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World of Warcraft |OT3|

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
I started a new goblin lock on a friends server recently. I'm really looking forward to all the big lock changes coming, all 3 specs look really unique and fun.
 

aesop

Member
I'm gonna roll a lock when 5.0.4 launches. I hear the leveling experience as a lock after the class overhaul is pretty good.
 
I started a new goblin lock on a friends server recently. I'm really looking forward to all the big lock changes coming, all 3 specs look really unique and fun.

I'm gonna roll a Blood Elf Warlock in MoP, but was also thinking about Goblin.

What's it like playing such a physically small character? Gnomes and Dwarves can answer this one too.
 

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
I'm gonna roll a Blood Elf Warlock in MoP, but was also thinking about Goblin.

What's it like playing such a physically small character? Gnomes and Dwarves can answer this one too.

I didn't notice much of a difference, honestly. Coming from someone who pretty much exclusively played orc and troll characters, playing a goblin character didn't feel much different from a size perspective.
 

aesop

Member
I'm gonna roll a Blood Elf Warlock in MoP, but was also thinking about Goblin.

What's it like playing such a physically small character? Gnomes and Dwarves can answer this one too.

The perspective change was noticeably different for me. I mained a human toon from vanilla to Wrath and then rolled a gnome in Cata. That and in the older zones you'll be swimming where larger toons can walk. That's not so much a problem in the newer zones, though.
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
I was looking up the new "legendaries" (Sha-touched) and while most of the models (only Kri'tak, Imperial Scepter of the Swarm is a bit choppy) are of high quality, I cannot say I'm impressed by the texture maps. Only Jin'ya, Orb of the Waterspeaker features in my opinion good textures, though of course the orb could do with something more interesting than just blue colour.

Here are the normal versions (drop from normal difficulty raids) of these items:

Fist Weapon: Claws of Shek'zeer
Staff: Gao-Rei, Staff of the Legendary Protector
Staff: Jin'ya, Orb of the Waterspeaker
One-Handed Sword: Kilrak, Jaws of Terror
One-Handed Mace: Kri'tak, Imperial Scepter of the Swarm
One-Handed Sword: Loshan, Terror Incarnate
Two-Handed Axe: Shin'ka, Execution of Dominion
Dagger: Spiritsever
Gun: Taoren, the Soul Burner

I shall note that the Wowhead application for some reason make the textures look a bit worse than they actually do, at least when directly compared to the BLP files (textures). Anyway, there's still time for Blizzard to update these textures before launch, and I think they should. While these weapons aren't exactly legendary (and I haven't found out yet if they look any different once gemmed with Crystal of Fear), they are undoubtedly something completely new, and should in my opinion be given a bit more interest in terms of design. The question remains though if there will be some actual legendaries simultaneously with these, and if the concept of Sha-touched will be continued in consecutive raid tiers. And if so, Blizzard perhaps is on purpose not giving too much thought in their appearance.

These items, as I mentioned before, drop of bosses in the starting raids of Mists of Pandaria, and the gem (Crystal of Fear) you can equip is a reward from the legendary quest chain that Wrathion starts. I'll take a shot at the two-handed axe as well as the crystal. Anyone else here gonna pursuit these?
 

aesop

Member
I wouldn't use wowhead's 3D model viewer as the basis of your argument. I'm sure those models and textures are highly compressed to save some space. Just compare something you currently have on your character to what it looks like on wowhead.
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
I wouldn't use wowhead's 3D model viewer as the basis of your argument. I'm sure those models and textures are highly compressed to save some space. Just compare something you currently have on your character to what it looks like on wowhead.
I didn't use Wowhead's 3D model as basis for my argument. What I used is the in-game model viewer as well as Blender (I could have used 3ds Max which is better for these things, but I just wanted to view the files quickly) to see quality of the M2 and BLP files. The M2 file was converted to Wavefront .obj and the BLP file was converted to TGA. TGA represents in-game assets very well.

Edit: As I didn't want to clutter up my post with some potentially huge image files, I decided that links to Wowhead's data was the best.
 

Berordn

Member
I wouldn't use wowhead's 3D model viewer as the basis of your argument. I'm sure those models and textures are highly compressed to save some space. Just compare something you currently have on your character to what it looks like on wowhead.

Yeah, wowhead's model view uses low quality everything to save bandwidth and let their flash viewer work efficiently. I just looked at the sha-touched weapons in-game in the dressing room and they're looking pretty good. I'd take some screenshots but they don't really look like much without the animations.

The textures are somewhat low-res, but they're still beyond what we've seen before, qualitywise. Most of them are pretty small so you're not going to be noticing it often.
 

ampere

Member
They're not opening Mogu'shan Vaults until a week after MoP releases, and the other two raids a few weeks later. Interesting, it gives me more time to get to 90 since I'm rerolling Monk. I wonder how hardcore raiders feel about this, it should be a bit less overwhelming than Cata, eh?
 
I hate that I'm in the middle of moving right now. I really wanna get my Loremaster title before all this drops and I'm going to be distracted by fifty million other things; leveling, farming, pet battling, raiding...

I may try to dedicate a good two hours each night. :\ Maybe I can at least get Kalimdor done. Still need Eastern Kingdoms too.

On a side note, I received my replica Doomhammer - very happy with it. It's home is going to be on my desk where I can use it as a weapon if anyone should disturb me while I'm playing.
 

Entropia

No One Remembers
They're not opening Mogu'shan Vaults until a week after MoP releases, and the other two raids a few weeks later. Interesting, it gives me more time to get to 90 since I'm rerolling Monk. I wonder how hardcore raiders feel about this, it should be a bit less overwhelming than Cata, eh?

They seem to be "OK" with it.

Yanger/!??!?!?
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
They're not opening Mogu'shan Vaults until a week after MoP releases, and the other two raids a few weeks later. Interesting, it gives me more time to get to 90 since I'm rerolling Monk. I wonder how hardcore raiders feel about this, it should be a bit less overwhelming than Cata, eh?

They seem to be "OK" with it.

Yanger/!??!?!?
It takes about 12-13 hours to reach level 90, according to Shane (Nik) at MMO-Champion/Twitch anyway. So it shouldn't take long to reach max level. A week's delay could make it possible to reach honored or revered with some factions, thus unlocking epic level gear. I don't know if all reputation is based on doing daily quests, but if you can gain reputation with a faction by defeating certain mobs, maybe that's what many raid guilds will occupy themselves with before the first raid is opened.
 

mileS

Member
I'm digging the look, finally something cool.

Xlksr.jpg

Maybe its because i've been playing too long now but that looks like they mixed together 3-4 DS sets. Like I can see the lock tier set, the druid set, the warrior set. Even the ruthless druid PvP gear. It looks alright but jeez its soo obvious.
 

TheYanger

Member
They seem to be "OK" with it.

Yanger/!??!?!?

I think it's great. I haven't polled others about it in higher guilds (I'm slightly more casual now remember) but my own guild seems to love the idea, and I know previously when it would come up people in every guild I've been in liked it.

It's going to have almost no effect on rankings, but it sure relieves the pressure of levelling within a day, farming enough gear to do the bosses within the next day, and finishing the raids over the next 4 or whatever. That shit is 'fun' but it's also exhausting. Even hardcore raiders enjoy a chance to DO challenge modes and heroics and pet battles and shit. They'll be able to prepare better for the raids opening, sure they may be ready to do them the first week still, but you can always be MORE ready (Contrary to what you may think, typically going into the raids immediately means you're as undergeared as possible, no professions, nothing. Give it another day or two and that vanishes).

Personally for my guild this tier has a SHITLOAD of bosses, so staggering the releases by a few weeks does nothing but help us, the shorter your raid schedule is the harder it is to compete when there is a ton of content, purely because of hours in the raid that you can invest. Having a week to focus on the first zone, then a week or two for heroics, and so on, really helps you keep up without putting in 30-40 hours of raiding.

Hardcore players will find ways to better their character during that time and will still play a lot, but I imagine for most this is more enjoyable. The MMO champ thread on this issue is full of people in shitter guilds talking about how DARE blizzard remove the oPTION of poopsocking the first week, which is bollocks, the best guilds will still be the best guilds, to them it's basically irrelevant when it releases, all this does is not force the insane schedules.
 

Berordn

Member
cata content has a minimum level of 80, not 2 levels lower like all the other expansions?

You can actually zone into Blackrock Caverns and Throne of the Tides at 78, though. All the gear is flagged for level 78 characters too. If you have any geared guildies they could run you through easily.
 

ampere

Member
That makes sense. Leveling super fast and gearing up to raid the first week always seemed like something really intense that could be fun to do, but it sounds pretty stressful as well.

I wonder if the new class that starts at level 1 had anything to do with this decision. It would be very difficult to level a Monk to 90 and raid the first week if raids were open immediately. If that 12 hour estimate is right from 85-90, it's probably going to take me 40+ hours of playtime to get a Monk to 90 if I do all the right things.
 
So in order to get into LFR, I pretty much need to run twilight heroics until I get all 378 gear?

I'm confused on the structure of it. Basically I'll have a group complete one section, then drop off. I went all the way up to Mannoroth and we whupped his ass, but now I'm locked out of that, but can run the beginning heroics as much as I want? Just not the final part?
 

scoobs

Member
So in order to get into LFR, I pretty much need to run twilight heroics until I get all 378 gear?

I'm confused on the structure of it. Basically I'll have a group complete one section, then drop off. I went all the way up to Mannoroth and we whupped his ass, but now I'm locked out of that, but can run the beginning heroics as much as I want? Just not the final part?

Best way to get into LFR is to pvp until u get ur ilvl high enough. That is easily the fastest way to do it.
 

Cipherr

Member
So in order to get into LFR, I pretty much need to run twilight heroics until I get all 378 gear?

I'm confused on the structure of it. Basically I'll have a group complete one section, then drop off. I went all the way up to Mannoroth and we whupped his ass, but now I'm locked out of that, but can run the beginning heroics as much as I want? Just not the final part?

Well, you should be able to choose an option to queue for 'Random Twilight Heroic' which will put you into a group for one of the three 378 ilvl dungeons regardless of you being locked to them already or not. It completely bypasses that lock allowing you to just run them continuously until you get all the 378's you want.

You can just buy PvP gear and cheat the system if you want, but meh, I like the progression for alts myself.
 

strafer

member
Raid Releases.

September 25: MoP launches
October 2: Mogu'shan Vaults (normal) opens
October 7: Mogu'shan Vaults (LFR) opens, those who cleared normal Vaults can access heroic mode
October 30: Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring (normal) open, with Terrace only accessible by clearing Heart
November 6: Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring (LFR) open; queuing for Terrace requires clearing Heart. Those who cleared normal Heart can access heroic Heart, same for Terrace.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
Raid Releases.

September 25: MoP launches
October 2: Mogu'shan Vaults (normal) opens
October 7: Mogu'shan Vaults (LFR) opens, those who cleared normal Vaults can access heroic mode
October 30: Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring (normal) open, with Terrace only accessible by clearing Heart
November 6: Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring (LFR) open; queuing for Terrace requires clearing Heart. Those who cleared normal Heart can access heroic Heart, same for Terrace.

That's a new way to release raids... wonder why they're doing this, and how people will react.

How many bosses are in the first raid?
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
I'm fine with this schedule. My only concern is whether or not the new raids are more compelling than DS.
There's no need for deterrence, the new raids are by far much more compelling than Dragon Soul. They feature good boss design, many new mechanics and a nice layout. If you haven't already seen it, MMO-Champion has YouTube video "walkthroughs" for most of the raid bosses in Mists of Pandaria. They frequently stream these encounters live over at Twitch as well.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MMOChampionWoW
Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/mmo_champion

Sha of Fear looks like a nice boss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXU_7sjQ0Ao&feature=plcp

Regardless of what kind of boss fight you like, there's something for everyone.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
Anyway, its not like being better than DS is hard. It's a raid filled with old WOTLK zones and bosses using old models.
 

Entropia

No One Remembers
Raid Releases.

September 25: MoP launches
October 2: Mogu'shan Vaults (normal) opens
October 7: Mogu'shan Vaults (LFR) opens, those who cleared normal Vaults can access heroic mode
October 30: Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring (normal) open, with Terrace only accessible by clearing Heart
November 6: Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring (LFR) open; queuing for Terrace requires clearing Heart. Those who cleared normal Heart can access heroic Heart, same for Terrace.

I'm cool with this. I'm probably going to take off Wed/Thurs/Fri, so this will give me the chance to hit 90 and start doing heroics, challenges, play around with pet battles and get prepared for the raid.

I'm actually glad Blizzard is doing this. I'm in total agreement with Yanger in that, while I am a raider first and foremost (Though not hardcore as the crew he runs with), I want to be able to do all that other stuff before I have to worry about the pressure of raiding.
 
Trying to decide on a crafting profession for an alt. I either want to do jewelcrafting for gems, enchanting, or whatever crafts mail armor. Is it blacksmithing or leatherworking?

Thoughts? I already have tailoring, skinning, mining, herbalism all maxed on other toons.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Spent so many hours listening to WoW music (MoP-specifically) at work... soo good :_: MoP is gonna be soooo good.
 

Entropia

No One Remembers
Spent so many hours listening to WoW music (MoP-specifically) at work... soo good :_: MoP is gonna be soooo good.

I'm noting this.

September 25th prediction, the MoP servers are now live. Yoshi-chan is trying to login

"FUCKING BLIZZARD I CAN'T LOGIN"

"THERE'S TOO MANY PEOPLE KILLING MY QUEST MOBS"

"FUCK I GOT DISCONNECTED"

*Several mice and keyboard are lost that evening*

"I'M DONE WITH BLIZZARD"







Trying to decide on a crafting profession for an alt. I either want to do jewelcrafting for gems, enchanting, or whatever crafts mail armor. Is it blacksmithing or leatherworking?

Thoughts? I already have tailoring, skinning, mining, herbalism all maxed on other toons.

Leatherworking crafts Mail armor.
Blacksmithing does Plate.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Entropia, is that how you see me :(?
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
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