Cataclysm

[Ironwood]

The DK starting area has phasing and the same thing could happen.  Didn't seem like that big a deal to me.

Indeed, you're quite right.  However, my view on the DK starting zone was that it was pretty much a solo event and I judged it as such.  It was still mega annoying that what I consider a really, really good idea (phasing) is still being implented in a half-arsed fashion.

 

[apocrypha]

Well my beta install finally finished and I've spent about an hour in the goblin starter zone.

I don't see how the phasing could be a problem at all. If you're new to the game and playing with someone else, for instance, you'll be doing the quests together. There's no other reason to have to group for them, they're super easy. Either way, the phasing won't be an issue.

Yeah the starter zone style and goblin sytle in general is completely OTT and you're either going to love it or hate it. That's just personal taste. If you hate it then don't roll a goblin. Personally I like it now and I found the goblin starter zone quite fun. It's a a lot busier than the old starting zones and clearly it's been designed with 5 years of hindsight in comparison, but I've no idea if they've tarted up the old zones at all or not.

Saying that the new races add nothing new to WoW seems a bit strange to me. They're races, not classes. None of the races really add anything new to the game - they're all just cosmetic shells for the classes with a couple of racial abilities that have long since had any game-changing power to them nerfed. What exactly did you want from a new race? They can't make them OMG overpowered, all they can do is make the cosmetic changes really good, and from what I've seen of goblins so far that's exactly what they've done.

[El Gallo]

Phasing is annoying in the same way that dungeon or raid flags/keys/attunements are annoying.  It's less annoying in degree because (at least til now) you can catch up with all your missing "phase attunements" via solo questlines, but if the mechanic became more widespread, so would the annoyance.

[Malakili]

I don't see how the phasing could be a problem at all. If you're new to the game and playing with someone else, for instance, you'll be doing the quests together. There's no other reason to have to group for them, they're super easy. Either way, the phasing won't be an issue.

*Its day 1 of the expansion release*

"Hey, I just started a goblin an hour ago"

"Ok, cool, I'll log in and make one too!"

"Ok, I'll help you catch u...oh wait"


I'm sure most people don't really deal with this sort of thing, but I have a long tradition of leveling up partly with one person, then with other, or switching characters along the way to and the syncing problems were always a pain in the ass enough when you had to worry about just getting on the same step in all the quests.  But with phasing, now you can't even help the first person catch up to you quicker.

Again, I've never really played an MMO "solo" for any length of time, Im always trying to find guilds ASAP when I start a new one, and if I can't find one I like in short order, I generally end up quitting.  So to me, this flies in the face of how I play.

[Wolf]

Couple of questions for people in the beta - what are the worgen racials? What is the Draenei hit aura changed to?

[Sheepherder]

My PvE spec is Survival and I don't really need to use Steady all that much.  Maybe somewhere around one out of three or four shots?  Due to the global cooldown, Serpent Sting not auto-refreshing and Lock & Load procs.  It's the reason I use Survival in PvE instead of Marks, where I had to use Steady a lot more.  Being immobile is what my Shaman is for. 

Auto-shot, volley, and multi-shot.

[Ironwood]

Hmm, I don't find myself staying still all that much as a Hunter, even now.

It's entirely possible that I'm playing wrong. 

[Draegan]

I don't see how the phasing could be a problem at all. If you're new to the game and playing with someone else, for instance, you'll be doing the quests together. There's no other reason to have to group for them, they're super easy. Either way, the phasing won't be an issue.

*Its day 1 of the expansion release*

"Hey, I just started a goblin an hour ago"

"Ok, cool, I'll log in and make one too!"

"Ok, I'll help you catch u...oh wait"

"Oh wait you're not in my phase"

"Ok let me catch up"

"Ok I'll go grab a smoke"

... 5 minutes later ...

"Ok you're caught up"

[caladein]

Yes, but there's no reason I shouldn't just be able right-click a party member and go "Enter this player's phase of the world."

[apocrypha]

Couple of questions for people in the beta - what are the worgen racials? What is the Draenei hit aura changed to?

Not done anything Alliance yet. I always feel dirty after playing Alliance characters so I'll save that for an hour before I plan to take a shower anyway 

Yes, but there's no reason I shouldn't just be able right-click a party member and go "Enter this player's phase of the world."

That could work as long as you were only allowed to back-phase, not forward-phase, if you see what I mean. The entire reason for the phasing is story-telling so it would break horribly if you could travel forwards through your story's phases.

[Rendakor]

*Its day 1 of the expansion release*

"Hey, I just started a goblin an hour ago"

"Ok, cool, I'll log in and make one too!"

"Ok, I'll help you catch u...oh wait"

You're going to be in the zone for what, a day or two?

LOL.  Try and hour or tw...  an hour.  Max.

[Ironwood]

Yes, but there's no reason I shouldn't just be able right-click a party member and go "Enter this player's phase of the world."

This.

Also, don't use me as an excuse Rendakor;  I was COMPLAINING about the starting zone being tiny, not about the Phasing mechanic.  Mal's right;  It needs FIXED.

[Rasix]

I'm not seeing the big deal then.  It's not like newbie leveling needs groups or even encourages them.  It'll be over in a sitting and you'll all be in the same phase.

And, I don't see Icecrown as a counter-point to phasing at all.  That zone was just a poorly implemented mess.  Way too many gating 3 and 5 man group quests.

edit: Just for clarification, how long (in levels) is the goblin newbie content?

[Musashi]

I've been as big a goblin fanboy as any.  With that said, I'm not sure when goblins went from funny little money grubbing monsters, to New Jersey Mafiosos.  I like Sopranos as much as the next guy, but after having heard their voices, I think they should have stuck with the high pitched goblin voices.  And I'm kind of disappointed they didn't.  The Jersey shtick - it's dumb.

[Simond]

My only issue with the lady goblin voice is that her accent is all over the east coast. Oh well!

As opposed to the female worgen, which is just flat out bad. At least the male VA made an attempt at faux-English - the female sounds like she just couldn't be bothered.

[WindupAtheist]

On my part, it's because I am from New Jersey and they crack my ass up. I've wanted to play one since I first met one. Easiest roleplaying evar! Why other people like them, I have no idea. 

You know I'm going to "hear" everything you post in that accent now, right?  

After hearing the accent on the male worgen, I totally want to make a worgen death knight. The most dark/emo/goth combination possible. Then play him as this cheerful optimistic Hugh Grant type.

Yes I was infected with the curse of Arugal and turned into a hairy beast, and then the Forsaken blew up my homeland, and then the Lich King turned me into an unholy death knight, and then the world blew up. Or something to that effect, I'm not really clear on the order of events. Haw haw, am I right? But there's no reason to be a Negative Nancy about the whole thing, it's a lovely day. It's a lovely day, we're sitting in Stormwind, there's a naked elf dancing on the mailbox. Let's have tea.

Then find a bunch of angsty roleplayers and irritate the shit out of them!

[Ironwood]

The Jersey shtick - it's dumb.

Oh, you have no idea.  By the time you're level 10 you JUST.  WANT.  TO.  KILL.  YOURSELF.

 

[Sjofn]

You know I'm going to "hear" everything you post in that accent now, right?  

That's fine, although much to the disappointment to Ingmar's Californian friends, I don't have much of an accent ... although I'm pretty sure he would've dumped me if I had. 

And yeah, the female worgen is hrrbl. I like the dude one though.

[Simond]

So, Ironwood - I'm guessing that you didn't like GTA?

[Ironwood]

I liked the first couple.  More to do with the gameplay sucking though.

[Rendakor]

Yes, but there's no reason I shouldn't just be able right-click a party member and go "Enter this player's phase of the world."

This.

Also, don't use me as an excuse Rendakor;  I was COMPLAINING about the starting zone being tiny, not about the Phasing mechanic.  Mal's right;  It needs FIXED.

I'm not arguing the phasing thing again. This isn't like vehicles where they tried it out, realized it was dumb, and backed off. Love it or hate it, it's here to stay.

[kildorn]

phasing is pretty awesome when you look at it as a method of advancing the game world in a single player manner. It's a story telling aid.

However, when you actually start pretending WoW is a multi player game, it's deep flaws show up.

.. maybe this is just me by far being the most antisocial MMO player ever, though.

[Lantyssa]

Nonsense.  You group up more than I do.  And you're hardly ever on.

[Sjofn]

That's how antisocial he is, he doesn't even log in.

[kildorn]

That's how antisocial he is, he doesn't even log in.

I'm protesting the lack of an anon flag to avoid even the people I like.

[ghost]

Do people typically play with the sound on?  I haven't played WoW with the sound on in years.

[Tarami]

Since WoW's sound effects (all five of them!) are about as inspiring as stale oatmeal, no, not since 2005.

[Lantyssa]

Yes.  I can't play anything with the sound off.

[Rasix]

Sound on. Music off.  I typically leave music on for like a day after reinstalling.

I can't play games with sound off.  It used to annoy me a lot when my friends would listen to music while playing something like Street Fighter or Madden.  

Plus, when raiding or pvping, sound conveys some advantage if you know what to listen for.

[Merusk]

Same here.  There's too many audio-cues to have sound off when raiding.  I'll turn music on for new zones, then turn it off again after a few hours.

[apocrypha]

Sound on but low volume, loud enough to hear the things I need to hear when raiding or the "your dungeon is ready" noise when tabbed out.

Most of the time I play I'm on voice comms so I have it low enough not to bleed through into Skype. Nothing more annoying than hearing someone else's WoW when you're playing.

[AcidCat]

Have never even considered playing without sound and music. I frequently play the game with headphones on - there are some cool ambient sounds, and I've never found the music overpowering, with maybe the exception of Stormwind.

[caladein]

I run without music as I almost always have some going on in the background.  Everything else (except error speech, which is annoying) is on but low.

[Paelos]

Do people typically play with the sound on?  I haven't played WoW with the sound on in years.

Tanking with the sound on is like playing in a blender with a bunch of christmas lights.

I haven't had the sound on in the game since leveling in Goldshire.

EDIT: Sound off, sports game on the TV in the background, vent on high issuing orders / shooting the shit.

[Rendakor]

Music off, Sound on low. Usually with my own music running on top of it, unless I'm raiding.