So, is WOW worth going back to?

[WoopeeTuralyon]

 The DE rolls are put in with the greed rolls. And yes, the party must have an enchanter.

[Riggswolfe]

That buff could also be the Heroic Presence that draenei can provide, improving chance to hit by 1%.

Ahhh...that's probably it. The random buff seems to be "luck of the draw"

[Morat20]

The DE rolls are put in with the greed rolls. And yes, the party must have an enchanter.

That would explain why the option was always there when I played my mage, but not when I played my hunter....

Also, Violet Hold is weird. I pulled that one yesterday.

[WoopeeTuralyon]

Lol, Violet Hold is just Blizz being lazy.. they didn't want to think of a new, extensive instaance layout so they just copied Black Morass from BC and put it in a prison instead...

[Paelos]

Lol, Violet Hold is just Blizz being lazy.. they didn't want to think of a new, extensive instaance layout so they just copied Black Morass from BC and put it in a prison instead...

And you should expect a similar dungeon in Cataclysm in another setting due to it's popularity. I personally love VH given the overall speed of the encounters from start to finish. Black Morass was a shit sandwich because it was poorly tuned, but they got it right in the long run.

[WoopeeTuralyon]

I will say, VH is the easiest heroic. It's a breeze with a tank with 21k hp and 3 1.3k dps, even. The mobs do so little damage it's just trivial. Free badges, essentially. Probably why it's popular 

[Ingmar]

VH is essentially Black Morass done right. That's not lazy design, that's iteration. Which is what good designers do.

[Morat20]

I'm at a weird spot in leveling -- (75) and only had one dungeon quest (a single Violet Hold one) so I was running quests out of that Grizzly Hills place and just signed up for a random dungeon (decent XP, money, loot) and hit Violet Hold.

Am I just missing a whole shitload of quests somewhere for dungeons or what?

[Nebu]

I was under the impression that dungeon quests came mainly from cities.  It's an impression because I've always played solo and missed most of the dungeons in WoW.

[WoopeeTuralyon]

There should be a couple quests for Gundrak in Zul'drak. Not sure about others at that level, but there are usually only 2 or 3 quests per instance anyway.

[Ingmar]

I'm at a weird spot in leveling -- (75) and only had one dungeon quest (a single Violet Hold one) so I was running quests out of that Grizzly Hills place and just signed up for a random dungeon (decent XP, money, loot) and hit Violet Hold.

Am I just missing a whole shitload of quests somewhere for dungeons or what?

In your level range there should be a few dungeon quests for Drak'tharon Keep that come at the end of a fairly long set of troll-fighting quests in Grizzly Hills, plus a couple quests for Gundrak that are near the dungeon entrance in eastern Zul'Drak. VH does only have the one quest.

[Paelos]

VH Quests are in Dalaran, and there are two. Gundrak has two quests from a dude outside of there. Most of them have quest givers standing really nearby.

[Ingmar]

There's a VH quest besides Containment?

[Paelos]

There's a feeder quest, I believe.

[Morat20]

In your level range there should be a few dungeon quests for Drak'tharon Keep that come at the end of a fairly long set of troll-fighting quests in Grizzly Hills, plus a couple quests for Gundrak that are near the dungeon entrance in eastern Zul'Drak. VH does only have the one quest.

Ah, I just started with the troll stuff. I guess I'm a bit used to the older world, where some of my alts have four or five quests for a dungeon just sitting there. (It does make the occasional random dungeon very profitable).

I'm a bar short of 76. Once I hit 77, I can grab cold-weather flying and get back to enjoying life from the air.

Oh, for the record, any fucking quest that gives me a goddamn controllable pet and tells me to "go do stuff" is a pile of shit. If you give me Bob the Troll Smacker, or whatever his name is, I can't pull out MY pet. I'm a fucking hunter. You know what happens if I hit something equal level? I get the shit knocked out of me while I -- very slowly -- kill it. I got into three fucking fights getting Bob the Troll Smacker down so he could knock out a troll, and each one of them took forever and I almost lost Bob.

[Ingmar]

That is probably the worst quest in the expansion, FWIW. It actually used to be even worse in terms of not working intuitively at all.

[Selby]

I guess I'm a bit used to the older world, where some of my alts have four or five quests for a dungeon just sitting there. (It does make the occasional random dungeon very profitable).

I don't think any of the dungeons in WotLK have any more than 3-4 quests for them at most.  Things like Halls of Lightning are only given after the end of a 45 quest chain in Storm Peaks, Drak'tharon Keep has a similarly long chain for one of the quests given as well.  Gundrak even has a quest that you have to quest so far along in Zul'drak before you are given it (the remaining 2 or so are given any time outside the instance near the flight path).

[Sjofn]

I like the Utgard Pinnacle method of dungeon quest giving. Some dude right inside the entrance, wanting you to do shit for him. 

[Azuredream]

I groan when I get VH on my paladin tank. Divine Plea almost always falls off before the next portal spawns, it's freaking annoying. The time/badge ratio isn't even good. I mean, all of the heroics are a joke at this point so the fact that it's easier than other heroics isn't exactly a great selling point. I like a dungeon where I can set the pace.

[WoopeeTuralyon]

They already shortened the time between portals because people complained... maybe an option to fight the first five at once?   

[Azuredream]

I could get behind that.

[WoopeeTuralyon]

And if you groan at the thought of VH, how can you stand HoR? You have a much higher chance of wiping and still can't set your own pace, for the same number of emblems.

[Azuredream]

Yes, HoR is the worst possible dungeon you can get if you're doing randoms. HoS/PoS also suck.

[Lt.Dan]

I'm a bar short of 76. Once I hit 77, I can grab cold-weather flying and get back to enjoying life from the air.

I think cold-weather flying is trainable at 70 now. 

[Merusk]

Only if you already have an 80 to buy the book for you.

[Morat20]

I'm a bar short of 76. Once I hit 77, I can grab cold-weather flying and get back to enjoying life from the air.

I think cold-weather flying is trainable at 70 now. 

Got to have a level 77 to buy the book. My main just dinged 76. I keep putting the game down. :)

[Sjofn]

I'm a bar short of 76. Once I hit 77, I can grab cold-weather flying and get back to enjoying life from the air.

I think cold-weather flying is trainable at 70 now. 

68 with the book! 77 without though, alas.

[Simond]

I like the Utgard Pinnacle method of dungeon quest giving. Some dude right inside the entrance, wanting you to do shit for him. 

Pretty sure that quite a lot of the dungeon revamps in Cataclysm are going to be set up like this e.g. the ghost couple outside Scholomance will be moved inside, etc.

[caladein]

I like the Utgard Pinnacle method of dungeon quest giving. Some dude right inside the entrance, wanting you to do shit for him. 

Pretty sure that quite a lot of the dungeon revamps in Cataclysm are going to be set up like this e.g. the ghost couple outside Scholomance will be moved inside, etc.

That's quite reasonable when no one's actually walking up to dungeon portals anymore.

[WoopeeTuralyon]

That would be nice. Instead of "You there, go waaaaaay over yonder, kill this guy in this instance, then return to me when you've forgotten where I am," it'll be "You there, progress through this place and kill this guy then return to me at the beginning when you're done." Lol

[Yegolev]

My general distaste for the perceived direction of LotRO and the slightly-suspect allure of Cataclysm has made me want to ask two n00b questions which are on-topic:

1. When does Cataclysm drop?
2. What server?

[Paelos]

Cataclysm has no release date, but the smart money is on November. It could be pushed to January if things go rough in beta though.

[Rasix]

My general distaste for the perceived direction of LotRO and the slightly-suspect allure of Cataclysm has made me want to ask two n00b questions which are on-topic:

1. When does Cataclysm drop?
2. What server?

1.  Like Paelos said, probably this year.  Novemberish.
2.  People are pretty spread all over.  There's a highish Alliance population (boo) on Doomhammer.  I play (currently unsubed) Horde on Shu'halo and convinced Nebu to play there for like an hour or two.  I'll probably resub about a month before Cat to regain my bearings and finish a twink set for a goblin hunter.  Most anyone you play with can give you some cash/bags to make the start of the game less irritating. 

[Yegolev]

/whine
...but I don't want to play Alliance...



OK, gameplan is to wait until after Cat drops and then roll up a newb on some server TBD.  I'd like to play with some F13 people but apparently we are all still assholes ten years later.  Enedwaith will be out well before then and I can find out if Turbine is really going to butcher LotRO dungeons as much as I fear they might.  I mean, if LotRO is turning into a game for the Looty McLootersons, I might as well just go play the real deal.

[Shrike]

I'd be thinking somewhere betwen Nov and Jan.

I know there are a couple of us on Whisperwind. It's an old-line Alliance dominated server. Huge population and lots of available resources. Also--from what I can gather--a bit less douchebaggery in the raid scene, though that isn't really saying all that much.