiders in a game whose raid made Vanilla WoW look like MMO-lite. Also, Tigole in particular had a disdain for hybrid classes in general.

As a 60 shaman, I got disgusted with it shortly before Naxx40 and quit, not to return until the end of BC. I really wonder what happened to make the direction of the game change. I always figured it was Activision pulling his leash in.

Activision doesn't interfere with Blizzard, especially not like that. Besides, it was before that anyway I believe.

As for what happened, designers got experience, grew up some, saw that the climate was changing. BC was a good time for a reboot in several areas.

For the expansion of that, and more general equality and class polish, Ghostcrawler came on board in early 08 as lead systems designer, which is, of course, when the UI and class design started to get complete overhauls and that's what his team handles, so there you go.

Ghostcrawler did a lot of good for this game and for reasonable player/developer communication in the genre. I feel sorry that he has to mingle with the official forum twats, though.

 

[markot]

They listened to the players?

Thats the main strength of wow.

Nearly nothing they have done has not been something most players wanted for ages.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

Damn, ghostcrawler has a PhD.

 

[Flib]

His Phd is in some sort of biology-related field though, correct?

Edit: Marine science. I didn't realize that he was also the lead game designer for Age of Empires. Wow.

 

[TomServo]

They listened to the players?

Thats the main strength of wow.

Nearly nothing they have done has not been something most players wanted for ages.

Their attitudes in Vanilla were completely different though. Blue posts by Tigole basically said "raid or quit", and raiding wasn't something done in PUGs or casual guilds. They were aware of how they were catering to a tiny percent of their player base... I remember an interview with Kaplan stating that a tiny fraction of their playerbase was progressed beyond MC. This was between the release of AQ and Naxx, so you had millions of players funding development of five raid instances for some tiny part of the subscription base.

In all of Wrath the only time I saw the more casual playerbase effectively locked out of current tier raid content was Ulduar.

 

[markot]

Yeah, but luckliy the blizz higher ups realised catering to 90% of the pop was >> keeping the 10% happy.

Vanilla was pretty awful in alot of ways, from larger 'design' points of view, the gameplay and stuff was there, but they had just copied the stupid eq model of grind and big groups.

 

[Garryk]

Horseman #5 did the trick. Got the helm (got my Hallowed ach.), broom, and a mask.

Is anyone leveling a Blood DK through RDF? Any problems holding agro? I bought my dual-spec last night at 75 so I can knock out my dungeon quests without having to wait in the queue for 30 mins. I have a Pally tank so I'm no stranger to tanking.

 

[The Lamonster]

Hey guys, did Blizz fix the cog/tooltip issue with the Headless Horseman? I was constantly crashing for a couple days and still haven't killed the guy this year.

 

[Ikuu]

These AV queues suck so much

 

[Tamanon]

Hey guys, did Blizz fix the cog/tooltip issue with the Headless Horseman? I was constantly crashing for a couple days and still haven't killed the guy this year.

I've found if you just go behind the pumpkin and click it it works just fine for me.

 

[Bisnic]

Hey guys, did Blizz fix the cog/tooltip issue with the Headless Horseman? I was constantly crashing for a couple days and still haven't killed the guy this year.

Well, you could just let someone else who doesnt crash just start the boss fight. As long as you dont point at the pumpkin, you wont crash.

These AV queues suck so much

Last time i did AV for the GNERD achievement a few days ago, it was instant! But im Alliance, i bet you are Horde though, i always hear them complaining about their queue time.

Can't have everything. IF Horde could win most of the BGs AND have instant queues, no Alliance would play in BGs at all.

 

[Garryk]

Hey guys, did Blizz fix the cog/tooltip issue with the Headless Horseman? I was constantly crashing for a couple days and still haven't killed the guy this year.

No, we had two crash in my group this morning. It's kind of funny, everyone just stands around waiting for someone to go click the pumpkin.

 

[The Lamonster]

Thanks, I'll try that. I saw Grimace's macros but would prefer just a client fix from Blizzard.

 

[Flib]

Or just use Angry Grimace's macros from a couple of pages ago, they work great.

Blizz said that it requires a client-side patch to fix, so the earliest they can push a fix out is tuesday.

edit: this was obviously written as the post above was being posted.

 

[J-Rzez]

There's a "cogwheel" fix that you can get through the curse client as well, so you don't have to do the macro everytime. It's cool that independent players did a fix for the game before Blizzard did.

 

[The Lamonster]

There's a "cogwheel" fix that you can get through the curse client as well, so you don't have to do the macro everytime. It's cool that independent players did a fix for the game before Blizzard did.

That is very badass.

 

[itxaka]

I think you may have been confusing the color orange for something else, those are legendary items and the only legendary bow in the game dropped from a boss in TBC

Ummm..white then? I remember it was a strange color that I had never seen before, and I was very surprised that I found something like that.

 

[Kingbrave]

Woot! Got the Horsmen's mount on both my 80's!

 

[Powercast]

Specced Disc on my lvl 40 priest... smite healing is awesome at this levels, I dont even need to cast any healing spell. In instances I just put shield up and dps. So much fun.

And got the HH mount on my DK, not my main, but pretty happy about it.

 

[Bisnic]

Specced Disc on my lvl 40 priest... smite healing is awesome at this levels, I dont even need to cast any healing spell. In instances I just put shield up and dps. So much fun.

Yeah, i really like doing Smite healing in heroics with my priest. It's fun to see that i can even beat some DPS sometimes and still keep everyone alive. :lol

But if Cataclysm's instances are as tough as i heard, i probably wont have much time to use Smite.

 

[funkmastergeneral]

Ummm..white then? I remember it was a strange color that I had never seen before, and I was very surprised that I found something like that.

Was it gray? Those are useless items, and would make sense why no one wanted it.

 

[Evlar]

Disc lolsmite spec is also great for soloing instances, which had always been much more difficult for healing cloth specs than for anyone else. Now it's freeze a group with my glyphed fear, dot 'em up, then burn 'em down with my lolsmite, keeping PWS and renew up as necessary. When everything dies pop Archangel to get my mana back, rinse, repeat.

At 80, soloing in raid gear, it's inconceivable that I'll run out of mana despite never stopping to rest.

One of the best changes to priest soloing is something no one is talking about. They finally removed the charges from Inner Fire so you don't have to worry that taking damage will turn you even more squishie than normal, and when you least expect it.

 

[Bisnic]

I bet it was http://www.wowhead.com/item=2825

You don't see many epic bow at this lvl, and it sure is going to surprise a new player to see such an unusual color on a weapon. But since it was a few years ago, he probably forgot the color. :lol

 

[Dunlop]

Yeah, i really like doing Smite healing in heroics with my priest. It's fun to see that i can even beat some DPS sometimes and still keep everyone alive. :lol

But if Cataclysm's instances are as tough as i heard, i probably wont have much time to use Smite.

it's still a viable heal, I have a macro that casts it at my targets target so I never lose my healing target.

 

[itxaka]

I bet it was http://www.wowhead.com/item=2825

You don't see many epic bow at this lvl, and it sure is going to surprise a new player to see such an unusual color on a weapon. But since it was a few years ago, he probably forgot the color. :lol

Oh, it could be that! I remember that it had that level restriction that was quite high for me at that time!

Thanks! I guess I thougth it was orange for no reason

 

[joelseph]

Disc lolsmite spec is also great for soloing instances, which had always been much more difficult for healing cloth specs than for anyone else. Now it's freeze a group with my glyphed fear, dot 'em up, then burn 'em down with my lolsmite, keeping PWS and renew up as necessary. When everything dies pop Archangel to get my mana back, rinse, repeat.

At 80, soloing in raid gear, it's inconceivable that I'll run out of mana despite never stopping to rest.

One of the best changes to priest soloing is something no one is talking about. They finally removed the charges from Inner Fire so you don't have to worry that taking damage will turn you even more squishie than normal, and when you least expect it.

Curious to what type of content you are soloing! Sounds fun.

 

[J-Rzez]

Nice, they're screwing the East Coast players over, not turning on the Cata servers until 3am Est / 12am PST.

 

[Azwethinkweiz]

Nice, they're screwing the East Coast players over, not turning on the Cata servers until 3am Est / 12am PST.

That can't be right. They've always done midnight EST.

 

[funkmastergeneral]

Nice, they're screwing the East Coast players over, not turning on the Cata servers until 3am Est / 12am PST.

How are we getting screwed? Everyone gets the game at the same time. If you were planning on playing at midnight, playing at 3am EST doesn't seem so horrible.

 

[Evlar]

Nice, they're screwing the East Coast players over, not turning on the Cata servers until 3am Est / 12am PST.

Nice, they're helping out West Coast players, making certain they're not three hours behind the party.

 

[J-Rzez]

That can't be right. They've always done midnight EST.

Nope, 12midnight PST, 3am EST is when they'll be going live they said in the conference.

Nice, they're helping out West Coast players, making certain they're not three hours behind the party.

Yeah, they're just screwing over the East Coast players. If they're THAT concerned about equal play, then flip on the servers at 1200 EST, 0900 PST.

 

[Flib]

Nice, they're screwing the East Coast players over, not turning on the Cata servers until 3am Est / 12am PST.

SMH.

It's not going live then, it's when the digital versions from Blizzard unlock.

 

[WyndhamPrice]

It's Blizzard's way of saying "guys it's just a game, go to bed"

 

[Magnus]

Nice, they're screwing the East Coast players over, not turning on the Cata servers until 3am Est / 12am PST.

Source?

 

[Manus]

How are we getting screwed? Everyone gets the game at the same time. If you were planning on playing at midnight, playing at 3am EST doesn't seem so horrible.

Actually yes it is. Because I would probably play until around 4 am anyway. Than go to bed and wake up and start playing again. Looks like I might not go to the midnight release now.

 

[Azwethinkweiz]

It's not fair for people who have jobs! Let's not open up the servers until 5pm on release day. See how stupid the logic is? Midnight EST was the fairest way.

 

[Flib]

Guys, this isn't how it works, the servers go up earlier. I scored a copy of Wrath early at 7-11 and played it that Monday, long before midnight rolled around.

Morhaime was just talking about when the digital preorders will unlock. Just like SCII's unlocked Tuesday at like noon.

 

[JORMBO]

It's Blizzard's way of saying "guys it's just a game, go to bed"

Yep. I'll just play in the morning. Or after work the next day. I don't feel screwed over, it's just a few hours and it's just a game.

 

[Boof]

Yeah this makes the Midnight release on the East Coast moot. Why would I get the game at midnight just to sit around and do nothing for 3 hours. My time would now be better spent sleeping and just waking up when the store opens at 8am.

This sucks because I do enjoy hanging out at the Midnight release lines with my fellow nerds.

 

[Flib]

or just buy a boxed copy!

 

[funkmastergeneral]

Actually yes it is. Because I would probably play until around 4 am anyway. Than go to bed and wake up and start playing again. Looks like I might not go to the midnight release now.

Go to bed early that night and wake up at 3am to start playing.

I'm definitely canceling my preorder at Gamestop now. Just gonna buy it from Blizz and download it.

 

[Hixx]

Guys, this isn't how it works, the servers go up earlier. I scored a copy of Wrath early at 7-11 and played it that Monday, long before midnight rolled around.

Morhaime was just talking about when the digital preorders will unlock. Just like SCII's unlocked Tuesday at like noon.

In the EU I had my copy loaded up the day before too but had to wait till 11pm GMT till the zeppelin's appeared. I couldn't believe how empty the starting zones were, defo doing the same again this year and clear through Vashj'ir before the unwashed masses descend upon Cata.

 

[J-Rzez]

Source?

Basically what he said in the opening of Blizzcon. On MMO Champ now:

Cataclysm will go live at Midnight on December 7th, PST Time. Digital pre-orders will be able to download everything before it goes live to make sure they can play instantly on release day

 

[WyndhamPrice]

I'm getting my CE from Amazon so I won't get it till later in the day Tuesday anyway. I'm not really that bent about it; the servers are going to be a mess for most of that first day.

 

[joelseph]

Guys, this isn't how it works, the servers go up earlier. I scored a copy of Wrath early at 7-11 and played it that Monday, long before midnight rolled around.

Morhaime was just talking about when the digital preorders will unlock. Just like SCII's unlocked Tuesday at like noon.

IIRC You could not play SC2 even with Boxed copies until the digital unlock.

 

[Lolligag]

It's not fair for people who have jobs! Let's not open up the servers until 5pm on release day. See how stupid the logic is? Midnight EST was the fairest way.

Why do you care? It's not like you're going to beat the people without jobs to 85 with that change.

 

[Azwethinkweiz]

IIRC You could not play SC2 even with Boxed copies until the digital unlock.

Wrong. I played it at midnight EST.

Why do you care? It's not like you're going to beat the people without jobs to 85 with that change.

I'm not trying to beat anyone. I just would like to play for an hour before I go to sleep and then work the whole day.

 

[Flib]

Pretty cool that they're redoing every single dungeon in Cata, including layout changes.

Officially announced that they're trimming Wailing Caverns. Thank god.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Thank god for cutting the fat out of dungeons. Hopefully Sunken Temple and Wailing Caverns will actually be less boring now.

 

[Angry Grimace]

How are we getting screwed? Everyone gets the game at the same time. If you were planning on playing at midnight, playing at 3am EST doesn't seem so horrible.

It's J-rzez.

Anything Blizzard does is specifically designed to screw him over personally :lol