World Of Warcraft

Oh ok. Thanks.

She's gorgeous.

Here is a look at the Garrison buildings. It does suck we won't be able to put every building, but it makes sense.

There also seems to be 8 level 100 instances.

You know, as annoying as it can be, I do appreciate Blizzard making sweeping changes to improve the game.

The Secret World has been stuck in a rut since launch (that I'm aware of, at least, never been a big theorycrafter/meta-gamer). All the choices and options you have with a point-buy, no class system is just as artificial and trap-filled as the old talent system. There are certain abilities you must choose, if you do not then you can't do your role properly. You have two mandatory stats and one that's completely devalued by a single end-all, be-all passive ability. Who cares how often you randomly crit when you can count and exploit a crit on every 8th attack?

The other big rut is that there are attack subtypes; one of them, focus is the mandatory choice. Think of it like the warlock's Drain Soul or Crackling Jade Lightning; you channel and "tick" hits. Well, those little hits can independently crit. So, everyone runs the passive that counts down to a crit and uses the three weapons that have a focus attack to exploit that crit.

Every weapon in TSW runs on combo points/chi. The only other resource is how quickly you can hit the button that builds points. The game is also aggressively more active so you can't risk standing around casting. Therefore, only the instant builders are used and every weapon has One True builder.

It's been this way since the game came out. They fix things that are broken but the current meta-game is acceptable with no real sign that they're considering looking into it.

Basically, take the old WoW talents and every class ability and throw them into a pot you can choose from. You take all the +hit talents. The old assassination rogue talent Cold Blood means you never need crit. You take only Drain Soul and Crackling Jade Lightning to exploit Cold Blood.

Choices! There are no icky character classes to restrict you; provided you understand that everything sucks except for assassination warlock or assassination monk.

Conversely, Blizzard wouldn't stand for this...at least for more than an expansion. They will attempt to address it though- maybe they'll mess up and completely kill that build to allow for others, maybe they'll rebuild the system that'll create more options... possibly by removing "options" - but they'll make big changes to the game when there is a problem.

Granted, Funcom doesn't have the resources Blizzard does. They also lost half their staff right after launch. I expect things to be done much slower, we've been waiting on Tokyo for like eight months now. I just don't know if they'll really shake down the combat and character system to bring more options into the game.

How many of us would be playing WoW now if the game played exactly like pre-TBC. You want to tank? Warrior. You're playing paladin? You're a healer and a buff-bot.

edited 12th Apr '14 10:38:57 AM by Rotpar

I think there's a fundamental disconnect between what people think they want and what "works" from a game design perspective. While I usually side with the design side of things and can agree with pretty much all of what you're saying, I think it's also important not to devalue the purely subjective experience that players will often have. The metagame might say that only one build is worth playing, but to a newer player trying out the game for the first time that doesn't matter. They see the "freedom", and they think it's cool. And that matters too.

edited 12th Apr '14 10:44:38 AM by Clarste

It kinda stops mattering very fast by pressure of other players. It's not Pokemon where you can screw around in singleplayer without even knowing about Smogon's metagame - it's a MMO, the metagame is all up in your face. And if it's a PVP game, the players will propagate it even more directly by stomping you.

edited 12th Apr '14 10:52:03 AM by Adannor

The internet is biased by people who care enough about a game to talk about it on the internet. There's a silent majority of players who simply never rise to that level, and their money is worth just as much (or more).

edited 12th Apr '14 10:54:55 AM by Clarste

Without derailing the topic too much, I imagine TSW has fewer of those players Clarste. It's a much more demanding game. It's an amusing dynamic to play both of these games. One being "loleasy" that's very inviting and gives you ample opportunities to progress, and the other demanding that you work for it and do some thinking.

I can really hop onto WoW at a moment's notice and make an attempt at progression in some form. I've been stalled at the same point in TSW for roughly a year because I haven't worked up to nerve to try the next challenge. At the same time- after months of grinding- when I was finally able to solo every mission in the game, that was an accomplishment I haven't felt in WoW for a long time.

I apparently randomly now have Mo P.

Any of you remember how noobish you were back when you started?

I thought: Walking was an ability. All Rogues were invisible hackers with death touch. Only complete idiots would ever down-rank spells, I mean it's higher level, so it must be better yeah? Who'd ever wanna be a Tauren stuck on those ugly rhinos? I spent all my money on this stupid owl, why won't it fight for me?

The first time I saw friendly players with green nameplates, I was utterly confused, especially when I somehow got a green name as well. Then Horde started killing us. This was in Ashenvale and I had inadvertently stumbled into one of the many world PVP battles in that zone.

It wasn't until some time afterwards that I learned how the PVP-flagging mechanism worked.

edited 15th Apr '14 6:43:07 AM by Fighteer

I remember being haunted by a satirical fan-comic I read in the past. It went like this:

Night elf woman: Okay, I just need six murloc eyes, and I'm all done. :)
-the murlocs, however, are blind-
Night elf woman: Goddam it! ><
Artist's comment: I hate quests that ask for items that never drop.

20 Bear Asses quests. Never get tired of those.

Ahh, the wonderment of discovering a new world.

My most memorable thing is repeatedly screwing around in Stratholme and Scholomance while completing the paladin mount quest for a friend. Camping in Rattlegore's room while waiting for the item to recharge and being ambushed by respawns... Lot of random fun.

Oh and taking screenshots of myself seated in just about every chair I could find in hostile areas

edited 15th Apr '14 8:52:05 AM by Adannor

So, today I decided to level my four year old rogue to 72. Had the assassination spec up and....

Its disgusting

In outland I was critting for 6K on a crit ambush, and if you know rogue crit rates, that's 1/5 openings Then I got Blindside Procs When I finally hit Northrend in Heirlooms, I could one shot anything I pleased.

I kinda wish they kept Pseudo elite quest mobs in Northrend, its kinda boring to have mr. big boss have only 9K health, when back in outland the nerfed elites have around 13K. I can't even get a full rotation out, its either, Ambush dead or Ambush-Mutilate-Dispatch dead or when blindside procs Ambush-Dispatch Oh So Dead

I would take my rogue for PVP but I lack pvp heirlooms, And with how much a difference pvp power and resilience make, I would still have trouble in battlegrounds, at least its nice, being able to walk in the middle of a group of alliance cloth wearers, turn in a quest, and watch as they all pop their various shield spells as I walk by.

edited 15th Apr '14 9:39:00 AM by stevebat

The power curve for old-world content is pretty crazy, especially if you have heirlooms. Once you hit Cataclysm and especially Mists content, you won't kill stuff quite as easily.

I'm quite aware of the difference in power for cataclysm, but I never realized that there is literally no difference between Burning Crusade and Wrath of the lich king at the basic mob level. I was raiding on my death knight last week and I asked myself why the difference between various heroics and raids was so vast, the entry level Sartharion battle was 1.3 million (Before drakes) but the end game lich king battle is 9.8 Million (This is all ten man), Its utterly silly.

Can't wait to see how blizzard plans on leveling the difficulty spike across the last 3 expansions.

Also, the old models will be used for players on low quality graphics settings.

Finally, there's been a rumor LFR won't drop tier gear.

Double post: Alpha build 18156

Starfall is apparently becoming a persistent ability that ticks every 5 seconds, instead of a 10 second duration/1 second proc. Interesting.

https://twitter.com/Celestalon/status/456635972159950849

I have gotten my full Nine-Tails set on my rogue. Huzzah!

So, in my goal to beating garrosh at least once before my time runs out, I must say the banter on LFR can be hilarious

Tanks desperately trying not to die, Healers desperately trying to keep tanks afloat, and DPS who whine and complain about dying and not getting BR.

Interesting patch notes

Among other things:

• Stats that aren't useful for your spec are grayed out and won't function. All plate will have strength and intellect on them, all mail and leather will have agility and intellect. A warrior won't benefit from intellect on his plate, a holy paladin would but gain no benefit from the strength.
• Movement bonuses are now additive. Passive bonuses stack with passive bonuses, only the highest temporary bonus applies. A night elf feral druid with speed enchants will benefit from all of the speed buffs combined, but using Dash overrides them all for its duration.
• Combat resurrections now reset their cooldowns and have raid-wide charges during a boss fight. You generate charges over the course of the battle. They are only consumed if the resurrection is accepted and the UI will show who is pending a res.

edited 18th Apr '14 4:42:03 PM by Rotpar

Speaking of endgame raids, there's something I think would have made defeating Deathwing more rewarding: to be kissed by Alexstrasza.

All of the updated notes plus a sneak peak at paladin t17.