Mists of Pandaria

[luckton]

Well ,fine then.  I guess DKs just continue to be fucked with 

[Merusk]

Are they getting rid of staves?

I'm also confused. Staves were usable on the beta, I don't see any reason why you'd have to stop using Benediction. Are they removing staves from item tables in 90 content or something?

No, they are not.  I think the fear comes from lack of proper communication of the weapon system change + Monk entering the fray and competing with staff users for AGI and INT staffs.

Also: the expectation that Wands + offhand will be > staves for all casters to ensure they pick them up over taking Monk loot.

Well ,fine then.  I guess DKs just continue to be fucked with 

Well, duh.  What part of the last 2 expansions didn't underline this for you? 

Oh, and they've said multiple times about dual-wielding DKs that it was a mistake and they wish they'd never done it in the first place.  2h was always supposed to be superior and only the constant press from the DK community was what kept it viable at all.

[Rokal]

The mobile guild chat and AH are now free for all players.

Nice change, it was silly that they were charging for these minor perks when Rift was offering better versions of the service for free. Next up is making server transfers free 

[Sheepherder]

Add to that the 2-hand passive that Brew 'does' get for 40% melee haste, and there's no argument.  If anything, they're making the same mistake they made with DKs; just because you CAN dual wield doesn't mean it's viable or that you're supposed to.  Just lock down the DW skill to Frost and Windwalkers already.  They didn't have a problem with doing this to Shamans.

Or they could pull their heads out of their asses and make the offending abilities and procs weapon/wield agnostic.

[Lantyssa]

That doesn't follow the Vision.  Look how long it took them to crack on appearance items.

[Sheepherder]

That's the part I don't get.  There are working examples of that in the game right now, some of them dating in one form or another to 2005ish.

[Merusk]

None of which have ever resolved well-enough to anyone's satisfaction.  You either felt gimped because your Dual-Wield weapon couldn't match the damage output of a 2h weapon because the skill was tied to weapon damage; or you were way overpowered because your weapon was hitting 1.5-2x faster than a 2h weapon and getting more procs.

They could tie abilities to the DPS of weapons instead of their damage range - like Diablo III - but that would require a complete and total overhaul of the combat from the ground up.  Something better served for a sequel or another game, not updating your waning flagship.

[Sheepherder]

They could tie abilities to the DPS of weapons instead of their damage range - like Diablo III - but that would require a complete and total overhaul of the combat from the ground up.

Or it would require them to copy Bloodthirst, like they did with Heroic Strike and Cleave.

[luckton]

Looks like Bliz is making one exception to the "no more rep grinding through tabards" rule.  The Horde and Alliance Pandaren factions will have a rep tabard available through their mount vendors, which is pretty much the only reason to get Exalted with them anyways.

[Rendakor]

How are you supposed to rep grind now, if not via tabard?

[luckton]

How are you supposed to rep grind now, if not via tabard?

Why do you think they took the 25 daily quest cap away?   

[Zetor]

Funny thing is, I thought getting rep as a 'side effect' of dungeon runs was a lot less grindy and tedious than doing eleventy billion solo daily quests for them instead.

[luckton]

Maybe, but it didn't get people out in the world doing things, which is what they want people enjoying more of instead of instance grinding.  Considering that Valor gear is now acquired through getting Revered with the various MoP factions (not just one, but ALL, because they spread the pieces across them), it gives them another time barrier to work with.

[Rendakor]

How are you supposed to rep grind now, if not via tabard?

Why do you think they took the 25 daily quest cap away?   

...shit, you're serious. I fucking hate dailies.

[luckton]

Was reading over Mr. Robot's blog regarding the changes to Hit, Expertise, and other stuffs for patch 5.0.4 and MoP.  Might be good info for some.

Casters:Get 15% Spell Hit
- Expertise now gives you Spell Hit
- Racial weapon bonuses count toward Spell Hit

Hunters & Melee DPS:Get 7.5% Hit and 7.5% Exp
- Rogues, Enh Shamans, etc, no longer need to worry about Spell Hit caps since it ‘lines up’ now (see picture)
- Hunters now need to get Expertise since their attacks can be dodged (previously, they could not be dodged).

Tanks:Get 7.5% Hit and 15% Exp
- Expertise isn’t “twice as good” as Hit anymore!
- Expertise reduces your chance to be dodged up to 7.5%, then the next 7.5% reduces your chance to be Parried. Previously, Expertise affected both at the same time.

Combat Table Coverage (Tanks)
- CTC (Combat Table Coverage) used to work nicely with a 1-roll system. You had a chance to dodge, parry, block or be hit by a boss. With a 1-roll system, you could max your dodge, parry, and block so that you always mitigated the boss’s attack.
- However, now it’s a 2-roll system. The first roll determines if you dodge, parry or get hit. If you get hit, there is a second roll to determine if you block the attack or get hit. This means your chance to block would need to be ridiculously high (and not currently possible) to ensure that you block all of those attacks.

[Merusk]

So.. I didn't realize the huge amount of changes going in tomorrow also included the alterations to zone tech to allow cross-realm and instanced zoned solutions.

I will now predict a good 3-4 days of total server clusterfucks as the bugs get worked out.   I think I should take a few shots of the actual pets I have in case they disappear and never come back like they did on test.

[Azazel]

Maybe, but it didn't get people out in the world doing things, which is what they want people enjoying more of instead of instance grinding.  Considering that Valor gear is now acquired through getting Revered with the various MoP factions (not just one, but ALL, because they spread the pieces across them), it gives them another time barrier to work with.

If they wanted people out in the world doing things, they could have decided not to make the entire 80-85 game into a solo instance. Ah well, the second half of my sub expires over Christmas. Probably time for a 11-month break then and come back when they pull their heads slightly out of their arses.

[luckton]

I don't think that matters to Bliz now.  At this point, any new server architecture stuff (a la phased server mergers) is just stuff they're testing for Project Titan.  That'll be the GW2 killer 

[Lantyssa]

Too bad we'll be on GW3 by the time we even find out what Titan is.

[Rokal]

Too bad we'll be on GW3 by the time we even find out what Titan is.

According to the leaked schedule it's supposed to come out at the end of 2013. They just announced that there would be a Blizzcon in 2013. I think chances are high that we're going to hear about Titan at or before then.

[Lantyssa]

There was any doubt of there being a Blizzcon in 2013?

[Merusk]

There was any doubt of there being a Blizzcon in 2013?

Yes, since there isn't a Blizzcon 2012.

[Lantyssa]

Seriously?  Huh.  Didn't know that.

[Paelos]

Well they couldn't announce their release of nothing in Calendar 2013.

[Rokal]

There was a BoP 1H sword that dropped from trash in Dragon Soul like this.

http://www.wowhead.com/item=78878/spine-of-the-thousand-cuts

Speaking of which, I logged in today and noticed that this is now just a regular one-handed sword so you can use it for transmog. Progress!

[Merusk]

So I decided to play beta over the weekend for a 'little while' because, hey, I've only diddled around with pet battles and the new talents so far.

I haven't enjoyed leveling content this much since Vanilla and Nagrand in BC. (Hated the 1st 2 zones)  WOTLK was nice but never 'clicked' for me.  Something about this is different. I got sucked-in and gained 2 levels when I planned on only playing around for a few hours.

Perhaps it's that I'm not too manly for Pandas. (Oh noes, they'll give me teh immaturity!)  But the zones are gorgeous thus far and remind me a lot of Nagrand.  Probably because there's just so much damned green.  I'm eager for launch now.

[luckton]

I'm hoping they say "Fuck it all!" and open up the Theramore scenario this week instead of next. 

[cmlancas]

Our guild eagerly awaits the changes as well.  There's something exciting about conquering dungeons that's lost at the end of an expansion.  I'm hoping scenarios can bottle that magic mid-5.1 once the new wears off of the dungeons.

Oh, also, if you haven't checked out videos of the new Scholomance...

[Hawkbit]

What level can one feasibly start MoP zones?  I came back for a week on a 7day, and I don't really feel like playing my main toon anymore.  I have an 80DK I might consider rolling around in frost, but I really am not sure I have the patience to level to 85 again with Cata zones. 

[Rendakor]

IIRC you needed 80 to start the Cata quests at all, so I'd say you need to get to 85.

[Merusk]

IIRC you needed 80 to start the Cata quests at all, so I'd say you need to get to 85.

Yes, you have to be 85.  There's an intro quest from King V. or the orc guy that get you on the airboats to Pandaria.  You can't get them until you're 85 and there's no other method to the continent.  (After those quests portals open up.)

[Draegan]

Heh.

[luckton]

 

[Azazel]

 

[Hutch]

Previous reference.