Cataclysm

[kildorn]

Pretty sure their new model is "episodic content" (with a nod to how well that worked for half-life) so two years worth of content is all beaten in the first month. It's pretty much what EQ did except they achieved it by making final tier raid bosses brokenly overpowered and then "fixing" them after X months.

They seem to be breadcrumbing in raids and new instances per usual, really. Nothing in their model has changed. Just because we're looking at an expansion a year doesn't mean we're not still looking at a major patch every 4-6 months.

[Ratman_tf]

Deepholme is putting me to sleep. I'm 3/4 of the way through, and it's a chore to log in and play.

[Rendakor]

Are you 83 yet? If so, just go to Uldum. There's more than a level to be had in each zone, you don't have to finish every quest to get to 85. If not, try some dungeons or BGs to break up the monotony.

[K9]

Has anyone seen any numbers on how much guild xp guilds get for boss kills, daily quests, rep gains and profession progression; or are the gains too small to be tracked?

For levelling quests the guild gets 25% of the quest's xp (down from 100%), which is a pretty harsh change. However on top of this I am left wondering whether it will be realistic for a new guild to level itself anywhere two or three months down the line, assuming it is made of mostly level 85 players.

[Selby]

Deepholme is putting me to sleep. I'm 3/4 of the way through, and it's a chore to log in and play.

Funny, Vashj'ir was like that to me.  I liked Deepholm honestly and played through it in one sitting.

[Pennilenko]

Deepholme is putting me to sleep. I'm 3/4 of the way through, and it's a chore to log in and play.

Funny, Vashj'ir was like that to me.  I liked Deepholm honestly and played through it in one sitting.

I really liked vashjir and deepholm. I dislike twilight highlands and i dont know why.

[Zetor]

I haven't finished Twilight Highlands, but the Wildhammer wedding was pretty . And the two-headed ogres called Za'brox and Beeble'phod. What can I say, I'm easily amused...

[kildorn]

Deepholme is putting me to sleep. I'm 3/4 of the way through, and it's a chore to log in and play.

Funny, Vashj'ir was like that to me.  I liked Deepholm honestly and played through it in one sitting.

I really liked vashjir and deepholm. I dislike twilight highlands and i dont know why.

Compared to everything else, it's booooring. It lacks the epic provided by every other zone design. It's just hinterlands, but the silithus cult moved in.

[Checkers]

Having not played in over a year, and only in short bursts for years before that, I'm really enjoying Cataclysm.  It definitely lacks the anticipation and "wow" factor that BC had, but so did WotLK imo. 

I'm actually reading quest text .  I love what they did with the VanCleef storyline and Westfall in general.

It's polished to the point of sacrificing immersion, but I don't know that a newbie would feel the same way.  Most of the linearity I attribute to the baked-in quest helper.

[Numtini]

I think a lot of the linearity is because you can fly. You just do the quests. You find the NPCs without something chasing you off. Etc.

By the time I had flight in BC and Cold Weather in WotLK, I had already switched to almost exclusively instancing.

[fuser]

Not blurry eyed from tears of joy at the whole thing?

Well, Lost Isles was pretty nifty.  That part was easily the best race introduction I've done, even if there was a bit too much hoofing it.

But really, I'm just built for 4 hour long + sessions of gaming anymore.

Rolled a goblin and did the full starting zone in one sitting after launch also. As you mentioned there's a huge amount of running, and the exp is way to low. When you leave the lost isles and end up in azshara you get lost and muddled down in slow quest xp. Once I got out of azshara and went to stonetalon the leveling speed picked right back up again. A friend started a troll post shattering and then started a goblin and couldn't believe the difference in XP/time wasted in the zone(s).

The quests are pretty neat but the goblins quest flow is really bad, so much that I'll never do those zones again.

[Hawkbit]

Which is sad, because the Lost Isles as a zone is very, very cool.  It would have been an excellent 85 zone with flight. 

[K9]

I haven't finished Twilight Highlands, but the Wildhammer wedding was pretty . And the two-headed ogres called Za'brox and Beeble'phod. What can I say, I'm easily amused...

This

[Minvaren]

Deepholme is putting me to sleep. I'm 3/4 of the way through, and it's a chore to log in and play.

Funny, Vashj'ir was like that to me.  I liked Deepholm honestly and played through it in one sitting.

Vash feels like a chore to me as well.  It's like Hellfire Peninsula, underwater, on rails, with less rep gains.  But the "dream sequence" in Vash Ruins last night was an interesting twist.

[Polysorbate80]

I liked the Vash storyline better than Hyjal.

In Hyjal, I'm rescuing a bunch of demigods so they can go defeat the big bad guy--except if I'm tough enough to go save their asses, why can't I just go kill the boss myself?  Why let those bitches steal my thunder?

Vashj'ir felt more like the Alliance was actually doing something useful on their own and not relying on a bunch of useless lore mobs (although the Earthen Ring are annoying twats, and btw why the fuck do we have to wait through deepholm+ to get a useful amount of faction with them when Hyjal finishes well into Revered?)

Plus, cutscene with the squid on your head    I had to re-play that one a couple of times for shits 'n giggles.

[MournelitheCalix]

I decided to resub three nights ago and started leveling my 32 paladin.  Let me say, wow, and no pun intended.  Whomever Blizzard hired to do quests needs an immediate raise right now because they are the undisputed kings of MMO quest making and no other individuals come close.  It was topped off last night in Un'Goro when I was doing a set of quests with a Don Quiote type of NPC.  The final line is absolutely hilarious, I was laughing so hard the girlfriend came in to see what was up.  It all came to a close with a dramatic horse ride where Don is healing me and riding around the lake in Un'Goro with a "Devilsaur Queen" chasing us.  The objective, to throw rocks on horseback with the thing coming after you.  

All I can say is Bravo, whomever came up the quest lines from the New Barrens to Un'Goro it has been an absolute pleasure to pay the 15 bucks.  I can't recommend this enough just resubscribe to level up a newbie.  Its worth the money.


I am not to the Burning crusade content yet so I have no idea how the expansions fare or the end game.  Right now I am agonizing over asking myself if I am going to resub.  On one hand I really like the changes to the pre 60 game.  On the other hand I am hearing that the same foolishness where raids are king are still in place.  People have told me that 5 and 10 mans do not give the best equipment and that in fact the equipment they give is vastly inferior to the 20-25 man raid.  I am trying to learn more and hope to have  an answer to that  as I finish the Burning cursade conent.  That alone will decide as to if I purchase the exapnsions.

So far though the experience is the best 15 dollars I have spent on any game.

[kildorn]

I decided to resub three nights ago and started leveling my 32 paladin.  Let me say, wow, and no pun intended.  Whomever Blizzard hired to do quests needs an immediate raise right now because they are the undisputed kings of MMO quest making and no other individuals come close.  It was topped off last night in Un'Goro when I was doing a set of quests with a Don Quiote type of NPC.  The final line is absolutely hilarious, I was laughing so hard the girlfriend came in to see what was up.  It all came to a close with a dramatic horse ride where Don is healing me and riding around the lake in Un'Goro with a "Devilsaur Queen" chasing us.  The objective, to throw rocks on horseback with the thing coming after you.  

All I can say is Bravo, whomever came up the quest lines from the New Barrens to Un'Goro it has been an absolute pleasure to pay the 15 bucks.  I can't recommend this enough just resubscribe to level up a newbie.  Its worth the money.


I am not to the Burning crusade content yet so I have no idea how the expansions fare or the end game.  Right now I am agonizing over asking myself if I am going to resub.  On one hand I really like the changes to the pre 60 game.  On the other hand I am hearing that the same foolishness where raids are king are still in place.  People have told me that 5 and 10 mans do not give the best equipment and that in fact the equipment they give is vastly inferior to the 20-25 man raid.  I am trying to learn more and hope to have  an answer to that  as I finish the Burning cursade conent.  That alone will decide as to if I purchase the exapnsions.

So far though the experience is the best 15 dollars I have spent on any game.

Bolded is gone in Cata. 5 mans don't give the best loot, but 10s and 25s now drop identical loot, 25s simply drop more of it per kill (due to more people involved)

But if you're basing a purchase on Burning Crusade, it was nice while it lasted and I'm glad you enjoyed the new 1-60 experience! ;)

[Rasix]

I am not to the Burning crusade content yet so I have no idea how the expansions fare or the end game.  

Let me prepare you mentally for this: BC content has not aged well, and overall the experience is pretty poor.  While they made vast improvements over Vanilla WoW with BC, it's pretty terrible in comparison to WoLK questing and Cat.  WoLK for me was pretty good all around with the notable exceptions of Zul'Drak, Grizzly Hills and the group gated content of parts of IC.

Luckily, BC is over pretty quickly.  You can get out of it in just over 3 zones completed. Some say less, but I usually have to go a bit beyond Hellfire/Zangar/Nagrand, although not by much.

[DraconianOne]

Luckily, BC is over pretty quickly.  You can get out of it in just over 3 zones completed. Some say less, but I usually have to go a bit beyond Hellfire/Zangar/Nagrand, although not by much.

This. Also, the LFD tool is a tremendous assistance to levelling, especially if you're a tank/healer and get in straight away (disclaimer - based on personal experience earlier this year).  I think my warrior hit Northrend after finishing less than 100 quests in Outland (although he had heirlooms and I spent most of level 70 doing dailies in Quel'danas which unfortunately won't work any more due to XP nerf).

[Numtini]

As a healer, I didn't get through Hellfire before I had instanced to 70. However, that was the end of the joy. 70+ may be faster than it was, but it was like hitting a brick wall compared to the earlier supersonic leveling.

[Simond]

Confirmation: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1232869

Here you will find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the release of patch 4.0.3a and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. While many have already been deployed on all realms, some may not be implemented until the next time your realm is restarted. We will continue to update this thread in the days ahead as additional hotfixes are applied.

December 13

    *    General

          o       Guild experience caps were being hit faster than expected. As a result, guild experience gained through questing has been reduced.

Plus bug fixes.

[Ingmar]

Deepholme is putting me to sleep. I'm 3/4 of the way through, and it's a chore to log in and play.

Funny, Vashj'ir was like that to me.  I liked Deepholm honestly and played through it in one sitting.

I really liked vashjir and deepholm. I dislike twilight highlands and i dont know why.

Compared to everything else, it's booooring. It lacks the epic provided by every other zone design. It's just hinterlands, but the silithus cult moved in.

[Sjofn]

(although the Earthen Ring are annoying twats, and btw why the fuck do we have to wait through deepholm+ to get a useful amount of faction with them when Hyjal finishes well into Revered?)

ER faction was buggy the first couple of days, supposedly it's a lot better now.

[Merusk]

I haven't finished Twilight Highlands, but the Wildhammer wedding was pretty . And the two-headed ogres called Za'brox and Beeble'phod. What can I say, I'm easily amused...

This

Small, but very overlooked (by players) detail related the wedding.

[Rasix]

My first major gripe: Ashenvale was complete crap.  Outside of the first 10 minutes the zone was a complete clusterfuck. There were new quests, sure, but a lot of the old quests were just crammed in there and completely out of place.  Really lazy quest design; it felt like it was thrown together over a weekend. Not to mention there was a bug that would pop up a LUA error any time you opened your map and wipe out all quest map tracking. The achievement says 80 quests; but.. you get it at 60.  Then instead of the quest counter staying full, it starts over.  Sure, that affects nothing, but it just looks stupid.    

Compared to Azshara, it just felt like amateur hour.

Now the start to Stonetalon is really promising.  I never liked that zone, but the whole army vibe they have going for it is pretty cool so far.  Consistent design works wonders.

[Selby]

The achievement says 80 quests; but.. you get it at 60.

I think this happens because you automatically get credit for finishing the zone after doing a certain end to the "final" chain despite not having done all of the quests available.  This happened in Deepholm last night before I did the Uldum breadcrumb quests for like 12 or so.  I finished the chain where you defend the temple from the mean mage lady and it gave me credit despite lacking I think 11.

[Raguel]

My first major gripe: Ashenvale was complete crap.  Outside of the first 10 minutes the zone was a complete clusterfuck. There were new quests, sure, but a lot of the old quests were just crammed in there and completely out of place.  Really lazy quest design; it felt like it was thrown together over a weekend. Not to mention there was a bug that would pop up a LUA error any time you opened your map and wipe out all quest map tracking. The achievement says 80 quests; but.. you get it at 60.  Then instead of the quest counter staying full, it starts over.  Sure, that affects nothing, but it just looks stupid.    

Compared to Azshara, it just felt like amateur hour.

Now the start to Stonetalon is really promising.  I never liked that zone, but the whole army vibe they have going for it is pretty cool so far.  Consistent design works wonders.

You have no chance to survive, make your time. 

[koro]

Confirmation: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1232869

Here you will find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the release of patch 4.0.3a and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. While many have already been deployed on all realms, some may not be implemented until the next time your realm is restarted. We will continue to update this thread in the days ahead as additional hotfixes are applied.

December 13

    *    General

          o       Guild experience caps were being hit faster than expected. As a result, guild experience gained through questing has been reduced.

Plus bug fixes.

The "reduction" was 75%, by the by. Smaller guilds with only about 7-8 80+, like mine, who were hitting the cap with only modest difficulty now have almost no way to do so.

[Ratman_tf]

I cancelled my subscription. I'm glad I caught it before my next billing date. I'm not having much fun with Cataclysm. I just regret having spent the money on the expansion itself.

[Azazel]

I'm also assuming that in 6months or so they will either drop in a small new zone (re: Isle of Quel'Sunwell) or drop a new quest hub into an existing zone (re: Argent Tourney) filled with dailies to give players at cap something else to grind on do.

Or a new 3-wing dungeon, or who knows?

Especially if they add in an Argent Tourny type daily quest hub (sans jousting). 

There is a daily hub (Tol Barad).

Yes. I'm talking about the inevitable new one that they will drop into the game in 6 months, with new, shinier shit than the one they had before. Kinds like Sunwell Isle was to the Shatari Skyguard and BEM ones in BC. Or the Argents were to the Dunder-Mifflin and Frogs vs Otters ones in LK.

[Azazel]

The "reduction" was 75%, by the by. Smaller guilds with only about 7-8 80+, like mine, who were hitting the cap with only modest difficulty now have almost no way to do so.

That's pretty assholish of them. Hopefully they will continue to "tune" it and make it less required-grind-tastic.

[Paelos]

I cancelled my subscription. I'm glad I caught it before my next billing date. I'm not having much fun with Cataclysm. I just regret having spent the money on the expansion itself.

What killed it for you? Digging?

[dd0029]

The time grindy nature of everything is starting to get to me.  For example, cooking.  Are there any new trained foods?  I think they are all only available from the vendor for three tokens.  You can only get 1 token a day.  So, three days for every recipe.  And most of the "good" recipes require the most anachronistly grindy "profession" of them all, fishing.  One that was so annoying to get past a certain level they had to put in a daily to just give you skill points. 

Also, reputation grinds are back, while not quite as annoying as BC, there are tabards now, however because there's much less instance trash and a fair amount of the instance trash does not award rep, so get to kicking on the dailies. 

And then there's the whole disconnectedness of the whole new 80-85 experience.  I don't mind the only 5 zones, but they are all their own little islands.  There is something missing.  I am not sure what it is, but something is just not right.

Granted I could probably chalk a fair amount of my discontent up to a collapsed guild and a very real apathy toward getting myself into another one.

[Numtini]

I dunno, I get the connection between the zones in terms of plot. You're fixing all the junk, it just manifests differently in each zone and each zone represents a different element.

It feels more coherent to me than killing some walrus tribes local enemies for I have no idea what purpose in lich king.

[Polysorbate80]

The time grindy nature of everything is starting to get to me.  For example, cooking.  Are there any new trained foods?  I think they are all only available from the vendor for three tokens.  You can only get 1 token a day.  So, three days for every recipe.  And most of the "good" recipes require the most anachronistly grindy "profession" of them all, fishing.  One that was so annoying to get past a certain level they had to put in a daily to just give you skill points. 

Pick up the two that require the shrimp--they're not fished, they come out of the clams that naga/murlocs drop in Vashj'ir.  Those (and the points from the cooking daily) got me almost all the way to 525