You don't use the same install for the Feenix servers. If someone wants to be extra careful you could have the Emerald Dream files on a thumbdrive and just play off of that and then pull it out if you play any retail blizzard games.
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WoW; 5th expansion Warlords of Draenor
- Thread starter Zorachus
- Start date
You don't use the same install for the Feenix servers. If someone wants to be extra careful you could have the Emerald Dream files on a thumbdrive and just play off of that and then pull it out if you play any retail blizzard games.
Blizzard is making heroics harder than MoP : Good or Bad?
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/284043-suggestion-mythic-dungeons-in-wod/
Having said that, the current planned difficulty scheme for 5mans at max level is Normal, Heroic and Challenge mode.
Right off the bat, we can clearly say that WoD heroics will be much harder than MoP heroics.
Warlords of Draenor: The return of hard heroic 5-mans?
http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/11/warlords-of-draenor-the-return-of-hard-heroic-5-mans/
My opinion;
I do not like this idea one bit. I thought Cat 5man heroics were a major time sink, and took way too long. And I saw lots of groups wipe on certain bosses quite often in Cat, thus making a 5 man dungeon run, last one hour. And the gear they dropped was always outdated low iLevel garbage, compared to LFR. Sure hope WoD isn't going to copy that crap again. Zero fun, and waste of my time.
Unless, they drop Raid iLevel Epic gear, and make worth my while that would be cool, or how bout make a 3rd mode 'Mythic' 5 mans, really tough, but gives Raid gear.
Otherwise if they just dropping Blues and outdated lower iLevel purples, what's the point ? I'll find another way to get my weekly Valor tokens. Right now LFR runs are pretty quick, I ran LFR SoO last night, in about 30 to 45 minutes, got a two sweet i528 drops for my Paladin, that I upgraded right away. Now that was worth my 45 minutes to run. No way would I spend an hour to run a 5man that drops worse outdated gear.
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/284043-suggestion-mythic-dungeons-in-wod/
Having said that, the current planned difficulty scheme for 5mans at max level is Normal, Heroic and Challenge mode.
Right off the bat, we can clearly say that WoD heroics will be much harder than MoP heroics.
Warlords of Draenor: The return of hard heroic 5-mans?
http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/11/warlords-of-draenor-the-return-of-hard-heroic-5-mans/
My opinion;
I do not like this idea one bit. I thought Cat 5man heroics were a major time sink, and took way too long. And I saw lots of groups wipe on certain bosses quite often in Cat, thus making a 5 man dungeon run, last one hour. And the gear they dropped was always outdated low iLevel garbage, compared to LFR. Sure hope WoD isn't going to copy that crap again. Zero fun, and waste of my time.
Unless, they drop Raid iLevel Epic gear, and make worth my while that would be cool, or how bout make a 3rd mode 'Mythic' 5 mans, really tough, but gives Raid gear.
Otherwise if they just dropping Blues and outdated lower iLevel purples, what's the point ? I'll find another way to get my weekly Valor tokens. Right now LFR runs are pretty quick, I ran LFR SoO last night, in about 30 to 45 minutes, got a two sweet i528 drops for my Paladin, that I upgraded right away. Now that was worth my 45 minutes to run. No way would I spend an hour to run a 5man that drops worse outdated gear.
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Sort of off topic. But another issue with 5mans, is that get so repetitive and boring quickly, because you run them over and over, and at the beginning of an expansion, there are like what 10 new dungeons to run at most ? I get burned and sick of them very quickly, after seeing the same dungeons over and over.
Here's an idea to stop the boredom. Blizzard should update every single 5man they ever made for WoW, update them for level 100 stats, all of the 5mans from Classic, TBC, Wrath, Cat, Mop, and WoD, and put it on a random generator, so we would have a plethora of 5mans to run, that would give us well over 50+ 5mans to run
And another idea, how bout every major patch, they up the stats and gear drops in Level 100 5mans to always keep them tough and up to date with current LFR tier gear or close.
So lets say Blizzard does this, they update every single 5 man dungeon ever created in WoW, to Level 100 stats in WoD, so we would have like 60 to 70 dungeons to run at level 100, and never get bored, plus be fun to see old dungeons from BC and Wrath again. But keep everything else exactly the same, no changes except the stats on the monsters and gear to Level 100 WoD. So we can get cool old gear drops, like "The Sun Eater" sword, but would be a Level 100 item now, not just a Transmog item only, would actually be useful again.
Here's an idea to stop the boredom. Blizzard should update every single 5man they ever made for WoW, update them for level 100 stats, all of the 5mans from Classic, TBC, Wrath, Cat, Mop, and WoD, and put it on a random generator, so we would have a plethora of 5mans to run, that would give us well over 50+ 5mans to run
And another idea, how bout every major patch, they up the stats and gear drops in Level 100 5mans to always keep them tough and up to date with current LFR tier gear or close.
So lets say Blizzard does this, they update every single 5 man dungeon ever created in WoW, to Level 100 stats in WoD, so we would have like 60 to 70 dungeons to run at level 100, and never get bored, plus be fun to see old dungeons from BC and Wrath again. But keep everything else exactly the same, no changes except the stats on the monsters and gear to Level 100 WoD. So we can get cool old gear drops, like "The Sun Eater" sword, but would be a Level 100 item now, not just a Transmog item only, would actually be useful again.
Hour long heroics? Heh. How about we go back to TBC heroics and taking even longer? Honestly, an hour is not a big deal for heroics.
Blizzard mostly neglected 5mans this round. It sounds like they're looking to put a bit more focus into 5mans in the WoD. They've already admitted they're not going back to TBC-level difficulties in heroics so that should give you an indicator that things aren't going to be all that bad.
Blizzard mostly neglected 5mans this round. It sounds like they're looking to put a bit more focus into 5mans in the WoD. They've already admitted they're not going back to TBC-level difficulties in heroics so that should give you an indicator that things aren't going to be all that bad.
And I am fine with long and tough 5mans again, but make sure the gear drops are worth it. I don't want to spend an hour in a dungeon, and only get blue loot, or low iLevel gear.
Right now a 5man drops totally outdated crap gear, I think i463 Blues ? Not even worth to run anymore.
Now I think dungeons should be a bit tougher, and maybe drops should be a tier below LFR gear. If current LFR SoO drops i528 gear, I think a tough 5man dungeon should drop like i522, it should be lower than LFR iLevel, but higher than Heroic Scenario iLevel.
Ruoh
Supreme [H]ardness
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- Messages
- 5,857
I miss the blue "dungeon tier" gear. I think that'd be great to bring back. I honestly still think purples should be dialed WAY back, and make them harder to get. Even Vanilla era difficult to get.
Gear is a tough situation for 5mans. I'm not keen on a scaling system. I'd rather see something akin to Wrath; introduce new 5mans with a higher difficulty but higher level gear. Wrath did this and did this well with an additional 2 tiers of 5mans to run that required you to be geared decently. In addition, they offered some other methods of gearing up beyond blues as well.
Honestly, if Blizzard keeps a decent enough system in place for gearing, there's no reason to need to scale gear in 5mans all the time. New faction rep, instances, crafted gear, valor gear, specialized quests gear, scenario gear. There should be a number of options for gearing up per tier level to keep people satisfied.
If blues are perfectly acceptable as first-tier raid gear, I'm fine with everyone decked out in blues to start raiding. I recall tanking on my Druid in TBC decked out in a load of blues and the occasional epic plus a couple really strong greens. Then again, there were some blue trinkets that were nearly impossible to replace so TBC was an unusual time for gear yet probably one of my most memorable.
That said, as soon as we're at the next raid tier, there better be options out there for new 100s to gear up and join in. I'd rather not have the initial wave receive all the benefit and later 100s end up feeling left behind.
Once upon a time, blue gear was actually decent, and you only had epics if you raided. Frankly I think they should kill two birds with one stone -- implement the item squish, and do away with "welfare epics' so I don't have to hear about them anymore. No, this is not an elitist thing, as I too am an LFR noob, but I don't like the current system of "everyone is epic!"
They should try something like this:
Then add the following:
You'd have a natural progression of people using their JP/VP for extra rolls, then once they're set for whatever they need in their current tier, they would turn their focus to the upgrades.
Am I crazy?
They should try something like this:
- 5-mans: Drop "dungeon set" gear with a unique design to each class
- LFR: Blue quality and vastly different colored version of relevant tier set
- Normal Raid: Epic quality, base version, no gem slot / tertiary stat, except small chance (<5%) for ilvl boost to heroic level
- Heroic Raid: Epic quality, EITHER gem slot or tertiary stat guaranteed, small chance (<5%) to ilvl boost to mythic level
- Mythic Raid: Epic quality, BOTH gem slot and tertiary stat guaranteed, smallish chance (5%, maybe 10%) to ilvl boost and add 2nd gem slot.
- Normal / Heroic / Mythic all have the same coloring. LFR is vastly different coloring, but same set design.
- EDIT: To keep things interesting, they could have a random chance to remove or reduce a primary stat from a piece of gear -- say, intellect -- and replace it with a gem slot that would allow certain "meta-type" gems containing tertiary stats. This would keep the JCers happy through the lower tiers, keeping the gem market active, and would allow you to switch out gems for tertiary stats you really need/want.
Then add the following:
- Long quest chain similar to the tier .5 chain in vanilla. This would allow people in "dungeon set" gear to upgrade to higher ilvl either equivalent to or slightly less powerful than LFR gear.
- Remove gear from JP and VP vendors.
- JP and VP now used to purchase upgrade tokens similar to burden of eternity (or the upgrade guy I guess)
- JP upgrade tokens may be used only on dungeon gear and LFR gear.
- VP upgrade tokens may be used on all tiers of gear, though I would assume it would be on the normal+ tiers.
- Remove the equivalent to Lesser Charms of Good Fortune. In addition to upgrades, JP and VP may be used to purchase extra rolls.
You'd have a natural progression of people using their JP/VP for extra rolls, then once they're set for whatever they need in their current tier, they would turn their focus to the upgrades.
Am I crazy?
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Breath_of_the_Dying
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2007
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So the fact that an item is blue or purple bother people that much? If we went back in time to the beginning of MoP or Cata, and the only difference was the rarity color (no stat changes) people would've been happier about gear progression? Elitist tags still exist, they just go from having the purple color to the Heroic tag on the item.
Successful gear progression in MMO's is a hard nail to hit correctly, there are so many dimensions, and missing you only get a niece crowd and alienate others. You have to give some progression path for different players:
1)Progression for not so skilled players with lots of time so they dont feel like they've hit a wall
2)Progression for skilled players with lots of time so they have a reason to fight through challenges and their rewards are meaningful
3)Progression for skilled players with short bursts of time so their efforts feel significant
4)Progression for non-skilled players without much time so they dont fall too far behind and so they can experience all the content.
Also keep in mind the progression needs to satisfy these
-Some way to balance all the demographics with each major content patch
-Some way for late comers to have a chance of catching up with their demographic in a reasonable time frame.
The latter reason is why gear gets outdated. I would hate to run Blackrock Depths (vanilla) all the way to Siege (MoP) just to be ready for WoD, or if I wanted to re-roll a character.
Also, revamping all dungeons to max level will be a huge undertaking. What gear level will it be tuned for? Casuals? 5 Man Heroics? LFR? Heroic? Mythic? Will every dungeon be re-tuned with every content expansion?
I'm not saying the current implementation is perfect, but too many times I see people put in their suggestions they favor the progression of whatever category they fit in and would not be rewarding for the other demographics.
Successful gear progression in MMO's is a hard nail to hit correctly, there are so many dimensions, and missing you only get a niece crowd and alienate others. You have to give some progression path for different players:
1)Progression for not so skilled players with lots of time so they dont feel like they've hit a wall
2)Progression for skilled players with lots of time so they have a reason to fight through challenges and their rewards are meaningful
3)Progression for skilled players with short bursts of time so their efforts feel significant
4)Progression for non-skilled players without much time so they dont fall too far behind and so they can experience all the content.
Also keep in mind the progression needs to satisfy these
-Some way to balance all the demographics with each major content patch
-Some way for late comers to have a chance of catching up with their demographic in a reasonable time frame.
The latter reason is why gear gets outdated. I would hate to run Blackrock Depths (vanilla) all the way to Siege (MoP) just to be ready for WoD, or if I wanted to re-roll a character.
Also, revamping all dungeons to max level will be a huge undertaking. What gear level will it be tuned for? Casuals? 5 Man Heroics? LFR? Heroic? Mythic? Will every dungeon be re-tuned with every content expansion?
I'm not saying the current implementation is perfect, but too many times I see people put in their suggestions they favor the progression of whatever category they fit in and would not be rewarding for the other demographics.
Yes, mostly the raiders that think people shouldn't be able to acquire epic-quality items outside of normal/heroic raids. If they do, they're considered "welfare epics," which quite frankly is a term that just bothers me in the same way that "grand finale" does. I'm not weird.
Probably. Think of how many people you used to see running around in level (max minus 2) epics over level (max) blues, just because they were purple. Purple is automatically better, I guess.
This is kind of what I was trying to get at with my post above. LFR was a great start, but as a person with (generally speaking) lots of time and no real desire to spend it with the idiots in LFR, I would much rather they have a really long quest chain, achievable through more difficult versions of solo instances like those seen on the Isle of Thunder.
I might be in the minority about Timeless Isle, but I think it's a great idea to have something like that to offer a quick-catch up. I have lots of alts, and between the TI and MSV/HoF/ToES and the first part of ToT, I was able to get my druid to ilvl 500+ within 24 hours of hitting 90.
They have the technology to do this through a combination of "gear normalization" on NPCs (like challenge modes for player characters) and the "flex" technology. Honestly, I don't think it would be THAT huge of a leap for them to take. I bet we see it at some point, unless they would want to retune the old encounters to reflect current mechanics, at which point yes, it would be too large of an undertaking. I could be wrong.
EDIT: They should start with Shattered Halls and Shadow Labs. Chop chop kthx.
butterfliesrpretty
2[H]4U
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- Mar 15, 2002
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- 2,482
is there anyway to auto level prior to this with a current wow account? I don't feel like going 1-85
SilverSliver
[H]F Junkie
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And those same raiders would complain if the only way to get epics was from 40 mans, which don't exist anymore but everyone knows that's the only real raiding that ever happened in WoW. A little bit of sarcasm, but also a bit of a strawman to show how ridiculous the current argument is. I'm surprised it's still happening to be honest.
Would you bring back "boss must die!" quests?
http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/12/would-you-bring-back-boss-must-die-quests/#comments
I say YES
I loved these during my Wrath days. Every Tuesday night, this was the first thing I did in WoW. Very quick way to earn some Valor points, and a chance for a nice Epic drop.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/12/would-you-bring-back-boss-must-die-quests/#comments
I say YES
I loved these during my Wrath days. Every Tuesday night, this was the first thing I did in WoW. Very quick way to earn some Valor points, and a chance for a nice Epic drop.kidstechno
Gawd
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2005
- Messages
- 580
Wait until WoD and you can get a free 90. But leveling is stupid easy now, even without Heirlooms. So your best bet is to suck it up and just do it. Easiest way is just level a tank, you can instant queue for dungeons and chain run the crap out of them.
Do recruit a friend. You might as well just wave your dick at the screen and youll get 85.
Ruoh
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2009
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- 5,857
Yes.
Slabs and Shattered Halls? You monster! It would be fun as hell but I can just hear the crybabies if Blizz didn't detune them a tad. I'd have to go with a Guardian Druid just for old times' sake like I was in TBC, tanking heroics just hoping to some day be able to actually run Kara. Speaking of which, an updated Kara raid would be awesome.
I'm also a fan of the Boss Must Die quests. Those were pretty fun.
I'm also a fan of the Boss Must Die quests. Those were pretty fun.
butterfliesrpretty
2[H]4U
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- Mar 15, 2002
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yeah been doing that it's going quick but damn not quick enough, the recruit a friend is cool but they gotta be online and within 4 levels of me. Just gonna suck it up I guess.
Haha! That is about true.
Linear item squish will continue, right now though 85
http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/13/liner-item-squish-will-continue-right-now-though-85/
Right now item levels travel upwards from 1-60 in a linear fashion; each level gained for the player allows for essentially one item level gain. Once you hit expansion content, the item levels jump exponentially, which is why you feel so much more powerful in new expansion gear compared to old gear. This might seem a bit math-y to some, but it's an important point.
As the exponential curve is moved to later in the game's levels, we'll see a more linear progression of gear up front. This means that while you'll get some gear bump when leveling an alt and moving it to an expansion's content, you won't get as big of a boost as you do right now. This isn't great if you wanted to solo older content with your level 70 mage -- but it has no baring on your ability to solo old content with your level 100 mage.
One thing that does concern me, however, is that simply moving the exponential item level increase later doesn't fix the problem in the long run. What happens in two or three expansions after Warlords? We're going to be right back at Mists numbers, and that's going to necessitate another squish. Given Blizzard's insistence of an increase expansion release schedule, that means we could be looking at a squish every couple years.
While I find this squish necessary and very good for the game, having our numbers constantly decreased at the release of every other expansion or two sets up a situation where you're too often entering an expansion not building forward, but building from behind. I worry about the psychological implications for the mass player base with this; not the ones that understand the numbers (they might not like it, but they'll get it -- the group I suspect most of us reading this fall into, one way or another). I'm worried about the group that just logs in to the expansion and goes "What the hell? I'm weaker again?"
http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/12/13/liner-item-squish-will-continue-right-now-though-85/
Right now item levels travel upwards from 1-60 in a linear fashion; each level gained for the player allows for essentially one item level gain. Once you hit expansion content, the item levels jump exponentially, which is why you feel so much more powerful in new expansion gear compared to old gear. This might seem a bit math-y to some, but it's an important point.
As the exponential curve is moved to later in the game's levels, we'll see a more linear progression of gear up front. This means that while you'll get some gear bump when leveling an alt and moving it to an expansion's content, you won't get as big of a boost as you do right now. This isn't great if you wanted to solo older content with your level 70 mage -- but it has no baring on your ability to solo old content with your level 100 mage.
One thing that does concern me, however, is that simply moving the exponential item level increase later doesn't fix the problem in the long run. What happens in two or three expansions after Warlords? We're going to be right back at Mists numbers, and that's going to necessitate another squish. Given Blizzard's insistence of an increase expansion release schedule, that means we could be looking at a squish every couple years.
While I find this squish necessary and very good for the game, having our numbers constantly decreased at the release of every other expansion or two sets up a situation where you're too often entering an expansion not building forward, but building from behind. I worry about the psychological implications for the mass player base with this; not the ones that understand the numbers (they might not like it, but they'll get it -- the group I suspect most of us reading this fall into, one way or another). I'm worried about the group that just logs in to the expansion and goes "What the hell? I'm weaker again?"
Shadow labs was always my favorite and I have no idea why. Everyone said it was too hard ... I don't remember it being overly difficult, but that doesn't mean it wasn't. I just thought it was a cool dungeon.
Then I started running Shattered Halls runs with one of the tanks from my Kara raid. She pulled faster than any tank I've ever run with -- even today -- and it was a heck of a lot of fun trying to keep her and the rest of the group alive on my pally healer. We generally just demolished that place.
Slabs required some CC at times that people weren't necessarily interested in handing. Of course, by the time Sunwell was out along with the 2.4.2 badge gear, people were smashing through a lot more instances that they'd have normally skipped.
Honestly though, Slabs wasn't as bad as Shattered Halls.
New shoulders; http://www.wowhead.com/item=77236/
Only thing left to complete this set, would be the Blacksmith made legs, and belt. I'll pass on the helm, I think my Uldar helm looks better.
Here's link to full set, looks pretty awesome with my current ICC Shield "Icecrown Glacial Wall" and ICC Axe "Nighttime"
http://www.wowhead.com/transmog-set=1245
Or do you like the like the look of this mog gear better ? Going with the medieval real silver armor look, plus red weapons / shield;
[/URL][/IMG]
Only thing left to complete this set, would be the Blacksmith made legs, and belt. I'll pass on the helm, I think my Uldar helm looks better.
Here's link to full set, looks pretty awesome with my current ICC Shield "Icecrown Glacial Wall" and ICC Axe "Nighttime"
http://www.wowhead.com/transmog-set=1245
Or do you like the like the look of this mog gear better ? Going with the medieval real silver armor look, plus red weapons / shield;
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Blizzard changing their stance on this now ?
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content...e-Tweets-10-Death-Knight-Heroic-ToT?#comments
You can find a poll on a paid boost to 90 on the forum, as well as a poll on the acceptable price, and some discussion of the questions.
The survey asked about pricing Warlords of Draenor at $39 or $49 with the boost of a character to level 90.
It also asked about pricing Warlords of Draenor at $39 without boost of a character to level 90.
Another question asked what a fair price for the level 90 boost would be.
Keep in mind that as it was described at Blizzcon, you might be able to purchase a copy of Warlords of Draenor and WoW, then get the free level 90 and transfer that character to your main WoW account, which would allow the purchase of level 90 characters in a roundabout way.
The Blizzcon Q&A mentioned that the team has talked about putting a level 90 purchase option in the store.
I could have sworn Blizzard did indeed say at Blizzcon, the boost was part of the expansion, not a separate additional cost ? I recall them saying, that with WoD purchase, comes a free Level 90 boost, meaning you can either create a brand new Level 1 guy, and can immediately boost to 90, or take a current lower level guy, lets say level 35, and boost to 90. You get this '90 Boost' just for one single character, once per account, and was part of the WoD expansion purchase.
And I liked this idea, seemed fair for players that haven't played WoW since BC or Wrath. Or for me, who has several level 90's, and I would like to try a Warrior Tank, but just not interested in going through the Leveling process again, from 1 - 89.
But now Blizzard is changing their stance, and this '90 Boost' will now be a paid service ? F, that, I'll pass.
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content...e-Tweets-10-Death-Knight-Heroic-ToT?#comments
You can find a poll on a paid boost to 90 on the forum, as well as a poll on the acceptable price, and some discussion of the questions.
The survey asked about pricing Warlords of Draenor at $39 or $49 with the boost of a character to level 90.
It also asked about pricing Warlords of Draenor at $39 without boost of a character to level 90.
Another question asked what a fair price for the level 90 boost would be.
Keep in mind that as it was described at Blizzcon, you might be able to purchase a copy of Warlords of Draenor and WoW, then get the free level 90 and transfer that character to your main WoW account, which would allow the purchase of level 90 characters in a roundabout way.
The Blizzcon Q&A mentioned that the team has talked about putting a level 90 purchase option in the store.
I could have sworn Blizzard did indeed say at Blizzcon, the boost was part of the expansion, not a separate additional cost ? I recall them saying, that with WoD purchase, comes a free Level 90 boost, meaning you can either create a brand new Level 1 guy, and can immediately boost to 90, or take a current lower level guy, lets say level 35, and boost to 90. You get this '90 Boost' just for one single character, once per account, and was part of the WoD expansion purchase.
And I liked this idea, seemed fair for players that haven't played WoW since BC or Wrath. Or for me, who has several level 90's, and I would like to try a Warrior Tank, but just not interested in going through the Leveling process again, from 1 - 89.
But now Blizzard is changing their stance, and this '90 Boost' will now be a paid service ? F, that, I'll pass.
You forget ... Blizzard is now tied to Activision and this scumbag. If there's a way to squeeze more money out of the people playing their games, they're going to do it.
So they have a global elitist and member of the Illuminati in control
Typical corporate mindset, fuck everyone over to the nth degree, all for the dollar. I see he's former CEO of the poison drink company Coca Cola, that crap gives you cancer and all sorts of diseases, which is good for the medical and insurance industries, I am sure he's also a part of those massive cartels too.He's probably working on 'Agenda 21' next
Which is massive depopulation of the human race, only allowing the top one billion humans to remain.Fukushima is a good start at that.
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Doesn't sound like they have made up their minds yet. I'm guessing they will give you one boost with purchase of the expansion and then sell you more in the store. I'd be fine with that. I have several 90s right now and really do not want to level another unless it was a new race with new zones, not just starting zones. Not sure I'd spend actual money on buying a boost but it would be tempting.
lilbabycat
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2011
- Messages
- 3,810
You do realize they've been Acti-Blizz for 3 expansions now right?
Warlords of Draenor Group Finder;
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content...nd-Item-Level-Squish-Blue-Tweets-Armory-Stats
Raid Finder currently struggles from a bit of a double identity. On one side of things, we want it to be a fun, low-stress environment for people who want to be able to experience new raids, but would rather not devote the necessary time from their week that joining a full-time raid team can often require. Something that you can just jump into, see the new bosses, and be done with in, say, an hour or so, without too much concern.
At the same time, however, Raid Finder has been trying to fill in as a form of endgame progression for a lot of players. There's a very real difference between the casual player who just wants to see the new stuff, and the raider who can't commit to a regular team but still wants some meaningful progression. Prior to Patch 5.4, Raid Finder was all that player really had, so we wanted to provide them as much gameplay as we could while still considering the needs of the "sightseer". Not exactly an easy task, and although we've been happy with what we've accomplished so far, we feel we can do better.
That's where Flexible Mode came in. We've been absolutely thrilled to see how well Flex has worked out, not just technically but also in how much the community has embraced it. We originally designed the feature focused on smaller or less hardcore guilds who maybe couldn't guarantee a full roster every time they wanted to raid, but we've been pleased to see that it's also been working extremely well for pick up groups (particularly through third-party services such as OpenRaid or oQueue).
In Warlords of Draenor, we're implementing a completely new Group Finder, which will allow players to find or create cross-realm groups for pretty much anything, including raids. We think that sort of environment -- finding an organized group, with a leader, and strategy, and possibly even using voice chat -- will be much more appealing and enjoyable for the player who craves an endgame raiding experience but can't find a team that fits their schedule. Plus, having an easy-to-use in-game Group Finder will, we believe, make finding such a group just as easy as queueing for Raid Finder (or easier, if you often find yourself in Raid Finder groups you'd rather not be a part of).
That, in turn, will allow us to take another look at Raid Finder and how exactly it should be tuned. I don't have any specifics to share (we simply aren't at that point in development yet), but our hope is that we'll be able to better provide for both the "busy raider" and "sightseer" styles of gameplay as a result.
In summary: if you're looking for meaningful endgame raid experience, we'd like you to do Flex, and we want to make it easier for you to do that. If you'd just like to see new stuff (or even just take a laid-back approach to raiding), we'd like you to use Raid Finder, and we want to make sure that's fun for you.
This is true, but you can get in at lower ilvls if you don't use that tool. The only raid leaders who have to worry about Blizzard's mins are the ones using the Blizzard's tool.
It's not set in stone, but our current plan is to allow group leaders to set their own restrictions (such as ilevel) when using the Group Finder tool. We'd rather allow players to be upfront about such things than create a situation where an undergeared player is joining groups just to be immediately kicked as soon as the leader inspects them.
Edit for clarity: That also means that we're not planning on having any pre-set restrictions, though again, plans could change.
Will there be stronger moderation as well? It gets really annoying when a player obviously knows they can't be kicked. Because then they just troll it up and can't be removed.
Just like non-Group Finder parties, the leader (or anyone they've promoted to assistant) will be able to kick players they feel necessary at any time
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content...nd-Item-Level-Squish-Blue-Tweets-Armory-Stats
Raid Finder currently struggles from a bit of a double identity. On one side of things, we want it to be a fun, low-stress environment for people who want to be able to experience new raids, but would rather not devote the necessary time from their week that joining a full-time raid team can often require. Something that you can just jump into, see the new bosses, and be done with in, say, an hour or so, without too much concern.
At the same time, however, Raid Finder has been trying to fill in as a form of endgame progression for a lot of players. There's a very real difference between the casual player who just wants to see the new stuff, and the raider who can't commit to a regular team but still wants some meaningful progression. Prior to Patch 5.4, Raid Finder was all that player really had, so we wanted to provide them as much gameplay as we could while still considering the needs of the "sightseer". Not exactly an easy task, and although we've been happy with what we've accomplished so far, we feel we can do better.
That's where Flexible Mode came in. We've been absolutely thrilled to see how well Flex has worked out, not just technically but also in how much the community has embraced it. We originally designed the feature focused on smaller or less hardcore guilds who maybe couldn't guarantee a full roster every time they wanted to raid, but we've been pleased to see that it's also been working extremely well for pick up groups (particularly through third-party services such as OpenRaid or oQueue).
In Warlords of Draenor, we're implementing a completely new Group Finder, which will allow players to find or create cross-realm groups for pretty much anything, including raids. We think that sort of environment -- finding an organized group, with a leader, and strategy, and possibly even using voice chat -- will be much more appealing and enjoyable for the player who craves an endgame raiding experience but can't find a team that fits their schedule. Plus, having an easy-to-use in-game Group Finder will, we believe, make finding such a group just as easy as queueing for Raid Finder (or easier, if you often find yourself in Raid Finder groups you'd rather not be a part of).
That, in turn, will allow us to take another look at Raid Finder and how exactly it should be tuned. I don't have any specifics to share (we simply aren't at that point in development yet), but our hope is that we'll be able to better provide for both the "busy raider" and "sightseer" styles of gameplay as a result.
In summary: if you're looking for meaningful endgame raid experience, we'd like you to do Flex, and we want to make it easier for you to do that. If you'd just like to see new stuff (or even just take a laid-back approach to raiding), we'd like you to use Raid Finder, and we want to make sure that's fun for you.
This is true, but you can get in at lower ilvls if you don't use that tool. The only raid leaders who have to worry about Blizzard's mins are the ones using the Blizzard's tool.
It's not set in stone, but our current plan is to allow group leaders to set their own restrictions (such as ilevel) when using the Group Finder tool. We'd rather allow players to be upfront about such things than create a situation where an undergeared player is joining groups just to be immediately kicked as soon as the leader inspects them.
Edit for clarity: That also means that we're not planning on having any pre-set restrictions, though again, plans could change.
Will there be stronger moderation as well? It gets really annoying when a player obviously knows they can't be kicked. Because then they just troll it up and can't be removed.
Just like non-Group Finder parties, the leader (or anyone they've promoted to assistant) will be able to kick players they feel necessary at any time
Warlords of Draenor Item Level Squish;
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content...nd-Item-Level-Squish-Blue-Tweets-Armory-Stats
Our developers are mindful of the concerns about stat squish/crunch affecting the ability to solo older Raid content. Having said that, if you are currently able to solo an older Raid, the squish should not change your ability to do that.
That's great! But I could have sworn solo raiding was frowned upon by Blizzard. Not sure they'll be too worried about keeping it a possibility. Hopefully though.
There's nothing at all wrong with going back and doing legacy raids and other content. The achievement system, cosmetic rewards and titles, and most recently transmogrification all serve to reward that playstyle. There's also a lot to be said for just being able to revisit old locations, for the sake of nostalgia or getting to experience them for the first time, without needing to find a like-minded group. As Rygarius noted, we're committed to making sure that we don't disrupt players' ability to engage in that gameplay.
Without getting into the math, our goal is to make sure that if Kael'thas's Pyroblast does damage equal to 10% of your maximum health today, it will take off no more than 10% of your health post-squish. And if you kill Onyxia in 30 seconds today, you'll be able to kill Onyxia in 30 seconds post-squish.
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content...nd-Item-Level-Squish-Blue-Tweets-Armory-Stats
Our developers are mindful of the concerns about stat squish/crunch affecting the ability to solo older Raid content. Having said that, if you are currently able to solo an older Raid, the squish should not change your ability to do that.
That's great! But I could have sworn solo raiding was frowned upon by Blizzard. Not sure they'll be too worried about keeping it a possibility. Hopefully though.
There's nothing at all wrong with going back and doing legacy raids and other content. The achievement system, cosmetic rewards and titles, and most recently transmogrification all serve to reward that playstyle. There's also a lot to be said for just being able to revisit old locations, for the sake of nostalgia or getting to experience them for the first time, without needing to find a like-minded group. As Rygarius noted, we're committed to making sure that we don't disrupt players' ability to engage in that gameplay.
Without getting into the math, our goal is to make sure that if Kael'thas's Pyroblast does damage equal to 10% of your maximum health today, it will take off no more than 10% of your health post-squish. And if you kill Onyxia in 30 seconds today, you'll be able to kill Onyxia in 30 seconds post-squish.
Godmachine
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2003
- Messages
- 10,472
Something big changes coming wow. I still hate giving someone a level 90 character for a price .. there are going to be so many more clueless players now who don't understand their classes. And that's what really bugs me. The majority of the game is full of players who simply do not want to invest the time or effort in learning their respective class. Now its going to be worse.
Paid level up to 90 now makes sense however for veteran players who simply want to bypass the grind. I would love for them to mix this ideal with the requirement that you already have a level 90 character to qualify for a paid leveled 90 character. This would force players to play the meat of the game (for leveling/story/quests) and learn their class to some degree and become comfortable with it.
But this won't happen. Blizzard sees an opportunity for cash so it will become a paid service. I'll be curious to what this expac will become down the line as everything as it stands is very early and subject to change.
Paid level up to 90 now makes sense however for veteran players who simply want to bypass the grind. I would love for them to mix this ideal with the requirement that you already have a level 90 character to qualify for a paid leveled 90 character. This would force players to play the meat of the game (for leveling/story/quests) and learn their class to some degree and become comfortable with it.
But this won't happen. Blizzard sees an opportunity for cash so it will become a paid service. I'll be curious to what this expac will become down the line as everything as it stands is very early and subject to change.
Inate8
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2011
- Messages
- 240
There's nothing wrong with spending money to get a 90. It will not change the balance what-so-ever.
People will still sometimes be bad, and people will still sometimes be good. It's not going to increase in either direction.
Look at it this way, these same people that "can't play their class" would still be unable to effectively play their class after grinding to 90. It makes literally no difference in the long run.
People will still sometimes be bad, and people will still sometimes be good. It's not going to increase in either direction.
Look at it this way, these same people that "can't play their class" would still be unable to effectively play their class after grinding to 90. It makes literally no difference in the long run.
Krenum
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2005
- Messages
- 19,193
Wrong, Someone new to the game pays to lvl 90, has no experience playing the class he or she chooses other than a few starter quests, this person jumps into a random Heroic or raid and doesn't know how to effectively play their class. Everyone thinks this is such a common occurrence now, just wait until Blizzard drops the pay to lvl 90 cluster bomb accompanied by the massive influx of people this game will receive come launch day. Its going to be awesome!
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Godmachine
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2003
- Messages
- 10,472
Exactly. And now it will become over run with people at 90 who don't understand shit about their class that leveling the old way would teach them.
WoD boost to 90, does not mean that new player can jump into Raids right away, or run 5man dungeons.
They will first need to level up, all the way to Level 100. Those ten levels going through the entire continent of WoD, will help them learn their new class somewhat. And then before even going into LFR WoD Raids, they will need to gear up first, which will also help them learn their class.
Breath_of_the_Dying
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2007
- Messages
- 1,454
From what I heard, those that take the 90 boost will be in a separate starting areas than those that normally made it to 90. In this area, you have to prove your worth before you can continue the leveling process.
I think thats a fine compromise. Boosting any character to 90 will give you an overwhelming amount of abilities to learn at the same time, there should be a place to just hone in those skill before further introducing you to more skills.
I think thats a fine compromise. Boosting any character to 90 will give you an overwhelming amount of abilities to learn at the same time, there should be a place to just hone in those skill before further introducing you to more skills.
Godmachine
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2003
- Messages
- 10,472
Even with a starting area its still a "fish out of water". The amount of depth in WoW my have lessened over time but the learning curve is still deep. A bit a questing tells you very little about handling your class.
Blizzard is trying to give players who do not wish to spend the time and effort learning and leveling at the same time a quick way towards the end game. And like it or not and regardless of the safe guards they put in place it will have a negative influence. Leveling and learning is a core experience to an MMO and with WoW is especially paramount.
It would make perfect sense if they simply limited it to people with level 90 characters that leveled either the old fashioned way or via triple experience with a friend referral.
Krenum
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2005
- Messages
- 19,193
I was thinking about playing it again, and playing the expansion, but then I found this video, and he is right. Every point he makes is right, its just not, nor will it ever be the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgrSAySV9xQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgrSAySV9xQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=988
Yoshiyuki Blade
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2005
- Messages
- 2,881
Heh. If Blizzard goes where the money is, why don't they release retro servers then? Since according to this guy, people will reactivate in the "millions."