Most of the expansion threads on the forum have become derailed/unfocused, and no one has really talked about the new things introduced in the last patch.
1. Dungeons (Heroic mode ramparts/Karazahn)
Heroic mode was redone last patch. Instead of just a hp increase, mobs got a significant boost in damage as well. Haven't fought any bosses yet, but from just fighting some of the trash, everything has been tuned as close to raid quality as possible (for a 5 man).
Karazahn is just amazing from the little i've seen so far. Haven't gotten a really solid group together for it yet, but was in groups that killed the first 2 bosses (Attuman/Maiden). So far it's done a pretty good job of blending individual importance from a 5 man with a raid feeling (boss encounters, etc). Im sure more people can elaborate here though.
2. level 70/skills/flying mounts.
Most of the 70 stuff is self explanatory (hi seed of corruption > anything for pve aoe btw), but flying mounts really do add a lot to outdoors. Speeds are as follows
normal flying/crow form = 60%
swift gryphon/wyvern = 280%
To give a better idea for speed on swift gryphon/riding, total speed on those brings you up to 380%. Most flight paths in the game go between 380-400% on average, so an epic flying mount really is like a controllable flight path. Better start saving though, 720 gold for expert riding, 4500 for artisan. 80g for a normal mount, 180 for a swift.
3. New zones (Netherstorm/blades edge)
Blades edge is still unfinished (looks pretty amazing overall though), with only a few quests setup. Netherstorm however, is probably the best questing put in the game since duskwood/STV. Amazing layout for the quests, and plenty spaced very close together. Not to mention the entire zone just being cool in general.
ok, that covers enough main points to start a discussion on the new stuff. gogo :p
I don't mean to nitpick but I found Duskwood a very poor questing area considering how far away the single town was from the primary questing area.
Although, I do have to remark that the quality of questing has gone up substantially, there are more "goals", and no more misdirected "Here's a fetch quest to the other side of the planet for 200 exp and a letter saying thank you."
I loved Duskwood. Atmospheric with a decent storyline running through it. Too much running? Perhaps but I don't think there's a better zone for atmosphere.
Personally I love Nagrand. Everything's densely packed and while the hunting quests are a bit much (30 of what? AGAIN?) the quests flow very nicely. Now if they'd just put something, anything, in Blade's Edge. I'm finding I have to grind in spots because I've run out of quests. They should aim for more than they need, not right on the nose.
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
i watched the video on Karazhan, and was disappointed to see no hunters in the group. still very antsy about all the changes too the class. sorry for the derailing.
Quick note about the mounts, I keep seeing people posting discounted prices for some reason. I bought my epic flyer today. I paid 800g for the 225 riding, and 5000g for the epic riding. Then 200g for the mount itself. Total cost of 6000g on the dot. This is skipping the purchase of the 'normal' flying mount which is listed as 100g.
I'm assuming that the 10% discount is for having some reputation level with Wildhammer, but can't confirm until I go and grind from neutral to friendly or higher, which I have no desire to do.
Netherstorm however, is probably the best questing put in the game since duskwood/STV. Amazing layout for the quests, and plenty spaced very close together. Not to mention the entire zone just being cool in general.
Maybe for a class that is currently regarded as vastly overpowered.
For most other classes, the zone is somewhat less forgiving. The mobs are absurdly hard, even when even- or lower-con, the quests are repetitive (Shutdown Manaforge A. Shutdown Manaforge B. Shutdown Manaforge C), and the zone being organized into islands means that corpse runs are always absurdly long because the graveyard is almost always on a different island, meaning you have to run some bizarre circuitous path to recover your body. And best of all, the ridiculous terrain fissures mean constant moderate fall damage.
Worst of all (to me), the Netherstorm epitomizes Metzen's childish, hackneyed, amatuerish butchering of the Warcraft lore.
I liked Nagrand. Nagrand felt like Warcraft. Netherstorm feels like Starcraft 1.5.
Did you do the quests in Kirin'Var village? Literally about 300k xp packed into an hour and a half (if that), and all closely connected together. I'll probably give you the nod on difficulty though, as most of my time in netherstorm has been spent in a modified dot spec (sm/ds style), with a resto druid backing me up. Most mobs just die in 2 dots, so it's not hard to chain pull 4-5 on any given camp :x
Probably why I really like the feel. World of Starcraft, I lament what you could have been.
Anyway, the GY runs in the zone do really suck, and some of the mobs are ridiculous. Those mana draining combos in the southern village are murder if you are a caster - I had to either decide to drink every pull, or blow mana ASAP and just rely on bandaging/autoattacking mobs and nothing else. I imagine is just as bad for mages when CS is down.
Kharazan
Havent explored it much, but for me the most important realisation was:
Healing rotations are back.
Now the rigidity of these rotations may not be as severe as Tier0 Golemagg. But I definately feel that encounters require Healing rotations to some degree. Given that we didnt have a Pally or Shadow Priest, it may not be that bad.
Blade's Edge
Completely skipped this zone. But while flying over it, did anyone notice those dead dragon corpses stuck on the mountain blades? freaking awesome.
Netherstorm
Zone looks great. Questing was pretty OK. Nagrand is still better imo.
Shattered Halls
The most challenging 5-man instance so far. Pulling packs of 6+ 69-70 elites can be really intense, especially when you are the only pure healer in the group.
All the boss fights (especially the last one) are extremely fun too.
Auchindon: Auchenai Crypts
Small instance. Frustrating trash mob... but... Shirrak was a HARD encounter. He is the only 5-man boss that gave me the satisfaction of a raid boss. Given that these instances are almost always PUGed, this encounter sometimes really tested the dedication of your group. Heck, those invisible "raging souls" mobs were fun too.
Unfortunately, I am pretty sure he has been nerfed.
CoT: Black Morass
Short, relatively easy, fun and great loot. You can complete this whole "instance" (its more of a long event, not an instance) in 20-25mins with a good group.
CoT: Hillsbrad
I am not a lore freak. But damn, creating an instance thats set in "old Hillsbrad" is plain COOL. The Thrall escort adds to the enviroment and magnificent story of the place. Really atmospheric instance.
And I have great fun MC'ing the healer mobs and healing for 9k :)
Flying Mounts
I wasnt really excited about this at first. But damn... it feels just too cool swooping down on your enemies from the air. I had some fun ganking lowbies in Hellsfire this way. The feeling you get when your enemies dont know "what hit them or where it came from" is really nice. Heck, the first time it almost felt like I was in my own little movie scene.
Another time, I rescued a guy getting trained my mobs. Made me feel like a little hero :P
But bleh, Flying mounts is one of those things that will lose their charm fast when everyone gets them. But its a good experiance intially atleast.
Interesting fact about kara is that every boss has 2 epic drops. Given that its 10 man and not 40 man, it's a huge increase in the amount of epics per person, per week. If the loot tables are deep enough, everyone in a kara raid could expect to get an upgrade every week for the first month or so (at least).
i'm neutral with wildhammer and got the discounted price.
Isn't it because vendors are in Honor Hold and they are using HH faction ? Also, it is the same Wildhammer faction as on live or different ?
Originally Posted by zeidrich
Women's breasts can be modeled as a cone and measured as V = (Db^2*h*.785)/3 and since breasts can be thought of as an amorphous fluid, you just have to worry about containing the volume of the breast.
Just a quick question regarding horde flying mounts. What faction do you purchase the mount from? I noticed someone mentioning Wildhammer for alliance mounts but nothing about the Horde ones. If the faction is one already in game on live it would be nice to grind the rep up before BC comes out and save oneself some bank when purchasing the epic one (My plan at least).
Flying mounts are only going to be purchasable in Shadowmoon Valley, which is still an unopened zone. Blizzard spawned a mount trainer/vendor in Honor Hold for people to get them early, and start testing Tempest Keep, since you need a mount in order to reach the entrance.
Since they're in Honor Hold now, I'm guessing they are using Honor Hold faction. As for what faction Wildhammer Stronghold (in Shadowmoon Valley) and the Flying Mounts will take once they're fully implemented, no one can really be sure. I have yet to find any use for the current Wildhammer rep, or any mention of a new Wildhammerish rep.
Horde mounts are also located only in Shadowmoon Valley, and they have a vendor spawned in Hellfire Penninsula currently. I forget the name of the horde towns in both zones though.
Blades edge is still unfinished (looks pretty amazing overall though), with only a few quests setup. Netherstorm however, is probably the best questing put in the game since duskwood/STV. Amazing layout for the quests, and plenty spaced very close together. Not to mention the entire zone just being cool in general.
There are still 10-15+ quests in Blade's Edge, which are pretty fun. Ofcourse most of them have "Needs green reward" in their name, but you still get the XP when you complete them. I managed to get half a level just doing the quests in there, granted with rested xp.
Netherstorm looks great for the most part, but the contrast between orcs/elves and the StarTrek-ish quest lines is jarring at times. Not to mention they basically copy-pasted the ambient music from Starcraft, massive negative points for that. Otherwise a very very solid quest area, with some extremely fun quests (Negatron hehe), and every non-elite quest is easily soloable - you can basically solo 99% of the mobs in the area. I don't think I died once to mobs - world pvp is a completely different thing though, died a lot and killed a lot, tons of fun.
Horde mounts are also located only in Shadowmoon Valley, and they have a vendor spawned in Hellfire Penninsula currently. I forget the name of the horde towns in both zones though.
The vendor is spawned in the center of Thrallmar, which is the major quest hub in the Peninsula. Epic flying skill was still 4.999$ although I'm halfway past Honored with Thrallmar. Can't remember the mount costs.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but it's Metzen's child to make or break... we're just along for the ride.
Sur, we are.
It's your car. You're perfectly allowed to paint it with garish colors, and tag it with neon-glow piss-yellow. That doesn't mean it's going to be good looking.
Yeah... I'm a little curious where all this space ship stuff is going. I mean the Naaru/Draenei architecture really boils down to sci-fi rather than steam powered vehicles or fantasy in the end. I'm digging it ok so far though.. even with that one Nagarand lore quest that had me running through the halls of a giant ship.
Back on topic: Also of not this patch a LOT of new areas have been added to the Bone Wastes... there's a crypt, a refugee camp (protected by Aldor who hate me!) and a undead mound... not to mention some weird placeholder Aldor in the far south (who didn't attack me for some reason). There are no new quests but I think this is how they plan on fleshing out the Terrokar/Auchindon experience, with more quests/lore in the Bone Wastes.
Anyone who's done Karazhan on beta know if Lock-out timers are in yet? I've got the opportunity to go with a PUG now but I don't want to get locked out from going with guildies later.
Anyone who's done Karazhan on beta know if Lock-out timers are in yet? I've got the opportunity to go with a PUG now but I don't want to get locked out from going with guildies later.
Yes, however i've seen conflicting reports on duration - 5 and 7 days.
Originally Posted by zeidrich
Women's breasts can be modeled as a cone and measured as V = (Db^2*h*.785)/3 and since breasts can be thought of as an amorphous fluid, you just have to worry about containing the volume of the breast.
For most other classes, the zone is somewhat less forgiving. The mobs are absurdly hard, even when even- or lower-con, the quests are repetitive (Shutdown Manaforge A. Shutdown Manaforge B. Shutdown Manaforge C), and the zone being organized into islands means that corpse runs are always absurdly long because the graveyard is almost always on a different island, meaning you have to run some bizarre circuitous path to recover your body. And best of all, the ridiculous terrain fissures mean constant moderate fall damage.
Worst of all (to me), the Netherstorm epitomizes Metzen's childish, hackneyed, amatuerish butchering of the Warcraft lore.
I liked Nagrand. Nagrand felt like Warcraft. Netherstorm feels like Starcraft 1.5.
We need a neon alert sign firing off messages to some of you guys. I'll spell it out for you plain and simple: It's a different planet. Stop demanding that they stick with the Azeroth feel in an entirely new space, please.
11/21/06, 11:19 PM
