Douglas

Yeah, my guild is minescule and we have problems with this. The key problem for us is that people just don't level at the same rate. We have four truly active players (we raid via guild alliances). I have 3 70s and a 68 and a 64, another person has two 70s, another person has one 70, and the fourth is still 69.

Best solution I can see would be a formal mentoring system, where a bunch of higher level characters could decide to "mentor" a lower level one, and their gear and stats got scaled down. Then we could accompany them through content for their own level, but without trivializing it. Man, I'd be all over a system like that. Sort of the opposite of Heroic mode, in a way.

 

• Snowy

When Kaubel wakes up and sees this thread, I shudder to think of what he's going to do.

Stop with the rampant speculation of how DK's are going to get nerfed in 5v5 arena PVP. Do you realize just how silly that whole line of conversation is?

Benefactors' Bar, where you get free English lessons:

 

Snik

WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Revealed news from 1UP.com

Lot's of informatin there about the expansion. I'm glad you don't have to start a Death Knight at level 1.

 

• Deris

The Mentor system would also allow you to group with lower level players, run those old "fun" instances, and still gain exp towards your real level. This way even if everyone is level 70+, when new players join they will still have people to play with via Mentoring. Because lets face it - getting 50-75% of the exp you would be making in a real 70+ instance, but being able to do that in Scarlet Monastery while you are "geared" out for your level is a far better compromise than sitting LFG.

Not to mention with WoW's iLvL system for equipment it would be very easy to scale gear.

 

snape

Uldum isn't all though. Ulduar (another of the 5 Vaults left by the Titans) is actually on the continent of Northrend itself.

Ulduar - WoWWiki, the Warcraft wiki

 

Nezralix

All things considered, I'd say the number of players who give up and quit the game because they know an expansion is coming is far outnumbered by people who stick it out and keep playing for the very same reason, even once they're bored with current content. People who grow desperately attached to their loot and "social status" are usually pretty irritating anyway, so good riddance.

The only real hassle that guilds encounter is player swho are forced to reroll from level 1 (to be paladins, shamans, whatever) because it takes so damn long to get into the fold. And Blizzard really should do something about this to bring 1-80 time back down to the old 1-60 span, even if they start Death Knights at a higher level.

 

• Viator

I like the teaser on 1up about Inscription. That could be very interesting.

Mages have a set time that they want you to ask for food, and that time is pull #4 of the night. You may notice them putting a little snack table down before the raid, that's them cooking the food for you to demand on pull 4. --Nork

 

• sadris

Indeed, much better than the Enchanting 2.0 which was Jewelcrafting.

 

◊ Malan

Permanent increase to spells and abilities? Seems like a new enchanting in a way.

~Rocks, coming to a shaman near you in the next expansion~

 

Cadmus

I hate the idea of Death Knights starting at a higher level. Really, who won't have a level 80 DK alt? There's no incentive not to put a few hours into getting one to 80 for daily quests/farming/etc. I'd really rather not see every other character be a death knight at 80.

Also how will death knights not have a mana bar when that screenshot clearly shows the ability using mana

 

• Marroc

If it doesn't let you change other peoples abilities it's going to be stupidly over powered. I mean who wouldn't take the profession that makes your spells better than everyone elses?

 

Tunch

Uh, yeah, does Inscription seem amazingly powerful/required to anyone else? I guess I'm glad I still have an open tradeskill slot.

 

Dejablue

"New Hero Class: Death Knight
World of WarCraft's first Hero Class is a plate-wearing tank/DPS hybrid that works a little something like this: When players hit level 80, they'll be able to embark on a quest (similar in difficulty to the Warlock's epic mount quest, back before the level cap was raised to 70) that unlocks the ability to create a Death Knight character. The Death Knight starts at a high level (somewhere around 60 or 70, though Blizzard isn't certain yet), so you won't have to grind your way back up all over again. It's intended as an alternative, advanced class for end-game use only.

Rather than using rage, energy, or mana, Death Knights have a special "rune sword" displayed beneath their health bar, onto which the player can etch six different runes (choose between Frost, Blood, and Unholy). Different abilities require different mixes of runes, and using abilities consumes the requisite runes until a cooldown timer causes them to be available again. Stuff like talents, spells, and other specifics are still being finalized. So are key questions like what races can be a Death Knight (start a Gnome petition now) and whether unlocking the Hero Class on one server means you can create a Death Knight on any server."

Pretty cool. It says for raids tho. I wonder if Warriors, Druids and Paladin tanks will be obsolete or if they are intended for special bosses? I would rather see them make paladins more viable tanks personally. As a Feral Druid I can certainly feel for the frustration of all of us not being viable once again....

 

Wodahs

Frank Pearce. Blizzard cofounder. Exec VP of PD introduced the death knight 'hero' class a few minutes ago.

 

HaklePrime

Actually, that's probably a large impetus for the way they seem to be implementing it. Like a lvl 80 farming alt for healers, or those whose 'raid spec' isn't exactly viable, or fun, for farming/questing/pvp?

I just went from disappointed in it being a Hero Class, to intrigued

 

Dejablue

They should make it a secondary profession like cooking etc so everyone can use it. Directly effecting spells is really OP. Everyone will be one.

 

Coel

The 1up preview was really informative, I did have to laugh at the 'change the cooldown on fireball' under inscription though.

 

mek

Yeah, either it makes BoE scrolls which can be sold, or it's a secondary profession IMO. What it apparently offers is too lucrative otherwise, every single caster in the game will be Tailoring/Inscription.

 

Astrik

Yeah, that made me a little scared...

 

Dejablue

Good call bro. Also incentive to play other classes and get outside of a one world view, and maybe reduce all the QQ threads as people realise the grass isn't always greener.

 

Fleebenworth

This thread is going to be locked so fast when a mod wakes up. How are people still speculating about how good stuff will be after reading two-sentence descriptions? Here's a hint: it's someone's job to write all this stuff up to make it sound incredibly cool.

 

◊ Malan

The screenshot itself gives no context as to what its from. That could be a level 80 shadow priest spell since its name says "Unholy." Very hard to say. There's also no reason a class couldn't use both mana AND some other new unique system.

~Rocks, coming to a shaman near you in the next expansion~

 

Genso

Someone over at WoWInsider in the comments mentioned an Undead Illidan? Did they show something like that?

 

◊ Malan

No, the first pic at the top of the page just looks a little "undead" because of the lighting. I had to look twice at it to make sure.

~Rocks, coming to a shaman near you in the next expansion~