Cataclysm

[Azazel]

They took out the Battle for Undercity, I've just discovered on my mage.  This makes me sad.

Very glad I finally did that. It was only a few weeks ago, too.

[kildorn]

New Shadowfang sucks balls though.  Really, really not good.

I think it's just that the new bosses are a tad bullshit for their level range, mechanics wise.

Deadmines and Shadowfang got the level 80 instance complexity treatment, which is COOL, but not suited to their intended level range for newer players. The majority of the new boss abilities should be heroic mode only, imo.

As level 15 dungeons, or level 80(85??) heroics? I had no problems running either as a complete noob tank - literally my first tanking for a group in WoW.

As level 15 dungeons, for a random "Hi, I have no heirlooms and just got this game" player, the mechanics are far more advanced than anything you'll see pre Wrath (considering nobody raids at level appropriate spots pre Wrath)

[Simond]

Heroic SFK is going to destroy groups. And it will be glorious.

[Ingmar]

As level 15 dungeons, for a random "Hi, I have no heirlooms and just got this game" player, the mechanics are far more advanced than anything you'll see pre Wrath (considering nobody raids at level appropriate spots pre Wrath)

I don't think I agree, considering that Darkmaster Gandling and his teleporting wackiness is a level 40 boss now. There is stuff in Dire Maul and Maraudon that is probably comparable too.

[Sjofn]

I don't think I agree, considering that Darkmaster Gandling and his teleporting wackiness is a level 40 boss now. There is stuff in Dire Maul and Maraudon that is probably comparable too.

He didn't teleport us when I did it. :(

[Ingmar]

Well boo 

[Sheepherder]

He still teleports.

[Sjofn]

I wonder why he didn't do it for us, then!

[Lantyssa]

Pity port.

[Ironwood]

What I liked about Shadowfang most of all was the way it was wrapped up in the whole mystery of Silverpine.  That's all gone now.  In addition to that, the actual instance itself hadn't really changed any, so the plonking of different mobs in there was just straight up jarring and stupid.  Shadowfang was the Source of the Silverpine trouble, the ultimate aim to meet and defeat.  Now it's just a hiding place for 3 chaps who got their arses kicked outside. 

I didn't like it.  I don't think I'm ever going to.  Ah well.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around Dire Maul and Scholo at level 36.  That's pretty strange to me.  Also, they haven't changed all the loot tables, clearly, since I got some very strange drops.  I have too much runecloth now and fuck all to do with it !

[caladein]

I quite enjoyed both Deadmines and SFK although I agree SFK is definitely a step up in terms of complexity.  That said, it's nothing much above "Don't stand in fire." and having a kill order.

[kildorn]

I wonder why he didn't do it for us, then!

He does it at timed intervals. I've found that a lot of the lowered level instance bosses don't live long enough to do any of their mean special abilities, even with the new HP values. When I did scholo, he managed to port one person at about 5% health.

[Minvaren]

They seem to have taken out the gong and display when you get an achievement now...?   

[Rendakor]

If by display you mean the window that pops up at the bottom, then no that was still working for me last night. Might be a bug on your end. Not sure about the sound as I usually have music playing.

[Merusk]

They seem to have taken out the gong and display when you get an achievement now...?   

I got an achieve with the gong last night, so you might have a bug.  There seems to be something goofy going on with the cache files again, so try deleting all of them and seeing if it comes back.   I couldn't loot any Argent Tournament quest items yesterday and even disabling all addons then restarting WOW didn't help.  Once I deleted the cache, voila, I could loot the hyacinths and the flame guy again.

[Minvaren]

Hmmm, just got one on my Shaman lowbie for hitting 20, but nothing on my main earlier today when I got Exalted with Netherwing.  Will give the cache files a shot and see what happens.

[Fabricated]

I'm gonna have to make like 3 alts to properly experience the whole of the 1-60 leveling experience for just Alliance. It's that good.

I actually think you level a bit too fast. I'm using NO heirlooms, not killing anything I don't need to, and I only run each dungeon once to do the quests...yet I keep having quests go grey/green before I even get halfway into some zones. Most fun I've had in WoW in the last year when I wasn't drunk on Vent with guildmates or playing with my friends.

I'm about 40-45ish. My zone experience so far (spoilered for...well, spoilers):

[Rendakor]

Based on what I've seen in game and what I've heard from most people here, it seems that Dungeons are intended to be a separate progression from solo questing, not as a complement. This works well if you're a tank/healer; not so much if you're a DPS.

[SurfD]

I think i am going to have to go back and re quest EVERY single zone on my Druid when i can finally fly in Azeroth.

level 1-60 for damn near every zone is now just obecenely good.  You can really tell that Blizzard has learned a metric fuckload over the course of WoW development.   The new 1-60 is like an entirely new game, and is WORLDS better then the old stuff (even much of Northrend), which is going to make that 10 level transition from 60-70 where you slog through Burning Crusade even more jarring by comparison.

Here is to hopeing they re-tune BC like they did Vanilla content.

[Raguel]

I'm gonna have to make like 3 alts to properly experience the whole of the 1-60 leveling experience for just Alliance. It's that good.

I actually think you level a bit too fast. I'm using NO heirlooms, not killing anything I don't need to, and I only run each dungeon once to do the quests...yet I keep having quests go grey/green before I even get halfway into some zones. Most fun I've had in WoW in the last year when I wasn't drunk on Vent with guildmates or playing with my friends.

Outleveling my quests is one of the bigger complaints that I have. I wish, since they are doing phasing anyway, that the mobs would adjust to your level, but I guess that's too much to hope for.

My paladin is now 44 and the only thing I've gotten from my guildies are bags (for the paladin and all my alts lol). I sis buy a few weapons once I was 30+ but I didn't really need to. I fought 5 mobs (within 1 level above or below me) at once and finished the fight with 100% hp/mana.

Also, IMO the Booty Bay arc starts off slow but ends with a bang.  

[ezrast]

level 1-60 for damn near every zone is now just obecenely good.  You can really tell that Blizzard has learned a metric fuckload over the course of WoW development.   The new 1-60 is like an entirely new game, and is WORLDS better then the old stuff (even much of Northrend), which is going to make that 10 level transition from 60-70 where you slog through Burning Crusade even more jarring by comparison.

Every time I see a post like this I get in a tizzy and almost start writing a contentious reply but then I take a deep breath and repeat to myself, it's not for me. It's not for me.

[SurfD]

level 1-60 for damn near every zone is now just obecenely good.  You can really tell that Blizzard has learned a metric fuckload over the course of WoW development.   The new 1-60 is like an entirely new game, and is WORLDS better then the old stuff (even much of Northrend), which is going to make that 10 level transition from 60-70 where you slog through Burning Crusade even more jarring by comparison.

Every time I see a post like this I get in a tizzy and almost start writing a contentious reply but then I take a deep breath and repeat to myself, it's not for me. It's not for me.

I am not joking however. Everything I read, everything everyone else says, and everything I have personally experienced lends to the impression that, barring maybe one or two zones in an entire continent, EVERYTHING in the new 1-60 experience is just flat out awesome quest wise.

Personally, I can only speak for the 1-24 experience of New Troll Zone - > Durotar -> Azshara so far, but even that is 100x better then anything the old game would have given you.
- Troll zone was short and sweet, with a few nice new tricks (like the VOICE ACTED npc troll who follows you around for half the place acting like a new player and stuff).
- Durotar was nothing super amazing, but the quest flow and story development is easily heads and shoulders above old Durotar.  It is even better as a Veteran Horde player, where I completely get all the references to "Pre Shattering" Durotar in all the quests.
- Azshara though.  Holy hell this place rocks.  Every 4th or 5th quest is something down right awesome or simply hilarious.  Quest flow is pretty much perfect, and they have numerous in-zone transit methods to get you from point a to point b quickly (and quite often hilariously as well).  Personal highlights would be flash freezing black dragons so they fall out of the sky and die; calling in Goblin Priest air strikes to rez dead soldiers; Rapelling up the side of a tower, killing the people on top, and then parachuiting to safety; Summoning my own personal Goblin Commando uint who (even if it is scripted) realisticly appear to seek cover and fire from behind pillars and stuff; and best of all, Helping a Dangerously Intelligent Mutant Raptor rescue her Babies and escape on a Rocket ship to colonize another world.

Azshara was simply amusing enough that I actually completed the "do 100 quests in Azshara" achievement even after the last 30 or so were green to me and many of the mobs had gone grey just so i could see what they would throw at me next. 

[ajax34i]

So, like, they're trying to show SWTOR how to "do storyline content" basically?

[Nightblade]

Im starting to wish I had waited on that 10 day trial until after the cataclysm thing happened. I can't use a scroll if I recently used a WOTLK trial if I'm not mistaken.

[Lantyssa]

Outleveling my quests is one of the bigger complaints that I have. I wish, since they are doing phasing anyway, that the mobs would adjust to your level, but I guess that's too much to hope for.

Then mobs would give more xp and you'd be level 70, possibly even 80, by the time you got done with all the Old World.  Hmmm.  That would mean skipping Outland... I think you're on to something...

[Rendakor]

Easier than trying to scale the mobs would be to just put in a Sidekicking/Mentoring system that allows you to drop your level (I wouldn't even include the requirement of going down to another player, just allow it at will) so that you can do quests while they con and thus get rewarded for them.

[Merusk]

Sidekick/ Mentoring is in the works from what they've hinted at when asked about it in the last few months.  That all abilities scale instead of being ranked now lends to this.  Heirlooms seem to be their attempt at scaling gear.   I think we'll see it in the next 18 months.

[ezrast]

I am not joking however. Everything I read, everything everyone else says, and everything I have personally experienced lends to the impression that, barring maybe one or two zones in an entire continent, EVERYTHING in the new 1-60 experience is just flat out awesome quest wise.

Personally, I can only speak for the 1-24 experience of New Troll Zone - > Durotar -> Azshara so far, but even that is 100x better then anything the old game would have given you.
- Troll zone was short and sweet, with a few nice new tricks (like the VOICE ACTED npc troll who follows you around for half the place acting like a new player and stuff).
- Durotar was nothing super amazing, but the quest flow and story development is easily heads and shoulders above old Durotar.  It is even better as a Veteran Horde player, where I completely get all the references to "Pre Shattering" Durotar in all the quests.
- Azshara though.  Holy hell this place rocks.  Every 4th or 5th quest is something down right awesome or simply hilarious.  Quest flow is pretty much perfect, and they have numerous in-zone transit methods to get you from point a to point b quickly (and quite often hilariously as well).  Personal highlights would be flash freezing black dragons so they fall out of the sky and die; calling in Goblin Priest air strikes to rez dead soldiers; Rapelling up the side of a tower, killing the people on top, and then parachuiting to safety; Summoning my own personal Goblin Commando uint who (even if it is scripted) realisticly appear to seek cover and fire from behind pillars and stuff; and best of all, Helping a Dangerously Intelligent Mutant Raptor rescue her Babies and escape on a Rocket ship to colonize another world.

Azshara was simply amusing enough that I actually completed the "do 100 quests in Azshara" achievement even after the last 30 or so were green to me and many of the mobs had gone grey just so i could see what they would throw at me next. 

I wasn't joking either (though I may have been exaggerating slightly). It's just that I'm one of the QUESTS ARE TEH DEVIL people and I keep forgetting that the "Cata quests are awesome" thing only applies to people who, like, read quest text. I've only done the first hub or two of Azshara but the bit that sticks out in my mind most was being asked to collect 15 bits of local wildlife anatomy, and then being unable to loot bits from a mob I had killed fair and square because it ran into a phased area before it died and its corpse disappeared every time I got close.

[Sjofn]

- Troll zone was short and sweet, with a few nice new tricks (like the VOICE ACTED npc troll who follows you around for half the place acting like a new player and stuff).

I loved him.



 

[kildorn]

So randomly: is there any solid information on Archeology yet? All I can find are the various previews with old blizzcon information in them. I was expecting to find at least one beta tester tells all kind of account, unless it wasn't on the beta realms.

[Raguel]

I am not joking however. Everything I read, everything everyone else says, and everything I have personally experienced lends to the impression that, barring maybe one or two zones in an entire continent, EVERYTHING in the new 1-60 experience is just flat out awesome quest wise.

Personally, I can only speak for the 1-24 experience of New Troll Zone - > Durotar -> Azshara so far, but even that is 100x better then anything the old game would have given you.
- Troll zone was short and sweet, with a few nice new tricks (like the VOICE ACTED npc troll who follows you around for half the place acting like a new player and stuff).
- Durotar was nothing super amazing, but the quest flow and story development is easily heads and shoulders above old Durotar.  It is even better as a Veteran Horde player, where I completely get all the references to "Pre Shattering" Durotar in all the quests.
- Azshara though.  Holy hell this place rocks.  Every 4th or 5th quest is something down right awesome or simply hilarious.  Quest flow is pretty much perfect, and they have numerous in-zone transit methods to get you from point a to point b quickly (and quite often hilariously as well).  Personal highlights would be flash freezing black dragons so they fall out of the sky and die; calling in Goblin Priest air strikes to rez dead soldiers; Rapelling up the side of a tower, killing the people on top, and then parachuiting to safety; Summoning my own personal Goblin Commando uint who (even if it is scripted) realisticly appear to seek cover and fire from behind pillars and stuff; and best of all, Helping a Dangerously Intelligent Mutant Raptor rescue her Babies and escape on a Rocket ship to colonize another world.

Azshara was simply amusing enough that I actually completed the "do 100 quests in Azshara" achievement even after the last 30 or so were green to me and many of the mobs had gone grey just so i could see what they would throw at me next. 

I wasn't joking either (though I may have been exaggerating slightly). It's just that I'm one of the QUESTS ARE TEH DEVIL people and I keep forgetting that the "Cata quests are awesome" thing only applies to people who, like, read quest text. I've only done the first hub or two of Azshara but the bit that sticks out in my mind most was being asked to collect 15 bits of local wildlife anatomy, and then being unable to loot bits from a mob I had killed fair and square because it ran into a phased area before it died and its corpse disappeared every time I got close.

This sort of thing happens when I tried to mine in Redridge after finishing the quests there. The veins pop in and out of existence.

[Merusk]

I would just like to say that Zen'KiKi is the WORST druid ever.

That is all.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I would just like to say that Zen'KiKi is the most awesome druid ever.

That is all.

Fixed

[kildorn]

I actually found a run down on how Archeology works, and it looks <3. Just because there's no node jacking/competition with bored level capped players for nodes.

[dalien]

Hey all, long time listener, first time caller.   

So randomly: is there any solid information on Archeology yet? All I can find are the various previews with old blizzcon information in them. I was expecting to find at least one beta tester tells all kind of account, unless it wasn't on the beta realms.

When you train it (Harrison Jones in SW library for Alliance, not sure where for Horde) you're given a new ability called Survey.  Little shovel icons will also being appearing on your world map to indicate where your dig sites are.  Once you travel to the dig site, use the Survey ability and it will drop a survey scope pointing in the general direction of your artifact (which is also colored green, yellow or red to show how far away you are from it).  You can either keep following the scopes around until you find the spot, or triangulate it, either way it's basically a game of Hot and Cold.

After digging in the right spot you'll receive some fragments that go directly into your Archaeology tradeskill window (they don't take bag space).  In the tradeskill window there's a progress bar for each type of artifact (Dwarf 10/30 fragments for example), and once you've collected enough fragments for that type you click Solve to complete it.  IIRC there's 3 dig spots per site and when it's cleared out it immediately spawns a new site somewhere else on the map, so you'll never run out of places to dig.

Assuming it hasn't been changed since beta, you get skillups for digging up to 100, after that the only way to get skillups is by completing artifacts (+5 per).  There was no cap on the number of unsolved fragments that you could carry around so it's really best to wait until you're at 100 skill before solving any.  Also, the digs are 'phased' for your character so you can be in the same spot with 10 other people digging, and there's no competition.