WoW: Cataclysm

[Boblobla]

I enjoy the new zones. I am doing some of the lowbie zones to see some of the new quests. I like what they have done, the leveling grind will be much less painful now.

I am looking forward to leveling my worgen rouge now too.

I saw a blue post that said they are going back to the way raids were in vanilla and BC where CC and composition were important, not just a "pull the entire instance and AOE everything down".

I have done the new quests in Westfall, Redridge and Darkshire and they are pretty cool, much better than the were. There is a main quest for each zone that you follow and a few side quests, much better than random quest hubs. Although, I need a bigger flight map...

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I saw a blue post that said they are going back to the way raids were in vanilla and BC where CC and composition were important, not just a "pull the entire instance and AOE everything down".
...

I hope so. I hope they do that with 5-mans too where you can actually get lost and things took a little bit of thought. Granted, the bosses were simpler then, but at least the trip to get to them wasn't always linear and easy.

I've been dicking around leveling a Tauren paladin just to see some of the new zones. Leveling for people who have already leveled a few toons is easier and faster, but for anyone just starting the game, I think they are going to miss out on the epicness that leveling your 1st should be. It's almost too easy now. On my pally, I leveled to 20 in just a few hours (as well as my professions) and now I have a mount.

I guess WoW is surviving mostly on re-rolls these days anyway.

[Ethaniel]

The New leveling Experience is definitely something better about the game. Like i said previously this is the most fun I have had leveling a toon (since my first).

All Dungeons and raid Instances are going to require Crowd Control, until potentially very late or very geared individuals. They were not impressed about the AOE easy mode that was WOTLK (IMO the worst expansion). Blizzard made great Tech advances in WOTLK, but they suffered immensely on the gameplay and difficulty.

I have the expansion digitally downloaded and can't wait to play. I will post my experience of difficulty in 5 mans once i get there, but I anticipate similar to TBC in regards to this and welcome the change. I think TBC would have been absolutely amazing with the dungeon finder that WOTLK had so hopefully we see that now.

[Lithium]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Most people who would go now are probably those getting the Special Edition. Some people do like having a physical copy, but the way battle.net works now there's really no point.

I think EB Games, Futureshop, and Bestbuy are all offering free swag to people that line up. Free posters for everybody. First 25 people in line get a $100 mouse, next 25 get a mouse pad and a poster, something silly like that anyway.

Free $100 mouse would be nice if it was a R.A.T. 7, but it is not.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I hope so. I hope they do that with 5-mans too where you can actually get lost and things took a little bit of thought. Granted, the bosses were simpler then, but at least the trip to get to them wasn't always linear and easy.

They aren't going to be non-linear like the old stuff was (in fact, they've trimmed down instances like Wailing Caverns to get rid of the maze like effect), but they won't be the simple loot corridors of Burning Crusade either. I like to think that Wrath made them interesting enough, so that even though they're linear, they don't feel terribly boring.

People are going to be due for a rude awakening when they try their first heroic in Cataclysm. The beta has shown that you have to be very aware of how your class works and your surroundings to have a smooth run, and it won't be very common.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

They aren't going to be non-linear like the old stuff was (in fact, they've trimmed down instances like Wailing Caverns to get rid of the maze like effect), but they won't be the simple loot corridors of Burning Crusade either. I like to think that Wrath made them interesting enough, so that even though they're linear, they don't feel terribly boring.

People are going to be due for a rude awakening when they try their first heroic in Cataclysm. The beta has shown that you have to be very aware of how your class works and your surroundings to have a smooth run, and it won't be very common.

We'll see. HoL was brutal when Wrath first came out. I know the first time I tried to down Lokken the group spent a long time and wasn't successful. But people QQ'ed and it got easier. Then when people were eventually fully outfitted with badge gear it got really easy. The last time I ran HoL it was simply a tank'n'spank.

[IliketoPuck]

Even though I said I wouldn't, I did.

They have managed to make this game idiot proof, it takes absolutely no skill at all anymore, just sit there and bomb through an instance in no time.

I remember instances in TBC that if you didn't do the pull just right, you pulled 3-4 trash mobs and got stomped. At least that made it so you actually had to have some form of strategy, other than face rolling 1-4 on your keyboard and collecting your loots.

However I am happy about PVP gear being easier to get, the hours spent getting a full set of new gear every 3 months was quite the drag.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

We'll see. HoL was brutal when Wrath first came out. I know the first time I tried to down Lokken the group spent a long time and wasn't successful. But people QQ'ed and it got easier. Then when people were eventually fully outfitted with badge gear it got really easy. The last time I ran HoL it was simply a tank'n'spank.

HoL was one of the few instances in Wrath where there were debuffs to worry about, quite a rarity in this expansion. HoL was not a very good instance if you were PUGing, but I know that I got the Loken achievement on my first or second run of it, back when you mainly ran heroics with guild members and didn't have the dungeon finder.

If you want to know what Cata dungeons feel like, play Halls of Reflection. The coordination in the gauntlet is similar to the good old TBC days and the guild members I know in the beta have said everything feels like HoR and Magister's Terrace all over again.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

HoL was one of the few instances in Wrath where there were debuffs to worry about, quite a rarity in this expansion. HoL was not a very good instance if you were PUGing, but I know that I got the Loken achievement on my first or second run of it, back when you mainly ran heroics with guild members and didn't have the dungeon finder.

If you want to know what Cata dungeons feel like, play Halls of Reflection. The coordination in the gauntlet is similar to the good old TBC days and the guild members I know in the beta have said everything feels like HoR and Magister's Terrace all over again.

Good - that's the way it should be. I found the 4th wave in HOR with a pug tougher than the first 4 bosses in ICC.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

Good - that's the way it should be. I found the 4th wave in HOR with a pug tougher than the first 4 bosses in ICC.

Last time I did HoR was while trying to gear my Shaman. After wiping on the flight from the LK I was booted. I was undergeared for it, but one more attempt would have been nice (we only tried once).

[Ethaniel]

HoR and HoL (early) are great examples of what Cataclysm will be like for 5 player dungeons

[troutman]

Speak English!

http://www.drainingsouls.net/2007/09...-wow-glossary/

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Last time I did HoR was while trying to gear my Shaman. After wiping on the flight from the LK I was booted. I was undergeared for it, but one more attempt would have been nice (we only tried once).

That's another thing I imagine will change. The whole "OMG WE WIPED - LEAVE GROUP" crap should come to an end pretty fast. I'm so tired of the idiots who expect a perfect run every time, and any mistake in the run means half the group runs off. People will be used to wiping again, and hopefully this means less time wasted for everyone.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by troutman

Speak English!

http://www.drainingsouls.net/2007/09...-wow-glossary/

Yeah, it took me a long time to figure out what a lot of the acronyms meant.

Especially early on.

"What the hell is VC? I want to do Dead Mines, why isn't it DM?"

Of course you have no idea until later what the hell Dire Maul is.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

That's another thing I imagine will change. The whole "OMG WE WIPED - LEAVE GROUP" crap should come to an end pretty fast. I'm so tired of the idiots who expect a perfect run every time, and any mistake in the run means half the group runs off. People will be used to wiping again, and hopefully this means less time wasted for everyone.

L2P noobsauce - must zerg run quicker for more badges to get mah lootz faster pl0x!!

[GreenLantern]

So how are the rated BG's in beta...?

Is it basically just pre mades destroying all the pugs.. ?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Yeah, it took me a long time to figure out what a lot of the acronyms meant.

Especially early on.

"What the hell is VC? I want to do Dead Mines, why isn't it DM?"

Of course you have no idea until later what the hell Dire Maul is.

Wonder what Deadmines will be called now? Ran that instance for the hell of it after the world broke. Was very amused by how they changed it.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

So how are the rated BG's in beta...?

Is it basically just pre mades destroying all the pugs.. ?

The way I understand is only premades can enter rated BGs so it will be premade against premade.

[Boblobla]

I remember when our guild was bored before TBC was release and instead of doing MC or BWL for the 500th time we would preform faceroll through AV.

[Mazrim]

There's also a new matchmaking rating each character gets which is apparently supposed to help get more even matchups.