My Top Warcraft Wants

[Sheepherder]

Think of all the weird bugs that crop up each patch with no particular rhyme or reason, things that make no sense whatsoever.  Each one is another indication that WoW is held together with baling wire and spit.  Anything they change can, and often does, break other shit.  Even little stuff like orc shoulders suddenly getting incredibly small after one patch.  I mean, come on.  How does that HAPPEN?  

Morrowind and Oblivion both use prefabricated sections for construction.  You know, the games that crash when you alt+tab out.

[proudft]

Crashing on alt-tab makes perfect sense.  All the textures need to be checked to be potentially reloaded.  

My point really was that all the weird crap that pops up in WoW is, to me, a sign that maybe some of the underlying planning is perhaps a bit shaky.  So hoping that they have a system in place, or that could be easily slapped together, to support that kind of modularity seems a bit far-fetched.  Of course, I'm wildly speculating about all of this.

But yeah, the reminder of the CoH warehouses... *shudder*.  Maybe Blizzard knows best after all.  

[Fordel]

Hunter - Catchable mounts - The ability to ride any of our pets, to include the flying ones like vultures and wyverns and stuff.

I still want to be able to tame a war giraffe! Those Barrens giraffes would kick face!

Only case that I know of, but : http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=17280


Is a tamable wolf for hunters and if you are horde, can get a riding wolf that matches.

[Mattemeo]

Only case that I know of, but : http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=17280
Is a tamable wolf for hunters and if you are horde, can get a riding wolf that matches.

I never really understood why anyone besides Horde Hunters went for those wolves - they've got a frigging saddle on them ffs. If you don't have access to the same model as a mount then really, what's the point?

Also: Rare cross-faction Wolf mount plz, Blizz. I'm sure Horde can have a cross-faction Elekk somewhere in return.

[Sheepherder]

My point really was that all the weird crap that pops up in WoW is, to me, a sign that maybe some of the underlying planning is perhaps a bit shaky.  So hoping that they have a system in place, or that could be easily slapped together, to support that kind of modularity seems a bit far-fetched.  Of course, I'm wildly speculating about all of this.

It isn't exactly that hard.  The model artists just need to build to a standard for any given architecture type, like the size of room segments or the dimensions of a door, and chances are the shit like door size for any given tile set has a standard anyways.  I'm also dubious as to the claim that almost everything is of single-piece construction, I wouldn't be surprised if Blackrock Spire was actually build out of modular room segments, and if I had a working version of the model editor or some export tools for Blender I'd go look at it.

[K9]

Also: Rare cross-faction Wolf mount plz, Blizz. I'm sure Horde can have a cross-faction Elekk somewhere in return.

The drama this would invoke would be highlarious.

Elekks are the worst faction mounts by a long long way.

[Tarami]

It isn't exactly that hard.  The model artists just need to build to a standard for any given architecture type, like the size of room segments or the dimensions of a door, and chances are the shit like door size for any given tile set has a standard anyways.  I'm also dubious as to the claim that almost everything is of single-piece construction, I wouldn't be surprised if Blackrock Spire was actually build out of modular room segments, and if I had a working version of the model editor or some export tools for Blender I'd go look at it.

Pics.


Now, this doesn't prove anything in itself. But looking at the second image, that hardly looks modular. Rather, that looks like a space partitioning that exists purely for performance reasons (ironically, this seems to help little... )

However, saying either of those was built by arranging prefabs is just crazytalk. That's just not a result that's feasible using a library of building blocks, no matter how large a library. Neither are places like Wailing Caverns, Hellfire Ramparts or Lower Blackrock Spire. They all have winding, elaborate layouts that, despite sloping floors, varying ceiling heights, overpasses and walls leaning all possible directions, never look disjointed. Blackrock Spire looks cheap, but that's rather due to its concept than its execution.

There's plenty of reuse of geometry within each major model, but that just makes sense. Producing hundreds of small to tiny prefabs for each instance doesn't, because they never get to reuse them outside that model.

[Lantyssa]

Elekks are the worst faction mounts by a long long way.

I've purposefully gotten to exalted with other factions on all my Draenei, and will on all future Draenei, just to avoid riding an Elekk.  I don't care if I have to run for ten levels when they lower the requirements.  I will not use one.

[Sjofn]

You people are broken, Elekks are awesome.

[Sheepherder]

Now, this doesn't prove anything in itself. But looking at the second image, that hardly looks modular. Rather, that looks like a space partitioning that exists purely for performance reasons (ironically, this seems to help little... )

However, saying either of those was built by arranging prefabs is just crazytalk. That's just not a result that's feasible using a library of building blocks, no matter how large a library. Neither are places like Wailing Caverns, Hellfire Ramparts or Lower Blackrock Spire. They all have winding, elaborate layouts that, despite sloping floors, varying ceiling heights, overpasses and walls leaning all possible directions, never look disjointed. Blackrock Spire looks cheap, but that's rather due to its concept than its execution.

There's plenty of reuse of geometry within each major model, but that just makes sense. Producing hundreds of small to tiny prefabs for each instance doesn't, because they never get to reuse them outside that model.

1. All of Dalaran will be memory resident no matter where you are in Dalaran.  Blizzard probably knows this, so I doubt it's for performance.
2. Choosing (mostly) exterior architecture when we are talking about interiors without any exterior geometry makes me wonder whether you're a troll or have never played around with an editor.  In case you're the latter: usually segmented prefabs are used for interiors, or at the very least at a much larger scale for exterior work.
3. Breaking building pieces into small sections is precisely what makes it re-usable.  Ergo, in a hypothetical situation where they did the argument that it isn't re-usable fails.
4. Do you know any alternate download sites for the model viewer?  My internet cannot download all 3.8 MB of it before server timeout.  Fuck that's retarded.

"They all have winding, elaborate layouts that, despite sloping floors, varying ceiling heights, overpasses and walls leaning all possible directions, never look disjointed"

 

EDIT: Link was broken.

[Mattemeo]

Also: Rare cross-faction Wolf mount plz, Blizz. I'm sure Horde can have a cross-faction Elekk somewhere in return.

The drama this would invoke would be highlarious.

Elekks are the worst faction mounts by a long long way.

I don't think they're awful but the only char I actually want one on is my Gnome mage for the shits and giggles aspect.

But yeah, the Horde can swing if they think they'll get the Mechanostriders any time soon 

[bhodi]

Talbuk are the best mounts. It's a shame they are a PITA to get now.

[Merusk]

Yeah, I finally catassed my way into a Talbuk and Netherdrake on my DK.  If you rally want one, go to the ogre camp up in the mountains, not the one at the ring of blood.  There's still a lot of people running around the ROB area for the quests there and factioning up so you'll always have competition.  At the mountain camp I say maybe 2-3 people when  I spent about 4 or 5 hours collecting the beads while unemployed.

[Mattemeo]

Talbuk are the best mounts. It's a shame they are a PITA to get now.

They are? I got mine in a few days of all-out Ogricide. I stuck predominantly to a cave in the valley, the respawn rate fed me ogres constantly and they were fun to fight, great exp (I did it while questing in Nagrand) and had amazing droprate for the hand-in rep beads too. Then again, my main is human so I've got the 10% extra repuation going for me but I never felt like it was an unpleasant grind. I love my Talbuk to bits, well worth the effort.

Got my Nether Drake the other day, but I have to say I'm glad I waited till 80 to get it, it would have been much harder at lower levels - the mine, being the best place to get crystals and find eggs, is very mob-intensive and without a 10 level aggro boundary it could have been immensely difficult as a cloth caster. That said, I had a lot of luck finding eggs (best day I found 12 in total - a huge 3300 rep alone) so I shot from neutral to exalted in about 5 days. Hardest part was getting started, really - though I went the hard way around it in that I refused to buy an armored gryphon so I ended up doing the Sha'tari Skyguard grind which was considerably longer than anything else I've done so far. Nether Rays are pretty unique in the game though, so I still think it was worth it. I just need a macro now to swap between epic flying mounts.

[Malakili]

As a druid, I've found it incredibly hard to make myself grind out flying mounts, since flight form is so awesome.   That brings me to my next point though, I really really liked the epic flight form quest line.  I think there should be more mounts attainable through that sort of questing.  That one required you summon a special boss in Sethekk Halls at the end (for the people that aren't familiar with the line).   Sure, if you make things open to people like that through a quest line, pretty much everyone will have one that wants it, which is really fine by me.  I guess if they want to try and make them more unique they could tack on some expensive parts of the quest.

Anyway, less pure grind and more interesting quest lines for mounts would be neat.

[SurfD]

Talbuk are the best mounts. It's a shame they are a PITA to get now.

They are? I got mine in a few days of all-out Ogricide.

Did they change something? I thought you needed the Haala kill tokens to get the Talbuks from Haala, which were the only ones available to alliance.

That is what makes it a PITA from what i remember, since now, with the cap at 80, it is practically impossible to find someone who counts as an Honorable kill hanging around Haala.

[Chimpy]

Talbuk are the best mounts. It's a shame they are a PITA to get now.

They are? I got mine in a few days of all-out Ogricide.

Did they change something? I thought you needed the Haala kill tokens to get the Talbuks from Haala, which were the only ones available to alliance.

That is what makes it a PITA from what i remember, since now, with the cap at 80, it is practically impossible to find someone who counts as an Honorable kill hanging around Haala.

There are 2 that come from Haala PvP, but there are like 5 that you get from being exatled with Kurenai.

[SurfD]

ohh.

Shows what i know, i thought the Kurenai had Elekk and the Mag'har for horde had Talbuk.

[Simond]

Is this the rep-grind mount thread now? If so:



Yep, as a DK. 

[Tarami]

Sheepherder, if you want to have a proper discussion, I suggest you don't try to deliberately misinterpret every word people say. I even wrote up there that it didn't prove anything in itself, but it's a pretty strong suggestion of how they build things. The troll call was classy, though.

PS.
I suggest having a look at this. About half way down there's a set of four images, showing part of the development cycle of Utgarde Keep. Particularly notice how neat the wireframe is, especially around the columns against the wall. It's almost as if they were modelled as one piece.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/features/dungeons/utgarde.xml

[Kail]

One thing I'd like them to do is take a look at leveling.  Not just making it faster (though that would be nice, too), but there are some classes which get reamed when they're levelling.  Rogues, for example, take huge amounts of damage and have no self healing except for consumables.  A lot of classes have huge problems at low levels, too.  Warriors are still doing nothing but heroic strike + rend for a looooong time, Priests have massive mana problems, and (as far as I can see) nobody has boosted dropped cash/quest rewards to match the faster levelling speed.

[Malakili]

(as far as I can see) nobody has boosted dropped cash/quest rewards to match the faster levelling speed.

Well, I'll grant you the other ones fine, but I think this one isn't as big a deal.  You can make, probably, as much money as you would leveling normally 1-60 (without going out of your way to make extra money), in a single day at level 80.  The reason they have made leveling easier and easier is that after people have done it so many times, you just stop wanting to do it.  I think they need to keep making alts from scratch viable in order to keep subscribers actually.

[Kail]

Well, I'll grant you the other ones fine, but I think this one isn't as big a deal.  You can make, probably, as much money as you would leveling normally 1-60 (without going out of your way to make extra money), in a single day at level 80.

Well, yeah, so as far as I can see, boosting the sub-60 income would make things easier on leveling players, while having few real negative side effects.  I don't see why forcing players to lean on an 80 to finance their leveling would be a good thing.  Tradeskills suffer from this, too (%#$%#ING THORIUM).

[Fordel]

One thing I'd like them to do is take a look at leveling.  Not just making it faster (though that would be nice, too), but there are some classes which get reamed when they're levelling.  Rogues, for example, take huge amounts of damage and have no self healing except for consumables.  A lot of classes have huge problems at low levels, too.  Warriors are still doing nothing but heroic strike + rend for a looooong time, Priests have massive mana problems, and (as far as I can see) nobody has boosted dropped cash/quest rewards to match the faster levelling speed.

They've instead made all the big money items while leveling, much cheaper.

[Sheepherder]

I suggest having a look at this. About half way down there's a set of four images, showing part of the development cycle of Utgarde Keep. Particularly notice how neat the wireframe is, especially around the columns against the wall. It's almost as if they were modelled as one piece.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/features/dungeons/utgarde.xml

So I finally got the model viewer to download.  It only took a dozen tried, and a dozen minus one time-outs.

I'd call that a segment, personal definitions may vary.

From the looks of things they may actually do all the building with small prefabs and then save the entire thing as a map file.  Then again, some of the folders have only the map file for the entire instance.  So it's entirely possible that no set standard exists, or at the very least that they have no standard for what parts they pack into the archives.  Then again, some of the artists might just do it the hardcore way and render their work extremely hard to duplicate or copy from.

Also, Naga look badass in DK T7 with an Armageddon.

[Rendakor]

Sheep that image link does not work.

[Mattemeo]

Also, Naga look badass in DK T7 with an Armageddon.

Pics, please. I still think Naga are a very potential player race depending on how the next expansion goes.

[Lantyssa]

They'll just make them the Scourge of the Sea and NPC only.  I feel confident predicting this since I would like to play a naga.

[Nevermore]

I would be willing to sacrifice the Naga if it means I could play a Goblin.

[Chimpy]

I would be willing to sacrifice the Naga all other races if it means I could play a Goblin.

Fixed it.

[Lantyssa]

Et tu Corvidae?

Okie, I'd like goblins, too, as you well know.  We should be able to get both and more!

[Mattemeo]

I would be willing to sacrifice the Naga if it means I could play a Goblin.

Bah, you just want to /emote in a noo joisy accent 





...sign me up too.

[K9]

I look forward to Blizzard adding Pandaren as a horde race. 

[Sjofn]

I would be willing to sacrifice the Naga all other races if it means I could play a Goblin.

Fixed it.

Hell yes.

[Sheepherder]

Sheep that image link does not work.

It should now, evidently the "copy link to clipboard" button doesn't work well under Firefox + NoScript even when Dropbox is whitelisted.

Pics, please. I still think Naga are a very potential player race depending on how the next expansion goes.

Same Gallery as before

Boots, cape, head, and quivers don't display right.  The tabard is a little malformed by the curvature of the model.  Otherwise it supports pretty much everything.