Official World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Thread.

Free month with this expansion or no? GF wants to try it again.. so it's either $40 + $40 to try it, or $40 + $15 + $40 + $15 with getting a month on each acct... just a little over the top..
 
Free month with this expansion or no? GF wants to try it again.. so it's either $40 + $40 to try it, or $40 + $15 + $40 + $15 with getting a month on each acct... just a little over the top..
No free game time with any expansions. Sorry :(

I have kind of a noob-ish question regarding WoW and DX11. I recently just set the game to DX11 mode by editing the Config file, as stated in this post on MMO-Champion (right above the charts). My FPS and overall game performance seems to have improved, which is great, but something is bugging me.

I play in normal (fullscreen) mode, but I alt-tab a lot. When I had the game running on DX9 mode, every time I alt-tabbed the game would minimize normally, and I would be able to minimize every other program I had and still see my desktop. If I wanted to play again I would just click on the program on the taskbar to bring it up again. Now that I have it in DX11 mode, whenever I alt-tab the game minimizes, but not "completely"; it "freeze frames" the game and has the static image in the background. So now if I try to minimize every other program I have running, it won't eventually just get to the desktop, the game will automatically pop back up once everything else is minimized.

Is this a DX11-thing or something that's WoW-specific? I'm not sure since I haven't played any other games that use DX11 yet. I looked around in the WoW settings but couldn't find anything related to it, but I'll check again.
 
Well, I hit 85, and I think I am ready to quit again. lol.

Problem the First: Queue times. 45 minutes to get into a random dungeon? GTFO.

Problem 2: I just got enough gear to get into heroics. They are so friggin hard that they are damn near impossible to finish with a random group. They require raid mechanics, and you literally cannot backpack someone through the place. Fights require a huge explanation and coordination to the point that they cannot be pugged. If one person does not do their job, you lose. Over. And over. And over. It's so hard that it is not fun. I have yet to finish a single one, and my guild doesn't have enough people eligible for heroics.

Assuming you actually learn the mechanics you still get to deal with:
Oh, the healer stepped onto some hard to see ground effect and died in 1 second? Wipe.
Tank gets one shotted because spell didn't get interrupted? Wipe.
AOE breaks CC? Wipe.
Idiot tank thinks CC is for girls and rushes in guns blazing? Wipe.
Mage refuses to stand in front of a beam of light that will wake up a bunch of mobs, FOUR TIMES A ROW!?!?! (I was filled with nerd rage when this happened and finally did a /quit) Wipe.

If you actually did want to finish a heroic dungeon, it is at least a 2-3 hour affair at this point.

Problem 3: Getting the gear to get into heroics is a huge pain in the ass. I was at i level 325 running dungeons to get up to 329 and never found anything. Eventually, I had to drop 1200 gold on some boots to meet the requirement. Pro Tip: Your shirt counts for your ilevel. Why? Who knows. Had to buy a ilevel 43 shirt off of the AH to replace my level 1 E.Z. Moade shirt.

I just don't think this game is for me anymore. I was looking forward to PvP this week, but I might just hang it up and do the "ARE YOU SURE: D-E-L-E-T-E" move.

Long queue times are expected since it's been less than a week since launch. So far I've completed every Heroic dungeon I've pugged so far. But to be honest, I didn't finish BRC the first time, but cleared it pretty easily the 2nd time this morning. Done VP a couple times, Halls of Origination and Lost City. I personally think it's about damned time heroics were harder. Hopefully a lot of the mechanics will have some staying power so they won't be come zerging pushovers like in WotLK.
 
Just dinged 85. :D WEeeee. 112k hp unbuffed with some shitty gear as prot warrior.
 
so to one of you tank types with the 100K+ health, can you solo WOTLK heroics?

I'll give it a shot, but I doubt it. Even as a warrior with a healing ability, it's going to be extremelly hard, especially on bosses.

If you think about it, 100k isn't that much when you get hit for 5-10k.. not a lot of hits before you die.
 
For the people who complain about heroics being too hard:
1- it's heroic.. supposed to be hard!
2- We're just starting to get geared. I'm sure when we have a few purples and go back, they'll be super easy.
3- Forget what you did for old content heroics, re-learn how to do dungeons properly (using CC, single targetting, etc) and it's going to go pretty well.
4- If you're going to PUG, tell people what needs to happen and if they're not ok with that to leave. Seriously, you'll be wasting your time otherwise.

We did a guild run of HoO yesterday and it went smoothly. No huge surprise and we actually had less trouble doing it heroic than our first run doing it non-heroic. We knew what to do and where CC was needed. I think it took us about 45-60minutes, can't remember, so it wasn't that bad.
 
I've been running heroics over the weekend (some full pug some guild runs) and they're pretty tough, but not impossible (maybe heroic deadmines nightmare event would be hard to coordinate). It takes gear, this is no Wrath easy mode anymore. Even with gear, you have to know what the hell you're doing unlike the tank n' spank days of wrath. Gone are the days of lazy-ass DPS just pewpewing, everyone has to pay attention.

I'm averaging 342 (129k hp unbuffed) ilvl so it's getting easier to run, but gear does not save you from messing up the mechanics.

1- Pre assign marks at the beginning of a pug (ex all stars are sheep when i mark them) and know what every class can cc. Between elementals, beasts, humanoids, dragonkin, and undead, learn not just your class but other CC. Even when you dont need CC, do it anyway for good habits.

2- Plot your gear progression so you're not running instances that dont drop loot for you. This includes rep gains for exalted factions (they are the easiest access to 359 epic loot). I got a good tanking cape from Hyjal, and looking to replace a green wrist i still have from Ramhaken in a day or two. This also means running non-heroics to replace your 320 or less gear with 333 blues.

3- Vote to kick DPS that arent carrying their weight. Most fights arent pure DPS races, but without sufficient DPS, the healer will run out of mana. If the healer is running OOM too quickly, it could be that the tank and healer are geared, but dps just isnt cutting it. But more so than DPS, people dying in a fire need to go.

4- DPS, Look for healers and tanks on your server, and treat them nice. Their gear requirement are more critical than DPS and they get you faster queue times. Dont be a Wrath jackass where you pull aggro, break cc, or go afk between fights.

While waiting in queues, do other things that help your gear: professions, reputation quests, ect. There shouldn't be much down time because there's still so much to progress besides dungeon queues.

People complain about wrath being too easy, then people complain about cata being too hard. I guess people just want to complain.
 
Well, I hit 85, and I think I am ready to quit again. lol.

Problem the First: Queue times. 45 minutes to get into a random dungeon? GTFO.

Problem 2: I just got enough gear to get into heroics. They are so friggin hard that they are damn near impossible to finish with a random group. They require raid mechanics, and you literally cannot backpack someone through the place. Fights require a huge explanation and coordination to the point that they cannot be pugged. If one person does not do their job, you lose. Over. And over. And over. It's so hard that it is not fun. I have yet to finish a single one, and my guild doesn't have enough people eligible for heroics.

Assuming you actually learn the mechanics you still get to deal with:
Oh, the healer stepped onto some hard to see ground effect and died in 1 second? Wipe.
Tank gets one shotted because spell didn't get interrupted? Wipe.
AOE breaks CC? Wipe.
Idiot tank thinks CC is for girls and rushes in guns blazing? Wipe.
Mage refuses to stand in front of a beam of light that will wake up a bunch of mobs, FOUR TIMES A ROW!?!?! (I was filled with nerd rage when this happened and finally did a /quit) Wipe.

If you actually did want to finish a heroic dungeon, it is at least a 2-3 hour affair at this point.

Problem 3: Getting the gear to get into heroics is a huge pain in the ass. I was at i level 325 running dungeons to get up to 329 and never found anything. Eventually, I had to drop 1200 gold on some boots to meet the requirement. Pro Tip: Your shirt counts for your ilevel. Why? Who knows. Had to buy a ilevel 43 shirt off of the AH to replace my level 1 E.Z. Moade shirt.

I just don't think this game is for me anymore. I was looking forward to PvP this week, but I might just hang it up and do the "ARE YOU SURE: D-E-L-E-T-E" move.

You must have selective memory because this is how every new expansion is until people learn the fights and get better gear.
 
and of course, he wants to PvP, but is saying he'll quit because the PvE content is too hard.... what??
 
im pretty excited to actually play the game in a week or so, currently in afghanistan, bought the game had it shipped to my house, so now im waiting to go home on my r and r leave within the next few days, ill only get to play a little bit with christmas my birthday aniversary and the iowa game all on the same day, ill be so busy being with family i havent seen for 6 months and getting some sleep and eating decent food, but hopefully cata wont disappoint me, sucks we cant get internet here to play it, (where i work i have internet) maybe someone will say something about it and get it in here for us since we probably have one of the worst living conditions in afghanistan not the worst but i will place us in the top 10, but its the experience that matters wag bags and piss rocks :-P, maybe i can get my rogue that i got to level 70 while training up to 75 ish maybe 80, and ill check out the new places with my warrior shammy and hunter should be joyous.

First off welcome back man! Just gotta say, dude...all the stuff you mentioned sounds way better than wow lol.
 
God, the WoW downloader *sucks*. I was at 3.3.5, downloaded the x.x.x-4.0.12911 patch manually, tried to run it, claimed WoW is not installed. So, like I usually was able to, I just dropped the files in the WoW directory and started the launcher.

It completely ignored them, and 'patched' to 4.0.3.13329, so I could 'instant play' meanwhile it's downloading EVERYTHING I downloaded *again* in the background. I can't exit the launcher and run the patch manually - it now says I have a newer version than this - and the Blizzard downloader is SLOW. I get 1.5MB/s to 2MB/s downloading normally, but with the launcher I get about 500kb/s without peer, and maybe 550kb/s with peer (but KILLS my upload since I can't throttle it... and my entire internet is slow as shit).

God dammit.
 
and of course, he wants to PvP, but is saying he'll quit because the PvE content is too hard.... what??

I said I was looking forward to seeing the new PvP this week. Obviously, you can PvP without doing PvE, assuming that is what you meant by ".... what??"

It's not that the PvE content is too hard, per se. It is too hard for just jumping on and finding a random group. I don't want to schedule a video game, which is why I stopped raiding a long time ago. So, I either have to schedule time to play with other people, or use the random group, and the random group is functionally impossible. I understand some people want it to be this hard, but these are probably the people running around with their ICC25 titles, which is something I do not aspire to. It's just too hard for what I want out of a video game. I never complained about Wrath being too easy. I am sure there are the "Hardcore" out there that think Wrath was too easy, but for me that is just e-peen bullshit. Being "hardcore" in a game is something for high school kids. I just want to play the damn game, see the content, read the story.

I do not see the same level of difficulty in Wrath heroics. Almost every Cata heroic boss has some mechanic that if one person fails will kill you all. Aside from standing in the proverbial fire, I don't see anything like that in Wrath. Even if everyone was geared, you will still have people not standing in the beams, not dpsing the chains, getting hit by geysers, etc. I always see that being a problem. I think part of the blame is on Blizzard's decision to not let people do random dungeons unless they have discovered the dungeon. Some people come into a heroic dungeon having never done the non-heroic version. That will go away, sure, but the other problems won't.

The other problem is the WoW community. What a vile cesspool. Yeah, I quit a group after the same person failed to do the one thing asked of him after four attempts and four wipes. I didn't say the things other people said. Hell, I got kicked out of a Grim Batol group for asking the tank to stop pulling so I could sap (after we wiped twice). It was four people in the same guild, their first time through the dungeon (non-heroic, they didn't know how to use the dragons) and my request was meant with all caps vitriol and then I was kicked. I don't remember it being this bad.

I said about 10 pages deep in the other WoW thread that I would probably hit the level cap and quit like I always do, so this was to be expected. Just think I will make it for good this time. I am sure some people are loving it to death, but it just seems the headaches are outweighing the fun for me.
 
1- Pre assign marks at the beginning of a pug (ex all stars are sheep when i mark them) and know what every class can cc. Between elementals, beasts, humanoids, dragonkin, and undead, learn not just your class but other CC. Even when you dont need CC, do it anyway for good habits.
Yeah, even normal dungeons should be done this way. As a tank it is kind of your job to dictate kill order, marking helps.

2- Plot your gear progression so you're not running instances that dont drop loot for you. This includes rep gains for exalted factions (they are the easiest access to 359 epic loot). I got a good tanking cape from Hyjal, and looking to replace a green wrist i still have from Ramhaken in a day or two. This also means running non-heroics to replace your 320 or less gear with 333 blues.
AYE..very good point!

4- DPS, Look for healers and tanks on your server, and treat them nice. Their gear requirement are more critical than DPS and they get you faster queue times. Dont be a Wrath jackass where you pull aggro, break cc, or go afk between fights.
Yup..solid advice.

While waiting in queues, do other things that help your gear: professions, reputation quests, ect. There shouldn't be much down time because there's still so much to progress besides dungeon queues.
Kind of goes without saying imo...

People complain about wrath being too easy, then people complain about cata being too hard. I guess people just want to complain.
Yup...The issue is that people became so over geared for heroics very quickly in WotLK. Initially, they were no where near as hard as initial BC heroics, I recall doing them with little troubles the first week of WotLk. Where as BC, you needed a main healer and an offspec healer to help out. Then toward the end there, you could ding 80, slap on some craft-ables, and farm heroics without any issues. Gear progression was too easy, WotLK became a loot pinata.
 
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It's not that the PvE content is too hard, per se. It is too hard for just jumping on and finding a random group. I don't want to schedule a video game, which is why I stopped raiding a long time ago. So, I either have to schedule time to play with other people, or use the random group, and the random group is functionally impossible. I understand some people want it to be this hard, but these are probably the people running around with their ICC25 titles, which is something I do not aspire to. It's just too hard for what I want out of a video game. I never complained about Wrath being too easy. I am sure there are the "Hardcore" out there that think Wrath was too easy, but for me that is just e-peen bullshit. Being "hardcore" in a game is something for high school kids. I just want to play the damn game, see the content, read the story.

I do not see the same level of difficulty in Wrath heroics. Almost every Cata heroic boss has some mechanic that if one person fails will kill you all. Aside from standing in the proverbial fire, I don't see anything like that in Wrath. Even if everyone was geared, you will still have people not standing in the beams, not dpsing the chains, getting hit by geysers, etc. I always see that being a problem. I think part of the blame is on Blizzard's decision to not let people do random dungeons unless they have discovered the dungeon. Some people come into a heroic dungeon having never done the non-heroic version. That will go away, sure, but the other problems won't.

The other problem is the WoW community. What a vile cesspool. Yeah, I quit a group after the same person failed to do the one thing asked of him after four attempts and four wipes. I didn't say the things other people said. Hell, I got kicked out of a Grim Batol group for asking the tank to stop pulling so I could sap (after we wiped twice). It was four people in the same guild, their first time through the dungeon (non-heroic, they didn't know how to use the dragons) and my request was meant with all caps vitriol and then I was kicked. I don't remember it being this bad.

I said about 10 pages deep in the other WoW thread that I would probably hit the level cap and quit like I always do, so this was to be expected. Just think I will make it for good this time. I am sure some people are loving it to death, but it just seems the headaches are outweighing the fun for me.

Well you can run regular dungeons and should do fairly well in those.. they're not that hard. In a few weeks, people will be better geared and it will be much easier to find random heroic groups that manage to do a full instance reasonably well.

I think casual gamers have it hard since they usually can't progress as fast as hard core players. Especially if they have to use random groups instead of pre-made one. People tend to leave PUGs much faster than they would a group of friends.

I also have no tolerance for stupid players. If you don't CC, break stuff because you're not careful or if you're a tank that just wants to rush into groups... you deserve to be kicked. I, as a tank, have quit groups when they showed they really don't want to listen. Too bad.
 
Are the servers still open for character transfers?

**World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is live and many players are coming back to the game, while others are just really pumped to get in and experience the new content. To address the population influx, we're providing some players with Free Character Moves. If you're on one of the source realms listed below, you can move your characters to the designated destination realm and avoid the queues -- for free!

By initiating one of these transfers you will be moving your character to a new realm and home. This is a one-time, one-way move. You will need to use the paid transfer service to move your character elsewhere.

Please be aware that due to the unpredictable nature of free transfers we may close down any Free Character Moves at any time and without warning if the target realm becomes full. If you plan to move with friends or your guild, we suggest that you coordinate the effort to reduce the chance of any stragglers being left behind.

Early closures aside, the Free Character Moves will end on December 22.

Begin a Free Character Move - Please refer to the FAQ, which details what is or isn't allowed for transferred characters.

Source A - Area 52, Zul'jin, Stormrage, Thrall
Destination A - Dentarg

Source B - Khaz'goroth
Destination B - Caelestrasz

Source C - Proudmoore
Destination C - Darrowmere

Source D - Illidan, Sargeras, Mal'Ganis, Stormreaver, Korgath
Destination D - Gul'dan, Hakkar

Source E - Kel'Thuzad, Arthas, Mannoroth, Warsong, Bleeding Hollow
Destination E - Anub'arak, Anetheron

Source F - Frostmourne, Barthilas, Jubei'Thos
Destination F - Gundrak

Source G - Kil'jaeden, Blackrock, Tichondrius
Destination G - Nazjatar

Source H - Moon Guard
Destination H - Farstriders

Source I - Earthen Ring
Destination I - Steamwheedle Cartel

Source J - Emerald Dream
Destination J - Maelstrom**
 
it would be nice if blizz reduced the amount repairing plate costs. im getting hammered on repair bills cutting into my profit margins big time.
 
Well the issue is when you get hit too. I was leveling my warrior and I can't remember dying, but then I'd go repair and it would cost me 30-40g. That's insane.
 
it would be nice if blizz reduced the amount repairing plate costs. im getting hammered on repair bills cutting into my profit margins big time.

The costs have gone up for all armor types, not just plate. Plate wearers can't bitch about their higher costs than everyone else anymore because it's the same for everyone.

If you really want to complain about increased costs, how about Vanishing Powder that goes from like 34s for 5 of em at lvl 80 and below to 10g each at 81 and up. Now that is a ripoff. You get to pay like 50g to respec and 40-50g more to reglyph. Super.
 
Also, I made around 8000 gold just from leveling to 85 and selling unused items. Repair costs are fine.
 
Also, I made around 8000 gold just from leveling to 85 and selling unused items. Repair costs are fine.

not to mention if you have a gathering profession you could have made a KILLING the first couple days. I made 30K gold on ore before I got tired of mining
 
it would be nice if blizz reduced the amount repairing plate costs. im getting hammered on repair bills cutting into my profit margins big time.

I'm glad I am not the only one thinking this. I swear I had to repair my armor 2-3 times playing yesterday..
 
You must have selective memory because this is how every new expansion is until people learn the fights and get better gear.

That's exactly it. I think folks just got too used to running WotLK heroics in less than 10 minutes to remember the struggle in even heroic Nexus in the first few weeks.
 
First off welcome back man! Just gotta say, dude...all the stuff you mentioned sounds way better than wow lol.

yes all of it does, and im not quite back yet lol, its only my r and r for 2 weeks im not done til about august, but i am guessing ill get maybe an hour maybe 2 on wow, im gonna try to play like 30 mins a night but ill be downloading and installing alot of games to play without internet
 
can someone give me an estimate from 80-85?

What's the purpose of this question? You can rush it in 6 hours /played or you can take your time and get it done in 14 days /played. It's entirely up to you, how you play the game, and what you want out of the 80-85 experience.
 
Crazy, I've been selling stacks of Folded Obsidium on my server for 1500-1700g a pop solid since last Wednesday. I put them up and they're gone within an hour. Expansion launches are great for making gold .
 
Have they done anything to help new players coming back to the game get through instances a little easier with just two or three people?

As Everquest got older, more powerful low level weapons and armour became available. This meant that new players could solo stuff that used to require groups. This was good becuase often there were no other lowbies to group with and/or no one wanted to do old low level content.

I play these games more for the story than the loot and leveling. Are there things in the AH now that will help me and one other person complete the low level instances when they are level appropriate?
 
You will not beable to do instances your level without a full group. But you can group with your friend and queue using the dungeon finder which will automatically group yall with other players from other servers. The leveling dungeon queues are around 10-20min for dps and much faster for tank and healers.
 
can someone give me an estimate from 80-85?

Depending on what you want to do...questing is likely the fastest, 80-83 go by pretty quick. I am at 83 with about 12 hours played, though half that time was doing archeology and afking to help the gf with real life stuff and the other half questing non-stop with max flying speed and flasked for fast dps. (Basically when questing, I go pretty quickly. By and large, I am casual now, I generally only play 4 to 10 hours a week, with 5 to 6 being closer to the norm.) I've heard 83-85 is much longer, but don't know. Doing dungeons will add some time, but worth it to see the new content.

To be more specific, someone dinged 85, 6 hours after release. Rumor has it, it really only took him 5 but was delayed in getting started. Normal playing, I would bet 20 to 30 hours /played tops.
 
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Have they done anything to help new players coming back to the game get through instances a little easier with just two or three people?

As Everquest got older, more powerful low level weapons and armour became available. This meant that new players could solo stuff that used to require groups. This was good becuase often there were no other lowbies to group with and/or no one wanted to do old low level content.

I play these games more for the story than the loot and leveling. Are there things in the AH now that will help me and one other person complete the low level instances when they are level appropriate?
Dungeons, no. But the dungeon finder tool is pretty nifty and can get groups for old content.

2 to 3 man quests, yes. But then again certain classes could always solo 2 to 3 man quests.
 
Have they done anything to help new players coming back to the game get through instances a little easier with just two or three people?
Instances aren't meant to be soloed or done with anything less than a full group of appropriate level with expected gear for that level. That really should be obvious.

What you will find in any MMO really is that most people don't want to do old content because they have been doing it for weeks or months at the time it was released. Going back to do old instance runs after the instance has been in game for years isn't something most people are interested in since they have done it 540759496 times already.

During the release of an expansion it's a bit different since some people use the bonus xp in instances to level their toons which completely defeats the point of the new content provided by the expansion. Why they don't just pay the $20 to race change instead of spending dozens of hours to powerlevel their new race through instances is beyond me, kids with no income of their own maybe, dunno.
 
I played through the openings for both the goblins and worgen this weekend. I loved them both. Gilnaes is probably what Duskwood should have been, and the setting and quests were very well done and atmospheric. That being said, the worgen just bugged me, so I will be rerolling the worgen mage as another race. The goblin quests were as zany and fun as I expected, and I had an unexpected blast playing as my rogue. Blizz gets bonus points for showing the areas both before and after the Cataclysm for both races, and also for showing why the goblins would choose to side with the Horde, and the Worgen with the Alliance.

I've always mainly played as orcs or humans. Who knew I would have so much fun playing as a little green dude with big floppy ears and a topknot that bounces when he moves?
 
What's the purpose of this question? You can rush it in 6 hours /played or you can take your time and get it done in 14 days /played. It's entirely up to you, how you play the game, and what you want out of the 80-85 experience.

the purpose is to get an estimate on where i might be i only get 14 days at home then back to war, i know its your playstyle i have leveled 4 different characters all different ways, just want an estimate on how long each level is taking, 6 hours just doesnt sound like people have done it yet
 
the purpose is to get an estimate on where i might be i only get 14 days at home then back to war, i know its your playstyle i have leveled 4 different characters all different ways, just want an estimate on how long each level is taking, 6 hours just doesnt sound like people have done it yet

Non-stop leveling got me to 85 within 48 hours just by questing as much as I could with pretty decent breaks in between. It depends on how long you plan on sitting down and doing the quests really. If you have that much free time, it can go by really quick. I've read and enjoyed all the quests in beta though, so I felt guilt-free just rushing through this time around. If you wanna read the quests and get a better feel of the story, it might take a bit longer.
 
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