Asheneyes

Doubtful. If respeccing would only work in raid instances people would just hop into a raid group and enter an instance for their talent changes.

 

Anedris

Re: Pure classes v. hybrids - two specs is better than one. The fact that hybrids could make use of 3-6 specs doesn't mean that the change to two instead of being limited to just one isn't an improvement. I know no one means to suggest that because this change might make hybrids feel the pure DPSers are getting away scot free it shouldn't be implemented at all, but that's how some of the commentary comes across.

As to the "unique personality/character definition/etc." aspect of talent specs, it's been over and back again in other threads. (My own view is that any such concept died when respecs could be bought with 15 minutes daily/farming time, but that is a legitimate dispute, albeit one I think does not fit well with the way Blizzard has structured its talent trees.)

 

threep*

No, that would be idiotic. The "mid-raid-respec" mentioned from GC was just an example how to use it.

 

◊ Embar

They did ask the attendees, as someone already mentioned. Option 1, butchered game but release on time. Option 2, Do the whole thing but release 3 different games. Option 3, do the whole thing in one game, compromise on the epicness and release it "when it's done". There was an overwhelming response for option 2, and boos for the other two options.

Also, to whoever mentioned the "same ending", what Pardo meant was that you could pick different missions within a campaign and a different order to do them in, but the overall campaign ending would be the same. However, since the campaigns for all three races follow sequentially in the timeline, they will obviously have different endings.

On occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary. -- James Nicoll

 

Malan

I think the question is what the price point of the three releases will be. $50 for each segment will probably be too steep. $25-$30 each might be more palatable.

Shitting up every single thread on EJ since '06

 

Bullshot

The PvP panel just ended. Chilton mentioned that they're looking into the possibility of players getting exp from Battlegrounds. A way to kill the twink BGs? Can't help but see it as a direct take on WAR's USP.

 

flyingtoastr

According to MMOC the big announcements for the PvP pannel were:

1) Stand of the Ancients up to 15v15 (from 10v10).
2) Eventually planning on allowing the queuing for BG and Arenas from anywhere at any time.
3) Eventually planning on giving Experience through battlegrounds in addition to honor.

2 and 3 are straight from Warhammer and were considered some of the best features of that game by many people. Interesting.

Some people's minds are like cement: all mixed up and permanently set.

 

gia

Kalgan also mentioned the number of vehicles being doubled which is important because currently getting down the last few walls is a bit too hard. Many games I've played on beta have been draws where neither team manages to complete their attack.

-edit-
VVV: Snowy I think they specifically said they would give xp along with honor from kills. Also twinks are something that might actually discourage legitimate players from going into the battlegrounds to gain exp, I don't think they want to support that play style. I would compare them to downranking in that it's a mechanic that has largely been tolerated so far but it wasn't really their intention for them to be there.

 

• Snowy

I doubt they'd kill twink BGs at this point, there's a long history of them now that would provoke too much anger. It could be something like Halaa, where you generate a token for every kill, and then maybe you turn in X amount of tokens for a quest, which grants money + XP. Or maybe it's a straight kill quest without the tokens involved. Point being, they can make it optional to gain the xp.

Paladin: Pyla
Mage: Pylah

 

flyingtoastr

Yeah, I should have mentioned that given just how fun vehicles are.

Anyway, MMOC just posted some more PvP goodies. Other cool stuff:

-They want to bring back competition into Battlegrounds, they're working on a new rating system to help with that and are also working on a way to let guilds compete in battlegrounds.

-The faction controlling Wintergrasp will get a free portal to teleport to Dalaran (and also one in Dalaran to teleport to Wintergrasp), an access to The Vault of Archevon featuring a new raid boss dropping both PvE and PvP gear (1 day reset timer), and all bosses in instances will drop spirit shards used to buy rewards from vendors in the fort. (Mounts, patterns, etc ..)

Some people's minds are like cement: all mixed up and permanently set.

 

Havok

I'm glad they're adding shards from all bosses in all instances. I'm guessing that they will only be lootable if your faction controls Wintergrasp??

 

gia

When your faction controls Wintergrasp everyone in all of Northrend gets this buff: Essence of Wintergrasp - Spell - World of Warcraft

It works exactly like Spirit Shards so yes, they will only be lootable when you control Wintergrasp.

 

Bullshot

R&D Panel just ended with the only interesting bit of info being that you can buy certain tier set pieces with badges. They specifically mentioned shoulders and chest but possibly other pieces may be available as well. Apparently this is to negate the frustration of not having your set token drop (they don't want to make 1 of each drop from a boss since it doesn't feel intuitive).

To be honest, I don't know what to make of this. Having certain non-set items buyable from badges seems a better solution than the tier pieces themselves. Generally speaking it's the non-set pieces that are more frustrating to obtain than set pieces.

 

Threepi

Didn't BGs give XP pre-TBC? Wasn't there turn-in quests for 3 marks of honor that would give XP?

 

flyingtoastr

"We have one great update. Blizzcon exclusive! In the 1st content patch that follows wotlk, all of your ground mounts will no longer dismount in water. they'll swim now."

Best change ever.

Some people's minds are like cement: all mixed up and permanently set.

 

• Bazazu

This is nothing new. It's already been implemented on Beta for at least a month or two. 2 of the 10 man tokens for every class are purchasable with 10 man badges. 2 of the 25 man tokens are purchasable with 25 man badges. I forget which but it's something like Gloves / Boots for 10 man, and Helm / Legs for 25 man. The other tokens still have to be acquired in zone by whatever their normal drop mechanism is.

Also, in addition to the purchasing of the above tokens, they still drop from bosses in their respective zone.


Edit: Does anyone have any links to full videos of these panels yet? (or the dance / costume contest?) I expected them to be up on Youtube already but alas, the internet is failing me.

 

Duilliath

Neither are their PvP plans, other than the ones for the new BG. Both the exp for BGs and queueing from all over the world have been mentioned before. So far most of the actual news appears to be focused more on DiabloIII / SC2 than actual WotLK news we didn't know yet.

An thenn tehy wuz al ded. Srsly. (Exodus 1)

 

Bullshot

One of the early preparations for Maelstrom?

 

• Chicken

That struck me as somewhat interesting, while I doubt the rumors of them being a new race in TBC were ever founded in reality, it's interesting to note that one of the reasons people gave for them not being a playable race seems true.

buff /bʌf/ Pronunciation[buhf]
–verb (used with object)
- to reduce or deaden the force of

 

gia

Well they mentioned the next expansion doesn't necessarily have to be a new continent! So you can begin speculating on it being the Maelstrom or maybe even being underground (Azjol-Nerub, etc).

 

Illy

What matters is what's good for the game, not how long it's been around. Can anyone really argue that twinks are good for WoW PvP?

Warhammer does a lot of things right in regards to PvP. I'm hoping from these early indications that Blizz isn't too proud and will implement the features War does right.

 

• Chicken

With some of the new technology, we could also see another expansion not bringing a new continent in a very different way. Imagine, if you will, a revisited version of the original two continents, where through the phasing technology that WotLK brings, entire new storylines and quest lines unfold for max level characters, while at the same time the original content is still there for lower level characters.

Really, that'd be a better way of using some of the older unused areas like present day Hyjal, Uldum, Grim Batol, etc., then "Oh hey, let's introduce a new high level zone in the middle of nowhere in old content!".

Some people might feel cheated out of their money though I suppose, but I'd say the actual new environments, while cool, are the least important part of new content: I'm all about the storylines.

buff /bʌf/ Pronunciation[buhf]
–verb (used with object)
- to reduce or deaden the force of

 

◊ Asgorath

This is the only one I've seen:

BlizzCon 2008: Dance contest highlights - WOW Insider

Archives of yesterday's audio streams from WC Radio are up here I think:

WoW Radio - Azeroth's First & Only Talk Radio Station

 

LucidityAxel

Why do you feel that twinks hurt the overall pvp game?

 

Mideci

They don't. In fact, twinks in the low bracket are less relevant than ever. Virtually no one levels the traditional way any more and those that do shouldn't be spending much time in battlegrounds. And even if they are, given the accelerated experience curves, no one new to WoW would have the gear of anyone who'd been around and knew how to find the best twink gear even if they could only hang out in the bracket briefly.

The notion that somehow "ordinary" lvl 19s are hurt by excessively overgeared lvl 19 twinks has always struck me as odd, but never more so than now where a lvl 80 game is approaching and the number of regular toons in any bracket is de minimus. The only people playing low level battlegrounds are twinks, by and large. While I don't personally bother with it, I'm not really clear who it's hurting.