Here it is, the patch introducing the whole new leveling and talent system is on the live servers. I sure am not the one who played the most with this patch, but here are my impressions so far:
- Talent trees are not equal! The Priest talent trees is one of the best designed so far, in my opinion at least, while the Elemental and Restoration Shamans are just ok. I tried a bit Fury Warrior, and let me tell you that I'm pretty sure it will liven up my level 30-something experience. Same goes for Paladin, my low-level paladin got a few new spells, meaning I won't have to make 1-button spams anymore!
- Instant battleground! I tried three battlegrounds, all first-tier, and got absolutely no wait. I think this is due to the fact that BGs may now be region-wide (instead of battelgroups-wide), or maybe just the influx of players eager to test their abilities.
- Soloing is now incredibly easy as a Discipline priest (you read that right!). I kill mobs in two spells, sometimes three. I have plenty of mana, and I got a few nice boosts overall.
- Low-level battlegrounds are completely unbalanced. I mean, off-the-charts unbalanced. Stealth is perfect, rogues can kill me in a matter of two or three seconds even with my PW: Shield on. Hunters are just as badass as before, maybe even a bit more. Druids rule the capture the flag to a whole new degree. But then, I played on Alliance side. Alliance has a bad rep when it comes to PVP…
- It’ll be harder than I expected to go back to my older characters! Really, with the number of alts I run, it’ll be a challenge to find a new rotation for everyone.
I had no issue during the installation, and I totally expected the increased downtime. People who complained either are new to this (more than I!) or are simply unrealistic; most patch days have long delays, and this was one hell of a patch!
10/13/2010
10/08/2010
Patch 4.0.1 and what it brings
I went ahead and played on the Public Test Realms of WoW to test the upcoming patch, the one that’ll bring some of the cataclysmic changes to the game (pun intended).
With it comes changes to the interface: the map can track multiple things at the same time, which is convenient; your spellbook contains all of your class’s abilities, even those you have not learned; it indicates when you can get it. The talent overhaul has come, and it seems nice. My early fears seem far away now: the trees (at least those I saw) seem nice and, while I don’t think it’ll herald a new era of diversity, at least gives you something to really look for; most talents are at least useful or interesting. When you won’t gain a new talent, you’ll gain a new ability, so if you’re like me, and have a character in progress but still a good way before level 80, you’re likely to lose some of the spells or abilities you currently have, only to gain them back later.
While this may hurt some players who are unaware of the coming changes (and may log next week only to realize they’ve lost some spells), this will make a much nicer progression, since almost every level will bring something new, either a brand new spell (ranks have been done away with) or a talent point. The downside of this is that there are no “awesome levels”, with a cluster of abilities (like level 20 for most classes).
Otherwise, all Cataclysm changes are due, well, on Cataclysm release, December 7th. You won’t find the ability to fly in Azeroth, new dungeons, new quests or reshaped zones in 4.0.1, though you’ll experience the coming of the Cataclysm and of Deathwing, thanks to intermittent earthquakes. I’m disappointed I couldn’t try a Dwarf Shaman just for the fun of it, or a Troll Druid, but I’ll spend so much time tinkering my new talents for my 8+ alts that I probably won’t notice time flying away!
10/05/2010
My other blog
Hi,
Go to http://theoryoftheunknown.blogspot.com/
to see my new blog. It's about anything. Really: politics, religion, culture, entertainment, science, economics, the news, war (what is it good for?), peace, literature, and so on. Just no videogames (although posts about, say, a law targeting videogame, censorship, violence, etc., may be published in both blogs. Who knows?)
It’s a blog about my thoughts, mostly when I’m irritated by some people’s ignorance and close-mindedness, or when I read something worthwhile or that makes me think.
Go to http://theoryoftheunknown.blogspot.com/
to see my new blog. It's about anything. Really: politics, religion, culture, entertainment, science, economics, the news, war (what is it good for?), peace, literature, and so on. Just no videogames (although posts about, say, a law targeting videogame, censorship, violence, etc., may be published in both blogs. Who knows?)
It’s a blog about my thoughts, mostly when I’m irritated by some people’s ignorance and close-mindedness, or when I read something worthwhile or that makes me think.
I knew I had forgotten something…
When describing Cataclysm features, I knew I forgot a few things.
- Glyphs are now learned: Use a Glyph once, then access your glyph book to “equip” the glyphs you need. Pretty sweet, IMO.
- Skill revamp, continued: Some recipes will now grant more than one skill-up. So if you’re levelling say Blacksmithing and see that sweet Blue armor you want to create, but feel like it’s material cost does not justify what it’ll bring you for a mere +1 to your skill, you’ll no longer have to worry: such recipes will grant you more than +1.
- New flightpaths: There are new flightpaths everywhere so the zones are easier to travel for lowbie characters.
- New Heirlooms! Have a level 32 hunter with Shoulder, Armor, Trinket, Bow, and two Melee Weapons heirlooms and loving it? Now you can also have a sweet Helm and a Cloak to add to your arsenal of overpowered and experience-boosting gear. Plus, these will work up to level 85 (older heirlooms will work until level 80; you can keep them after that if you haven’t found anything to replace them with, but they won’t continue to scale and won’t grant naymore experience bonus after level 80).
- New Battlegrounds: Yup, not one but two! Plus a Wintergrasp-like battlefield and Rated battlegrounds!
- Updated loot system: Now more will you have to swap five kinds of Emblems to buy that special trinket. There will be only four currencies, called “points” (how original!). Two are for PVE, one lowbie earned by doing dungeons and heroics, the other for raiders. The other two are for PVP, one for regular PVP (the actual Honor points), the other for rated battlegrounds and arena only. After a new tier of gear lands, the higher tier of points is downgraded, as is the cost of actual equipment. The new tier then requires you to gather more of the high tier points. Pretty slick, if you ask me.Just announced: Guilds will be limited to 600 members. Yeah, I know, it sucks for the like 5 guilds concerned.
- Glyphs are now learned: Use a Glyph once, then access your glyph book to “equip” the glyphs you need. Pretty sweet, IMO.
- Skill revamp, continued: Some recipes will now grant more than one skill-up. So if you’re levelling say Blacksmithing and see that sweet Blue armor you want to create, but feel like it’s material cost does not justify what it’ll bring you for a mere +1 to your skill, you’ll no longer have to worry: such recipes will grant you more than +1.
- New flightpaths: There are new flightpaths everywhere so the zones are easier to travel for lowbie characters.
- New Heirlooms! Have a level 32 hunter with Shoulder, Armor, Trinket, Bow, and two Melee Weapons heirlooms and loving it? Now you can also have a sweet Helm and a Cloak to add to your arsenal of overpowered and experience-boosting gear. Plus, these will work up to level 85 (older heirlooms will work until level 80; you can keep them after that if you haven’t found anything to replace them with, but they won’t continue to scale and won’t grant naymore experience bonus after level 80).
- New Battlegrounds: Yup, not one but two! Plus a Wintergrasp-like battlefield and Rated battlegrounds!
- Updated loot system: Now more will you have to swap five kinds of Emblems to buy that special trinket. There will be only four currencies, called “points” (how original!). Two are for PVE, one lowbie earned by doing dungeons and heroics, the other for raiders. The other two are for PVP, one for regular PVP (the actual Honor points), the other for rated battlegrounds and arena only. After a new tier of gear lands, the higher tier of points is downgraded, as is the cost of actual equipment. The new tier then requires you to gather more of the high tier points. Pretty slick, if you ask me.Just announced: Guilds will be limited to 600 members. Yeah, I know, it sucks for the like 5 guilds concerned.
10/04/2010
It’s official! Dec. 7th!
It has been announced that World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the third expansion, is set for release on Dec. 7th.
What is it?
I find that many players don’t even know what’s coming. So, here are some of the highlights:
- New races: Worgen (werewolves, if you prefer) join the Alliance, while Goblins (some Goblins, anyway) join the Horde.
- New level cap: It’s only five levels this time. Yet WoW is not about levels anymore; for many players, it's about the endgame. For most players who have a level 80 character, 5 or 10 does not matter; for the others, I guess it does not matter either, since they’re not even close!
- Talent overhaul: We actually lose talent points! In the sense that, at level 10, characters pick a specific Spec, and it gives them what they need to play said spec (good thing for some characters; Enhancement Shamans, for instance, could hardly play as their chosen spec before level 40…). We gain one talent every odd level after that, and one talent point represents more of a change than in the past. Apparently, every even level we get a trainable ability.
- New interface: Sleek new design for the interface, better functions (such as the ability to track multiple things on the map) and changes to every level of play, like the red “!” that allow you to pick up quests by killing monsters, instant-quest turning for some quests, and so on.
- Flight in Azeroth! Now we can all fly around Azeroth starting at level 60!
- The Cataclysm itself: Not only are new zones added to Azeroth, but the old ones are being torn apart! Monsters appear at different places, quest hubs have changed, quest lines have been replaced, even the geography is different now.
- Guild achievements: Your guild now has achievements and even levels with rewards depending on your own Guild Reputation.
- Archaeology: Ever wanted to play Indiana Jones? Now you can with this new secondary skill.
- Retuning: Healing will play differently now; healers will need to be more careful about their Mana. Threat generation for tanks work differently; DPS survival should no longer rest solely on the shoulders of the healer. Crowd Control makes a comeback. Heroic Dungeons will be much tougher.
- Raid changes: 10-man and 25-man give the same loot, only not in the same ratio, so player can enjoy the aspect they prefer rather than feel obligated to do both.
- Major class changes: Not that many, but Hunters now use Focus (like energy), and DK’s runes now function differently.
- New race-class combos: Play a Dwarf Shaman or a Troll Druid! You know you want to.
- New loot: Of course.
- New recipes and overhaul of professions, most notably inscription (three kind of Glyphs now). plus, apparently, picking up ore and herbs will now grant experience!
- Have I forgotten something?
All in all, this seems to be a pretty solid expansion. Another reason to get excited? Some of the above will end up being free, such as the revamped Azeroth, the interface and the overhaul: just about everything that should affect ALL players, in other words, will come first in the patch. The expansion itself offers you levels 81-85, the new accompanying zones, the Goblin and Worgen races, flight in the Old World and the like. I can’t wait to see what’ll happen to my numerous characters! Will I keep the same spec? Will I favor new characters? I'll give you news when the patch hits, about what has come and what can we expect from the expansion itself.
Final note: WoW:C will (if I understand correctly) be available as digital download from the start, which I think will be a good thing. Not surprising since they did this f
What is it?
I find that many players don’t even know what’s coming. So, here are some of the highlights:
- New races: Worgen (werewolves, if you prefer) join the Alliance, while Goblins (some Goblins, anyway) join the Horde.
- New level cap: It’s only five levels this time. Yet WoW is not about levels anymore; for many players, it's about the endgame. For most players who have a level 80 character, 5 or 10 does not matter; for the others, I guess it does not matter either, since they’re not even close!
- Talent overhaul: We actually lose talent points! In the sense that, at level 10, characters pick a specific Spec, and it gives them what they need to play said spec (good thing for some characters; Enhancement Shamans, for instance, could hardly play as their chosen spec before level 40…). We gain one talent every odd level after that, and one talent point represents more of a change than in the past. Apparently, every even level we get a trainable ability.
- New interface: Sleek new design for the interface, better functions (such as the ability to track multiple things on the map) and changes to every level of play, like the red “!” that allow you to pick up quests by killing monsters, instant-quest turning for some quests, and so on.
- Flight in Azeroth! Now we can all fly around Azeroth starting at level 60!
- The Cataclysm itself: Not only are new zones added to Azeroth, but the old ones are being torn apart! Monsters appear at different places, quest hubs have changed, quest lines have been replaced, even the geography is different now.
- Guild achievements: Your guild now has achievements and even levels with rewards depending on your own Guild Reputation.
- Archaeology: Ever wanted to play Indiana Jones? Now you can with this new secondary skill.
- Retuning: Healing will play differently now; healers will need to be more careful about their Mana. Threat generation for tanks work differently; DPS survival should no longer rest solely on the shoulders of the healer. Crowd Control makes a comeback. Heroic Dungeons will be much tougher.
- Raid changes: 10-man and 25-man give the same loot, only not in the same ratio, so player can enjoy the aspect they prefer rather than feel obligated to do both.
- Major class changes: Not that many, but Hunters now use Focus (like energy), and DK’s runes now function differently.
- New race-class combos: Play a Dwarf Shaman or a Troll Druid! You know you want to.
- New loot: Of course.
- New recipes and overhaul of professions, most notably inscription (three kind of Glyphs now). plus, apparently, picking up ore and herbs will now grant experience!
- Have I forgotten something?
All in all, this seems to be a pretty solid expansion. Another reason to get excited? Some of the above will end up being free, such as the revamped Azeroth, the interface and the overhaul: just about everything that should affect ALL players, in other words, will come first in the patch. The expansion itself offers you levels 81-85, the new accompanying zones, the Goblin and Worgen races, flight in the Old World and the like. I can’t wait to see what’ll happen to my numerous characters! Will I keep the same spec? Will I favor new characters? I'll give you news when the patch hits, about what has come and what can we expect from the expansion itself.
Final note: WoW:C will (if I understand correctly) be available as digital download from the start, which I think will be a good thing. Not surprising since they did this f
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