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[speedpop]

The only Warlocks I see running around these days are Blood Elf which sort of explains it all. Haven't seen a low level Undead/Orc Warlock in months. Don't let population imbalance get to you, if you're a good player at that class then people will recognize it as so.

As for Shaman.. well any class with the ability to heal will be asked to do it in an instance regardless of spec, so just be prepared to do it in case. I was able to main heal the majority of SM back in my Enhancement days before even dual-wielding came about, so it is indeed doable. If it gets to the point where you cannot for the life you heal properly, then state that you'll be providing DPS and if they don't enjoy that then leave the group.

Warriors will forever be what they are - itemization rules the class. Got great armor & weapons? Then you're a killing machine unless you're up against classes that will outlive your hits (i.e. Druid/Paladin/Resto Shaman) or knows how to kite you around like a snail.

 

[Hero]

Shamans are busted. Go warlock or warrior. Warrior is more gear dependent.

 

[TerryLee81]

The only Warlocks I see running around these days are Blood Elf which sort of explains it all. Haven't seen a low level Undead/Orc Warlock in months. Don't let population imbalance get to you, if you're a good player at that class then people will recognize it as so.

As for Shaman.. well any class with the ability to heal will be asked to do it in an instance regardless of spec, so just be prepared to do it in case. I was able to main heal the majority of SM back in my Enhancement days before even dual-wielding came about, so it is indeed doable. If it gets to the point where you cannot for the life you heal properly, then state that you'll be providing DPS and if they don't enjoy that then leave the group.

Warriors will forever be what they are - itemization rules the class. Got great armor & weapons? Then you're a killing machine unless you're up against classes that will outlive your hits (i.e. Druid/Paladin/Resto Shaman) or knows how to kite you around like a snail.

Shamans are busted. Go warlock or warrior. Warrior is more gear dependent.

Thanks guys.

I don't plan to do the same "powergaming" as I did with my druid, I just don't have enough time for that. A warlock sounds like more fun and more varied than awarrior with mediocre gear.

Think I'm going with a UD warlock. I know, the racial abilities of the blood elfs or the orcs would probably be better for a warlock, but I already had an orc hunter and I don't like blood elfs.

 

[Ramirez]

Shamans are busted in PVP, after playing all 3 specs in PVE for a while, they're not as bad as everyone makes it out to be, but even for PVP if you get enough resilience, Resto/Elemental works. Enhancement PVP is really the only thing I would consider totally busted about the class.

 

[yacobod]

Then you're a killing machine unless you're up against classes that will outlive your hits (i.e. Druid/Paladin/Resto Shaman) or knows how to kite you around like a snail.

MS says hi, you should be able to kill those classes if you keep MS up, paladins are the hardest to kill out of those 3, druids are basically like cloth if you catch them in caster form, with a lucky mace stun you can kill them before they can do anything

the kiting thing is true tho, frost mages destroy warriors

the hardest class for warriors to kill are warlocks

easiest to kill is rogues, they dont really have a chance

 

[fallout]

Shamans are busted in PVP, after playing all 3 specs in PVE for a while, they're not as bad as everyone makes it out to be, but even for PVP if you get enough resilience, Resto/Elemental works. Enhancement PVP is really the only thing I would consider totally busted about the class.

Yeah, and I think that's intentional. They pretty well re-worked it so that it was a PvE build.

 

[border]

A warrior that gets the Charge off will cut down the warlock pretty quick. Not much for the lock to do except DeathCoil, get intercepted, hamstring'ed and murdered. I've heard it claimed that chain seducing in between big damage spells works, but the DR on seduction hits pretty fast at that point.....

 

[Ramirez]

Some random lock in merciless gear yesterday wanted to duel me, ****er didn't even let me get the charge and I still beat him...I only had 600 hits left, but I beat the cheesy bastard! :lol

 

[border]

Some random lock in merciless gear yesterday wanted to duel me, ****er didn't even let me get the charge and I still beat him...

Then he's just ass.....once intercept is blown, all you do is Death Coil, CoE, and runnnnnnnn while dots do their job. Usually you don't have that luxury outside of a duel or open world PVP. Eventually they might get to Intercept again, but at that point Death Wish has already been blown and it's Fear time

 

[yacobod]

Then he's just ass.....once intercept is blown, all you do is Death Coil, CoE, and runnnnnnnn while dots do their job. Usually you don't have that luxury outside of a duel or open world PVP. Eventually they might get to Intercept again, but at that point Death Wish has already been blown and it's Fear time

i dont know with deathwish, zerker rage, and pvp trinket fear time is a thing of the past (unless all 3 of those are on CD), i doubt the fight would go long enough for a warrior to blow those all in a 1v1 situation

but at any rate this is all theory craft, i still maintain well geared locks are nasty 1v1, most locks have more hp then warriors, and its not uncommon for them to have 350+ resilience, they are hardly squishy

 

[border]

PVP trinket doesn't matter much because all you need is to gain a little distance with fear. In the time it takes to use the trinket, CoE is up and you are running away. Even if you can't trinket out of the hamstring, it will eventually wear off....while CoE will be refreshed again and again. Eventually you get beyond the range of even an intercept and the warrior will either give up or just die from dots. EDIT: Obviously the trick is to get Intercept and Deathwish blown early though, yes.

 

[Hero]

Due to the state of affairs for rogues in arenas, I recently switched over to my warlock as my PVP main.

Currently 24/37. 10413 hp unbuffed, and 209 resilience.

Going from a melee class that TBC has screwed over to warlock has been ridiculous. It's almost too easy to kill people now. In a strictly 1v1 setting the only classes that I've been having difficulty with are well geared warriors, BM hunters if they get the jump on me, and paladins, although they never kill me as so much as they just run away.

 

[fallout]

Hero: Nab yourself a pocket healer and there really won't be many pairings that can beat you. Granted, I've had similar experiences with rogue + healer. With the warlock, you should go for a healer with less CC, as opposed to a rogue where you would want more.

One time, in EotS, I was running with one of my warlock guildies and most of the team was off capturing nodes. We figured we'd go try to hold down the flag while they were off doing their thing. The two of us fought off 4 or 5 steady waves (i.e. no downtime and no time to grab the flag) of approximately 3 players each. I was sitting in vent with him, throwing down heals, shocking healers, dropping totems, etc. while he was calling out fear targets, dotting people up. I blew through bloodlust, a mana pot, my ZHC, everything. By the last wave, it had gotten kind of quiet and I said: "**** man, I'm completely OOM. Sorry." and he just started laughing. We were both laughing our asses off as the 5 alliance players in front of us mowed us down.

 

[yacobod]

Hero: Nab yourself a shadow priest and there really won't be many pairings that can beat you.

fixed

 

[border]

Here is a somewhat servicable guide to getting better performance out of your WoW:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6164252/index.html

I was hoping for something with more insider info (.ini tweaks, changes to videocard settings, driver adjustments)....all this does is tell you about the stuff in the in-game Graphics Settings, and give you comparison photos of how the game will look when you turn stuff off. On the bright side though, they show you how much of a difference each graphical feature effects performance. Apparently turning off most stuff doesn't even help performance. The only big boosts you get are from turning down Draw Distance and turning off ALL Shader effects. I guess if you turned down every single thing you might see another bump in performance, but I'd rather make as few sacrifices as possible.

 

[Hero]

Hero: Nab yourself a pocket healer and there really won't be many pairings that can beat you. Granted, I've had similar experiences with rogue + healer. With the warlock, you should go for a healer with less CC, as opposed to a rogue where you would want more.

One time, in EotS, I was running with one of my warlock guildies and most of the team was off capturing nodes. We figured we'd go try to hold down the flag while they were off doing their thing. The two of us fought off 4 or 5 steady waves (i.e. no downtime and no time to grab the flag) of approximately 3 players each. I was sitting in vent with him, throwing down heals, shocking healers, dropping totems, etc. while he was calling out fear targets, dotting people up. I blew through bloodlust, a mana pot, my ZHC, everything. By the last wave, it had gotten kind of quiet and I said: "**** man, I'm completely OOM. Sorry." and he just started laughing. We were both laughing our asses off as the 5 alliance players in front of us mowed us down.

Yeah, I have a healadin friend that often likes to just healbot me as I DoT the hell out of everything. The beauty of it is with the new armor buff, siphon life, and a healbot the damage I'm taking is quickly healed, especially since Soul Link reduces it by 20% right off the bat.

And for my 3's team I pair myself up with that paladin and a shadow priest friend of mine. First week we went like 9-1. The only team we lost to was one that had a dorf priest. Fear ward won them the game.

 

[cubicle47b]

Rogue DPS with the Warglaive of Azzinoth set - http://www.lossendil.com/wws/?report=k5kadas5l2rrg

Furi gets the off-hand on the Illidan kill and immediately puts mongoose on it, then they run Hyjal. Melee haste rating with a combat swords spec is absurd.

 

[border]

Warlock Tier 5 set bonus -- Your pet is healed for 30% of Shadow Damage dealt by your spells

As much as I think this set bonus is utter shit for raiding and MUST be changed, imagine what a PVP nightmare it will turn Soul Link warlocks into :lol

 

[Anno]

Rogue DPS with the Warglaive of Azzinoth set - http://www.lossendil.com/wws/?report=k5kadas5l2rrg

Furi gets the off-hand on the Illidan kill and immediately puts mongoose on it, then they run Hyjal. Melee haste rating with a combat swords spec is absurd.

I'm surprised that so much of his DPS is white damage.

 

[Ramirez]

Then he's just ass.....once intercept is blown, all you do is Death Coil, CoE, and runnnnnnnn while dots do their job. Usually you don't have that luxury outside of a duel or open world PVP. Eventually they might get to Intercept again, but at that point Death Wish has already been blown and it's Fear time

Yea, I was pounding the shit out of my 3 key to charge, and instead get CoA, **** I think, switch over, Intercept, blow DW and get him to about 50% before he deathcoiled. I just used Int. Shout after the death coil and got three lucky 1800+ crits on an auto,WW, and MS and won :lol

I'm not bragging or anything, it's just that I hate duels, and hate them even more when people don't let the warrior get the charge off, pre totem, or stand right next to you and lay a trap when it starts. Or on the flip side on my hunter, people that would start the duel by standing right next to me, lame.

 

[Manick Joe]

Since we have a bunch of warriors on right now, this here rogue has got to ask "What do I do against you?"

Seriously, 1-on-1 I feel like I'm just wasting my time against a warrior. I can see from previous posts the odds seem stacked against me, but any tips are appreciated. Oh and I already know popping Evasion is a big no-no.

 

[Ramirez]

I really don't think there is much you can do to a warrior in a 1v1 situation, that is if they're geared. Now before I got all my Arena gear the my BS Axe, I played with a rogue that could stunlock me from about 100-20%, vanish and then cheapshot me again and it would be a flawless victory :lol He quit before I got all the gear I have now, so I'm not sure if it would have ended differently, but yea, if anything you have to be master of the stunlock, time every thing perfectly and hope they don't have a pvp trinket on/up.

Now in arenas, I'd rather see anything but a rogue/healer, I simply cannot kill them quick enough before they can be healed to full, evasion is really good in arenas, I mean yea you're gonna take a couple 1800 Overpowers, but chances are all of the MS's will miss and that damage won't mean shit. Wound poison>MS, so my healer usually runs out of mana before the rogues does. I've never played a rogue though, so I really don't have any pro tips to hand out, I just know that the rogue I mentioned is the only rogue I've ever had flat out dominate me. He used alot of CD's, but you basically have to.

 

[Hero]

You can't win against a warrior as a rogue. Just don't fight them.

 

[yacobod]

Now in arenas, I'd rather see anything but a rogue/healer, I simply cannot kill them quick enough before they can be healed to full, evasion is really good in arenas, I mean yea you're gonna take a couple 1800 Overpowers, but chances are all of the MS's will miss and that damage won't mean shit. Wound poison>MS, so my healer usually runs out of mana before the rogues does.

what kind of healer are you running with?

if your 2v2 partner is a pally i dont see how you are losing to any rogue + healer teams

i used to love facing rogue teams in 2v2, would be guaranteed win as a pally + warrior in 2v2 after the trinket chance

 

[Ramirez]

I guess I left out the fact that we do usually win, but there have been times where my pally ran out of mana if the rogue was really geared. The fights are just long and annoying though usually. I really need a new weapon, I'm only at 350 BS and trying to save up for an epic flying mount, so I don't really feel like power leveling the rest of it to get the next Axe upgrade. Not to mention I'm a BS/Jewelcrafter(dropped mining after I finished leveling JC), so I'd have to buy everything.

Only at 2K arena points saved up, gonna take another 4 weeks or so to get the season 2 weapon. :lol

 

[yacobod]

I guess I left out the fact that we do usually win, but there have been times where my pally ran out of mana if the rogue was really geared. The fights are just long and annoying though usually. I really need a new weapon, I'm only at 350 BS and trying to save up for an epic flying mount, so I don't really feel like power leveling the rest of it to get the next Axe upgrade. Not to mention I'm a BS/Jewelcrafter(dropped mining after I finished leveling JC), so I'd have to buy everything.

Only at 2K arena points saved up, gonna take another 4 weeks or so to get the season 2 weapon. :lol

which season 2 weapon are u going to go for, axe, sword, or mace? (im partial to maces since i used to rock deep thunder), but i think swords are probably better now

i cant fault u for not wanting to craft your tier 2 weapon, it really costs between 2k-3k gold to go from 350 to 375 blacksmithing

but really the upgrade from tier 1 to tier 2 is huge, you will love it when you get your s2 arena weapon

 

[Ramirez]

It's either going to be the mace or sword, if we can get a good shaman to join us, then I would go sword all the way, but currently the shaman we use in our 5v5 from time to time is my own, and I obviously can't have both of my chars in at the same time. We've been owned by a decked out warrior with a mace and it's stuns so many times though, I remember one game where everyone was dead but another war on our team and the opposite teams war. Ours was at 60% while the other was at 25% or so, shoulda been an easy win, no? The opposing war gets 2 Mace stuns back to back and smokes our warrior, we were laughing so hard in vent, sucked that we lost, but the reaction our guy had was just priceless. :lol

But yea, my shamans LW is at 355 I think? I've looked at the lists to level it to 375 and it's just ****in insane, they recommend the clefthide boots, which take 20 clefthide leather, which don't drop very often honestly, and you gotta make like 10 of them, plus have 40 primal earths, that's just too much work for me. Doesn't help that Duskwood's economy is absolutely terrible, so buying a little bit of it here and there on the AH is out of the question. I think the one time I checked, there was one stack of clefthide leather up for like 35g. :lol

Oh, I forgot to mention we've started running Karazhan again, so I should have a Gorehowl within a couple of runs, so that will tide me over until I get the arena points.

 

[etiolate]

I'm really not enjoying arena. I rarely feel I get ouplayed in a loss, I mostly feel I lose because of class and gear. Even if I was a geared MS Warrior and destroying things, I'm not sure it would be fun as much as it would be repeatitive. It just seems arena is totally bork.

And leveling Leatherworking is a pain in the arse. It's one of the worst BC professions I think. BS and Tailoring give better epics and people manage to level them faster despite cooldowns.

 

[Manick Joe]

Hmm, I guess stunlock it is. Here's a link to my rogue by the way. I only asked about 1-on-1 since in arenas I generally am plucking away at casters/healers/hunters and if things go bunk on my teams end I'm generally the last one alive and have just gotten embarassed by a warrior more then a handful of times.

 

[Ramirez]

I like 3v3 arenas the best, 2v2 is a little too class dependent, and 5v5 is pretty much utter chaos most of the time. :lol

 

[LiveWire]

FYI if anyone is interested:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220136932359&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=012

 

[Ashodin]

So I'm wondering why I'm playing my Paladin any more now that the Death Knight is coming out.

Mofo can TANK WITH A TWO HANDER or Dual Wield.. no friggin shield required.

Course mine will go down the DPS path.. tanking is gay.

I guess I'll keep playing the Paladin until the Death Knight comes out and try my hardest to get one. Nice that it already starts leveled up.

 

[border]

Obviously there will be some kind of tradeoff for the Death Knight's 2H tanking, just like how there is a tradeoff between druid tanking and warrior tanking (faster aggro gen vs. better damage mitigation).

My guess is that since the DeathKnight is all undead and stuff, he will be somewhat resistant to Holy Spells......and thus only receive some percentage of every heal thrown on him.

 

[firex]

My guess is since he won't have the huge amount of mitigation a shield brings, the DK will tank using lifesteal and stuff. I'm going to make one too, since it's going to make actual use of its plate armor instead of sitting in the back healing.

 

[Tamanon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At5AZP1SAag

I LOL'd, one of the designers of WoW with Molten Core 2.0

My favorite part was the AE Van Cleef pull.

 

[firex]

That raid video is pretty funny, but insanely disingenuous about raid design... though it would definitely be more fun than any real raid instance.

I wonder if it'll be possible to solo/duo vanilla WoW's raids at 80. If they have a similar leap in stats/HP then everyone will run around with at least 15k unbuffed HP and similar mana (and that may be on the small side), so probably. I kind of hope so, just because it'd be hilarious to go duo stuff that used to take 40 people.

 

[unifin]

OMG ENHANCEMENT BUFFS

THANK GOD BLIZZARD!!!!!

 

[speedpop]

Quite nice for Enhancement.

At the Q&A panels they were talking about giving Shaman a CC spell of sorts, as well as taking a closer look at how totems work.

 

[vumpler]

Oh shit! So would this be a good time to sell my almost fully kara epiced shaman with ~1500+ self buffed healing?

I quit playing a couple months ago but if their shaman buffing maybe I should sell finally

 

[Ripclawe]

here is the official press release


http://www.blizzard.com/press/070803-2.shtml

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- August 3, 2007 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for the second expansion to World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Unveiled at the company's BlizzCon™ gaming festival before an audience of more than 8,000 gamers, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King™ will open the forbidding wasteland of Northrend to exploration by the hardiest adventurers. New levels of power, challenging new dungeons and encounters, an exciting new character profession, and the game's first hero class are just some of the new features awaiting players in Wrath of the Lich King.

"This expansion will add some of the most infamous characters and settings from the Warcraft® universe to World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment®. "In addition to new story content, Wrath of the Lich King will introduce a number of features specifically requested by players over the past couple of years. We're looking forward to sharing further details with everyone as development progresses."

Players last visited Northrend in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne™, when Arthas Menethil fused with the spirit of Ner'zhul to become the Lich King, one of the most powerful beings in the Warcraft universe. He now broods atop the Frozen Throne deep in Icecrown Citadel, clutching the rune blade Frostmourne and marshaling the undead armies of the Scourge. In Wrath of the Lich King, the forces of the Alliance and the Horde will venture into battle against the Scourge amid Northrend's howling winds and fields of jagged ice.

Building on the foundation established in World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King will add a rich variety of content to an already massive game. New features coming with the game's second expansion include:

Death Knight Hero Class: Create a high-level Death Knight character -- the game's first hero class -- once certain challenges have been met.

Increased Level Cap: Advance to level 80 and gain potent new talents and abilities along the way.

Northrend: Explore the harsh new continent of Northrend, packed with new zones, quests, dungeons, monsters, and items -- and do battle with the undead armies of the Lich King.
"Inscription" Profession: Learn this exciting new profession and gain unique ways to permanently enhance spells and abilities in the game.

Siege Weapons and Destructible Buildings: Take the battle to another level with new player-vs.-player game mechanics and new battlefields to wage war on.

New Character Customization: Change how characters look and express themselves, with different hairstyles and dance animations.

I swear those challenges better not be raid related.

Slide show
http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/08/03/liveblogging-the-blizzcon-expansion-demo-panel/

1:32pm: Intro to the Death Knight class. Designed to fulfill both tanking and DPS roles. Can tank using 2h OR Dual wielding-- no shields here.

1:32pm: Death Knights like bladed weapons, showing off big axes and swords-- Runeswords and Runeaxes. Wears Plate armor, showing concept art-- looks like Rogue/Warrior/Warlock all had a baby.

1:33pm: Death Knight spells and abilities are a mix of both caster and melee. Not standing back and casting, but using non-melee spells and abilities. In your face, beating your head in, and using a spell called "Army of the Dead." OMG

1:34pm: Death Knight is a hero class-- can't roll as a level one character, wanted to make it more epic (no level one Death Knights). Character class with two distinguishing elements-- have to unlock the ability to play one. Don't have to be a raider. Quest chain at level 80, like the Warlock epic mount quest, to unlock Character class. Story elements-- explain interaction with Arthas. Second element: Once you've unlocked it, you start off at a relatively high level (55, 60, 70-- not sure yet), with preexisting set of spells and abilities.

1:36pm: Hero classes are Unlocked, allows us to release more in the future. Can't release them all at one time, because of game balance, but what it boils down to is your favorite WCIII heroes, playable.

 

[vumpler]

Do you think you can change the hair by getting haircuts finally? Or are they just talking about at the beginning of the game.

 

[Tamanon]

Do you think you can change the hair by getting haircuts finally? Or are they just talking about at the beginning of the game.

They mentioned you can change your hair via a barber shop type thing, so not just at creation.

 

[TurtleSnatcher]

So im wanting to get back into the game.. I am going to start a new char.. I want something that will lvl fast and be good at a higher lvl in PvP

I was looking at a Blood Elf Rogue, but then kinda swayed away due to not being able to heal and that just kills me inside, but I keep it in the back of my head all the time and it won't go away..

And then there is a Blood Elf Pally. I hear lvling them sucks and is kinda slow but then they can heal and last forever and I hear the burst dmg on Ret pallys are good.. so..

What do I choose?

 

[Ramirez]

You want something that will level fast and be good at PVP...roll a Warlock.

 

[Wellington]

OMG ENHANCEMENT BUFFS

THANK GOD BLIZZARD!!!!!

Are those for the new expansion? Sound cool, but without CC it is still moot.

I saw this logo today on a car and had to take a picture. :lol

 

[firex]

I might've read it wrong, but those buffs sound like they come in at the 2.3 patch.

Even though I'm not gonna play again until a month or so before the expansion drops, I logged in (my account hasn't expired yet) and respecced my pally to ret so I'll be ready. Now I guess I just need to clean up all my mail and I'll be in good shape.

 

[TurtleSnatcher]

So 1 response and.. it tells me to go warlock.. something that I didnt have in my two choices.. >.>

 

[border]

You said you wanted to level fast and be a good PVPer. Neither one of the classes you picked excels at either of those. I guess paladins are good for 2v2 arena teams, but I don't think healbotting is what you really had in mind.

 

[unifin]

Are those for the new expansion? Sound cool, but without CC it is still moot.

I saw this logo today on a car and had to take a picture. :lol

http://i16.tinypic.com/4ts6p79.jpg

They're supposed to be implemented sooner.. aka 2.3 or something.

Also, expansion is supposed to have shaman CC (Earthquake, por favor)

 

[speedpop]

Yeah I am thinking Shaman will finally cop Earthquake as a stun CC. Knowing Blizzard over the past year or so (well, the main developers who have their say) it'll be binded to a fucking totem with 5HP.

I'd still kill for that totem that the corrupted Lost Ones use in Zangarmarsh.. that 5 second fear totem It'd shit Rogues right off though.