Starting WoW in 2016

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 5:48 pm

The thing is, it doesn't make me mad, it actually saddens me. There is a ton of great content in WoW. Great stories, a ton of fun backstory and lore, massive numbers of Easter eggs, and scores of really cool locations. It all just blurs by now, though. You see none of it as you are whisked past.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 5:49 pm

Oh. I didn't realize that they had admitted it. Now if they would just give people the option to jump to the current content for free.

Of course, I still wouldn't be likely to start playing again.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 5:50 pm

Blackhawk wrote:The thing is, it doesn't make me mad, it actually saddens me. There is a ton of great content in WoW. Great stories, a ton of fun backstory and lore, massive numbers of Easter eggs, and scores of really cool locations. It all just blurs by now, though. You see none of it as you are whisked past.

Yup. Exactly. I miss the slower leveling. And the harder difficulty.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 6:39 pm

I'm guessing they're focused on 90+ level characters and end-content because they know in 2016 there aren't many new people playing the game, seeing things for the very first time. I have to believe their data tells them most of the low-level characters are alts for people that have been playing for years. So let's get them through all that low-level stuff and back up to where their main character is ASAP.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 6:42 pm

Smoove_B wrote:I'm guessing they're focused on 90+ level characters and end-content because they know in 2016 there aren't new people playing the game, starting over from scratch. I have to believe their data tells them most of the low-level characters are alts for people that have been playing for years. So let's get them through all that low-level stuff and back up to where their main character is ASAP.

Oh, Blizzard's decisions are always backed up by data, I have no doubt.

What they aren't getting is that the reason I make alts is that I get tired of running the end game and want to do something different.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 8:05 pm

They are simply not going to spend money on content people are going to run through and frankly I can understand that. If you play the game over 20 hours you'll be at max and that's where +95% of the rest of the player base is as well. If you quit because of it, be sure to say so in the survey. One day I think they will dump leveling entirely and that day will come sooner if people tell them if they quit because of the leveling experience.

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 8:12 pm

Blackhawk wrote:
Zenn7 wrote:Favorite memory of WOW was in TBC, tanking the Heroic dungeon with my feral druid to complete my flight form quest with some guildies. I was fairly new to tanking. Had just made a druid at the end of Vanilla, loved feral druid (it was my main thereafter, with the only other characters I kept leveled up w/ each xpac being my other druid (caster) and my Death Knight).

That dungeon was brutal considering we were all relatively new 70's - no raid gear, not much, if any, heroic gear, etc. The boss we had to kill wasn't that bad, but some trash mobs before him almost forced us to quit after a few wipes. Didn't have a lot off CC. It was rough! But very memorable! The whole druid flight form quest chain was awesome!
I also did BC as a feral tank (and did Wrath as a cat - it was the first time they were actually viable for end-game.) I'm guessing that the dungeon was Sethekk Halls, killing Anzu the Raven God. The trash mobs were Arakkoa, and they had two things: A fear spell that would result in pulling the whole room (effing hunter pets!), and the shaman fellows who would drop a totem that would mind-control your party members.

That place was a bitch!

Yeah, few interrupts, little CC. Majorly sucky!

Bear was viable in TBC, Cat was in Wraith, I did some Cat and mostly Bear. I was an adequate tank most of time and decent cat.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 8:26 pm

Lorini wrote:One day I think they will dump leveling entirely and that day will come sooner if people tell them if they quit because of the leveling experience.

I didn't quit because of the leveling experience existed, I quit because the leveling experience was disappointing. If they removed the experience altogether, I'd have quit years ago.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 8:21 am

It's never going to get better so no point in coming back if that's what you are looking for.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 10:31 am

I wasn't looking for anything. I have been aware of Blizzard's direction for their game for quite some time. I was just commiserating with friends over the demise of what used to be a great experience.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:22 am

One of the Legion preview Dev discussions covered the 'broken' leveling combat, saying they are planning on addressing it but not sure how/when. He said there is an average time they would like a 1 v 1 encounter with a standard mob to take, can't remember what it was, but it's longer than what it is in leveling through Warlords content. Combat was noticeably longer in Legion content based on the first zone I played.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:30 am

Blackhawk wrote:I wasn't looking for anything. I have been aware of Blizzard's direction for their game for quite some time. I was just commiserating with friends over the demise of what used to be a great experience.

But was it? It took for friggin' ever. And gawd, don't think about having alts because you'd want to lay down and die [<- hyperbole]. I understand that some people will only have a main but most people that I know that play the game have several alts, and dragging them through the same slow content is simply not fun. I just did dungeoning to get through it, at least the different players made it more interesting. Other friends leveled solely through PvP for the same reason.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:52 am

That's all subjective, though. The end-game with one character is fun, but I find running the end-game on more than one character tedious and dull. I have, at various times, max-leveled at least a dozen characters, and I tend to 'retire' all but my main once they get there. Exploring the world and leveling up is where most of the fun is at for me. Journey more important than the destination and all that.

Not everyone gets the greatest satisfaction only from the last level. Then again, not everyone enjoys PvP, not everyone enjoys raiding, or crafting, or pet battles, or RPing, or leveling up. MMOs are great in that they provide different types of players with different types of experiences. Blizzard has simply made one of those types of players' experiences unpleasant (well, maybe two - the crafters aren't having much fun lately, either.)

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 12:52 pm

if what you care most about is leveling, Wow is not your game. They may not tell you that but after 11 years it should be obvious.

Newcastle · Post by **Newcastle** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 2:17 pm

So i started back up again on a new server. And I just dont think I have the heart to continue. I got to lvl 22 on a druid and the combat was boring. Swipe once or twice and critter dead. I get that they want to make leveling faster. I get that. But it just got so repetitively boring. Ran through a couple of dungeons and it was a literal sprint with the tank and other dps just running and pulling. And all I did was just run with em and hit what I could when I could. While it was nice to see a populated server, I really think I am done right now. It just held zero interest to me. Funny enough my interest in gaming is waning also. Anyway, I cant muster the enthusiasm for Legion. First xpac i wont be there for launch. Ah well. Life goes on, many other things to do so its not all a loss.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 2:54 pm

I don't remember it being as easy to level as you all do. Most of the foes I fought were my level or 2-3 levels higher than me. I could kill them all right then I'd have to spend a long time recovering. All I had was something to eat if that to recover. And taking on two or more was certain death. I may have won three or four fights like that over the hundreds or thousands I did.
Once when I had some health potions I killed one five levels higher than me.
And these big giant boss monster types I couldn't kill when they were a few levels lower than me.
It was the quests that leveled me up and those were being interrupted by other players all the time.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 5:36 pm

If you were always fighting stuff 2-3 levels higher than you, you must have gotten off the designed treadmill. Since starting again with my son in the past month I have solo leveled a mage, rogue, shaman, warrior and hunter up through at least 40th level all with DPS specs and I never used a bit of food or a potion and didn't experience any kind of downtime. I died a few times to elites or getting overwhelmed. Generally if I got 4 on me I *might* be in trouble but generally pulled through. If you were having that much trouble I am guessing you just weren't getting the combat.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 1:08 am

Yeah, if you take the quest that pops up when you start, take all the quests in order (IE - hit all the '!' when you see them), and just follow along where they send you, you'll always be within a level or two of everything that you fight. And yes, most of your XP comes from quest turn-ins. That was actually one of the biggest innovations that WoW made back in '05, and one of the reasons it had such great success.

MMOs before that just involved grinding through hundreds of creatures for your XP, with an occasional quest, usually for a special item.

Newcastle · Post by **Newcastle** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 12:48 pm

Fyi i just took over the guild leadership in the Sisters guild. I know that doesn't concern many of you since no one plays there. Also I kicked 2 people out and their alts for reasons which I think are valid (a. one is not a pleasant person b. they took over the guild in my absence and they shouldn't have. c. they have zero connections to OO directly, only indirectly). Everyone else who's an OO member or even friend is fine. This was a targeted strike.

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 1:03 pm

I am really enjoying the Warlord's of Draenor content. The Pandaria stuff was pretty boring, though it did make me put on Crouching Tiger and Hero in the background as I played.

tru1cy · Post by **tru1cy** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 1:19 pm

dbt1949 wrote:
tru1cy wrote:Nope, not going to do it
Wouldn't be prudent.

Well, I re-upped and brought Legion. I'm having fun again but it's rather lonely only talking to Hark via /tells. I like the changes to the talents (you can change them at any time now, so not lock into a choice) I assume I'll burn out again once I see all of Legions content

Biyobi · Post by **Biyobi** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 2:22 pm

tru1cy wrote:I like the changes to the talents (you can change them at any time now, so not lock into a choice) I assume I'll burn out again once I see all of Legions content

You can only do this when you're in a "rest" place like a city or an inn. I think you also get the first minute of a dungeon or raid to make changes. At any other time you need something that inscriptionists can make (name escapes me) to do changes.

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 4:24 pm

tru1cy wrote:
dbt1949 wrote:
tru1cy wrote:Nope, not going to do it
Wouldn't be prudent.
Well, I re-upped and brought Legion. I'm having fun again but it's rather lonely only talking to Hark via /tells. I like the changes to the talents (you can change them at any time now, so not lock into a choice) I assume I'll burn out again once I see all of Legions content

There's a bunch of the old guild on Area-52 now. I've seen Morg, Ny, Gru, Karrock, Monzie, and Panz.

tru1cy · Post by **tru1cy** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 6:55 am

noxiousdog wrote:
tru1cy wrote:
dbt1949 wrote:
tru1cy wrote:Nope, not going to do it
Wouldn't be prudent.
Well, I re-upped and brought Legion. I'm having fun again but it's rather lonely only talking to Hark via /tells. I like the changes to the talents (you can change them at any time now, so not lock into a choice) I assume I'll burn out again once I see all of Legions content
There's a bunch of the old guild on Area-52 now. I've seen Morg, Ny, Gru, Karrock, Monzie, and Panz.

Yeah, I know and Cort & Hark and some other are on Thrall. Just don't know if I want to change servers again. Still have my Alliance toon in the OO guild on Sister of Elune

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 8:00 am

tru1cy wrote:

Yeah, I know and Cort & Hark and some other are on Thrall. Just don't know if I want to change servers again. Still have my Alliance toon in the OO guild on Sister of Elune

I hear you. I debated for a while, but used the character boost on one and transferred (along with gold) another.

morlac · Post by **morlac** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 10:43 am

Blackhawk wrote:The thing is, it doesn't make me mad, it actually saddens me. There is a ton of great content in WoW. Great stories, a ton of fun backstory and lore, massive numbers of Easter eggs, and scores of really cool locations. It all just blurs by now, though. You see none of it as you are whisked past.

This is exactly why I was inquiring on a "classic" or "progression" server. I think I'll pass on playing again and find a different MMORPG for me and the daughter to play.

Toe · Post by **Toe** » Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:36 pm

I resubbed yesterday. I logged in each of my 100s to pick their talents and clean up their hotbars and such. I was surprised as some of the changes some of the classes/specs have undergone. Most of my character lost like 10 or so buttons, so there was lots of ability trimming. I have lots of re-learning to do in terms of how to maintain proper rotations and such as some classes/specs got drastically changed. I got most of my mods that I had used previously installed but was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a mod that has some low-profile, configurable debuff and buff bars? Ideally one that has bars that diminish as the buff/debuff is counting down, and is customiszable to the extent I can have the bars vertical or horizontal, with buffs (on self) and debuffs (on target) all together. I use to use a simpilish mod called ButtonTimers (I think).

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Aug 09, 2016 2:45 pm

I don't have it installed to look at exactly what options are available for it, but for what you're describing, I would suggest looking at both Raven and Quartz. Raven is more straightforward and a dedicated buff/debuff addon, but I know that Quartz can do exactly what you're suggesting (assuming I'm interpreting your intent correctly.)

tru1cy · Post by **tru1cy** » Wed Aug 10, 2016 11:04 am

So Demon Hunter has been released and I like what I'm seeing from the class, but some of the mechanics seem weird. For example Havoc has a talent in the first Tier to change your Fury builder into a Auto-Attack that will generate Fury and deal bonus shadow damage, so basically you're sitting around waiting for you auto-attack to fill your bar and only using one or two other abilities to dump fury, Seems like a boring playstyle, but everything I'm reading is that it will be the go to for raiding.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Aug 10, 2016 11:42 am

Using auto-attack as your generator gives you more brain capacity to make all your other choices more effective. I stopped to think about it for a bit, but in the end I went for it. I mean seriously, do we really need to be constantly hitting our resource generator? Basically every class in WoW is the same in that respect (I know that's an exaggeration, please don't waste time calling me on this statement). build build build consume build build build consume cooldown build build build consume.

I had a lot of fun with both the Demon Hunter into stuff and the legion intro stuff on my warrior. I didn't have time for any invasions so I'll be checking that out tonight.

My warrior just hit 100 this past weekend so he was tragically under-equipped for the raid event, but I still managed to contribute a bit and went from ilvl 587 to 613. (if I wasn't a 700 blacksmith my ilvl would have been even lower, so leave me alone!)

Exodor · Post by **Exodor** » Wed Aug 10, 2016 1:23 pm

Had some fun with the invasions last night. They seem to be pretty well implemented - no lag at all and fun. I'm going to do all 6 invasions on my DK and then see if I have the patience to do it on alts to get some ilvl 700 gear.

Toe · Post by **Toe** » Wed Aug 10, 2016 2:40 pm

tru1cy wrote:So Demon Hunter has been released and I like what I'm seeing from the class, but some of the mechanics seem weird. For example Havoc has a talent in the first Tier to change your Fury builder into a Auto-Attack that will generate Fury and deal bonus shadow damage, so basically you're sitting around waiting for you auto-attack to fill your bar and only using one or two other abilities to dump fury, Seems like a boring playstyle, but everything I'm reading is that it will be the go to for raiding.

Yeah, that is a strange (2nd tier) talent (imho). I picked it cause icy-veins recommended it as the best option for maximum DPS, but after reading how much attention you have to focus on your rage, i mean anger, I mean fury

, to maximize it, it seemed like way too much a pain in the butt considering the other stuff you need to pay attention to, like charge, retreat (talent), charge combo along with lining up a narrow, beam-shaped AoE when appropriate.

I also did some invasions on my main and demon hunter last night, which were fun. I did the broken shore scenario also, which was rather epic, if a little lag-inducing. Probably going to try some tanking on the demon hunter and see how that goes.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Wed Aug 10, 2016 3:04 pm

Apparently the auto-attack talent makes more sense when you are at 110 and you may not even take it.

tru1cy · Post by **tru1cy** » Thu Aug 11, 2016 6:38 am

Did the Proving Grounds yesterday with the DH. I got up to gold with DPS , but I'm having a issue with phase 4. The damn monkey and those bananas. Anyway, decided to get my Garrison up and running and ran a few Heroics. I'm getting used to the builder being off the auto -attack, but maintaining fury can become a issue with a few misses. Also, the mobility can become a problem. I unintentionally pulled some adds while retreating and fel rushing back into the fray. Didn't cause anyway wipes, but I have to be more mindful of positioning and mob placement. Anyway, I'm actually having fun with the class

Toe · Post by **Toe** » Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:38 am

A few tips I learned yesterday,

In regard for the currency for the invasion stuff (nexus crystals I think?), each of the big 102 elites (skulls on your zone map) that spawn during wave 3 will drop some extra crystals. When phase 3 starts, open up zone map and head straight for the closest skull, as you will see other players doing. Then just follow this horde around to the next and so on. You can often kill 5-6 of these before phase 3 ends, with each one netting some crystals (I was getting around 7-9 per mob).

The war glaives you can buy with nexus crystal vendor are bind on account. So you can buy them now for a future demon hunter if you want. If you got lots of extra time (and alts) you can pass it around and have each one buy weapon upgrade (bind on pickup) from the nexus vendor (150 crystals each), upgrade the war glaives a step, then send to to the next alt, until you get them to max, which is 725 ilevel.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:21 am

What game are you all taking about?

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:30 am

dbt1949 wrote:What game are you all taking about?

This one:

dbt1949 wrote:Well I quit. Just not enough information to newbies.(or maybe too much) Yes ,I have spent hours researching. I'm tired of internet lag, I'm especially tired of too many players on a quest and I have to wait around for 10-15 minute or longer to wait and get my chance.
I wanted to fight big battles against humans or something and they may be available but aren't very knowledgeable to newbies if they are.
Graphics are substandard.
I have no knowledge of how to interact with real people and have no idea of guilds and what they are about.Yes, I've read about them but it still doesn't tell me how they work in practice.
I did get my $20 worth tho.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:02 pm

I thought level 100 is as high as you went.

Did the Proving Grounds yesterday with the DH. I got up to gold with DPS , but I'm having a issue with phase 4.

Toe wrote:A few tips I learned yesterday,

In regard for the currency for the invasion stuff (nexus crystals I think?), each of the big 102 elites (skulls on your zone map) that spawn during wave 3 will drop some extra crystals. When phase 3 starts, open up zone map and head straight for the closest skull, as you will see other players doing. Then just follow this horde around to the next and so on. You can often kill 5-6 of these before phase 3 ends, with each one netting some crystals (I was getting around 7-9 per mob).

The war glaives you can buy with nexus crystal vendor are bind on account. So you can buy them now for a future demon hunter if you want. If you got lots of extra time (and alts) you can pass it around and have each one buy weapon upgrade (bind on pickup) from the nexus vendor (150 crystals each), upgrade the war glaives a step, then send to to the next alt, until you get them to max, which is 725 ilevel.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:14 pm

They add 10 levels for each expansion

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:25 pm

...and the 102 is referring to an enemy. They get to be higher level. ilvl 725 refers to equipment levels. Equipment has levels so people can very easily judge your gear and dismiss you as a n00b (and see if you are qualified gear-wise for a raid).