WoW; 4th expansion Mists of Pandaria

[Zorachus]

"More Content then ever before"
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...gnificant-quot-world-of-warcraft-content.aspx

Blizzard President Mike Morhaime said the company has more resources dedicated to World of Warcraft content creation than ever before.

There was a rumor that a TON of developers on other projects were being moved to WoW to help the flow of content. And release something major for WoW in 2014 being the 10th anniversary.

This could be it.

For instance:

If Warlords of Draenor is legit, we may have a new area that's as large as Kalimdor to explore.

We may also be getting a new class.

And two new races.

The list goes on, and on.

 

[Ruoh]

"More Content then ever before"
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...gnificant-quot-world-of-warcraft-content.aspx

Blizzard President Mike Morhaime said the company has more resources dedicated to World of Warcraft content creation than ever before.

There was a rumor that a TON of developers on other projects were being moved to WoW to help the flow of content. And release something major for WoW in 2014 being the 10th anniversary.

This could be it.

For instance:

If Warlords of Draenor is legit, we may have a new area that's as large as Kalimdor to explore.

We may also be getting a new class.

And two new races.

The list goes on, and on.

And it could be the last expansion...

 

[Zorachus]

And it could be the last expansion...

Not a chance. WoW is a cash cow for Blizzard.

I laugh when I read all this doom and gloom on how bad WoW is doing, now with only 7.6 million active subscribers. Ahh, boo hoo, that's so bad, now they only taking in $114 million every month off WoW subscriptions, $1.3 BILLION annually

And no way does operating all of WoW, with server farms, employees, developers, etc... cost anywhere near $1.3 billion a year. They are making big money off WoW still. No way they going to just stop it.

I see it it going for at least another 2 more expansions after this new one due out in Spring. WoW has a solid 5yrs of life in it still. I see them cancelling and stopping the game, when it gets below the 1 million subscription mark, and that's a long ways off.

 

[Ruoh]

Not a chance. WoW is a cash cow for Blizzard.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility. Don't forget, Titan is also in the pipeline.

 

[Zorachus]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility. Don't forget, Titan is also in the pipeline.

With the rumored big changes on Titan development, that game is a couple years off still. And being a Blizzard title, add another year or two delay I would be shocked if we see Titan released as soon as Fall 2015. I would bet it's a 2016 game.

Another example, look at Ever Quest 1, that is still going, and is even older than WoW.

As much as the press and fans keep saying WoW is dying. Look at the numbers, the game is 9 years old, and STILL has 7.6 million active subscribers. That is F'ing crazy, for such an old game. Sure it's not the 12 to 13 million it had during it's Wrath peak, but damn, 7 million still is a shit ton of players.

Any other modern MMO says, they would be happy and successful if they had a steady 1 million subscribed player base. At 1 million players you can make money, keep the game development going, etc... So how long until WoW drops down below 1 million players ? A VERY LONG TIME

 

[Ruoh]

Any other modern MMO says, they would be happy and successful if they had a steady 1 million subscribed player base. At 1 million players you can make money, keep the game development going, etc... So how long until WoW drops down below 1 million players ? A VERY LONG TIME

I didn't say they would shut it down, I simply said it could be the last expansion. If they add another area as large as Kalimdor, they certainly have physical space to build from.

 

[Zohar78]

Yeah, most people go straight to Northrend at Level 68 now. No point to stick in Outland to 70 anymore. I do agree though, that Hellfire and Zang are the best zones there, both of those zones hold very fond memories for me Great times questing there when BC was a new expansion. The colors and trippy music in Zang are still amazing, just such a uniquely beautiful zone, still no other zone since then has captured that feel.

You should also check out Borean Tundra in Northrend, that's the other Level 68 - 71 zone. On the other side of the continent. I think B Tundra is even more beautiful than H Fjord, and B Tundra has even wider open areas, just big sky zone, really breathtaking.

And then you'll have the dreaded Cataclysm to quest through from Level 81 - 85 I did not like that expansion one bit. With the new zones being spread out throughout the old continent, next to lower level zones.

But MoP is really cool, the Asian themed zones are stunning, and quite amazing looking. You will love MoP questing.

yeah... I didnt start till Wrath of lIch king, so i missed out on BC and old world. Hellfire i loved from the time i went to it. When i first stepped throught he portal, i was like Oh shit! whew.... It just had the hectic war torn feel.

I really hated cata, because they destroyed my warlock class. But the questing was actually not too bad other then the zones being stupidly spread out. And forcing you to a specific main city. As a horde, i preferred undercity to org. the atmosphere and easy access to anything you want quickly.

 

[Vorret]

Loved vanilla
Hated TBC
Loved wotlk
Cata was meh
MOP is pretty good

If the next one is as good or better than MOP I'll be a happy man.

 

[Godmachine]

And it could be the last expansion...

You're high if you think Blizzard is ready to put WoW to bed. Example? Everquest. Even though it was released in the last century its still around and going strong even Ultima Online is for god sakes. Blizzard has already turned WoW profitable so many times over that they could keep it going for 10 more years and even if half the audience left in that space of time STILL make it totally lucrative and worthwhile.

WoW is still hands down one of the top MMO's in the world , only a complete set of morons would turn down that kind of revenue. Don't forget as people are leaving while it does hurt the amount they can generate from the game through subs/expacs/merchandise it also means lowered server costs and reduced bandwidth costs. They can just merge servers and save a bundle. And if it grows again they can offer new ones. Its totally dynamic.

WoW is going to be around for a very long time. Even if it only had a million active subs per month it would still be making Blizzard a nice profit. Once it goes F2P they can shove in all kinds of ways to buy your way through it and it'll grow even more again. The single largest complaint of WoW users is the monthly sub cost. Take that away and give them an avenue to pay with in game currency or simply through restrictions and people will happily do so.

I think the real question for Blizzard is probably if they should dip the company yacht in solid 24k Gold or just hand out Gold bricks as a Christmas bonus after they announce the next WoW expansion

 

[Zorachus]

You're high if you think Blizzard is ready to put WoW to bed. Example? Everquest. Even though it was released in the last century its still around and going strong even Ultima Online is for god sakes. Blizzard has already turned WoW profitable so many times over that they could keep it going for 10 more years and even if half the audience left in that space of time STILL make it totally lucrative and worthwhile.

WoW is still hands down one of the top MMO's in the world , only a complete set of morons would turn down that kind of revenue. Don't forget as people are leaving while it does hurt the amount they can generate from the game through subs/expacs/merchandise it also means lowered server costs and reduced bandwidth costs. They can just merge servers and save a bundle. And if it grows again they can offer new ones. Its totally dynamic.

WoW is going to be around for a very long time. Even if it only had a million active subs per month it would still be making Blizzard a nice profit. Once it goes F2P they can shove in all kinds of ways to buy your way through it and it'll grow even more again. The single largest complaint of WoW users is the monthly sub cost. Take that away and give them an avenue to pay with in game currency or simply through restrictions and people will happily do so.

I think the real question for Blizzard is probably if they should dip the company yacht in solid 24k Gold or just hand out Gold bricks as a Christmas bonus after they announce the next WoW expansion

LOL totally agree.

I can just imagine, at the end of every fiscal year for Blizzard, they sit back in their chairs, scratch their heads, and they holy sh!t, we made another $ billion dollars off WoW again The gift that just keeps on giving. Then they all laugh, and take a ride in Richard Branson's Space ship

 

[BiH115]

Loved vanilla
Hated TBC
Loved wotlk
Cata was meh
MOP is pretty good

If the next one is as good or better than MOP I'll be a happy man.

Really? TBC you hated?

That was like the best one, IMO. Intense challenge, lots of new things introduced. It was the platform that started all the big changes (not all were great, however, but still).

 

[Vorret]

Really? TBC you hated?

That was like the best one, IMO. Intense challenge, lots of new things introduced. It was the platform that started all the big changes (not all were great, however, but still).

I know.
I didn't like the setting for some reason, even today, I hate the 60-70 levels...

I knew people would be confused by that as it' regarded by many as the greatest xpack for WoW but it didn't work for me

 

[Xonim]

I know.
I didn't like the setting for some reason, even today, I hate the 60-70 levels...

I knew people would be confused by that as it' regarded by many as the greatest xpack for WoW but it didn't work for me

I didn't really care for Hellfire or Blade's Edge, but Zangarmarsh was cool and to this day, Netherstorm is my 2nd favorite zone of all time (behind Winterspring). The others were okay I suppose.

Haven't been subbed since February, and I'm starting to get the "itch" to come back again. I really feel like playing my death knight (which I haven't done in MoP at all) because I don't know why, and I also want to run through a lot of the old 5mans for some reason.

Must resist.....

 

[BiH115]

I didn't really care for Hellfire or Blade's Edge, but Zangarmarsh was cool and to this day, Netherstorm is my 2nd favorite zone of all time (behind Winterspring). The others were okay I suppose.

Haven't been subbed since February, and I'm starting to get the "itch" to come back again. I really feel like playing my death knight (which I haven't done in MoP at all) because I don't know why, and I also want to run through a lot of the old 5mans for some reason.

Must resist.....

Resist. Be a MAN.

 

[Xonim]

Resist. Be a MAN.

It's Friday. Office is silent. I just laughed quite loudly. Thanks

 

[BiH115]

The entertainment I provide on Friday, priceless it seems.

It's pretty quiet here, I'm watching Netflix and preparing for some Blizzcon with a few fellow employees. Going to be a pretty swell Friday.

 

[Mavsfan]

I have been playing the expansion since it came out and its good, better than cata. Hopefully WoD is an improvement as well...

 

[Zorachus]

I have been playing the expansion since it came out and its good, better than cata. Hopefully WoD is an improvement as well...

MoP is a HUGE improvement over Cat. I'd put the expansions in this order, from good to bad;

#1; The Burning Crusade
#2; Mists of Pandoria
#3; Wrath of the Lich King
#4; Cataclysm

 

[jh24]

After leveling to 70 I went back to Howling Fjord again. I think this is my most favorite zone so far in Wow. Looks great and has some good music as well. Only disadvantage seems that quests for the Horde feel disjointed. In Borean Tundra I didn't have to travel as much, and here I actually have to seek out quests every time I've done a few.

 

[Xonim]

Aaaaaaand I gave in on Friday night. Logged in and was immediately harassed for killing my raid back when I quit in February -- which is funny, because I'm a mage, so...apparently I am that awesome.

My server is dead. My guild has a total of five active members -- two I like, one I can't stand, and one that never talks to anybody. Of the two I like, one has a raid in heroic progression, and the other plays overnights, so I won't see them with my normal playing hours. Also, I can count the number of people hanging out in Stormwind or the Shrine on one hand, even during peak hours.

Luckily, I had a level 87 horde paladin on Illidan. Logged in, took me maybe 6 hours to level to 90 from that point because the xp requirements to level were lowered. My guild on this server apparently merged with some other guild, so it's just me and my wife's cousin in the old one (level 16 guild). Fine by me. Server is super active, Orgrimmar is packed at all hours. Lots of people looking for dps or healers for flex raids, even some normal.

Discovered the Timeless Isle -- cool concept to get people caught up. Was fun to run around and get all the chests. I don't really see the point beyond that though - and all ilvl 496 items are not created equal. These 496 items have a lower item budget than 496 drops. Also, it's difficult to get optimal stat allocation. I got all the chests I could find on all 6 of my 90s and distributed them accordingly, except my mage in mostly 483/489/496 raid gear.

Been playing mostly my paladin due to the server population. I'm terrible at ret because I've never bothered to learn how to do it properly, aside from leveling. Holy seems incredibly underpowered compared to priest healing, but alas I've been playing as holy anyway. Got holy neck/ring/ring from pvp, and ret neck/2h sword from pvp from games just this weekend. Probably going to continue pvp'ing as holy to get ret gear, and get my holy gear from LFR.

I did all the first LFR's (MSV, HoF, ToES) on my paladin, was ret for the first 3 and holy for the last 2. Consistently at the bottom of the charts for ret, even behind a tank, except for the very first MSV where I was #13-14. Bottom of the heal meters as holy. Now, ret I just don't get, so I'm not surprised -- item level is 492 consisting mostly of the Timeless Isle pieces and the 498 pvp sword. But I'm good at holy paladin, and they're just bad right now. Confirmed with my former raid leader who is a holy paladin. Obviously, my gear doesn't help (mostly 476 crafted pvp), but still. I did get the ilvl 483 sha-touched weapon though, so that will help (replaced ilvl 450 BoA spell power sword).

So all that has me thinking about transferring a character off my dead server to Illidan. I have 85+ of every class on my old server, except a monk which is 70. I'm thinking of moving either my priest (because I like priest healing a lot) or my rogue (because I like rogue pvp when I'm equally geared). I could bring my mage (first and main character) because I consider myself to be an awesome mage and I enjoy the class, but it just seems wrong considering she's been on the same server since 2005. I'm mostly considering this to bring some gold and heirlooms over, but I'm cheap and don't want to pay $25 to transfer off a dead server. So I probably won't.

Will be queueing healer for random BGs excluding AV and IoC (because horde lost every one of the 18-20 matches I played there this weekend) and then focusing on mining between queues. I like that I can mine ghost iron all the way up to 600. I'm at ~360ish right now (started on Sunday) and have ~10 stacks of ore because you only get nuggets now at the lower levels, and 10 nuggets = 1 ore. I'll have to sell a bunch of it for now to get some gold for enchants and gems, but then I'll be leveling blacksmithing. If I don't transfer a toon, I might run a few heroics and get at least the 10% xp boost heirlooms and level a toon or two here.

 

[BiH115]

I'm also on Illidan, for what it's worth, and a few of my buddies who I did 10 mans with. You're welcome to join of course. I probably won't re-sub until the holiday season closes in more, as I've got a few choice games I have to play to clear the log I'm building...

 

[shmitty]

My toons are on Illidan and I've recently gotten into PVE would be great to have some people to run with if you'd want to add me Soez#1777 is my btag. Play a dps warrior and am thinking about gearing one of my healers for raiding.

 

[Xonim]

I'm also on Illidan, for what it's worth, and a few of my buddies who I did 10 mans with. You're welcome to join of course. I probably won't re-sub until the holiday season closes in more, as I've got a few choice games I have to play to clear the log I'm building...

I'll keep that in mind. I'm gonna give it a few days and decide if I want to permanently set up shop on Illidan or if I'm going to jump over to a high-pop PVE server (probably Stormrage).

Right now, I'm leaning toward transferring my rogue to Illidan with all my heirlooms and then maybe leveling a mage and priest.

 

[Orddie]

Right now, I'm leaning toward transferring my rogue to Illidan with all my heirlooms and then maybe leveling a mage and priest.

+1 to this. use the lvl gear to get you to 85 and it should be cake from there on to level to 90.

Im on stormrage... no I'm not [H]orde. The server is usually very full all of the time. I hardly get into a queue and have not herd of realm queue time times since two weeks after the last patch. I guess what im trying to say is that do not be afraid to move to a more populated server. Expect queue times, but at most they will not last for long.

 

[Bill86]

I'll play devils advocate, I'm a fan of medium pop servers. High pop servers make zones like the timeless isle a complete nightmare. I cant' tell you how many people cross realm with friends to get out of doing it on their home server. Also when a new world boss comes out you'll have literally 8-10 full 40 man raids trying to kill it. You won't be bidding on the BMAH on a high pop server either, everything worth a shit goes for cap. Medium pop is where it's at.

My 2 cents (alysrazor went for only 100KG on my server last night, I could have easily had it if I wanted it)

 

[Xonim]

Well, found out last night that a server transfer does NOT include a faction change, so I'd be looking at $55 to get my heirlooms and some gold to the new server. I was ready to do it for $25, but I'm not gonna pay $55 to have it happen. Leveling anew it is!

Down to under 1500g on Illidan now after enchanting/gemming/reforging some things last night. Going to have to go back and pick up old quests on all the zones I skipped just so I can afford things. I'm definitely going to miss having 600 in all professions except inscription -- it made it incredibly easy to make tons of gold in a hurry. I'm the kind of person that would save up 60-80k and then not do any questing or farming or anything until I was down to almost nothing again.

 

[Zohar78]

Well, found out last night that a server transfer does NOT include a faction change, so I'd be looking at $55 to get my heirlooms and some gold to the new server. I was ready to do it for $25, but I'm not gonna pay $55 to have it happen. Leveling anew it is!

Down to under 1500g on Illidan now after enchanting/gemming/reforging some things last night. Going to have to go back and pick up old quests on all the zones I skipped just so I can afford things. I'm definitely going to miss having 600 in all professions except inscription -- it made it incredibly easy to make tons of gold in a hurry. I'm the kind of person that would save up 60-80k and then not do any questing or farming or anything until I was down to almost nothing again.

heirlooms are account bound, so you can send them to a opposite faction toon. Though it still doesnt help that with new toon on another server, it hurts not being able ot supplement your new toon through the built up other toons. i hear they do sales every now and then on faction/server transfer.

 

[Orddie]

heirlooms are account bound, so you can send them to a opposite faction toon. Though it still doesnt help that with new toon on another server, it hurts not being able ot supplement your new toon through the built up other toons. i hear they do sales every now and then on faction/server transfer.

this.

confirmed it with bliz a few months ago. just move the toon over to the server, hit up the mailbox and type in the toons name. It will go through. I never did try and move gold over... but im gonna guess that moving gold does not work....

 

[Xonim]

heirlooms are account bound, so you can send them to a opposite faction toon. Though it still doesnt help that with new toon on another server, it hurts not being able ot supplement your new toon through the built up other toons. i hear they do sales every now and then on faction/server transfer.

Yeah I knew they worked with the opposite faction, but heirlooms alone aren't worth the $25 to me. Playing the character I transfer would, and I'm not about to play alliance on Illidan

I never did try and move gold over... but im gonna guess that moving gold does not work....

Cross-faction AH will allow it, minus the AH fees of course. So you'd lose a cut, but if you were relocating your mains, it would be worth it. Just list something like a low-level enchanting material for 10k or something.

 

[Bill86]

Just move gold via pets, with minimal luck you'll actually make gold doing this. I've transfered hundreds of thousands of gold this way.

 

[Zohar78]

Yeah I knew they worked with the opposite faction, but heirlooms alone aren't worth the $25 to me. Playing the character I transfer would, and I'm not about to play alliance on Illidan




Cross-faction AH will allow it, minus the AH fees of course. So you'd lose a cut, but if you were relocating your mains, it would be worth it. Just list something like a low-level enchanting material for 10k or something.

yeah, i know what you mean. 25bucks is pretty steep. i believe swtor charges 15 .

Neutral ah if people dont know cost 15% in AH fees. Not counting the small tip you pay for a friend/guildie (out of kindness) for helping you out since you cant directly sell to any toon on the the same account.

 

[Zohar78]

Just move gold via pets, with minimal luck you'll actually make gold doing this. I've transfered hundreds of thousands of gold this way.

??? how do you move gold via pets... level them up and sell them on whatever toon you need the gold on? I came back aobut month and half ago from like 3 years ago... because of stupid crappy cata.

 

[jh24]

Wow, finally reached level 80 as a Death Knight. From level 75 onward questing and leveling up really seemed to speed up, although that could also have been because of the zones. For me personally Northrend has to be the most fun continent yet so far.

Howling Fjord, Dragonblight, Scholazin Basin, Stormwind Peaks and Icecrown Glacier were all a lot of fun to quest in IMHO.


Just entered Mount Hiyal in Cataclysm. Looks beautiful, nice to see that with each new expansion the art and design of the zones become better looking each time.

Also noticed that there are a lot more players around from 75 and onwards. Most area's were deserted before but not anymore. Hopefully I can reach around 5000 gold at the end of Cataclysm before Pandaria opens up, l still want to try obtaining a Netherdrake in Outland one day.

 

[BiH115]

I don't know, I REALLY enjoy leveling, I don't really care what the game is, but it's just fun to me. Even going through it for a 3rd or 4th time from 1-whatever was always fun. WoW just had a great world, and some great wittiness in the writing if you took the time to read the quests. It's just all around, a great experience, especially when we've all got a bit more time to kick back and relax, as we're nearing the holiday season.

 

[kidstechno]

On my current server, I have.. 9 90s, one and two 87s. Definitely nerfing the XP helps. Especially questing in the level appropriate zones is a crapton faster. I had a DPS friend of mine level my druid in Dread Wastes and did 89-90 is maybe an hour/hour and a half. It was nuts. But I have a mix/match of every tradeskill. I think the only capability I don't have is making the Living Steel Belt buckle but everything else I can pretty much do. I have two tailors pounding out cloth for bags, potion/transmute master Alchemists. Luckily the horde pop on my server is very active so I don't really to consider moving. But in WoD - Heirlooms will be account bound regardless of server, which I think will help people a lot with moving/transferring. Leveling is pretty fun, especially as a Tank. Just pull like 10 mobs and AoE/self heal and never die.

 

[Bill86]

??? how do you move gold via pets... level them up and sell them on whatever toon you need the gold on? I came back aobut month and half ago from like 3 years ago... because of stupid crappy cata.

Buy pets on server A, cage them, uncage them on server B. You can move pets freely this way. So if you wanted gold out of server A, buy a shitton of pets (preferably ones that will sell on server B for more than you paid for them) and just uncage them on your new server.

Profit.

Agreed I sat cata, now I'm back heroic raiding again

 

[Xonim]

On my current server, I have.. 9 90s, one and two 87s. Definitely nerfing the XP helps.

Sounds like what I was aiming for when I resubbed before I found out just how dead my server was. As it stands on that server, I have five 90s, one 87, four 85s, and my monk at 70. I don't see the point in leveling the rest of them.

But I have a mix/match of every tradeskill. I think the only capability I don't have is making the Living Steel Belt buckle but everything else I can pretty much do. I have two tailors pounding out cloth for bags, potion/transmute master Alchemists.

This is going to be the most difficult thing for me with starting over on a new server. On my older server, I had 600 in every prof except herbalism, leatherworking, and inscription -- which were 550+, 580+, and 375+ (monk/scribe is only level 70) respectively.

On my new server, I'm up to 525 mining by mining ghost iron the whole way, and then 158 blacksmithing from doing the ghost iron training stuff with the ore I've gotten so far. The priest I made on that server will probably be tailoring, and if I hate myself I'll probably double that up with enchanting. My plans also include a new rogue and mage, which will be skinning/LWing and herb/alchemy.

 

[Zohar78]

Sounds like what I was aiming for when I resubbed before I found out just how dead my server was. As it stands on that server, I have five 90s, one 87, four 85s, and my monk at 70. I don't see the point in leveling the rest of them.




This is going to be the most difficult thing for me with starting over on a new server. On my older server, I had 600 in every prof except herbalism, leatherworking, and inscription -- which were 550+, 580+, and 375+ (monk/scribe is only level 70) respectively.

On my new server, I'm up to 525 mining by mining ghost iron the whole way, and then 158 blacksmithing from doing the ghost iron training stuff with the ore I've gotten so far. The priest I made on that server will probably be tailoring, and if I hate myself I'll probably double that up with enchanting. My plans also include a new rogue and mage, which will be skinning/LWing and herb/alchemy.

Tailoring/enchanting works very well with each other. As you level tailoring, you can DEthat stuff for most of the matts u need to level enchant. .

 

[Xonim]

Well, decided to eat the $55 and transfer my rogue last night. Bought the helm/cloak/pant heirlooms for clothies and dps plate + shield before I transferred. Sent that with the rest of those sets and any heirlooms I would no longer have use for on my old server, as well as 40k gold ... which was about all I had left. Made it an undead, which makes my Bloodfang transmog look way cooler than it did on a human.

While I was waiting on the transfer, jumped into LFR's. I'm really digging the "catch-up" thing in MSV/HoF/ToES. I got loot off I think 6, maybe 7 bosses in a row, then another 1-2 otherwise -- last night alone I got 4/5 tier (no shoulders), belt, cloak, and then a ring and sha-touched weapon I didn't need. Made enough VP's to get the 522 trinket to replace the 476 stam pvp one I was using, and then got some 489 boots from JPs. All in all, I think I gained in the neighborhood of 1800-2000 spirit, and probably more int than that between the trinket, gems, enchants. The only pieces left at ilvl 476 in my holy set are shield, shoulders, bracers.

I've only done 1 of the ToT LFR's, so I'll be finishing them this weekend and then maybe doing the SoO ones. I'll also be doing the LFR(s) on my rogue that could get me some new weapons, because I'm still using 463 daggers.

 

[Bill86]

You're going to want to head to the timeless Isle, free 496 gear all day.....and you can get a "rare drop" 535 upgrade for a random 535 piece. As well as a free one in a chest. Grind some rep for a 496 trinket as well