This is the first World of Warcraft thread for ILG

Why is it easier to level now than it was back in the 30s?

Did you reach level 60, Dan?

To see one of the reasons this falls down, look at a change made a few patches back to the other two BGs: They used to group together people by their level: 21-30, 31-40 etc all the way up to 60 (the level cap). This was changed to 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60. For a good reason too: There's a pileup effect at 60, so with each patch Blizzard, mindful of the monthly fee, has introduced more content aimed at that range, with more and shinier rewards for the characters (there's a bit of your brain that would be soothed by watching someone count to 100, and it's this bit, among others, that WoW is aimed at). As a result, the gap between two players, one who turned 60 last week, and one three months ago, is at least as big as that between a lvl 50 and lvl 59. This is also true for most of the milestones: at 10,20, etc characters gain new skills, and the way they play the game changes. Not least among these, the lvl40 and lvl60 mounts, ridable animals which boost your speed by 60% and 100%. But AV only has one range: 51-60. One or two of the above quests are suitable for the lower levels, but they only take half an hour at most, and AV games are LONG, stretching from 4 to 8 or 10 hours. So most of the time, quite a few of the players on the field are having no real effect at all. I've seen a lvl 60 kill a lvl 51 in considerably less time than it took to type (or read!) this sentence.

The other reason is related, which is that without a full team of lvl60s, the final assault can be near impossible. Apart from the respawning guards, the other players pour out of their final graveyard at a considerable rate. The majority of games (on my server) aren't won by completing the aims, but by attrition in the Alliance's favour. There's a safeguard to make smaller games possible without stacking the deck in favour of the larger faction: the maximum number of players in a team is 40, but the game can start when there's 30 ready. After that, the players are only added in pairs, and only if ther teams are already level. So if one of the Horde drops out, the vacancy has to be filled and someone else has to enter the queue before an Alliance player can be added. But this doesn't cover what happens when someone drops out and there's no-one to replace them. Eventually (we are here talking at 2-3am for a game that started at around 6-7pm) the number of Horde players drops below 10, and the Alliance win by default.

Dan, WHERE ARE YOU?

Andrew, do you ever sleep? Gad.

I did hit 52, though. A WINNER IS ME!

I also still suck at PvP. Bah.

While my main bulds up rested bonus, I've been levelling up my other PvP toons:

- lvl 26 human priest (enchanter/skinner)
- lvl 13 gnome warlock (engineer/miner)
- lvl 8 night elf druid (alchemist/herbalist)

I think my warlock is going to end up being a BAD ASS. Also, when my priest gets mind control, LOOK OUT.

Vicarious gaming, takes less time but just as satisfying...

I didn't like the fact that practically nothing was going on at all in the world and there was a huge focus on clans/alliances and doing things as part of a party. I hated the whole partying up thing mostly because i didn't like the ppl very much.

Twist my arm or tell me to try city of heroes instead, or ignore me at yr leisure.

There's still a pretty strong group component, particularly once you get to higher levels; the good thing is that while it helps to be part of a guild/clan, you don't have to be. I can't compare this game to any others because it's the only MMORPG I've played but I love it.

Toon update:

Teufelstod (dwarven warrior) is on the cusp of hitting 54, meaning that the 40 gold I dumped on an armor set will soon be money well spent.

Grinz (human priest) is at 27 right now. I need to do some Stockades runs with him and just find more groups in general.

Deezil (night elf druid) is at 16 right now; when I get around to it I will get his water form.

Lunnil (gnome warlock) is at 15. He's sitting in Westfall right now waiting to pwn some goretusks.

Tolenar (human paladin) is at level 4. I started him just to get a feel for the class before the patch.

Engelfeuer (dwarven hunter) is at 6. I had a hunter on another server and that class was fun, so this is my other spare time wait-for-rested-bonus toon.

I get the impression that when you get to the larger dungeons with 20-40 people, your chances with a pick-up group go sharply downhill.

Given that you're not that bothered about regularly grouping with the same people, why all Alliance?

Hahaha yep! Also you can't do a Horde/Alliance mix on a PvP server.

Contain "Leet" or "Dudespeak"
This category includes names which:

* Consist of language existent only in online communication (i.e. Roflcopter, xxnewbxx, Roxxoryou

If a player is found to have such a name for their character, guild, or pet, he/she may:

* Be assigned a randomly generated temporary name, to be changed via the online ticket system
* Be given a warning
* Be temporarily or permanently suspended from the game ).

OMG. Roflcopter.

first image used:

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41138000/jpg/_41138672_wowm-blizzard203.jpg

elf titties!

i just thought it was funny that a nice shot of elf titties was the first image used for the article.

One of three screenshots released last week from the Expansion

One of three screenshots released last week from the expansion

MIND CONTROL IS AWESOME OMGWTF.

http://myspace-786.vo.llnwd.net/00006/68/73/6073786_l.jpg

i am so ready to try and creep this broad out.

I like that they keep updating stuff when they could probably just coast for another decade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYqFJ_NhguM