World of Warcraft Patch 2.3 Coming Next Week 198
Blizzard has officially announced that World of Warcraft Patch 2.3 will be dropped onto live servers next Tuesday. It's a huge update to the behemoth of Massively Mutiplayer games, including elements like a new raid zone called Zul'Aman, significant class changes, new questing content in the Dustwallow Marsh zone, and an increase in leveling speeds between 20-60. The full patch notes are available on the official site. "Elsewhere Guild Banks let you keep track of and organize your stocks much more efficiently, the Auction House has been revamped so it is easier to use, and you will be able to pick up daily quests so you have something to keep you from falling asleep as you go back to the same dungeons or battlegrounds again and again. The old 40-man Alterac Valley battleground has been fiddled with, too, so it should now have extra added fun, and those of you around the mid-level mark should head to Dustwallow Marsh for new quests and speedy leveling."
Daily quests to keep me from falling asleep? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I just do what I want to do, level an alt, chat with the guildies, play the AH for cash, tradeskill. Wander around STV ganking. Explore.
WoW is successful because there are so many different activities you can do. If you don't like doing dailies, don't do them.
Re: (Score:2)
BEST ACRONYM EVER (Score:2, Funny)
DOAC (Doh-Ahk)
SWG (Swig)
AO (Ayy-Ohh)
EQ (Eee-Que)
Instead the acronym is WoW... just WOW... I mean WOW!! People say WOW inside WOW all the time! Its a recursive and reinforcing acronym that keeps you locked into their subscription plan for all eternity!!!1
Re: (Score:2)
Dark Ages of Camelot
DaoC.
Re: (Score:2)
Nobody has ever called Dark Ages "Doh Ack" ever, because that isn't how the abbreviation is spelt. So its hardly a minor correction. And in fact, I've never heard anyone call it "Day ock" either, for that matter. Most people just call it "Dark Age" or "Dark Ages" as in "Want to play Dark Age tonight?"
As for star wars, people just call it galaxies, I've never heard anyone ever say: "swig".
Re: (Score:2)
But then, he mispronounces everything...
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Dwellers of another cellar?
Quit Warcraft (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
It's the biggest MMORPG in the world, but it shouldn't be on Slashdot's front page because you, an AC, don't personally like it that much?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Quit Warcraft (Score:4, Interesting)
I do find it funny how serious some kids take it though, to some kids it is a life-style unto itself. Which I guess is understandable, since I managed to waste most of the 90's staring at various MUDs.
On the other hand, I find it equally amusing how much some slashbots hate it.
Its a damn game, not worth forming strong opinions over.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, the rewards keep getting better, but still... It's working a lot for usually virtual goods, unless you're in the rare case violating the EULA and selling your services.
Re: (Score:2)
I for one welcome our 12 item mail overlords (Score:3, Funny)
At last I can store all those mechanical squirrel boxes for guild members!
Re: (Score:2)
LOL! Squirrelly Wrath! I love it. Wish the guild I'm in had a name that cool. Oh well. Incidently how many servers are Care Bear on? I know of at least 4 different servers I've seen Care Bear (or some derivative such as Care Bear Club) on.
And now, I must take my squirrel to the bagel shop!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This 2.3 patch also adds a gryphon in north Stranglethorn Vale. THANK GOD! I don't
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Lately I've collected lots of herbs by killing tree elementals in Felwood, and mailing them to my wife's herbalist takes *ages*.
This is a sensible change, probably overdue but I've not played the game for long enough to really know how much pain it's caused.
It will do it no good. (Score:5, Insightful)
The more they take content and put it into instances, both pve and pvp; the more it becomes a pointless game to play. Why play a Mmorpg which has turned into an Orpg? Does it matter that there can be 2k people on your server when you only ever see a dozen or so every night because the game is all instanced?
Then there's the cottage cheese-y-ness they've done with pvp. It used to take some skill, quick thinking and some organization. Now with resilience , other damage mitigation and overpowered healing that can keep anyone alive things like arena matches turn into long grind fests. The outcome of pvp encounters used to be maybe 50% skill and preparation, 20% luck and 30% gear and class make-up. With all of the changes they've introduced this past year, your typical arena match is determined by 10% skill and preparation, 5% luck, 85% gear and class make-up. Doesn't that sound exhilarating kids?
This happens with a lot of mmorpgs. They are released in a form that is slightly buggy and end up with all of these unplanned and unforeseen novelties in terms of gameplay, strategy, interaction. Then after the corporation that develops it spends a few years tightening the cogs and getting RID of the unplanned and unforseen elements as well as anything that gets complained about by the userbase, voila! You end up with a bland, boring game no one plays anymore.
I was a member of a guild with over 100 people and kept in touch with a former guild of 200. They've both dried up and shrivelled out of existence because every patch slowly turned the game more and more bland. Both 'realms' I used to frequent have died horrible deaths and the main cities are ghost towns.
Bring back the wild west. Bring back the buggy, unforseen, wild, insulting, violent mess that was Ultima Online back in the early years. There were no cookie cutter classes. There was gambling, extortion, confidence tricksters, scammers, spammers, raiders, looters, exploiters, thieves, honorable and dishonorable fighters and gangs. There was somewhat of a safety zone in towns. There were no factions, everyone and everything was fair game. There was no one way to play the game, I'm sure people have so many interesting stories about how they or friends played. I had a friend who liked to spend his time stealing useless items. He was a weird looking fellow and a clepto. He also enjoyed running around town naked. He would yell at the NPCs and get angry at the guards when they caught him and killed him. That was his take of the game.
If I wanted to play around in a world where everything gets regulated and restrained and anything that causes people to whine gets the axe I would... Not go pay $50 bucks + $15 per month to do it on a computer, there's plenty of it in a non-virtual world.
The only reason WOW hasn't collapsed like a house of soggy cards is that there is still an influx of new players and the game does have a great unique feel with LOTS of art and content to discover as you level. But once you're done leveling, the game is over.
Re: (Score:2)
Eh, it's either that or you're competing with a few thousand other people for spawns to complete the same quest objectives.
Really the only reason the game is MMO is so they can charge you a monthly fee.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, there are some specific content, but the differences are minor. Even playing one character up the leveling gets repetitive around level 20.
Re: (Score:2)
Personally, I love end-game in WoW right now. You don't need to dedicate yourself to end-game raiding unless you are going for the high-end stuff. 10-man instances are a great way to raid 2 n
Yes that's nice (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Instances do away with the griefing and drama that was so fun to watch from the sidelines..
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Always fun to daydream, but given the alternative people will always pick the safe and easy. Who's going to want to be a sheep in that game when they can just play WoW? And MMORPGs wont work when everyone is a wolf.
Re: (Score:2)
But once you're done leveling, the game is over.
I my opinion, it's the leveling part that needs updating. Almost all new content is for level 70.
Of course, I didn't even reach 70, so can't compare pre70 and post70 play.
After running around feeling like my character waded in concrete for the first five minutes if gameplay, my goal was to get to 40 so I could get a mount.
At around level 20, I was bored out of my mind with repetitive quests, hated PvP and loathed playing in groups, but I thought that maybe if my character could move a bit faster, it wouldn
Re: (Score:2)
After running around feeling like my character waded in concrete for the first five minutes if gameplay, my goal was to get to 40 so I could get a mount.
You rolled a cow, didn't you? They always feel like they're walking on the moon, because Blizzard decided that all characters walk at the same speed regardless of cosmetic size. Try a gnome, you feel like you're zipping along... also like you're a shortass. :/ Sounds like WoW just wasn't your style, though... that's OK, I've always hated FPS games. :P
Re: (Score:2)
If you want the account actually deleted, you have to contact Blizzard and specifically ask them to delete it for you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Fine, you liked it before, but Im certainly not going to the play the sheep for your wolf. S
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Would you like some Alterac Swiss with that whine? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hey, guess what? We're glad you quit playing. And no one cares why!
Re:Would you like some Alterac Swiss with that whi (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Leopard friendly (Score:2)
For more info on the issue: http://homepage.mac.com/simx/technonova/C488455530/E20071107233441/ [mac.com]
Re: (Score:2)
What should be happening is that Apple should change their operating system to not be so damn dense. There are potentially valid reasons an application could need to change itself (like an update) and that shouldn't stop it from even running.
Remove the goldfarmers first (Score:2)
Other big news... (Score:3, Interesting)
Engineering: Flying Machine
Reagents:
Adamantite Frame (2)
Fel Iron Bar (30)
Handful of Fel Iron Bolts (8)
Star Wood (8)
Fel Iron Toolbox
Elemental Seaforium Charge (4)
BoP, Req Level 70, Engineering 350+ to make and at least Expert riding skill to use.
Engineering: Turbo-Charged Flying Machine
Reagents:
Flying Machine Control
Khorium Power Core (8)
Felsteel Stabilizer (8)
Hula Girl Doll
BoP, Req Level 70, Engineering 375+ to make and at least Artisan riding skill to use.
Heroin Hero - Chase the Dragon (Score:2)
(anyone else think that trey and matt just got over their wow addiction?)
Changes Work For Me (Score:2)
For me, the changes make it easier to get to L60 (my only character is a L55 Paladin, so there's not much more to go), add new content
Re: (Score:2)
I'm a casual player, too. I had barely levelled my main to 60 before BC was released. I had several alts on both factions in their 30's. And I was discovering that, for a casual player at least, end game is boring.
My options were: 1) continue to grind rep/gold at 60, 2) Level an alt through the same 1-60 grind I had just completed, or 3) devote more time to the game so that I could participate in endgame dungeons and raids.
Fortunately, after only a few weeks, BC came out a
Woohoo! New patch! (Score:2)
Whats going to break? (Score:2)
I wish the guys at blizzard stopped making so many patches when something works fine. It drives me nuts.
A quicker path to Burning Crusade / Lich King (Score:2)
My read on it is most of the players are probably tooling around outland waiting for the 3.0 release. If you're trying to level up to 60+, you are stuck in westfall asking if anyone is running deadmines over and over, and you get a bunch of lvl7's to help
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:WOW - It's So Cute! (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:WOW - It's So Cute! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:WOW - It's So Cute! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
PS: I am a software engineer with student loans etc so feel free to take that as you will.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Slashvertisement? (Score:5, Informative)
So about 9 million active characters in 2 of 3 game markets, and Blizzard claims 9 million total accounts active right now (and they explicitly exclude closed, expired trial, etc., accounts from "active").
Pretty much lines up, really.
Re: (Score:2)
they are not active, I know somebody who hasn't played since mid-August and his characters are still viewable in the armory.
Re: (Score:2)
It also doesn't count item mules, auction house characters, trade skill mules, etc...Doesn't count the 2 new characters everyone started to play through the Blood Elf and Dranae starting
"Players leaving in droves..." (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Saying you're
Re: (Score:2)
Saying you're going to quit a MUD/MMO because of a change made is the idlest of idle threats.
Not if you actually do quit. At least not if it's a pay 'n play, like WoW. If you make a non-profit game, you can ignore if people stop playing as long as the few who do stay like it.
Normally, it's not an issue, except he'd throw fits and delete his characters, then demand his characters be undeleted
The magic lies in having a "Delete Account" function, not just "Delete character"
Blizzard don't, but if you ask them, they'll delete your account for you. (Been there, done that)
Though, my reason for quiting WoW wasn't change, but lack of change. None of my issues with the game has changed in the last year and a half.
Re: (Score:2)
Was WoW simply the least bad MMORPG? (Score:3, Interesting)
I got a pet little theory about MMORPG's and that is that most players play them, because there is nothing else. WoW was king not because of its excellence, but because of its one eye in the land of the mole people.
Currently my drug is LOTRO, and I can see once again just how bad the game is. Not bad in a conventional "crash and burn" type way, but bad as in, I can't believe I am playing this, kinda way.
But I need my MMORPG fix, and for now LOTRO provides it. But I am looking constantly for something new.
Re: (Score:2)
As a game programmer I would agree. Wow is NOT great, but it is "good enough", and certainly better then anything else that is available at the moment. Blizzard did nail "casual gaming" pretty good (Lev 1-20), so I have to give them credit for that.
--
Why does some Tailoring recipes require
Re: (Score:2)
Oh please. I am a game programmer.
* The designers don't have a clue stick about "dead time." Spending half of your time traveling back and forth across zones before you get your mount at 40 is B-O-R-I-N-G. Flying takes far too long.
* The ONLY way to level up is to kill things. For those that only interested in creating/crafting things, you're screwed.
* Quests are very limited. There 10 basic times, but only about 5 account for 95% of them: "Kill", "Random
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
exactly, you are not a game designer, it's obvious from your comments.
> * The designers don't have a clue stick about "dead time." Spending half of your time traveling back and forth across zones before you get your mount at 40 is B-O-R-I-N-G. Flying takes far too long.
dead time increases your wanting to level up to get the mount, it increases the value of mounts to players enormously: same thing for flying mounts, same thing for epic flying mounts. Think carrot (mo
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
#1 you completely missed my point, the boredom is what pushes you to level to get the mount
#2 the first rule of (mmporg) game design is to hook people and keep them hooked, fun is not the primary objective, having them renew their subscription for years to come is. Single player and non-subscription-revenue games are a different kettle of fish, since the player has already given you all their money, you can indeed
Re: (Score:2)
#2 Which is why I argue current MMORPGs are not great games -- their first focus is not fun, but keeping them hooked. That's a terrible way to make a game. IF you make your game fun in the FIRST place, you don't have to
Re: (Score:2)
that is another carrot added to the bouquet, of course the mount is not the ONLY thing, but it is a powerful incentive as the levelling curve starts to noticeably slow down in the late 20s/early 30s
'...it's a backwards way of game design and business. Give players what they want, and they will come.'
yes, they will come, but will they stay? In an mmporg every player wants the most overpowered equipment,
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The designers don't have a clue stick about "dead time." Spending half of your time traveling back and forth across zones before you get your mount at 40 is B-O-R-I-N-G. Flying takes far too long.
The first point I'll give you. The second, not so much. Flying takes as long as it should, unless you're talking the Darnassus->Theramore flight, or something else that cuts across all of Kalimdor. Those take forever. Apart from that, flying takes barely any time at all, and is a good chance for me to view and appreciate the scenery. 2 years, and that hasn't gotten old for me, so don't lay the "It gets boring after the nth time" line on me.
The ONLY way to level up is to kill things. For those that only interested in creating/crafting things, you're screwed.
This isn't bad design, this is just a design choice. If you're
Re: (Score:2)
People have better things to then waiting around for their avatar to reach a destination. i.e. Flying from Iron Forge to Scarlet Monastery is a complete waste of your time for 10 mins when you've already been there numerous times. God help you if you PUG it, and you have to wait another 10 mins for everyone to get their act together. There is a reason other RPGs have "gates", "town portals", "r
Re: (Score:2)
People have better things to then waiting around for their avatar to reach a destination. i.e. Flying from Iron Forge to Scarlet Monastery is a complete waste of your time for 10 mins when you've already been there numerous times.
Considering you're talking about an impossible flight, it'd take a lot longer than 10 minutes. Hell, even if such a thing were possible, it'd not take 10 minutes. Flying across the ENTIRE HEIGHT OF KALIMDOR takes about 10 minutes. Going from IF to SM isn't close to that distance.
God help you if you PUG it, and you have to wait another 10 mins for everyone to get their act together.
Idiocy of the playerbase is not the fault of the designers.
Have you played RTS's at all? Dynamic worlds are always much more interesting then static worlds, virtual or not. Without change, things become stale, and boring.
I've played a great many RTSes, thank you very much. It's not true that dynamic worlds are always more interesting than static ones. First of all, a dynamic world can be
I always love that line, players leaving in droves (Score:5, Interesting)
Part of the magic of WOW is that it really does have separate classes where the differences are enough to grant four to six different ways to play the game. The hybrids blend obviously, but melee, magic, and ranged melee (bow), all work well and in many cases require different play styles. Magic is the most diversified where playing a priest is very different from a mage just as its different from a warlock.
I have a warrior and to claim that only classes the lead design or high placed developers are being buffed is to ignore the fact that many people with these classes have been waiting for their day in the sun. If what you implied were true the largest number of players would have long focused on Warrior - which is not the case. Shaman get some tweaks now to enhance two of their trees. Yeah warriors get some bennies here but each class received buffs as well as some tuning which tones down overpowering areas.
My beef has been that PvP/Arena gets way too much focus but obviously I am not in a majority as it appeals to large number of players. The problem of course is that these are the most competitive players and as such will be the most vocal. If they didn't bitch then Blizzard would have a problem, that would be a more clear indicator that people were leaving.
Re: (Score:2)
You may see this as a troll post, but Blizzard has been clear with their actions they're not interested in class balance, only in buffing (making stronger) the classes that the dev's mainly play. For those uninformed, Kalgan is the head designer/game balancer, and his current favorite class is Warrior.
If all this "Kalgan favors warriors" nonsense was actually true, then the arms tree w
Re: (Score:2)
Lightwell is a 31-point talent! You must be thinking of Circle of Heal(lol)ing.
Re: (Score:2)
Circle of Healing however is absolutely insane on the right fight, but worthlesss otherwise. The reason so few take it is so few are at a point in the game where you need to heal a group of people clumped up, but take a look at the Bloodboil fight and watch how much easier it gets with CoH.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Whoops, hit the wrong button. I guess dispel un
Re: (Score:2)
I think I've got some sort of co-ordination problem - while the other player is leaping around like a rabbit on speed and hitting me with well synchronised de-buffs, spells and all sorts of unholy damage, I'm trying to attack them and hit my little buff button while not looking away from the screen (or I'll probably die).
Keybind everything, EVERYTHING that you use in combat. Turn your character with the mouse, just hold the right mouse button down almost permanently and look around as you would in an FPS (except zoomed out as far as you can). Also remember that most of the people you fight probably play 5-10 hours a night and have done so for months. Most of it is automated to the muscle memory stage, leaving their conscious minds to make strategic decisions.
But the main thing, which you nailed in your last sentence, is
Re: (Score:2)
"past it either"? Are you implying there aren't a lot of guilds that can beat kara?
http://www.wowjutsu.com/world/ [wowjutsu.com] has 33284 total guilds listed, with 99.98% full clearing kara.
If you're interested in PvE getting a pug together to clear kara
Re: (Score:2)
While I agree about the warriors getting stupid buffs and warlocks getting the shaft, I have to question
You know, I'm not one to go into the "woe is my class" tirades (mainly because I have 3 70's I play and soon a 4th, so I've always got SOMETHING I can play :)), but warlocks are the best DPS casters in the game right now. Not much to complain about.
For those only interested in PvE, it's not looking to good on that front either. If Zul'Aman is similar to Kara, there won't be many guilds progressing past it either.
"past it either"? Are you implying there aren't a lot of guilds that can beat kara?
I think he was implying that a lot of guilds clear Kara and never make any other progress beyond that, which is certainly true. This is more due to numbers IMHO. Just easier to get 10 good players together than 25. ESPECIALLY if you start running Kara first
Re: (Score:2)
Warriors getting buffed again (no, Mace nerf is not meaningful. Intercept buff is.) so Kalgan can rock his Season 3's.
You do realise that the changes (change to disarm immunity aside, which is a pain, and the minor mace spec nerf) make ZERO difference to PvP spec warriors? All they do is nerf fury warriors' burst damage, slightly up their sustained damage and threat reduction, and make it nearly impossible to set up a worthwhile PvP/PvE hybrid build.
It sounds from your post like you got butthurt by a well geared warrior. Try taking on a warlock that can drain heal 500 hp/sec, has 12k health and can chew through that war
Re: (Score:2)
You're right, the game isn't for you.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
YES, I KNOW. I have no life...
But I tried quitting for about eight months, and realized all I replaced it with was watching bad television, so I went back.
Re: (Score:2)