Something cool about WoW

[Sky]

...that I forgot until I peeked in the WoW forum: being able to tame pets. I played a hunter to 58, and taming new pets was a cool part of the game, having to give up an old favorite to tame that kickass pet with killer stats. That was cool. Sometimes it's the subtle things.

[Nonentity]

Pickles the spider was my bestest friend.

[Rasix]

My hunter (left him on my old server) had a boar named Adama.  I tended not to play pokemon.  I find the first pig I can and he's my friend for life.

[Lantyssa]

On my Draenei I have done that with a Deviate Dreadfang and the purple Death Ravager on Bloodmyst Isle.

If only I had the stable size from SWG for all the pets I really want to keep...

[Pendan]

Cool but not something WoW invented. Was taming pets in UO years earlier.

[Jayce]

It might be gimmicky but I like to go to the opposite side and get a cool pet.  My dwarf tamed a barrens oasis turtle (Nestor), and he was an awesome tank.

[slog]

My favorite Wow nifty thingy is being able to ask a Guard for directions and haveing the spot appear on my mini-map.  It's a very nice touch.

[Miasma]

I re-subbed last week after never getting past the forties and only just found the awesomeness that are all the Nintendo references in Un'goro crater.  Helping out Linken, Larion and Muigin fighting, Dadango disliking smoke, looting empty barrels off of gorillas - I had a grin on my face the whole time unless I was being chased down by those big elite T-Rexes.

Fraggle rock.

[Pendan]

My favorite Wow nifty thingy is being able to ask a Guard for directions and haveing the spot appear on my mini-map.  It's a very nice touch.

Easier to use than DAoC method of knowing the special slash command to use and having the guard just point in the direction.

[Azazel]

I re-subbed last week after never getting past the forties and only just found the awesomeness that are all the Nintendo references in Un'goro crater.  Helping out Linken, Larion and Muigin fighting, Dadango disliking smoke, looting empty barrels off of gorillas - I had a grin on my face the whole time unless I was being chased down by those big elite T-Rexes.

Fraggle rock.

fo'shizzle

[Morat20]

I re-subbed last week after never getting past the forties and only just found the awesomeness that are all the Nintendo references in Un'goro crater.  Helping out Linken, Larion and Muigin fighting, Dadango disliking smoke, looting empty barrels off of gorillas - I had a grin on my face the whole time unless I was being chased down by those big elite T-Rexes.

Fraggle rock.

When I had leveled a few times, I went back and started killing those damn things. Second most annoying wandering Elite in the game. (The worst, at least Alliance side, is that fucker who hangs out at Raven Hill. At least 5 levels above the other mobs, gold-elite, big aggro radius, and wanders all over half the graveyard. I spent more time running from that guy....at least he's got a fairly short leash).

[Sky]

Cool but not something WoW invented. Was taming pets in UO years earlier.

But WoW has named mobs with better stats that you can find. I never claimed WoW invented it. I had just forgotten that particular aspect of WoW I had enjoyed.

[Pendan]

Wow easter eggs including the Legend of Zelda references http://www.gamershell.com/faqs/253.txt

[pants]

But WoW has named mobs with better stats that you can find. I never claimed WoW invented it. I had just forgotten that particular aspect of WoW I had enjoyed.

No longer.  Pets were normalised (aka all the unique pets lost their uniqueness - now every cat has the same stats etc) a few patches back.  Poor old Brokentooth had to be taken out and shot after that patch - since without his 1.0 attack speed he is just another boring old newb cat.

[Pendan]

But WoW has named mobs with better stats that you can find. I never claimed WoW invented it. I had just forgotten that particular aspect of WoW I had enjoyed.

It is really cool in WoW that when I am fighting a MOB I can actaully see my sword being swung too. I guess my point is how many other games have to do something before we stop talking about it as something cool WoW does? Off the top of my head UO, DAoC, and SWG all had taming of world MOBs before WoW.

WoWs taming in several ways has become less cool over time. Many of the stats on pets have become normalized. Run speed and hit speed used to very a lot more even between animals of the same type. Now only the skin is different from two animals of the same type.

[Rasix]

Dark Age has taming?

[Nebu]

Dark Age has taming?

It's technically called "charming", but many classes may charm mobs to use as pets.  Minstrels at higher RR can charm pets well above them in level. 

[Rasix]

Dark Age has taming?

It's technically called "charming", but many classes may charm mobs to use as pets.  Minstrels at higher RR can charm pets well above them in level. 

But is it permanent between play sessions?  (Not trying to validate WoW's taming, just curious as to DAoC mechanics.)

[Nebu]

Permanent, that's a tricky comment.  It has to be maintained and can be broken depending on the level of the mob.  Once broken, it's really easy to recharm a mob.  Also, charmed mobs can't cross zone boundaries.  So there are conditions on the permanence of a charm.

Remember though, DAoC is like 5+ years old. 

[Jayce]

Now only the skin is different from two animals of the same type.

This really does make me sad.  I wish they had kept the combat specialization.  It sure seems to me like all they had to do was to keep the abilites seperate, and it could have led to some specialization in hunters - one interrupts casters, one has a fast chase speed, another hits hard, another tanks well.

I guess there is still some of the last two - cats are still high dps, low armor and bears/boars/turtles are still high armor/hp, right?

[Morat20]

Now only the skin is different from two animals of the same type.

This really does make me sad.  I wish they had kept the combat specialization.  It sure seems to me like all they had to do was to keep the abilites seperate, and it could have led to some specialization in hunters - one interrupts casters, one has a fast chase speed, another hits hard, another tanks well.

I guess there is still some of the last two - cats are still high dps, low armor and bears/boars/turtles are still high armor/hp, right?

Pet customization is done through pet talents (trainable) and Hunter talents now. Normalization was done because certain pets -- 1.0 speed, to cite the extreme example-- became god-awful monsters of death in PvP. They were 1.0 -- but if the Hunter had Serpent's Swiftness (IE: All Beastmaster specced hunters) they hit at .8. Every time they critted, they'd proc 8 seconds of frenzy (30% speed increase) -- 1.0 pets perma-frenzied and more or less raped casters. They couldn't get anything but instants off.

Which led to pet balance problems -- first, only 1.0 pets were desireable. Second -- and more critically -- they were having a really hard time doing pet scaling (based on Hunter abilities) and pet talents because what was "good" for a 1.0 speed pet was shitty for a 3.0 -- or vice versa.

Even things like my current favorite talent (Ferocious Inspiration -- 3% damage buff to all members of the party for 9 seconds. Spells too -- mages love) was a problem. On a 1.0 speed pet, it was constantly up. On a 2.0 speed pet it barely proceed before trash mobs died. They were having real problems there.

Now, if Blizzard doesn't come through with some serious pet love in the form of new pet abilities and talents, now that they have a balanced slate to allow customization -- problem.

[Morfiend]

In Outland you can find He-Man and Orco along with Battlecat, also Harris Pilton.

[Trippy]

Permanent, that's a tricky comment.  It has to be maintained and can be broken depending on the level of the mob.  Once broken, it's really easy to recharm a mob.  Also, charmed mobs can't cross zone boundaries.  So there are conditions on the permanence of a charm.

Remember though, DAoC is like 5+ years old. 

That sounds like the Enchanter AA ability they added in Luclin -- a charm that lasts until you zone.

[Soln]

Cool but not something WoW invented. Was taming pets in UO years earlier.

and in SWG

Down with WoW

[garthilk]

meta games rules

[lamaros]

why to people persist with "x did this first" it's a slippery slope.

humans were the frist to domesticate animals. many many years ago.

[pxib]

So what did WoW invent?

I really liked the mailboxes and the ability to mail things to my alts.
I liked big giant visible ?s and !s over quest NPCs heads.
I second the comment about getting useful directions from guards.

[Trippy]

So what did WoW invent?

I really liked the mailboxes and the ability to mail things to my alts.

FF XI.

I liked big giant visible ?s and !s over quest NPCs heads.

WC III.

[Nebu]

So what did WoW invent?

I second the comment about getting useful directions from guards.

DAoC with the /where command would point you to any NPC.  It's not exactly the same, but WoW polished it and updated the functionality.

[Lum]

So what did WoW invent?

Releasing a polished MMO.

[angry.bob]

Dark Age has taming?

I had an archer class with a summonable pet in Midgard DAoC.

The class was called Hunter oddly enough.

[squirrel]

But WoW has named mobs with better stats that you can find. I never claimed WoW invented it. I had just forgotten that particular aspect of WoW I had enjoyed.

It is really cool in WoW that when I am fighting a MOB I can actaully see my sword being swung too. I guess my point is how many other games have to do something before we stop talking about it as something cool WoW does? Off the top of my head UO, DAoC, and SWG all had taming of world MOBs before WoW.

WoWs taming in several ways has become less cool over time. Many of the stats on pets have become normalized. Run speed and hit speed used to very a lot more even between animals of the same type. Now only the skin is different from two animals of the same type.

I don't give a shit who 'invented' what, as Shakespear said (paraphrased) - "there are no new stories under the sun."

But as someone who played a 50 RR7 Sorceror in DAoC for 1.5 years, I can assure you DAoC Charm mechanic was/is VASTLY different from the current WoW hunter tame & train model. SWG? Um lol. So whatever, it's better in WoW this way for WoW and it is cool.

[Rasix]

Dark Age has taming?

I had an archer class with a summonable pet in Midgard DAoC.

The class was called Hunter oddly enough.

That's not reallly taming though.  It's just like an enchanter summoning their pet (can't remember name) or a druid summoning their lynx.  You have no choice in what you get.  WoW's is somewhat of a hybrid of SWG/UO taming and standard pet summoning due to the fact that you're not going to have wild descrepencies in pet strength but you have a selection that draws from the game's bestiary.

I've never been particularly drawn to WoW's hunter or pet taming.  Never gotten a hunter past mid twenties.  That's probably more due to my complete ineptness and lack of desire to play ranged classes. 

[angry.bob]

That's not reallly taming though.  It's just like an enchanter summoning their pet (can't remember name) or a druid summoning their lynx.  You have no choice in what you get. 

Actually, Hunters could charm animals in addition to the summonable wolf. It wasn't permanent and you couldn't teach them skills though.

[Venkman]

What did WoW invent? Nothing, really. That's been the point since beta though. The whole thing is derived from other concepts, but then, so is every MMO in some form. There are actually very few brand-new ideas in this or any genre that can't be traced by through to early games from different genres, or to MUDs or to whatever. Even stuff like interactive world elements go back to Ultima III, or just to UO if you want to stick with persistent-world environments.

The better question in my mind is what did WoW popularize. That's a wider net. There I'd say things like mailboxes, instantiated sport-based PvP, quest-based advancement (as opposed to pure mob grinding), interactive world objects. Probably others I'm missing.