This is the first World of Warcraft thread for ILG

I haven't looked at Warsong Gulch at all; just from the description I get the sense that it would totally suck to be a warrior there.

PS: I logged in yesterday and I am now a SEARGENT! FUK YEAH

8 days of infrequent playing to level. I can do better than that.

Is no one interested in the expansion pack? This feels like Dan's World of Warcraft blog, heh.

Secondly, both of my coworkers who play are torked off by the new level cap. Personally, I'm glad that I spent all of my time fucking around with lvl-20something toons and didn't bother grinding to 60 and then blowing weeks on getting epic gear.

Also that is the greatest picture known to man.

Some people were suggesting that the new Alliance race will be Centaurs/Dryads, and some people were suggest this was a dumb idea, because what would they do for mounts? I think this is a brilliant idea, if instead of mounts they get rollerskates.

Alliance get their heads handed to them in any Arathi Basin game that I've seen, unless 4 or 5 of the horde just don't turn up. I suspect this is because population imbalance means that any horde who wants to play BG all day can do that. Or maybe all these 12-year-olds aren't the untapped strategic resource that they appear.

Some people were suggesting that the new Alliance race will be Centaurs/Dryads, and some people were suggest this was a dumb idea, because what would they do for mounts? I think this is a brilliant idea, if instead of mounts they get rollerskates.

That is totally, absolutely brilliant.

Any tips on where I should try to farm some decent gear (particularly plate armor and two-handed swords)?

http://www.1up.com/media?id=2446386&type=lg

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!

???

haven't played in awhile

on the one hand: yes absolutely lol
on the other hand: ...why am I considering renewing my subscription so I can play WoW: Kung Fu Panda

the monk class sounds pretty dope, though; interested in seeing how that plays out, esp as a healing class

realized with horror the other day that i forgot to cancel my subscription and have been paying for it despite not playing for 6mos

I was paying 6 mos at a time so mine actually just ran out... 2 days ago?

and also tbh just read about the new talent system and i think it sounds way better---as someone who only played casually and had neither the time nor the inclination to research the "right" way to build a given character, it's nice that they've streamlined that process

(basically, since a lot of players with a given class/specialization were learning identical talent trees, because that was the "best way" to play that class/spec, they shifted most of those talents over to abilities that you automatically learn as you progress through the game as that class/spec. what's left over are talents that are more about personal playing style. seeing as how i got chewed out for not playing my own character "correctly" in a couple dungeons, it'd be nice to have some of that taken out of my hands. but maybe the nerds will be pissed about this training wheels approach, w/e)

why am i talking about this like i'm actually going to start playing again, sweet god

A friend of mine used to fill his rogue's bags with bandages and play him in dungeons as if he was a healer. Obviously this was before vote-kicking.

haha. i always wished rogue's had a spec to become dps/healers (it wouldn't be hard to do either! just give ability to increase range of bandages and decrease the cooldown and you're there!)

I hope monk healing involves punching people to life

haha I forget I had signed up for the beta for the new expansion

guess I know what I will be doing in April

Much much much much crying in the forums by people who bought the yearly pass to get guaranteed MoP beta access and didn't get in first in the first wave of beta invites first first first and also people who didn't even buy the pass are also getting beta invites why does god hate them?

Blizzard seem to be really enjoying the opportunity to push out end-game content - after they turned the entire lvl 1-60 world over last time and people went "meh", they're pretty loud about being able to put everything where most people will see it.

<a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/4637611";>A Night in Mists of Pandaria</a>

Bah

man I really need to get my act together and replace my computer so I have something to install this upon

has anyone played lately? Was Pandaria fun? I'm suddenly tempted to stick my head in again, just run around, see the old places, level a bit, try a monk. (I don't even have time for that tbh)

I'm tempted by the new expansion but I haven't played in 2 years

i don't think i went back in after i last posted. Three-and-a-bit years clean.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/fix-warlords-draenor-server-lag/jQDhZSB5

Is "Fire and Fury" a World of Warcraft mission that a dedicated player would know by name? Is it noteworthy in some respect?

sup 8.0.1

⚠️ [#Warcraft] We continue to investigate reports of ongoing connection issues. Thank you for your patience!

— BlizzardCS (@BlizzardCS) July 17, 2018

Anyone play? This is my third time in a decade of trialing a month, giving wow classic a go. I have always enjoyed the month, but then the tug of life gets a hold of me and I realise I don't have it in me to commit the time this game demands. Maybe playing for a month every three or so years is what I am made for?

Come play w/ me, I'm on the US servers I think?

I did a month about a year ago and it was a blast - just tore through 10 years of expansions & got basically up to date (I bought Shadowlands iirc). I don't have the time now & I think there wouldn't be the same rush of novelty tearing through zone after zone & fiddling with garrisons, order halls etc (oh and op blasting thru instances solo). But I'd certainly do another month if I did have more free time - it was so relaxing or comforting finding the rhythm of it again.

I started playing WoW Classic with coworkers and then everyone quit again after like 3 weeks