Mists of Pandaria

[Sjofn]

MoP has to be relatively soon, they can't pull another WotLK and wait a year between content updates.

Well, they can, it's just probably a terrible idea.

[Rendakor]

It'd fit with the recurring theme of Cataclysm then! 

[Fordel]

There are theories running around that this is why they made the year long lock-in pass thing. Since they are subbed for a year anyways, we are free to slack again 


There's also a more plausible idea that Blizzard fully intends MoP BETA to be the 'new content' for people, since all the year long passes have Beta access.

[Simond]

my tinfoil hat theory is that the whole of blizzard is working on the Pandas so they can get them out for may/june at latest.

To take this further, someone with management clout has finally prevailed on whoever is in charge of Titan to say "Give me my fucking dev team back or we won't have an MMO left by the time you're ready" and they're all working on MoP.

And yeah, no Blizzcon = MoP & D3 launch before October and Titan still isn't in a playable state.

[Merusk]

Titan will be 2018, long after the MMO has moved on to whatever it's becoming.  At first I said 2015 then realized that's only 3 years away. 

[Azazel]

Are there really that many people left that are that bad at the game? I honestly figured that as long as WoW's been out, anyone playing it has been doing so for years and has at least passing familiarity with their class, talents, etc. to the point where they're making intelligent choices and not just clicking random buttons.

I've just pulled up my L60 hunter, which I haven't played in years, and checked out the talent tree. I decided to have a look at EJ for some simple advice on levelling specs and info besides the tooltips, and the masters thesis on marksman hunters that assumes you've been playing the class for years and are 80 almost put me off playing it. Is there really a need to have your game need that level of meta-analysis?

[Ingmar]

It doesn't need that level of meta-analysis.

You're reading stuff intended to help world-class players squeeze out extra bits of performance in hard mode raids. Try the sticky threads in the official forums for something more approachable.

EDIT: I mean really why would you ever go to EJ for a leveling spec, they explicitly ban people for talking about stuff like that, especially this far into an expansion.

[Malakili]

Are there really that many people left that are that bad at the game? I honestly figured that as long as WoW's been out, anyone playing it has been doing so for years and has at least passing familiarity with their class, talents, etc. to the point where they're making intelligent choices and not just clicking random buttons.

I've just pulled up my L60 hunter, which I haven't played in years, and checked out the talent tree. I decided to have a look at EJ for some simple advice on levelling specs and info besides the tooltips, and the masters thesis on marksman hunters that assumes you've been playing the class for years and are 80 almost put me off playing it. Is there really a need to have your game need that level of meta-analysis?

To be fair, you did go to EJ, and are complaining its too hardcore.

[Miasma]

It's pretty hard to screw up your skill tree now if you are at all literate and bother to read them.  If you are PvE just ignore everything clearly meant for PvP and you are done, out of points.  Do the opposite if PvP.

[Selby]

Try the sticky threads in the official forums for something more approachable.

The official forums used to be ass years ago, but now they are where it's at regarding getting a good leveling spec\glyphs.  I don't even bother looking at EJ, since 99% of their material and threads expects you to be 85 and in certain gear and in certain conditions with certain buffs, something the average leveler doesn't even remotely come close to meeting.

[Sheepherder]

Plus they absolutely fucking love their 200 page threadnaughts without regular updates to the original post.  They really need a wiki format for their crap.  Official WoW forums are now the place to look for useful data, since most of the stuff from Elitist Jerks or whathaveyou gets reposted there anyways.

It's pretty hard to screw up your skill tree now if you are at all literate and bother to read them.  If you are PvE just ignore everything clearly meant for PvP and you are done, out of points.  Do the opposite if PvP.

Hunter (or druid) is a little bit harder to decipher if you're returning or new to the class because so many of the talents are not as simple as "this does 10% more damage."  Also, depending on class there are a few PvP talents that are actually very nice for leveling.

Incidentally, were I a 60 hunter I'd do the standard Survival DPS build.  High DPS, very little ramp-up time, extra CC.

[Wolf]

ej is balls for most specs at the moment. Some threads don't have posts in them since before the last patch and some OPs are flat out wrong in their assumptions. I wouldn't go there for reliable info on anything.

[caladein]

They really need a wiki format for their crap.

They tried it for a while, but it hardly caught on with any of the writers/editors.

I think it might have worked better now than a few years ago since the game's matured to where really funky stuff doesn't crop up every new patch which butted up against their "what's able to go into this section versus the regular posts" guidelines.

[Azazel]

It doesn't need that level of meta-analysis.

You're reading stuff intended to help world-class players squeeze out extra bits of performance in hard mode raids. Try the sticky threads in the official forums for something more approachable.

EDIT: I mean really why would you ever go to EJ for a leveling spec, they explicitly ban people for talking about stuff like that, especially this far into an expansion.

Well, to answer that question (and a few following that), I haven't played in a year, and even then I only played for 3 months on my mage which I was/am very comfortable with. I've seen you guys mentioning EJ quite a bit for specs, etc and to be fair, I had a look there for my prot warrior and it was much more reasonable. As it turned out, their Prot warrior build was only 2 points off how I'd already specced - and even that was in the alternate trees, and I'm comfortable with my different choices.

And yeah, since i started playing at release, and despite my numerous and extended breaks from the game, the official WoW board was the last place I'd have thought of for anything resembling useful advice.

Hunter (or druid) is a little bit harder to decipher if you're returning or new to the class because so many of the talents are not as simple as "this does 10% more damage."  Also, depending on class there are a few PvP talents that are actually very nice for leveling.

Incidentally, were I a 60 hunter I'd do the standard Survival DPS build.  High DPS, very little ramp-up time, extra CC.

Yeah, there's lots of stuff about regaining focus, and consuming stacks off your pet and so forth, a little less straightforward than just reading the tooltip, especially when you haven't played for a year or played this version of the class at all. I found a couple by trawling the net, they all seem pretty much the same - seems to work okay so far.

[Wolf]

just use frostheim's blog for hunter info - http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/ he's got builds, leveling, end-game, pet talent specs, etc. It's a great resource for a noob hunter.

[Rokal]

EJ pages are hit or miss. Some spec threads are updated regularly, concise, and helpful. Others like the Marksmanship thread are just a mess, or haven't been updated since T11. You really shouldn't need to read an EJ thread to come up with a good leveling spec though. The game forces you to stick with 1 tree until you reach the end of it and almost every class/spec is only choosing between PvP or PvE talents.

[Azazel]

Yeah, it was more a matter of firing up a level 61 hunter and looking at trees I'd never seen before with a bunch of points to spend rather than levelling organically from 1-61. Doesn't matter now, and thanks for the link, Wolf.

edit - ha! warcrafthuntersunion was the site I actually ended up using in the end the other night. How's that?

[Simond]

EJ hasn't been worth reading since, what, Ulduar? Sometime around then.
(The best WoW forums are on SA anyway)

And in other news: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3393349558?page=4#67

I realize this thread has been around for a while but the topic is still relevant. As many of you may or may not know, weapon enchants have been a feature of World of Warcraft since the beginning. Providing iconic and recognizable looks to various enchants is something that’s added an element of uniqueness to the game and to your character. However, we do understand they can sometimes overpower the aesthetics of the awesome weapons you can obtain in game now. It’s certainly something we have discussed with the developers recently and we’ll be looking into potentially allowing an enchant toggle. If and when such a feature is introduced, we’ll be sure to let the community know as soon as possible.

Bye, Landslide!

[Sjofn]

It always made me a little sad that enchants override my poison visual on my rogue, although I imagine it'll just be plain ol' nothin' if a toggle goes in, as they're in the same category or whatever visually I'm sure.

[Rendakor]

It'd be nice to have some choice: Use existing weapon enchant, use transmogged weapon's enchant, use class feature graphic (poison, shaman self chants, etc.), use nothing.

[Rokal]

Someone suggested a slider too, so you could control how noticeable the effect was. Frankly, even a simple on/off toggle would be a huge improvement.

[Sjofn]

A slider would be pretty great, but yeah, even just on/off is better than what it is right now. Some of the enchants are just ... well, you all know.

[Azazel]

Yeah, that would be great. My gnome rogue wields a pair of glowing balls attached to their fists. Apparently.

[Lovro]

I don't like the idea of 'pokemons' in Mists of pandaria >.>
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/mists-of-pandaria/feature/pet-battle

[Lakov_Sanite]

They're trying something different that is a complete sidequest/minigame.  I'm not saying I'm a huge fan but at least they're trying to add something new and fun, it's a lot more than most try these days.

[Lantyssa]

The pet battle is the one thing about the expansion which actually interests me.

[Rendakor]

The pet battle is the one thing about the expansion which actually interests me.

This. But I've said for years I'd be ruined if Nintendo ever made a Pokemon MMO.

[Merusk]

The pet battle is the one thing about the expansion which actually interests me.

I'm just curious how some of the rare pets and odd pets will function.

"Silvermoon Broom, I choose you!"

"Zergling, RUSH!"

[Lakov_Sanite]

Probably a lot like hunter pets in that there will be certain skillsets and families of pets, rather than individual powers.

[Merusk]

Boo!

 

[Azazel]

The pet battle is the one thing about the expansion which actually interests me.

I'm nonplussed. If it's shit, I'll ignore it. If it's fun, I may tool around with it on occasion.

So anyway - enchants - what would be the recommendation for inexpensive melee levelling enchants for 80-85?

Also - what's all this about removing the ranged slot and classes like Hunters only using a bow, mages losing daggers and staves and instead having only wands/etc?

[Merusk]

"Itemization is hard, yo and we hate stat sticks."

[Simond]

The pet battle is the one thing about the expansion which actually interests me.

I'm just curious how some of the rare pets and odd pets will function.

"Silvermoon Broom, I choose you!"

"Zergling, RUSH!"

Horde baloon uses Float!
It's not very effective....

[Miasma]

The pet battle is the one thing about the expansion which actually interests me.

I'm nonplussed. If it's shit, I'll ignore it. If it's fun, I may tool around with it on occasion.

So anyway - enchants - what would be the recommendation for inexpensive melee levelling enchants for 80-85?

Also - what's all this about removing the ranged slot and classes like Hunters only using a bow, mages losing daggers and staves and instead having only wands/etc?

I don't know about mages but hunters don't have to have a minimum range and can just use bows/guns so good for them.

[Rokal]

So anyway - enchants - what would be the recommendation for inexpensive melee levelling enchants for 80-85?

You could do Avalanche, but really there's no need to bother with enchants til 85.