So, is WOW worth going back to?

[Shrike]

...and night elves are purple!

Heck, I was even told that (as my NE warrior) when I hit Honor Hold. I was walking past some soldiers towards the 'smith and heard something to the effect of, "What's with the creepy purple elves?". I did a literal ingame double take on that one.

[WoopeeTuralyon]

But purplez r epic

[Sjofn]

I have to say, I prefer the Alliance elf to the Horde elf in general. But the boy Horde elves are  .

Meaning Sjofn thinks they're FABULOUS.

And also sort of hot. Certainly the hottest males in the game, anyway.

Plus they're the only elf in the game that has an ass!

[WoopeeTuralyon]

Oh yes, hot pixel ass!

[Viin]

I was bored so I decided to download the 10 day trial and see if I could get started in WoW again.

Nope sorry, uninstalled.

I don't know what it is, but I have a really hard time playing again after dropping it ages ago. Was never able to pick up AC or SWG after leaving, it's like "eww leftovers" or something.

Weird that EVE doesn't seem to have that problem - maybe it's the available options, rather than running through the same noob area with all the same quests I've done before?

Ah well, I don't have time for games these days anyways! 

[Draegan]

All my toons are stuck on Mal'Ganis and I hate that server.  I only have one 80 though so it's not a big deal, but I have a 60 priest 40 something rogue, 70 paladin, 70 something warrior.

I would love to switch servers but it's cost prohibitive.  I suppose I could just give all the loots to my 80 and transfer.. but meh.  The Mal'Ganis server is full of mouth breathers.

I'll be subbing a month prior to cata to gear up my new goblin with some heirlooms.

[Selby]

The Mal'Ganis server is full of mouth breathers.

They are all full of mouth breathers sadly...

[Azuredream]

Mal'ganis is the #2 US server for raiding 25s so I'd imagine it's quite populated. Usually the more populated a server the more the mouth breathers stand out.

[Paelos]

Proudmoore continues to get deader and deader as we in the doldrums of the expansion waiting game. Everytime I attempt to log in during a weeknight, I'm greeted with 1-2 on the friends list, 30 people in the raid channel, and about 4 in guild. It's usually about 3-4x that on a regular day with something going on. I know Blizzard can't possibly keep content rolling right up to release, but 4 more months on pure estimates seems a long time to wait.

[Xanthippe]

Proudmoore continues to get deader and deader as we in the doldrums of the expansion waiting game. Everytime I attempt to log in during a weeknight, I'm greeted with 1-2 on the friends list, 30 people in the raid channel, and about 4 in guild. It's usually about 3-4x that on a regular day with something going on. I know Blizzard can't possibly keep content rolling right up to release, but 4 more months on pure estimates seems a long time to wait.

Considering how popular a game it is, yes, it does seem like a long time to wait.  The introduction of content doesn't seem to have kept pace with the sub numbers going up (or at least it doesn't seem so to me; this is one of those things that I may well be misremembering, though).

[Dren]

I agree it feels too long to wait, but for some reason our guild is at a pretty good high right now.  I can't explain it.  It is a pretty good mix of old people coming back and new people joining.  I do think the new people are just transfers from other servers to join other members, etc.  So, probably not an indication at all of overall growth for the game.

[Vision]

I'd like to know the current subscriber population. I know wow claims it's XMillion player-base, although how many of those people are still playing this late into an expansion, before other members re-sub to get prepared for cataclysm. I would assume around now would be the lowest the subscriber base has been in a while, but that's me talking out of my ass.

[Nevermore]

Can they still count the Chinese subs?  Has Cataclysm ever been released over there?

[Vision]

Can they still count the Chinese subs?  Has Cataclysm ever been released over there?

Even if its only the North American player base I would be interested.

[Ingmar]

Can they still count the Chinese subs?  Has Cataclysm ever been released over there?

If they have Cataclysm I'm signing up for a Chinese account now!

[Fordel]

I don't think they've released sub numbers since their whole China vs. Foreign MMO issue.

[Nevermore]

Can they still count the Chinese subs?  Has Cataclysm ever been released over there?

If they have Cataclysm I'm signing up for a Chinese account now!

Bah.  It took me this long to realize my brain fart.  I meant WotLK, of course.

[Rendakor]

I don't think they've released sub numbers since their whole China vs. Foreign MMO issue.

I don't think so either; I imagine they lost a fair number of "subs" in that whole debacle, and see no reason to release a "WoW currently has 5m* US subscribers" Press Release.

*Spoiler: number pulled out of my ass.

[Yegolev]

I have chosen Kirin Tor.  Horde.

[Rasix]

I'll take that as a direct repudiation.   

[Lantyssa]

I have chosen Kirin Tor.  Horde.

That was my starting server!  So many lost and forgotten characters.

[Shrike]

I think Kirin Tor is part of the Rampage battlegroup. I seem to recall seeing a few in LFD dailys...I think. Makes me wonder how the server pop is or if I'm just misremembering.

[Shatter]

http://seekingalpha.com/article/219068-activision-blizzard-q2-2010-earnings-call-transcript

WOTLK never came out in china so Cataclysm wont anytime soon.  Based on that financial report China is about to get WOTLK for the first time. 

"I have some great news to share about what World of Warcraft in China. Our partner, NetEase, has received official written approval from JPP for Wrath of the Lich King. There is one remaining regulatory approval needed before the expansion can launch, but this is a positive sign for bringing our latest content to Chinese players"

[Yegolev]

I'll take that as a direct repudiation.   

I shall retort that I cannot repudiate one who is not currently subscribed.

[Xanthippe]

I just returned to WoW after a few month absence.  None of my friends are playing at the moment.

I faction-changed my balance/resto druid from horde to alliance (same server), because mostly what I do is fool around in the battlegrounds.  Went from mostly-win-but-have-to-wait-15-min-to-queue, to mostly-lose-but-instaqueue.  The  communities seem about equal on the dick population.  Some guy opined that nobody ought to sign up for battlegrounds unless they had at least a 4900 gear score.  Bgnds r srs bznss.

I've played resto in the battlegrounds, and gone balance in a few heroics.  Terrible dps in my couple of crafted blues and wrathful/furious armor.  At this point, it doesn't matter all that much what I do - most people are so geared they easily carry me, but what a shitty shitty design for a game, particularly as we get further away from the launch of the last expansion. 

[WoopeeTuralyon]

I saw a guy wanting 5k GS for a random heroic yesterday, Xanthippe. Demanding 4900 for BGs no longer surprises me.

[Azazel]

Semi-on this topic - are there any good current class guides around? I've had a couple of dickheads bitch about my DPS in the last session, and while I assume it's mostly because my gear is 2 years out of date, I'm wondering if there's more I could be doing or new tricks that are used. I'm a fire mage at present.

You have to pay a trainer 1k to get the dual spec toggle thing? - I need to save since the last thing I did before quitting was buy a mammoth.

[Rendakor]

Dual Spec is 1k, yes. The only place I know of with class guides is Elitist Jerks, but I don't see a thread there for fire mages.

[Selby]

Fire mage at 80: put living bomb on every mob every time it's up (you do have the glyph that allows it to crit, right?  Good).  Put scorch debuff on the mob you are targeting (don't necessarily have to, it disappears from some mobs and I can't really find any *good* info regarding it), spam fireball unless you get a hot streak for an instant pyroblast.  Rinse and repeat.  If you aren't hit capped get there.  It's a bit more involved than arcane mages (arcane blast, missile barrage as it procs) but it's a bit heavier on the DPS for multiple mobs.

As for people bitching about your DPS, unless it's H-HoR or a raid with a stiff enrage timer, tell them to get bent if you are above 2k.

[Lantyssa]

Tell them to get bent anyways.

[Selby]

Tell them to get bent anyways.

That too.  Anyone who complains I usually ignore them or tell them to stuff it.

[Azazel]

Fire mage at 80: put living bomb on every mob every time it's up (you do have the glyph that allows it to crit, right?  Good).

*cough* I do now. I had a Polymorph-dot one in it's place since I used to do a lot of PVP to get my gear back in the day.

Put scorch debuff on the mob you are targeting (don't necessarily have to, it disappears from some mobs and I can't really find any *good* info regarding it), spam fireball unless you get a hot streak for an instant pyroblast.  Rinse and repeat.  If you aren't hit capped get there.  It's a bit more involved than arcane mages (arcane blast, missile barrage as it procs) but it's a bit heavier on the DPS for multiple mobs.

Been pretty much doing that, but with more scorch, since it's got a faster cast time. I'm probably miles from the hit cap at this point though.

As for people bitching about your DPS, unless it's H-HoR or a raid with a stiff enrage timer, tell them to get bent if you are above 2k.

I just ignore them. Except for one massive douche who just wouldn't STFU about anyone in the group, but I bailed there so it's ok. No idea where it is atm, but probably well below 2k, since I'm rusty as all fuck and undergeared.

[Azazel]

One last question - just bought Dual Spec. Given that Mages aren't going to be Tanking or Healing, and that I'll definately be keeping my fire spec, is the current wisdom in favour of Frost or Arcane? I already know how to play a Frost Mage, since that's my wife's character, but just before I spec frost, I was wondering what Arcane is supposed to be like these days (I've never specced that way).

[apocrypha]

Arcane is great DPS, particularly shines on single targets (i.e. raid bosses). Fire scales better with gear but at low-mid gear tiers Arcane seems to out-DPS fire. Arcane is a bit boring to play though. Arcane Blast until Missile Barrage procs at which point Arcane Missiles. Repeat.

Frost is more of a levelling and PvP spec. It's excellent for solo levelling because of the survivability. Ice Barrier rocks.

[WoopeeTuralyon]

I would drop the fire spec and pick up arcane and frost. Arcane is the highest dps spec in PvE, and frost is the best for soloing(you're almost incapable of dying).