WoW presses the big EZ button

[Fabricated]

I've been browsing over the changes they've made to the low end loot so far and it's awesome. Casters are no longer fucked for +dmg, and tanks can actually get mitigation and defense rating before level 50.

Here's some of them.

Aegis of the Scarlet Commander: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=7726
Albino Crocscale Boots: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=17728
Dragon's Eye: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=10829
Crest of Supremacy: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=10835
Chief Architect's Monocle: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=11839

Atal'ai Loot from ST:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=10808
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=10807

ST Quest Reward:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=11123

Robes of the Lich: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=10762

Grimlock's Tribal Vestments: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=9415
Stoneweaver Leggings: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=9407

Big Bad Pauldrons: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=9476

Also, the loot from my favorite instance pre-BC, Shadowfang Keep.

Belt of Arugal: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=6392
Commander's Crest: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=6320
Robes of Arugal: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=6324

The old pile of shit set from WC: http://www.wowhead.com/?itemset=162

Great job so far.

[SurfD]

Heck, most level 56, or so people should be able to solo the Big Ape. Just depends on what your gear / spec is.  Pretty sure i solo killed him on both my mage and my shaman at around that level.  I soloed that annoying giant on the island out in front of booty bay at like 2 levels under him on my shaman by casting water walk, and frost shock kiteing him into BB where i let the town guards take him down for the kill :P

I thought water walk dropped the second you got in combat and couldnt be cast whiile in combat?

Nah, it lasts until you receive any kind of damage.  So as long as whatever you are attacking has no ranged attack, you can frost shock kite it over the water as long as needed.  If it gets close enough to mele you, and you take a hit, you can hope you can get far enough away to re cast water walk and get back on top of the water, but it generally doesn't happen.

[angry.bob]

So has this gone live yet? I cancelled a while ago, but I wouldn't mind resubbing when this stuff goes live.

[Threash]

So has this gone live yet? I cancelled a while ago, but I wouldn't mind resubbing when this stuff goes live.

It went on test this week so i would say a month bare minimum.

[Neph]

Hopefully it hits soon, I wouldn't mind going back in with a super boost. 20-60 in the current state is so fucking boring, mainly cause the majority of players have done this 2.5 years or so ago.

[Merusk]

Original target date was late October/ Early November, since it was tested internally for so long.  Dunno if that's still the planned date.

[Nevermore]

Every once in a while I think about picking up WoW again, even though I haven't played since about 2 months after it was released.  Even though I hate raiding and I hate DKP, I distinctly remember the 1-59 game as being a lot of fun.  Then I talked to a friend of mine over the weekend and apparently the low level game is pretty much completely barren and it's nearly impossible to put together even a 5 person group for the low level instances.  Does that pretty much hold true on most of the servers or could it just be a problem on his?

[Mazakiel]

ZF and SM are about the only instances you can consistently find a group for, and even then, it's rather hit and miss.  SFK has streaks of activity, and times where you've got noone else interested.  Pretty much every other instance, no chance of getting a group together.  I've yet to see Mauradon or much of Blackrock because there were no groups when I was levelling.  Occasionally you'll have a nostaligia run of the 60 dungeons, but for the most part, it's 70s running someone through for one quest.  My only time in Scholomance was when some guildies were helping me get that part done for my warlock mount quest.  Same for Dire Maul.  Strat and so forth, I've never stepped foot in. 

[Nebu]

I've been leveling a toon again in WoW and while I get several random group invites, it's a pretty barren landscape.  People are either playing the endgame or they are leveling an alt with their guild.  I've given up on most of the dungeons and instances and play solo 99% of the time.

[Merusk]

Yep, most runs that happen occour in the 60-70 range.  You can still fairly regularly get a group for all of the BC dungeons, but not the others since even the crappiest-geared 70 can solo nearly any early dungeon.  Those that they can't have better loot in a bc-era dungeon.

If you REALLY want to run the early stuff in an appropriate group, your best bet is finding a reroll guild via the recruitment forums, and running with them.  That, or start-up again with 5 friends and level together.

I imagine that all of this is another reason to up the xp in the lower-end content.  Since the majority are there, it's best to just get new players there sooner, rather than trying in vain to get a huge influx of new players for groups.

[Jayce]

Just when I despair of finding groups for the low level dungeons, I do a /who of them and usually find some people in there.  The crappier ones like Gnomeregan and Blackfathom are pretty deserted, but I got a group pretty readily for SKF, SM (all three important wings), ZF, and Sunken Temple (edit: and I know of someone who got a group for BRD recently, but I bet those are less common.  And forget it with any of the old 60-level ones).  It takes a bit more effort than before, and it can be pretty hit and miss.

One thing that's weird is that the fragmentation that results from putting AH in all three capital cities per side and the introduction of the LFG system now means that the looking for group stuff is not concentrated in one area.  In the past, you went to Orgrimmar or Ironforge and spammed general.  Now some people use the LFG tool, some people spam Org, some people spam UC, and some abuse the trade channel (since it's multi-city).  It's a bit more work to check all the right places to find people.

Outland is better because everyone spams Shattrath.

[Xanthippe]

I just levelled a draenei shaman 1-21 in the new lands, and was struck by just how well-done the quests are, how smooth the levelling was, how well-put-together the storylines were.  Blizzard did a fanatastic job on the new lands in TBC.

Retuning Azeroth is an excellent idea.  Running low level instances has been a joke for some time - how many people actually run them instead of getting a friendly 70 to run them through?  How many times must one run an instance before it's just something to get through?  (Clearly I am not a raider.  I cannot run anything more than 3 or 4 times before it's stale).

I'm looking forward to this EZ button being pressed.  I think of it more as a fun button than an ez button, though.

It's time to get over punishing mmo play, or thinking these games are about skill.  If you want skill, get off the computer and do something in real life.

[Merusk]

Obligatory, "u onle say it takes no skill bcuz u haf no skillz" post.

Although I agree with your sentiment, but not the hating raids part.   :-D

[Paelos]

I love raids and grouping and instances. I hate leveling. I'm glad to see a move towards that direction of play and away from the punative grind.

[tkinnun0]

There really isn't a reason a year-old instance shouldn't offer a solo option.

[Nebu]

There really isn't a reason a year-old instance shouldn't offer a solo option.

Solo players are the scourge of the gaming world and must be punished!

<I agree.  If the gear isn't all that great, what's the harm in letting people solo or duo the old instances?>

[Morat20]

There really isn't a reason a year-old instance shouldn't offer a solo option.

Solo players are the scourge of the gaming world and must be punished!

<I agree.  If the gear isn't all that great, what's the harm in letting people solo or duo the old instances?>

Part of the plan is gear upgrades and tightening the level bands. IE: No more of fucking smite dropping shit greens. If it's a boss, it drops blues from Deadmines to Strat.

[Koyasha]

This is a big EZ button, but it's a good change at this point nevertheless.  WoW itself is just a great honking huge EZ button, after all.  Ironically, the upcoming patch has totally sapped my will to play for now.  I have numerous alts I'm wanting to level, my 70's feel dull at the moment, but leveling my alts *before* the patch seems stupid.

Assuming I haven't completely lost interest in WoW by the time 2.3 hits, though, I should have fun getting my alts to 70 quickly after that.  The re-itemization of loot in low level dungeons feels mostly pointless to me though.  A little fun but somewhat pointless really.  After all, how much difference does it really make when you're only gonna be wearing that item for a few levels, AND those levels are now going to fly by?

[Musashi]

There really isn't a reason a year-old instance shouldn't offer a solo option.

Pooling your power and in the process meeting new and interesting fuckers is the point of MMOs, dude.  It's why there are two unwieldy looking M's in the abbreviation for Massively -->MULTI PLAYER<-- Online.  Maybe you just meant that it's hard to find groups now that most people don't do lower level content.  In that case, that's the point of this change.  There will be a lot of people who come back to play that one class they never got around to playing now that it's easier and there's better stuff.  So grouping should be less painful.

So in short:  Yes, there is a reason why some content is for groups only.  Lots of them.  You'll thank me when you meet them.

[Slyfeind]

I hereby sentence Musashi to a lifetime of PUGs with newbies who all speak different languages than him. Oh, and immunity to guild invites. And you can only play between 2 A.M. and 5 A.M. Tuesday through Thursday.

[Chenghiz]

There really isn't a reason a year-old instance shouldn't offer a solo option.

Pooling your power and in the process meeting new and interesting fuckers is the point of MMOs, dude.  It's why there are two unwieldy looking M's in the abbreviation for Massively -->MULTI PLAYER<-- Online.  Maybe you just meant that it's hard to find groups now that most people don't do lower level content.  In that case, that's the point of this change.  There will be a lot of people who come back to play that one class they never got around to playing now that it's easier and there's better stuff.  So grouping should be less painful.

So in short:  Yes, there is a reason why some content is for groups only.  Lots of them.  You'll thank me when you meet them.

And then you have the slews of melee mages, retarded priests who can't heal, hunters who think they can tank, warriors who can't tank, and all of those joyous reasons to play.

[Xanthippe]

So grouping should be less painful.

The only thing that would make grouping less painful would be to require people to pass some sort of test prior to grouping in order to screen out the miscreants and youngsters.

I like people, really I do, but somehow I don't like many of the people I find in mmos.  The people are the problem in grouping, not the instances or game mechanics.

[Paelos]

So grouping should be less painful.

The only thing that would make grouping less painful would be to require people to pass some sort of test prior to grouping in order to screen out the miscreants and youngsters.

I like people, really I do, but somehow I don't like many of the people I find in mmos.  The people are the problem in grouping, not the instances or game mechanics.

I actually agree with this. Nothing in the game mechanics of soloing your class teaches you how to tank or heal well. It's simply something you have to pick up by running groups, so for a while you are going to suck at it. This is a large flaw in the way things work in MMOGs. There should be a ranking or certification process involved in the game. We spent 400 hours getting to 70, but it taught us nothing about the mechanics of the game in those classes.

[Musashi]

I hear what you guys are saying, and I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm so awesome that pug nightmares never happen to me.  But it's kind of beside the point.  If you want to solo, then grind away.  I'm not opposed to people playing by themselves.  I've soloed alts.  I know it can be done in WoW from 1 to 70 without setting foot in an instance. 

So why the fuck would you want to make instances soloable?  You think finding a group is hard now?  Is this game really that hard?  I'm not imagining this.  You clicked on the thread with EZ in the title.  Look, I'm jaded, and I've had to listen to a ton of total pussies whine about not finding a group.  So if it sounded like I jumped on you, I'm sorry.  But this is a huge pet peeve of mine.  If you can't find a group, you're doing it wrong.   :-D

About the holy trinity learning curve.  I totally disagree about lack of grouping instructions being a flaw, but wholeheartedly agree with a rating system as long as it doesn't overly punish noobs.

[Simond]

Speaking of PUGs, one of the things being added in 2.3 is that talents will be viewable on inspect.

[Ironwood]

Heh.  Cue the complaints.

[tkinnun0]

I actually agree with this. Nothing in the game mechanics of soloing your class teaches you how to tank or heal well. It's simply something you have to pick up by running groups, so for a while you are going to suck at it. This is a large flaw in the way things work in MMOGs.

If Blizzard wanted to throw the money into it, they could add a henchman system to low-level instances that would teach about group roles. Imagine playing a tank and having a dps henchman who is a bit too eager with his nukes. The "problem", knowing Blizzard, would be that grouping with henchmen would be much more enjoyable than with other players.

*edit: spelling*

[Valmorian]

So why the fuck would you want to make instances soloable? 

Perhaps because you want to see and/or experience the content of an instance but don't want to group to do it?

[WindupAtheist]

Kaa

BTW, use of the term "EZ mode" or "EZ button" to describe decreased leveling time puts you on my list of suspected catasses.  You can expect some burly black-clad men to drag you out of your home, drug you, beat the shit out of you, put you under hot lights and spend a little time asking you what you think of Vanguard.

WUA

[Righ]

BTW, use of the term "EZ mode" or "EZ button" to describe decreased leveling time puts you on my list of suspected

MMOG 'achievers' who have such miserable unrewarding lives full of disappointment that they get their deluded sense of self-worth from committing to the tedious and repetitive game play that automatically eliminates from competition anybody capable of accomplishing even the simplest goal in their worthless existences, such as washing their arse.

Because cats don't deserve the insult.

[Nebu]

It is interesting that MMO achievers always want things to take longer rather than being genuinely more difficult.  I'm guessing that many of them would be less successful in MMO's if the games were made more challenging rather than larger time sinks. 

[El Gallo]

Seems like a good idea to keep the game accessible to newbs.  You can keep raising the level cap as long as you make getting the earlier levels easier and easier to do, so it takes a relatively short (and constant) amount of time from installing the game to getting to max level (where the people are).  The fact that the levelling game is so solo-friendly will keep WoW newb-friendly in a way EQ never was.  EQ's high-end single group game is actually pretty decent now, but there's no fucking way a new character (esp if they pick a class that is bad at soloing) is ever going to find out before they quit in disgust.  If WoW plays its cards right, in 5 years new people will still be able to roll up a warrior and be max level in under a week /played, and ready to jump in to the high end group game.

The old instances are basically a waste, but they seem to have learned that in TBC with heroic modes.  Hopefully, when WotLK comes out, the TBC instances will have a new super-heroic mode (nightmare! hell!! where's my World of Diablo dammit....) so they will still be useable.

I still think they need to add an easy 25-man raid instance or two, with mostly tank-and-spanks to get newbs used to raiding.  I imagine that jumping right into current raid content is quite a shock for people without raid experience.  Then again I haven't played in quite a while.

[HaemishM]

If you can't find a group, you're doing it wrong.   :-D

Unless of course, you ARE doing it right and just can't find anyone to do the instance because other instances have better loot and are more popular. Finding a PUG for Uldaman on a Friday night during peak time was impossible for me. The best I did was 2 other people who grouped. I waited for almost an hour grouped with them just trying to get someone else interested, using the LFG tab, etc. Didn't happen.

Switched to LFG on a Zul-Farrak run, was in a group within minutes. If I'd actually wanted to do Uldaman to experience that particular dungeon, I'd have been SOL.

[Musashi]

Uldaman is also a really long instance that is a huge quest hub.  There's literally no way to go there with a pug and not clear the whole thing, because the chances of all four other group mates only needing the same quests as you are slim.  People don't like clearing whole wings in a pug 'cause so-and-so needs to talk to the Enchanter trainer.  The potential pug suck factor in Uldaman is abnormally high.  So if you needed another reason not to pug it, there you go.  But I think we both know that this isn't the point.  I mean, you know it's possible right?  I really don't feel like an elitist in saying I've pugged Uldaman with no problem.  You know that even if it's hard to pug, it wouldn't be that hard for you to cash in a couple favors from people on your friends list and get it done if you really wanted to do it, right?  Uldaman, or any other instance sucking balls isn't a good reason to make it a single player game.

[HaemishM]

I was just discounting your rather arrogant view that "if you can't find a group, you're doing it wrong."

In fact, I was doing it right, but the content does not reward me doing it right. The content forces me to either know lots of people or suck a big one.